ROME -- U.S. and European leaders took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of Indo-Pacific and engage with regional partners at the start of the Group of 20 leaders summit here Saturday, as relations fray between China and Western powers.

The two-day summit is the first in-person meeting in two years of the leaders of the world's top rich and developing nations, though several leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and the new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, are attending remotely.

BANGKOK -- At German wholesaler Metro's warehouse outside of Yangon, the commercial capital of Myanmar, unmarked white trucks were parked in a line, stripped of their blue-and-yellow logos.

Cardboard boxes sat in piles inside the wholesaler's downtown showroom, which had already closed for business. "Friday will be our last delivery," a security guard at the warehouse said Thursday.

Nearly nine months since the Myanmar military took control of the government, a slowing economy and mounting human rights concerns are pushing

TOKYO/OSAKA -- When Bridgestone Cycle announced last month that it would raise prices for the first time in three years -- by up to 11% for conventional models and up to 5% for electric ones -- Japanese industry insiders were taken by surprise.

"The news made huge waves in the industry," said Haruka Konishi, an executive at independent company Tokyobike.

Many Japanese businesses have long resisted price hikes, worried about scaring away customers amid decades of deflation. But as lifestyle changes caused by the

Natalie Kyriacou OAM is the CEO of My Green World and the Environmental Social Governance (ESG) BD Lead at PwC Australia. She is a social entrepreneur and board adviser exploring the intersection of environmental, social, economic and governance issues.

For the next 13 days, the world will watch as history is made in Glasgow, Scotland when the most pivotal climate summit of the century will set the terms for the economy of the future.

The stakes have never been higher. For millions of people, this singular event will

TOKYO -- Voters have begun heading to the polls for Japan's general election, which will determine whether Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will remain in office amid sluggish economic growth and lingering COVID concerns.

This is the country's first national election in more than two years, and voter turnout is expected to increase from under 55% for the two previous general elections. Greater voter participation tends to produce favorable results for the opposition.

The election's results will serve as a public verdict on the government's

TOKYO -- China's request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade pact has divided observers between those who see it as a valuable opportunity to encourage economic reform, and those, including this reporter, who believe that members should proceed with caution.

The first camp argues that the conditions for joining the CPTPP are quite detailed and stringent, providing little wiggle room for exceptions for China. Given this, the thinking goes, engaging with the Chinese bid could prod Beijing to set fairer,

BANGKOK -- From his perch in self-imposed exile, former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is reaching out to the country's young voters through social media, setting the stage to test his political brand as talk swirls in the halls of power of an early general election for Thailand in 2022.

Last Friday, he targeted voters in the northeast of the country through another round of informal chatter using a virtual room on Clubhouse, the audio-based social media application. The 72-year-

TOKYO -- Japanese toymaker Bandai Namco has begun recycling materials used in its Gunpla plastic models, an effort to raise fans' awareness of Gunpla -- plastic models based on the Mobile Suit Gundam sci-fi robot anime franchise -- by encouraging them to experience plastic models from production, to purchase, to recycling.

Plastic models are made almost entirely from the petrochemical material, but Bandai Namco aims to reduce its use of plastic through its Gundam-related business.

The recycling program is dubbed "Gundam R operation."