Politics

Bloomberg More than three months after Secretary of State Michael Pompeo picked Stephen Biegun to lead negotiations with North Korea, the former Ford Motor Co. executive has barely met officials from Pyongyang face-to-face. The standstill is a sign of how negotiations between the US and North Korea have faltered, forcing a lowering of expectations, since President Donald Trump met with ...

Bloomberg Ukraine’s leader renewed appeals to his nation’s allies in Europe and the US to punish Russia for a naval clash that’s reignited tensions between the two ex-Soviet neighbours. With initial talk of tighter sanctions now fading and Russia so far paying little cost for firing on Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait last month, President Petro Poroshenko reiterated calls ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump has put his finger on the challenge facing Emmanuel Macron. As small town protesters in yellow vests wreak havoc in Paris, Macron is trying to work out how to take the heat out of the situation without compromising his long-term plans for the economy and the environment. Trump suggested a different approach: ditch your green strategy and ...

Bloomberg As Angela Merkel battled Europe’s multiple crises in 2014, Friedrich Merz was meeting with conservative critics to gripe about her leadership. Merz’s own political aspirations had long since been sidelined by the chancellor and his allies could tell it still rankled. On one occasion, his wife Charlotte vented their frustrations. “Friedrich, you would have done a much better job,” ...

Bloomberg The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister fortified his support among potential voters, defying escalating tensions over a police investigation into whether he committed fraud. The ANO party led by Andrej Babis widened its lead in a survey conducted by pollster STEM last month when new allegations related to the fraud probe led to a failed no-confidence motion in parliament. ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Theresa May is locked in a power struggle with the British Parliament that looks set to determine the final shape of Brexit. May lost three key votes on a day of drama in the House of Commons, highlighting the weakness of her position as she tries to ratify the deal she’s struck with the European Union. ...

Bloomberg Secretary of State Michael Pompeo was expected to use a gathering of NATO leaders on Tuesday to ramp up pressure on Russia over what the US has long said is Moscow’s failure to comply with a 1987 treaty on nuclear weapons. The US wants to “stay in sync” with American allies over how to address Russia’s non-compliance, according to ...

Bloomberg Ukraine said Russia had partially restored access to its ports on the Azov Sea following months of disruption and a week after its navy was fired on by its neighbour. As of Monday, ships were allowed to move in both directions through the Kerch Strait separating the Azov and Black Seas, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. Russia ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron’s government reversed course and suspended a planned fuel-tax hike that had sent as many as 300,000 protesters into the streets for three weeks in sometimes violent clashes. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced the decision after detailing the plan in his regular meeting with governing party lawmakers. “No tax merits putting the nation in danger,” Philippe ...

Bloomberg Social Democratic leader Stefan Lofven said Sweden’s political crisis has now entered a “new phase” as he prepares to start “sharp” negotiations with key opposition parties on forming a viable coalition. The Social Democrats will hold negotiations with the Center Party and the Liberals, as well as its ally the Green Party, he said. “We will make every effort ...