Politics

Bloomberg The UK plunged into Christmas chaos with police blocking people from boarding packed trains, holidays abroad scrapped and travel with Europe banned after London went into an emergency lockdown. France has suspended inbound travel from the UK for 48 hours and Germany halted arriving flights from Britain, which is in the middle of delicate Brexit negotiations with its European ...

Bloomberg The storm over a cyber attack on US government agencies only helps Russian President Vladimir Putin’s image at home as a strong leader unafraid to confront the former Cold War enemy, even as the Kremlin denies involvement amid fears of a backlash when Joe Biden enters the White House. “Inside the country it bolsters the authorities’ prestige,” said Andrey ...

Bloomberg Unprecedented virus control measures including curfews and shutdowns of non-essential businesses may be considered in Hong Kong, according to a government health adviser, as the city continues to see a high number of locally-transmitted cases and the holiday season looms. Limiting the number of people per household allowed to shop for groceries, shuttering all businesses deemed non-essential and shortening ...

Bloomberg The Philippine government said it would prosecute a police officer over deaths of a mother and son, after a video of point blank shooting went viral in social media, prompting renewed calls against police violence and extrajudicial killings. Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is recovering from a near-fatal poisoning that he blames on President Vladimir Putin, said he ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump downplayed the severity of a massive cyber-attack on the US government and suggested China may have been responsible — even as other US officials are convinced Russia was the perpetrator. In doing so on Twitter, the president contradicted assessments from senior officials within his own administration who’ve blamed Moscow for the intrusion of at least half ...

Bloomberg President-elect Joe Biden introduced key members of the team he is assembling to fulfill his pledge to combat climate change, calling them brilliant and qualified. Climate change is “the existential threat of our time,” Biden said, and the people he was nominating to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House Council on Environmental Quality and departments of Energy, ...

Bloomberg A container ship owned by AP Moller-Maersk was attacked off the coast of West Africa, prompting the company to warn of a rising risk from piracy in the area. The Maersk Cadiz was boarded by “criminals” on Saturday at about 2:30 pm Nigeria time while traveling from Tema in Ghana to Kribi in Cameroon, Maersk said. Nigerian naval ships ...

Bloomberg Somalia’s government accused Kenya of arming local militia to attack its forces on the border, just days after severing diplomatic ties with its East African neighbour. The alleged steps can “undermine general security of the Horn of Africa region,” Somalia’s Ministry of Information said in a statement posted to its Twitter account. Calls and text messages to the spokeswoman ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson’s emergency virus lockdown is heaping last-minute pressure on negotiators as they race to reach a post-Brexit trade deal. Officials said the announcement has focused minds on bringing the talks to a conclusion within days. As the British prime minister was detailing the new restrictions for London and southeast England on Saturday, negotiators in Brussels were inching closer ...

Bloomberg Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called President-elect Joe Biden to congratulate him on winning the election, one of the last major world leaders to recognise the future US head of state. Obrador, who struck up a close relationship with President Donald Trump, said last month that he didn’t want to be “imprudent” and held off his congratulatory message. ...