Politics

Bloomberg Spanish newspaper opinion polls signalled a potential deadlock from elections to be held on April 28, with neither alliances from the left nor right wings of the political scene certain to be able to build a parliamentary majority. A survey published by El Pais newspaper showed the Socialists of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on course to win 129 seats ...

Bloomberg For a country that set a record in holding the world’s largest single-day election, the verdict on who emerged victorious from Indonesia’s mammoth exercise isn’t breaking any. A delay in official results of the presidential election has led its two contenders to claim victory, deepening a divide among the electorate after a seven-month long polarising campaign that centred on ...

Bloomberg Ukrainians are poised to elect the country’s most-watched comedian as president in a backlash at the ex-Soviet republic’s lack of progress since a revolution five years ago. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a 41-year-old TV comic who’s tapped into fury at the political class, was expected to comfortably defeat incumbent Petro Poroshenko at a runoff on Sunday, according to opinion polls. Despite ...

Bloomberg A weapon tested by North Korea is thought to have been a guided weapon for ground combat and not a ballistic missile, South Korea’s military said, indicating it was a conventional weapon and not one subject to international sanctions. South Korea and the US ran a joint assessment of the test, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said without ...

Bloomberg Maria Butina may not have been a spy or trained intelligence officer, but she deceived the US on behalf of Russia, potentially threatening national security, and deserves 1.5 years in prison for her actions, prosecutors said. The recommendation is at odds with a request by Butina’s lawyers, who argue she should be released immediately and permitted to return home. ...

Bloomberg French police clashed with Yellow Vest protesters in Paris, firing tear gas and arresting scores of people as tens of thousands of police were mobilised to maintain order. This week’s fire at Notre-Dame Cathedral failed to damp the 23rd straight Saturday of action. Key members of the movement said that contesting President Emmanuel Macron’s policies — the initial motivation ...

Bloomberg Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren called for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, saying the country can’t afford to ignore the obstruction uncovered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. “The severity of this misconduct demands that elected officials in both parties set aside political considerations and do their constitutional duty,” the Massachusetts senator wrote in a series of tweets. “That means ...

Bloomberg The Cuban negotiator who normalised relations with the US during the Obama administration said President Donald Trump’s push to dismantle the deal won’t dislodge the communist regime in Havana. Cuba endured almost 60 years of US aggression and can survive another bout of antagonism from Washington, Josefina Vidal, now Cuba’s ambassador to Canada, said in an interview. The latest ...

Bloomberg Indonesian President Joko Widodo was poised to win another term running the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, even as opponent Prabowo Subianto signalled he would challenge the outcome. Six top private polling agencies had Widodo, known as Jokowi, ahead of the former general by at least seven percentage points with about 90 percent of the vote counted. While election authorities ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump vetoed a bipartisan measure passed by Congress earlier this month demanding that he withdraw US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the White House said. “This resolution is an unnecessary, dangerous attempt to weaken my constitutional authorities, endangering the lives of American citizens and brave service members, both today and in the future,” Trump said ...