TOKYO -- Nikkei Inc. and Tokyo Stock Exchange announced on Friday that they will revise their criteria for selecting the component issues of JPX-Nikkei Index 400, a stock index they jointly develop and operate.

Nikkei and TSE will attach greater importance to return on equity -- the ratio of net income to shareholders' equity -- starting with a periodic review of the constituent stocks in the summer of 2022.

When narrowing down targets for selection under certain conditions, Nikkei and TSE will significantly downgrade

SINGAPORE -- Singapore's largest banks are raising their stakes in the Chinese market, even as fears linger of a wider economic fallout from the woes of China Evergrande, the world's most indebted property developer.

DBS Group Holdings, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. and United Overseas Bank -- some of the biggest lenders in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- this week reported figures that showed surging profit and increased lending to clients in China.

On Friday, DBS announced a net profit

TOKYO -- The Japanese government announced on Friday that it will reopen borders for business people and students, starting on Monday.

The country will lift the entry ban for business people, students and technical trainees.

For business people who are fully vaccinated, the mandatory self-isolation period will be cut to a minimum three days.

Tourists are outside the scope of the latest move.

As many as 370,000 people are waiting to enter the country. They have already been issued entry visas, but

SEOUL -- South Korea's former prosecutor general Yoon Seok-youl was named Friday as the main conservative People Power Party's candidate for next March's presidential election.

Yoon, 60, picked up 47.85% of support from mobile votes by party members and opinion polls this week, beating five-time lawmaker Hong Joon-pyo, who took 41.50%.

He will face off in next year's election against Lee Jae-myung of President Moon Jae

SRINAGAR, India -- It was late at night, around 11 o'clock, on Oct. 26 when the mother and younger sisters of Arshad Yousuf learned that the 21-year-old -- the family's hope for a better future -- had been suspended from college, arrested by police and charged with sedition for celebrating Pakistan's T20 World Cup cricket victory over India on social media.

Arshad was suspended from Raja Balwant Singh Engineering Technical Campus, in Agra, a

TOKYO -- Honda Motor on Friday downwardly revised its full-year net profit forecast through March 2022 to 555 billion yen ($4.8 billion), plagued by chip shortages and subsequent production cuts.

Previously it had expected a net profit of 670 billion yen.

It reported a net profit of 389 billion yen ($3.4 billion) for the half-year through September, up 143% from the previous year, when results were pulled down

TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government will distribute 100,000 yen ($880) in cash, vouchers or a combination of both to those 18 years or younger and make it a pillar of an economic stimulus package planned to be created by the end of the month, Nikkei has learned.

The package, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, is one of the pledges made by Komeito -- Liberal Democratic Party's coalition partner --  during last month

BANGKOK -- Thailand's oldest lender, Siam Commercial Bank, is ramping up its drive into fintech with the acquisition of a 51% controlling stake in local cryptocurrency exchange operator Bitkub Online for 17.85 billion baht ($535 million).

The deal estimates Bitkub's total valuation at 35 billion baht ($1.05 billion), making it the latest unicorn in a country once seen as barren in terms of startups. "Unicorn" describes a private company with

SHANGHAI -- China's biggest annual online shopping event on Nov. 11, known as Singles' Day, is just around the corner, but there is something different about this year . E-commerce giant Alibaba Group, which managed to rack up record sales of 498.2 billion yuan ($77.8 billion) last year despite the pandemic, is focusing on the environment.

As usual, Alibaba has been drumming up consumer appetite with a massive promotional campaign, but a kickoff event