Bloomberg The US is “fairly certain†that there are coronavirus cases in North Korea, despite denials by Pyongyang, because of a lack of military activity, according to a senior American army commander. North Korea’s military has “fundamentally been on lockdown†for almost a month and didn’t fly a single aircraft for 24 days before resuming its routine training, Commander of ...
Read More »Politics
Nationalists assume power in Slovenia
Bloomberg Slovenia’s parliament approved a new government led by nationalist Janez Jansa, adding him to the pantheon of anti-immigrant populists who’ve taken power in the European Union’s east. Jansa, a former prime minister and close ally of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, will inaugurate his third government since 2004 in the midst of a coronavirus outbreak that’s threatening, like in other ...
Read More »Ivory Coast PM named preidential candidate
Bloomberg Ivory Coast’s ruling party named Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly as its candidate for this year’s presidential election. The 61-year-old had been widely expected to succeed President Alassane Ouattara, who last week ruled out seeking a third term as head of the world’s biggest cocoa grower. Opposition parties have yet to announce their candidates for the October 31 ballot. ...
Read More »After toppling Mahathir, Malaysia’s leader needs allies
Bloomberg For a week, he patiently waited in the shadows as Malaysia’s two political giants — Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim — vied for the numbers to become the nation’s prime minister. But when the dust settled earlier this month, it was little-known Muhyiddin Yassin who bested his former allies to emerge on top, shifting power back to Malay-dominated parties ...
Read More »Trump’s retweet of ‘China virus’ escalates tensions with Beijing
Bloomberg Both US President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping have good reasons to deflect political blame for the coronavirus outbreak. And that has both of them zeroing in on the pathogen’s name. As the disease formally designated as Covid-19 expands across the US, Trump and other top Republicans have sought to highlight the outbreak’s foreign origin and even use ...
Read More »UK’s junior health minister diagnosed with coronavirus
Bloomberg A UK minister of health, Nadine Dorries, has become the first British member of parliament to test positive for coronavirus. She’s reported to have attended a reception with Prime Minister Boris Johnson the day before she fell ill, and had met hundreds of people in Parliament that week. The Times reported she had fallen ill on March 6 and ...
Read More »Putin sets path to stay on as Russia’s president to 2036
Bloomberg Vladimir Putin set the stage to stay on as Russia’s president for potentially another 16 years, reversing his past opposition to scrapping term limits so that he — and only he — can continue to rule the country. “I fully recognise my own personal responsibility towards the citizens of this country,†Putin said in an unscheduled speech before the ...
Read More »Venezuela detains opposition lawmaker
Bloomberg Venezuelan police detained an opposition lawmaker hours after Juan Guaido supporters in Caracas were met with tear gas during a protest against Nicolas Maduro’s regime. Masked FAES officers forcibly removed Renzo Prieto from a hotel in eastern Caracas in the late afternoon, according to Guaido’s press office. Two other lawmakers, Zandra Castillo and Angel Torres, were released after being ...
Read More »Sanders, Biden scrap rallies amid virus fears
Bloomberg Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden have cancelled planned rallies in Cleveland, Ohio amid concerns about coronavirus spreading at public events and suggested the campaigns might suspend large gatherings. But President Donald Trump’s campaign took a different tack, announcing that he would attend a ‘Catholics for Trump’ coalition event in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 19, that “will bring together Catholics ...
Read More »Anwar likely to lead Malaysia opposition over Mahathir
Bloomberg Anwar Ibrahim is most likely to lead the country instead of former leader Mahathir Mohamad if the opposition coalition returns to power, according to a top leader in the bloc. “I will have a meeting, and I think most probably it’s going to be Anwar,†former Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said in a Bloomberg Television interview ...
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