Politics

  Bloomberg Leo Varadkar took over as Ireland’s PM, or Taoiseach, for a second time as part of a coalition deal struck after the 2020 election, with an urgent housing crisis at the top of his agenda. The Fine Gael leader was elected by the country’s parliament with 87 votes to 62 and appointed to the role by the president ...

Bloomberg North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the test of a new solid-fuel rocket engine that could enhance the state’s ability to fire off quick-strike, longer-range missiles for delivering nuclear warheads. State media said Kim “guided the important test” of a “high-thrust solid-fuel motor,” noting it was the first of its kind for the country. “This important test has provided ...

Bloomberg Vladimir Putin is to travel to Belarus on Monday in his first visit in more than three years to his ally in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. President Alexander Lukashenko will host Putin in Minsk for talks on security and “joint measures to respond to emerging challenges,” as well as economic cooperation including on import substitution, according to a statement ...

  Bloomberg Hungary is simultaneously urging the speeding up of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union while maintaining close ties to Russia, according to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief adviser. “‘The Hungarian position is based on the idea of connectivity,” Balazs Orban, who’s unrelated to the premier, said in an interview in Brussels, referring to Russia. “So we should not ...

Bloomberg A salvo of Russian missiles knocked out power across Ukraine as President Vladimir Putin’s forces continued their campaign of attacking infrastructure. Rockets slammed into residential areas across the country, including the capital Kyiv, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, and Poltava suffered blackouts in the ninth barrage since October. The attack, which underscores Moscow’s focus ...

Bloomberg Japan described China as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” in a new national security policy that sets the long-pacifist nation on course for its biggest increase in defense spending since the end of World War II. The new strategy, approved by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s cabinet and seen by Bloomberg in a draft, laid out plans for Japan to develop ...

Bloomberg Peru’s ousted President Pedro Castillo was ordered to remain in custody for 18 months amid nationwide protests demanding his release and new presidential elections. Judge Juan Carlos Checkley Soria, member of an investigative court under the country’s high court, ordered Castillo detained until June 2024 while he’s investigated for the alleged crimes of rebellion and conspiracy against the state ...

Bloomberg Russia has enough firepower for only three or four more missile barrages of the kind that have devastated Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Kyiv’s top defense official said. “We understand how much they’ve expended so far — we understand that they don’t have so many,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said in an interview. As the ...

Bloomberg Poland and Lithuania are blocking the European Union’s ninth package of sanctions against Russia, a government minister said ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s leaders. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told reporters in Vilnius that a proposed weakening on food security potentially opens a loophole and the possibility for sanctioned Russian oligarchs to increase their wealth. “We cannot ...

Bloomberg Nurses began a round of historic strikes across much of Britain, with protesters on picket lines saying they’re struggling to afford basic living costs such as food and accommodation. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said that as many as 100,000 staff were expected to take part in the strike across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in protest ...