Bloomberg A Myanmar military-linked party has named a close ally of junta chief Min Aung Hlaing as its leader, a sign the country is gearing up for national elections next year. The Union Solidarity and Development Party’s executive members elected Khin Yi as the new chairman to replace Than Htay who resigned due to his health. The party had also ...
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Ethiopia accepts invitation to talks on ending conflict
Bloomberg Ethiopia’s government accepted an invitation by the African Union to talks about ending the nation’s two-year civil war. The continental body invited Ethiopia’s government and dissident Tigray fighters to talks in South Africa scheduled for October 8, according to a copy of the letter seen by Bloomberg that was verified by an African Union official. South African Department ...
Read More »More Russians flee than join Putin’s army after war call-up
Bloomberg Far more Russians have fled abroad than have enlisted in the military since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization to bolster his faltering invasion of Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said more than 200,000 people have been conscripted into the army since Putin’s Sept. 21 order for a partial call-up, Russian news services reported Tuesday. That matches an exodus ...
Read More »Turkey criticises US move on Cyprus security partnership
Bloomberg Turkey on Monday condemned the US’s decision to add Cyprus to a security cooperation program, saying that Washington is losing its impartiality in the dispute surrounding the divided island. The US move came two weeks after it lifted a decades-old arms embargo on the internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government located in the south of the Island. In response, Turkey first ...
Read More »North Korea fires missile over Japan for first time since 2017
Bloomberg North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time in five years, further ratcheting up tensions over Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program and prompting a rare public safety warning to be issued by Tokyo. The missile launched Tuesday splashed down in the Western Pacific about 3,200 kilometers east of Japan, officials in Tokyo said, adding there were ...
Read More »Soccer stampede pressures Jokowi to revamp police
Bloomberg A deadly stampede at an Indonesian soccer match triggered by police firing tear gas has added pressure on President Joko Widodo to overhaul a security force often criticized for brutality and corruption. The tragedy over the weekend left 125 people dead and is one of the world’s worst stadium disasters. It was also the first time Indonesian police used ...
Read More »Japan defends appointing PM’s son as senior aide
Bloomberg Prime Minister Fumio Kishida appointed his son as a senior political aide, sparking speculation that the 31-year-old was being groomed as an eventual successor and prompting criticism of nepotism. Shotaro, the oldest of Kishida’s three sons, was named executive secretary to the prime minister, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said Tuesday, adding that the appointment was appropriate. “Appointments are ...
Read More »Russia says annexed zones’ borders not set as Ukraine gains
Bloomberg Its forces losing ground by the day to Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Russia said it still hasn’t finalized the borders of two of the four regions of Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin last week claimed as his own. “As for Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, we will continue to consult with the people who live in those regions,†Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ...
Read More »US eyes regular aid to Ukraine, pushes EU to do more
Bloomberg The US is willing to support Ukraine’s finances with $1.5 billion a month in aid throughout the war against Russia and is pushing its European allies to commit to similar amounts, according to people familiar with the matter. The Biden administration, which signed off last week on $4.5 billion in grants to cover the rest of the year, ...
Read More »Putin says annexation is forever, defends his Ukraine land grab
Bloomberg Vladimir Putin vowed his annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine is irreversible, as the Russian president formalized Europe’s biggest land grab since World War II and accused the West of trying to subjugate his country. “They will become our citizens forever,†he told officials in a Kremlin ceremony Friday before he and Moscow-installed leaders signed annexation documents. He ...
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