Politics

Bloomberg Kuwait’s ruler is stepping up his efforts to resolve one of the worst crises among Gulf Arab monarchies, a day after Saudi Arabia and its allies isolated Qatar by cutting off air and sea transport and closing the small nation’s only land border. Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah was to travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to mediate an end ...

Bloomberg US-backed forces in Syria have begun the long-anticipated push to remove IS from their self-declared capital of Raqqa. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and its partners launched their offensive on Tuesday, the US Central Command said in an emailed statement. Raqqa was among the first cities captured by IS, also known as IS, and has been a base for ...

Bloomberg IS claimed responsibility for a hostage-taking in the Australian city of Melbourne that left a gunman and another person dead and three police officers injured. Following a standoff at an apartment building, officers shot dead 29-year-old Yacqub Khayre on Monday evening after he came out and fired a sawn-off shotgun at police. He captured a woman he’d arranged to ...

Bloomberg Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said neighboring Pakistan has instigated an “undeclared war of aggression” against his nation after repeated bombings in Kabul in the past week, including the deadliest attack on the capital in 16 years. Ghani’s accusation signals the difficulty NATO and Afghan forces have in defeating the Taliban and other insurgent groups, which have long been said ...

Bloomberg Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May will deploy Boris Johnson to the northeast of England in a bid to conquer Brexit-supporting Labour strongholds, even as the fallout from the London terror attacks continues to dominate the campaign. Johnson, one of the faces of the Leave campaign, will say in a Tuesday speech that only May can “get Brexit right.” Labour ...

Bloomberg China rebuffed an appeal by the U.S. State Department for the release of three labor activists detained while investigating working conditions at a factory that manufactured Ivanka Trump brand shoes. The suspects are accused of using spying and monitoring equipment, and the investigation is ongoing, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in response to a question at a regular ...

Bloomberg Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain severed their ties with Qatar on Monday, accusing it of supporting terrorism and opening up the worst rift in years among some of the most powerful states in the Arab world. Iran—long at odds with Saudi Arabia and a behind-the-scenes target of the move—immediately blamed US President Donald Trump for ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson again urged China to do more to rein in North Korea, saying it should use its growing clout responsibly. “China is a significant economic and trading power, and we desire a productive relationship,” Tillerson said in Sydney on Monday after security talks with Australian counterparts. “But we cannot allow China to use its ...

Bloomberg Concrete and metal barriers are being erected along the sidewalks on some of London’s bridges after terrorists used cars and vans to target pedestrians for the second time in just over two months. London police on Sunday evening said commuters could expect to see more officers on the streets and more physical measures on bridges, after at least three ...

Bloomberg U.K. opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn traded blows with Prime Minister Theresa May over who has the worst record on countering terrorism, as Britain’s battle with extremists looked set to dominate the final three days of the election campaign. Saturday night’s London Bridge attack, which was claimed by IS, temporarily halted campaigning. But the political truce lasted less than ...