Politics

Bloomberg India says at least 20 of its soldiers have died in a “violent” clash with Chinese troops at a section along their unmarked border high in the Himalayas, in the first fatalities resulting from skirmishes in the region in four decades. There were “casualties on both sides,” Indian army spokesman Col Aman Anand said in New Delhi, adding that ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he plans to cut the number of US troops stationed in Germany to 25,000, until Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government increases defense spending. “Germany’s delinquent. They’ve been delinquent for years,” he told reporters at the White House in the first official confirmation of a move that was reported earlier this month. “They owe NATO billions of ...

Bloomberg Australian foreign minister Marise Payne criticised China for creating “disinformation” during the coronavirus pandemic, saying it “will cost lives.” “It is troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to undermine liberal democracy to promote their own more authoritarian models,” Payne said in a speech in Canberra on Tuesday. She cited a European Union report that said foreign actors ...

Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was expected to travel to Hawaii on Tuesday for meetings with his Chinese counterpart, according to two people familiar with the plans, as tensions between the countries run high over trade, coronavirus, the future of Hong Kong and other issues. Secrecy around the planned encounter between Pompeo and Yang Jiechi, the ruling Communist Party’s ...

Bloomberg British PM Boris Johnson was expected to step back into the Brexit fray on Monday as he held talks with the European Union’s top officials, with both sides looking to reset negotiations that have drifted into stalemate. In Johnson’s first direct intervention in the discussions since the UK left the bloc at the end of January, each side is ...

Bloomberg A Moscow court found former US Marine Paul Whelan guilty of spying and sentenced him to 16 years in prison Monday, according to a statement from his family. Prosecutors had asked for 18 years for Whelan, who says that he is innocent and that he was set up by a Russian Federal Security Service major who owed him 100,000 ...

Bloomberg European officials have warned Israel that unilateral annexation of West Bank land may cost it lucrative European Union science research grants, according to Minister of Science and Technology Izhar Shay. Annexation, scheduled to begin next month, could endanger Israel’s continued participation in the EU’s Horizon grants program if the bloc retaliates by denying Israeli scientists access, Shay said in ...

Bloomberg Ireland’s first grand coalition moved a step closer, as political leaders signed off on the final detail of a program for government. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and the Green’s Eamon Ryan agreed the plan for the next five years, and will now put it to the parties’ lawmakers and members in coming ...

Bloomberg Singapore will this week further relax restrictive measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus, with the government assessing the situation in the country to be under control. After June 18 at 11:59 pm, most activities will be allowed to resume subject to safe distancing principles, according to a press release from the Ministry of Health on Monday. Small ...

Bloomberg The US Supreme Court refused to take up a new test of “qualified immunity,” rejecting several appeals that challenged the legal doctrine that has become a broad liability shield for police officers accused of civil rights violations. Qualified immunity has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks amid the nationwide protests sparked by the May 25 death of George ...