Bloomberg Voters in Malaysia’s biggest state are set to reject the opposition alliance in elections, increasing pressure on Anwar Ibrahim to step aside as de facto leader and forcing a rethink in strategy ahead of a national vote that may be called as soon as next year. The polls in Sarawak in Borneo island is expected to present another ...

  Bloomberg The United Nations Human Rights Office called on Vietnam to release four activists who were jailed for as much 10 years for disseminating anti-state propaganda, according a statement from UN spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani. Trinh Ba Phuong, Nguyen Thi Tam, Do Nam Trung and independent author Pham Doan Trang were sentenced under articles 88 and 117 of Vietnam’s Criminal ...

  Bloomberg Simon Case, the civil servant spearheading the investigation into whether the prime minister’s office and other government departments hosted lockdown-breaking parties last year, has stepped back from the role following reports that he hosted a similar event at the time. In a statement, Downing Street said Case had recused himself from the process to “ensure the ongoing investigation ...

  Bloomberg A Florida man who was one of the first people to plead guilty to crimes stemming from the January 6 Capitol riot was sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers — the longest such term yet. Robert Palmer, described by his lawyer as a father of four and a “successful businessman,” was sentenced by ...

  Bloomberg Pittsburgh is more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the nearest coast, yet its office and retail buildings face $420 million in exposure to flood damage, or the third-greatest of any city in the US, according to a report. Commercial structures across the US could face up to $13.5 billion in damage in 2022, an amount that will ...

  Bloomberg The soaring costs and staffing shortages plaguing the UK’s food-supply chain show little sign of ebbing next year, industry groups warned. The country’s slaughterhouses and produce farms have been hit by worker shortages and transport bottlenecks this year, while rocketing prices of fertilizer, energy, packaging and feed are adding to the woes. Those pressures will be maintained on ...

  Bloomberg Swedish inflation accelerated more than expected in November to the highest level in almost 28 years, testing the central bank’s patience for a price surge it believes to be largely transitory. The Riksbank’s target measure, CPIF, stood at 3.6% last month, Statistics Sweden said. It is the highest since December 1993, just over a year before the inflation ...

  Bloomberg BMW AG signed a long-term deal to secure semiconductors for in-car lighting systems after a global shortage of the components led to shutdowns at some of its factories. The automaker said it signed an agreement with Inova Semiconductors and Globalfoundries Inc., guaranteeing the supply of “several million” chips per year. The components will provide controls for ambient lighting ...

  Bloomberg France is imposing tougher rules on people arriving from the UK, including a requirement to self-isolate, to slow the spread of Covid-19’s omicron variant. The measures are introduced after new daily cases in the UK rise to a record. The rise in infections is hitting economic activity across the euro area. Restrictions in the services sector halted recovery ...

  Bloomberg Euro area economic activity slowed as rising coronavirus cases hurt service providers to offset an improvement in manufacturing output. Inflation pressure eased a little. A composite gauge for both sectors fall to 53.4 in December from 55.4 the previous month, according to a survey of purchasing managers by IHS Markit. Services activity grew at its weakest since April ...