Politics

Bloomberg North Koreans and outside observers expecting leader Kim Jong Un to make his traditional address on New Year’s morning instead were handed a new script that enhanced his unpredictable image. North Korea opened 2020 by issuing a “Report on the Fifth Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Workers,” an almost 4,400-word text that outlined what Kim ...

Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari reaffirmed he will leave office in 2023, addressing concerns he wants to change the constitution to seek a third term. Buhari, 77, won a second four-year mandate in March, the last he’s permitted under the constitution of Africa’s largest oil producer. With speculation already mounting over who the ruling All Progressives Council and opposition People’s ...

Bloomberg Australia scrambled military helicopters and ships on Wednesday to help thousands of people cut off by wildfires raging across the southeast as the death toll from the national crisis continued to climb. Some 4,000 holiday-makers and locals remain stranded in the remote township of Mallacoota in Victoria state after a bushfire tore through the community, forcing people to shelter ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo arrives in Ukraine this week to voice support for the embattled nation, a message muddled by Rudy Giuliani’s latest visit there in search of dirt on Joe Biden and by the pending Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump. Pompeo will “reaffirm US support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” when he visits ...

Bloomberg The Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least 14 Afghan soldiers on Monday, diminishing hopes for a nationwide ceasefire proposed by the US government. The insurgents attacked a checkpoint in the northern Jawzjan province, the province’s spokesman Abdul Marouf Azar said by phone. Five soldiers were wounded and two soldiers are missing, he said. Taliban spokesman ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin called US President Donald Trump to thank him for intelligence that helped prevent terrorist acts as the country prepares to celebrate the New Year’s holidays. While the Kremlin didn’t provide any details in its statement, the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said it arrested two people in St. Petersburg who were planning attacks during the ...

Bloomberg The US launched air strikes on five bases in Iraq and Syria used by an Iranian-backed militia after repeated attacks on the American-led coalition operating in the region. “What we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months and months and months, which is that we will not stand for the ...

Bloomberg Kim Jong Un urged “positive and offensive measures” to bolster North Korea’s security, as the Trump administration said it was watching for provocations around the regime’s year-end deadline. Kim issued his call for action during an unusually large and lengthy meeting of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, which continued behind closed doors on Monday in Pyongyang. Donald Trump’s national ...

Bloomberg China’s sprawling bureaucracy is undergoing a regional reshuffle of a rare scale, with new appointments and job swaps offering hints of potential future leaders being groomed by Beijing. At least 32 new mayoral-level officials have been appointed since December 21, with 29 of them being relocated to a new province for the first time, according to data compiled by ...

Bloomberg Protesters in Hong Kong continued to target shopping malls in the city, harassing mainland Chinese and clashing with police, who used pepper spray on demonstrators. At least 14 people were detained at a mall in the Sheung Shui district near the Chinese border, government-backed broadcaster RTHK reported. The anti-government protesters singled out mainland Chinese shoppers, who locals blame for ...