Politics

Bloomberg Eritrea agreed to start pulling its troops from Ethiopia’s Tigray region, making its first public admission to having troops in the neighboring country, in a letter to the United Nations Security Council. The development follows comments by UN aid chief Mark Lowcock to the Security Council asserting that there was no proof Eritrean forces were withdrawing. “Eritrea and Ethiopia ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden will keep the historically low refugee cap set by former President Donald Trump for now, going back on a plan to accept many more refugees this year. The president instead signed new order intended to accelerate processing of refugees. The order reallocates slots to make them more readily available to people living in Africa and the ...

Bloomberg Justin Trudeau’s special immigration initiative for Hong Kong residents received more applications than expected in its first three weeks, according to a spokesperson for Canada’s immigration minister. From February 8 to 28, 524 people applied for a three-year open work permit designed for young, educated individuals from the former British colony. It also expedites their eligibility to apply for ...

Bloomberg The Philippines is bracing for destructive winds and intense rains as Typhoon Surigae rapidly intensifies. The typhoon locally known as Bising is moving west northwest over the Philippine sea, packing maximum winds of 175 kilometres (109 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 215 kilometres per hour, the weather bureau said on Saturday. Flooding and rain-induced landslides may ...

Bloomberg China criticised the US for sending a group of former officials to Taiwan, saying the move will only add to mounting tensions. Two former deputy secretaries of state, Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, and former Senator Christopher Dodd arrived in Taipei on Wednesday as part of a White House delegation marking the 42nd anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act, ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden will withdraw US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks that precipitated the American invasion that ousted the country’s Taliban leadership, according to people familiar with the plan. American forces, in conjunction with troops from Nato allies, will begin withdrawing before the end of this month, according to a senior ...

Bloomberg The Philippines has deployed extra vessels to patrol the South China Sea where Chinese ships had been spotted at a disputed reef as tensions deepen between the two nations. Four Philippine Navy ships were sent to back up Coast Guard and fishing vessels at Whitsun Reef, Reed Bank and the Spratly Islands, the South China Sea task force said ...

Bloomberg Venezuela is restricting Covid-19 shots to people with a state loyalty card, effectively excluding many government opponents from getting vaccinated. When the country began inoculating its elderly population, it said it was selecting recipients from a registry used by the Nicolas Maduro administration to keep tabs on voter loyalty and grant state subsidies. While all Venezuelans have a national ...

Bloomberg Bavaria Premier Markus Soeder presented himself as a force for change who can revive the fortunes of Germany’s conservatives as he stepped up his bid to follow Chancellor Angela Merkel at the top of the bloc’s election ticket. His rival for the candidacy in September’s national vote, Armin Laschet, responded by saying that Soeder changes his views a little ...

Bloomberg China’s air force sent 25 fighters and bombers over the Taiwan Strait, escalating military pressure on the government in Taipei as it boosts ties with the US. Beijing deployed 14 J-16 and four J-10 fighters, four H-6K bombers, two Y-8 anti-sub warfare planes and one KJ-500 early warning aircraft into the southwest section of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, ...