Politics

Bloomberg The UK must prepare to fight wars without the help of the US, British defense secretary Robert Ben Wallace said in an interview with the Sunday Times. Wallace said he worries “if the United States withdraws from its leadership around the world,” and such a possibility keeps him “awake at night,” according to the newspaper. He suggested the government ...

Bloomberg US officials reiterated their partnership with Taiwan and Democratic candidate Joe Biden advocated stronger relations with the island after President Tsai Ing-wen swept to victory in an election that pressured voters to pick sides in the battle for influence between America and China. “You are stronger because of your free and open society,” Biden, the former US vice president, ...

Bloomberg Iranian security forces stepped up patrols in Tehran, seeking to quell further anti-government protests after the regime admitted downing a Ukrainian passenger jet, triggering anger on the streets and global outrage. Videos on social media, which couldn’t immediately be verified by Bloomberg, showed motorcycle-mounted security forces in green camouflage and anti-riot body armour stationed on the city’s Valiasr square ...

Bloomberg Thousands of people gathered in a square in Hong Kong’s city centre on Sunday for a peaceful rally under the watchful gaze of riot police who kept their distance from the event while patrolling the area. The authorised meeting was held by Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team, which described it as a “pre-march assembly” for a rally scheduled for ...

Bloomberg Thousands of people joined a rally in Thailand to protest against the military-backed government and call for more political freedom, less than a year after a disputed general election. The demonstrators gathered on Sunday in a Bangkok park for an early-morning protest jog against the administration led by prime minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha. Former army chief Prayuth seized power in ...

Bloomberg Iran admitted it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner that it mistook for a threat during hostilities with the US, marking a dramatic reversal after repeatedly denying such a scenario and accusing Western governments of spreading lies. Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 was flying close to a sensitive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military site when it was downed because ...

Bloomberg A convoy of US troops was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan’s province of Kandahar on Saturday, AP reported, citing unidentified NATO and local officials. Two US troops were killed and two injured when the explosive device hit the military vehicle, military officials said. The Taliban earlier claimed responsibility for the attack through its spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi. ...

Bloomberg President Tsai Ing-wen won a landslide victory over China-friendly opposition challenger Han Kuo-yu to clinch a second term in Taiwan’s presidential election, dealing a blow to Beijing, which has long sought to bring the democratically run island under its control. Han conceded defeat just before 9 pm at his headquarters in the southern city of Kaohsiung. Tsai had a ...

Bloomberg North Korea won’t rely on the personal relationship between its leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump as it doesn’t intend to trade its nuclear weapons for a lift of sanctions, its state-run media said, citing a foreign ministry adviser. “There will never be such negotiations as that in Vietnam, in which we proposed exchanging a core nuclear ...

Bloomberg Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and an outspoken critic of several of prime minister Narendra Modi’s economic and social policies, said student-led protests in the country show that the ideals of the secular nation are still valued by the youth. “It is they, who never marched to win freedom, but today march to ...