international relations
Brexit Talks Grind On as Deadline Looms, but Hurdles Remain
Talks between the U.K. and European Union toward a draft Brexit agreement dragged on Wednesday, with British doubts about whether Parliament would approve a deal proving to be a significant obstacle. Officials from both sides said British negotiators were concerned that concessions needed to satisfy the EU wouldn’t receive the necessary backing from U.K. lawmakers—particularly …
U.S. Adds Chinese Firms to Blacklist, Citing Repression of Muslim Minorities
WASHINGTON—The U.S. added 28 Chinese entities to an export blacklist Monday, citing their role in Beijing’s repression of Muslim minorities in northwest China, just days before high-level trade talks are set to resume in Washington. The action, which the U.S. said wasn’t related to trade talks, was nonetheless likely to disturb Chinese officials already incensed …
The False Divide Between Locals and Citizens of the World
The political split between left and right, we’ve been told, is being overtaken by an emerging realignment. “The struggle between the open and closed visions of society may well be the most important political contest in the world right now,” according to The Economist. Fareed Zakaria has argued that we’ve entered “a new ideological era, …
Austrian Conservative Sebastian Kurz Wins Election
The party of former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz won an election months after his government collapsed, a turnaround that in a rare development on Europe’s fractured political landscape saw antiestablishment populists suffer a significant decline. Mr. Kurz’s conservative People’s Party took 38.4% of Sunday’s vote, according to the preliminary official results, his party’s best result …
Google Draws House Antitrust Scrutiny of Internet Protocol
Congressional antitrust investigators are scrutinizing plans by Google to use a new internet protocol, concerned that it could give the company a competitive advantage by making it harder for others to access consumer data. In a letter this month, investigators for the House Judiciary Committee asked Google for information about its “decision regarding whether to …
The Latest: Sierra Leone: UN reform to give Africa equal say
Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio speaks during the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (Kevin Hagen/Associated Press) UNITED NATIONS — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly’s annual gathering of world leaders (all times local): 10:30 a.m. The president of Sierra Leone is calling for “urgent and imperative” …
‘Deficit of trust’: At UN, leaders of a warming world gather
The planet is getting hotter, and tackling that climate peril will grab the spotlight as world leaders gather for their annual meeting at the United Nations this week facing an undeniable backdrop: rising tensions from the Persian Gulf to Afghanistan and increasing nationalism, inequality and intolerance. Growing fear of military action, especially in response to …
Yemeni Rebels Warn Iran Plans Another Strike Soon
BEIRUT—Houthi militants in Yemen have warned foreign diplomats that Iran is preparing a follow-up strike to the missile and drone attack that crippled Saudi Arabia’s oil industry a week ago, people familiar with the matter said. Leaders of the group said they were raising the alarm about the possible new attack after they were pressed …
Drone Strikes Spark Fires at Saudi Oil Facilities
Drone strikes caused fires that raged at two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s vast state oil company, the country’s interior ministry said, in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels described as one of their largest-ever operations inside the kingdom. The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as …
China Seeks to Narrow Trade Talks With U.S. in Bid to Break Deadlock
BEIJING—China is looking to narrow the scope of its negotiations with the U.S. to only trade matters, putting thornier national-security issues on a separate track in a bid to break deadlocked talks with the U.S. Chinese officials are hoping that such an approach would help both sides resolve some immediate issues and offer a path …
