Bloomberg South Korea put out its first strategy report for the Indo-Pacific region, which hardly mentions China and signals Seoul is seeking a cautious balance between its biggest trade partner Beijing and main military ally, the US. The 43-page document titled the “Strategy for a Free, Peaceful, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region,” issued a single paragraph about relations with China. ...

Bloomberg Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed deepening ties between their countries in talks, despite signs of Beijing’s impatience over the wider political and economic impact of Russia’s struggling invasion of Ukraine. Russia-China ties are the “best in history” and their strategic partnership is a “stabilising factor” amid rising geopolitical tensions, the Russian president said in the video ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden signed a $1.7 trillion government funding bill that includes $47 billion in additional aid for Ukraine in a victory for Democrats who feared that Republicans who will have control of the House in January could force deeper spending cuts and block assistance to Kyiv. Biden, who is on St Croix in the US Virgin Islands, signed ...

  Bloomberg The UK Labour Party has a 26-point poll lead over Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives, highlighting the task facing Britain’s new prime minister to restore his party’s fortunes. Support for Labour is at 45%, compared to 19% for the Tories, according to the survey of 1,169 adults conducted by People Polling for the broadcaster GB News. The polling company’s ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to seven more years in prison after she was found guilty of five charges of corruption during her time in government, according to a person familiar with the matter. A special court inside the compound of Naypyidaw Prison ruled the 77-year-old failed to follow financial regulations in renting and ...

  Bloomberg China appointed its ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, as the new foreign minister, as the nation shows signs of moving back to a lower-key diplomatic strategy after a growing backlash against its confrontational style. The move was announced by China National Radio, which said the decision was made at a meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing ...

  Bloomberg Eritrean soldiers are leaving major cities in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, the latest sign that a peace deal aimed at ending two years of conflict is holding. Over the past 48 hours the troops were seen withdrawing by truck from the Ethiopian city of Shire and the town of Adwa near the northern border with Eritrea, said people who ...

Bloomberg Britain’s cost-of-living squeeze will tighten in 2023, with families shouldering higher tax payments at a time when energy bills and interest rates also are soaring. The Resolution Foundation said the average household will pay £1,000 ($1,204) more in taxes next year and £900 more for electricity and natural gas. About 2 million mortgage holders will suffer an average increase ...

Bloomberg Canada’s merger court ruled in favour of Rogers Communications Inc and Shaw Communications Inc in a key antitrust case, clearing one of the final hurdles to the union of two of the nation’s largest telecommunications firms. The federal antitrust commissioner failed to prove that the deal would cause significant harm to competition in the industry, the Competition Tribunal said ...

  Bloomberg The European Commission has asked EU member states to review Covid testing and sequencing procedures and to consider scaling them back up amid increased concern about the virus spreading from China. “If a new variant of the SARS-CoV2 virus appears — be it in China or in the EU — we must detect it early in order to ...