Politics

Bloomberg Sweden’s laxer response to Covid-19 gave its citizens more freedom than most as the pandemic raged. But as other European Union members start to emerge from the worst, Swedes risk being left behind. Sweden’s foreign minister, Ann Linde, responded to a decision by Cyprus to blacklist her countrymen over concerns they might represent an unacceptable contagion risk. “We don’t ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong is bracing for what could be its biggest day of protests in months, with pro-democracy groups calling for a general strike against China’s latest moves to increase control of the city. Protests are planned for Wednesday near the Legislative Council building in central Hong Kong, where lawmakers plan to hold a hearing on a bill that would ...

Bloomberg Burundian ruling party candidate Evariste Ndayishimiye won the nation’s presidential election, which was marred by violence and health concerns because of the coronavirus outbreak. The outcome was immediately rejected by the opposition. Ndayishimiye won with 68.7% of the ballots cast on May 20, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission. His main rival, Agathon Rwasa, got 24.2%, the commission ...

Bloomberg A former coup leader with convictions for smuggling and murder was seeking re-election as president of Suriname. President Desi Bouterse, 74, an ally of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, is bidding for a third five-year term as leader of the tiny South American nation, which is in deep economic crisis despite recent oil discoveries and investment from Exxon Mobil Corp. The ...

Bloomberg Thailand’s military-backed government extended the country’s state of emergency for a second time, to the end of June, despite opposition calls to scrap it after novel coronavirus cases dwindled. The step is needed to lower the risk of another wave of illness as a lockdown is eased, spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said after the cabinet backed the move. The emergency ...

Bloomberg In standing by Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson has tied his immediate future even closer to a maverick and one of the most divisive figures in British politics. The prime minister’s key aide is mired in a spiraling scandal where he’s accused of breaking the country’s lockdown rules, the same ones he helped craft. Everywhere in the country and on ...

Bloomberg The US should give up its “wishful thinking” of changing China, foreign minister Wang Yi said, warning that some in America were pushing relations to a “new Cold War.” “China has no intention to change the US, nor to replace the US It is also wishful thinking for the US to change China,” Wang said during his annual news ...

Bloomberg North Korea leader Kim Jong-un, making his first public statement in three weeks, ordered military leaders to increase the country’s “nuclear war deterrence,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The meeting of the Seventh Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea also discussed putting the nation’s strategic armed forces on high alert, and increasing the ...

Bloomberg China sought to reassure Hong Kong that its judiciary would remain independent under a new national security law, as concerns grow that the city may lose one of its key selling points for international companies. “The legislation will not change the one country, two systems policy, Hong Kong’s capitalist system, high degree of autonomy, nor will it change the ...

FILED – 21 Bloomberg The US will prohibit the entry of most non-US citizens arriving from Brazil, where coronavirus cases have spiked to the second highest in the world, expanding restrictions already placed on visitors from China and Europe. The order begins at 11:59 pm on Thursday, at which point the entry of foreigners who’ve been in Brazil during the ...