Politics

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he wasn’t bothered by recent North Korean ballistic missile tests his national security adviser labeled a violation of UN resolutions, adding that sanctions on the country give him time to reach a disarmament deal with Kim Jong-un. Trump said he believes the North Korean leader wants to build up his country’s economy, and that giving ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump met families of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, pledging to help solve an emotive decades-old issue that has been a major policy concern of PM Shinzo Abe’s government. After a meeting focused on trade and security in Tokyo, Trump and Abe met relatives of those taken captive, with Trump saying the two men were ...

Bloomberg Brexit upended Britain’s established political order in European Parliament elections, with both the ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour Party scoring their worst results in decades. Voters backed politicians with clear pro- and anti-European Union agendas, fuelling demands for a second referendum on one side of the divisive national debate, and a hard, no-deal split from the EU ...

Bloomberg Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is on track to be ousted on Monday after his erstwhile coalition partners in the nationalist Freedom Party lined up behind a motion to dismiss him. The Freedom Party’s acting chairman, Norbert Hofer, told public broadcaster ORF that his group “will probably support” the no-confidence vote against Kurz and his cabinet that was expected to ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partner vowed to shake things up in the government but stopped short of threatening to immediately pull out of the alliance after Germany’s Social Democrats suffered a double blow at the polls. SPD leaders pleaded for patience as they analyse the results of the elections, which saw them drop to third behind the Greens ...

Bloomberg Iran’s top diplomats are touring neighboring countries, including three Arab Gulf monarchies, to try to shore up support after the US announced plans to increase troop deployments in the region and sell weapons to some of the Islamic Republic’s top rivals. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, for meetings about the frictions, the semi-official ...

Bloomberg Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar said his offensive on Tripoli won’t stop and political discussions can’t resume until the country’s militias have been disarmed. In a rare press interview, Haftar told France’s Journal du Dimanche that he marched his military forces on Libya’s capital after six rounds of negotiations with the internationally recognised government in Tripoli failed. Haftar said Prime ...

Bloomberg Prem Tinsulanonda, one of Thailand’s most powerful figures over the past four decades who was accused of masterminding a 2006 coup against former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, has died, the Bangkok Post reported. He was 98. The former premier died of heart failure in a hospital in Bangkok on Sunday, the paper said, citing media reports. Prem served as army ...

Bloomberg The rush is on to replace UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who resigned after failing to deliver on Brexit. Things got more crowded with cabinet ministers Michael Gove and Matt Hancock and former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom signalling their intent to run. Gove, the environment secretary and a staunch Brexiteer, is telling colleagues he’s the best person ...

Bloomberg Balkan neighbours Albania and Kosovo need to work on greater unity, a goal that will be easier to achieve than Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia, President Hashim Thaci said during a visit to Albania, the Koha Ditore newspaper reported. “We will live in the near future in a joint Kosovo-Albania state,” Thaci said on his visit to Albania, ...