Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a program that will create a unique digital health identity for over 1.3 billion people and allow them to access their records online, part of an effort to enhance efficiency in a healthcare system constrained by the pandemic. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, unveiled on Monday, aims to create digital health infrastructure to ...

Bloomberg Venture backers made a record number of investments in Southeast Asian startups in the first half of this year, though the value of those deals declined as investors focus on early stage deals in the region’s burgeoning internet scene. There were 393 investments across the region in the first half, topping the previous record of 375 in the first ...

Bloomberg Ninja Van, a Singaporean logistics startup, raised $578 million from investors including Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in a series E round. Existing investors B Capital Group, the venture capital firm set up by Facebook Inc co-founder Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly, a former executive at Bain Capital, and European parcel delivery company Geopost/DPDgroup, also participated in ...

Bloomberg Singapore’s finance minister said the country is committed to reopening, and that recently reimposed curbs are to ensure the health system can handle an increased number of daily cases. “Our overall strategy has not changed,” Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said. “We are committed to reopening our economy and our society progressively, but our aim has always been to do ...

Bloomberg China may be diving head first into a power supply shock that could hit Asia’s largest economy hard just as the Evergrande crisis sends shockwaves through its financial system. The crackdown on power consumption is being driven by rising demand for electricity and surging coal and gas prices as well as strict targets from Beijing to cut emissions. It’s ...

Bloomberg A UK frigate sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the first such passage by a British naval vessel since late 2019, as a group of nations led by Washington pushes back at Beijing’s military assertiveness. The HMS Richmond transited the narrow body of water separating China from Taiwan on Monday on its way to Vietnam, according to the vessel’s Twitter ...

Bloomberg The Biden administration is considering a US-led competitor for China’s Belt and Road international trade and public works program, and a top White House official will scout Latin America next week for possible projects. Daleep Singh, the US deputy national security adviser for international economics, is traveling to Colombia, Ecuador and Panama to talk with high-level officials, business leaders ...

Bloomberg Olaf Scholz of the center-left Social Democrats appealed to potential partners to join him in a new German government as soon as possible as his conservative opponent’s rival claim on the chancellery ran into the sand. At party headquarters in Berlin on Monday, Scholz appealed to the Greens and the pro-business Free Democrats to back a three-way coalition following ...

Bloomberg Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski wants to extend a state of emergency along the country’s eastern border for another 60 days, to help deal with a surge in arrivals of undocumented migrants from Belarus. Kaminski said on Monday that some migrants apprehended near the border could pose a threat to national security after evidence of links to terrorist and ...

Bloomberg For the winner of a party leadership vote this week to pick Japan’s third pandemic-era prime minister, a heavy lift awaits on economy. Getting the country past the virus will be job No. 1, requiring a road map for reopening after the latest virus emergency ends, reportedly this week, and more stimulus to woo voters before national elections this ...