Politics

Bloomberg Italians voted in the first round of municipal elections on Sunday in a test of the country’s political mood after a multi-party deal on a new electoral law unraveled this week, making the prospect of a snap national vote this year unlikely. “It was our duty to try, but the game’s over,” former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told daily ...

Bloomberg Polling stations opened across France on Sunday as voters begin electing a parliament that will determine how much power recently elected President Emmanuel Macron will actually have. If polls are to be believed, it will be a lot. The latest surveys suggest Macron’s Republic on the Move movement, or REM, will win a comfortable majority in the 577-seat National ...

Bloomberg North Korea says it has moved closer to test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential of hitting the US mainland. “US President Donald Trump has said the world will never see North Korea reach the final stage of developing nuclear weapons that could reach the US, but recent strategic weapon tests have proved the country is ‘not far ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a shot at President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall, telling an audience in Mexico that a physical barrier won’t resolve any country’s immigration issues. “We must fight against the causes that lead people to abandon their homes,” Merkel said at a business event at Mexico City’s Interactive Museum of Economics. “And constructing walls isn’t ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he backed a Saudi Arabia-led movement to isolate Qatar over its funding of extremist groups, once again sending conflicting signals about the US stance in a dispute between American allies in the Gulf region. Qatar has historically “been a funder of terrorism at a very high level” and that has to stop, Trump said at ...

Bloomberg US special forces are assisting Philippine troops in their operations against militants in the southern city of Marawi, the US embassy in Manila said in an emailed statement. The assistance helps military commanders in their fight against the militants and was offered at the request of the Philippine government, according to the statement, which didn’t give details of the ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she’s ready to defend the interests of European Union members in Brexit negotiations and doesn’t see any reason for the process to be delayed by the results of the UK’s election. “We will try to defend the interests of our 27 members states, and Great Britain will defend its own interests,” Merkel said in ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government backed the withdrawal of German troops from Turkey, escalating a feud between two NATO allies and major trading partners. Germany will seek talks with the US and other allies in the coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq to make the transition from Incirlik to a base in Jordan as smooth as possible, Defense Minister ...

Bloomberg Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lined up behind Qatar in its feud with Saudi Arabia and regional allies, offering to mediate a resolution of a crisis that has thrown one of the world’s most strategically important regions into turmoil. Categorization of Qatar as a terrorist state won’t help alleviate the problems facing the region which is in need of ...

Bloomberg IS claimed its first attack on Iran, as suicide bombers and gunmen struck at the heart of the country’s political and religious establishment on Wednesday. Assailants entered the parliament building in Tehran and the shrine of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to the south of the city. At least two people were killed in the legislature, Tasnim ...