Politics

Bloomberg Prime Minister Shinzo Abe denounced a top South Korean lawmaker’s comments about the Japanese emperor as “extremely inappropriate,” ratcheting up already-high tensions between the two neighbours. Abe told parliament that Japan asked South Korea to apologize for National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang’s remarks last week describing Emperor Akihito as “the son of the main culprit of war crimes.” Moon ...

Bloomberg Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is advocating to change the nation’s name one day to “Maharlika” to move away from the country’s colonial links. Duterte’s call echoes a push by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos to call the nation “Maharlika,” which in the local language means nobility. The country, which was under Spanish rule for more than 300 years, derived ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump is set to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in less than three weeks, yet the biggest question hanging over the leaders’ second summit is why they’re even having it. Since their historic face-to-face meeting in Singapore eight months ago, North Korea has made little progress towards giving up its nuclear weapons and continues to do what ...

Bloomberg Two US warships sailed through waters claimed by China in the South China Sea, an action that could infuriate Beijing as a new round of trade talks gets underway ahead of a looming deadline. The guided-missile destroyers travelled within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands, Reuters reported, citing an unidentified US official. The reef ...

Bloomberg The head of the European Parliament apologized after touching off a dispute by referring to parts of Croatia and Slovenia as Italian on a day commemorating the slaughter of thousands of his countrymen following World War II. Speaking in honor of those Italians who died and hundreds of thousands more who fled from Adriatic Sea border regions to escape ...

Bloomberg Time is running out to avoid a second partial government shutdown, as congressional talks about border-security funding broke down during the weekend in the latest dispute over detention beds for immigrants. Negotiations could still get back on track in the next 24 hours, and negotiators may decide that a stopgap funding extension past Friday is necessary. But the prospect ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s political divisions are erupting again with just over a month to go to the first general election since a coup almost five years ago. The spotlight is now on the fate of a party linked to exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra. The party, Thai Raksa Chart, saw a stunning bid to make Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya its prime ministerial ...

Bloomberg The rightist League of Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini emerged at the head of the strongest bloc in elections in Italy’s Abruzzo region, as support for the Five Star Movement tumbled. The League-led center-right alliance took almost 49 percent, with Salvini’s party the biggest contributor at 28 percent. Five Star, the League’s coalition partner in the national government, scored just ...

Bloomberg The US is seeking support for a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Venezuela’s government for blocking humanitarian aid from entering the country and calling on President Nicolas Maduro to hold new elections. The draft resolution calls for the “immediate start of a political process leading to free, fair, and credible presidential elections,” according to a copy of the ...

Bloomberg Congressional negotiators dug in for a weekend of talks on a security plan that includes some sort of barrier on the US-Mexican border, hoping to complete a deal to avert another government shutdown that’s also acceptable to President Donald Trump. Trump was back in the fray, indicating in a tweet that if Democrats didn’t give him all the wall ...