Politics

Bloomberg Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure and family-support plans are a direct appeal to the discontented White voters who put Donald Trump in office and to independent suburban women, his advisers say, with the president staking a claim on economic issues ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. The so-called American Jobs Plan Biden released last month features spending on traditional infrastructure ...

Bloomberg As India battles the world’s worst virus outbreak, some key political parties are promising an unprecedented monthly payment to all homemakers in a bid to win crucial state elections. If enacted the stipends would be some of the first in the world to specifically address women’s unpaid labour, which economists estimate accounts for up to 39% of global GDP ...

Bloomberg With the US dragging its feet in offering India help to combat the world’s worst virus crisis, China is moving to drive a wedge between the democratic security partners. In a barrage of editorials, political cartoons and social-media posts in recent days, the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper blasted the US for failing to provide aid while calling on ...

Bloomberg Russian prosecutors ordered Alexey Navalny’s national network of campaign offices to suspend operations because of alleged “extremism,” deepening the crackdown on allies of the jailed opposition leader. The order bans the groups from posting online, organising events and using bank accounts pending a permanent court ruling, according to a copy posted in Twitter by Navalny’s allies. The Moscow City ...

Bloomberg Vice President Kamala Harris finds herself navigating strained relations with the leaders of Central American countries that have produced a surge of migrants to the US, vastly complicating her assignment to curb a growing humanitarian crisis on the southwest border. Most would-be immigrants are from the so-called Northern Triangle — Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador -– and their economies ...

Bloomberg Finland’s government resumed talks to overcome disagreements over budget plans that pushed it to the brink of a breakup during the weekend. The negotiations intended to hammer out a spending framework for the next four years ended up exposing tensions within the five-party coalition half way through its term. Social Democrat Prime Minister Sanna Marin and the left-leaning parties ...

Bloomberg Chad’s ruling junta rejected a call by a group of rebels for talks and asked Niger to help catch their leader who it believed is within its neighbour’s borders. The Libya-based rebel group known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad has been fighting to overthrow the government since 2016. It , staged an incursion into northern ...

Bloomberg Southeast Asian leaders will appoint an envoy to mediate talks between “all parties” in Myanmar, one of the most concrete moves yet to end months of violence since a February 1 coup that has seen the military regime kill hundreds of pro-democracy protesters. Coup leader Min Aung Hlaing agreed to the dialogue process at a special summit of the ...

Bloomberg The Philippines said it conducted maritime exercises in the South China Sea, a move that could escalate tensions in the disputed waters. The coast guard said it deployed eight ships along with the fisheries bureau, as they trained on navigation, small boat operations, maintenance and logistical operations in Scarborough Shoal and Pag-asa Island. The maritime exercises come days after ...

Bloomberg As India recorded more than 234,000 new Covid-19 infections last Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an election rally in the West Bengal town of Asansol and tweeted: “I’ve never seen such huge crowds.” The second wave of the coronavirus has since grown into a tsunami. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest ...