Politics

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, ...

Bloomberg US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that 500 additional troops will be stationed in Germany from the fall, marking a reversal of former President Donald Trump’s planned draw down. President Joe Biden, said in February he was freezing Trump’s plan to withdraw about 9,500 soldiers from Germany — a move that had stunned European and North Atlantic Treaty Organization ...

Bloomberg Ukraine and Russia ratcheted up their rhetoric as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Brussels to discuss the escalating tensions with his European partners. Meeting with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia, which has amassed troops near the two countries’ border, is threatening to destroy his country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said ...

Bloomberg Burundi and the European Union have accelerated talks on lifting sanctions imposed by the bloc, according to Foreign Affairs Minister Albert Shingiro. The EU placed penalties on some politicians and state officials and froze government financing in 2015 during a political crisis that followed former President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to seek a third term, a move seen by the ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong will hold its Legislative Council election on December 19 after delaying the vote by more than a year because of the pandemic, a move that allows the government to push through changes that give China a veto over any pro-democracy politician. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam announced the changes on Tuesday, after she said her advisory Executive ...

Bloomberg Ukraine urged Russia to pull back troops from its border as Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned the US would impose “costs” on any Kremlin aggression. Tensions between the two neighbours are the highest since the end of large-scale fighting in the conflict that began after President Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea in 2014. The war over the status of ...

Bloomberg A party in the Czech Republic’s ruling coalition will remove the Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, the government’s most vocal critic of Russia’s efforts to take part in nuclear plant tender in the Nato member state. The removal follows Petricek’s unsuccessful bid to replace Social Democratic Party Chairman Jan Hamacek in a vote last week. Petricek, 39, resigned from his ...

Bloomberg Peru is heading to a presidential runoff in June after early results showed a fragmented and politically divided nation with no candidate getting anywhere close to the threshold needed to win outright. As voting stations closed Sunday, Pedro Castillo, a community organiser and union leader who appeared sixth on the polls just a week ago, was leading the race ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump plans to tell Republican donors that the party will retake control of Congress in the 2022 midterm elections and that “a Republican candidate” will win the White House in 2024 by championing working-class Americans, as he holds out the prospect of running again. Trump’s speech at a Republican National Committee donor event will call for building on ...