Politics

Bloomberg On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit last month, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her likely successor that the coronavirus pandemic might require tougher curbs. But Olaf Scholz brushed aside the proposal, and Germany is now paying the price. At the Rome meeting in late October, where Merkel introduced Scholz to other world leaders, she proposed convening the ...

Bloomberg Bulgarian President Rumen Radev clarified his stance on Crimea on the first day after his re-election following comments that sparked an angry reaction from the US and Ukraine. Radev, who won a second five-year term, said during a pre-election debate that sanctions on Russia for its occupation of Crimea were having no effect. When pressed by his opponent to ...

Bloomberg China fired a missile from a hypersonic weapon as it approached a target during a test in July, the Financial Times reported, adding the Pentagon was surprised because no nation was known to have the capability. A hypersonic glide vehicle launched by China fired the projectile over the South China Sea while moving at five times the speed of ...

Bloomberg The US has shared intelligence including maps with European allies that shows a buildup of Russian troops and artillery to prepare for a rapid, large-scale push into Ukraine from multiple locations if President Vladimir Putin decided to invade, according to people familiar with the conversations. That intelligence has been conveyed to some Nato members over the past week to ...

Bloomberg Europe faces a “synchronised” series of crises around Belarus, from the political to energy and security, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said as he again blamed Russia for being behind the migrant crisis on its border. Speaking during his tour of three Baltic states, Morawiecki voiced alarm over tensions flaring from Belarus to Ukraine, and warned of Moscow’s “appetite ...

Bloomberg China downgraded ties with Lithuania to the level of charge d’affaires, further raising tensions after Taiwan opened a diplomatic office in the Baltic nation. Lithuania is “walking back on political promises” made in a communique for establishing diplomatic links with China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China withdrew its ambassador from Lithuania in August in protest ...

Bloomberg Tens of thousands gathered in Vienna to protest the Austrian government’s new vaccine mandate and a national lockdown to contain record coronavirus cases. The demonstration came as unrest is on the rise in Europe, where governments, desperate to end the pandemic and its damage to their economies and healthcare systems, are increasingly focusing on the unvaccinated. Austria will enter ...

Bloomberg Bulgarians are voting in a presidential runoff that is likely to re-elect incumbent Rumen Radev to a new five-year term and cement gains for political forces who ousted long-serving Prime Minister Boyko Borissov. After winning the first round of elections with nearly 50% of the votes, Radev faces Anastas Gerdzhikov, the head of Bulgaria’s largest university and backed by ...

Bloomberg Chileans headed to the polls to choose between diametrically opposed paths to address growing social demands that have been laid bare by the pandemic and two years of popular unrest. Voters will choose between seven contenders for the top job, including conservative Jose Antonio Kast and leftist Gabriel Boric, the two front-runners. They will also elect deputies for the ...

Bloomberg Venezuelans went to polls on Sunday in regional elections poised to strengthen President Nicolas Maduro as the country’s political opposition slips further into disarray. The country of 28 million will elect mayors, governors and local officials from roughly 70,000 candidates in the first elections that are being contested by opposition parties since 2017, and monitored by the European Union ...