Politics

Bloomberg The US tightened its financial restrictions on North Korea, slapping sanctions on Chinese and Russian entities it accused of assisting Pyongyang’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. It’s also seeking millions of dollars it said moved through the US as part of the alleged scheme. Prosecutors in Washington DC, are seeking to recover $11 million from companies based ...

Bloomberg As world powers seek an endgame to Syria’s six-year war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants a seat at the table. Israel says Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah are working to entrench themselves militarily in neighboring Syria, where they’re backing Syrian government troops, and it’s rattled that a recent truce deal brokered by Russia and the US doesn’t ...

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters The United States wants to know if the United Nations atomic watchdog plans to inspect Iranian military sites to verify Tehran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal, the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said. Haley will meet with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials in Vienna for what she described as a fact-finding ...

Bloomberg When US President Donald Trump accused Pakistan of continuing to provide a “safe haven to agents of chaos, violence and terror” it evoked memories of general lawlessness across the country in the years after 9/11 that drove investors from South Asia’s second-largest economy. While militants the US identifies as terrorists find refuge in Pakistan, safety within the nation has ...

Bloomberg Angolans began voting in an election that will bring about the first leadership change in almost four decades for Africa’s second-biggest oil producer. “D-day has arrived,” Domingos Francisco said on Wednesday as he stood in line behind dozens of voters outside a blue tent that served as a polling station in the Rangel neighborhood in Luanda, the capital. “I ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump vowed as a presidential candidate to reduce America’s military involvement abroad and quickly defeat IS terrorists. His announcement of an open-ended commitment to Afghanistan to battle extremists is a concession that as president he cannot meet either promise. Trump’s shift on Afghanistan is the latest indication of how difficult it has been to deliver on his “only ...

BAGHDAD / ERBIL / Reuters A delegation representing Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite coalition may meet Kurdish politicians again next week to try to convince them to delay or cancel a plan to hold an independence referendum, a negotiator said. A first round of talks, held last week in Baghdad, brought the two sides closer and a second round could be held ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s main challenger, Martin Schulz, sharpened his attack against the German chancellor less than five weeks before the election as his Social Democrats struggle to narrow the gap in polls that give her a dominant advantage. Laying out his pitch in the northern German city of Bremen, where the Social Democrats have governed since 1945, Schulz called for ...

Bloomberg North Korea threatened the US on Tuesday, saying it will face “merciless revenge” for ignoring Pyongyang’s warnings over annual military drills with South Korea. The isolated nation said it would be a misjudgment for the US to think that North Korea will “sit comfortably without doing anything,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, citing an unidentified military spoke-sman. ...

BEIRUT / Reuters Lebanon’s president signed off on public sector pay rises and tax hikes, a move that has triggered business concerns but could help politicians shore up support ahead of a legislative election next year. President Michel Aoun held off ratifying the two laws since parliament approved them last month, amid objections from businesses about impact of more taxes ...