Bloomberg A renewed push for Scottish independence is about to force its way onto embattled UK Prime Minister Liz Truss’s agenda. The debate over a second referendum on Scotland breaking with the rest of the UK goes to the Supreme Court in London on Tuesday, where judges were to consider a request by the semi-autonomous government in Edinburgh whether it ...
Read More »Politics
Mahathir says he will defend Langkawi seat in Malaysia elections
Bloomberg Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s 97-year-old former prime minister, said he will defend his Langkawi parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election. The country’s longest-serving leader, who was instrumental in unseating the ruling United Malays National Organisation in the historic 2018 election before losing power in 2020, said his party had yet to pick a candidate as premier. Still, he ...
Read More »Putin threatens more missile attacks on Ukraine as cities hit
Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin threatened further missile attacks on Ukraine after Russia hit Kyiv and other cities in the most intense barrage of strikes since the first days of its invasion, marking a dangerous new escalation in the war. Monday’s bombardment came a day after Putin accused Ukrainian forces of carrying out an explosion that damaged a flagship road and ...
Read More »Ukraine’s allies can’t get arms fast enough as stockpiles shrink
Bloomberg With Russia’s war in Ukraine in its eighth month, some European nations that have funneled weapons to Kyiv are running low, and it could take years for defense contractors to meet the shortfall. Nato states are urging companies to boost production to help them restock — to both resupply Ukraine and reinforce their own stores in a climate of ...
Read More »Malaysia PM dissolves parliament, calls snap polls
Bloomberg Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of parliament on Monday, paving the way for elections this year as his ruling party seeks to strengthen its position following a run of successful local polls. Ismail said he met with King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah to gain approval for the dissolution, and the Election Commission would decide ...
Read More »India, Australia deny Delhi’s Russia ties risk Quad alliance
Bloomberg India’s close military and trade ties with Russia won’t undermine the effectiveness of the Quad security partnership, Australia’s top diplomat said, despite high tensions between Moscow and western nations over Russia’s war in Ukraine. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told a press conference in Canberra on Monday that the ...
Read More »New political storm brews in Catalonia for key Sanchez ally
Bloomberg Catalonia’s separatist president is set to name a batch of new cabinet members in a bid to shore up his government after its main coalition partner pulled the plug on their alliance. The seven new so-called councilors will be sworn in Tuesday, President Pere Aragones said on his Twitter account. The move to fill vacant posts in the ...
Read More »Russia races to reopen Crimea bridge damaged in fiery blast
Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin’s flagship bridge to Crimea was severely damaged in a blast that hit a fuel train and caused the partial collapse of the only road link running from the Russian mainland to the Black Sea peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014. Local authorities raced on Saturday to reopen one lane of the Kerch Strait Bridge to ...
Read More »South Korea to boost US, Japan defense ties after Kim’s missiles
Bloomberg South Korea said its military will strengthen security cooperation with the US and Japan, including the deployment of “US strategic assets,†after Kim Jong Un’s North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Sunday. The provocations, in violation of United Nations Security Council’s resolutions, will strengthen sanctions against North Korea, worsen public welfare and make the regime “very unstable,†South ...
Read More »Truss faces new perils as restless MPs return to Westminster
Bloomberg The return of Parliament this week is fraught with danger for UK Prime Minister Liz Truss. In her first month in office, the 47-year-old premier managed to roil the financial markets, alienate a swath of her lawmakers and sink the Conservative Party in the polls with the biggest set of unfunded tax cuts in half a century. Since the ...
Read More »