Bloomberg With the world on edge over rising tensions in the Middle East, one leader seems unfazed: Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The Russian president arrived in Damascus in just his second visit to Syria since the start of the country’s civil war nearly nine years ago. The timing is significant. The US and its allies are assessing the damage after Iran ...

Bloomberg If Kim Jong-un needed another reminder about the risks of bargaining away North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme to the US, President Donald Trump’s decision to kill one of Iran’s top commanders provides one. The killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani reinforces the North Korean view that the US only takes such actions against states that lack a credible nuclear ...

Bloomberg Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reclaimed the National Assembly that he heads, pushing past armed guards two days after President Nicolas Maduro’s loyalists blocked him from attending his own re-election. Guaido and his allies burst through the legislative palace’s doors minutes after a pro-government group led by lawmaker Luis Parra, who had claimed the presidency of the body, scurried ...