Politics

  Bloomberg President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s decision to abstain from a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, after drawing US and European Union criticism over its stance. South Africa was among 35 countries that abstained from the March 2 vote criticizing Russia. After the vote, the US ambassador called on South Africa to take sides in ...

Bloomberg Efforts failed for a second day to halt Russia’s siege of the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol to allow the evacuation of tens of thousands as President Vladimir Putin pressed ahead with the invasion and demand for the country’s “demilitarization.” Russian troops violated a temporary ceasefire agreement, Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his ...

Bloomberg Finnish President Sauli Niinisto met with President Joe Biden in the White House, signaling that he’s looking for a closer relationship with the superpower after Finland’s neighbor Russia invaded Ukraine. They agreed to start a “clear process” to enhance security and defense cooperation, also involving Nordic partners, Niinisto, 73, told reporters after their talks in Washington, DC. Asked whether ...

Bloomberg President Vladimir Putin was denounced for his “recklessness” after Ukraine said that Russian forces attacked a nuclear power plant, raising the stakes in the war and prompting calls for an even more robust response to the Kremlin’s aggression. Nato foreign ministers and European leaders condemned what Kyiv described as an assault on the Zaporizhzhia facility in southeast Ukraine, Europe’s ...

  Bloomberg Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to tell Republican donors that there’s no place in the GOP for “apologists” of Russian President Vladimir Putin, his latest shot at Donald Trump ahead of a possible 2024 presidential election bid. Pence is expected to make the comments about Putin and defend the expansion of Nato in Eastern Europe during a ...

  Bloomberg Australia expects to soon announce more specifics of a plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under a security partnership with the US and UK, Defense Minister Peter Dutton said. Prime Minister Scott Morrison in September announced the new defense alliance and moved to scrap a deal struck in 2016 with French shipbuilder Naval Group to build as many as ...

Bloomberg The US should immediately move towards recognizing Taiwan as a country, former US Secretary of State and potential presidential candidate Mike Pompeo said in Taipei, comments that garnered a testy response from Beijing. “It is imperative to change 50 years of ambiguity,” said Pompeo, the top diplomat in the Trump administration who is visiting Taipei in an unofficial capacity ...

Bloomberg Swedes and Finns are increasingly in favor of joining the Nato defense bloc after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding pressure on the countries’ leaders to change long-standing policies of military non-alignment. Polls released in the two Nordic countries on Friday showed 51% of Swedes and 48% of Finns now back joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It’s the first ...

Bloomberg Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is stepping up his calls for a no-fly zone as his country faces escalating Russian bombardment of key cities and strategic sites, but the Nato military alliance remains highly unlikely to support one. “Europe must wake up,” Zelenskiy said in a video message early Friday after Ukraine said shelling in the area that houses the ...

  Bloomberg Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi made the biggest changes to his cabinet since coming into power in 2015, placing allies in key positions as the ruling party prepares for an elective congress in September. Nyusi named Adriano Maleiane, who had been finance minister since 2015, as the new prime minister, replacing Carlos do Rosário, according to a statement posted ...