Politics

Bloomberg China accused the US of promoting theories that the coronavirus escaped from a high-security lab in Wuhan, as a fresh report about sick workers at the facility prompted Beijing to reaffirm denials. “The report that you mentioned about three people getting sick, that is not true,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing on Monday in Beijing. ...

Bloomberg Belarus scrambled a fighter jet to force a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania to land in its territory, where authorities detained a journalist who covered the 2020 presidential election and protests against Alexander Lukashenko’s disputed claim of victory. The crew of the Boeing 737-800 carrying scores of passengers from Athens to Vilnius was notified by Belarusian authorities of ...

Bloomberg China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, will visit Russia for the 16th strategic and security consultation between the two countries starting from Monday, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday. Yang, director of the Communist Party’s central committee for foreign affairs who sits on the 25-member Politburo, will also visit Slovenia and Croatia, ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said ...

Bloomberg Ireland’s government warned of a “real risk” that hackers will release sensitive medical information, as it vowed again not to pay a ransom. Hackers have threatened to release private health records on Monday after infiltrating the system, in the latest cyberattack by an international crime gang. Spending minister Michael McGrath on Sunday repeated the government’s pledge not to make ...

Bloomberg Annalena Baerbock, the co-leader of Germany’s Green party, is losing ground in the race to become the country’s next chancellor, a new poll shows. Baerbock would receive 20% of the vote if national elections were held on Sunday, a drop of 4 points compared with last week, according to the poll by Insa published in the Sunday edition of ...

Bloomberg The UK government pushed back on claims from the former chief aide of Prime Minister Boris Johnson that officials pursued a herd immunity strategy in the early days of the pandemic. Dominic Cummings, who is due to give evidence on the government’s handling of the pandemic to lawmakers on Wednesday, unleashed a series of tweets criticising the UK’s response. ...

Bloomberg Taiwan reported a steady increase in Covid-19 cases, as the government’s decision to revise up past daily totals dented confidence in official data at a time when soft lockdown measures appear to be slowing the rate of new infections. Health authorities reported more than 600 new cases at the weekend, 287 on Sunday and 353 on May 22, and ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said he would appoint a special envoy to address issues regarding North Korea and vowed to coordinate policy towards Pyongyang closely with South Korea’s government. Following meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in Washington, Biden said he’s appointing Ambassador Sung Kim to be the special envoy and that the US and South Korea are willing ...

Bloomberg The Philippines and China held talks on the South China Sea through a bilateral online forum set up by both nations to promote dialogue and cooperation over the disputed waters. “The two sides had friendly and candid exchanges on the general situation and specific issues of concern in the South China Sea,” according to a statement released by the ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration has prepared economic sanctions against Ethiopia that could halt financing from the US and loans by international financial institutions, according to two people familiar with the matter. The action, if confirmed, would set back relations between two longtime allies in the fight against extremism in the Horn of Africa. They’d add pressure to Ethiopia’s state finances ...