Politics

Bloomberg Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is maintaining a friendly tone towards China, even after defense officials raised concerns over an increased Chinese presence around a disputed island in the South China Sea. China isn’t after Philippine territory and hasn’t asked for anything in exchange for the weapons and aid it’s given the Philippines, Duterte said in a campaign speech in ...

Bloomberg Battered by more than a month of protests, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said he would step down before the end of his fourth term on April 28, but suggested he would still craft the foundations of the transition to come. The announcement appeared aimed at avoiding what could be a military-sanctioned, and embarrassing, constitutional push to have him declared ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s army chief slammed exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra in a rare briefing following a disputed election, a further sign that his allies will struggle to form a government. “He never admits to his crime,” Apirat Kongsompong told foreign media organisations in Bangkok. “If someone has money and is powerful, does that mean you can never go to jail? ...

Bloomberg India’s main opposition Congress party has pledged to tackle unemployment and poverty as it seeks to wrest power from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition just days out from a national election. Led by Rahul Gandhi, the party released its election manifesto in New Delhi, promising to rid India of poverty by 2030, waive farm loans, introduce a single ...

Bloomberg Theresa May is expected to confront her most senior ministers with the potentially explosive option of delaying Brexit by months, as the UK struggles to find a plan for leaving the European Union. The British prime minister will hold five hours of crisis talks with her cabinet, with the pro- and anti-Brexit factions in her top team set to ...

Bloomberg Mozambique has confirmed more than 1,000 cases of cholera as an outbreak of the water-borne disease spreads following a tropical cyclone last month which has so far killed at least 598 people in the southeast African nation. The number of cholera infections rose from 246 on March 30, the health ministry said in a statement. President Filipe Nyusi last ...

Bloomberg South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Kim Jong-un to heed calls to return to the negotiating table after talks broke down between the North Korean leader and President Donald Trump. “I expect North Korea to respond to efforts made by South Korea and the US,” Moon said during a meeting with his senior advisers in Seoul. Moon is expected ...

Bloomberg More than 200 Chinese ships have been spotted near the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the South China Sea since the start of the year, triggering a diplomatic protest from the Philippines. The fishing vessels stationed near the disputed island are likely part of China’s sea militia, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a briefing on Monday, ...

Bloomberg China and New Zealand signed agreements on eliminating double taxation and tax avoidance as the two countries look to shore up relations following a series of incidents that cast doubt on the strength of their economic partnership. President Xi Jinping welcomed New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, with the two ...

Bloomberg European voters may be starting to put a damper on nationalists who want to shift the continent’s political direction. Ahead of next month’s European Parliament elections, Slovakia provided one of the last signals of voter sentiment when it elected a socially liberal anti-corruption campaigner as president over populist challengers. Zuzana Caputova’s victory may serve as a warning to euroskeptic ...