TOKYO -- Japan's Shinsei Bank on Friday decided to introduce a defensive measure against a $1 billion unsolicited tender offer by SBI Holdings, escalating tensions between the rival financial groups in what is shaping up to be a hostile takeover.

In response, financial conglomerate SBI said it will consider seeking a court injunction to block the lender from using the defense measure. The group is seeking to acquire up to a 48% stake in Shinsei through a tender offer.

Shinsei Bank looks to allot share subscription rights to shareholders

NAGOYA, Japan -- Toyota Motor said Friday it would again temporarily suspend operations for multiple days next month across 14 plants in Japan due to a shortage of components caused by the resurgent pandemic in Southeast Asia.

The automaker said Sept. 10 it would cut production further that month and reduce output in October as well. It intends to slash global output by 40%, or 330,000 vehicles, from its initial plans in October. Of this, domestic production is to be reduced

TOKYO -- China announced Thursday that it had officially applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, 300 days after President Xi Jinping first expressed an intent to do so.

But with no concrete outlook for being accepted, why did Beijing make its move now?

Jia Qingguo, a professor and former dean at Peking University's School of International Studies, told Nikkei in November 2020 that a Chinese application would pose a challenge for Japan because "refusing the request would mean

BANGKOK -- Myanmar's pro-democracy camp opposing the military regime that took over the country has established a representative office in South Korea.

This is the National Unity Government's first representative office in Asia, having already set up in the U.S., the U.K., France, Czech Republic and Australia.

The pro-democracy camp launched its first-ever representative office in the U.S. in February, according to NUG members. This was followed by the opening of the

TOKYO/BEIJING/WASHINGTON -- Japan and Australia on Friday joined a chorus of U.S. allies that have aired caution and trepidation over China's bid to join an 11-nation trans-Pacific trade group, skeptical that the world's second-largest economy is willing to conform to the pact's high standards for free trade.

There is also concern that even if China did join, it would bend the rules of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)

TOKYO -- Japanese beverage maker Kirin Holdings will start supplying Southeast Asian nations with a probiotic that has been shown to treat symptoms of dengue fever, the company said Friday.

Kirin will start selling a product called LC-Plasma, a proprietary functional ingredient found in the company's health drinks. Kirin will sell the probiotic to food and drink makers in the region.

The goal is to expand sales mainly in Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore -- four countries where dengue fever -- which is transmitted by mosquitoes

NEW YORK -- U.S. President Joe Biden convened the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate Change at the leader level for the first time in over a decade on Friday, urging greater ambitions ahead of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Glasgow and unveiling a pledge with the EU to curb methane emission.

"We have to bring to Glasgow our highest possible ambitions," Biden said. "[For] those that have not yet done so, time is running out."

The meeting followed

TOKYO -- Japanese chemicals manufacturer Asahi Kasei will start making separators for lithium-ion batteries in China with a local partner, betting that fast-growing renewable energy in that market will fuel demand for storage units.

Asahi Kasei will team with Shanghai Energy New Materials Technology to build a factory in the southeast province of Jiangxi next year, President Hideki Kobori told a business briefing Friday. The Chinese partner -- the global leader in separators -- will take a 51% stake while Asahi Kasei will own the rest.

Yuriy Humber is president of Yuri Group and founder of the Japan NRG platform, which publishes weekly reports about the state of energy and electricity in Japan.

When the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its somber report on the state of our environment last month, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg lamented the continued procrastination of world leaders with the quip that "the only thing that's changing is the climate."

As we approach the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference of the Parties