Politics

Bloomberg Afghanistan’s government is struggling to maintain its grip on power after President Donald Trump’s decision to accelerate US troop withdrawal from the war-torn nation emboldened the Taliban and other extremists groups. The United Nations has noted a dramatic surge in violence since Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s government and the Taliban began peace talks in September, ranging from attacks on ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said he will meet with the three envoys appointed by the African Union, dismissing a move by the regional body to mediate a conflict between the federal government and the northern region of Tigray. The African Union named three former heads of state as envoys. The PM’s office said that news of envoys traveling ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani described at length to a federal judge in Pennsylvania a vast but vague Democratic conspiracy to steal the election that justified the invalidation of hundreds of thousands of votes — enough to flip the state from President-elect Joe Biden to Trump. But US District Judge Matthew Brann cut straight to the heart of ...

Bloomberg Taiwan’s broadcast regulator has ordered the closure of one of the island’s most ardently pro-China cable news networks following a month-long battle over journalistic standards and freedom of the press. The National Communications Commission (NCC) will not renew the broadcast license of Chung T’ien News, its chairman Chen Yaw-shyang said at a briefing in Taipei on Wednesday. The station ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s parliament rejected a push by pro-democracy groups for a constitutional amendment to reduce the powers of the nation’s monarchy, potentially escalating a monthslong anti-government protests. The lawmakers instead voted for setting up a charter rewriting committee that will skip any review of chapters governing the monarchy, the most powerful institution in Thailand. The roadmap for amendment proposed by ...

Bloomberg People in England should prepare for tough coronavirus restrictions in December and January if the rules are to be relaxed for a short period over Christmas, a public health chief said. Susan Hopkins, deputy director of Public Health England, said government scientific advice has shown “for every day that we release [measures] we will need two days of tighter ...

Bloomberg Denmark’s response to a coronavirus mutation in its mink population has just cost a cabinet minister his job. Mogens Jensen, the 57-year-old minister for food and veterinary affairs, is stepping down after losing parliament’s support, according to a statement issued by his office on Wednesday. His departure comes a fortnight after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish farmers to ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump is expected to issue a formal order drawing down US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each country by January 15, a US defense official said, as the president works to deliver on his longtime pledge to exit from “endless wars.” US Central Command has received an informal warning order, according to the official. The ...

Bloomberg A US Navy destroyer successfully intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to simulate one developed by North Korea, a Pentagon official said. The Aegis-class destroyer operating near Hawaii on Tuesday fired a Standard Missile-3 model Block II A made by Raytheon Technologies Corp at the target launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. “This was an ...

Bloomberg Australia is taking the next step towards building a coalition of “like-minded” democracies pushing back against what they view as Beijing’s increasing expansionism in the Indo-Pacific — even as the list of trade reprisals against it grows. As part of the campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison met his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo on Tuesday to sign what ...