Politics

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said they want to head off a no-deal Brexit that could rattle their economies, as both braced against the UK’s increasingly chaotic course towards an exit from the EU. Abe and Merkel, both 64, are two of the most outspoken defenders of the international order being shaken by Brexit ...

Bloomberg Belgium has agreed to receive former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo after his conditional release by the International Criminal Court, pending an appeal of his acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity, the Belga news agency reported. The Brussels government decided to host Gbagbo following a request by the ICC, which cleared him of the charges, foreign ministry spokesman ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s desire to put “America first” has fostered new disputes between the US and its allies. In Asia, old rivalries are also roaring back. Ties between Japan and South Korea—two of the US’s closest security partners—have arguably turned their most hostile in more than half a century over a series of diplomatic disputes. Now, there are signs ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump stood by his plans to reduce the US footprint in the Middle East but said in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday that he intends to maintain a presence in Iraq, in part to keep tabs on Iran. Trump also said he’d ignore the advice of intelligence community officials on Iran if their views run ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May insists she’s “determined” to deliver Brexit “on time,” on March 29, despite ministers in her own Cabinet suggesting a delay could be needed. She promised to return to Brussels with renewed commitment and “new ideas” to deliver a deal. May says even Jeremy Corbyn agrees the Brexit deal needs changes to backstop. But the ...

Bloomberg The Philippines will protest China’s opening of a maritime rescue center in the South China Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin said, just days after President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman said the nation should be grateful for the move. Locsin said he supports Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio’s position that the Philippines must contest China’s construction of the rescue center ...

Bloomberg Venezuelans marched in dueling protests, with the two men who claim to be the divided nation’s president each exhorting followers to hold firm and that victory was certain. But only one man will prevail, and the unusual split-screen rallies offered no decisive hints, just more proof that Venezuela’s crisis is digging ever deeper and that the nation’s powerful military ...

Bloomberg Russia withdrew from a landmark 1987 nuclear disarmament treaty as President Vladimir Putin signaled he’s open to new talks, the Kremlin said, a day after Donald Trump announced the US is pulling out of the agreement citing years of Russian violations. Putin disclosed the plan to suspend the Ronald Reagan-Mikhail Gorbachev agreement during a working meeting on Saturday with ...

Bloomberg At least eight people were killed and more than a dozen injured when soldiers clashed with IS-inspired militants in southern Philippine province of Sulu. A heavy firefight started on Saturday morning and lasted for nearly two hours between members of a scout ranger battalion and at least 150 members of the Abu Sayyaf group headed by Hatib Hajan Sawadjaan ...

Bloomberg An earthquake with magnitude 6.1 on the Richter scale hit western Indonesia on Saturday, though Xinhua reported that officials see no risk of a tsunami. The epicenter was 166 kilometers south-south-east of Muara Siberut in Indonesia, the United States Geological Survey said. The quake had a depth of 10 kilometers. The main shock struck at 4.27 pm local time ...