Indonesia’s free lunch program is a massive operation, feeding tens of millions of people every day across a vast archipelago.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host Rebecca Choong Wilkins talks with Bloomberg’s Rosalind Mathieson about the challenges facing President Prabowo’s flagship program and whether it can survive the strain.

Read more: Handing Out $15 Billion of Free Meals Strains Indonesia's Budget

Hosted by Rebecca Choong Wilkins; Produced by Naomi Ng; Reported by Rosalind Mathieson, Eko Listiyorini; Edited by Paddy Hirsch.

Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

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Beyond this month's talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, there’s an epic tale that has been unfolding for decades. It’s a battle to be the world’s number one power and a much bigger story than the latest meeting of these two men.

Kishore Mahbubani is a former Singaporean diplomat who served as president of the United Nations Security Council. For two decades, he has argued that the West fundamentally misunderstands the rise of China and its challenge to American supremacy.

Mahbubani, who eventually turned to academia, now specializes in governance and public policy. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he traces the story behind the Xi-Trump talks, the handshakes and the social media posts–and what may lie ahead.

Mahbubani also reveals how his own successes were made possible by Singapore’s remarkable growth.

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SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has made a $60 billion bet on OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman – a commitment that has some insiders worried.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Min-Jeong Lee about how Son became captivated by Altman and what’s at stake for his reputation – and the company – as the AI race intensifies.

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Read more: SoftBank Founder’s Starstruck Bet on OpenAI Raises Concern

Watch, from Originals: The Troubled Saga of Masa Son's $100 Billion Fund

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Tensions between the US and China have deepened since the last time a US president traveled to Beijing for a summit, in 2017. President Trump’s return to China, in a swirl of dinners and festivities, generated positive optics for host and guest alike, but brought less apparent progress on some of the biggest bilateral sticking points, from tariffs and trade to US arms sales to Taiwan.

On today’s Big Take podcast, Big Take Asia host K. Oanh Ha talks to Co-head for Asia John Liu and White House Correspondent Jeff Mason, who were both on the ground in Beijing, about the summit’s deals, sticking points and unfinished business.

Read more:

• Bloomberg’s Trump-Xi Summit Page
• Winners and Losers From Trump and Xi’s Beijing Summit Talks

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Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Yang Yang and Rachael Lewis-Krisky; Reported by Jeff Mason and John Liu; Edited by Jeffrey Grocott.

Fact-checking by Laura Newcombe; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

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Despite India facing economic headwinds, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party defied expectations with a stunning state election sweep — capped by a historic win in opposition stronghold West Bengal.

On today’s Big Take Asia Podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks to Bloomberg’s Menaka Doshi about how the BJP secured a shock victory and what an emboldened Modi might mean for India and the world.

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Read more: Resurgent Modi Paves Way to Keep Power in India Well Beyond 2030

Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Naomi Ng, Yang Yang; Reported by Menaka Doshi; Edited by Paddy Hirsch.

Fact-checking by Rachael Lewis-Krisky, Yang Yang; Engineering by Taka Yasuzawa.

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver; Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

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As a high-stakes Trump–Xi summit looms, tensions over the Iran war and defiance of US sanctions threaten to derail what could be one of the year’s most consequential meetings. On Trumponomics, Bloomberg's Stephanie Flanders is joined by Jennifer Welch, chief geoeconomics analyst for Bloomberg Economics and Bloomberg News executive editor Dan Ten Kate to unpack whether the talks will happen—and what’s really at stake for the global economy if they do.

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China’s decision to block Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus stunned the global AI industry.

On today’s Big Take Asia podcast, host K. Oanh Ha speaks with Bloomberg’s Newley Purnell and Lulu Chen about how the deal crumbled and what it signals for Chinese startups trying to go global.

Read more: China’s Meta Backlash Renders Manus Model ‘Officially Dead’

Hosted by K. Oanh Ha; Produced by Yang Yang and Naomi Ng; Reported by Newley Purnell and Lulu Chen; Edited by Paddy Hirsch.

Fact-checking by Eleanor Harrison-Dengate; Engineering by Alex Sugiura.

Senior Producer: Naomi Shavin; Deputy Executive Producer: Julia Weaver. Executive Producer: Nicole Beemsterboer.

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For more than 30 years, the Indian-born writer Amitav Ghosh has built a global following with novels that draw on deep historical research.

But his latest offering, Ghost-Eye, is more esoteric. The plot moves back and forth between India and the US, using past lives to explore the ties between the personal and the political.

The plot centers on a psychiatrist treating a 3-year-old who shocks her family by insisting she remembers a past life in a fishing community.

In this conversation with Mishal Husain, Ghosh explains why he’s finding it harder to write nowadays, how the memories of his childhood came flooding back during the Covid pandemic, why he sees capitalism as an obstacle to protecting the environment and thinks India has lost its way diplomatically.

Read this interview with Mishal’s notes on Bloomberg Weekend: www.bloomberg.com/latest/weekend-interview

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