Politics

Bloomberg Sri Lanka warned of an unprecedented default and halted payments on foreign debt, an extraordinary step taken to preserve its dwindling dollar stockpile for essential food and fuel imports. All outstanding payments to bond holders, bilateral creditors and institutional lenders will be suspended until a debt restructure, the finance ministry said in a statement. The newly appointed central bank ...

Bloomberg The European Union’s top diplomat is urging member states to quickly provide Kyiv with the weapons it has asked for, as Ukraine braces for Russia to step up its campaign in the country’s east, according to people familiar with weekend discussions. Josep Borrell told EU diplomats a decision is needed in days and not weeks, and the bloc must ...

Bloomberg US President Joe Biden will again press India to take a harder stand on Russia’s war in Ukraine during a virtual meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of a dialog between the foreign and defense ministers from both sides. Biden will continue “consultations on the consequences of Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine and mitigating its destabilising impact on ...

Bloomberg Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned the US against isolating China over the war in Ukraine by framing it as a battle between democracies and autocracies, which would complicate an already fraught relationship between the two powers. “You have to be very careful not to define the problem with Ukraine in such a way that automatically, China is ...

Bloomberg French President Emmanuel Macron ramped up his campaign for a second term, with his allies zeroing in on rival candidate Marine Le Pen’s links to Russia’s Vladimir Putin. As the second round of campaigning began on Monday ahead of a final vote in two weeks’ time, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said voters have a choice between an “ally ...

  Bloomberg Indonesian President Joko Widodo appeared to dismiss a plan floated by senior cabinet official to extend his time in office as thousands of university students are set to protest in Jakarta over the move along with the rising costs of basic goods. Rumours have persisted for months that the leader known as Jokowi could seek to amend the ...

Bloomberg Pakistan lawmakers are set to vote in opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif as the next prime minister after former cricket star Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence motion that ended his four-year run. A united opposition bloc cobbled together 174 lawmakers to vote against Khan in Islamabad, two more than required to remove him from office. Parliament convenes again ...

Bloomberg Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said military commanders are working on plans for a permanent troop presence on the alliance’s eastern border in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Telegraph reported. Stoltenberg said Nato is envisaging a “reset” that would shift the role of troops in eastern European member countries from serving as a tripwire in case of ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong’s leading candidate for the city’s top government job has secured enough nominations required for the leadership race just a day after John Lee kicked off his campaign, according to the South China Morning Post. The city’s former chief secretary received more than 200 nominations as of Sunday, the newspaper reported Chan Yung, a deputy director for ...

Bloomberg Prime Minister Boris Johnson met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a previously unannounced trip to Kyiv, pledging additional military aid and other support. Zelenskiy after the meeting hailed Johnson as “one of the most principled opponents of the Russian invasion” and said he expects the UK will play a “key role” in security guarantees for Ukraine. The pair ...