Tokyo / AFP Japan’s economy contracted in the last quarter of 2015, official data showed on Monday, dealing another blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s faltering bid to boost growth. The figures will fan talk of fresh Bank of Japan measures, after policymakers shocked markets last month with an unprecedented negative interest rate policy—widely seen as a desperate move to …

Bloomberg Poland’s new leaders are eroding the country’s democratic record through laws that give the government new powers, three US senators said in a letter to Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. The dispatch by Senators John McCain, Benjamin Cardin and Richard Durbin follows an unprecedented move by the European Union’s executive last month to start a probe into whether rule of …

PYONGYANG / AP The United States and Japan have already announced plans for new sanctions over North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, and the UN Security Council is likely to deliver more soon. Cross-border tensions with Seoul are escalating quickly and even China is starting to sound more like an angry neighbour than a comrade-in-arms. But with a …