A top Chinese official has claimed several high-ranking members of the Communist Party had plotted to seize power from President Xi Jinping.
These party members have since been arrested or jailed in a wide-reaching corruption crackdown launched by Mr Xi. Some observers have said the crackdown was used to conduct a political purge of Mr Xi’s opponents. Source BBC
Russia’s Rosneft earlier this week announced that it had started drilling a production well off the coast of Vietnam in the South China Sea. Today, two sources close to the Vietnamese unit of the Russian company told Reuters there were concerns there about China’s possible reaction to the drilling. Source: Reuters
Hundreds of truck drivers blocked roads across Bulgaria on Thursday (17 May) as European Union leaders met in Sofia, protesting against proposed EU rules they say would cost them their jobs and put their firms out of business. Source: Euractiv
At the 23 March EU summit, Rajoy told his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borissov that he would not attend the EU-Western Balkans summit organised by the EU Bulgarian Presidency in Sofia because he did not want to sit on the same table with Kosovo. Source: Euractiv
