BLOOMBERG President Vladimir Putin made a surprise trip to occupied Mariupol, the Ukrainian city largely destroyed by a months-long Russian siege, according to a Kremlin statement and video released on state television. The highly classified visit was Putin’s first to one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia claimed in September to have annexed as part of its invasion launched …

BLOOMBERG North Korea test-fired a suspected short-range ballistic missile, adding to its barrage of launches in the past month that included two rockets designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland. The missile was fired towards waters to the east of the Korean peninsula, Yonhap News reported, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. It flew for about …

BLOOMBERG Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra, and her Pheu Thai party widened leads as the voters’ top choice in the latest opinion poll ahead of a general election tentatively scheduled for May. Paetongtarn, who represents the Southeast Asian nation’s largest opposition party, garnered 38.2% of support in a poll of 2,000. It’s the latest edition of …