TOKYO -- Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings (TEPCO) has drawn interest from Blackstone, Apollo Global Management and SoftBank for a planned capital tie-up, Nikkei learned Thursday.

TOKYO -- Asian prices for key petrochemical products remain elevated despite the ceasefire in the Iran war, highlighting trader worries over whether the agreement between Washington and Tehran will hold and how soon global oil trade can return to normalcy.

BANGKOK -- Thailand aims to boost its economy through technology investments and trade cooperation, including accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in his policy speech on Thursday.

CANBERRA -- Lithium prices have surged in recent months, sparking a share rally in miners and optimism from some quarters that the key battery metal market is entering a sustainable upturn after two years of glut-fueled downturn .

TOKYO -- The ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran offered a short reprieve to Asian stock markets but many of them remain far from levels before the war as investors remain cautious ahead of upcoming negotiations and concerns linger over energy supply disruptions.

TOKYO -- U.S. artificial intelligence startup Cognition AI is expanding into Asia with a new office in Japan and plans for another in Singapore as it aims to tap rising demand for software automation in markets facing persistent engineering shortages.

PALO ALTO, California -- OpenClaw, the autonomous AI agent that has been taking the tech world by storm, will soon be available to wear, Chinese smartglasses startup Rokid told Nikkei Asia.

TOKYO -- The coming earnings season will be crucial for Asian software services companies looking to recover after emerging as this year's worst-performing sector.

BANGKOK/SURABAYA, Indonesia/HO CHI MINH CITY -- For Tresnayati, an Indonesian traditional cake maker from Sidoarjo, East Java, the effects of the war in Iran are very real. The plastic wrapping sheets she uses for her products have more than doubled in price from 9,000 rupiah ($0.53) to 19,000 rupiah for a pack of 50.

TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Itochu will partner with domestic logistics group Sankyu to acquire Singaporean plant maintenance company SWTS, Nikkei has learned.