Politics

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the UK it can’t set unilateral terms for leaving the European Union as Prime Minister Theresa May heads to Brussels to try to complete a contentious Brexit deal. Addressing lower-house lawmakers in Berlin, Merkel gave short shrift to Brexit while rattling off domestic achievements, pleading for stronger bonds between EU nations and criticising go-it-alone ...

Bloomberg A trio of US naval vessels anchored in Hong Kong on Wednesday, the first US naval ships to harbour in the city since China barred entry to another American ship in September, in a sign of easing military tensions between the two powers. The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, and guided-missile destroyer USS Curtis D. ...

Bloomberg Interpol delegates elected South Korean Kim Jong Yang as the new president of the global policing body after international criticism of the possibility that rival Russian candidate Aleksander Prokopchuk might get the job. Kim was selected in a snap election organised at Interpol’s general assembly in Dubai following the arrest in China of former president Meng Hongwei last month. ...

Bloomberg Former South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said there was a deliberate scheme to loot taxpayer funds during Jacob Zuma’s rule and accused the former president of helping facilitate it and lying to and misleading members of his cabinet. Gordhan, who now oversees state companies, was testifying before a judicial panel that’s investigating claims that members of the Gupta ...

Bloomberg At least three Republicans are jockeying to serve as President Donald Trump’s first line of defense against any effort by House Democrats to seek his impeachment, a job that that carries high risk and narrow rewards. The position: top GOP seat on the House Judiciary Committee, which could investigate whether there are grounds to remove Trump from office. The ...

Bloomberg Evidence is mounting that the plot to oust UK Prime Minister Theresa May is faltering. To trigger a vote of no confidence in her leadership, a total of 48 Conservative lawmakers need to submit letters, texts or emails calling for one. Late last week, as the backlash against May’s Brexit deal gathered pace, there was speculation that the threshold ...

Bloomberg A suicide bomber targeting a gathering of hundreds of religious scholars in Afghan capital Kabul killed 43 clerics and wounded more than 80 others, Afghan officials said. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. The bomber detonated explosives as the clerics were commemorating the birthday of Prophet Mohammad in a wedding hall, said Kabul police spokesman Basir ...

Bloomberg Ivanka Trump used a private email account “while transitioning into government,” a spokesman for her lawyer said. Peter Mirijanian, a spokesman for Trump’s lawyer Abbe Lowell, said in a statement that President Donald Trump’s elder daughter — whose White House staff title is assistant to the president — used the private email “almost always for logistics and scheduling concerning ...

Bloomberg The enemy had destroyed the bridge. Near the village of Telneset in central Norway, German and Norwegian troops arrived too late to save the strategic crossing. Stuck on the banks of the Glomma river, military engineers worked to assemble a mobile ferry instead. If truly at war, they may have moved more quickly. But as it was, the atmosphere ...

Bloomberg Xi Jinping sealed a raft of deals on Tuesday during a trip to Manila as Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration shrugs off US warnings about accepting Chinese cash. Xi’s two-day trip marks the first state visit to the Philippines by a Chinese president in 13 years. The visit reflects warmer ties that began when Duterte took office and pivoted ...