Politics

Bloomberg Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said North Korea violated UN resolutions with its missile launches this month, putting pressure on the US to raise the issue with the Security Council. Abe, who has long favoured a harder line against Kim Jong-un’s weapon programme, told a meeting of ruling coalition UN resolutions must be better enforced. That contrasted with US President ...

Bloomberg Malfunctioning machines and hundreds of arrests for suspected vote buying are disrupting the Philippines’ midterm elections, with polling down to its final hour. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is poised for a majority win in both houses of Congress, even with slowing economic growth and controversial policies including a deadly drug war. Over 18,000 government positions are up for grabs ...

Bloomberg Vietnam is increasingly jailing “prisoners of conscience” for comments made on social media platforms such as Facebook Inc, Amnesty International said, urging the US to challenge the government over the growing arrests during talks this week. The number of imprisoned activists has increased to 128 from 97 last year as the government implements a new controversial cyber security law, ...

Bloomberg France’s parliament has been asked to open a probe into far-right political leader Marine Le Pen’s ties to Steve Bannon, President Donald Trump’s former adviser, and the potential access to top civil servants her party may have helped him get. The two chambers’ presidents will weigh the request by some lawmakers to investigate Le Pen for potential “collusion with ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made a surprise visit to Brussels on Monday just as European Union foreign ministers are meeting to discuss ways to salvage the landmark Iran nuclear accord that Washington has abandoned. Pompeo scrapped plans for a brief trip to Moscow and landed in the Belgian capital as his 28 EU counterparts gather. President Donald ...

Bloomberg Lithuania’s prime minister said he’d quit and fold up his minority government after he was knocked out of the euro-area member’s presidential election. In a result that shook the Baltic state’s political landscape and may lead to a snap parliamentary ballot, the former chief economist of SEB Bank AB and a crisis-era finance minister overcame anti-elite rhetoric similar to ...

Bloomberg Theresa May is promising to reopen Brexit talks with the European Union to try to breathe life back into negotiations with the opposition Labour Party and take the UK out of the bloc by the summer. The prime minister’s office said the government will explore with the EU this week how to rewrite the outline political agreement on future ...

Bloomberg Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido told an emissary to meet with US military officials in a bid to establish “direct” cooperation, a signal he’s warming to the idea of intervention by force after months of failed attempts to topple President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido told supporters during a rally in Caracas that he’s sending his envoy in Washington, Carlos Vecchio, ...

Bloomberg PM Mahathir Mohamad’s ruling coalition retained a parliamentary seat in a by-election in Borneo, providing him a reprieve amid sliding approval ratings. Pakatan Harapan’s candidate won the Sandakan seat in the state of Sabah by 11,521 votes, according to the Election Commission. The special poll was called after the incumbent, father of Saturday’s victor Vivian Wong, died in March. ...

Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says he hasn’t lost an election in his three-decade political career. He’s hoping his candidates for the midterm vote on Monday will continue that winning streak as voters assess his three years in office. Even with slowing economic growth and controversial policies including a deadly drug war, the firebrand leader is poised for a majority ...