BANGKOK/SINGAPORE/HANOI -- Net profits of listed Southeast Asian companies grew last year as big players in key industries like aviation and chemicals benefited from retooling their groups while the blow from U.S. tariffs proved lighter than feared.

TOKYO -- More than half a million Japanese are expected to go overseas during the Golden Week holiday starting at the end of this month as they change vacation plans to avoid rises in fuel surcharges on international flights in the summer.

TOKYO -- High oil prices due to the conflict in the Middle East have taken a toll on Japanese corporate profits, with roughly 40% of major chemical and materials companies being hit with earnings forecast downgrades for the year ended in March.

TOKYO -- Japan Post Insurance has established its first overseas subsidiary in New York, the life insurer said Thursday, looking to more closely monitor U.S. investment operations carried out in partnership with private equity firm KKR.

TOKYO -- Japanese artificial intelligence startup Zeals is introducing Chinese humanoid robots that can perform tasks like guiding patients in hospitals, adopting a born-in-China, raised-in-Japan strategy as robot development lags at home.

GUANGZHOU -- Local governments in China are adopting longer spring break holidays for school students, hoping extra time-off will encourage more family outings and help boost consumption.

TOKYO -- Starbucks Coffee will mark 30 years in Japan in August, and during that time it has grown from an upstart from the U.S. to the nation's largest cafe chain with over 2,000 stores.

TOKYO -- Japanese trading house Marubeni has taken full ownership of U.S. aircraft parts inventory firm DASI in a deal worth tens of billions of yen (10 billion yen equals $63 million).