Politics

  Bloomberg Protesters against France’s Covid-19 vaccine passes began driving toward Paris on Friday to attempt to block the capital, inspired by “freedom convoys” that began in Canada. On Facebook and Telegram, people shared videos of cars setting off from across the country, including Strasbourg, in the east, Brittany, in the west, the region around Lille, in the north, and ...

  Bloomberg Russia and Belarus began their largest joint military drills in years Thursday, watched closely by the US and Europe amid tensions over neighboring Ukraine. Thousands of troops backed by tanks, fighter aircraft and advanced S-400 missile-defense systems are involved in the “Allied Resolve 2022” exercises in Belarus that run to February 20. They include drills near the border ...

  Bloomberg Lithuania’s top diplomat called on the world to stand up to China and Russia’s alleged human rights violations during a visit to Australia, while acknowledging there would be a “cost” to taking such actions. Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the National Press Club in Canberra that countries need to cut their trade and energy dependency on what he ...

  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 ...