Politics

BLOOMBERG Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is lagging in all opinion polls as he heads into the only televised election debate with his conservative rival, even after he closed some of the gap in recent weeks. With Sanchez and Alberto Nunez Feijoo were expected to face off in a TV debate on Monday at 10 pm in Madrid, five polls ...

BLOOMBERG The Solomon Islands became the latest Pacific island nation to open an embassy in China and upgrade ties with Beijing as Washington also seeks to bolster its presence in the region. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is on a week-long visit to China and met with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang. “I am here ...

BLOOMBERG Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced that he is leaving politics after his coalition government collapsed amid infighting over migration policy. Addressing Dutch lawmakers in The Hague, Rutte said that he is stepping down as leader of his party after 13 years in power. The country’s longest-serving premier had been facing a vote of no confidence in parliament but ...

BLOOMBERG Germany can’t make good on its Nato commitment to spend at least 2% of economic output on the military in the longer term unless it increases its core defense budget markedly, according to the Ifo Institute. Shifts in some spending out of the regular budget mean Germany will have to use about one-third of its €100 billion special armed ...

BLOOMBERG Joe Biden was expected to meet Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for talks on Ukraine during a brief visit to the UK on Monday, after allies questioned the US decision to send cluster bombs to support Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Our relationship is rock solid,” the US president said as he met Sunak in Downing Street. “Couldn’t be meeting with a closer ...

BLOOMBERG A slow-moving storm system could pound the US northeast with more than 6 inches of rain starting from Sunday, with areas including New York City on alert for flash flooding. About 80 million people from Washington to Portland, Maine, could see a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours, according to forecasts. The storms may dump a ...

BLOOMBERG The US decision to provide controversial cluster bombs to Ukraine continues to cause waves, with some Nato members – all strong allies to Kyiv — questioning the move. Ukraine has said it will maintain strict controls over the use of the weapons. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in a statement, called for the “universal application of the principles of ...

BLOOMBERG The UK opposition Labour Party faces the prospect of regaining power against a backdrop of record high debt, but that won’t stop it from spending to invest in policy priorities, said shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves. “All of our policies are subject to our fiscal rules, which means paying for day-to-day spending through tax receipts and getting debt down as ...

BLOOMBERG President Vladimir Putin told a regional security grouping that Russians were united behind his leadership in his first international appearance since the failed mutiny that posed the greatest threat to his almost quarter-century rule. Putin also thanked leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization “who have expressed support for the actions of the Russian leadership to protect the constitutional order,” ...

BLOOMBERG President Emmanuel Macron was expected to  meet with more than 200 mayors to assess the riots that have rocked France as a massive police deployment led to a continued drop in the level of unrest overnight. French employers’ lobby Medef estimated the cost of violence since the police shooting of Nahel, a 17-year-old of North African descent, at more ...