Politics

Bloomberg New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has delayed the general election by four weeks until October 17 as the nation’s first community outbreak of Covid-19 in more than three months worsens. Ardern said on Monday she delayed the election from September 19 after consultation with other political parties, to provide certainty to voters. A fresh outbreak of the virus ...

Bloomberg Malaysia has detected a strain of the new coronavirus that’s been found to be 10 times more infectious. The mutation, earlier seen in other parts of the world and called D614G, was found in at least three of the 45 cases in a cluster that started from a restaurant owner returning from India and breaching his 14-day home quarantine. ...

Bloomberg The almost daily drumbeat of tensions between the US and China shows little sign of letting up, while touching on everything from the coronavirus to trade to defense issues to monetary policy. President Donald Trump has made his tough positions on China a key element in the lead-up to the US presidential election, now less than three months away, ...

Bloomberg Russian President Vladimir Putin offered support to Belarus’s Alexander Lukashenko, who appealed to his neighbour for help after his claim of an election victory to extend his 26-year rule led to widespread protests and strikes that have been met with police brutality. Russia is ready to provide assistance to “resolve the problems” that arose after Belarus’s vote a week ...

Bloomberg The Chinese army has released footage of its Hong Kong garrison firing cannons and torpedoes in a drill in the South China Sea amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over the status of the former British colony. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) recently tested the weaponry, including a torpedo launch from the vessel Huizhou that successfully hit its ...

Bloomberg Thousands of anti-government protesters marched in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Sunday, demanding an end to the military-led administration and for the monarchy’s powers to be reined in. Demonstrators in masks and carrying placards assembled at the Democracy Monument, which commemorates the 1932 revolution that ended absolute monarchy. They held up three fingers to reflect their calls for ...

Bloomberg South Korean President Moon Jae-in said his administration remains ready to mend ties with Japan after more than a year of tensions, and as both sides hold ceremonies to remember Japan’s World War II surrender in 1945 that ended its brutal colonial rule over the Korean Peninsula. Moon reiterated a call for Japan to respect its Supreme Court’s decision ...

Bloomberg Puerto Rico was having a do-over of its gubernatorial primary election on Sunday after it mismanaged the first vote so badly that tens of thousands were unable to cast a ballot. The outcome will set the stage for the November 3 governor’s race and provide the first glimpse of who might lead the US commonwealth out of a record-setting ...

Bloomberg Australia is close to reaching a deal to produce a Covid-19 vaccine, Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sunday. “We are in advanced negotiations with a range of different companies with regards to a vaccine,” Hunt said on Sky News. He said he was “genuinely optimistic” a coronavirus vaccine would be internationally available by next year. The federal government ...

Bloomberg European Union foreign ministers will hold a special meeting to discuss the unstable situation in Belarus, with some floating renewed sanctions from the bloc. The EU “lifted sanctions against Belarus because the country had taken steps in the right direction,” German Foreign Minster Heiko Maas said in Moscow. “But now we in the European Union need to discuss very ...