Bloomberg India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party faces another challenge to retain power in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat in polls later this year in what would be a referendum on its policies including demonetization and the national sales tax. The BJP is throwing all its resources into Gujarat to ensure the party performs well after ruling the …

UNITED NATIONS / Reuters Russia cast a veto at the United Nations Security Council preventing the renewal of the mandate for a mission that investigates the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The investigation by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) – known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) – was unanimously created …

BAGHDAD / CAIRO / Reuters Kurdish authorities in Iraq offered on Wednesday to put an independence drive on hold, stepping up efforts to resolve a crisis in relations with Baghdad via dialogue rather than military means. But a Iraqi military spokesman suggested an offensive — launched to wrest back territory after Kurds voted overwhelmingly for independence in a disputed referendum …

Bloomberg Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is certain to win re-election in Thursday’s vote rerun after his main rival, Raila Odinga, withdrew from the race, but his victory could prove to be a hollow one. “It would be a Pyrrhic victory for Kenyatta, especially if opposition strongholds boycott as they have promised,” said Nanjala Nyabola, a Nairobi-based independent political analyst. “It …

Bloomberg Spain’s plan to crush Catalonia’s separatists is ringing alarm bells among some of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s allies before what’s set to be a decisive few days in the conflict with the insurgent region. The Socialists are balking at the government’s focus on taking control of the administration in Barcelona while shutting off options that would allow the Catalan …

Bloomberg US stocks slumped as investors sifted through the latest batch of corporate earnings, while the dollar fell with Treasuries amid speculation recent moves had gone too far too quickly. The S&P 500 Index fell from near a record high, with weak results hammering shares in Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Ten-year Treasury yields retreated after …

Reuters Saudi Arabia’s stock market posted a small gain on Wednesday on the back of firm oil prices, seemingly little impressed by heavy investment plans showcased at a major conference in Riyadh. The Saudi index gained 0.3 percent, supported by Saudi Electricity Co (SEC), whose shares rose 4.4 percent after the utility said the Saudi government is considering selling a …

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. wants to prevent holiday shoppers from straying to Google’s YouTube and Facebook Inc.’s social-media sites in search of product videos, so the e-commerce giant is working with merchants to match the effort on its website. Pet supplies, baby products, housewares and electronics are the focus of the new push for promotional and instructional videos. Amazon this year …

Bloomberg The $2 billion that the US Air Force wants to spend this fiscal year for the new B-21 bomber would go towards added staffing for contractor Northrop Grumman Corp., software development and producing detailed engineering drawings, according to a top service official. While the items listed by Air Force Undersecretary Matt Donovan were predictable for early work on a …

Bloomberg JetBlue Airways Corp.’s plan to add more seats to its Airbus SE A320 planes is running into an obstacle: broken toilets. The Space Flex lavatories supplied by Zodiac Aerospace are crucial to JetBlue’s plan to reconfigure its fleet of A320 jets. The airline will set a “formal review” in November with Airbus and Zodiac to evaluate repairs on the …