Politics

Bloomberg Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva retook the helm of Latin America’s largest democracy promising to bring back the economic inclusion and prosperity that marked his first two terms as Brazil’s president between 2003 and 2011. It won’t be easy: Brazil grew more politically polarised over the past two decades, with trust in his Workers’ Party eroded by corruption scandals. ...

Bloomberg Four people have died and three are critically injured after a mid-air collision involving two helicopters near the Sea World theme park on Australia’s Gold Coast. Queensland Police said it appeared that one helicopter was taking off and another was landing when the incident occurred on Monday. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is appealing for witnesses and has sent ...

  Bloomberg Japan’s Defense Ministry said it spotted a Chinese military drone near the Japanese islands of Okinawa and Miyakojima on New Year’s Day. The unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which the ministry identified as a WZ-7 drone, flew from the East China Sea towards the Pacific Ocean before circling back and heading west, the ministry said in a statement. The aircraft ...

Bloomberg A Ukrainian strike on a Russian military facility in the occupied eastern town of Makiyivka killed 63 troops being housed there, Russia’s defense ministry said, making it one of the deadliest losses acknowledged by Moscow. Ukraine warned that Russia may launch more attacks over the Orthodox Christmas holiday later this week even as it downed all 39 Shahed drones ...

  Bloomberg New Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang sought better Sino-US ties in a phone conversation with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on New Year’s Day, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. Qin, who served as China’s ambassador to the US prior to his new job, looked forward to maintaining a close working relationship ...

  Bloomberg New York Governor Kathy Hochul promised to reduce crime, improve affordability and stem the state’s population loss as she took the oath of office for her first full term. Hochul’s inauguration capped a remarkable ascendancy in New York politics, becoming the first woman to take the state’s top office in her own right, after inheriting it in 2021 ...

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledged to increase his nuclear arsenal in the new year to stifle US and South Korean hostile acts, in a policy-setting address where he left almost no opening for a return to long-stalled disarmament talks. In a speech that came at the end of a nearly weeklong meeting of his ruling Workers Party, Kim ...

  Bloomberg Kosovar Prime Minister Albin Kurti is calling for a bolstered presence of Nato peacekeeping forces in his country. “A massive bolstering of Nato troops and military equipment in our country would improve security and peace in Kosovo and the entire West-Balkan region,” Kurti said in an interview with German newspaper WELT. Following recent tensions between Kosovo and neighboring ...

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to push ahead next year with an unpopular overhaul of the country’s pension system that will effectively force people to work longer. The new rules on retirement will apply from the end of the summer, he said during a New Year’s address to the nation in which he urged citizens to remain unified ...

Bloomberg When Myanmar carried out the death penalty for the first time in three decades by executing four activists in July, China and Russia stayed silent while the US and its allies condemned the junta. Now the regime is on the verge of doing it again. Seven university students were sentenced to death last month by a secretive military court ...