Author: staff

South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo has resigned ahead of an expected bid to become the main conservative candidate in next month’s presidential election. Han has emerged as a potential standard bearer for the People Power Party (PPP), which remains in disarray after President Yoon Suk-yeol was ousted for imposing martial law in December. Han, a career bureaucrat who has previously served as prime minister under both a liberal and a conservative government, hinted at a potential presidential run on Thursday.”There are two paths in front of me. One of them is to complete my current obligation,” he said. “The…

This is particularly true of countries that share similar values and interests with the EU, such as the U.K., Canada, Japan, South Korea and Australia, but there’s also a chance to strengthen trade relations with others. Talks are already underway with India, and opportunities to balance trade with China, which has been severely affected by U.S. sanctions, are also emerging. According to economists from the European Central Bank (ECB), expanding trade with third countries like this could help offset the impact of conflict with the U.S. However, there’s also a catch. Europe won’t become an attractive partner simply because it’s…

Yet it’s this very channel where U.K. ministers are now trying to pump their own messages into the MAGA media ecosystem — and catch Donald Trump’s eye in the process. British Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Defense Secretary John Healey have both done interviews on Newsmax in the past six weeks during their respective trips to the U.S. — and there’s more expected to follow from other visiting ministers. It’s just the latest Rubicon crossed by a center-left government which has prioritized pragmatism over ideological purity — particularly when it comes to dealing with the current president and his volley of tariffs.…

Big party names More than half of the 57 people officially listed as employees of Blue Skies had high-ranking positions close to Mitsotakis or New Democracy at the same time, according to a report in Documento newspaper. None listed their corporate PR roles on their CVs. In addition to outgoing EPP Secretary-General Bakolas, the names include Minister of Labor and Social Security Domna Michailidou and Deputy Minister of Transport Konstantinos Kyranakis. Most of them appear to have worked at the company when Mitsotakis took over the party leadership in 2016, and stopped in 2019 when New Democracy was elected and…

1 p.m.: Durham is proper Labour heartland territory. Until 2021, the party had controlled the county for a century. After mopping up every seat here in the general election, this was seen as Labour’s best chance of regaining control of a council. But Farage has been campaigning hard here personally and hopes to make real inroads. The Conservatives are likely to lose their slender majority in Lancashire in the coming hour. 2.30 p.m.: Hull and East Yorkshire is a new mayoralty where four parties are vying for the title — Lib Dems, Labour, Tories and Reform’s Luke Campbell, who was ahead of the pack…

Microsoft and Meta Platforms reported March quarter earnings that beat market expectations, suggesting that strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) is helping both companies navigate economic uncertainty driven by tariffs. The highlights from the two US tech giants include Microsoft’s Azure cloud business and Meta’s advertising revenue, both significantly bolstered by their AI developments.Shares of Microsoft and Meta jumped 7% and 5.4%, respectively, in after-hours trading, lifting US stock futures. Microsoft’s shares are poised to recover all losses for the year, while Meta’s shares remain down 3.7% year-to-date.Microsoft’s Azure growth acceleratesMicrosoft’s core cloud business—Azure and other related services—posted a 33%…

But finance minister Reeves’ announcement that U.K. civil service costs will be cut 15 percent puts extra pressure on the SFO’s workforce. “It is madness,” said an economic crime expert at an NGO. “The government should, at the very least, exclude the enforcement bodies from cuts.” “It’s an untenable situation where your enforcement capacity depends on civil service headcount numbers.” Taking on more cases would require more funding. Although the government provided additional cash to the agency late last year, it is “peanuts” compared to what the agency needs, according to the economic crime expert.  The agency’s budget in 2025/6…

Dreieinhalb Jahre Ampel-Regierung, unzählige Pressekonferenzen, Reisen, Krisen – und jetzt der Abschied: Steffen Hebestreit spricht über seine Zeit als Regierungssprecher von Olaf Scholz. In einem Spaziergang durch das politische Berlin erzählt er, wie er den Bruch der Koalition erlebte, was ihn an Scholz beeindruckt hat, was wirklich in Moskau geschah – und wie sich Macht, Müdigkeit und Medien im Regierungsalltag anfühlen. Ein seltener Blick hinter die Kulissen des Kanzleramts, zwischen Hintergrundgesprächen, Krimsekt und Kanzlerporträt. Das Berlin Playbook als Podcast gibt es morgens um 5 Uhr. Gordon Repinski und das POLITICO-Team bringen euch jeden Morgen auf den neuesten Stand in Sachen…

One hundred days into Donald Trump’s second presidency and he’s already swung another election. How will Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, emboldened by his victory at the polls, take on Trump? Host Anne McElvoy talks to Ralph Goodale, who has been at the centre of Canadian politics for several decades and now holds one of the country’s top diplomatic posts as High Commissioner to the U.K. A former finance minister, he has served in the cabinets of three Liberal prime ministers from Jean Chrétien to Justin Trudeau between 1993 and 2019. She’s also joined by Nick Taylor-Vaisey, POLITICO’s Ottawa bureau…

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy disclosed Wednesday he has spoken to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio 13 times this year, with Starmer and Trump speaking “almost” as many times. Behind the scenes on the U.K. side, National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, a seasoned negotiator, and Defense Secretary John Healey, seen as another heavyweight, have been key to this drive, aided by U.S. envoy to the U.K. Mark Burnett. As one British official reflected after the meeting in Rome: “We were happy that we were able to continue to underline that Putin has shown no sign of any intention to…