Politics

Bloomberg Julian Assange’s extradition trial, set to begin next month, has been delayed amid the coronavirus pandemic. The three-week trial was due to begin on May 18 in London, but was postponed until July or even November, because of the extension of the UK lockdown. Assange faces extradition to America on charges that he conspired to disclose documents passed to ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to work and moved to stamp his authority on a government under pressure over its handling of the UK coronavirus outbreak, warning that to lift a nationwide lockdown now would risk both a health crisis and an “economic disaster.” Speaking exactly one month after he went into isolation with a case of Covid-19 that ...

Bloomberg Emergency measures invoked used to enforce lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic can’t be used to abuse detainees, the United Nations’ top human rights official warned. Locking up curfew breakers who were simply looking for food in already overcrowded prisons is just one example, Michelle Bachelet, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Monday. Reports of police enforcing lockdowns ...

Bloomberg Global speculation about Kim Jong-un’s health intensified over the weekend, with a flurry of tantalising — and unverified — reports about a visit by a Chinese medical team and movements of the North Korean leader’s armoured train. China sent a team including doctors and senior diplomats to advise its neighbour and longtime ally, Reuters reported, citing three people familiar ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson was expected to return to work on Monday and take charge of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, a month after he was struck down by the coronavirus. The government has been without a leader since the prime minister was admitted to the hospital on April 5. Since being released he’s been slowly easing his way back, ...

Bloomberg As Japan nears three weeks under a state of emergency to tackle the spread of the coronavirus, reports indicate that the government is weighing the need to extend the emergency beyond early May. There is a growing view within the government that it may not be possible to fully lift the emergency as planned on May 6, national broadcaster ...

Bloomberg Spain reported the smallest increase in coronavirus deaths in more than a month as the government prepares more steps to ease one of the world’s strictest lockdowns. Fatalities increased by 288, holding below 400 for the third day, and lower than the 378 recorded on April 25, according to data published by the Health Ministry. The daily death count ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump has been determined to talk his way through the coronavirus crisis, but frequent misstatements at his daily news conferences have caused a litany of public health and political headaches for the White House. Trump sought to clean up his briefing room riff from the day before about the possibility of fighting coronavirus infection in patients with ...

Bloomberg The resignation of Sergio Moro, the Brazilian judge who gained superstar status for taking down a network of corrupt politicians and CEOs, set off a storm in President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. Pot-banging protests erupted across the country as the president spoke to refute Moro’s allegations that he had tried to interfere with federal police investigations. “I was promised carte ...

Bloomberg The European Union’s foreign and diplomatic wing said there’s evidence of a “coordinated push” by official Chinese sources to deflect blame for the coronavirus pandemic and promote its response to the virus. Official Chinese sources have been “publicising announcements and deliveries of bilateral assistance, with polls in certain countries showing China being perceived as more helpful in fighting the ...