Politics

Bloomberg A Pakistani special court sentenced former military dictator and president Pervez Musharraf to death in absentia, ending a six-year long high treason case against him and delivering a historic verdict against the country’s powerful army. In a two-to-one majority, the three-member special court headed by judge Waqar Ahmad Seth announced the verdict, Musharraf’s spokesman Mohammad Amjad said by phone ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to stick to a 2020 Brexit transition period revives the risk of the country’s ties to the European Union being severed disruptively, according to the bloc’s chief civil servant for trade policy. Sabine Weyand, director general for trade in the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, cautioned that Johnson’s intention to prevent any ...

Bloomberg The stalemate between Emmanuel Macron’s government and labor unions deepened as France headed into a third week of transport strikes over the president’s effort to reform the country’s pension system, threatening further turmoil during the busy holiday season. Negotiations between the unions and the government have been suspended. Complicating matters, Macron’s point man for pension reform resigned on Monday ...

Bloomberg House Democrats are nearing one of the most important decisions in their effort to impeach Donald Trump: Who will bear the historic duty of prosecuting the president in next year’s Senate trial. With the House planning to vote Wednesday on two articles of impeachment against the president, Democratic leaders including Speaker Nancy Pelosi must quickly settle on a team ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson will appoint new ministers to his cabinet on Monday as he pushes ahead with Brexit after securing a historic victory in last week’s UK election. The prime minister now has the power to enforce his vision for leaving the European Union and reshaping the British economy, following the biggest win for his Conservative Party since Margaret Thatcher ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s top envoy to North Korea countered Kim Jong Un’s threat of a Christmas provocation with a call for more nuclear talks to usher in a “season of peace.” US Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun on Monday urged Kim to return to negotiations, noting that the coming holiday was “one of the most sacred days ...

Bloomberg Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders lead the field of Democratic presidential candidates, followed by Elizabeth Warren, according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll released on Monday. The poll of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents shows Biden with 24% support and Sanders at 22%, within the margin of error of 5.4 percentage points. Warren had 17%, and Pete Buttigieg had 13%. Andrew ...

Bloomberg President Xi Jinping said Hong Kong this year faced its “grimmest and most complicated” situation since returning to Chinese rule, urging the city to come back to the “right path.” Xi reaffirmed support for Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam as he hosted the embattled chief executive for her annual duty visit to Beijing. He praised her efforts to stimulate ...

Bloomberg Tensions remained high across India on Monday after five days of protests against a contentious new religion-based citizenship law turned violent in the capital New Delhi and other parts of the country, with police using tear gas to disperse crowds. Anger against the law has fueled protests across Asia’s third-largest economy, from Assam, about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 miles) to ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s sweeping election victory is a very English revolution. The prime minister trounced his biggest opponent by luring traditional Labour Party voting heartlands in northern England to his Conservatives for the first time in generations, in some cases ever. Voters clearly rejected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s throwback socialist agenda, but they just as clearly rallied to Johnson’s pledge ...