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Indonesia’s presidential race heats up amid rallies

Bloomberg Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto called for change in a rally on Sunday, talking down the government’s economic performance as competition heats up ahead of an election next week. Indonesia goes to the polls on April 17 in a contest that pits the incumbent Joko Widodo against the contender with the economy being the focal point in the race. ...

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May makes another appeal to find way to Brexit blueprint

Bloomberg Prime Minister Theresa May defended her decision to ask archrival Jeremy Corbyn to help draft a new blueprint for Brexit, and warned the UK might never leave the EU if he doesn’t back a compromise plan. “The longer this takes, the greater the risk of the UK never leaving at all,” May said in a statement. “It would mean ...

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Thailand anti-junta coalition suffers huge setback from ‘seat allocations’

Bloomberg The prospect of many small parties gaining parliamentary seats in Thailand has dented the claim by an anti-junta coalition that it has a majority following March’s general election. An Election Commission statement said more than 25 parties will receive lower house seats based on the proportional representation system in the military-backed constitution, implying many small parties will enter the ...

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Nigeria deploys troops to bandit-affected regions

Bloomberg Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered security personnel to parts of the country prone to attacks by bandits. “I have ordered rapid and robust deployment of troops to all the areas currently under attack from bandits,” Buhari said in a statement. “We are determined to tackle this challenge ferociously until these remorseless killers are crushed and utterly defeated.” The attacks ...

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US waterways policy is sheer crony capitalism

The president has received from one of his employees, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a report that probably tells Ross’ employer what he wants to hear: that imports of cars — “The Audis are coming! The Audis are coming!” — threaten “national security.” This report is required by our lackadaisical Congress so it can pretend to be involved in setting trade ...

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Tesla suddenly makes sense ‘sort of’

Here’s a phrase you haven’t heard much about Tesla Inc. lately: It all makes sense now. By “it,” I mean these events since January 1: Tesla announced it sold about 91,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2018, more than double the level of the second quarter. That included more than 63,000 Model 3s. The company said capital expenditure in ...

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A stronger China won’t lift emerging markets

Emerging markets are missing out on the trade of the decade. Green shoots are everywhere. China’s factory activity is finally stabilising, and the Federal Reserve may even cut interest rates this year. Both should be great news for stocks around the world. But nervous investors are busy selling instead, redeeming $2.6 billion of their holdings in emerging-markets ETFs over the ...

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On Nato, Trump’s words should match US actions

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was a courteous guest during a joint session of Congress, playing down current frictions within the alliance and praising President Donald Trump’s effort to get Europe to pay more for its own defense. This was more than just astute diplomacy: It was recognition that, despite the impression given by Trump’s many disparaging remarks about Nato, ...

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No silver bullet for China’s huge plastics problem

Since 2004, China has been the world’s largest generator of waste, including plastics. And, since 2010 at least, China has been the largest source of waste plastic flowing into the world’s oceans. To its credit, the Chinese government has tried to shrink the problem. In recent years, it’s forced retailers to charge for single-use plastic bags that aren’t biodegradable (with ...

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Wage growth no threat to corporate profits

The jobs report brought a little good news for investors worried that a key part of the decade-long bull market is about to run out. Profit margins, which have reached record levels, are predicted to drop in the first quarter for companies in the S&P 500. While the drop is not expected to be sharp, there has been a growing ...

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