Bloomberg Chinese President Xi Jinping praised Hong Kong’s next leader for defending national security and upholding stability at their first meeting since John Lee was selected as chief executive earlier this month. The leader of the world’s second largest economy told Lee that the central government had “full confidence†in him, according to the official Xinhua News Agency. Xi also ...
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Hurricane Agatha set to strike Mexico’s Pacific Coast with winds, rain
Bloomberg Hurricane Agatha was expected to strike Mexico’s Oaxaca state on Monday with damaging winds, heavy rain and a crashing storm surge, making it the strongest May storm to hit the eastern Pacific on record. Agatha was already raking the Pacific coastline with damaging gusts and heavy rain. The compact storm, just below Category 3 strength on the five-step ...
Read More »Colombian outsider makes runoff with real shot at presidency
Bloomberg A construction magnate who was little known at the start of the year surged into presidential runoff with a real chance at winning as voters coalesce against his leftist rival. Rodolfo Hernandez took 28% of the vote to 40% for Gustavo Petro, a former mayor of Bogota and onetime guerrilla, the electoral authority said. Hernandez beat out Federico Gutierrez, ...
Read More »Activists say UN rights chief’s China trip whitewashed abuse
Bloomberg The United Nations’ human rights chief should resign for failing to condemn China after visiting its remote Xinjiang region where the US accuses Beijing of genocide, according to one prominent scholar. Adrian Zenz, senior fellow in China studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, told Bloomberg TV that he considered Michelle Bachelet’s trip to China’s far western ...
Read More »Northern Ireland govt on hold as protocol deadlock remains
Bloomberg Northern Ireland’s devolved government remains effectively suspended after a move to elect speakers to the Assembly failed amid a stand-off over Brexit. “The Assembly has been unable to conduct its first business therefore we can proceed no further,†Acting Speaker Alex Maskey said. Until a speaker is elected, there can be no nominations to the region’s joint top ministerial ...
Read More »Australian PM’s party gets parliament majority
Bloomberg Australian PM Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party clinched a parliamentary majority after day of ballots getting counted in tightly contested seats, giving his government the heft to push through bills on issues ranging from climate change to anti-corruption measures. Labor is projected to secure the seat of Macnamara in the heart of Melbourne, Australia’s ABC said, giving the party ...
Read More »Ex-attorney general adds to Tory calls for Johnson to quit
Bloomberg Boris Johnson faces a drip-drip of Conservative MPs calling on him to resign, as former Attorney General Jeremy Wright said the so-called partygate scandal had done “lasting damage†to the government. The prime minister had been hoping that with Parliament on holiday to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne, Tory rebels would be keeping relatively ...
Read More »Bachelet to China: Anti-terror actions must respect rights
Bloomberg The United Nation’s top human rights official said any actions by China’s government to address alleged terrorism and reverse what Beijing terms radicalism must not come at the expense of human rights. Michelle Bachelet spoke at a press briefing at the end of her six-day trip to China, which she’s repeatedly said wasn’t an “investigation†of Chinese practices in ...
Read More »Trump stages rally in Wyoming in bid to defeat Liz Cheney
Bloomberg Former President Donald Trump ripped into Republican US Representative Liz Cheney at a rally in Wyoming, as part of his quest to defeat the incumbent who has emerged as his most vocal and active GOP critic. “Few members of Congress in history have personally caused more damage and destruction to our Republican Party†than Cheney, he said. “She’s aided ...
Read More »Sri Lanka opposition leader says stability requires new mandate
Bloomberg Sri Lanka needs a new elected government to provide policy stability as it faces its worst economic crisis in generations, according to the leader of the main opposition party. “It’s time for a mandate, a fresh mandate,†Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya party said in a Bloomberg interview. “People don’t want elections, they want solutions. But ...
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