Politics

Bloomberg Latvia’s top envoy criticized Germany over its indecision on whether to send Ukraine the Leopard 2 tanks, saying there are no longer any “good arguments” not to give Kyiv the heavier weapons it demands. The three Baltic nations — Latvia, along with Estonia and Lithuania — were expected to reiterate calls for Germany to send the tanks when the ...

  Bloomberg Burkina Faso ended its military collaboration with France, the second West African nation to sever defense links that were forged to combat a decade-long insurgency in the region. The government on January 18 criticized a 2018 agreement that enabled the troops to operate in Burkina Faso, according to a letter sent by the nation’s Foreign Affairs Ministry to ...

  Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron’s government formally presented its flagship pension reform at a cabinet meeting on Monday, paving the way for parliament to debate it as unions and opposition parties ready further strikes and protests against the plan. The bill, which raises the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62 and aims to erase deficits in the system ...

Bloomberg Joe Biden’s deputy chief of staff, Jen O’Malley Dillon, has ruled out returning as campaign manager for the president’s planned 2024 reelection bid, people familiar with the matter say. O’Malley Dillon, who served as campaign manager for his 2020 effort, will stay at the White House rather than reprise the role, the people said. She’ll still be closely involved ...

Bloomberg Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, who is trailing in his bid to win the nation’s presidency this week, drew criticism for saying during a televised debate that he wouldn’t send troops to aid Nato allies. The billionaire ex-premier, who was voted out of power in 2021 and now leads the largest opposition party, backtracked after saying he wouldn’t ...

  Bloomberg Slovakia took a step closer toward early general elections aimed at ending a year-long political deadlock that triggered the government’s collapse last month. The euro area country of 5.4 million people will probably hold the ballot on Sept. 30, interim Prime Minister Eduard Heger said, after negotiations with his former ruling partners in Bratislava on Sunday evening. Heger’s ...

Bloomberg Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said time is running out to give Ukraine the advanced weapons it needs before an expected Russian offensive in the spring, as both the US and Germany hold out against Kyiv’s requests for their most powerful battle tanks. Austin said allied officials agreed at a meeting in Germany on Friday they would ensure that ...

Bloomberg Germany and France renewed calls for a more closely aligned Europe to counter the imperialist ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and to bolster the democratic values that underpin the EU. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Sunday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Elysee Treaty, which was ...

  Bloomberg Ten people were killed and ten wounded in a mass shooting in Monterey Park, a city east of Los Angeles, following a popular Lunar New Year celebration, the Associated Press reported, citing police. Bob Boese, an officer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the suspect was a male and is still at large. The shooting was ...

  Bloomberg Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dismissed the nation’s top army commander on Saturday, two weeks after rioters stormed public buildings in the capital, Brasilia. Julio Cesar de Arruda will be replaced by Tomas Miguel Ribeiro Paiva, currently chief of the army in the country’s southeast region, Defense Minister Jose Mucio said at a briefing Saturday. The ...