Politics

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, ...

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 ...