Bloomberg Malaysia has delayed its parliament sitting by more than two months, forcing former leader Mahathir Mohamad to wait until May for a confidence vote against the new premier. Parliament will be in session from May 18 to June 23, from March 9 initially, with this year’s second and third sitting also delayed to July 27 and September 28, respectively, ...

Bloomberg Democrats have waited three years for a winner to call their own and take on President Donald Trump. On Super Tuesday, Joe Biden laid his claim to becoming their champion. He won across the Deep South, showing his appeal with black voters at the heart of the party, and claimed victory in Minnesota, a predominantly white Rust Belt state ...

Bloomberg The epidemiologist leading the fight against the spread of the deadly coronavirus in Africa’s most-populous nation is doing so from the most unlikely of places: his home. Since returning from a mission to China last week to learn about the new virus, the head of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control, Doctor Chikwe Ihekweazu, has been working in self-isolation. ...

Bloomberg The trade war may be on hold, but the US and China’s slide towards a new Cold War is only accelerating. The Trump administration’s decision to effectively expel much of China’s state-run media staff is the clearest sign yet of a fundamental shift in how Washington manages its relationship with Beijing. Starting from March 13, four Chinese media companies ...

Bloomberg The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by half a percentage point in the first such emergency move since the 2008 financial crisis, amid mounting concern that the coronavirus outbreak threatens to stall the record US economic expansion. The rate cut, which came between the central bank’s regularly scheduled meetings, was announced hours after Group of Seven finance chiefs held ...

Bloomberg European Union (EU) officials are weighing a new crackdown on bank bailouts after national governments exploited loopholes in rules passed in the wake of the financial crisis. One focus of the discussions is the so-called “precautionary recapitalisation” rule that Italy used to inject 5.4 billion euros ($6 billion) into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA in 2017, according ...

Bloomberg Brazil’s central bank opened the door to more interest rate cuts as it signalled that the outbreak of the new coronavirus creates a bigger risk of an economic slowdown than of a spike in inflation. Policy makers said that they’re closely monitoring the effects of the epidemic on financial markets and on the wider economy. Its impact on Brazil’s ...

Bloomberg India’s central bank governor said he’s ready to act to shield the economy from the coronavirus and reiterated there’s room to cut interest rates if needed. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg News in Mumbai hours before the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates by half a percentage point in an emergency move, Shaktikanta Das said “there is a strong ...

Bloomberg The Bank of Korea (BOK) said on Wednesday it will seek to monitor and stabilise markets, stopping short of following the Federal Reserve in easing policy to respond to the coronavirus epidemic. The BOK said it would consider changes in the policy environment, including the Fed’s 0.5% rate cut and a joint statement from Group of Seven finance chiefs ...

Bloomberg Cracks are starting to appear in rupee’s defences with new coronavirus cases being reported in India. The rupee slid as much as 0.4% to 73.6 per dollar on Wednesday to become the worst performing Asian currency. India has so far reported 28 positive cases, which includes 15 Italian tourists. The currency had stayed relatively stable earlier in the absence ...