Politics

China getting ‘seriously prepared’ for Speaker Pelosi visit to Taiwan

Bloomberg China said it was getting “seriously prepared” for the possibility that Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan in the coming weeks, underscoring the risk of a showdown between Washington and Beijing over a trip by the US House speaker. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian made the comment in response to a Financial Times report that Beijing had privately issued warnings ...

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Pence shows distance from Trump with speech hinting at 2024 run

  Bloomberg Mike Pence is getting a one-day head start on rallying the Republican base in Washington before his former boss, Donald Trump, returns to the US capital for the first time since the violent end to his presidency. The timing of the speeches —Pence on Monday, Trump on Tuesday —is shaping up as a contest between the two men. ...

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Myanmar executes activists in first use of death penalty in decades

Bloomberg Myanmar’s military regime has executed four individuals, including a deposed pro-democracy lawmaker and a prominent activist, in its first use of the death penalty in over three decades, state media reported on Monday. Kyaw Min Yu, also known as Jimmy, a leader of the activist group that opposed former dictator Ne Win, and Phyo Zeya Thaw, a civilian lawmaker ...

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Truss, Sunak rivalry turns bitter before TV debate

  Bloomberg After a televised Conservative leadership debate exposed the stark divisions among rivals vying to be the next UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak turned to Liz Truss and asked: “Why are we doing this?” Both are now in the runoff to succeed Boris Johnson as Tory party leader. Yet any intentions to try to temper so-called blue-on-blue attacks ahead ...

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Russian Odesa missile strike tests Ukraine grain export deal

Bloomberg Russia attacked Odesa’s sea port with cruise missiles hours after signing a deal to unblock Ukrainian grain exports from three Black Sea ports, including Odesa, that was hailed as a vital step towards alleviating a global food crisis. Ukrainian officials indicated they’re still moving ahead with the landmark agreement reached Friday to release millions of tons of grain that ...

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China issues private warnings to US on Pelosi’s Taiwan trip: FT

  Bloomberg China issued strong private warnings to the US government about a planned trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which included a possible military response, the Financial Times reported. The warnings were much stronger than those made previously when China wasn’t pleased with US policies and actions related to Taipei, the paper said, citing unidentified people familiar ...

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Joe Biden continues to improve after Covid-19, says physician

  Bloomberg President Joe Biden continues to improve with mild symptoms as he isolates with Covid-19 at the White House. White House physician Kevin O’Connor wrote in a memo on Saturday that the president — who is being treated with Pfizer Inc.’s drug Paxlovid — is “responding to therapy as expected.” “His pulse, blood pressure, respiratory rate and temperature remain ...

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Bolsonaro starts campaigning for election he says may be rigged

Bloomberg President Jair Bolsonaro officially kicks off his re-election campaign on Sunday, rallying thousands of his followers to Rio de Janeiro, after intensifying his attempts to discredit Brazil’s voting system. He’s calling on the government faithful to pack an Olympic arena in a working-class neighbourhood for an event billed as “United for the Good of Brazil.” But with just over ...

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Sunak, Truss vow to stem illegal immigration

Bloomberg Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged to fix the UK’s “broken” asylum system and crack down on illegal boat crossings from France if he becomes prime minister, while his rival, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, said she’ll push to send more migrants to third countries for processing. Sunak said he would tighten the statutory definition of who qualifies for asylum in ...

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Italy Democrats weigh election alliances, Letta tells Repubblica

  Bloomberg Italy’s Democrats are weighing possible alliances for the country’s national elections in September and will decide in the coming days and weeks on the makeup of any new coalitions, party leader Enrico Letta said in an interview with la Repubblica published Sunday. Opinion polls show the Democrats, or PD, running a close second to the right-wing Brothers of ...

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