Bloomberg Asia’s two biggest economies both have their most powerful leaders in decades — and neither one has much incentive to mend a relationship that has long been volatile. Polls show Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling party is heading for a landslide win in an October 22 election, putting him on track to become the longest-serving leader in the ...

Bloomberg As Buenos Aires goes to the polls for midterm elections, Maria Eugenia Vidal is everywhere — except on the ballot. Vidal is the province’s governor, a key ally of President Mauricio Macri, and the public face of a Senate campaign that’s turning into a referendum on his economic plans. It’s her picture that’s plastered across billboards in the industrial ...

In this week’s crisis over Kirkuk, Iraqi Kurds are experiencing a painful version of Newton’s Third Law: In Middle East politics, as in physics, every action creates an equal and opposite reaction. The initial action was Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani’s decision to push ahead last month with a controversial independence referendum, despite strong warnings from the United States, Turkey, Iran ...