Politics

BLOOMBERG Turkey is considering prison terms for landlords found guilty of excessive rent increases after this month’s deadly earthquakes left millions displaced and homeless. The government is weighing two-to-five year terms, an official with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg, adding that it hasn’t yet decided what would constitute an unacceptable increase. The official spoke privately because details of the ...

BLOOMBERG Britain’s governing Conservative Party is trailing badly in opinion polls, apparently on course for a heavy defeat in the next UK general election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes a team-building “away day” can stop the rot. Fresh from unveiling a new post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, Sunak will host a gathering of Conservative MPs this week outside central London ...

BLOOMBERG The leaders of Serbia and Kosovo effectively agreed to a deal on normalising ties but must hash out how to implement it to end a dispute that has smoldered since they fought a 1998-1999 war. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti are facing a push by Washington and Brussels to ease the dispute that has ...

BLOOMBERG Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is unlikely to go to a meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in India from Wednesday due to a parliamentary committee meeting he is expected to attend, according to a government official. It remains unclear whether Hayashi will be at a Friday meeting of the Quad nations, consisting of the US and Australia, alongside India. ...

BLOOMBERG A Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant against former Prime Minister Imran Khan after he did not appear in a hearing for a complaint filed by the Election Commission that the opposition leader did not declare his assets, his lawyer Gohar Ali Khan said. An additional session judge in Islamabad handed down the order after Khan repeatedly failed to ...

BLOOMBERG Ukrainian officials are signaling that the besieged eastern city of Bakhmut may soon be impossible to defend as Russian troops level the area. “The enemy is gradually destroying everything that can be used to protect our positions, for reinforcement and defense,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address Monday evening. The top commander in charge of Ukraine’s ground forces, ...

BLOOMBERG Thailand’s major political parties are ramping up their policy promises to cement a foothold in regional bastions ahead of a general election in May. Campaigning in north Thailand’s Chiang Rai province, the main opposition Pheu Thai Party vowed to triple farmers’ income during the first four years in office if elected. That will be achieved by introducing new farming ...

BLOOMBERG India’s main opposition Congress party said it will forge alliances with some regional groups to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in next year’s general elections. Congress had formed coalition governments from 2004 to 2014 with “friendly allies” and will forge alliances with like-minded political groups for the 2024 polls, party President Mallikarjun Kharge said. Congress’ top leadership are ...

BLOOMBERG A deal with the European Union over trade barriers in Northern Ireland could be struck in the coming  days, deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab has said. “Hopefully there’ll be good news in a matter of days, not weeks.” Raab said in an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge. “We are not there yet. But we are obviously in a ...

BLOOMBERG China will host the president of Belarus in a state visit this week, welcoming an ally of Vladimir Putin as the US expresses concerns that Beijing may yet decide to provide weapons support to Russia that would assist it in its war in Ukraine. Alexander Lukashenko is visiting at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, China’s foreign ministry said ...