Japan said to lobby for weakened U.N. report ahead of COP26
LONDON -- Japan, Australia and Saudi Arabia sought to revise a key climate change report over wariness of swiftly moving away from fossil fuels, documents leaked to British media show.
The still-uncompleted report -- part of which was published in August by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change -- is said to have called for cutting fossil fuel use to keep global warming to between 1.5 C and 2 C compared with preindustrial levels.
Documents leaked to the BBC included tens of thousands of requests submitted
What the 'Fat Leonard' bribery scandal can teach Asia's armed forces
James Crabtree is executive director of IISS-Asia in Singapore. He is author of "The Billionaire Raj."
Leonard Glenn Francis is a giant man who left a bigger scandal in his wake. Known as "Fat Leonard," the Malaysian entrepreneur made a fortune as a U.S. Navy contractor until his 2013 arrest on bribery charges, in what is often described as the worst corruption scam in U.S. military history.
Francis charmed and cajoled sailors around Asia for more than two decades
New TSMC plant tests Japan's ability to design 'good' state subsidies
TOKYO -- Industrial subsidies are back in favor in Tokyo as Japan prepares a multibillion-dollar support package for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.'s first plant in the country.
Japan is poised to fund up to half the cost of the new plant, which is expected to break ground next year.
For some observers of Japanese industrial policy, this generous welcome may seem out of character for Japan, which has joined the U.S. and the European Union in recent years in criticizing Chinese state aid for industry.
Australia's foreign ownership rules face first test in $7bn battle for AusNet
SYDNEY -- A tussle for ownership of a vast electricity network in Australia is shaping up as a test of the country's attitude toward foreign investment in critical infrastructure, months after Canberra tightened approval rules for overseas owners.
AusNet Services, which owns and operates the electricity transmission network and gas and power distribution assets in the country's second-most-populous state of Victoria, is at the center of a bidding battle between Canadian investment company Brookfield and Australia's biggest gas pipeline operator, APA Group.
Brookfield
Over 370,000 foreigners waiting to enter Japan due to COVID curbs
TOKYO -- There are more than 370,000 foreign nationals who cannot enter Japan despite having precertification for residence status as of Oct. 1 due to border controls aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19, Nikkei has learned.
About 70% of those who cannot come to Japan are technical intern trainees and international students. While many countries are taking steps to ease immigration restrictions and reopen their economies, Japan, in principle, remains shut to foreign entrants from all countries.
Foreign nationals
U.S. chipmaker Micron 'in talks' for Japan, Europe expansion
TAIPEI -- Top U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology is in talks with governments over expanding its manufacturing footprint in Japan, Europe and elsewhere as part of a $150 billion, 10-year investment plan, a senior executive told Nikkei Asia in an interview.
Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of Micron's global operations, stressed however that his company's global expansion push is aimed at keeping pace with growing demand and will not contribute to an oversupply in the memory chip market.
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CPTPP members must be wary of China's attempt to join trade pact
Kristen Hopewell is the Canada research chair in global policy at the University of British Columbia and the author of "Clash of Powers: US-China Rivalry in Global Trade Governance."
China announced last month that it had officially applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world's mega-regional trade agreements.
Its 11 existing members -- Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and
South Korea launches first locally developed space rocket
GOHEUNG, South Korea -- South Korea successfully launched its first home-developed space rocket on Thursday, becoming the 10th country in the world to send a satellite into orbit using its own technology.
The three-stage Nuri rocket carrying a 1.5-ton dummy satellite was launched at 5 p.m. from the Naro Space Center on South Korea's southernmost island of Oenarodo. All three engines successfully separated from the rocket, hoisting the satellite into orbit at an altitude of about 700
Grab touts food and grocery deliveries as ride-hailing slows
SINGAPORE -- Singapore-based digital tech unicorn Grab is working to put its home delivery service for food and grocery products in the black by the end of this year as it prepares to offer its shares on the Nasdaq stock market.
The Singapore-based company has a sales promotion app for restaurants that lets clients monitor the effectiveness of their advertising and increase their earnings.
"You're earning 10.5 times what you spent," reads a message in the app as a marketing representative from Plain Vanilla,
Japan's digital banks emerge as regulatory easing gains momentum
TOKYO -- A series of regulatory and banking industry measures in Japan is prompting a rise in financial technology startups, lifting hopes that the world's third-largest economy can finally catch up with a global funding boom.
According to a revised law set to take effect in November, companies will be allowed to sell a variety of financial products -- banking, securities and insurance -- under a single financial services brokerage license. That is seen as making it easier for consumers to access such products via a smartphone app