Bloomberg Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the closure of International Memorial, the country’s most prominent human rights group, escalating a sweeping crackdown that has also targeted opposition activists and independent media. The group founded by Soviet-era dissidents including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov must shut down after failing to identify itself as a “foreign agent” under Russian law, Judge ...

  Bloomberg Taiwan is bracing for more Chinese military patrols in 2022, after People’s Liberation Army (PLA) incursions more than doubled this year, fuelling concern about a clash between the region’s big powers. Chinese warplanes have made some 950 forays into Taiwan’s air-defense identification zone since January, according to Bloomberg-compiled data from the Ministry of National Defense in Taipei. That ...

  Bloomberg Infection with the Omicron coronavirus variant can also strengthen immunity against the earlier Delta strain, reducing the risk of severe disease, according to a paper released by South African scientists. While omicron has been shown to be highly transmissible and can evade some antibodies, after two weeks of getting symptoms immunity to subsequent infections from the strain rose ...