Politics

Bloomberg President Donald Trump said he’s considering putting a “hold” on US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) after the agency “blew it” by failing to sound the alarm sooner about the coronavirus. “I’m not saying I’m going to do it, but we’re going to look at it,” the president said at a White House briefing on the coronavirus. ...

Bloomberg In the early days of Canada’s response to the coronavirus, before the crisis captured the full attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, it was still business as usual on at least one front: immigration. On March 12, the day before the Canadian parliament was suspended on concern about the spread of Covid-19, Trudeau’s immigration minister, Marco Mendicino, unveiled ...

Bloomberg Ireland handed its police sweeping powers to limit travel as part of its efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus as the nation heads into the Easter holiday. The government gave the police powers to arrest people traveling more than 2 kilometers from their home or on non-essential business. If convicted, they could face as long as six months ...

Bloomberg Zeng Xiao couldn’t stop taking her temperature, or thinking about her cat. After getting caught up 76 days ago in the government-ordered lockdown of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began, she was finally going home. With travel restrictions lifted on Wednesday, she was taking the very first train out of town: the 12:50 am to Guangzhou, ...

Bloomberg The UK is facing a leadership crisis as it heads into the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, with Boris Johnson in intensive care and his government under pressure to get a grip on the outbreak. The 55-year-old prime minister was taken to the hospital on April 05 for routine tests after struggling to shake off Covid-19, but his condition ...

Bloomberg Spain reported an increase in daily coronavirus deaths and new cases, suggesting the government has yet to bring the disease under control. There were 5,478 new infections in the 24 hours through Tuesday, the highest since April 05 and taking the total to 140,510, according to Health Ministry data. The death toll rose by 743 to 13,798, a larger ...

Bloomberg Poland’s ruling party is pushing ahead with a plan to force the nation to hold an election by mail for the first time ever, steamrolling over calls to delay the May 10 presidential ballot as the country remains in lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers of the Law & Justice party approved the measure in the lower house ...

Bloomberg Long-standing divisions within South Africa’s political leadership over economic policy have spilled into its management of the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. While finance minister Tito Mboweni has said the government could consider approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance to fight the pandemic, senior ruling coalition officials rejected that option on the grounds that the nation’s sovereignty ...

Bloomberg The White House lawyer tapped to oversee disbursements from a massive US pandemic relief fund is a former seminarian with decades of oversight experience yet still faces questions over whether he’ll do President Donald Trump’s bidding instead of protecting taxpayers. Brian Miller will be the main watchdog over $500 billion directed to big business by Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s Treasury ...

Bloomberg Prime minister Boris Johnson was taken to the hospital for tests as he struggles to recover from coronavirus, dealing a serious blow to the UK as the country prepares for the worst of the crisis. Almost 5,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the UK so far and, according to government advisers and scientists, the peak of the outbreak ...