Politics

Bloomberg Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou’s favoured successor, Mohamed Bazoum, is the front-runner to win the elections, after the main opposition challenger was barred from standing. Issoufou, 68, is stepping down after serving two five-year terms. His departure paves the way for the first-ever peaceful transition of power between two elected leaders in the West African nation, which has had four ...

Bloomberg The Japanese government will ban entry to most foreigners through the end of January as coronavirus cases reach record highs there and the nation confirmed its first cases of the new, more infectious Covid strain. The restrictions will be implemented on Monday, the government said in a statement. Japanese nationals and foreigners with residency who are returning from short ...

Bloomberg Ghana’s main opposition leader is planning a legal challenge to his presidential election defeat. John Dramani Mahama will file a petition to the nation’s supreme court on December 29 seeking a recount, a member of his legal team said by phone. Mahama, the National Democratic Congress candidate, got 47.4% of the vote, compared with 51.6% for incumbent President Nana ...

Bloomberg The UK clinched a historic trade deal with the European Union (EU), avoiding a bitter breakup and preparing the ground for a new relationship with its biggest commercial partner. Negotiators finalised the accord to complete Britain’s separation from the bloc on Christmas Eve, just a week before the country leaves the EU’s single market and customs union. It brings ...

Bloomberg Ethiopia will hold general elections on June 5, 2021, after delaying a planned vote in August due to the coronavirus pandemic. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s fiercest opposition, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, in September went ahead with the vote in defiance of the federal-government’s decision, and later triggered a military conflict when it attacked a military camp in the ...

Bloomberg Mozambique said its security forces repelled an attack by insurgents on a town close to the site where Total SE is building a $20 billion natural gas facility. The attack took place about 21 kilometers from Total’s project, according to a statement from the Ministry of Defense, and is the second this month on the town of Mute in ...

Bloomberg The extension of military confrontation into the cyber sphere and space raises the risks of incidents involving nuclear weapons, Russia’s top general warned, highlighting concerns about growing tensions. “The risks of incidents is rising from interference in systems of command and control over nuclear weapons,” General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, said in comments to foreign military ...

Bloomberg Tunisian media mogul and former presidential candidate Nabil Karoui was detained after a judge’s order, his lawyer said, amid an ongoing purge of alleged corruption that’s included the arrest of a government minister. Karoui, who founded Heart of Tunisia, the second-biggest party in both the government coalition and parliament, had been in court in connection with graft and money ...

Bloomberg Russia expects nothing good in relations with a “deeply hostile” US under the incoming administration of Joe Biden and has no plans to make unilateral concessions to improve ties, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said. “We are heading from bad to worse,” Ryabkov said in an interview with the Interfax news service published on Wednesday, which he later confirmed ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong media tycoon and Next Digital Ltd. founder Jimmy Lai has been granted bail by Hong Kong’s High Court, local media including the Apple Daily newspaper reported. Lai was charged earlier this month with colluding with foreign forces under the city’s new national security law. He is the owner of the pro-democracy Apple Daily. Lai was released on ...