Politics

Bloomberg Russia will create new commands near Europe as it expands its military to 1.5 million people amid deepening tensions with the US and its allies over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. New structures in the regions around Moscow, St. Petersburg and Karelia on the border with Finland will be created under the program, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told commanders ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Olaf Scholz has put forth Boris Pistorius to be Germany’s new defense minister, filling a critical role in his cabinet after Christine Lambrecht resigned on Monday following a series of missteps. In a statement, Scholz praised Pistorius’s “strength and calmness,” and singled out his experience with defense policy. The 62-year-old is a veteran Social Democrat who has served ...

Bloomberg Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is looking beyond his country’s alliance with the US to deter China, bolstering security ties with democracies from Australia to Europe. On his tour of Group of Seven countries last week, which came after the biggest overhaul of Japan’s security policy since World War II, Kishida told French President Emmanuel Macron that the security ...

  Bloomberg Japan and India held their first joint air drills in an area outside of Tokyo as both countries step up military exercises with other countries amid worries about China’s assertiveness. About four F-2 and four F-15 fighters are expected to take part in the drills that started Monday and will run through around Jan. 26 at an airbase ...

Bloomberg Six months since Turkey agreed to Nato allies inviting Sweden and Finland to join the alliance, the expansion has stalled as Ankara holds out on ratifying the applications. Fresh tensions flared last week after protesters in Stockholm affiliated with Kurdish movements hanged an effigy of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prompting Turkey to put yet more pressure on Sweden to ...

Bloomberg German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht stepped down following a series of missteps and days of speculation over her future, a blow to Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government as it weighs crucial decisions on arming Ukraine. Lambrecht asked to be relieved of her cabinet post, blaming intense media reporting as an unacceptable distraction, and Scholz accepted the request and respects the ...

  Bloomberg The UK and European Union pledged to continue working toward a post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland, but stopped short of formally announcing an intense final phase of negotiations. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic said in a joint statement Monday that they need to find “solutions together to tackle comprehensively the real-life concerns of ...

Bloomberg At least nine people were killed and dozens others wounded after a Russian missile strike demolished much of a high-rise apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. The hit was part of Russian coordinated strikes on Ukraine after a roughly two-week pause, starting with what were called ballistic-type missiles aimed at Kyiv and the surrounding region in the ...

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s Punjab state has dissolved the local legislature on the advice of the chief minister, an ally of former premier Imran Khan, in a bid to force snap elections. The dissolution took effect after a 48-hour deadline for Governor Baligh ur Rehman to respond to Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi’s advice passed late Saturday night. The governor said ...

  Bloomberg Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is set to keep his party’s top job for another term, a move that will strengthen the position of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition government. Delegates at the United Malays National Organisation’s annual general assembly on Saturday approved a motion to prevent anyone from contesting the party’s top two posts during ...