Politics

Bloomberg It was 2.15 pm and British PM Boris Johnson was fulfilling his promise to brief rival party leaders on his coronavirus strategy. It was meant to be a sign of national cooperation, with politics set aside in the crisis. But over the course of a 40-minute conference call, Johnson’s opponents told him he was getting it wrong. His new ...

Bloomberg Wuhan has ordered officials to test its entire population of 11 million people after the central Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began reported new infections for the first time since its lockdown was lifted. All districts in the city have been told to submit a plan laying out how they will prepare to conduct testing of everyone under ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson was expected to flesh out his plan for lifting the UK lockdown in Parliament as he seeks to get more people back to work, even as resistance from politicians and labour unions laid bare the hurdles facing the government as it tries to kickstart the economy. In a televised address to the nation, Johnson announced the “first ...

Bloomberg Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro criticised lockdown measures by governors even as the nation turned into a global epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. The Health Ministry on May 10 reported 162,699 total cases of Covid-19 and 11,123 deaths, among the world’s highest. “The head of household has to stay at home going hungry with their family,” Bolsonaro said in a ...

Bloomberg The rapid spread of coronavirus in Belarus made it unjustifiable to organise the kind of mass gatherings that were held over the weekend, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. A military parade commemorating the 75th anniversary of the victory in World War II created an additional risk of infection which may “eventually lead to losses of human lives that ...

Bloomberg Hong Kong’s central district returned to relative normalcy this weekend, with crowds of revelers taking advantage of eased social distancing rules even as fresh pro-democracy protests flared across the city. When it came to the activists, they aggressively enforced a coronavirus-related restriction on gatherings of more than eight people, with local media reporting the arrest and pepper-spraying of protesters. ...

Bloomberg Singapore is calling for people to perform nasal swabs and take blood as it ramps up coronavirus testing amid a jump in infections in the city-state. No prior healthcare experience is needed, it says. The number of new coronavirus cases in Singapore has grown by hundreds each day, mostly in migrant worker dormitories that have become hotbeds for the ...

Bloomberg Serbian politicians launched dueling hunger strikes after a protest over next month’s parliamentary elections turned violent. The Balkan state’s biggest opposition parties have vowed to boycott the June 21 vote, accusing President Aleksandar Vucic of muzzling media and wielding state institutions to prevent free elections. Tens of thousands of Serbs have held months of demonstrations, including nightly noise protests ...

Bloomberg Former President Barack Obama delivered a blistering attack on Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it “an absolute chaotic disaster” as well as “anemic.” Obama’s remarks, first reported by Yahoo News, came in a leaked call as the former president exhorted members of his administration to rally behind presumptive 2020 Democratic nominee Joe Biden. The comments were ...

Bloomberg Shulan, a Chinese city in the northeastern province of Jilin bordering North Korea, was ordered to partially close some facilities after a surge in the number of coronavirus cases. Jilin ordered stringent curbs in Shulan city, closing all but most essential services and requesting residents to stay at home, the province said in a statement on its website. The ...