Politics

Bloomberg The US said Russia has massed as many as 190,000 personnel — including troops, National Guard units and Russian-backed separatists – in and around Ukraine in what it called the most significant military mobilisation since World War II. Russia told the US that it has no plans to attack, and officials in Moscow have repeatedly dismissed US warnings about ...

Bloomberg Russia’s buildup near the Ukrainian border is likely to secure the Kremlin a stronger negotiating position as the possibility remains that tensions are resolved peacefully, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said. “I still believe in the peaceful solution of this conflict,” Nauseda said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Brussels. “Yes, there are a lot of rumors — we ...

  Bloomberg One potent force is emerging from the torpid dispute over Northern Ireland between the UK and European Union, and the potential consequences could redraw the map more dramatically than Brexit. Sinn Fein, whose ultimate goal is a united Ireland and the end of British rule, is leading the polls ahead of critical elections to Belfast’s power-sharing assembly on ...

  Bloomberg Spain’s main opposition party descended into chaos as senior officials were accused of mounting an espionage operation against a rising star who poses a threat to the party leader. The fight broke out after local newspapers reported that the People’s Party had hired private detectives to dig up information on the brother of Madrid’s regional president, Isabel Diaz ...

  Bloomberg The first wild polio virus case in 30 years has been confirmed in Malawi, sparking concern that the disease that causes paralysis could spread from the only two countries where it is endemic, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Malawian case in the capital, Lilongwe, has been tied to a strain of the virus found in an outbreak in Pakistan’s ...

  Bloomberg Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists blamed each other for what they said was shelling in violation of a ceasefire in the Donbas region. Both Kyiv and Moscow expressed concern about the apparent uptick in violence. No deaths were reported and there was no immediate confirmation of the allegations. It wasn’t clear how much of an escalation they may represent ...

  Bloomberg France and its allies agreed to withdraw their forces from Mali after relations with the West African nation’s government deteriorated following a military coup. French, European and Canadian troops are planning a “coordinated withdrawal” from the country given “multiple obstructions by Mali’s transitional authorities,” the office of French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement. “We can’t remain ...

  Bloomberg China is stepping up efforts to ease broad public anger over a mother of eight children who was found chained by the neck in a shack after local authorities were accused of downplaying the matter. The government of the eastern province of Jiangsu is forming a team to “find the truth, punish those who violated laws, hold those ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong should consider postponing the city’s leadership election next month, a Chinese lawmaker said, in the most high-profile call yet for suspending the vote amid a surge in Covid cases. Tam Yiu-chung, Hong Kong’s sole representative member on China’s top legislative body, told a radio program that potential candidates might need to focus on containing the outbreak. ...

Bloomberg Taiwan believes Xi Jinping is too focused on a key party meeting to extend his tenure as China’s leader to take military action now, regardless of what happens between Russia and Ukraine, according to two senior officials involved in security issues in Taipei. The Taiwanese government has assessed the current risk of a Chinese attack to be low, even ...