Politics

Bloomberg The Singapore government can do a better job communicating the country’s virus strategy, a minister said, addressing residents’ frustrations over confusing signals on its reopening plan. The country of about 5.5 million people has shifted its approach from Covid elimination to trying to live with the virus, yet authorities have tightened restrictions on gatherings, restaurants and businesses even after ...

Bloomberg Algeria closed its airspace to French military planes, escalating a row between the North African nation and its former colonial ruler over comments attributed to President Emmanuel Macron. Two planned logistical support flights heading to Africa’s Sahel region were denied permission to cross Algeria on Sunday and have been postponed, according to French army spokesman Colonel Pascal Ianni. The ...

Bloomberg Chinese warplanes made multiple incursions close to Taiwan in the second major display of military might in two weeks. People’s Liberation Army aircraft conducted 38 flights near the territory, based on statements from Taiwan’s defense ministry. There were 13 Chinese planes in the air defense identification zone in nighttime hours and 25 earlier in the day, the ministry said. ...

Bloomberg North Korea claimed it had successfully test launched a newly developed anti-aircraft missile a day after the country’s leader, Kim jong-un, called President Joe Biden’s North Korea policy a “petty trick” — escalating tensions with Washington. The test was of “very practical significance in studying and developing various prospective anti-aircraft missile systems,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) ...

Bloomberg Moments after Boris Johnson told Parliament he planned to break a key election pledge and raise taxes on British workers, a WhatsApp message popped up on the phones of Conservative MPs: “PM in the tearoom now.” Johnson’s charm is by far his strongest political asset and the prime minister put it to work, mug in hand, to calm his ...

Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he’s retiring from politics and won’t be seeking the vice presidency in 2022, a surprise move that saw his party’s nominee for the top position instead seek the No. 2 post. Duterte’s former aide and now Senator Christopher ‘Bong’ Go filed his candidacy for vice president. Go had been earlier nominated by the ruling ...

Bloomberg Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, detained as the country prepared for local elections, urged his supporters to get out and vote against the incumbent party. Saakashvili, who returned from eight years in exile in defiance of warnings he’d be prosecuted for alleged abuse of power, was moved to the Rustavi prison, near the capital, Tbilisi. The government has accused ...

Bloomberg French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian is expected to hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Paris next Tuesday, in a bid to improve ties after the recent diplomatic crisis between the two countries. The two ministers will hold in-depth talks “in o rder to identify the steps that could allow the restoration of ...

Bloomberg The top US military leaders pointed rare criticism at key decisions by Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden which they said undermined Afghanistan’s military and made it harder for American troops to remain as the nation’s government collapsed. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Trump’s 2020 peace deal with the Taliban had a ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s Covid-19 outbreak has pushed more people into poverty, and the most vulnerable sections of the society may face “extreme deprivation” in the coming months, according to the UN World Food Program. “We’re concerned that the cumulative impact is putting pressure on the most vulnerable segments of society,” the food agency’s Country Director Stephen Anderson said in a Bloomberg ...