Bloomberg The US hasn’t changed its policy on sending Navy vessels through the Taiwan Strait, the Pentagon said, describing a decline in the number of transits last year as nothing out of the ordinary. “Many factors affect the planning and execution of these operations including ship and aircraft availability, other military operations and exercises both in the Indo-Pacific and …

  Bloomberg Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese used a historic address in Papua New Guinea to call for a “swift conclusion” to negotiations over a bilateral security agreement, in the latest move by Canberra to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific. In an address to Papua New Guinea’s Parliament on Thursday, Albanese praised the close historic ties between Australia and …

  Bloomberg Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu changed the military leadership in Ukraine, appointing Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff, as head of the nation’s combined forces. General Sergei Surovikin, who had held the post since October, will become one of Gerasimov’s deputies, the Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Oleg Salyukov, chief of the land forces, …

  Bloomberg Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan ally won a confidence vote as chief minister in the Punjab Assembly, the latest electoral win for the popular opposition leader demanding early general elections. Chaudhry Parvez Elahi secured 186 votes from lawmakers in the 371-member house, speaker Muhammad Sibtain Khan announced the result in a session that lasted more than an …

  Bloomberg India has relocated some troops from areas surrounding a sinking Himalayan town that’s near a disputed border with China, Army Chief Manoj Pande said. Pande didn’t give details on how many soldiers would be moved away for safety but said over 20 military installations around the town of Joshimath in the northern state of Uttarakhand have sustained “medium …

Bloomberg Traders piled into bets on another hawkish pivot from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) following a report that the central bank will review the side effects of its policy as soon as next week. The yen gained more than 1% and Japanese bond futures slid after the Yomiuri newspaper said the BOJ will consider adjusting bond purchases or other …

  Bloomberg Thailand will allow the nation’s first virtual banks to offer services in 2025 amid a push to boost competition, widen loan access and cut costs for businesses and the individuals. The Bank of Thailand plans to issue three such licenses in 2024 before the operations begin a year later, said Assistant Governor Tharith Panpiemras. There are about 10 …

Bloomberg Sri Lanka will probably clinch a debt restructuring deal with its creditors only by the end of the year, with Standard Chartered Plc predicting losses for both domestic and dollar bondholders. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) board approval of a $2.9 billion bailout for the island nation is likely to happen in the second rather than first quarter of …

Bloomberg Credit Suisse Group AG’s longtime top shareholder Harris Associates slashed its stake by about half, in a sign of wavering confidence on the latest turnaround plan of the troubled Swiss lender. The US investment firm, which last year still held a stake of about 10%, saw its holding fall to about 5% as of the end of last year, …

  Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) is set to raise its key interest rate one more time, with policymakers then seen bringing their 18-month tightening cycle to a close amid rising concerns about the economic outlook. Eleven of 16 economists surveyed expect the central bank will hike the benchmark to 3.5%, while the remaining five expect it to hold at …