the election is seen as what you could call a referendum on the bjp handling of the party. the opposition is led by rahul gandhi, running on reforms. and benjamin netanyahu remains on course for a fifth term of being the israeli prime minister. the blue and white party conceded. gantz won the same amount of seats, but yahoo! -- but benjamin netanyahu won special groups. global news 24 hours a day, on air and @tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2,700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm su keenan. this is bloomberg. china consumer inflation surging in march on rising food prices, with prices rebounding. this asre anticipating foreshadowing all sorts of bad things for the chinese economy. david: a good thing we are hanging by the fingernails. let's bring in our china correspondent, tom mackenzie, and out of washington, our guest. tom, let's start with you. recap the numbers. absolutely. no major surprises, as you said, 2.3% of a pickup in march for consumer prices, in line with the forecast, above the february number. food prices a major component. th

during its time in office, the bjp delivered some big bang economic policy is like the overhaul of the surprise band of large currency notes that shook up small and medium—size businesses. and even though they've had their fair share of problems, many voters praised the government for implementing what they say are daring policies. the opposition congress party also says it has a lot of good ideas, including the creation of 2.2 million jobs, including the creation of 2.2 millionjobs, universal including the creation of 2.2 million jobs, universal basic income, and universal health care just to name a few. with such a huge population, in such a diverse country, it's bound to be a close race. monica miller in delhi. no generation z, people born after the mid—i9 90s, like their products to be sustainable. and they have been known as the stay—at—home generation. that's according to recent report called a generation without borders, which compares them without borders, which compares them with millennialist, generation x, and baby boomers. nine countries we re and baby boomers. nine countri

talk about prime minister and arranger modi, his hand drew —— hindu nationalist ruling bjp party andegional who are more popular. if people are going to vote for those regional parties, that could make a huge difference to the results and thatis huge difference to the results and that is why it is so difficult to call an that is why it is so difficult to callan indian that is why it is so difficult to call an indian election. it certainly is. thanks very much. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: an emergency campaign to prevent the spread of cholera in mozambique following cyclone idai has reached more than 800,000 people in a week. the world health organisation described the the vaccination programme as one of the fastest ever carried out. the venezuelan president, nicolas maduro, has agreed to allow humanitarian aid into the country. in a televised address, he said he'd reached an agreement with the international committee of the red cross. mr maduro has previously refused to accept international assistance, saying it would be a first step towards us inter

point, if you look at the bjp record and the congress record before that, the agendas they followed havelar. the success of one party over the other has been on the basis of how much political support i have rather than about eight difference in agenda. >> looking back on history when the bjp kicked in in 2014, it was the first party in 30 years to win a majority on its own. scaling back to the political side of his, you think they will be able to do that again? >> this is the question that everybody has. what they have been doing in this election is emphasizing their greatest strength on issues of national security relative to the opposition. that does mean that they have moved away from the economic reform agenda which was their strong point in the previous election. that would suggest they don't think it is as winning a platform as earlier. they want to emphasize the national security credentials rather than their economic credentials. with a second rate cut of the year, we have seen a complete dismantling of the regime or the reversal of hikes we saw under governor patel area do you

ln bjp party swept to power 2014 and adslide victory.election is seen as a referendum on his time in office. his supporters say he has been a strong man who has protected india's interests at home and abroad. others say the better days he promised never arrived. every shack in this will cut a slum tells the -- kolkata slum tells the story of struggle. rashida lives in this one room with six members of her family. she works as ake p because she cannot find another job. t in the lve years, unemploymentse in india has to the highest in nearly half a century. shewant decent jobs," tells me. "during the election politicians promised to help the poor, but afterwards nobody bothed to check on us." even so, thiadcountry has nced under prime minister modi. it is the world's fastest-growing major economy, said to overtake the u.k. but india is characterized by deep divides.elections are the one time the country's powerless can send a message to those in power. are they happy with the way things are going, or will they hangefor rajini vaidyanathan,

his hindu nationalist bjp party swept to power in 2014 in a landslide victory. a referendum on his time in office. his supporters say he's been a strong man who's protected india's interests at home and abroad. others say the better days he promised never arrived. in the last five years, unemployment‘s risen to its highest for nearly half a century. even so, this country's advanced under prime minister modi. it's the world's fastest growing major economy, set to overtake the uk. but india is characterised by deep divides. elections are the one time the country's powerless can send a message to those in power, are they happy with the way things are going or will they vote for change? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, kolkata. there is big and there is big. astronomers have taken the first ever picture of a supermassive black hole at the heart of a distant galaxy called m87. the black hole is 500 million trillion kilometres away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world. our science correspondent, pallab ghosh, has this report. this is th

his hindu nationalist bjp party swept to power in 2014 in a landslide victory.m on his time in office. his supporters say he's been a strong man who's protected india's interests home and abroad. others say the better days he promised never arrived. in the last five years, unemployment‘s risen to its highest for nearly half a century. even so, this country's advanced under prime minister modi. it's the world's fastest growing major economy, set to overtake the uk. but india is characterised by deep divides. elections are the one time the country's powerless can send a message to those in power, are they happy with the way things are going or will they vote for change? rajini vaidyanathan, bbc news, kolkata. let's take a look at some of the day's other top stories. virgin trains is set to disappear from the west coast main line after march next year, following the government's decision to disqualify its bid to run it. stagecoach, which along with the virgin group runs the service, has been banned from competing for three franchises, in a row over pensions. the vi

five years ago, narendra modi's bjp swept to a landslide victory and it's hoping to win another termian society. but the opposition congress party, led by rahul gandhi, is hoping to upset the polls with an appeal to the country's poorest. my colleague, matthew amroliwala, is in the capital, delhi. thank you. we are here and welcome to delhi at the 17th century red fort a stunning backdrop as we look at these elections. it is just a few miles from india's parliament. just three days until voting starts in this giant election. can narendra modi return to power. we are here with special coverage as we take a snapshot ahead of the biggest test of democracy on this planet. colossal, colourful and often unpredictable. around 900 million people are heading to the polls, that's triple the population of the united states, or the whole of europe put together. it's an election so big it has to be organised in seven phases over five weeks across 29 states. every number to do with this is vast — a million polling stations, 10 million election staff, half a million police and security, 1,700 regis

the leader of the hindu nationalist bjp policy held the vote as a victory for the world's largest democracy. days off to deadly bombings in the by sri lanka. while terrorists use explosive devices weapons ieds. the weapon of democracy is voter id. leave the power votes right these much greater [inaudible] these. in these elections are spread over seven days with tuesday's rounds marking the largest by far. one hundred and ninety million people were eligible to vote in one h hundred and seventeen constituencies. spread across fifteen states and union territories. voting took place amid high security classes erupted in several states. including hey in west bengal where one political worker was killed. voting also began in indian controlled kashmir. image persistence security threats. our school is an ugly as we want solutions to our problems. we want an end to unemployment. and more importantltly we want a peaceful life. i self ruled and jim we cast our vote so that a representative will speak for us in the i indin parliament.. we are witnessing bloodshed and repression here and i it has to s

prime minister narendra modi and his hindu nationalist bjp are hoping to win a second term in office.ustralian rugby star, israel folau, is facing the sack over a social media post in which he said "hell awaits" gay people. rugby australia and the new south wales rugby union say, in the absence of mitigating factors, they intend to terminate his contract. a fundamentalist christian, he's also suggested that "homosexuals, drunks, thieves and atheists" should "repent." the british prime minister has been defending the six—month delay to brexit she accepted in brussels late on wednesday night. the uk was due to leave the european union on friday, without having reached any agreement, but now has until october 31st to find a deal that will get through parliament in london. theresa may has told mps brexit remains her priority, but many within her own party have accused her of "surrender" and called on her to resign. here's our political editor laura kuenssberg. the fury isn't so fast any more. our eu exit has slowed right down. the prime minister didn't get her way. so she was back explain

whether he will be able to repeat his success of 2015 when he managed to get a majority of his party, the bjpchances are he will stay as prime minister, but, as you say, in some form of coalition. steve, would the sun ever put modi or the steve, would the sun ever put modi orthe indian steve, would the sun ever put modi or the indian election on its front page, do you think? in this country we are page, do you think? in this country we a re interested page, do you think? in this country we are interested in the us elections, we give them huge levels of coverage. but other countries? the ft has only given it a picture caption. what strikes me about this is you talk about the number of voters. at the moment we are speaking to mps and activists on the ground, they are knocking on doors and getting them slammed in their faces because people are fed up with politicians. it is incredible that so many people are voting in india. it's fantastic. it will be a very pa rt it's fantastic. it will be a very part of this election, but when we went to india with the pm last year, it is all about the relatio

out of the nearly 2300 parties, the two biggest are the indian national congress and the ruling bjp lednister narendra modi. the election commission will set up one million electronic polling stations across the around 10d mobilize million officials to manage the voting process. this massive operation will require seven stages, and the results will be announced on may 23. vonnie: you can read more about india's election and all of our quick takes on the bloomberg. it is time now for our stock of the hour. perhaps it is no coincidence this is one of the best performers now in the ftse 100. emma chandra is here with more. brexit clearly having a positive impact. emma: yes. take a look at the bloomberg here. it is the third best performer today for the stoxx 600. that delay you mentioned brexit really easing concerns on what had been consumer demand for vacations in europe, certainly from the british side of things, certainly from the british side of things. now with that delay, people are thinking brits are more likely take vacations in europe. 8%, but off the lows of earlier this year fo

places in asia, london and new york and they all are in agreement that there is a surprise loss for the bjp than a majority, there will be some disappointment with the valuations looking pretty rich. it will take a few weeks on thursday and go into may. we don't get a result until the final week. there is still room for further upside we need to see this big three secure and see if in the inequities could push on. says in china, one manager he's government through 3500 stocks and the only one he likes. aside from his preference and alcohol, why is this. which has rallied, why is it so popular? adam: it is a remarkable story. the stock has had run not just this year but over the lifetime since the ipo and really out there kind of performance. to, fund managers continue bring up the price of this stock and traded at 26 times. it is china's biggest distiller and have spat a 90% growth arjun over the last decade which is kind of unheard-of. so what these folks in china universal asset management, the therell of that is still the free cash flow that it generates will continue to be a rate place

modi's hindu nationalist bharatiya janata party, or bjp, won a landndslide victctory in . his main opponent is rahul gandhi's congress party. gandhi's father, grandmother and great grandfather haveve all served as s prime minister. modi's government has been criticized for a crackdown on civil society, targeting political opponents, journalists, human rights activists, lawyers, and writers. human rights groups have also raised the alarm on attacks agaiainst vuvulnerable p popula, especially dalits and muslims. just two days before britain's second scheduled departure from the european uninion, eu leaders agreed wednesday to grant britain an additional extension to avoid a no-deal brexit, giving prime minister theresa may and british lawmakers until october 31 to come up with a deal that all parties could agree to. this means britain will most likely have to take part in european parliament elections in -- next month, which may has sought to avoid. m may was warned by european leadershihip -- europen union n leadership not to waste time. it's unclear which direction lawmake

i mean nothing they or the bjp ago the ditching can so only didn't go city of the dead too.here you go and there it is they believe it's exactly what of course also there's the bleacher report article and it says exact. the warriors. and let's just pray that the warriors can put the clippers away. >>in game 6 and ago doesn't go they got us when this is 6 tomorrow night. >>because we want to relive. >>those 3 one >>10 love. it's just like lebron and the worst because the first round. >>i want to see it now i want to say no so it's just a thing and that's about ever want her story go for ok so i think it. it was just i was thinking of this i was about the ice cream. let's say things go badly even now you want to drown your sorrows and some ice cream. ok, i'm always game for know it and you think i can't you can rethink ice cream. i discovered this thing it is called rethink. it's an ice cream, ok so they're billed as as. >>low sugar low calorie low carbohydrate whey protein prebiotic fire out and you know what that is. >>flavors are weird and different like ginger tumor. so ag

seen a lot of regional parties getting together forming a grouping against the prime minister and the bjpling political party in india. it's a test of those ruling -- of those regional groupings as well if you ask me, one of the big issues in this election, it unemployment is a major issue. in a recent report, there was a trend that the unemployment rate in india currently is at 7.4%. it's the highest in 15 months. another government report which has not been published as yet suggested that the unemployment rate in india is at a 45-year high the bdp is trying to come back with the announcement that they would be transferring 6,000 rupees, three into the account of every pharma in the country that would translate to about 77 euros for every pharma in the country. this is in addition to all the existing government schemes. they're also saying they would spend about 325 billion euroed in the next five years on the pharma sector, on rural india, on vejz in india from the congress party -- they are like to see an income scheme for the pop skplarks they will transfer 925 euros into the account

the largest groups belonged to the two major political parties in india, the congress party and the bjpof the things we have to watch out for in 2020 is now that the russian play book is out there, it's quite possible that you might have domestic groups picking up and trying to do the same kind of social media minneapol manipulation online. >> the tactics the russians used against the u.s. in 2016, you will see domestic parties, gop against the democrats and democrats against the gop, that sort of thing. >> or pacs, groups aligned to billionaires backing their favorite challenges. one of the challenges here is the actual activity, while against facebook's policies is probably not illegal in a number of countries, including the united states so our laws do not cover this kind of manipulation. and violating facebook's policy is not against -- is not a crime. and so you could see a number of these groups copy the russian playbook because if you're the no a foreign operation, you're probably not going to be investigated or indicted for doing this kind of work. >> wow, that's something to th

the two biggest are the indian national congress and the ruling bjp.mission will set up one million electronic polling stations across the country and mobilize around 10 million officials to manage the process. stages.l require seven results will be announced on the 23rd of may. >> the numbers are staggering. influence will elections across the emb on the performance of local assets? she is still with an address -- with nejra. be one of those rolling stories. the currency has done well over the last six months. are you a buyer of equities? we have a lot of elections coming up and india is one of the most the love to stories. down, veryons worried about whether he can keep his majority in terms of the elections through the next few weeks. if you look at india as a market, it is fairly expensive. a lot of markets moved on the hopes of what reform would do for the economy. you need to focus on the fundamentals of companies. that creates short-term volatility. >> that takes me to my next question. analysts are ratcheting up their profit forecast. lenders a

prime minister narendra modi leads the hindu nationalist bjp. he won a landslide five years ago.at—grandfather were all indian prime ministers. let's get more on todays polling from divya arya in delhi. we heard 60% polling including bengali, which sees a high turnout. that aside, malfunctioning voting machines was an issue that came up in the first phase of voting, and today it's the same, it's not widespread, but it is a cause for concern and opposition parties have flagged it yet again, another sad insta nce flagged it yet again, another sad instance was one pole officer was attacked, her vehicle was attacked in eastern state, it is an area which is affected by the insurgency, and she died in that attack. the voting went on even after that incident. earlier in paris, more than 300 firefighters were invited to the presidential palace for a ceremony with president macron. this time three days ago they were battling the fire at notre dame. in a tweet, mr macron called their actions exemplary — and said they'd receive gold medals for courage and dedication. here are some pictures

prime minister narendra modi and his bj p prime minister narendra modi and his bjp party are hoping forumiliating defeat in 2014 and is trying to regain influence. at an indian election is about so much more than just the two national parties. here in hyderabad, for example, regional players are extremely popular, and if people vote for them, it could make a big difference to results. national security has become a big issue for the selection because of recent tensions between india and pakistan, and it is certainly something that prime minister modi has been campaigning on, saying he is the man who can keep the country safe and the economy growing at a rapid pace. but his time in power has been marked by deepening social divides, by rural distress, and by rising unemployment. so a lot of factors on the minds of people today as they go out and cast their vote. this election will continue over the next six weeks, and results will be announced on the 23rd of may. jack shepherd, the british man who spent ten months on the run after a speedboat crash in which a woman died, is now back in cu

five years ago, narendra modi‘s bjp swept to a landslide victory, and it‘s hoping to win another termtal delhi. we are here at the magnificent 17th century red fort, a simply stunning backdrop as we look at these critical elections. it is just a few miles from india‘s parliament building, just three days to go until voting starts in this giant of an election. so can narendra modi repeat that 2014 landslide or can the opposition congress upset the polls? we are here with a special coverage from across this country as we take a snapshot ahead of the biggest test of democracy on this planet. colossal, colourful, and often, unpredictable. around 900 million people are heading to the polls, that‘s triple the population of the united states or the whole of europe put together. it‘s an election so big it has to be organised in seven phases over five weeks, across 29 states. every number to do with this is vast. 1 million polling stations, 10 million election staff, half a million police and security, 1700 registered political parties, 8000 candidates, 15,000,0001st—time voters. and the logis

he has adopted a nationalist pitch in the campaign, with elections seen as a referendum on the bjp's of the economy. opposition is led by the congress party, whose main issue is much-needed reform and rising unemployment. news, 24 hours a day on twitter,t tictoc on powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm ed ludlow, this is bloomberg. ramy: the u.s. and china seem to be ever closer to the trade deal with treasury secretary stephen mnuchin saying they "pretty much agreed on enforcement procedures." he says they will open offices in each country to make sure the other lives up to the terms of any final deal. that includes binding pledges that would be about retaliation if anything is broken. let's get more with derek wall bank. are we really near a deal? >> i think we are edging closer. of those things where we have said for a long time that enforcement was going to be a key test for this deal. the pledge to open enforcement offices in both the u.s. and china is a firm step toward that. the u.s. would give china up until 25 -- 2025 to live up t

is standinge bjp there again. their track record is significantly different.ther that will be rewarded by voters is the big question today. of reward,in terms the risk reward you are looking for, are you preferring bonds? the fx market has been quieter. andrew: we are invested in the long-term, private equity, infrastructure, that kind of thing. underlying investment philosophy is a secular trend. talking about this disconnection between gdp and secular growth. that is what we try to target to ensure that you don't have the reliance on general gdp growth. you are looking for something more. india. growingergy in india 12% to 15%. very healthy growth in the economy but accelerated in certain areas. nejra: very interesting. james bevan came up with that idea of solar energy. jeffrey, i know that you have been fairly bullish but are we at any sort of inflection point? basis, itn a relative would be one of our current overweights in the context of a portfolio. but most clients are actually surprised not that we were holding em but that we were holding so little. i

narendra modi and his bjp party are hoping to win a second term in power, one of the main rivals is the but it is actually a regional party thatis but it is actually a regional party that is extremely popular, and that is why indian elections are so hard to call, because regional players can eventually be kingmakers, and we will find that out on the 23rd of may, when the results are counted. there will be six more days of counting spread across april and may after race. we get a real sense of the noise and atmosphere talking to you this morning, but i know earlier you this morning, but i know earlier you made reference to the large number of women turning out, use saw the queues yourself this morning. that is right, in fact this time around there are slightly more women voters eligible to vote than men. i mean, women in india have had the right to vote ever since 1947, since when the country became independent. there are lots of issues on peoples minds, some parties have been talking about a women's resolution bill in parliament, despite so many women voters, and despite india being one

mr modi begins to the hindu nationalist bjp party.ister of gujarat when religious riots broke out in the state, accused of not doing enough to protect muslims. but his supporters credited him for putting india on the global map. and for the country growing at a rapid pace. while the numbers are disputed, they're a big part of his campaign pitch. modi takes on rahul gandhi — he's the latest in the gandhi—nehru dynasty to lead the congress party. devina gupta has more on him. politics is in the blood of a8—year—old rahul gandhi who joined the party in 200a. three generations of his family have served the country as prime minister, including his great—grandfather, jawaharlal nehru, who was india's first prime minister. and his grandmother, indira gandhi, who was india's only female prime minister. initially a reluctant politician, rahul is now trying to establish himself as a worthy opponent. this unexpected gesture was a defining moment for his image, when he hugged the prime minister inside the parliament. it became a national talking