Politics

Bloomberg The military coup in Myanmar has gone past the point of no return, according to a confidential UK foreign office assessment, in a sign that major democracies expect to have limited ability to influence the events unfolding inside the country. The bleak view from a senior British diplomat concludes the coup is irreversible, and that army chief Min Aung ...

Bloomberg China has formally arrested an Australian citizen who was formerly a news anchor for Chinese state television, escalating a case that has contributed to tensions between Beijing and Canberra. Cheng Lei, a Chinese-born Australian who most recently worked for state broadcaster CGTN, was formally arrested in China on February 5 following six months of detention, the office of Australian ...

Bloomberg India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to protesting farmers to call off their agitation and rejoin talks while reiterating his government’s commitment to continue purchasing crops at an administered price. Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November in protest against three agriculture laws that they say will hurt farm incomes and leave them ...

Bloomberg A socialist economist who rejects fiscal austerity demanded by the IMF won the first round of Ecuador’s presidential election, and may face an indigenous anti-mining candidate in a runoff after an unexpectedly close fight for second place. Andres Arauz, the candidate most feared by bond investors, led with 32.2% of votes, with 79% of ballots counted, the electoral authority ...

Bloomberg Australia, Japan, the US and India plan to hold a summit to strengthen ties amid China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, the Sankei newspaper reported, citing unidentified government officials. The four countries are preparing for the teleconference meeting, whose agenda will include the protection of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, according to the newspaper. India has, however, ...

Bloomberg Myanmar saw its biggest protests in more than a decade on Sunday as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in several cities calling for the release of detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. In Yangon, tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in an area of the city’s downtown known as the staging grounds for prior ...

Bloomberg About 150 workers at NTPC Ltd.’s hydropower plant are feared trapped or swept away after a flash flood that destroyed key infrastructure when a Himalayan river burst its banks. The Rishiganga hydropower project near Raini village in Uttarakhand state was damaged, as was NTPC’s under-construction project on river Dhauli Ganga near Tapovan, said Vivek Pandey, spokesman for the Indo-Tibetan ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial is almost certain to end in acquittal, yet it will deliver a public reckoning for his presidency and influence whether his populist supporters continue to dominate the Republican Party. The nine House managers prosecuting Trump, arguing their case as much to the American public as to the senators who’ll serve as jurors, will focus ...

Bloomberg Lyudmila Shtein, a 24-year-old Muscovite and municipal deputy, is under house arrest until May and risks a two-year jail term for encouraging people to join a protest last month. She’s among more than 11,000 people rounded up in the past two weeks after the biggest show of defiance towards President Vladimir Putin in years. As social media flooded with ...

Bloomberg Polls are open in Ecuador in an election that will decide whether the country turns its back on the US and restores an alliance with socialist regimes in Cuba and Venezuela. The result of Sunday’s voting has the potential to upend relations with Beijing or Washington, and could even jeopardise Ecuador’s continued use of the US dollar. Long lines ...