Politics

  Bloomberg North Korea is stepping up preparations for military parade that could come as soon as next week, ratcheting up tensions after a January barrage of missile tests forced Kim Jong Un’s nuclear arsenal back on the Biden administration’s agenda. Commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s parade training ground taken last weekend showed several hundred personnel in formation, likely ...

  Bloomberg Bulgaria’s new prime minister criticized the nation’s prosecutors for dragging their feet on tackling graft, advancing a pledge to fight the problem in the European Union’s most corrupt member state. Premier Kiril Petkov, who won November elections promising “zero tolerance for corruption,” provided a list of 19 people he said “are potentially involved in wrongful activities” along with ...

  Bloomberg Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she has no intention of quitting after London Mayor Sadiq Khan put her on notice following a series of scandals in the capital’s force. “I have absolutely no intention of going,” Dick told BBC London radio on Thursday. “I am — and have been for the last five years — leading a ...

  Bloomberg The European Union will snub a request by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for the bloc’s member countries to respond individually to Moscow’s demands on the region’s security framework. Josep Borrell, the bloc’s foreign policy chief, will respond on behalf of the 27 EU members, according to a draft of the letter seen by Bloomberg. The EU response ...

  Bloomberg Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell expressed skepticism about the effectiveness a sanctions bill would have in swaying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decisions on Ukraine. “I don’t think Putin will be deterred by any piece of legislation in the Senate,” he said. McConnell said the Nord Stream 2 pipeline should be blocked now and that President Joe Biden already ...

  Bloomberg A US-led group of democracies condemned China for “suppression” of Hong Kong’s press freedoms in a statement that was “firmly rejected” by China, highlighting lingering tensions over human rights. Calling themselves the Media Freedom Coalition, 21 countries including the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Canada and Japan said in a statement released by the State Department that they “express ...

  Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s premiership is past the point of no return and he should resign, a hedge fund manager who has given the UK’s ruling Conservative Party more than three million pounds ($4 million) told the BBC. If “you lose moral authority” and “betray a sense of not really caring, I think you should leave,” John Armitage, co-founder of ...

  Bloomberg Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a hard line against trucker protests that have paralyzed Canada’s capital city and have now halted commercial traffic to the US at the busiest border crossing between the two countries. The Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, with Detroit was shut down in both directions, according to a Canadian government website and the ...

  Bloomberg US President Joe Biden said the controversial Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline between Russia and Germany would be stopped if President Vladimir Putin orders an invasion of Ukraine. “We will bring an end to it,” Biden said at a joint news conference at the White House with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a short answer to a ...

  Bloomberg The UK government ruled out the prospect of an early election in Northern Ireland, saying it will be held on May 5 as planned. “It’s right” to allow lawmakers “time and space to pass legislation,” Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis told reporters in London. “I’ll be working to support the parties to do that and then we can ...