Politics

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 ...

Bloomberg France’s Yellow Vest demonstrations drew a lower turnout and drifted away from Paris to smaller cities, suggesting the movement is weakening as it hits the six-month mark. Police estimated 18,600 people took to the streets around France, including 1,200 in the capital, on the movement’s 26th Saturday of protests, AFP reported, citing the interior ministry. Police counted fewer than ...

Bloomberg The Brexit Party has more support in the UK ahead of this month’s EU elections than the Conservatives and Labour combined, according to an Opinium survey for the Observer newspaper. The party, fronted by Nigel Farage and founded only last month, would take 34 percent of the vote in the May 23 election, compared with 21 percent for Labour ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo leaves for Moscow on Sunday, with President Donald Trump again calling for improved ties now that Special Counsel Robert Mueller has finished his investigation. Pompeo will meet US diplomats at the American Embassy in Moscow on Monday before continuing to Sochi for talks with President Vladimir Putin and other senior officials. The secretary ...

Bloomberg The United Nations Security Council debated conflicts from Syria to Libya to Bosnia this week. Missing from the agenda: North Korea’s missile launches, explicitly prohibited by unanimous council resolutions. With the US and its allies offering a muted response to Kim Jong-un’s latest violation of international resolutions, UN attention on North Korea came at a small side event on ...

Bloomberg A week after an audacious attempt to topple Venezuelan autocrat Nicolas Maduro, his regime is cracking down on those it holds responsible, searching homes, issuing arrest warrants and sending opposition leaders into hiding. Top allies of Juan Guaido, the head of the powerless legislature who says he is the nation’s rightful president, are circulating among safe houses, holing up ...

Bloomberg Mexico detained thousands more migrants in April than a year ago after US President Donald Trump threatened to close the border, representing a shift in focus for the nation’s leftist president away from granting humanitarian visas. Under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 20,564 people were presented to immigration authorities in April compared with 11,486 in April 2018, an increase ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) has extended its quarter-century grip on political power and it largely has President Cyril Ramaphosa to thank for halting its decline. The ANC won 57.3% of the votes cast in the national elections, official tallies from 90% of the voting stations show. The party looked to be in danger of losing its majority ...

Bloomberg South Korea said President Donald Trump supports the donation of food to North Korea through a UN agency, as the top US envoy noted the regime’s growing impatience with sputtering nuclear talks. Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in — who has tried to serve as a bridge between the US president and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un — ...