Politics

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appears to have lowered his threshold for a nuclear strike, raising the risks for a miscalculation as he rolls out new weapons whose uses range from nearby tactical strikes to threatening the US homeland from afar. Kim signalled a looser policy towards his possible use of atomic weapons at a military parade in Pyongyang ...

  Bloomberg A bipartisan group of senators was expected to meet to discuss options for passing immigration legislation this year. “The idea is to get as many bipartisan bills we can find that have goals that will add up to 60,” Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said, referring to the Senate’s threshold for passing most legislation. Sens John Cornyn (R-Texas), Thom ...

Bloomberg A special court in Myanmar sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in prison in the first of several corruption charges leveled against the deposed civilian leader, according to a person familiar with the matter. The judge handed down the verdict immediately after convening the court, said the person who declined to be named as he is not ...

Bloomberg Taiwan’s military says it plans on using lessons learned from the two-month-old war in Ukraine during annual exercises the island relies on to defend itself from any invasion by China. The Defense Ministry made the announcement, when it said war games would be held May 16-20 and live-fire drills July 25-29. Scenarios for the annual Han Kuang exercises “will ...

Bloomberg Ahead of the November 2019 election, Sri Lankan presidential challenger Gotabaya Rajapaksa proposed sweeping tax cuts so reckless the incumbent government thought it must be a campaign gimmick. The finance minister at the time, Mangala Samaraweera, called a briefing to assail the “dangerous” pledge to reduce the value-added tax to 8% from 15% and scrap other levies. To him, ...

  Bloomberg Venezuela’s government-controlled National Assembly appointed the justices who’ll comprise a new slimmed down Supreme Court, many of them holdovers from the previous court, in a nod to overhauling a judicial system that’s long been criticised for its lack of independence. The assembly chose 20 magistrates in all, 12 of whom were re-appointed to the court, known as the ...

Bloomberg Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned there’s a “serious” risk of nuclear war over Ukraine, even as he signaled the Kremlin is willing to talk to the US to try to resolve the confrontation. “The danger is serious, real. It can’t be underestimated,” Lavrov said in a state TV interview broadcast. Invoking the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when ...

  Bloomberg Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the cabinet are putting in motion plans to reduce his wide-ranging powers as opponents gained momentum in their push to oust his family over mismanagement of the economy. The cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa — the president’s brother — to return to the 19th amendment of the constitution ...

Bloomberg North Korea appears to have held a military parade as part of celebrations to mark the 90th anniversary of its army founding, an event where it may have displayed its latest weapons to deliver nuclear warheads to the US and its allies. The parade was held in central Pyongyang, NK News and Yonhap News Agency reported, citing unnamed sources. ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a visiting South Korean delegation that it was necessary to repair ties between the two neighbours and US allies amid threats to the international order. Kishida reiterated his call for greater strategic cooperation while receiving envoys from President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, according to a statement from Japan’s Foreign Ministry. It wasn’t immediately clear ...