Politics

Bloomberg The Pentagon said it has deployed a new submarine-launched nuclear warhead for the first time as the Navy seeks to counter Russia’s war chest of smaller tactical nukes. The Pentagon’s confirmation follows a controversial move last week to ease restrictions on the use of land mines, which are banned by more than 160 nations. The Trump administration in recent ...

Bloomberg European Union government envoys in Brussels and the bloc’s executive arm will seek to accommodate Emmanuel Macron’s appetite for reform with tighter rules on countries looking to join the bloc and a broader debate on how to make the EU more effective. The European Commission will propose an overhaul of the expansion process in a bid to revive the ...

Bloomberg Romania’s minority government is facing a no-confidence vote just three months since taking power, though it’s likely to benefit whatever the result. The Black Sea nation is well acquainted with political chaos, having had more prime ministers than any other European Union member-state in the three decades since communism collapsed. This time around, the ruling Liberal Party opened the ...

Bloomberg Kim Jong-un has spent much of his time as North Korea’s leader developing bigger and more advanced nuclear weapons. This year, he may try to make them harder to find by putting them under the sea. Recent North Korean reports touting a new submarine and its test of a ballistic missile designed to be launched from one have fuelled ...

Bloomberg The US said it’s preparing for a possible pandemic and Hong Kong closed more checkpoints with mainland China, as the death toll from the coronavirus rose to at least 425. As Beijing tries to contain the damage from the worsening crisis, officials are evaluating whether the target for economic growth this year should be softened. China is hoping the ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria’s president deepened his rift with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov’s government, saying it had lost his trust and that the country was spiraling into a “sharp crisis” under its rule. The comment from Rumen Radev escalates a confrontation with Borissov’s cabinet, which the president says has failed to fight graft. Bulgaria has been under scrutiny from the European Union ...

Bloomberg Libya’s warring rivals have shown a “genuine willingness” to transform the current truce into a more lasting one, a United Nations envoy said as a new round of talks got underway, in a distinct shift of tone from just five days ago. “The two sides expressed their approval of the need to transform the truce into a permanent cease-fire ...

Bloomberg The biggest mystery left in Donald Trump’s inevitable impeachment acquittal is whether any Democrats will join Senate Republicans to give him a bipartisan vote to clear him of the House’s charges. Democratic senators who represent Trump-leaning states have to decide whether they will buck their party on what could be the most important vote before the November elections and ...

Bloomberg A South African court ordered the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma after he failed to show up for his corruption trial, signalling a more aggressive approach by the authorities to tackle corruption. The rand strengthened. Cyril Ramaphosa pledged to address graft when he took over as president in February 2018, but to date there have been no high-profile ...

Bloomberg A momentous, if anticlimactic, few days lie ahead in Washington as the Senate hears closing arguments in President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, then holds two days of debate before voting for an all-but-guaranteed acquittal. In between, Democrats in Iowa’s caucuses took the first step on Monday towards choosing the candidate who’ll run against Trump in November. And on Tuesday ...