Politics

Bloomberg The US and China’s top diplomats sparred on democracy and human rights in a phone conversation which was the highest level of communications between the two countries since the Biden administration began. Secretary of State Antony Blinken “stressed” to Yang Jiechi, who sits on the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo, that the US will keep standing up for human rights ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden said his predecessor, Donald Trump, should not receive the intelligence briefings that are typically given to former presidents because of his “erratic behaviour.” “I think not,” Biden said when asked during an interview with CBS News if Trump should still be briefed. “Because of his erratic behaviour unrelated to the insurrection,” he added, referring to Trump’s ...

Bloomberg Germany and the European Union will continue to hold the Belarus government responsible for ongoing violations of human rights in the country, Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her weekly video message. The elections in the country six months ago were not free, fair or transparent and neither Germany nor the EU accept Alexander Lukashenko as the winner, Merkel said, ...

Bloomberg Somalia’s leaders failed to reach consensus after a three-day meeting to address obstacles to holding presidential elections next week, raising the prospect of a political crisis in the Horn of Africa country. The outcome of the meeting in the city of Dhusamareeb is a clear indication it won’t be possible to hold elections as scheduled, Parliament Speaker Mohamed Mursal ...

Bloomberg Tens of thousands of protesting Indian farmers have blocked highways across the country in defiance of the government’s internet and phone blackout, facing off against a heavy security deployment stationed behind rows of razor wire and concrete blocks. They’re demanding a repeal of laws pushed through parliament by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government last year that they claim favour ...

Bloomberg Myanmar authorities filed criminal charges against former leader Aung San Suu Kyi for possessing illegally imported walkie-talkies just days after the military ousted her government in a coup. Suu Kyi was charged for breaching an import-export law and faces as many as three years in prison if convicted. The police incident report indicated that unauthorised telecommunications equipment was found ...

Bloomberg President Joe Biden ordered a review and possible repeal of Trump-era policies intended to deter illegal migration at the US-Mexico border and make it harder to legally obtain immigrant visas. The trio of directives, which Biden signed Tuesday, also creates a task force led by the Department of Homeland Security to reunite families separated by President Donald Trump’s so-called ...

Bloomberg Russia imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny for two years and eight months, drawing condemnation from Western leaders as President Vladimir Putin seeks to crush a resurgence in protests against his rule. A Moscow court converted a suspended sentence that Navalny, 44, received for a 2014 fraud conviction into a prison term for alleged violations of his probation. His 3 ...

Bloomberg A World Health Organisation (WHO) scientific team in China to investigate the origins of the coronavirus visited the Wuhan laboratory that’s been at the center of months of speculation over how the disease jumped to humans. The international group of scientists arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, home to a high-tech laboratory that studies some of the world’s ...

Bloomberg Mexican authorities arrested a dozen police officers in connection with the murder of 19 people in Tamaulipas state, according to local Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica. The officers were charged with homicide, abuse of authority and giving false statements, Barrios said. Interior Minister Olga Sanchez, who is standing in at daily press briefings for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ...