Koizumi endorses Kono as Japan's next ruling party chief
TOKYO -- Japanese Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Tuesday that he will back vaccine point man Taro Kono to become the next leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
"It's clear who can be the leader to breathe new life into the party and to change both the LDP and Japan," Koizumi told reporters. The winner of the party's presidential race would be poised to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
Kono, who also serves as administrative reform minister, is considered the front-runner for the
China and ASEAN push for timely RCEP start as Jan. 1 looms
TOKYO/SINGAPORE/BEIJING -- Countries that have signed on to the East Asia-spanning RCEP trade deal are going full speed ahead with plans to implement it on Jan. 1, 2022, despite foot-dragging by a majority, with China and ASEAN especially keen, for their own reasons, on seeing the pact come into force soon.
China, Japan, South Korea, and all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations were among the 15 countries that signed the Regional Comprehensive
Foxconn and Thailand's PTT aim to rule EV market in Southeast Asia
BANGKOK -- Thai oil and gas group PTT signed a joint venture deal with leading contract electronics producer Foxconn on Tuesday to make electric vehicles, propelling Bangkok's strategy to turn Southeast Asia's second-largest economy into the region's top manufacturer and exporter of EVs.
The state-owned PTT and the Taiwanese manufacturer look to produce EVs and related parts as early as 2023.
The investment will help Thailand become the center of electric vehicle production in Southeast Asia, PTT President and CEO Auttapol Rerkpiboon
Aid for Taliban-led Afghanistan poses dilemma for West
GENEVA/BEIJING/NEW DELHI -- United Nations members have pledged more than $1.2 billion in aid to Afghanistan to tackle the humanitarian crisis there, but many countries remain hesitant about supporting the country at the risk of legitimizing Taliban rule.
The halting of aid from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have pushed the economy of one of the world's poorest nations into a deep paralysis, made worse by a lack of economic policymaking in the month since the Taliban seized Kabul.
A dire shortage of
Bridgestone targets 90% of tires for EVs by 2030
TOKYO -- Bridgestone will switch its focus to the electric vehicle segment, planning to have EV tires account for 90% of all its new automotive tires by 2030 as the company exits intense competition with low-cost Chinese and South Korean brands.
Assembly lines in Europe will be the first to be converted to accommodate EV tires, as the Japanese company ends production of low-priced tires for gas-powered vehicles in the region this year. Similar changes are expected in the U.S. and
China should take steps to reassure its private entrepreneurs
Minxin Pei is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a nonresident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
These are unnerving times for China's go-getting private entrepreneurs.
The country's most flamboyant business representative, Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, has disappeared from public view after Beijing scuttled the IPO of his multibillion fintech company Ant Financial last December. The second punch landed four months later when the government imposed a record fine of $2.75 billion on Alibaba for its
Australia's big miners race to deploy emissions-free trucks
SYDNEY -- As pressure builds on the carbon-intensive mining industry to slash emissions, leading Australian players are rushing to decarbonize their truck fleet using a range of options from hydrogen to battery-powered vehicles.
Fortescue Metals Group in June designed and built a hydrogen-powered haul truck -- "the first of its kind in the world," said Julie Shuttleworth, CEO of green technology unit Fortescue Future Industries. Site tests are scheduled to begin by June 2023.
"All you could see was slight
Turkey's push into Africa has China looking over its shoulder
ISTANBUL -- On Aug. 14, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted Guinean President Alpha Conde at the hilltop Vahdettin Mansion in Istanbul.
One of the former residences of the last Ottoman sultan is currently used as Erdogan's main office for the Asia side of Turkey's largest city.
Overlooking the blue waters of the Bosphorus Strait that divides the Asian and European continents, the two leaders talked of the possibilities that await the two countries.
Twenty-two days after the meeting, Conde was arrested in a military
Apple unveils Watch 7 without nailing down shipping date
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 at the tech giant.
The Apple Watch 7 series 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
Myanmar, a violent tale of two governments
BANGKOK/YANGON -- A video of a little-known political leader declaring war on Myanmar's military regime went viral on social media on Sept. 7, garnering more than 1 million views on Facebook, Twitter and other platforms within days. Clad in a traditional red-and-purple headdress and white jacket, Duwa Lashi La, an ethnic Kachin lawyer and acting president of the underground National Unity Government, declared a "people's defensive war" on the military rulers that seized power on Feb. 1
