Politics

Bloomberg North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, marking a return to provocations with US Vice President Kamala Harris due to arrive in the region and as an American aircraft carrier group prepares for naval exercises with South Korea. The launch on Sunday was its first since shooting off its single-day record of eight at the start of June. At ...

Bloomberg The front-runners in Brazil’s presidential election are seeking support in the country’s most populous state, where the polling gap between them has narrowed in the last days of the campaign. President Jair Bolsonaro attended an event in Campinas, one of the biggest cities in Sao Paulo state, in the morning, before taking part in a televised debate Saturday night. ...

  Bloomberg The main Czech opposition group won in most large cities in weekend municipal elections, mobilizing protest votes against the government’s handling of the energy crisis. The ANO party of billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis came on top in eight of 13 regional centers, while losing to government parties in the capital Prague and in the second biggest ...

Bloomberg Russia on Friday began staging UN-condemned “votes” on annexing the roughly fifth of neighboring Ukraine it occupies in a step that marks a new escalation in the spiraling conflict between President Vladimir Putin and the US and its allies. Russian state media reported overwhelming support for accession to Russia in the four regions that its troops partially control, according ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad commitment to the defense of the Philippines” during his meeting with counterpart Ferdinand Marcos Jr in New York. The two leaders also “underscored their support for freedom of navigation and overflight” in the South China Sea, and sought peaceful resolution of disputes, according to a White House readout. Biden and Marcos ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to draft in 300,000 reservists to reinforce his troops in Ukraine is likely to extend the war rather than influence its outcome. Still, it could buy him time to execute a wider strategy — including exacerbating Europe’s energy crisis and threatening a nuclear strike on unspecified targets— aimed at undermining foreign military and financial ...

Bloomberg China’s foreign minister compared the drive for Taiwanese independence to a charging rhinoceros that must be stopped in its tracks, and blamed the US for speeding it along. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said legislation under consideration by US lawmakers threatens the foundation of US-China ties. He said voices advocating the independence of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, ...

  Bloomberg Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is gaining momentum 10 days before Brazil’s presidential election, nearing the simple majority needed to give him a first-round victory on October 2, a new DataFolha poll shows. Leftist challenger Lula would take 47% of the first-round vote, up from 45% a week ago, with the increase falling inside the poll’s two-point margin ...

Bloomberg Ukraine handed over a key ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin in exchange for hundreds of prisoners of war including many captured in a landmark battle, a swap that outraged pro-Kremlin propagandists. Viktor Medvedchuk was one of 55 people turned over to Russia in return for 215 prisoners, including 188 who held out for months against Russian assault at ...

Bloomberg North Korea denied it sold weapons to Russia in an unusually direct statement, and blasted the US over “rumors” that Kim Jong Un’s regime was aiding Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. “We have never exported weapons or ammunition to Russia before and we will not plan to export them,” the state’s official Korean Central News Agency reported Thursday, citing ...