Politics

Bloomberg The Trump administration put Cuba back on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, reversing an Obama-era decision and making it harder for President-elect Joe Biden to quickly revive diplomatic ties with Havana. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said he’s designating Cuba because the country continues to harbour American fugitives including Joanne Chesimard, convicted of killing a New Jersey ...

Bloomberg Malaysia’s king declared a nationwide state of emergency for the first time in more than half a century, suspending parliament in a move that allows embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to avoid facing an election until the pandemic is over. The emergency decree gives Muhyiddin’s administration more power to tackle a surge in Covid-19 cases, including over the operations ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson set himself on a collision course with the Chinese government with a thinly veiled attack on traditional medicine, which he said was to blame for the coronavirus pandemic. The practice of using scales from the endangered pangolin to aid virility is “demented,” Johnson said at a meeting of world leaders focused on protecting nature. ...

Bloomberg India’s Supreme Court put on hold the implementation of three controversial farm laws, a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde also formed a panel to facilitate talks with tens of thousands of farmers staging protests on the outskirts of the national capital for nearly two months. ...

Bloomberg The Trump administration’s final days are proving as confounding as ever for companies and investors stuck in the middle of an increasingly contentious US-China relationship. After a week of widespread confusion over the scope of a US ban on investments in businesses linked to China’s military, both Washington and Beijing took steps over the weekend that threaten to further ...

Bloomberg The US has classified Yemen’s Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation following a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Red Sea and as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Iran in the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency. The move will give the US “additional tools” with which to counter security threats in the Persian Gulf, according ...

Bloomberg First lady Melania Trump said on Monday she was “disappointed and disheartened” by the violent attack on the US Capitol last week and called for healing. “Make no mistake about it, I absolutely condemn the violence that has occurred on our Nation’s Capitol. Violence is never acceptable,” she said in a statement released by the White House. Trump called ...

Bloomberg North Korea appeared to stage a military parade as part of a grand party congress that laid out the scale of the challenge US President-elect Joe Biden faces to rein in Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program. There were signs that North Korea held a parade late Sunday evening, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday, in what ...

Bloomberg China said that a World Health Organisation (WHO) team of experts will arrive this week to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, after the country was criticised by the health body and other nations for a lack of transparency around tracking the pathogen’s source. The team of scientists will come to China from January 14, the National Health Commission said ...

Bloomberg India’s Supreme Court has said it proposes to put three controversial farm laws on hold, a move that could possibly end the stalemate between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration and tens of thousands of farmers protesting for nearly three months now. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said on Monday that a final ...