Politics

Bloomberg The European Union’s 27 remaining leaders may warn the UK that it faces crashing out of the bloc without a deal and call for contingency preparations, as an update due from the Brexit negotiators is set to highlight the limited progress made since March. With Brexit negotiations slowly meandering towards the end of the latest three-month period as lawmakers ...

Bloomberg As if on cue, Kim Jong-un returned to Beijing on Tuesday in an illustration of how President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against China could spiral into a broader conflict between the world’s two largest economies. The North Korean leader was expected to spend two days in China — his third such visit since March — presumably to confer with ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump has agreed to “alter” the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, revealing an apparent promise from Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un that wasn’t announced at the time. “He has made very clear his commitment to fully denuclearise his country,” Pompeo said of ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition lost a second political ally in three months after his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew its support from the government in the troubled northern state of Jammu and Kashmir. Blaming the state government-led by Mehbooba Mufti of the regional People’s Democratic Party for its failure to maintain law and order and curb a ...

Bloomberg Spain and Italy are heading for a clash over migration as Rome hardened its tough stance on refugees and the new government in Madrid called for a humane approach to asylum-seekers. Three years after a wave of immigrants fleeing wars and chaos in the Middle East and North Africa threatened to overwhelm the European Union, the issue is back ...

Bloomberg The first punches have been thrown in a potential trade war and now Xi Jinping is poised to match Donald Trump with a tit for tat response. The next flurry of jabs may be imminent. In his announcement of tariffs on Chinese goods on June 16, Trump vowed additional duties if China retaliated — which Beijing immediately did. Details ...

Bloomberg Ivan Duque, a 41-year-old lawyer and former senator who wants to modify parts of a peace process and cut corporate taxes, will be Colombia’s next president following a decisive election victory on June 17. Duque, who spent half his adult life in Washington, is the protege of former President Alvaro Uribe, a polarising security hard-liner. Whether he’ll be able ...

Bloomberg In their first two weeks in power, Italy’s populist leaders sparked a dispute with France over immigration and threatened to scupper a landmark EU trade pact with Canada. It’s hardly the way to make friends with European partners in key deciding positions when Italy seeks approval for the big-spending budget plan it will submit to Brussels in four months. ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel accepted a two-week deadline to win agreement on tougher migration policy, a concession to her Bavarian coalition partner that eases an immediate standoff without removing the threat of further government tension down the road. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who heads Bavaria’s Christian Social Union party, insists the chancellor reach a deal by the end of June ...

Bloomberg Theresa May is surrounded. On one side, the UK prime minister has the European Union, sharpening its knives to defend the club of 27 remaining members against British “cherry picking” during Brexit talks. On the other side is her own Conservative party, split into two feuding tribes, either one of which could topple her from power. It’s the domestic ...