Politics

Bloomberg The Solomon Islands broke diplomatic ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing, leaving the democratically run island with just 16 diplomatic partners amid China’s efforts to isolate it. It’s the seventh nation — and the first in the Pacific — to establish ties with Beijing since Taiwan’s independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in January 2016. Reuters reported earlier ...

Bloomberg As many as 800,000 Iranians are set to lose cash handouts within the next month as US-imposed sanctions take their toll on the Islamic Republic’s economy. Iran plans to wean up to 30 million people off cash subsidies in the long term, but it “cannot take them off under the current economic situation,” said government spokesman Ali Rabiei at ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s powerful military should be brought before the International Court of Justice for its continued role in grave violations against ethnic groups including Rohingya Muslims, the United Nations fact-finding mission concluded on Monday following a two-year investigation. The final report — to be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva — details the ongoing systematic use of murder, ...

Bloomberg It was just a typical weekend in Hong Kong: tear gas, water cannons, petrol bombs and few signs that protests now in their fourth month would fizzle out anytime soon. Both demonstrators and police on Sunday appeared to get more aggressive earlier on than during the previous 14 weekends of protests. Demonstrators set fire to entrances to Wan Chai ...

Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa dispatched three officials to seven African nations to discuss how the government is addressing a recent spate of xenophobic attacks in his country. Former minister Jeff Radebe, Ambassador Kingsley Mmabolo and Khulu Mbatha, a veteran leader of the ruling African National Congress, will visit Nigeria, Niger, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to defy a new law designed to stop him forcing the UK out of the European Union with no deal next month, and is braced for a fight to settle Brexit in the British courts. According to a senior official in the UK government, Johnson has resolved on a hard-line plan as he ...

Bloomberg Representative Ilhan Omar said it’s a matter of when, not if, President Donald Trump will be impeached and she’s not worried about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others not moving ahead right now. “It is OK for some people to have hesitations, for other people to catch up to where some of us have been for a very long ...

Bloomberg At least eight government officials were killed in Somalia in attacks claimed by al-Shabaab militants. The deputy governor of Somalia’s Middle Shabelle region was among five people killed when a roadside bomb hit the vehicle they were traveling in, Mohamed Abdi Ware, president of Hirshabelle state, said. Ware’s adviser was also killed in the same attack. In a separate ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump offered US support for Saudi Arabia’s self-defense in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the White House said. The pair spoke after a swarm of explosive drones hit key oil-industry targets in Saudi Arabia. The state-run Saudi Press Agency earlier reported on the call. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the ...

Bloomberg Taiwan has signalled to US officials that it will move swiftly to complete the purchase of 66 new F-16 fighters once congressional foreign relations committees complete their review this month, according to a State Department official. The department formally notified Congress on August 20 that it approved the sale, which includes munitions, defensive electronics and a top-of-the line fire-control ...