Politics

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May is pushing back against Cabinet colleagues who are trying to take control over the direction of Brexit after her deal ran into a wall of opposition. Some of May’s ministers are calling for Parliament to get the chance to vote on what happens next, with a series of indicative ballots on the options available, ...

Bloomberg India has offered the Maldives $1.4 billion through a credit line and budgetary support as the tiny island nation’s new government pivots from a pro-China foreign policy to one focussed on its close neighbour India. The loan agreement came after talks between newly-elected Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders discussed regional ...

Bloomberg United Nations diplomats surprised by how they managed to cope with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda are worried that things are only going to get tougher in 2019. It’s not State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert — Trump’s pick to replace departing Ambassador Nikki Haley — who’s raising concerns. It’s her boss, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and National ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena caved in to mounting pressure and reinstated Ranil Wickremesinghe as prime minister, ending nearly two months of a protracted leadership crisis that prompted Moody’s, S&P and Fitch to downgrade the island’s credit rating. Sirisena on Sunday swore in Wickremesinghe, who he had abruptly fired on October 26 and replaced with former strongman president Mahinda ...

Bloomberg North Korea told the US that sanctions and pressure — as evident from the past — won’t work to force the country into action on its nuclear programme. “The US should realise before it is too late that ‘maximum pressure’ would not work against us and take a sincere approach to implementing the Singapore DPRK-US Joint Statement,” the country’s ...

Bloomberg South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) postponed its conference on finalising lists for elections next year to give provinces time to conclude the process, the party said. The conference would be rescheduled to January 4-5 from this weekend to accommodate the North West province, which hadn’t submitted its nominations, ANC acting spokesman Dakota Legeote said by phone. The ...

Bloomberg Georgia’s first woman president took office on Sunday after a rancorous vote that triggered allegations of election fraud from the losing candidate. French-born Salome Zurabishvili, an ex-Georgian foreign minister, was sworn in as the Caucasus republic’s fifth president at a ceremony at a former royal residence in the eastern city of Telavi, about 95 kilometres (59 miles) from the ...

Bloomberg Italy’s squabbling populist coalition partners were expected to meet on Sunday to seek agreement on key parts of the country’s contentious 2019 budget in a bid to gain European Union approval and avoid sanctions. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will meet with Deputy Premiers Luigi Di Maio, Matteo Salvini and Finance Minister Giovanni Tria to discuss the budget plan and ...

Bloomberg Theresa May’s team pushed back against reports they are warming to a second referendum on Brexit as the UK prime minister prepares to face Parliament today. David Lidington, May’s effective deputy, and Chief-of-Staff Gavin Barwell said they don’t favour another plebiscite after newspapers reported they’d held talks on the issue. May herself launched a broadside at former Prime Minister ...

Bloomberg Street protests against Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban were held for a fourth day in a week, with opposition parties inspired by France’s Yellow Vest movement uniting in their hostility to laws allowing for more overtime and greater government control of the judiciary. Thousands rallied in Budapest on Sunday for a demonstration called “Merry Christmas, Mr. Prime Minister,” a ...