Politics

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may hold a snap general election next month, local media reported, a move that would allow him to seize on opposition disarray and growing support for his handling of the North Korea crisis. Abe appears increasingly inclined to call an election amid a recovery in public support following a spate of scandals, public broadcaster ...

Bloomberg A former Malaysia government minister who shifted allegiance to the opposition has returned to the ruling party, according to Prime Minister Najib Razak. Muhammad Muhammad Taib, known as Mat Taib, is rejoining the United Malays National Organisation from the People’s Justice Party, or PKR, Najib told. Local reports earlier in the day said a “major announcement” would be made, ...

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ President Donald Trump will embark on a whirlwind series of meetings next week at the United Nations General Assembly to make two big asks of the world: Stand with us against North Korea, and hold the line against Iran’s nuclear programme. Over the course of four days, beginning on Monday, Trump will engage in a speed round of ...

Bloomberg Police have arrested an 18-year-old man on the UK southeast coast in connection with the detonation of an improvised bomb on a London tube train that injured at least 29 people. The man was arrested in the port area of Dover, a major ferry hub for travel to France, on Saturday and is being held under a section of ...

Bloomberg British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson threw himself back into the Brexit debate with a 4,000-word newspaper article just days before Prime Minister Theresa May is set to refresh her own strategy for the split. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the figurehead of last year’s campaign to leave the European Union outlined what he called a “glorious” vision for the ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration lost another round in its effort to punish cities that don’t cooperate with its crackdown on undocumented immigrants. A Chicago federal judge ruled the US Justice Department can’t withhold millions of dollars in grants supporting public safety from cities that refuse to share with federal officials the immigration status of suspects in custody. The limited restrictions ...

Bloomberg Hurricane Jose may threaten New York City (NYC) and other areas of the East Coast by next week, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm, about 885 kilometers south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane Friday as it churned through the Atlantic Ocean. Jose’s path could put it near New Jersey and New ...

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ North Korea rejected the latest round of United Nations sanctions on the isolated state, and vowed to accelerate its plans to acquire a nuclear weapon that can strike the US homeland. In its first official response to the new resolution, North Korea’s foreign ministry released a statement on state-run media saying the sanctions justified its nuclear push and ...

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters Iraq’s Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani vowed to press ahead with a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25 despite a vote by Iraq’s parliament to reject the move. Earlier the parliament in Baghdad authorised the prime minister to “take all measures” to preserve Iraq’s unity. Kurdish lawmakers walked out of the session before the vote ...

Bloomberg Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced support for Kurdish statehood, offering a lone source of backing for an autonomy referendum in Iraq this month that allies oppose. Israel “supports the legitimate efforts of the Kurdish people to achieve their own state,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Tuesday night during his visit in Latin America. His endorsement clashes with ...