Nobuko Kobayashi is a partner with EY Strategy and Consulting Co., Ltd., Strategy and Transactions -- EY-Parthenon.

Two decades ago, I watched in horror as the World Trade Center towers collapsed on a small TV screen in my Harvard Business School dorm room where I was a first-year graduate student.

In the wake of 9/11, as we huddled in an emergency class, one woman raised her hand to ask: "Is this the price a world leader must pay?"

As

COLOMBO -- When a special five-member European Union delegation arrives in Colombo on Monday, its review of a vital trade concession could lead to substantial export losses for Sri Lanka, which has already suffered a steep drop in foreign reserves.

The European delegation will confer with stakeholders to learn more about something else many believe to again be in decline in the South Asian island nation: human rights.

"They will meet with all stakeholders to obtain information, and verify the commitment made by the government in relation to matters pertaining

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -- No representative from Myanmar is scheduled to address the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday, amid rival claims for the country's U.N. seat in New York after a military coup ousted the elected government.

Competing claims have also been made on Afghanistan's U.N. seat after the Taliban seized power last month. The ambassador for the ousted government is set to give his speech on Monday.

TOKYO -- With tensions rising between China and Taiwan, fraught cross-strait relations have emerged as a crucial topic in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election that will determine Japan's next leader.

Competing applications by Beijing and Taipei to join the CPTPP trade agreement add urgency to the issue of how Japan should approach the two neighbors, with the successor to Yoshihide Suga to face difficult decisions on trade and defense policy.

Two candidates in the race, administrative reform minister Taro Kono and former LDP policy chief Fumio

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held a bilateral meeting Friday in which they discussed COVID-19 and cybersecurity.

Biden told Suga that he would like him to offer advice even after the Japanese prime minister steps down.

The leaders were joined by U.S. first lady Jill Biden, who attended the Tokyo Olympics. The first lady thanked Suga for the hospitality extended to her during her visit.

A senior U.S. administration official had said Thursday that Suga

HONG KONG -- The chairman and chief executive of bankrupt Chinese conglomerate HNA Group, one of the country's most prominent buyers of international assets, were taken away by police, according to a statement issued by the company on Friday.

A short announcement on HNA's official WeChat account said the company had been told by police in Hainan Province, where it is based, that "legal coercive action has been taken due to alleged crime" by its co-founder Chairman Chen Feng and CEO Tan Xiangdong, who

BEIJING/TOKYO -- China's central bank on Friday announced a ban on all cryptocurrency payments and services, escalating its ongoing clampdown on bitcoin and other digital coins as it moves to roll out its own virtual currency.

Chinese regulators' latest action "strictly prohibits" exchanging cryptocurrency for legal tender, providing information or pricing services, and trading in cryptocurrency derivatives. The measure also applies to overseas exchanges that provide services online within the country's borders. Violators will face criminal penalties.

This marks Beijing's latest

SEOUL -- Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, on Friday called the idea of formally ending its war with South Korea "interesting," signaling that her country may be open to discussing the matter.

"The declaration of the termination of the war is an interesting and an admirable idea," Kim Yo Jong said in a statement published by North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency. Kim serves as vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party Central Committee.

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Intel broke ground Friday on two chip plants in the U.S. state of Arizona as it steps up competition with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world's largest contract chipmaker, while Washington pushes for a stronger American semiconductor industry.

The new factories, to be named Fab 52 and Fab 62, will add to the U.S. chipmaker's existing facilities in its Chandler, Arizona, campus, which will house a total of six fabs