Politics

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron’s government was expected to unveil a new anti-terrorism draft bill on Wednesday, just days after the fatal stabbing of a police officer by an extremist. The bill aims to identify suspects before they carry out an attack, and will turn temporary measures into permanent ones. That could include extending a collaboration with telecom companies to ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria is probing several explosions at arms warehouses for potential links to an investigation into a deadly munition blast in the Czech Republic that sparked a recent diplomatic feud with Russia. Prosecutors are investigating six unnamed Russian citizens, whose presence in Bulgaria between 2011 and 2020 coincided with the blasts, Siyka Mileva, the spokeswoman for the country’s chief prosecutor, ...

Bloomberg Myanmar’s military government rebuffed a plan by Southeast Asian leaders to help end violence in the country, saying any “suggestions” would need to fit with the junta’s stated roadmap and come after “stability” is restored. Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including coup chief Min Aung Hlaing, appeared to reach a five-point “consensus” on Myanmar during ...

Bloomberg A key partner to Finland’s ruling Social Democrats said she is losing faith in the coalition’s credibility, signaling the government of the Nordic region’s only euro member has edged closer to a collapse. The government is bristling over a failure to agree on a common view to the economy and spending measures. Talks went into their seventh day as ...

Bloomberg French far-right leader Marine Le Pen went into damage control mode on Tuesday, after lending support to a group of soldiers and retired generals who penned an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron warning of a risk of “civil war” and the looming disintegration of the country. In an interview on FranceInfo on Tuesday, Le Pen denied the officers ...

Bloomberg Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure and family-support plans are a direct appeal to the discontented White voters who put Donald Trump in office and to independent suburban women, his advisers say, with the president staking a claim on economic issues ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The so-called American Jobs Plan Biden released last month features spending on traditional infrastructure ...

Bloomberg As India battles the world’s worst virus outbreak, some key political parties are promising an unprecedented monthly payment to all homemakers in a bid to win crucial state elections. If enacted the stipends would be some of the first in the world to specifically address women’s unpaid labour, which economists estimate accounts for up to 39% of global GDP ...

Bloomberg With the US dragging its feet in offering India help to combat the world’s worst virus crisis, China is moving to drive a wedge between the democratic security partners. In a barrage of editorials, political cartoons and social-media posts in recent days, the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper blasted the US for failing to provide aid while calling on ...

Bloomberg Russian prosecutors ordered Alexey Navalny’s national network of campaign offices to suspend operations because of alleged “extremism,” deepening the crackdown on allies of the jailed opposition leader. The order bans the groups from posting online, organising events and using bank accounts pending a permanent court ruling, according to a copy posted in Twitter by Navalny’s allies. The Moscow City ...

Bloomberg Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself navigating strained relations with the leaders of Central American countries that have produced a surge of migrants to the US, vastly complicating her assignment to curb a growing humanitarian crisis on the southwest border. Most would-be immigrants are from the so-called Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -– and their economies ...