Politics

Bloomberg Boris Johnson accused lawyers representing asylum seekers of “abetting” criminal gangs as he defended his plan to start deportation flights to Rwanda, a policy that has drawn condemnation from UK religious leaders, some ruling Conservative MPs and even the heir to the throne. The UK government argues that sending migrants it regards as having arrived illegally in Britain to ...

Bloomberg China’s decision to transfer one of its most high-profile diplomats —and most senior Russia experts — to a state media regulator is fanning speculation over who will be foreign minister after an upcoming reshuffle. Former Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng, 59, who has frequently stood in for Foreign Minister Wang Yi in recent months, has been appointed as the ...

  Bloomberg Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has downplayed the possibility of a reset in relations with the Chinese government after a high-profile meeting between the two countries, saying Beijing must first lift sanctions on a wide-range of Australian exports. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles met with China’s Defence Minister Wei Fenghe in Singapore, where both were attending the annual ...

Bloomberg Russia continued its assault on Sievierodonetsk, pushing Ukrainian troops out of the center of Kyiv’s last major foothold in the Luhansk region. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the fighting “very fierce” and his top military commander pleaded for the US to send more artillery. Moscow’s use of cluster munitions and indiscriminate shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, constitutes a war ...

  Bloomberg The US sought to bolster its support in Asia by reassuring nations they don’t need to join a coalition against China, drawing a stark contrast with Beijing’s threats to defend its interests with military force. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Asia’s biggest security forum that the US was taking “wise counsel” from smaller countries, saying they should be ...

  Bloomberg China’s assertions that the Taiwan Strait doesn’t qualify as international waters raises tensions over the nautical flash point, through which US warships transit in a symbolic challenge to Beijing’s territorial claims over the democratically governed island. While it’s unclear what Beijing means by “international waters,” the language may be intended to deter the US from sailing through the ...

Bloomberg Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro denied having requested his US counterpart Joe Biden for help in his re-election bid during a private meeting they had on the sidelines of a regional summit last week. “There’s no such a thing,” Bolsonaro told a local radio on Monday when asked whether he had asked for Biden’s help. “It’s speculation; we talked about ...

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson risks reopening divisions that tore his Conservative Party apart in 2019, with his government set to propose a law that would let UK ministers override parts of the Brexit deal he signed with the European Union. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis confirmed the legislation will be presented to Parliament. That was meant to happen, but last-minute ...

Bloomberg China’s defense chief issued one of the country’s strongest warnings yet about the risk of war over Taiwan, even as he reaffirmed Beijing’s commitment to maintain peace in Asia. In a speech to the region’s biggest security conference Sunday, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe repeatedly expressed Beijing’s willingness to fight to prevent a formal split by the democratically elected ...

  Bloomberg Chinese military officials in recent months have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan Strait isn’t international waters during meetings with US counterparts, according to a person familiar with the situation, generating concern within the Biden administration. The statement disputing the US view of international law has been delivered to the American government by Chinese officials on multiple occasions and ...