Politics

Bloomberg Hong Kong sent hundreds of people, including a playgroup of infants, into quarantine and locked down more residential areas as it tried to contain a coronavirus outbreak that began in a gym in the city center last week. The number of confirmed cases linked to the outbreak has spiked to 109 since the first infection was reported on March ...

Bloomberg More Malaysian opposition lawmakers are expected to join defectors from their parties and declare support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s ruling coalition government, the Star cited Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa as saying. Annuar said seven or eight more opposition members may defect to the Perikatan Nasional government soon because of the government’s efficient performance in tackling pandemic, according ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration is repealing a Trump-era policy on unaccompanied child migrants in order to encourage their family members in the US to take custody of them, even if the parents or guardians are not living in the country legally. Under a 2018 memorandum, Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement was directed to ask Immigration ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s High Court allowed three district councilors who were part of a group of 47 pan-democrats charged under the national security law to be released on bail on Saturday, while rejecting the appeal of two others. Tat Cheng, Michael Pang and Ricky Or were allowed to post bail but will have to give up travel documents, observe a ...

Bloomberg The US accepted a troop-funding increase from South Korea significantly less than demanded by the Trump administration, underscoring President Joe Biden’s efforts to ease tensions with a key ally often criticised by his predecessor. South Korea agreed to pay 1.18 trillion won ($1.04 billion) to the US for security this year, about a 14% increase from 2019, the Foreign ...

Bloomberg Libyan lawmakers approved the country’s first unified government in about seven years, overcoming a major hurdle in a fragile political reconciliation that’s supposed to end almost a decade of conflict. Lawmakers overwhelmingly backed Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah’s proposed transitional administration during a third joint session of the North African nation’s two rival assemblies. The new cabinet, made ...

Bloomberg India plans to buy 30 armed drones from the US to boost its sea and land defenses as tensions persist with neighbors China and Pakistan, according to reports. The South Asian nation will approve next month the $3 billion purchase of 30 MQ-9B Predator drones manufactured by San Diego-based General Atomics, the officials said, asking not to be identified ...

Bloomberg The former prime minister of Mongolia said he is the victim of a global smear campaign likely orchestrated by the current president to label him as corrupt ahead of a June election. Sukhbaatar Batbold, a businessman who was Mongolia’s prime minister from 2009 to 2012, claimed President Khaltmaagiin Battulga appears to be the architect of a series of lawsuits ...

Bloomberg The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador, escalating a row between countries over press freedom. The ministry said in a statement that Ambassador Caroline Wilson posted a public article on the popular WeChat messaging service complaining about sanctions on foreign media, even as those news outlets spread fake news. The article “deliberately confused defamation with critical news reporting” ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s top legal official warned residents to steer clear of criticisms of the government that stray too far from the facts, as officials defend Beijing’s plan to overhaul the city’s elections. Hong Kong Justice Secretary Teresa Cheng said in an interview on Tuesday that opinions were “no more than an utterance of no value” if the facts weren’t ...