Bloomberg The rally that made Brazilian assets the world’s best performers in 2016 is losing momentum as investors’ euphoria over prospects for change in government gives way to pessimism about how hard it will be to pull the country out of an economic malaise no matter who is in power. The Ibovespa equity gauge, Brazil’s currency and its bonds have ...

Bloomberg The U.S., once the world’s largest wheat exporter, is scheduled to import the grain this month from South America in the latest sign of how the country is losing its domination of the global trade. Even amid overflowing U.S. grain bins, there’s a ship destined to reach North Carolina shores this month with supplies from Argentina. Olympos, the vessel ...

Bloomberg If you want to watch the Disney Channel or BET in the U.S., you pretty much need a costly pay-TV plan, one with hundreds of networks you couldn’t care less about. In other countries, it’s increasingly a different story. Entertainment companies led by Viacom Inc., 21st Century Fox Inc. and Walt Disney Co. are forging ahead internationally with online ...

Youngstown / AFP Americans in five major states prepared to vote on Tuesday in make-or-break presidential nominating contests, with Donald Trump seeking to tighten his grip on the Republican mantle as rivals and critics bemoaned a weekend of campaign trail unrest. Dubbed “Super Tuesday 2” by US media, the latest major date in the run-up to November’s election will see ...

Paris / AFP Rising sea levels driven by climate change could upend the lives of more than 13 million Americans by the end of the century, according to a study released Monday. If global warming lifts oceans 1.8 metres (six feet) by 2100, as some scientists forecast in worst-case scenarios, 13.1 million people living in US coastal areas will become ...

Bloomberg Russia said its forces have started leaving Syria after President Vladimir Putin ordered the military withdrawal in a surprise move that puts pressure on the regime of Bashar Al Assad and opposition groups to reach a peace deal at talks in Geneva. The first group of planes, including Su-34 bombers, have returned to bases in Russia, the Defense Ministry ...

Dushanbe / AFP Russia and fragile ex-Soviet ally Tajikistan have begun large-scale military drills close to the Central Asian state’s restless border with Afghanistan, a Tajik military official confirmed Tuesday. A spokesman for Tajikistan’s defence ministry said the drills involving around 50,000 Tajik troops and 2,000 Russian troops, including paratroopers flown in from Russia. “The manoeuvres involve around a thousand ...

Idomeni / AFP Some 700 refugees and migrants were being held in Macedonia on Tuesday after they managed to slip across the border from Greece, a frontier that has been shut for a week. Dozens of others who failed to cross were returning to the overflowing Idomeni camp on the Greek side, where some 14,000 people are stuck in increasing ...

Naypyidaw / AFP Myanmar’s lawmakers on Tuesday elected a close aide and longtime friend of Aung San Suu Kyi to become the first civilian president in decades, a historic moment for the formerly junta-run nation. Htin Kyaw, 69, hailed his elevation to the top post as “Suu Kyi’s victory”, a clear nod to her plan that he serve as a ...

London / AFP Kurdish rebel leader Cemil Bayik warned Turkey to expect payback for the deadly clashes that have raged following the collapse of a fragile truce, in an interview published in Britain’s Times daily on Tuesday. Bayik, one of the leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), said to expect fighting “everywhere” and insisted its guerillas were justified ...