Politics

Bloomberg House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for an independent commission to investigate last month’s Capitol insurrection has some bipartisan support, yet the effort risks getting tangled in the bitter aftermath of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment over the deadly assault. Pelosi said the commission would be modelled on the widely praised panel that probed the origins of the September 11, ...

Bloomberg Japan’s top government spokesman said it was “unacceptable” that Chinese coastguard vessels had approached Japanese trawlers near disputed islands for two straight days this week, in a sign of rising tension between the neighbours. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told a news conference that Japan had protested incidents that took place in what the country sees as its territorial ...

Bloomberg Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha is set to face a no-confidence vote this week as opposition lawmakers target his government for its alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 outbreak amid a renewed push by pro-democracy activists for the premier’s ouster and monarchy reforms. The opposition began grilling Prayuth and nine of his cabinet members as a four-day debate got underway ...

Bloomberg Beijing expressed “strong dissatisfaction” after 58 governments signed a declaration against detaining each-others’ citizens for geopolitical leverage, a move seen as targeting countries like Iran and China. “The Canadian side’s attempt to pressure China by using ‘Megaphone Diplomacy’ or ganging up is totally futile and will only head towards a dead end,” a spokesperson at the Chinese embassy in ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s junta strengthened its grip on power over the weekend, ordering an internet blackout overnight and making it easier for authorities to make arrests as it looks to quell surging protests against its February 1 coup. Protests continued on Monday after tens of thousands of people continued to demonstrate in defiance of the military even as the regime stepped ...

Bloomberg Sudan accused Ethiopian forces of entering its territory, escalating a dispute over land that straddles their border. “Sudan strongly condemns the aggression carried out by Ethiopia, in which its forces entered into territories that legally belong to Sudan,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It described the incident as “a direct violation” of Sudanese sovereignty. Relations between Sudan ...

Bloomberg Time is “running out” to resolve an impasse with imprisoned Ethiopian opposition leaders who’ve spent almost three weeks without food, according to a lawyer for one of the key figures behind the protest. Media mogul Jawar Mohammed’s representative said the hunger strike was endangering the inmates’ lives and urged the government to seek a quick resolution. “We are running ...

Bloomberg Ex-Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti won snap elections in a comeback that could worsen already tense relations with neighbouring Serbia. Kurti’s party, whose last government lasted just four months, got 48% in the ballot, according to preliminary results with 97% of votes counted. Four other parties are also on track to enter parliament, as well as minority lawmakers who ...

Bloomberg Catalan separatist parties won a majority in the regional parliament in the election, but Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez was one of the night’s big winners. Sanchez’s Socialist party won the most votes and saw its main national rival, the conservative People’s Party, suffer a humiliating defeat. All the same, the next regional leader is set to come from ...

Bloomberg Former President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate on the charge of inciting the January 6 riot at the Capitol after an unprecedented second impeachment trial that exposed a Republican Party deeply divided over Trump’s conduct and uneasy with his continued role in public life. The vote was 57-43, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for a ...