Politics

Bloomberg Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said “we’re getting ready to defend our country” as the US presses him to cede power. While President Donald Trump signaled he’s confident a transition of power to opposition leader Juan Guaido is under way and said the use of US military force in Venezuela remains “an option,” Maduro went on Spanish television to denounce ...

Bloomberg Two-thirds of Americans oppose President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency if Congress doesn’t offer up the funds he wants to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, a CBS News poll shows. Most survey respondents —73 percent —also said they want Trump to continue negotiating while keeping the government open, rather than forcing another shutdown when funding expires ...

Bloomberg A former top adviser to embattled Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir sees a “new spirit” in widespread protests that he said may bring great change to the economically troubled North African nation. Ghazi Salaheddine Atabani, who quit the ruling party after 2013 protests, said events such as the fall of the Soviet Union are proof that long-standing political systems can ...

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 ...