Politics

Bloomberg The US is set to scale back aid to African military units fighting terrorism as it realigns its defense strategy to compete with more traditional threats from China and Russia. The shift comes despite a growing terror threat on the continent that has led to an increased American presence, resulting in attacks on US forces in Niger and Somalia ...

Bloomberg US President Donald Trump said he believed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would keep his pledge to “denuclearise,” while suggesting that neighbouring China might be working to undermine talks. “I have confidence that Kim Jong-un will honour the contract we signed &, even more importantly, our handshake,” Trump said in a tweet, adding that Beijing “may be exerting negative ...

Bloomberg At least 232 civilians were killed by South Sudanese government forces, their allies and armed youth in the country’s north in April and May, the United Nations said. Many more were injured in the raids on villages in opposition-controlled areas in Mayendit and Leer from April 16 to May 24, according to an investigation by UN human-rights monitors. The ...

Bloomberg Pakistan’s ex-president and leader of one of the country’s main political parties, Asif Ali Zardari, was named in a money-laundering investigation weeks before national elections. The Supreme Court in a statement sent to Bloomberg listed Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur along with 12 others as beneficiaries in an alleged scam “running into billions of rupees” that led to ...

Bloomberg Tom Watson, deputy leader of the UK opposition Labour Party, said he thought another Brexit referendum could be necessary if Theresa May’s proposed Brexit deal can’t get support. After months of trying to find a Brexit position that all wings of the Conservative Party could agree on, May seems to have given up, and gone for something that at ...

Bloomberg PM Mahathir Mohamad is putting safeguards in place to prevent graft in Malaysia by requiring his cabinet declare their wealth and refuse gifts more valuable than perishable food and flowers. “We will do everything possible,” Mahathir told reporters in Putrajaya. “We are in the midst of formulating laws and ways of administration so that we can reduce corruption and ...

Bloomberg With elections approaching, Brazil’s political parties are preparing to field the legally required minimum quota of female candidates, but that doesn’t mean they want them to win. Take Danielle Silva Lopes, for example, who only found out on polling day in October 2016 that she was running for city councilor in Sao Paulo for the Christian Social Democratic Party, ...

Bloomberg US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went to Pyongyang to get Kim Jong-un to give up his nuclear weapons. He left with a harsh reminder that the North Korean leader expects something in return. While President Donald Trump’s point man for nuclear talks summed up his 27 hours in the North Korean capital as “productive,” the regime called the ...

Bloomberg An influx of Western observers is giving Zimbabweans some hope that this month’s elections won’t be a repeat of the tainted contests held during former President Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule. While Zimbabwe’s past three elections were marred by allegations of rigging, violence and intimidation, new President Emmerson Mnangagwa has welcomed the return of monitors from Western nations whose governments ...

Bloomberg The European Commission’s threat to sue Poland over a judicial overhaul “won’t break” the government’s determination to push through changes that have drawn international condemnation and sparked street protests, the head of the ruling party said. Law & Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has pushed back against European Union officials’ efforts to halt what they say is a threat to ...