Politics

BLOOMBERG South Africa’s government is taking legal advice on how to handle an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in the event the Russian leader attends a Brics summit in August. The ICC issued the warrant against Putin for war crimes related to the alleged abduction of children from Ukraine. South Africa is a signatory to ...

BLOOMBERG China’s top diplomat Wang Yi urged Europe to play a role in supporting peace talks for Russia’s war in Ukraine, though the US has warned Beijing’s proposals would effectively freeze the Kremlin’s territorial gains. “China looks forward to France and other European countries to also play their due role,” Wang told Emmanuel Bonne, a diplomatic advisor to the French ...

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw tests of weapons designed to deliver nuclear strikes against the US and its allies, including one his regime billed as a new underwater drone that can create a “radioactive tsunami.” The tests also included cruise missiles that were affixed with mock nuclear warheads, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Friday. The ...

BLOOMBERG The UK and European Union (EU) will sign off on their new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, despite ongoing opposition to the agreement from some unionists in the region. UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and EU Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic will meet in London to adopt the so-called Windsor Framework, after which new trading arrangements can be implemented, the Foreign ...

BLOOMBERG Xi Jinping’s meetings in Moscow with Vladimir Putin put the Biden administration in an uncomfortable position: on the sidelines as two adversaries discuss a Ukraine peace proposal that the US has deemed unacceptable. US officials have publicly expressed deep skepticism about the Chinese idea, saying its call for a cease-fire would reward Moscow’s invasion by cementing its territorial gains. ...

BLOOMBERG Rahul Gandhi, the senior leader of India’s main opposition Congress party, has been convicted by a local court of defamation and sentenced to two years in jail after allegedly making offensive remarks in 2019 about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surname. A court in the western city of Surat found Gandhi guilty, but granted him bail and suspended the sentence ...

BLOOMBERG UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emerged unscathed from a day of Parliamentary drama after convincingly winning a key Brexit vote, while former Premier Boris Johnson cut a defensive figure as he denied lying to lawmakers during the so-called Partygate scandal. Sunak won the vote on a crucial element of the new deal he struck last month with the European ...

BLOOMBERG China’s ambassador to Australia has dismissed concerns over a war between the two countries as unrealistic, as defense officials from both governments met for talks in Canberra in the latest sign of a diplomatic thaw. Ambassador Xiao Qian wrote an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age newspapers on Thursday, in which he criticised the ...

BLOOMBERG Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the US will gain expanded access to military sites in northern Philippines close to Taiwan, as well as in Palawan province near South China Sea, paving the way for greater American presence in key locations as tensions with Beijing linger. Marcos said at a televised briefing that the four additional sites under the ...

BLOOMBERG Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited frontline positions near the besieged city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, a focus of fierce battles with the Russian army in recent months, and was briefed about the situation on the ground. Zelenskiy earlier condemned what he called “murderous” Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight using drones, as well as fresh missile attacks ...