Politics

Bloomberg The Senate sent the months-long impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump to its final stages with a vote to acquit the president set for Wednesday, after Republicans defeated Democrats’ efforts to call new witnesses. Senators will hear closing arguments on Monday from lawyers for both sides, then will have two days for debate before voting at 4 pm on ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration said it will add six new countries to its travel ban, part of an election-year crackdown that could reignite debate over whether the policy discriminates against Muslims. Restrictions on entering the US will now apply to certain travellers and migrants from Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, as well as Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar, according ...

Bloomberg The centerpiece of Japan’s response to US calls for a Middle East security coalition — a single warship — sets sail on Sunday, on a mission that highlights just how few American allies have signed up. The Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer Takanami, as well as two patrol planes, are taking part in what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has ...

Bloomberg At least 64 US military personnel in Iraq suffered brain trauma in a Iranian missile attack launched in retaliation after President Donald Trump’s ordered the killing of an Iranian general. The 64 service members — 14 more than previously reported — have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries, Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell, a Defense Department spokesman, said. Of ...

Bloomberg Prime minister Boris Johnson said Brexit offers the UK an opportunity for “renewal and change” as he called on the divided nation to pull together in an address ahead of its split with the European Union. “If we can get this right, I believe that with every month that goes by, we will grow in confidence not just at ...

Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo travels to Ukraine this week to persuade the country that US support remains undiminished in the wake of the impeachment saga. President Donald Trump’s continued hostility towards Kyiv — and Pompeo’s own recent comments — make that a harder sell. Pompeo will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior officials during a one-day ...

Bloomberg Burkina Faso said 39 people were killed in an attack by extremists on the northern village of Silgadji that appears to mark a shift from raids on mainly military targets to the execution of civilians. Security forces are helping residents to bury the victims after the “cowardly and barbaric” attack, in Soum province, the government said in a statement. ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump made sure Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu was standing alongside him at the White House as he presented his long-delayed “deal of the century” for Middle East peace, a welcome distraction for two leaders fighting for their political futures. Yet the proposal — which makes far more demands of Palestinian than Israeli leaders — generated little enthusiasm, ...

Bloomberg China’s armed forces accused the US of “ill intentions” in the South China Sea after an American warship entered waters near the contested Spratly Islands last week. “The US ship’s deliberate provocation during the traditional lunar Chinese New Year festival, which harboured ill intentions, is a naked act of navigational hegemony,” Senior Colonel Li Huamin, spokesman for the People’s ...

Bloomberg The US military has begun issuing furlough warnings to almost 9,000 civilian South Korean employees, as Washington and Seoul remain at loggerheads over President Donald Trump’s demand its ally pay more money for its hosting of American troops. The notices inform workers at American military facilities in South Korea that they potentially face administrative furloughs as of April 1, ...