In his first budget request to Congress, President Joe Biden is set to propose $715 billion in defense spending — a 0.4% cut in real terms. After four years in which military spending increased substantially, the administration is right to take aim at Pentagon excess and seek greater value for taxpayer dollars. But perhaps the biggest obstacles to realising those ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson is celebrating triumphant early results in UK elections, but he faces trouble ahead with Scotland cementing support for its independence movement. In a key set of local and national votes, Johnson’s ruling Conservatives tightened their grip on the pro-Brexit former industrial heartlands of northern England. They took the parliamentary seat of Hartlepool, which overwhelmingly backed ...

Bloomberg China is asking United Nations member states to stay away from an event organised by some Western countries that will address human rights issues in its Xinjiang region, Reuters reported. The virtual event is “politically motivated” and interferes with China’s domestic affairs, the report said, citing a memo by the Chinese UN mission. It’s being organised next week by ...