Politics

Bloomberg The bonhomie between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is nearing a key deadline showing new signs of strain. Trump urged Kim to “act quickly” to get a nuclear deal done, suggesting the two leaders could meet again “soon.” His comments came hours after North Korea ruled out nuclear talks without a policy change by the ...

Bloomberg After weeks of Republican complaints that the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry relied on secondhand information, the centerpiece of the public hearings is testimony from a man with a direct line to President Donald Trump. The political peril for Trump, who was dealt a series of setbacks, will be heightened as the House investigation accelerates with three days of public hearings ...

Bloomberg Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who won Sri Lanka’s bitterly contested presidential poll, promised tolerance for all religions and cultures in a nation where racial tensions have divided communities for decades. “All minorities’ right to practice religion and culture will be assured,” Rajapaksa said at his swearing in ceremony at a highly venerated Buddhist site in the north central district of Anuradhapura. ...

Bloomberg Emmanuel Macron wants to make it tougher for the European Union to accept new members, adding to signs of French unease at the prospect of Balkan countries joining the bloc and raising the risk of further strains with Germany. In a document circulated to EU governments, France said the process of EU enlargement should be more “gradual,” terms of ...

Bloomberg Supporters of Juan Guaido staged their biggest protest in Caracas in months as Venezuela’s opposition leader seeks to revive his campaign to oust president Nicolas Maduro. A week after Maduro’s ally Evo Morales was toppled in Bolivia, Guaido is seeking to boost thinning crowds that have grown apathetic since a botched uprising in April failed to remove Maduro. “I’m ...

FILED – 03 November 2019, Lebanon, Beirut: Protestors shout slogans and wave national flags during an anti-government protest in downtown Beirut. Demonstrators took the streets across Lebanon to protest against the government for the 18th consecutive day. Photo: Marwan Naamani/dpa[/caption Bloomberg Mohammed Safadi, a wealthy Lebanese businessman and former finance minister, has withdrawn his name as a candidate for prime ...

Bloomberg The defense chiefs of South Korea and Japan discussed a potential extension of their bilateral military intelligence-sharing pact at a meeting in Bangkok, but only at an “in principle” level, Yonhap reported. “We talked about it only at a theoretical level,” South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo was quoted by Yonhap as saying. He was speaking to reporters in ...

Bloomberg A family of strongmen who tilted Sri Lanka towards a deep reliance on China clinched victory in a tightly-fought presidential election, as voting showed the country remains divided down ethnic lines. Gotabaya Rajapaksa won 52.3% of the votes, while ruling alliance candidate Sajith Premadasa had 42% at the final count, according to the Election Commission of Sri Lanka. There ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong police fired teargas and deployed a water cannon to try to clear a resistant band of protesters who occupied a university near the Tsim Sha Tsui district and blocked roads in the vicinity. Police launched round after round of teargas and repeatedly sprayed a blue-dyed liquid towards the demonstrators holed up at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Streets ...

Bloomberg A former top White House adviser told House impeachment investigators Ukrainians were advised that US military aid was being withheld until their president announced an investigation of a company that had hired ex-Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter. Tim Morrison, a former senior director of European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, said Gordon Sondland, the ambassador ...