Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to publish draft legislation setting out the timescale and proposed question for a second Scottish independence referendum.
Covid-19 has hit economies around the globe with an unprecedented slowdown in trade and consumption, and Japan’s economy was no exception. Japan experienced a fall in GDP of 7.8% in the period from April to June, the country’s worst contraction on record.
In place since 30 June 2020, the new Chinese National Security Law imposed in Hong Kong makes it easier for Chinese forces to quash protests, punish and arrest opposers to the Chinese regime. These powers have been extensively used by Chinese authorities, arresting dozens of pro-democracy figures because of opaque “national security” crimes, effectively reducing the city’s autonomy.
US regulators have closed a loophole in the restrictions on Huawei that were announced in May of this year, preventing Huawei from producing handsets with US technology or equipment. Experts believe this may be the final nail in the coffin for the company.
The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently indicated the UK should change its asylum laws and work with its “French friends” in order to prevent immigrants entering the country illegally via the English Channel.
Twitter has been in talks with ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to express an interest in purchasing the US operations of the video-sharing platform.
The Turkish government recently passed a bill that will impose stricter regulation over “immoral” social media companies with the aim of protecting Turkey’s 55 million internet users from disinformation.
China launched the last satellite to join its BeiDou navigation network, bringing a new competition to GPS and cementing its place amongst countries that own global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).
Ant Group, the fintech arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has kickstarted the process of a dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong. With Ant valued at over $200bn, it is one of the world’s most hotly anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs).
On 16 July 2020, the American, British and Canadian governments accused Kremlin-associated hacking group Cozy Bear of attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research.