MANILA/JAKARTA -- The Philippines and Indonesia have hurriedly imposed travel bans and other restrictions in response to concerns over the spread of the new COVID-19 variant, omicron.

JAKARTA -- Oil and gas giant BP has announced a plan for Indonesia's first carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project, with an estimated cost of between $2 billion and $3 billion.

TOKYO -- In a sign that the global supply of chips for the auto industry is improving after months of shortages, inventories have risen for the first time in nine months at leading suppliers, Nikkei has learned.

TAIPEI -- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen met Monday with visiting lawmakers from three Baltic nations, as all sides agreed to cooperate more closely in their shared fight against authoritarianism.

NEW YORK -- Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has resigned, the social media giant said Monday, becoming the second founder of a major American tech company to step down as chief executive in recent months.

Peter A. Petri is Carl J. Shapiro professor of international finance in the Brandeis International Business School and a nonresident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution. Michael G. Plummer is the director of SAIS Europe and Eni professor of international economics at Johns Hopkins University and a nonresident senior fellow of the East-West Center.

TOKYO -- The Japanese government is facing an uphill climb to secure Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's maiden visit to Washington, as U.S. President Joe Biden is increasingly consumed with domestic challenges.

NEW YORK -- Omicron is "a cause for concern, not a cause for panic," U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday in an address on the new coronavirus variant from South Africa that led countries around the world to step up restrictions.

ISLAMABAD -- In Gwadar, a developing port town in southwest Pakistan, Adam Qadir Baksh had been hoping for a major leap forward in his automobile spare parts business since 2015, but it has not happened in the absence of the vital Chinese tailwind once promised.

SHANGHAI -- Alibaba Group Holding has lost more than half its market value in the year since finance arm Ant Group's listing was postponed under pressure from Chinese regulators, sapping the momentum of China's top e-commerce company.