Bloomberg Thailand will hold a general election on March 24 for the first time since a coup in May 2014. The date was set by the Election Commission in Bangkok on Wednesday, a few hours after a royal decree was issued authorising the poll. Voting will take place under a military-backed charter, ending one of the longest periods of rule ...

Bloomberg Russia showed foreign envoys a missile that’s at the centre of a dispute with the US over a landmark nuclear treaty, as Moscow mounted a diplomatic offensive against Washington’s plans to withdraw from the pact. US demands for the elimination of the 9M729 missile are “unacceptable,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in a televised briefing for foreign ...

Bloomberg Writer and former Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun, who is now an Australian citizen, has been detained by the Chinese government, according to one of his friends. Yang boarded a flight from New York to the southeastern Chinese city of Guangzhou and was scheduled to arrive on Saturday, Feng Chongyi, an associate professor in China studies at the University of ...

Bloomberg The European Commission is pushing the Irish government to lay out its plans for the border in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a person familiar with the matter said. Ireland has proved elusive when the Commission has attempted to pin down the government on its plan, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity. A Commission ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro pledged swift and sweeping measures to fix the economy and ward off what he said was a risk that Latin America’s largest nation turns into a Venezuela-style regime. Plans to sell a large number of state-owned companies are nearly ready, and a proposal to be sent to Congress will bring “substantial” cuts to pension outlays ...

Bloomberg Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a scion of India’s Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, has formally joined the nation’s political scene ahead of the general election to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party. Vadra, 47, is the younger sister of Rahul Gandhi, who’s president of India’s opposition Congress party. She’s been appointed a general secretary of the party and will manage elections ...

Bloomberg US equities advanced alongside stocks in Europe as traders weighed the latest corporate earnings and moves to end the American government shutdown against lingering doubts over trade. The dollar’s six-day rally stalled and Treasury yields rose. The S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq indexes all opened higher after IBM topped profit estimates and Procter & Gamble increase the upper ...

Bloomberg Nasdaq Inc and Citigroup Inc are among firms that are investing $20 million in Symbiont.io Inc, a New York-based company that’s applying blockchain technology to capital markets. Their support for Symbiont shows Wall Street’s enthusiasm for the technology behind Bitcoin hasn’t completely cooled with the collapse in cryptocurrencies. And it comes despite a growing pragmatism about the technology’s limitations ...

Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s trade war has sparked a surge in lobbying in the fight over his tariffs. American companies and business groups mostly opposing Trump’s tariffs closed out an active year of lobbying on trade issues in 2018. They expect a busy 2019 as the trade conflict continues and action is pending in Congress on a renegotiated deal with ...

Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp (IBM) gave a positive forecast for 2019 and beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly sales and earnings, led by its business that helps companies and governments manage their technology. Revenue was $21.8 billion in the fourth quarter, topping the average analyst forecast of $21.7 billion. Earnings were $4.87 a share, also beating analysts’ forecasts. IBM said ...