Falling to earth

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us [Get the newsletter]( It looks like there’s only one thing that can dim India’s rising global star: the pandemic, and the government’s [haphazard]( approach to containing it. Lulled into a false sense of security that prompted ministers to boast about India’s triumph over Covid-19, the country of 1.3 billion is now drowning in a second wave. The state that’s home to the financial capital Mumbai today warned it may have run out of vaccine doses. All this comes as the world [expects]( a lot from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Biden administration is reliant on him to play a significant role in balancing China’s growing power in the region. And Russia, as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [noted]( in New Delhi yesterday, is happy for India to remain its largest defense customer, with the pending delivery of the S-400 missile-defense system causing tension with Washington. But it’s the country’s growing health emergency that threatens to trigger both national and [international]( consequences. India’s failure to quickly test for Covid-19 mutations will set back its virus response and hurt nascent growth in Asia’s third-largest economy, which slumped into a historic recession last year, [Bibhudatta Pradhan]( and [Dhwani Pandya]( report. Worse, the decision to ignore the global scientific endeavor to identify, track and contain these variants has left the world’s pandemic efforts in a parlous place. While Modi has expressed alarm over the spike, he’s also attending election rallies across several states that have drawn huge crowds, unmasked and vulnerable to infection. Even if voters don’t blame Modi this time, political reality suggests something has to change or the gloss may start to wear off. — [Ruth Pollard]( Ruling party supporters at an election rally in West Bengal yesterday. Photographer: Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto/Getty Images Check out all our biggest stories on the Bloomberg Politics web page [here]( and tell us how we’re doing or what we’re missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net. Global Headlines Building pressure | President Joe Biden today will give his second major speech on his $2.25 trillion infrastructure program in a bid to [appeal]( directly to Republican voters while lawmakers are in their home districts during the congressional recess. With Republicans largely opposing the plan, the administration is making its case by reaching out to governors, mayors and the broader public through phone calls, briefings and local TV appearances. - U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland is deliberately staying out of the public [limelight]( as he works to restore the credibility of the Department of Justice, [Chris Strohm]( reports. Spoilsport | China said it is confident the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be a success, dismissing concerns over a potential [boycott](. The U.S. fanned talk of a Games veto yesterday, only to later clarify that Washington hasn’t discussed any such move with allies and partners. The Biden administration has come under growing pressure to stay away from next year’s Olympics over China’s human-rights record. Nuuk rebuke | The people of Greenland have [voted]( to oust a government that was planning to welcome foreign companies eager to tap the island’s rare-earth metals. Despite its population of just 56,000, Greenland has grabbed global headlines in recent years, not least when then-U.S. President Donald Trump expressed interest in buying it in 2019. Though he was rebuffed, the island’s significant untapped natural resources have made it a target of international attention. Sea ice seen from NASA's Operation IceBridge research aircraft above Greenland. Photographer: Mario Tama/Getty Images North America Bubble trouble | An influx of foreign capital into Chinese stocks and bonds as a result of its economic resilience during the pandemic is creating a [headache]( for the authorities. [Sofia Horta e Costa]( and [Enda Curran]( explain that China has long been paranoid about the risks posed by capital flows, especially after a messy currency devaluation in 2015, and the scale of the inflows places it at risk of asset bubbles. - China will [contribute]( more than a fifth of the increase in global GDP in the years through 2026, according to Bloomberg calculations based on IMF forecasts. Wake up call | South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party [risks]( its biggest defeat in five years in mayoral elections today, a troubling sign for his progressive bloc less than a year before a presidential vote. [Jeong-Ho Lee]( reports that surveys show conservatives with big leads in key by-elections including in Seoul, fueled by anger over soaring real-estate prices. What to Watch - Russia announced mass military [exercises]( across the country during April, ratcheting up tensions with neighboring Ukraine and drawing an expression of “serious concern” from NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. - Group of 20 finance ministers meet today, as Bruno Le Maire of France [said]( he was “deeply concerned” by the slow rollout of the European Union’s joint recovery fund. - President Joko Widodo is backing a push to expand Bank Indonesia’s mandate to include support for the economy, a legislative move that some analysts see as risking the central bank’s independence, he told Bloomberg TV in an [interview]( today. - An Iranian-flagged vessel was [attacked]( in the Red Sea yesterday as nuclear talks were due to begin, according to the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. The New York Times reported that Israel attacked the ship. And finally ... Among the many things upended by the pandemic is the world’s burgeoning ranks of the middle class, with about 150 million people tumbling down the socioeconomic ladder last year. This [report]( brings you the personal stories buried within the statistics, from India, Brazil, South Africa and Thailand. These are tales of hard-won successes lost overnight, of luxuries such as home Internet now out of reach, and of dreams like a car or an apartment deferred.   Like Balance of Power? [Get unlimited access to Bloomberg.com](, where you'll find trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Balance of Power newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022