Politics

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 ...

Bloomberg Kenya’s opposition presidential candidate said the electoral authority should consider delaying the rerun of last month’s annulled presidential vote until the end of October to ensure it’s organized in a credible manner. The date for the election could be adjusted within the 60-day period stipulated by the law to give the electoral body enough time to prepare a fair ...

Bloomberg Wolfgang Schaeuble can expect to be offered another term as German finance minister if Chancellor Angela Merkel wins re-election on Sept. 24, according to four people familiar with the government’s deliberations. Schaeuble has signaled his interest for the post and Merkel would be willing to pay a high political price to extend his tenure, the people said. All asked ...

Bloomberg ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ The United Nations Security Council approved new sanctions aimed at punishing North Korea for its latest missile and nuclear tests after the US dropped demands such as an oil embargo to win support from Russia and China. The 15-member council passed the resolution unanimously following a week of talks that began when Kim Jong Un’s regime tested its ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s renewed push to resolve a three-month showdown between Qatar and a Saudi-led coalition was spurred by a conviction that the impasse has distracted US Gulf allies from his attempt to challenge Iran. Trump told Kuwaiti officials visiting the White House last week that Gulf Arab nations can’t effectively counter growing Iranian regional influence if they’re busy ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Erna Solberg became Norway’s first Conservative Party leader in over three decades to be re-elected as a movement to stop further oil exploration in western Europe’s biggest petroleum producer fizzled. “We won support for four more years because we have delivered on what we have promised and also because we have met tough challenges,” Solberg said at ...

Bloomberg Kenya is running out of time to ensure a credible rerun of presidential elections that were annulled by the nation’s top court after the main opposition party alleged that they were rigged. With the next vote due in just five weeks, the electoral commission is mired in infighting over who should take the fall for last month’s botched contest. ...

WASHINGTON / Reuters US Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy provided a temporary reprieve for President Trump’s order blocking most refugees from entering the United States, putting on hold a lower court’s ruling loosening the prohibition. Kennedy’s action gave the nine justices more time to consider the Justice Department’s challenge filed to the lower court’s decision allowing entry to refugees from ...

Bloomberg The US has watered down a proposal to punish North Korea for its sixth and most powerful nuclear test, omitting an oil embargo and a freeze of Kim Jong Un’s assets, according to a European diplomat. While the US, UK and France are united on the latest proposal, it’s unclear whether Russia and China — the other veto-holding members ...