Politics

Bloomberg Malaysians will cast their vote on May 9 in what will be a showdown between caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak and Mahathir Mohamad, the nation’s longest-serving premier. The campaign period will be shortened to 11 days, from 15 days in the 2013 election, with the nomination day for candidates set for April 28, Mohd Hashim Abdullah, chairman at the ...

Bloomberg Ireland’s deputy prime minister assailed UK Brexit Secretary David Davis’ suggestion that Sinn Fein is influencing the Dublin government as “nonsense,” in the latest sign of tension between the two countries over the UK vote to leave the EU. The Irish government under Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has “quite a strong influence from Sinn Fein” when it comes to ...

Bloomberg As President Donald Trump threatens to tear up the Iran nuclear deal and tensions flare across the Mideast, his hawkish new national security adviser is preparing to start work. John Bolton, a veteran of Republican administrations who’s called for military action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, takes over the key White House position on Monday, just ...

Bloomberg A majority of Britons support holding a vote on the final Brexit deal secured by Prime Minister Theresa May, according to a YouGov poll conducted for the pro-remain group Best for Britain. Those saying the public should have the final say on whether to accept the Brexit deal or remain in the European Union exceeded opponents by 8 percentage ...

ABUJA / Reuters Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari confirmed on Monday he will seek another term in elections next year, ending months of speculation about his future after bouts of ill health. The 75-year-old said he would seek his party’s presidential ticket to contest elections in February 2019 during a closed door meeting of the national executive committee of his All ...

Bloomberg The US has confirmed that Kim Jong Un is willing to talk to President Donald Trump about getting rid of his nuclear weapons, as South Korea claimed when it passed along the North Korean leader’s offer for a historic meeting, according to an administration official. Whether or not Kim had genuinely offered to discuss dismantling his nuclear programme was ...

Bloomberg Malcolm Turnbull’s government lost a 30th straight opinion poll on Monday — an uncomfortable milestone for Australia’s prime minister, who used the same measure as a justification for deposing his predecessor. The Liberal-National coalition has now trailed the main opposition Labor party in the closely watched Newspoll since shortly after scraping back into office in the July 2016 election. ...

Bloomberg The US demanded an immediate international response to reports of a chemical attack outside Syria’s capital that rescue workers and activists said killed dozens. The allegations emerged amid renewed government fire on Douma, the last rebel stronghold in the Eastern Ghouta suburb, after a truce in the area unraveled on April 06. A chemical weapons attack last April provoked ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva turned himself in to the police, finally ending a tense stand-off with authorities after ignoring a court-ordered deadline to begin a prison sentence. Lula left the metalworkers union headquarters, where he had hunkered down since last week, and is in police custody, TV footage showed. He ended up leaving by foot, ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will attempt a pincer movement on Donald Trump, with China emerging as the likely target of their joint effort to avert a trade war with the US. The leaders of Europe’s two biggest economies will visit the president in Washington within days of each other this month as the clock ...