Politics

Bloomberg If Kim Jong-un needed another reminder about the risks of bargaining away North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme to the US, President Donald Trump’s decision to kill one of Iran’s top commanders provides one. The killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani reinforces the North Korean view that the US only takes such actions against states that lack a credible nuclear ...

Bloomberg Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido reclaimed the National Assembly that he heads, pushing past armed guards two days after President Nicolas Maduro’s loyalists blocked him from attending his own re-election. Guaido and his allies burst through the legislative palace’s doors minutes after a pro-government group led by lawmaker Luis Parra, who had claimed the presidency of the body, scurried ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson will have to choose which areas he wants to focus on if he’s to get an agreement on the UK’s future relationship with the European Union before his year-end deadline, the European Commission president said. In her first major intervention on Brexit since she took up her post on December 1, Ursula von der Leyen said the ...

Bloomberg Three dozen mourners were crushed to death in a stampede at the funeral for a powerful Iranian general slain in a US drone strike. Qassem Soleimani’s exploits in conflicts from Syria to Yemen made him a national hero, and hundreds of thousands have turned out this week as his funeral procession stopped in various cities, first in Iraq, where ...

Bloomberg Germany has temporarily moved some troops from Iraq due to safety concerns following the US killing of a top Iranian general. Of Germany’s 120 soldiers in Iraq as part of a training mission, 32 have transferred to Jordan and three to Kuwait, Defense Ministry Spokesman Joerg Schroeder said on Tuesday by phone. The troops could return anytime to continue ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s lawmakers approved a bill granting legal cover to a three-year extension in service to current army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ending an apparent stand-off between the nation’s strong military and the judiciary. The move, endorsed by a majority vote in the National Assembly, came after Pakistan’s Supreme Court in November accepted Bajwa’s six-month extension in term on ...

Bloomberg Indonesia will not compromise on its sovereignty in the South China Sea amid the recent sighting of Chinese fishing vessels near the Natuna Islands, which lie between Malaysia and Borneo, President Joko Widodo said. Speaking at a plenary cabinet session in Jakarta, Jokowi, as Widodo is known, said the increased presence of Chinese ships in the disputed waters since ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is wavering over how he wants his impeachment trial in the Senate to unfold, people familiar with his thinking said, but an offer by his former top national security aide to testify challenged Republican plans for a quick proceeding. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave no indication that John Bolton’s willingness to testify was putting pressure ...

Bloomberg Sebastian Kurz was sworn in as Austria’s chancellor by President Alexander Van der Bellen, heading a new alliance of conservatives and environmentalists that now has to figure out how to fund its ambitious climate goals. Kurz, 33, is breaking new ground in Europe by forging a coalition between his People’s Party and the Greens. Their programme combines Kurz’s trademark ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump and his top aides spent the weekend arguing that the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani would deter future attacks and make the Middle East safer. Instead, US policy in the region seems to be going in the opposite direction of what Trump has long promised — with more US troops going in, not fewer; ...