Politics

Bloomberg US Vice President Mike Pence told the volatile western Balkans region that its future lies in the West, saying NATO’s door is open for new members. Pence is wrapping up a tour of eastern Europe by visiting Montenegro, a nation of 600,000 that only joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in June. At a regional summit on Wednesday, he’s ...

Bloomberg A raft of emails leaked to South African media about how the Gupta family have won billions of rands of contracts from state-owned companies and influenced government decisions through their closeness to President Jacob Zuma isn’t authentic, family member Atul Gupta said. “There’s no authenticity of Gupta Leaks at all,” Gupta told the British Broadcasting Corp. in an interview. ...

Bloomberg In as little as 24 hours, a clash of powers is set to unfold in the Venezuelan capital’s gold-domed Federal Legislative Palace, where a newly elected legislative super body will attempt to convene alongside the National Assembly, the only arm of government not controlled by President Nicolas Maduro or his allies. Despite international condemnation and allegations of fraud, Maduro ...

Bloomberg Vice President Mike Pence said the US “strongly” supports Georgia’s ambition of joining NATO, even as Russia remains hostile to the military alliance expanding its influence in Moscow’s former Soviet backyard. “We see Georgia as a key strategic partner and stand by your territorial integrity and your aspirations to become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,” Pence ...

Bloomberg Pakistani lawmakers chose Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as the interim prime minister to replace deposed leader Nawaz Sharif, settling political uncertainty caused by a Supreme Court decision last week that forced the former premier to resign. Abbasi, 58, who is considered a die-hard Sharif loyalist after serving in his cabinet as the petroleum minister, won 221 votes out of 305 ...

Bloomberg China’s Communist Party is curbing the online activities of its 89 million members ahead of a leadership shake-up in a few months. The new rules made public on Tuesday said that all party cadres face punishment if they visit “illegal websites” or disclose party and state secrets online. Cadres need permission from the party before registering social media accounts ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s most high-profile opposition figures were seized from their homes by security forces, according to people close to them, in what appeared to be a crackdown on officials challenging the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez was taken from his home at gunpoint, his wife said, just weeks after he had been transferred from military prison ...

Bloomberg The US and UK embassies in Kenya offered to help investigate the murder of a key electoral official a week before the East African nation holds presidential elections. The body of Chris Msando, a systems development manager at the Independent Electoral & Boundaries Commission who went missing on the night of July 28, was found on Monday at a ...

Bloomberg US engagement in Afghanistan has deteriorated to a new low, with personnel hunkered down behind blast walls as President Donald Trump struggles to define a vision for the war-torn country almost 16 years after American forces first arrived. While Defense Secretary James Mattis told lawmakers in June that the US is “not winning in Afghanistan right now” — despite ...

Bloomberg Venezuela’s government, striving to legitimize President Nicolas Maduro’s grab for control, said that more than 8 million people participated in a vote to rewrite the constitution even though polling places and streets were mostly empty and quiet. The constituent assembly chosen on Sunday will meet as soon as this week to discuss changing the charter rewritten under former socialist ...