Politics

Bloomberg President Joe Biden faces growing pressure from his party’s left to wage an all-out defense of voting rights, as Republican-held statehouses pursue restrictions that would fall heaviest on Black voters who helped Democrats win the White House and both chambers of Congress. Some activists say Biden should reshuffle his priorities and set aside work on a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure and ...

Bloomberg The Philippines expressed “concern” after spotting what it said were Chinese fishing vessels at a reef claimed by it and China, with Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin saying a diplomatic protest was made over the presence of the boats. About 220 Chinese vessels were seen moored in line at Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea on March 7, ...

Bloomberg UK Home Secretary Priti Patel said Britain’s immigration system is broken, failing people fleeing persecution and danger while benefiting those who pay criminal gangs to get them into the country. Patel, writing in the Sun newspaper, said she will announce a new plan for immigration this week to make “much-needed changes.” The overhaul is designed to raise the standard ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, the Associated Press said, citing local media reports. The stop comes as President Joe Biden is under pressure to decide whether to abide by an Afghanistan peace deal reached in Donald Trump’s final year aimed at bringing home the roughly 2,500 troops remaining in the ...

Bloomberg Malaysia said it expelled all North Korean diplomats in Kuala Lumpur following Pyongyang’s decision to end ties with it. Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia resorted to the action in response to North Korea’s “unilateral and utterly irresponsible decision to sever diplomatic ties,” according to a statement. Pyongyang said it was ending relations after a Malaysian court ruled that ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) must honour its vaccine contracts even as the sluggish rollout puts pressure on governments there, Ben Wallace, the UK defense secretary, told Sky News on Sunday. “The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” Wallace said. “They’re under tremendous political pressure at the European Commission. It would damage the EU’s relations globally if ...

Bloomberg The US sought to further strengthen defense cooperation with India as part of President Joe Biden’s push to develop closer ties with Asian partners amid widening differences with China. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin held talks with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday to discuss opportunities to elevate the US-India defense partnership through regional security ...

Bloomberg After the first high-level US-China talks during the Biden administration ended with no agreements, some top former officials in Beijing still saw potential areas of cooperation to move the relationship forward. Speaking during the government-sponsored China Development Forum, top figures including a former vice foreign minister, a senior military adviser and a prominent academic on US-China relations all outlined ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden called on Congress to send him new legislation on hate crimes and for Americans to “change our hearts” to combat racially motivated attacks on Asian Americans, following the murders of eight people in shootings this week in the Atlanta area. Biden asked lawmakers to send him the Covid-19 Hate Crimes Act to sign, which would improve ...

Bloomberg Australia won’t trade away important principles and values to restart talks with China, Foreign Minister Marise Payne told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper. A senior aide to US President Joe Biden came out in support of Australia earlier in the week, telling the Chinese government relations between the two superpowers won’t improve until Beijing stops its economic coercion against ...