To help fight inflation, Joe Biden ought to take a page out of his former boss’ book: He should make a strong pitch for taxing the rich to reduce the federal budget deficit. From the day his party suffered a massive midterm “shellacking” straight through his successful re-election campaign, Barack Obama branded the Democrats as the party of deficit ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden sought to clarify his call for the removal of Vladimir Putin, saying he wasn’t seeking regime change after European allies raised concern and critics said he was further inflaming tension with Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron and the UK government distanced themselves from Biden’s stunning comment, which capped a speech in Warsaw to rally support for ...

Bloomberg Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit New Delhi this week, The Hindu newspaper reported, citing unnamed officials. The visit would the highest-level visit from Moscow since Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine. Indian and Russian officials are expected to discuss the sale of Russian crude oil to India and also work out a rupee-ruble denominated payment method for oil ...

  Bloomberg A newly formed Zimbabwean opposition party won the bulk of seats in the country’s first vote held since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, signalling it will be a force to be reckoned with in next year’s general elections. The Citizens Coalition for Change won 19 of 28 parliamentary seats and 75 of the 120 council seats. Led ...

  Bloomberg North Korea looks set to detonate its first nuclear bomb in more than four years, as the US’s sanctions, disputes with Russia and China make further United Nations penalties against the country unlikely. Workers have been observed digging a new passageway at the Punggye-ri site where North Korea conducted all six of its previous nuclear tests, South Korean ...

  Bloomberg While Russia is embroiled in its invasion of Ukraine, surging tensions elsewhere in the Kremlin’s backyard are threatening to reignite conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The two Caucasus nations fought a 44-day war over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that killed thousands in late 2020 until Russian President Vladimir Putin brokered a ceasefire deal. That agreement involved Russia ...

  Bloomberg Hundreds of Ethiopian troops converged on a town near the border of the northern Tigray province, days after the government and rebels from the region agreed on a humanitarian truce. Over the past few days, 32 buses carrying soldiers were seen in Kobo in Amhara state south of Tigray, some of whom may be replacing personnel who were ...

  Bloomberg Germany’s industrial base, just emerging from pandemic and unprecedented supply-chain challenges, is taking another beating with Russia’s war on Ukraine hitting its powerhouse car, chemical and precision machinery manufacturers. As the conflict pushes energy costs to new heights and a wave of inflation builds, scores of companies including BMW AG, BASF SE and ThyssenKrupp AG have warned their ...

  Bloomberg The unemployment rate fell last month in more than half of US states, including in 12 where jobless rates dropped to record lows. Nebraska and Utah, with unemployment at 2.1%, tied for the lowest in the country, according to Labour Department data. Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wisconsin also posted record lows ...

  Bloomberg Confidence among Italian businesses and consumers fall sharply on concerns about the economic consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The economic sentiment index fell to 105.4 in March from a revised 107.9 in February, statistics office Istat said. Measures of consumer and manufacturing confidence both declined, with the former reaching its lowest level since January 2021. Expectations for ...