Politics

Bloomberg With Italy on the brink of chaos, Mario Draghi has less than a week to forge some difficult compromises with the populists in his government that have reluctantly backed him for the past 18 months. The prime minister’s decision to offer his resignation plunged the euro area’s third-largest economy in a paralyzing political crisis that may end with snap ...

  Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin reassigned the top official responsible for military production as the Kremlin digs in for a long war in Ukraine that’s tested an industry long plagued by inefficiency and corruption. Putin released Yury Borisov as deputy prime minister overseeing the defense industry and appointed him as general director of Roscomos in place of Dmitry Rogozin, ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said the US won’t wait “forever” for Iran to agree to new curbs on its nuclear program, while Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid warned that his country is prepared to defend itself should Tehran get closer to developing a weapon. “We’ve laid out for the leadership of Iran what we’re willing to accept,” Biden told reporters ...

Bloomberg South Korean prosecutors are investigating members of former President Moon Jae-in’s government over the 2019 forced repatriation of two North Koreans, whose return to face criminal charges and likely execution had been denounced by critics as a violation of human rights. Current President Yoon Suk Yeol’s administration this week released photos of the blindfolded and bound fishermen getting dragged ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa arrived in Singapore Thursday after fleeing months of anti-government protests that forced him to pledge to resign. Rajapaksa flew to Singapore’s Changi Airport from the Maldives, where he had made a brief stop after leaving Sri Lanka Wednesday aboard a military aircraft. The island nation’s Security Council agreed to his request for safe passage ...

Bloomberg Negotiations over unblocking millions of tons of Ukraine’s grain exports were constructive, according to Ukraine, the United Nations, Turkey and Russia, an initial step in bolstering global food supplies and aiding the country’s beleaguered farm sector. The talks were held in Turkey with representatives from the countries and the UN. The sides — who agreed on the “main technical ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa left the country for the Maldives on a military aircraft, an air force spokesman said on television, hours ahead of his expected resignation on Wednesday. The Sri Lankan Air Force provided an aircraft for the 73-year-old leader to leave the country following a decision by the security council, Air Force spokesman Group Captain Dushan ...

  Bloomberg Sri Lanka had to impose emergency rule because it received intelligence reports that attempts were on to take over the PM’s office and air force chief’s house, Prime Minister and Acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe said in a televised address Wednesday. Speaking on a private TV channel — after protesters took control of the state broadcaster and prime minister’s ...

  Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin’s younger daughter has been handed a new role with the country’s most powerful business lobby to help beat the impact of international sanctions over his war in Ukraine, the RBC newspaper reported. Katerina Tikhonova, who is sanctioned by the US and its allies, was named co-chairman of a committee to coordinate import-substitution efforts by ...

Bloomberg Mario Draghi said he won’t continue leading Italy’s government if the Five Star Movement leaves his coalition, in a sign of growing impatience for the constant squabbling among parties. “For me there is no government without Five Star,” Draghi said at a press conference on Tuesday. “There is no Draghi government different from the current one.” Draghi is under ...