Bloomberg Donald Trump is expected to issue a formal order drawing down US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each country by January 15, a US defense official said, as the president works to deliver on his longtime pledge to exit from “endless wars.” US Central Command has received an informal warning order, according to the official. The ...

Bloomberg A US Navy destroyer successfully intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to simulate one developed by North Korea, a Pentagon official said. The Aegis-class destroyer operating near Hawaii on Tuesday fired a Standard Missile-3 model Block II A made by Raytheon Technologies Corp at the target launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. “This was an ...

Bloomberg Australia is taking the next step towards building a coalition of “like-minded” democracies pushing back against what they view as Beijing’s increasing expansionism in the Indo-Pacific — even as the list of trade reprisals against it grows. As part of the campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison met his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo on Tuesday to sign what ...

Bloomberg Thai riot police sprayed water cannons at pro-democracy activists rallying near the parliament as lawmakers began a debate on a roadmap for amending the nation’s constitution. Hundreds of protesters, with some donning helmets and masks, tried to breach concrete barricades and barbed wire at an intersection outside the parliament building in central Bangkok, prompting the police to fire water ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria is poised to object to the official start of European Union accession talks with North Macedonia, hindering the former Yugoslav country’s efforts to open the long-delayed negotiations by year-end. Countries in the Western Balkan region, engulfed by bloody wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia, are all striving to join the EU to raise living standards. Albania and North ...

Bloomberg Ted Kaufman, the head of Joe Biden’s transition team, praised UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his early endorsement of the president-elect’s victory while other heads of government hung back. Johnson was the second world leader to receive a call from Biden after his win, a move welcomed in London as a sign the incoming White House team still ...

Bloomberg Huawei Technologies Co sold its Honor smartphone business to a Chinese government-backed consortium for an undisclosed amount, hiving off the entry-level devices arm after the Trump administration cut off its access to American technology. The consortium was formed by the Shenzhen Smart City Technology Development Group Co and more than 30 of Honor’s partners, agents and dealers, from private ...

Bloomberg Tesla Inc, Elon Musk’s 17-year-old upstart carmaker, took a giant step towards blue-chip respectability, getting named to one of the world’s most famous stock indexes in an action that will greatly broaden its investor base. The announcement that Tesla will enter the S&P 500 on December 21 follows months of speculation, and one temporary setback, after the stock failed ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed optimism that a recovery in Europe’s biggest economy will gather pace once the coronavirus pandemic is brought back under control. Merkel said that while the situation remains “very serious,” officials are better equipped now to fight the disease than at the start of the outbreak in the spring. She cited recent progress in developing ...

Bloomberg Airbnb Inc’s long awaited filing for an initial public offering (IPO) makes the devastation wrought by Covid-19 abundantly clear, and shows how its business now hangs on domestic travel. Since the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe in March, closing borders and grounding flights, the travel sector’s woes have been on full display. Public companies such as Marriott International, ...