KABUL (Reuters) -- A blast killed several civilians at a mosque in Kabul where people were holding prayers for the mother of the Taliban's spokesperson, officials in the movement said on Sunday, and gunfire was later reported on the outskirts of the city.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Sunday's attack, apparently the most serious in the Afghan capital since the withdrawal of U.S. forces in August.

Several other civilians were hurt in the explosion on a main road near the entrance of

TAIPEI -- Key iPhone supplier Pegatron is teaming up with Microsoft to push into 5G private networks, joining a growing number of companies looking to challenge traditional telecom infrastructure players like Huawei Technologies.

Pegatron, the second-biggest iPhone assembler after Foxconn, has been quietly betting on nascent 5G telecom technologies since late 2019, Nikkei Asia has learned, as it looks beyond Apple amid a slowing smartphone market.

"The company has been looking for new growth drivers as the smartphone industry has peaked," said

HANOI -- Vietnam's first urban rail projects have fallen years behind schedule as payments to contractors are held up by risk-averse political decision-making.

Construction began in 2012 on the first section of Ho Chi Minh City's planned rapid transit network, with service originally slated to start in 2018. But the opening of the Japanese-funded Line 1 eventually was pushed to the end of 2021, and further delays to late 2023 or 20

TOKYO -- Japanese industrial conglomerate Hitachi has won a bid to build an electric power cable that will allow Egypt and Saudi Arabia to share surplus electricity generated by renewable sources.

Subsidiary Hitachi ABB Power Grids was awarded the contract through a consortium formed with Egyptian and Saudi construction companies. Financial terms weren't disclosed, but the deal is believed to be worth around 100 billion yen ($900 million).

The Egyptian-Saudi power interconnection is due to be competed in October 2025 at

JAKARTA -- Indonesia has announced a new electricity procurement plan that includes up to 500 trillion rupiah ($35 billion) for development of renewable energy-based power plants in the coming decade as Southeast Asia's largest economy aims to cut its dependence on coal.

State utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara, which holds a monopoly over the country's power sector, on Tuesday called its latest procurement plan -- the RUPTL 2021-30 -- its "greenest" to date. Renewables

BANGKOK -- Thai state-owned oil major PTT plans an overseas expansion for an entirely different kind of fuel, as the group looks to more than triple the number of offshore shops in its Cafe Amazon coffee chain to 1,000 by 2025.

The chain currently has 298 locations outside of Thailand. PTT aims to ink franchise agreements with major restaurant operators to add more coffee shops abroad.

The PTT group will provide support in areas such as marketing and localizing menus. A team of

WASHINGTON -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday held his first diplomatic talks since taking office with U.S. President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, affirming continued cooperation with two Quad leaders in the Indo-Pacific region.

Kishida's first call was with Biden. The leaders agreed to bolster the Japan-U.S. alliance and to continue working together for a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Biden also said Article 5 of their bilateral security treaty

TOKYO -- New Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's cabinet starts with a 59% approval rating in a Nikkei-TV Tokyo poll, an improvement from the previous cabinet's slump but lower than the initial public support for his two most recent predecessors.

This was the third-worst inaugural rating among nine prime ministers with comparable data going back to 2002. Kishida took office on Monday.

The poll results come ahead of a general election on Oct. 31 that will mark the ruling Liberal

HANOI -- Every morning after waking up, Hanoi resident Lan checks the Zalo messaging app for what other residents in her roughly 300-unit condominium are selling that day.

Listings vary from fresh produce and meat to boxed lunches and homemade cakes. On one occasion, 10 eggs were going for $2 and a cabbage weighing 1 kilogram for 90 cents.

"You can place an order in the morning and it will be at your door by lunchtime," she said. "It's very