The White House on Wednesday joined other world governments to condemn the apparent poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
The state of play:The German government announced that the poisoning was conducted with Novichok, a chemical typically associated with Russian security services.
Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader and anti-corruption activist, was attacked with the nerve agent Novichok — a calling card of the Russian security services — Germany's government announced on Wednesday.
The state of play: Navalny remains in a coma in a Berlin hospital two weeks after falling ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow. He is the latest in a string of Kremlin critics to have been poisoned, though Russia denies that any crime took place.
Americans believe Google is best suited to buy TikTok's U.S. operations, according to Harris Poll data released today. Some 29% of resp0ndents named Google, edging out Microsoft with 24% and Snapchat with 22%.
Why it matters: TikTok's Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is under pressure to sell its U.S. operations or face a ban by the Trump administration. Microsoft and Walmart are working together on a bid, while Oracle is also said to be interested along with potential others.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to allow all flights between the United Arab Emirates and Israel to pass through its airspace, following lobbying from the Trump administration.
The backstory: The UAE had made a formal request of the Saudis as part of their normalization deal with Israel, which includes commercial air travel between the countries.
Thailand on Wednesday marked 100 days with no detected local coronavirus cases, per the health ministry.
Why it matters: The Southeast Asian country joins a small club of places "like Taiwan where the pathogen has been virtually eliminated," Bloomberg notes. Thailand was the first country outside China to report a COVID-19 case.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Israel-UAE normalization talks are progressing faster than expected and could lead to an additional trilateral pact involving the U.S., officials from all three countries told me following talks in Abu Dhabi.
What's next: Israeli officials said a signing ceremony could take place at the White House before Sept. 18. For now, Israel's national security adviser has invited his Emirati counterpart to visit Israel to continue the talks.
The Trump administration has decided to go it alone on developing and distributing a coronavirus vaccine, after refusing to join the World Health Organization's efforts to provide equitable doses for all countries, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The U.S. is betting it will win the race for a coronavirus vaccine without any help from foreign countries.
Rumors have swirled for months that local authorities pressed residents of Xinjiang, a far northwestern region in China, to take traditional Chinese medicine during the coronavirus pandemic. Now a new report from the Associated Press based on interviews, public notices and social media posts suggests this may be true.
Why it matters: Forcing an entire population to take medicine that has not been clinically proven to be effective against the coronavirus could be a breach of medical ethics.
China's economic carrots and sticks are putting pressure on Hollywood to produce films that might soar in the country's box office — and avoid those that may displease Beijing.
The big picture: By censoring American blockbusters, Beijing believes it can prevent American and global audiences from imagining the Chinese Communist Party as a major threat, and from viewing the targets of China's repression as victims worthy of sympathy.
Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee was indicted by South Korean prosecutors Tuesday on charges including stock manipulation and breach of trust, per Reuters.
Details: The 52-year-old's indictment is connected to a 2015 merger of two Samsung affiliates. An independent panel had earlier recommended against indicting him.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party will gather in mid-September to elect a successor to Shinzo Abe as its leader and the country’s prime minister.
Driving the news: Abe announced his resignation on Friday due to chronic ulcerative colitis, just days after becoming Japan’s longest-serving prime minister.
Facebook said Monday that it will block users in Australia from sharing news on Facebook and Instagram if a controversial law forcing tech giants like Facebook and rival Google to pay publishers to distribute portions of their content passes this fall.
Why it matters: This is Facebook's last-ditch effort to stop the law's enactment, which it says will harm publishers more than itself. The tech giant contends that the Australian law's broad payment terms are likely to end up requiring Facebook to overpay for a relatively modest amount of content, and the social network is also wary of setting a broad precedent.
