Bloomberg France’s Republicans nominated their first woman presidential candidate in a primary that sharpened the focus of the challenge facing Emmanuel Macron in next year’s election. Valerie Pecresse won the final round of the conservative’s ballot after 61% of members backed her. Eric Ciotti, a lawmaker from southern France often compared to far-right rival Eric Zemmour, took 39%. By selecting ...

Bloomberg Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the US will stand up to an “increasingly assertive and autocratic” China in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, calling its activity “disturbing.” One way to counter China’s military modernisation, growing nuclear capabilities and technological advances is to strengthen US alliances in the region, Austin told a security conference in California. “The activity that we ...

Bloomberg The US is reevaluating the travel ban on eight southern African countries as more information about the omicron variant and its spread becomes available, White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci said. “That ban was done at a time when we were really in the dark — we had no idea what was going on,” Fauci said. U.S. medical advisers ...