Politics

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 ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden agreed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a “killer,” and said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday that Russia would pay for alleged interference in US elections. His comments, came the same day as a US intelligence community report that Putin ordered influence operations to hurt Biden’s candidacy, favouring former President Donald Trump just ...

Bloomberg At least eight people were killed in shootings at three Asian massage parlors in the Atlanta area, sparking questions about how the US can curb the discrimination and violence against Asians that has escalated during the coronavirus pandemic. Police arrested Robert Aaron Long, 21, in connection with all three incidents. Atlanta area authorities said at least six of the ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisted the UK must be ready to increase trade with China, in the face of criticism that his government is putting commercial deals ahead of security and human rights. Setting out his principles for the UK’s future foreign and defense policy, Johnson told Parliament his administration would defend its values as well as its interests. ...

Bloomberg Denmark will send a naval vessel to West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea to aid the fight against rampant piracy. The decision follows a call by A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and shipping industry groups for a more assertive international response to kidnappings that occur in the region. The waters in the area are the most dangerous for seafarers worldwide, accounting for ...

Bloomberg Support for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc slumped to its lowest in a year as discontent over the government’s handling of the vaccination rollout mounts and some opposition leaders called for her to fire the health minister. The stuttering pace of inoculation, irritation with months of lockdown restrictions and a scandal over allegations that some conservative lawmakers profited ...

Bloomberg The UK plans to bolster its stockpile of nuclear weapons to counter growing threats around the world, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced as he unveiled a radical overhaul of defense and foreign policy. Under a blueprint for the next decade, the UK will cut troop numbers, tanks and some fighter jets, according to a person familiar with the matter, ...

Bloomberg China warned the European Union (EU) not to interfere in its national security affairs, saying any sanctions over human rights abuses — based on “lies” — could fuel the confrontation. “I am deeply concerned about possible sanctions,” China’s ambassador to the EU, Zhang Ming, said during a European Policy Centre event on Tuesday. “If some insist on confrontation, we ...

Bloomberg Russia condemned the US for applying diplomatic pressure on Brazil to reject its Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, adding that attempts at political meddling in inoculation campaigns were costing lives. The US Department of Health and Human Services said in its annual report published in January that its Office of Global Affairs sought to persuade Brazil not to allow the ...