Once a regime has plucked a commercial airliner out of the sky to snatch a single journalist, its capacity to shock the rest of the world should theoretically diminish. And yet, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has managed. At home, he has brutally suppressed civil society and critics, with one would-be adversary from 2020’s presidential race sentenced to 14 years in ...

Bloomberg After years of waiting, Infrastructure Week finally happened. US senators reached a bipartisan agreement on a $550 billion infrastructure bill, working through the weekend to finalise the text. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill could be voted on “in a matter of days.” While Congress was debating the size of the check, researchers at Princeton University’s Andlinger Center ...

Bloomberg Two former US Marines imprisoned in Russia are likely to seek transfers to the US to serve their sentences, an early test of whether the Kremlin is ready to respond to President Joe Biden’s policy of re-engagement. Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to 16 years for spying last year, is expected to submit the request this month, according to ...