Politics

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s designated successor is causing trouble in Berlin with her efforts to assert authority. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer has been undermined by a series of errors since she was chosen to follow Merkel as leader of the Christian Democratic Union last year. Just two months after also taking the job as defense minister, she sprang a proposal for an ...

Bloomberg When NATO jets bombed Serb forces 20 years ago to push them out of Kosovo, Albin Kurti was packed onto a red bus with other political prisoners to be used as a human shield. He was beaten in custody, convicted of terrorism by a Serb court and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Fearing he’d never leave jail alive, ...

Bloomberg Six years after Croatia joined the European Union, the Balkan nation is getting a green light from the European Commission to join the bloc’s passport-free Schengen area. The decision was expected to be made public on Tuesday, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named because the judgment is private. The European ...

Bloomberg Just weeks before the worst civil unrest since Chile returned to democracy 29 years ago, President Sebastian Pinera described the country as “a true oasis” amid Latin American turmoil. The billionaire investor-turned-politician isn’t alone in his glowing assessment of a country that regularly tops regional prosperity metrics. However, the deadly upheaval of the past four days shows the chasm ...

Bloomberg Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in national elections, displaying once again a remarkable ability to overcome scandal and controversy to remain in power. Trudeau’s Liberal Party won or was leading in 156 of Canada’s 338 electoral districts, as of 1:33 am Ottawa time, losing his majority in parliament and the popular vote, but gaining enough ...

Bloomberg The US has raised concerns about the ongoing detention of residents and political leaders in India’s Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir amid months-long restrictions on communication and movement across the region. President Donald Trump’s administration has “closely monitored” the situation in Kashmir after India changed the state’s legal status to create two new union territories — Jammu and ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump will try to turn the corner this week after one of the most calamitous stretches of his presidency but heads into that next phase weakened by self-inflicted missteps that have left him on the defensive. Trump had aimed to use a partial trade deal with China and a US-brokered ceasefire in northern Syria to change the subject ...

Bloomberg The man at the centre of a Taiwan murder case that sparked months of violent protests in Hong Kong wants to turn himself in. But first Hong Kong and Taiwan must stop feuding over how that happens. Officials in Taipei have accused Hong Kong of playing politics by trying to get rid of a man accused of murdering his ...

Bloomberg Asked if the European Union hadn’t exposed its impotence during Turkey’s recent military offensive inside Syria, French President Emmanuel Macron was blunt in his response: “I share your outrage.” More than any other recent foreign policy challenge, the way that Turkey’s “Operation Peace Spring” against the Kurds unfolded has exposed the potential reality of a post-transatlantic world: The EU’s ...

Bloomberg Japan should rethink its rejection of offensive weapons, a senior US military officer said in Tokyo, while the US Coast Guard chief warned of China’s “antagonistic” behaviour in disputed waters. There needs to be a discussion between the government of Japan and the public about the threats that are out there, said the US military officer, who spoke to ...