Politics

Bloomberg The US State Department updated its travel advisory on Hong Kong based on China’s implementation of a national security law widely seen as eroding freedom in the once-autonomous city. “Since the imposition of national security legislation on July 1, the PRC unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises policy and security power in Hong Kong,” the State Department said on its website, ...

Bloomberg Kremlin-backed candidates swept most major contests in Russian regional elections over the weekend but supporters of opposition leader Alexey Navalny claimed wins in two Siberian cities, including the one where he was poisoned last month. “The authorities have shown they control the situation in the country,” said Alexei Makarkin, deputy director of the Center for Political Technologies in Moscow. ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron backed Angela Merkel’s demand that Russia clarify the poisoning of opposition leader Alexey Navalny, calling the attack an “assassination attempt” as two more European laboratories found traces of nerve agent Novichok. The comments ratchet up tensions between the European Union and Russian President Vladimir Putin over accusations that Navalny was targeted with the weapons-grade substance. ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s most-populous province of West Java plans to reimpose some movement restrictions in areas near the capital after Jakarta’s implementation of tighter curbs from Monday. Local leaders in Bogor, Depok and Bekasi — cities that share a border with Jakarta — can decide to impose their own restrictions, depending on the virus situation in their areas, West Java Governor ...

Bloomberg Indian lawmakers returned to the nation’s parliament for the first time since the start of the pandemic with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government bracing for a tumultuous session as the country sets new global records in coronavirus infections, and with a tense border standoff with China dominating the headlines. The worst economic slowdown amid major economies is also expected ...

Bloomberg The top US diplomat in China, Terry Branstad, is retiring, the American Embassy confirmed on Monday, after President Donald Trump touted the former Iowa governor’s expected campaign help in a key swing state. The embassy’s statement resolved hours of uncertainty about Branstad’s status after Secretary of State Michael Pompeo thanked the envoy for his service in a series of ...

Bloomberg Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party by an overwhelming majority, ushering in the country’s first change of prime minister in almost eight years. The party, which has ruled mostly uninterrupted since 1955, was set to use its parliamentary majority to install Suga as prime minister in a separate vote on ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin is tightening his embrace of beleaguered ally Alexander Lukashenko as the Belarusian ruler intensifies a crackdown on month-long protests. Putin, who hosts Lukashenko for talks in Sochi on Monday, is determined opposition demonstrators won’t topple the Belarusian president, said five people close to the Kremlin, who asked not to be identified discussing internal policy. It’s ...

Bloomberg Ivory Coast opposition leader Henri Konan Bedie vowed to welcome back exiled citizens and free political prisoners should he be elected president of the world’s biggest cocoa producer in next month’s elections. “I pledge to take concrete and immediate measures for the unconditional return of all exiles,” he said to a packed rally of his Democratic Party of Ivory ...

Bloomberg Justice Secretary Robert Buckland warned he could quit over the UK government’s plan to break international law by overriding the Brexit divorce treaty, as EU leaders stepped up pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “If I see the rule of law being broken in a way I find unacceptable, then of course I will go,” Buckland said on BBC ...