Politics

Bloomberg The Czech Republic blamed the same Russian agents accused of poisoning former spy Sergei Skripal in the UK for a deadly 2014 blast that has done the worst damage to Prague-Moscow ties since the fall of communism. After both sides expelled a record number of diplomats, the Czechs are pondering a further response after Russia left just a skeleton ...

Bloomberg China’s military is thought to have instructed a hacker group to conduct cyberattacks on nearly 200 Japanese research institutions and firms, public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unidentified people in a police investigation. The investigators found a member of China’s Communist Party made contracts under a false name for rental servers in Japan that were used in the attacks on ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concern at continued Russian troop deployments around Ukraine that the European Union estimates at 100,000, while the government in Kyiv appealed for sanctions to be tightened on its neighbour. The situation is “extremely tense and very worrying as a result of the concentration of forces on the Russian side of the Ukrainian border,” Merkel ...

Bloomberg Russia hit back defiantly after the US warned of “consequences” if jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny dies on hunger strike, deepening the conflict over the dissident who’s already survived an alleged assassination attempt. “It’s obvious that Russia’s development as a strong, sovereign state is of no interest” to the West, Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament ...

Bloomberg Chad said its army repelled rebels advancing southwards towards the country’s capital, as the US ordered non-emergency staff at its embassy to leave the country. A rebel convoy was intercepted in the southwestern Kanem region, army spokesman Colonel Azem Bermandoa said in a statement on state-run Office National de Radio et Television du Tchad. “The convoy was destroyed and ...

Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces growing criticism across the political spectrum for holding large election rallies as the country’s health system reels from a deadly wave of Covid-19 cases, forcing citizens to beg for oxygen and hospital beds on Twitter. Modi avoided wearing a mask at a campaign rally, saying “I’ve never seen such huge crowds” at an ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc is headed for an open confrontation with the battle between two potential successors to be voted on by her caucus in the Bundestag on Tuesday. After a late-night meeting in Berlin between Armin Laschet, the leader of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, and Markus Soeder, his upstart challenger from the smaller Bavarian sister party, failed to ...

Bloomberg At least one person was killed and tens of thousands fled their homes as Super Typhoon Surigae made a close approach to the Philippines’ eastern provinces. A 79-year-old male was declared dead on arrival at a hospital after suffering severe head injury caused by a fallen coconut tree in Leyte province in central Philippines, the disaster risk-reduction agency said ...

Bloomberg The Czech government alleged Russia was involved in a deadly blast at a munitions site in 2014 and said it’s expelling 18 embassy staffers, signaling that the country is joining growing international pressure to rein in President Vladimir Putin. Prime Minister Andrej Babis’s unexpected announcement coincides with concern in the US and Europe about Russia’s military buildup on the ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said he plans to announce a higher refugee cap for this year, following a swift backlash from allies over a decision to keep the low ceiling set by his predecessor. Biden signed an order intended to accelerate processing of refugees while keeping former President Donald Trump’s 15,000-person cap in place. That backtracked on the administration’s plan ...