SINGAPORE -- As pedestrians once again dwindled in Singapore's central business district on Sept. 27, the manager of a health food restaurant let out a sigh of frustration. "No one is coming back," he said.

In normal times, workers from nearby offices would be chatting over a light lunch of seafood and vegetables on rice. But renewed COVID-19 restrictions imposed that day made working from home the default, and limited dining in eateries to pairs -- less than two months after such

BEIJING -- Zhejiang Geely Holding Group has started manufacturing satellites to create a high-precision navigation network that will guide self-driving cars.

Mass production has begun in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, marking an entry by China's largest privately owned automaker into a field long dominated by the military.

The satellites were independently developed by Geely group company Geespace, with manufacturing also handled by a group member.

Greely's manufacturing knowhow will be applied to build different types of satellites. Annual production is targeted at 500

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. administration led by President Joe Biden is set to resume negotiations with Beijing as part of its long-awaited strategy for handling trade with China.

U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is expected to speak to Chinese vice premier Liu He by telephone over the next few days, calling on China to respect the "phase one" trade agreement it signed with Washington under former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. also plans to resurrect partial exemptions on punitive tariffs to help curb

Alicia Garcia Herrero and Simone Tagliapietra are both senior research fellows at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank.

With less than four weeks before the start of the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, in Glasgow, China is increasingly the center of global climate policy attention.

The country missed the July 31 deadline set by the United Nations to submit new emissions reduction pledges, known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), ahead of the conference, sparking doubts

TOKYO -- Economists have downgraded growth forecasts for parts of Asia, including Thailand and Indonesia, as pandemic-related problems continue to plague manufacturing and consumption through the third quarter.

The Japan Center for Economic Research and Nikkei conducted a quarterly survey from Sept. 3 to Sept. 23, collecting responses from 39 economists in India and the five biggest members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -- Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Average growth for the five ASEAN countries in 202

JAKARTA -- Ajaib, an investment app in Indonesia akin to Robinhood of the U.S., said on Monday it has become the country's latest unicorn after raising $153 million in its Series B funding.

Ajaib's status as a unicorn -- a private company valued at more than $1 billion -- comes just three years after its foundation and reflects growth in Indonesia's retail investing sector. Ajaib claims it is "the fastest startup to reach unicorn status in Southeast Asia.

HONG KONG -- Shares in troubled developer China Evergrande Group and its property management unit were suspended from trading in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a possible sale of a majority stake in the latter, a move that could shore up the parent company's fast depleting liquidity.

Evergrande's listed electric vehicle unit, also running out of cash, continued to trade, rising 13% on Monday afternoon.

Evergrande shares have lost 80% of their value this year and the company has missed payments to banks,

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics is likely to report a double-digit increase in operating profit during the third quarter thanks to strong demand for semiconductors and foldable smartphones as well as a weak local currency.

Analysts say the South Korean tech giant's operating profit may even exceed the market expectation of an increase of 27.6% year-on-year to 15.8 trillion won ($13.4 billion) in the July-to-September period on the back of rising prices for memory

HONG KONG -- Shares in troubled developer China Evergrande Group and its property management unit were suspended from trading in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a possible sale of a majority stake in the latter, a move that could shore up the parent company's fast depleting liquidity.

Evergrande's listed electric vehicle unit, also running out of cash, continued to trade, rising 13% on Monday afternoon.

Evergrande shares have lost 80% of their value this year and the company has missed payments to banks,