Politics

Bloomberg The Trump administration has imposed sanctions at a record-shattering pace of about three times a day during the president’s time in office: a slew of measures targeting companies, individuals and even oil tankers tied to Iran, North Korea, China, Venezuela and Russia. President-elect Joe Biden’s team is promising a top-to-bottom review of sanctions operations, but don’t expect a significant ...

Bloomberg Ghanaian opposition leader John Mahama accused the ruling party of using the military to alter the results of the election. The government denied the allegation. Claims of election rigging are unusual in Ghana, Africa’s top gold producer and one of the continent’s most stable democracies. In the last vote in 2016, Mahama conceded defeat to President Nana Akufo-Addo before ...

Bloomberg Poland and Hungary have agreed on a compromise with Germany to unblock the European Union’s $2.2 trillion budget and pandemic stimulus plan, a senior government official in Warsaw said. The compromise would end a standoff that saw Budapest and Warsaw threaten to torpedo the EU’s 750 billion-euro ($909 billion) pandemic aid fund and the 2021-2027 budget over objections to ...

Bloomberg Joe Biden will be one formal step closer to the presidency after Tuesday’s deadline for states to certify their slates of electors to the Electoral College — locking in the names of the people who will formally vote to make Biden the president. Once that happens, there’s little turning back. Congress must by law accept those electors if there’s ...

Bloomberg Tens of thousands of farmers across India took to the streets on Tuesday during a nationwide strike demanding the scrapping of new agricultural laws, intensifying an almost fortnight long standoff with the government of PM Narendra Modi. The daylong shutdown, called by several farm groups, impacted traffic and movement in some parts of the country. Wholesale agricultural markets in ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s pro-democracy groups will hold a gathering this week to press for the abolition of a law that penalises insulting and criticising the nation’s top royals, after authorities invoked the act against protest leaders who are demanding monarchy reform. The protesters, who have been rallying regularly in capital Bangkok and other cities since mid-July, will hold “an important event” ...

Bloomberg Poland’s prime minister launched a broadside on the European Union’s push to link funding to democratic values, ratcheting up tension over his country’s decision to derail the bloc’s $2.2 trillion spending package with Hungary. EU officials have given the two countries hours to offer a clear signal that they’ll lift their veto as early as Tuesday, according to people ...

Bloomberg Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have agreed that Brexit negotiations should be kept off the agenda of this week’s summit of European Union leaders, a sign the bloc will resist making any significant last-minute concessions to the UK and will stick with Michel Barnier’s mandate. The decision was taking during a call between Germany’s chancellor, France’s president, and the ...

Bloomberg The US is preparing to sanction at least a dozen more Chinese officials over their role in the recent disqualification of Hong Kong legislators, according to two people familiar with the plans. The latest round of sanctions over Hong Kong was expected to be rolled out on Monday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the ...

Bloomberg Romania’s ruling party remains confident of leading the next government, despite coming a surprise second in elections that were dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic. With the coronavirus pulling turnout down to the lowest since communism collapsed, it was the opposition Social Democrats who proved most effective at mobilising their supporters, garnering 30% of the votes with almost 100% counted. ...