Politics

Bloomberg Southeast Asian foreign ministers urged Myanmar to prosecute those responsible for a brutal military crackdown against its Muslim Rohingya minority, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told his country’s Parliament on Tuesday. Due to the political sensitivities surrounding the issue, foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as Asean, met unaccompanied on the sidelines of the ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, received a significant boost in the latest opinion poll published just days ahead of Sunday’s general elections. The former Army captain rose four points to 31 percent in the Ibope survey released Monday evening, compared with 27 percent in the last poll Sept. 26. His nearest rival, Fernando Haddad, from the leftwing Workers’ ...

Bloomberg The Republic of Macedonia’s leader threatened to call snap elections next month if he fails to win support to change his country’s name after voters backed him in a referendum clouded by low turnout. The conflicted outcome of plebiscite sets the stage for a bruising battle ahead for Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who’s pushing to settle a 27-year-old row ...

Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari promised to end a deadly insurgency by Boko Haram militants, renewing a pledge he made ahead of his 2015 election as he seeks a second term. “There has been a steady improvement in the security situation in the northeast,” Buhari said Monday in a TV broadcast marking Nigeria’s 58th anniversary of independence from British rule. ...

Bloomberg An opponent of the construction of a new US Marine base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa won election as governor, beating a candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition. Denny Tamaki—the son of a US serviceman and a Japanese mother—claimed victory over Atsushi Sakima in the closely watched race. Tamaki opposes a government plan ...

Bloomberg Separatist campaigners targeted Catalonia’s transportation networks in protests held to mark the anniversary of an illegal independence referendum held a year ago. Protesters blocked the AP-7 highway at Vandellos, a town 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of the regional capital Barcelona, the Catalan Traffic Service said on its Twitter account Monday. The high speed train service from Figueres to ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May faces the battle of her political life to retain control of the governing Conservative Party as top Tory politicians undermined her leadership. After arch rival Boris Johnson went for the jugular, Chancellor Philip Hammond swept in to defend her in an increasingly chaotic political scene. May arrived at her party’s annual conference in Birmingham needing ...

Bloomberg Pyongyang won’t dismantle its nuclear weapons until it has “sufficient trust” with the US, North Korea’s top diplomat told the United Nations General Assembly, pressuring the Trump administration to drop its “coercive methods” such as sanctions. The remarks by North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho underscored lingering friction between the nations amid signs their diplomats have resumed talks ...

Bloomberg The death toll from a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and tsunami that hit Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi climbed to more than 800, with casualties expected to reach into the thousands as authorities try to reach those trapped under collapsed buildings. Local media reports quoted Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla as saying that he expected the toll to grow as he ...

Bloomberg With Brazil heading into a two-horse presidential race between left and right, centrist candidates are losing their allies and millions of moderate voters are frustrated and at a loss as to whom to support. Former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad of the leftist Workers’ Party over the past fortnight has more than doubled his support and is closing in ...