Politics

Bloomberg Japan and South Korea look set to try to revive a relationship that has hit new depths in recent years, with President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol offering an olive branch to Tokyo weeks before US President Joe Biden is likely to visit both countries. Yoon, who takes office on May 10, is sending a group of South Korean lawmakers and ...

Bloomberg A senior US diplomat again warned China of sanctions if it offers “material support” for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, while also pledging to help India end its dependence on Russian weapons. China wasn’t helping the situation in Ukraine by doing things like amplifying Russian disinformation campaigns, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said at an event in ...

  Bloomberg Japan reinstated a reference to Russia’s “illegal occupation” of disputed islands in its annual diplomatic report for the first time in 19 years, as relations between the neighbours turn increasingly hostile following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. The two countries have been locked in a territorial dispute over a group of islands known as the southern Kurils in ...

Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron is closer to winning another term at the helm of Europe’s second-largest economy as nationalist leader Marine Le Pen runs out of time to narrow the gap between them before the presidential runoff ballot. Both candidates are holding their last rallies in areas where they came out on top in the first round two weeks ago — ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan lawmakers backing President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said they’re willing to consider constitutional changes submitted by his opponents, including clipping his executive powers, signaling a softer stance as the government faces public anger over rising living costs. The government “is ready to work with parliament on constitutional amendments and proposals submitted by various parties which should be published for ...

Bloomberg Mwai Kibaki, the two-term Kenyan president who fired up the economy yet saw his legacy tainted by election-related violence, has died. He was 90. His death was announced by President Uhuru Kenyatta in a televised address. “Kibaki was a quintessential patriot, whose legacy of civic responsibility will continue to inspire generations of Kenyans long into the future,” Kenyatta said. ...

Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin declared that Russia had seized Ukraine’s Mariupol even as his defense minister said more than 2,000 opposing troops remain holed up in an industrial complex in the strategic southern port city. “Taking control of such an important centre in the South as Mariupol is a success,” Putin said in a televised meeting with Defense Minister Sergei ...

  Bloomberg Sweden’s Foreign Minister Ann Linde said political parties deliberating a potential application for Nato membership may speed up the process, initially planned to conclude by the end of next month. The talks should be finalised by May 13, Linde said in an interview with Swedish public radio’s Ekot. “The situation in Ukraine continues to worsen, Finland has submitted ...

Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen struggled to land a knockout blow during their one-and-only debate, an encounter that left the French president in the box seat four days before the final round of the presidential election. Some 15.6 million viewers watched the long and rather technical head-to-head during which both candidates confirmed their positions on key issues, from tech ...

  Bloomberg Former Botswanan President Ian Khama has been formally charged with 14 counts relating to the illegal possession of firearms in what is the first attempt at the criminal prosecution of a previous head of state. Khama, who is charged with three others, was not at the court in the capital, Gaborone, after having moved to South Africa in ...