Politics

Bloomberg China warned the US against trying to build what it called a Pacific version of Nato, while declaring that security disputes over Taiwan and Ukraine were “not comparable at all.” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his annual news briefing Monday that the “real goal” of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy was to form Asia’s answer to the North Atlantic Treaty ...

Bloomberg Russian forces destroyed an atomic-physics lab under international safeguards in Ukraine’s second-largest city, the head of the world’s nuclear watchdog said, underscoring growing concerns over the safety risks posed by fighting around the country’s atomic facilities. Rafael Mariano Grossi, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency, said that a neutron generator at the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed a government decree authorizing stationing of Nato troops in Hungary. The decree, published on Monday, upholds the government’s ban on transport of lethal weapons to Ukraine via Hungary. Unlike many other east European member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Orban’s government hasn’t specifically asked for Nato troops to help defend its ...

Bloomberg As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine heads towards the two week mark, the stakes for both sides in the ground war look set to rise, with potentially catastrophic implications for Ukrainian civilians and greater challenges for the country’s so far remarkably successful defense. President Vladimir Putin said again the war will continue until Ukraine accepts his demands and halts resistance, ...

Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed zero tolerance for anything that could undermine ethnic harmony in the world’s No. 2 economy, a sign he’s sticking to assimilation policies that have led to unrest and allegations of human rights abuses. “Only when all ethnic groups live in unity and harmony can there be a prosperous country, a stable society and a ...

  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 ...