Bloomberg Death threats and court challenges mark an intensifying battle for control of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress as factions fight it out in the nation’s provinces before the party elects a new leader to replace Jacob Zuma. In the region with the most ANC members, KwaZulu-Natal, the high court is expected to rule next month on an application ...

Bloomberg The Scottish Labour Party will seek a fourth leader in less than three years after the incumbent quit following a turbulent period for the movement that once dominated politics in Scotland. Kezia Dugdale, 36, said she’s stepping down to allow someone else to drive Labour toward elections to the Scottish Parliament in 2021. She was elected leader in August ...

KIRKUK / Reuters Iraq’s oil-producing region of Kirkuk will vote in a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25, its provisional council decided, a move that could increase tension with Arab and Turkmen residents. The ethnically mixed region is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The vote is ...

BAGHDAD / Reuters Iraqi forces backed by Shi’ite paramilitaries began fighting house-by-house in the one town left to take from IS before they can declare complete victory over the group’s former stronghold of Tal Afar, military commanders said. Hundreds of battle-hardened IS militants are defending al-Ayadiya, a small town outside Tal Afar which itself is about 80 km (50 miles) ...

The Trump administration is exploring new approaches for easing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that build on talks with a budding Sunni Arab coalition of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan. Jared Kushner, the White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law, visited the leaders of all four countries during his Middle East trip this week. He was accompanied by ...

Will Donald Trump’s new approach to South Asia work? Its success depends on whether India is convinced that Trump’s America is a partner to be trusted—and whether India itself is willing to step up its engagement with Afghanistan as the US president has suggested. Let’s be clear: the Afghanistan strategy Trump has laid out looks more sensible than what Barack ...

Two companies that make solar panels are asking the government to protect them from foreign competition. They want the government to put taxes and a price floor on imports. Other companies are warning that these policies would raise prices and shrink the market, eliminating jobs for solar-panel installers, manufacturers of mounting equipment, and other parts of the larger solar industry. ...

President Donald Trump’s announcement of a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan is a reminder that, for far too long, Congress has shirked its constitutional responsibility to declare war. With the US also involved in fighting in Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, the legislative branch needs give the executive branch the legal authority it needs to conduct the ...

History was made in a Seoul court on Friday when Jay Y. Lee, scion of the family that founded the giant Samsung conglomerate, was convicted on bribery and embezzlement charges and sentenced to five years in prison. In theory, the verdict should send a stark signal to the country’s politicians and business leaders that the corrupt shenanigans that have so ...

The debt ceiling is attracting a lot more attention, especially after President Donald Trump labeled it a “mess” amid growing tensions within the Republican Party. We should expect the rhetoric to get even more heated in the days and weeks ahead. It is unlikely, however, that this will lead to a technical default by the US or a repeat of ...