Politics

Bloomberg Home Secretary Suella Braverman suggested the UK may use cruise ships to house asylum seekers in an attempt to cut costs the government estimates will run to £3.5 billion ($4.2 billion) this tax year. “Nothing is excluded,” Braverman told lawmakers when asked if vessels will be used. It’s an idea Prime Minister Rishi Sunak floated during the summer leadership ...

  Bloomberg The European Union (EU) will look into Kosovo’s application to join the bloc as soon as Sweden takes over the rotating presidency in January. The bid will have to be carefully mulled as it’s a sensitive issue for many member states, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. Five of 27 ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages with his Australian counterpart to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the latest sign of warming ties between the two major trade partners. State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Wednesday that Xi had sent messages to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor General David Hurley. Xi said China was ...

Bloomberg The National Archives and Records Administration (Nara) released another set of documents related to the storage of classified material and presidential documents at Mar-a-Lago by ex-President Donald Trump. The 573-pages of emails show how Gary Stern, Nara’s general counsel, pushed officials internally to set the record straight after news reports first surfaced last February claiming the agency “raided” Mar-a-Lago ...

Bloomberg Peru’s congress approved a constitutional reform to hold early presidential elections in a second bid to alleviate a political crisis that’s seen widespread unrest since former President Pedro Castillo was removed from office December 7. The reform passed by a two-thirds majority calls for early elections in April 2024, shortening the term of Castillo’s successor, Dina Boluarte, to July ...

  Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa notched up another win in the leadership contest for the ruling African National Congress, after his allies secured a resounding majority of posts on party’s top decision-making structure. At least 65% of 80 additional members of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, who were elected at its December 16-20 national conference, appeared on a ...

Bloomberg China is building up several unoccupied land features in the South China Sea, according to Western officials, which they said was part of Beijing’s long-running effort to strengthen claims to disputed territory and potentially bolster its military presence in a region critical to global trade. Fishing fleets that operate as de facto maritime militias under the control of authorities ...

Bloomberg The Royal Thai Navy said that at least five sailors have been confirmed dead after a ship sank off the coast of southern Thailand during a storm. There were 105 sailors on board the HTMS Sukhothai, a corvette which went down 37 kilometers (20 nautical miles) offshore the province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, according to a navy tweet and ...

  Bloomberg An explosion was reported at Russian gas pipeline that goes to Ukraine for further supplies to Europe. The blast occurred at the section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod link, according to Russian media reports, citing the press office of the regional governor. It wasn’t immediately clear if flows of gas were impacted. A fire site was extinguished after the incident ...

Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa emerged from a ruling party electoral conference with a stronger mandate, yet still has to overcome a series of political hurdles to tackle a daunting economic to-do list. The country is gripped by an energy crisis that’s idling businesses for six or more hours a day, the crumbling freight-rail system prevents key exports from ...