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Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor told the House impeachment inquiry Wednesday that President Trump was more interested in procuring a Ukrainian investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden than he was of the country itself.

A new anonymous whistleblower has accused the Trump administration of requiring U.S. asylum officers to enforce an illegal and immoral policy “clearly designed to further this administration's racist agenda of keeping Hispanic and Latino populations from entering the United States.”

Pro-democracy protesters Wednesday stepped up a "blossom everywhere" campaign of road blocks and vandalism across Hong Kong that has crippled the international financial hub this week and ignited some of the worst violence in five months of unrest. China, facing the biggest challenge to its rule of the territory since it was handed back by the British in 1997, has insisted it will not buckle to the pressure and warned of even tougher security measures.

Much of the talk about the impeachment inquiry against President Trump has centered around whether there was a quid pro quo in his dealings with Ukraine. What's the meaning of this old Latin phrase and how important is it in the case against the president?

(Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterEthiopian authorities will charge dozens of people over the coordinated killings of state officials in June that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed labeled a coup attempt.The planned prosecutions mark the conclusion of a four-month investigation into the most serious attack on Ethiopia’s leadership since military rule ended in 1987. Many of those who face charges were members of “the government structure,“ Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye said Wednesday on the ruling-party linked Fana Broadcasting Corp.Berhanu’s office will charge 45 people in the northern city of Bahir Dar, capital of the Amhara region, and 13 in the federal capital Addis Ababa over the June killings, he said.Assailants killed the head of the army, the president of the Amhara region and at least four other state officials in the assaults on June 22.The bodyguard of slain former army Chief of Staff Se’are Mekonnen, Colonel Tigabu Mesafint, received orders from retired Brigadier-General Aseminew Tsige to kill Se’are in Addis Ababa after killings of officials in Bahir Dar, according to Berhanu. Aseminew was killed in a firefight with government forces in Amhara in June, while Tigabu was apprehended.To contact the reporter on this story: Nizar Manek in Nairobi at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at [email protected], Paul Richardson, Hilton ShoneFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Germany's air force said Wednesday it had refused delivery of two Airbus A400M transport planes over technical faults, saying bolts holding the propellers on some already operational aircraft were loose. Repeated technical problems have dogged the A400M programme, a turboprop transport aircraft developed jointly for Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey.

Far-right political strategist Steve Bannon has called the tactics deployed by Democrats to impeach his former boss and remove him from office “quite brilliant.”

An Iranian citizen has been jailed in Sweden on suspicion of carrying out crimes against humanity and murder in the late 1980s in Iran, a Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday, the same time period of mass executions by Tehran. Prosecutor Karolina Wieslander said the unidentified man is suspected is of committing the crimes between July 28, 1988, and Aug. 31, 1988, in Tehran. The man’s alleged crimes correspond with the end of Iran’s long war with Iraq, which began when Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980.

Tradition in Vietnam dictates that the dead should be buried within three days, but Nguyen Dinh Gia is still waiting for his son's body to come home. In Vietnam, the families of the victims have been plagued by confusion and anguish over how to get the bodies home. Rumours about high costs circulating on social media, conflicting information from local authorities and a partial blackout of news in Vietnam's tightly controlled media have all contributed to the uncertainty.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito will perform a secretive and controversial ritual Thursday, a once-in-a-reign event to give thanks for good harvests, pray for the peace and safety of the nation and play host to his family's ancestral gods. It has drawn criticism as a throwback to Japan's authoritarian past and as a colossal waste of money, and provoked speculation the emperor is spending the night on a bed with a goddess. Daijosai marks the emperor's first communion with the Sun Goddess Amaterasu, the monarchy's mythological ancestor, and with other gods of Shinto, the religion of the imperial family.

(Bloomberg) -- The Lebanese army deployed heavily across the country and banks and schools remained shut for a second day as protesters incensed by a call to go home began to converge on the presidential palace.Life in much of Lebanon ground to a halt a day after President Michel Aoun told anti-government demonstrators to disperse or else they’d risk the country’s stability. The appeal provoked a new surge of nationwide unrest in which one man was killed, with major roads closed on Wednesday.Baabda Palace, the presidential residence in a mountain town on the outskirts of Beirut, is the latest focal point of the protests convulsing Lebanon since last month. While the president plays a largely ceremonial role, Aoun is becoming a target of rage since he’s calling the shots as the country endures its third week without a prime minister.“The system is broken and the credibility is gone,” Mohieddine Kronfol, Franklin Templeton’s Dubai-based chief investment officer for Middle Eastern and North African fixed income, said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Tracy Alloway and Yousef Gamal El-Din.Lebanon, one of the world’s most indebted nations, has been without a government since Saad Hariri resigned as premier in the face of the uprising, which is demanding the removal of politicians accused of pillaging public coffers.It’s one of the most serious crises for the country since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. The government’s Eurobonds are the world’s worst performers in emerging markets this quarter despite a package of emergency measures rolled out in October. Its five-year credit-default swaps, a measure of the cost of insuring sovereign debt against default, are hovering near a record high.After appearing to lose momentum, demonstrations took an angrier turn after Aoun’s remarks as people burned tires and closed major roads. Outraged protesters stepped up demands for Aoun to resign too. Some called him “the squatter in the palace,” while others chanted “they are all a bunch of thieves.”Speaking in a televised interview from the presidential palace, Aoun said a new government would have to resemble the lineup brought down by popular protest late last month and those who couldn’t live with the political realities should leave.‘Such Negativity’“I ask the Lebanese not to behave with such negativity, especially as this can lead to counter-negative behavior and, consequently, a confrontation,” Aoun said. “If they continue this way, even if we don’t give them a slap, the country will die.”As the interview ended, thousands of people descended onto the streets across Lebanon, setting fires, pitching tents and renewing their demands for change. One protester loyal to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt was shot as soldiers tried to reopen a thoroughfare south of Beirut. He later died.The army said one of its personnel shot the man during a confrontation with protesters and the shooter has been detained. In a video posted online, Jumblatt told his supporters to remain calm and maintain trust in state institutions.Aoun said formal consultations to name a new prime minister would begin Thursday or Friday but could be delayed while politicians hammer out the shape of the next cabinet.Demonstrators are calling for a government of experts that’s able to steer Lebanon through a financial crisis that has put pressure on its decades-old peg currency peg. Aoun rejected that demand, saying experts should be represented alongside the political parties that dominate the elected parliament. That includes the Free Patriotic Movement led by his son-in-law, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, who’s been a particular target of public insults.Lebanon is facing its day of reckoning after years of mismanagement and excess spending. Traders and businesses are complaining about a low supply of dollars needed to pay for imports and warning of an imminent shortage of goods.Financial CrunchLocal lenders have tightened restrictions on the movement of capital by banning transfers abroad and setting limits on withdrawals to avoid a run on the banks. Central bank Governor Riad Salameh said he’d asked bankers to ease those restrictions.The government has few options. Already cut off from international markets, it delayed a Eurobond deal of up to $3 billion with the central bank and local lenders. Last week, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Lebanon deeper into junk for a second time this year.Aoun confirmed reports that while efforts were under way to push Hariri back to the premiership, he was, so far, hesitant to return. The president asked protesters to go home and allow him and the future government to carry out the reforms required, a demand that appears to have.“We want a government that is appropriate and can fight corruption and have the courage to do so and devise an economic plan as well as prepare the country to move towards a civil society,” Aoun said.\--With assistance from Netty Ismail.To contact the reporters on this story: Dana Khraiche in Beirut at [email protected];Lin Noueihed in Beirut at [email protected] contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at [email protected], Paul Abelsky, Michael GunnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

A South Korean woman who had been forced to work in a Japanese wartime military brothel said Japan lacked honor for failing to attend a South Korean court on Wednesday as it began hearing a civil case brought against its government by a group of victims. "I am a living proof of history," said Lee Yong-soo, the 91-year-old survivor, her voice quaking with emotion as she addressed a news conference held near the courthouse, before proceedings began. Reminders of Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean peninsula are inflammatory for both sides.

Venezuela's former military intelligence chief has gone missing in Spain just days after a court approved a request for his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges, police said Wednesday. "They are currently looking for him," said a spokeswoman for Spain's national police, referring to General Hugo Armando Carvajal. Judicial sources said police had gone to his house in Madrid after Friday's court decision but could not find him.

Several Nordic students at Hong Kong Baptist University are being moved because anti-government demonstrators are on the school grounds. The Technical University of Denmark urged its 36 students in Hong Kong to pack up and return home.

More than 50 cars crashed on a strip of Ohio freeway in the middle of a snowstorm as the US braces for severe weather and hundreds of record-breaking, below-freezing temperatures overnight.Whiteout conditions across the northeast and midwest caused several accidents, some deadly, as an Arctic blast of frigid weather moves eastward. Many roads and schools have closed and thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed as millions of Americans prepare for an early winter blast of Arctic air.

Violent hate crimes have climbed to a 16-year year high in the US, with a surge in attacks on Hispanics, according to FBI data.Reports of hate crimes dipped slightly in 2018 from an alarming increase the previous year, but violence rose as attacks increasingly targeting people instead of property.

Tulsi Gabbard's lawyers want Hillary Clinton to make her retraction at a press conference and on social media.

Pirates attacked an Italy-flagged offshore supply vessel in the southern Gulf of Mexico, injuring two crew members, the Mexican Navy said on Tuesday, in the latest outbreak of robbery and piracy to hit oil platforms and infrastructure in the area. Owned by Italian offshore contractor Micoperi, the boat is a supply vessel for Mexico's oil industry. Micoperi and the Italian embassy in Mexico did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

President Trump considered firing Intelligence Community inspector general Michael Atkinson after Atkinson reported the whistleblower complaint that touched off the House's presidential-impeachment inquiry to Congress, according to the New York Times.According to the report, Trump originally discussed firing Atkinson in September, at about the time the whistleblower complaint became public. Sources cited by the Times said that Trump has continued to bring up the possibility of firing Atkinson, and that he considers the IG to be disloyal.Two people familiar with the matter said they thought Trump was just venting frustration by bringing up the subject. The White House and Atkinson's office declined to comment on the matter.Democrats are currently conducting an impeachment inquiry centered on allegations that Trump withheld military aid from Ukraine to pressure the country to investigate corruption allegations involving Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden. The whistleblower complaint conveyed concerns over the content of a July 25 phone conversation between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as measures taken by the Trump administration to restrict access to the transcript of the call.Trump made the transcript public one day before the whistleblower complaint was revealed to Congress. The transcript showed that Trump repeatedly urged Zelensky to investigate Biden over the course of the call.Atkinson has come under fire from Trump during the impeachment inquiry."The Whistleblower’s lawyer is a big Democrat. The Whistleblower has ties to one of my DEMOCRAT OPPONENTS," Trump wrote on Twitter on October 9. "Why does the ICIG allow this scam to continue?"