Politics

Bloomberg Taiwan’s broadcast regulator has ordered the closure of one of the island’s most ardently pro-China cable news networks following a month-long battle over journalistic standards and freedom of the press. The National Communications Commission (NCC) will not renew the broadcast license of Chung T’ien News, its chairman Chen Yaw-shyang said at a briefing in Taipei on Wednesday. The station ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s parliament rejected a push by pro-democracy groups for a constitutional amendment to reduce the powers of the nation’s monarchy, potentially escalating a monthslong anti-government protests. The lawmakers instead voted for setting up a charter rewriting committee that will skip any review of chapters governing the monarchy, the most powerful institution in Thailand. The roadmap for amendment proposed by ...

Bloomberg People in England should prepare for tough coronavirus restrictions in December and January if the rules are to be relaxed for a short period over Christmas, a public health chief said. Susan Hopkins, deputy director of Public Health England, said government scientific advice has shown “for every day that we release [measures] we will need two days of tighter ...

Bloomberg Denmark’s response to a coronavirus mutation in its mink population has just cost a cabinet minister his job. Mogens Jensen, the 57-year-old minister for food and veterinary affairs, is stepping down after losing parliament’s support, according to a statement issued by his office on Wednesday. His departure comes a fortnight after Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish farmers to ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump is expected to issue a formal order drawing down US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 in each country by January 15, a US defense official said, as the president works to deliver on his longtime pledge to exit from “endless wars.” US Central Command has received an informal warning order, according to the official. The ...

Bloomberg A US Navy destroyer successfully intercepted a mock intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) designed to simulate one developed by North Korea, a Pentagon official said. The Aegis-class destroyer operating near Hawaii on Tuesday fired a Standard Missile-3 model Block II A made by Raytheon Technologies Corp at the target launched from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. “This was an ...

Bloomberg Australia is taking the next step towards building a coalition of “like-minded” democracies pushing back against what they view as Beijing’s increasing expansionism in the Indo-Pacific — even as the list of trade reprisals against it grows. As part of the campaign, Prime Minister Scott Morrison met his Japanese counterpart Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo on Tuesday to sign what ...

Bloomberg Thai riot police sprayed water cannons at pro-democracy activists rallying near the parliament as lawmakers began a debate on a roadmap for amending the nation’s constitution. Hundreds of protesters, with some donning helmets and masks, tried to breach concrete barricades and barbed wire at an intersection outside the parliament building in central Bangkok, prompting the police to fire water ...

Bloomberg Bulgaria is poised to object to the official start of European Union accession talks with North Macedonia, hindering the former Yugoslav country’s efforts to open the long-delayed negotiations by year-end. Countries in the Western Balkan region, engulfed by bloody wars following the breakup of Yugoslavia, are all striving to join the EU to raise living standards. Albania and North ...

Bloomberg Ted Kaufman, the head of Joe Biden’s transition team, praised UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his early endorsement of the president-elect’s victory while other heads of government hung back. Johnson was the second world leader to receive a call from Biden after his win, a move welcomed in London as a sign the incoming White House team still ...