Bloomberg US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin paid an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, the Associated Press said, citing local media reports. The stop comes as President Joe Biden is under pressure to decide whether to abide by an Afghanistan peace deal reached in Donald Trump’s final year aimed at bringing home the roughly 2,500 troops remaining in the ...

Bloomberg Malaysia said it expelled all North Korean diplomats in Kuala Lumpur following Pyongyang’s decision to end ties with it. Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia resorted to the action in response to North Korea’s “unilateral and utterly irresponsible decision to sever diplomatic ties,” according to a statement. Pyongyang said it was ending relations after a Malaysian court ruled that ...

Bloomberg The European Union (EU) must honour its vaccine contracts even as the sluggish rollout puts pressure on governments there, Ben Wallace, the UK defense secretary, told Sky News on Sunday. “The commission knows deep down that this would be counterproductive,” Wallace said. “They’re under tremendous political pressure at the European Commission. It would damage the EU’s relations globally if ...