Politics

Bloomberg Jacob Zuma, who’s been repeatedly implicated in aiding and abetting the plunder of state funds during the near decade he led South Africa, was sentenced to 15 months in jail for defying a court order to testify at a graft inquiry. The Constitutional Court ruled in January that Zuma had to respond to questions from a judicial commission headed ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia’s government began implementing a cease-fire in the war-ravaged Tigray after rebel fighters entered the state capital and celebrated retaking the city. The announcement came after widespread reports that Ethiopia’s national army incurred heavy losses in several locations across the region and were pushed back in multiple locations after the Tigrayan rebels changed strategy and began an offensive after ...

Bloomberg Japan’s No 2 defense official laid out the increasing threats he sees from a more assertive China, including longer-range missiles and more frequent airspace incursions, as the US ally moves to boost defense spending to help counter Beijing. “It’s already possible for them to aim at the East Coast and the White House,” Yasuhide Nakayama, Japan’s state minister of ...

Bloomberg India has redirected at least 50,000 additional troops to its border with China in a historic shift towards an offensive military posture against the world’s second-biggest economy. Although the two countries battled in the Himalayas in 1962, India’s strategic focus has primarily been Pakistan since the British left the subcontinent, with the long-time rivals fighting three wars over the ...

Bloomberg The outcome of next year’s French presidential election looks increasingly uncertain after incumbent Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who lead national polls, registered dismal showings in a regional ballot. Macron’s LREM group, which upended France’s two-party system in 2017, is set to get just 6.7% of the nationwide vote to renew metropolitan councils, according to exit ...

Bloomberg Former President Donald Trump opened his score-settling summer tour with a rally before thousands of supporters in Ohio, returning to his familiar script of grievances, exaggerated claims and support for loyal Republicans. The gathering outside Cleveland was Trump’s first public event to back candidates he favours for the 2022 midterms and work to unseat the 10 GOP members of ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson moved to re-establish his government’s authority after the health secretary resigned for breaking his own pandemic rules. Matt Hancock quit after he was caught embracing a senior aide in his office, in breach of the social distancing guidelines he helped to create. The episode rebounded immediately on Johnson, who had initially fought to keep ...

Bloomberg A government-allied lawmaker dragged President Jair Bolsonaro to the centre of a scandal of alleged irregularities in the purchase of a Covid-19 vaccine for Brazil’s immunisation campaign. Lower house representative Luis Miranda, speaking at a congressional committee probing Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, said he personally warned the president about unusual pressure for the purchase of the Covaxin vaccine, ...

Bloomberg Malaysia will extend a nationwide lockdown that was originally due to end on Monday as new Covid infections are still too high, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said. The movement restrictions will now stay in place until the nation’s daily caseload falls below 4,000, the official Bernama news agency reported, citing the premier. The government will announce more comprehensive assistance ...

Bloomberg Rescuers continue to look for survivors from the building that collapsed in a South Florida town, leaving nine dead and more than 150 people missing, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Visibility at the site has improved after the fire and smoke were controlled afternoon, and crews have been joined by additional search and rescue experts from ...