Politics

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 ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s government could collapse if a court rules that three of his lawmakers with dual citizenship are ineligible to hold office. Even if they stay, his handling of the constitutional crisis gripping Australia’s parliament may have already sealed its fate. The High Court will begin hearings on Thursday to interpret a 117-year-old law that bars dual ...

Bloomberg Ten sailors are missing and five were injured after a US warship collided with a petroleum tanker near Singapore on Monday, the second crash involving an American naval vessel in Asia in a matter of months. Search-and-rescue efforts are underway after the USS John S. McCain collided with the Alnic MC, the US Navy said. The US Seventh Fleet ...

Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari vowed to step up the fight against the extremists and proponents of secession in his first speech after returning from three months of sick leave in London. Nigeria’s national unity is “not negotiable,” Buhari, 74, said Monday in a nationally televised address. “Terrorists and criminals must be fought and destroyed relentlessly so that the majority ...

BERLIN / Reuters German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised Turkey’s use of an Interpol arrest warrant to detain a German writer in Spain, telling an election town hall event on Sunday that this amounted to abuse of the international police agency. Dogan Akhanli was stopped in Spain on Saturday after Ankara issued a “red notice”. The German-Turkish writer was released on ...

Bloomberg Turkey sees a real risk that Iraqi Kurds will press ahead with an independence referendum, according to an adviser to the president, a move that would defy almost unanimous opposition among neighboring states and surprise the many observers who foresee a deal with Baghdad emerging. The semi-autonomous area in the north of Iraq might create “de facto” sovereignty by ...