Bloomberg Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that opposition parties were responsible for a migrant worker exodus from India’s cities during a stringent Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 has led to a Twitter spat between two state chief ministers ahead of a slew of local elections. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, blamed the ...
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US lawyer loses appeal over HK police scuffle
Bloomberg A Hong Kong court upheld the conviction of an American lawyer handed a jail term over a scuffle with a plainclothes cop, in a case that fueled international debate over police tactics in the city. High Court Judge Esther Toh said she found “no merit at all in any of the grounds of appeal against conviction,†in a ...
Read More »Protesters mimic Ottawa blockade to disrupt New Zealand capital
Bloomberg A convoy of cars and campervans blocked streets around New Zealand’s parliament in Wellington on Tuesday to protest Covid-19 restrictions, attempting to mimic the truckers who have gridlocked the Canadian city of Ottawa. About 2,000 protesters descended on downtown Wellington from around the country, parking their vehicles in streets around parliament buildings, disrupting traffic and holding speeches on ...
Read More »Boris Johnson seeks reset over ‘partygate’ with time running out
Bloomberg Boris Johnson promised his Conservative Party an overhaul of his top team as he strives to keep his job after a series of gaffes and scandals. Two rapid appointments over the weekend may already be too late. Reeling from the resignation of five aides in 24 hours last week, the UK prime minister moved quickly to fill key ...
Read More »US ‘acquiesced’ to China in Asia seas, Australia minister says
Bloomberg The US and its allies need to push back harder against China after they “acquiesced and allowed†Beijing to expand its footprint in the South China Sea over the past decade, Australia’s Defense Minister Peter Dutton said. “If we continue on that trajectory, then I think we’ll lose the next decade,†Dutton said in an interview with the ...
Read More »Joe Manchin predicts passage for US electoral reform act
Bloomberg Senator Joe Manchin predicted passage for a bill to address US election procedures including Congress’s role in certifying an election. “I think absolutely it’ll pass,†Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, said during a joint appearance with Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, on CNN’s “State of the Union.†“Will it be a step ahead? Will it be important ...
Read More »Ottawa declares emergency after protests spin ‘out of control’
Bloomberg Canada’s capital city declared a state of emergency as police struggled to rein in protests against vaccine mandates and Covid-19 restrictions. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, who declared the emergency, said that increasingly rowdy demonstrations posed a “serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents.†Hundreds of trucks continue to occupy the downtown area near Canada’s ...
Read More »S Africa’s Ramaphosa may restrict foreigners from some jobs: Report
Bloomberg South African President Cyril Ramaphosa may impose limits on the types of jobs that foreigners can apply for, Business Day reported, without saying where it got the information. The South African cabinet is considering the proposal that was discussed at recent talks between the ruling African National Congress and its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and ...
Read More »Pence says Trump was wrong to say he could overturn election
Bloomberg Mike Pence rejected Donald Trump’s claims that as vice president he had the power to void the 2020 election result and refuse to certify President Joe Biden’s victory, breaking from his old boss as both men weigh possible White House bids in 2024. “I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to ‘overturn the ...
Read More »Australia PM Morrison’s discomfort mounts after damaging text leak
Bloomberg Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, lagging in the polls before an election later this year, is dealing with the fallout from a leaked text message from his deputy Barnaby Joyce branding the premier “a hypocrite and a liar.†Joyce has apologized for the texts, which were sent in March last year before he took the deputy prime minister ...
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