Politics

Bloomberg Boris Johnson didn’t use a meeting with a top civil servant to try to influence her report about illegal parties held at the centre of government during the Covid-19 pandemic, said Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi. Sue Gray is expected to release her report into what the UK media has dubbed “partygate,” a scandal that’s dogged the prime minister’s administration ...

  Bloomberg Thailand’s capital was expected to vote for a new governor for the first time in almost a decade with the winner facing the challenges of rebuilding Bangkok’s pre-pandemic status as a tourism hub and tackling persistent pollution. More than 4.4 million people, including an estimated 700,000 first-time voters, will pick the next governor from a list of 30 ...

Bloomberg Joe Biden talked at length as a presidential candidate about the need to focus on China’s rising global power. Yet 17 months after taking office, Asian leaders are still waiting for details on a strategy for more US economic engagement in the region. Before Biden touched down in South Korea, many officials in the region have struggled to understand ...

  Bloomberg Australia’s six-week election campaign has entered its final days with polling showing a narrow victory likely for the center-left opposition Labor Party, but an unexpected result in 2019 is still hanging over both sides ahead of voting on Saturday. PM Scott Morrison and Opposition leader Anthony Albanese are rushing to visit must-win seats across the country, with Morrison ...

Bloomberg US President Joe Biden welcomed congressional passage of $40 billion in aid for Ukraine and announced a new package of weapons he said would be sent “directly to the front lines.” A top Kremlin official said Russia is intent on taking all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. The US and United Nations are looking at ways ...

  Bloomberg Chancellor Olaf Scholz signature policy to boost Germany’s military prowess is struggling to get off the ground. Back in February, the 63-year-old chancellor vowed to end decades of military underfunding with a debt-financed 100 billion euro ($105 billion) defense package, dismantling the tenets on which German foreign policy long-rested since World War II. But since then Scholz has ...

Bloomberg China’s top diplomat again warned the US over its increased support for Taiwan, showing the island democracy remains a major sticking point between the world’s biggest economies as Beijing sent more military aircraft toward the island. “If the US side insists on playing the Taiwan card and goes further and further down the wrong road, it will certainly lead ...

Bloomberg The last time a US president visited Seoul in 2019, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un agreed to restart nuclear talks during an impromptu meeting at the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ). As Joe Biden prepares to land in Seoul on Friday, the White House hasn’t indicated he’ll be heading to the DMZ. There’s also little he can do to ...

Bloomberg Nearly three months after Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine, Russia faces more sanctions than any other country. But thanks to surging prices for its exports of oil and gas, the Kremlin has been able to steady the ruble and limit the impact on consumers and the war effort. For now. Signs of strain are spreading across the ...

Bloomberg Prosecutors hoping to prove a top lawyer for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign lied while trying to get the FBI to investigate a suspected secret link between Donald Trump’s company and a Russian bank are having a hard time getting their own witnesses to confirm the claim. Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with close ties to the Democratic Party, ...