Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

TOKYO -- China's media outlets have halted verbal attacks on the U.S., at least for now.

The thaw of sorts comes in the wake of a phone call last week between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden. It was the first

William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

The irony was the 800-pounder in the room as South Korea slapped Google with a $177 million fine for monopolistic behavior.

Tech giants have, after all, amassed oligarchic wealth and power by following the Korean model: a small cluster of ginormous, diversified, politically savvy conglomerates at the center of an economic universe orbited by all else.

HONG KONG -- Casino operators in Macao suffered a collective wipeout of billions of dollars in the stock market Wednesday after draft rules to tighten oversight on the industry were announced a day earlier.

The biggest loser was Wynn Macau, which tumbled as much as 34% during trading in Hong Kong but ended the day down 29%. Sands China slumped 33% at one point as well, recovering just slightly before the closing bell. MGM China Holdings and SJM Holdings closed 26.8% and 24

TOKYO -- Tokyo Electron stock gained for a 15th straight session in Tokyo on Wednesday, as overseas investors bet on sustained growth in the semiconductor industry.

Japan's largest producer of chipmaking equipment closed the session up 1.5% at 56,470 yen. The stock has gained 26% over the course of the 15 sessions, putting the company's market capitalization at over 8.8 trillion yen ($80.1 billion).

"There was concern that

NEW YORK -- The Quad now has a cousin: AUKUS.

The leaders of the U.S., the U.K. and Australia announced Wednesday that they would establish a new security partnership to sustain peace and stability across the entire Indo-Pacific region.

With China very much in their sights, the three countries will deepen cooperation on a range of defense capabilities for the 21st century, including artificial intelligence, cyber, quantum technologies and undersea capabilities, a senior U.S. official said.

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Apple declined to set a specific shipping date for its latest smartwatch at a glossy launch event Tuesday that hinted at production difficulties.

The Apple Watch Series 7 will be available "later this fall," the company said, in contrast to the specific launch dates for a raft of other new products ranging from a 5G-connected iPad Mini to the hotly anticipated iPhone 13, powered by Apple's A15 Bionic chip.

The complex design of the latest Apple

TOKYO -- Global automakers are increasingly shifting away from traditional practices where they only keep a limited stock of key components, with the COVID-19 pandemic and international tensions stoking shortages of technology such as chips.

Companies including Toyota Motor are looking to boost chip inventories, while others are securing their own supplies of rare metals.

The U.S. has cut its exports of semiconductors to China's Huawei Technologies, making chips more susceptible to international politics. As car makers have expanded their parts procurement networks around the

Henny Sender is a managing director at BlackRock in Hong Kong and a former Financial Times correspondent.

There was always a lot of wishful thinking in and around Afghanistan; indeed, even to regard that mountainous land between clashing empires as a country is itself a fantasy.

Even more of a flight of fancy have been analyst score cards in recent weeks tallying winners and losers as the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan and named its all-male caretaker cabinet that includes one of FBI's most wanted men, Sirajuddin Haqqani, as interior

TORKHAM, Pakistan -- As it tries to consolidate its interim government in Kabul, the Taliban is facing security threats from ISIS-K, Islamic State's regional affiliate, which has been leveraging the withdrawal deal with Washington to position itself as Afghanistan's last remaining jihadi movement.

ISIS-K represents Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and has been applying a multi-faceted strategy to discredit the Taliban. By carrying out violent attacks, the militant group wants to distinguish its brand from the Taliban's,