Politics

  Bloomberg Hong Kong denied that criticism of the city’s strict policy to push for zero Covid-19 cases is illegal under a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent in the former British colony. “Making general remarks and discussion is not illegal,” a government spokesman said in a statement Sunday, adding that the strategy was “the most effective way ...

  Bloomberg If North Korea’s test of its longest-range missile in five years wasn’t worrying enough, the state’s official media released images showing the Earth it said were taken in space from a rocket designed to deliver a nuclear warhead. Images of the weekend launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile were splashed on the country’s biggest newspaper Monday. The ...

  Bloomberg Hungarian teachers staged their first strike in five years to protest low pay, a headache for Prime Minister Viktor Orban before the tightest general election in more than a decade. More than 20,000 teachers walked out for two hours on Monday in what they described as a prelude to a complete and indefinite strike starting from March 16 ...

  Bloomberg Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa won Portugal’s general election and will now have an absolute majority in parliament, meaning far-left parties are no longer needed to back his budgets. The center-left Socialists took about 42% of the vote and increased the number of seats held in the 230-seat chamber to at least 117 from 108, based on 99% ...

  Bloomberg North Korea appeared to have fired one of its biggest ballistic missiles in almost five years, adding to its largest series of tests since Kim Jong-un took power as he forces his nuclear arsenal back onto the Biden administration’s agenda. North Korea launched a suspected intermediate range missile for the first time since 2017, according to initial assessments ...

  Bloomberg Russia wants an explanation of European security obligations from western nations before making its next proposals on the Ukraine crisis, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Moscow is asking Nato members and countries in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to clarify how they intend to fulfill OSCE obligations not to strengthen security at the expense of ...

  Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s embattled position was reinforced by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss amid a scandal over alleged pandemic-rule-breaking parties, as she batted away speculation that she could run for the leadership. “The future of the PM is assured,” Truss said on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show. “He’s doing an excellent job on the things that matter ...

  Bloomberg Taiwanese Vice President William Lai held a video call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — his second meeting with a senior US politician in two days— on topics including human rights in China. Pelosi, who has called for a diplomatic boycott of next month’s Beijing Winter Olympics, reiterated her concern about Chinese human rights abuses, according to a ...

  Bloomberg The French far-right leader Marine Le Pen finally secured a bank loan for her financially struggling campaign to challenge President Emmanuel Macron. The candidate in the April presidential election obtained a 10.6 million euro loan from a European bank, Jordan Bardella, president of her National Rally party, told Agence France-Presse. A spokeswoman for Le Pen didn’t immediately respond ...

  Bloomberg Mario Draghi’s failed bid to become Italian president has tarnished the aura that helped him keep a fractious coalition in line. But the damage suffered by the country’s main political parties means that the prime minister may still have the leverage to push through his agenda in the final year of his mandate. After six days of chaotic ...