Politics

Bloomberg Afghanistan’s US-backed president used his first public appearance in days to say he’s turning to the international community for help against Taliban militants advancing across the country. Ashraf Ghani made brief, nationally televised remarks on Saturday as Taliban fighters continue to make rapid territorial gains in the vacuum left by departing US and NATO troops. The president said he ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s largest protest group that drew upwards of two million of the city’s residents on to the streets in 2019 will disband, according to local media reports. Members of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organized many of the largest rallies during the Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, endorsed a resolution to disband, local media including the South ...

Bloomberg Finland’s opposition Finns Party picked a new leader who said the anti-immigrant populists won’t sacrifice their controversial policies in order to become more palatable to other politicians. Riikka Purra, a 44-year-old lawmaker considered the favourite in the race, won by a large margin, securing majority support at a party convention in Seinajoki, western Finland, on Saturday. Incumbent Jussi Halla-Aho ...

Bloomberg Representatives of Nicolas Maduro’s government and the opposition signed a “memorandum of understanding” in Mexico City to begin talks aimed at ending a five-year political impasse and addressing the nation’s economic collapse. The head of opposition’s delegation, Gerardo Blyde, said each side’s willingness and the common understanding that Venezuela is in the midst of its “worst crisis” in modern ...

Bloomberg Zambian opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema took an early lead as the first results were announced from cliffhanger election. With results tallied from 15 of the 156 constituencies, Hichilema had 171,604 votes versus President Edgar Lungu’s 110,178, chief electoral officer Kryticous Nshindano said Saturday. Total valid votes counted so far are 287,996, he said. The partial count may not be ...

Bloomberg At a campaign stop outside a picturesque market town in Saxony, Armin Laschet was faced with a very delicate political dilemma for a German politician: what to put on his bratwurst. With cameras clicking, the faltering favourite to replace Angela Merkel as chancellor hesitated before picking ketchup, while a local ally from his Christian Democratic party subtly noted Saxony’s ...

Bloomberg North Korea threated a “security crisis” over US-led military drills, in what appeared to be a campaign to pressure South Korea’s pro-engagement president for greater support before he leaves office next year. Training exercises scheduled to start on Monday risk sinking a two-week-old deal between Seoul and Pyongyang to improve ties, said Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean ruling ...

Bloomberg Russia filed new charges against jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny using a law that has mostly been applied to cults, as the Kremlin moves to crush dissent ahead of parliamentary elections next month. Navalny and his allies are accused of creating “a non-profit organisation that infringes on the persons and rights of citizens,” Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a ...

Bloomberg A Chinese court jailed a Canadian tour organiser for 11 years for spying, while leaving room for his eventual deportation — a ruling that appeared timed to pressure Ottawa in extradition proceedings against a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive. Michael Spavor, who organised tours to North Korea, was sentenced after being found guilty of stealing and illegally providing state ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron rebuffed accusations that he’s handling the Covid-19 crisis in an authoritarian way on Wednesday and renewed his call for people to get vaccinated to beat the pandemic. “Never before in our history was a crisis of such magnitude fought in such a democratic way,” Macron said at the beginning of a virtual defense cabinet meeting ...