“I don’t even know what is going on,” President Vladimir Putin complained to ministers last month, exasperated that even “well-educated people, with higher degrees” continue to refuse Russia’s Covid-19 vaccination. “Why wait for the disease and its severe consequences?” For an administration obsessed with demographics, scientific reputation and global status, the blow has been devastating. With far too few citizens ...

After decades of sustaining a relatively modest nuclear arsenal, China is moving swiftly to build more and better doomsday weapons. The trend would be dangerous at any time. But given the precipitous decline in relations with the US, a catastrophe is becoming all too likely. Both sides need to restore stability to this relationship before the world faces a devastating ...

Ten years of extend and pretend over the Monte Paschi crisis are coming home to roost. Talks for a sale of the troubled 500-year-old lender — nationalised in 2017 — collapsed on October 24. That’s when the Italian state apparently balked at the some 7 billion-euro ($8.1 billion) capital injection that Milan-based UniCredit SpA demanded to take on the troubled ...