Politics

Bloomberg A London judge blocked Julian Assange’s extradition to the US to face espionage charges on health grounds, a victory for the WikiLeaks founder after close to a decade of imprisonment or self-imposed exile. Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that extradition would be oppressive because of 49-year-old’s mental health, saying he was clearly “a depressed and sometimes despairing man genuinely fearful ...

Bloomberg All 10 living former US defense secretaries called for a peaceful transition of power this month and warned that any effort to involve the military in resolving election disputes “would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.” Three days before Congress meets to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, the group, who served Democratic and Republican presidents, evoked the ...

Bloomberg Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen opened 2021 by reaffirming her willingness to talk with China, while vowing to stand up to mounting military pressure from Beijing. Tsai used a brief News Year’s Day address to criticise the near-daily patrols of Chinese military ships and aircraft that have stretched Taiwan’s more limited military resources. She warned that the actions had “threatened ...

Bloomberg Mali’s state prosecutor charged six people, including former Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, of planning a coup against the interim government. The alleged crimes include attempts to destabilise and disrupt the current regime, according to a statement by the state prosecutor. Cisse, who hasn’t been detained, denied the allegations in a statement on December 22. His lawyers will file charges ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson urged members of Parliament to approve his Brexit trade agreement and complete Britain’s four-year divorce from the European Union. Parliament was recalled from its Christmas break for an emergency session on Wednesday to rush the deal into law in a single day, 24 hours before the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union. Failure to ...

Bloomberg China sentenced 10 Hong Kong activists who made a dramatic attempt to flee by boat to up to three years in prison, defying calls for their release from the US and others. Activist Tang Kai-yin was sentenced to three years while Quinn Moon was jailed for two years over their roles in organising an illegal border crossing, the Yantian ...

Bloomberg Algeria’s president returned from two months abroad receiving treatment for Covid-19 to a country facing a simmering crisis at its western border and more economic uncertainty. Abdelmadjid Tebboune arrived back in the North African nation, state TV reported, seemingly ending a prolonged absence that had stoked speculation over both his condition and the future political direction of Algeria, which ...

Bloomberg Russia stepped up pressure on opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who survived a nerve-agent attack he and Western governments have blamed on the Kremlin, opening a new criminal case against him for alleged fraud. The country’s Investigative Committee said Navalny had spent 356 million rubles ($8 million) on personal purposes from donations transferred to various funds, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation ...

Bloomberg President-elect Joe Biden accused Trump loyalists at national security agencies of throwing up roadblocks to a smooth presidential transition and warned that adversaries could take advantage of the situation without better cooperation from the outgoing administration. “We need to make sure nothing is lost in the hand-off between administrations,” he said after a meeting with his national security advisers ...

Bloomberg The Philippines has decided to ban travellers from 20 nations with the new Covid-19 strain, Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello said on Tuesday. The travel ban covers Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and the UK, Bello said. The ban will be effective December ...