Bloomberg Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder appeared to rule out running to succeed Angela Merkel as German chancellor, saying he wants to focus on leading the southern German state despite a surge in his popularity on the national stage. Soeder’s standing among voters has been burnished by his impressive performance during the coronavirus crisis, and the 53-year-old from Nuremberg is the ...

Bloomberg Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s dependence on the military to govern is grating on the military itself. Interviews with a dozen active-duty and retired high-ranking officers show members of the Armed Forces, who initially viewed joining their comrade in office as a chance to shape policy after years on the sidelines, now worry his erratic behaviour and a spiraling public ...

Bloomberg Amnesty International criticised the Zimbabwean authorities’ arrest of several human-rights activists who took part in protests against state corruption. “The thwarting of the protest illustrates the Zimbabwean authorities’ total intolerance of criticism,” Muleya Mwananyanda, the human rights organisation’s deputy director for southern Africa, said in an emailed statement. He described the arrests as a “witch hunt.” Several shops and ...