Bloomberg Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko moved to crack down on opponents after more demonstrations against his 26-year rule brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of the capital and other cities over the weekend demanding his resignation. Police detained at least four anti-government activists, including organisers of strikes at some of the country’s largest factories and a politician ...

Bloomberg The ceasefire announced by Libyan rivals may finally unlock stalled talks to end a civil war which had shut oil fields and drawn in foreign militaries, according to the United Nations envoy leading peace efforts. Reciprocal calls to stop the fighting and resume oil production were welcomed by nations backing opposing sides in the conflict but there’s still work ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s re-nomination for president this week was supposed to be the celebration of what he considers a storybook political career. With a booming US economy at his back, the president would bask in the adulation of thousands of supporters at the Republican National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, as he contemplated a glide path to re-election. But that ...

Bloomberg West African leaders may no longer push for Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita to be restored to office after a first phase of talks with the military junta that has taken control of the country, an official said. The softened stance comes after envoys from the Economic Community of West African States met junta leaders at the weekend to ...

Bloomberg UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged parents to send their children back to school when they reopen in England next week, amid growing concern among some teachers and union officials that it’s not safe to do so. “Now is the time to get pupils back into school, give them the chances they need to build the necessary bedrock for ...

Bloomberg Traders of India’s bonds were unnerved after the central bank cued that rising yields are here to stay by offering surprisingly high borrowing costs at a debt sale. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) sold a 30-year bond at a cutoff yield of 6.75%, versus the 6.65% estimated in a Bloomberg survey. The central bank, which acts on behalf ...

Bloomberg Japan’s biggest lender is planning to raise funds from individual investors to help smaller companies and hospitals tackle the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. intends to issue sustainability bonds totalling as much as 150 billion yen ($1.42 billion) in September, after receiving requests from retail investors, according to Isamu Murofushi, a spokesman. The pandemic is boosting ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s large pool of fiscal reserves is proving to be a boon for the nation’s currency. The city state’s dollar advanced to its highest level in six months last week — erasing its pandemic-driven losses — after the government unveiled another stimulus package, financed in part by unused expenditure from earlier budgets. With the total for pledged pandemic aid ...

Bloomberg The Philippine peso advanced closer towards the psychologically significant level of 48 per dollar after central bank Governor Benjamin Diokno said the market was free to determine its level. Asia’s best-performing currency this year advanced to as strong as 48.62 on Monday after Diokno told Bloomberg Television: “If that’s where the market is going, we can’t do anything about ...

Bloomberg Indonesia’s bond and currency markets, risk benchmarks that tend to move in tandem, are diverging in signs that the nation’s pandemic response is deterring global funds. The rupiah is the worst-performing Asian currency this quarter while the nation’s benchmark sovereign bond is outperforming peers. The two markets are usually aligned due to heavy foreign debt holdings. That dynamic started ...