TOKYO -- The price of thermal coal used to generate electricity is nearing a record high as surging demand in China and India collides with a reluctance to invest in new capacity in a world heading for decarbonization.

While coal is sometimes called the least-loved commodity because of carbon emissions, Asia's two largest economies are currently still hooked on the fuel, meaning the rising costs could feed through to higher energy bills and impact economic activity if they persist.

The benchmark coal price was $177.50

TOKYO -- With Japan's Liberal Democratic Party-controlled government hemorrhaging support over its coronavirus response, opposition lawmaker Yukio Edano wants the public to know that his Constitutional Democratic Party would follow the science.

In a Thursday interview with Nikkei, Edano discussed his party's platform in this autumn's lower house election, from overhauling Japan's pandemic decision-making to curbing reliance on nuclear energy.

Edano, who leads Japan's largest opposition party, said he was prepared to work with a split Diet should

TOKYO -- Sony, which has rarely been the first choice among professional sports photographers, has a new weapon it is wielding against Canon and Nikon as it fights for a larger slice of the high-end camera market.

Its mirrorless picture-taker has a big advantage in that it does not make the sometimes irksome shutter noise single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras are known for but is capable of delivering high-quality images.

Nikon and Canon have almost evenly split the high-end camera market between themselves,

Welcome to Your Week in Asia.

Beijing steps up its international diplomatic outreach this week -- even as Taiwan ramps up preparations to counter the threat of invasion by China. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has started a trip to four Asian capitals, while President Xi Jinping meets the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tajikistan. By contrast, Taiwan -- which China claims as its territory -- will carry out national combat-readiness drills delayed from July by a COVID-19 surge.

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KARACHI -- With the U.S. departed in disarray, Afghanistan's newly ensconced Taliban regime is looking to China for major investments in the coming six months, but experts expect Beijing to tread a very cautious line.

Zabiullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, said earlier this week that the new government wants to join the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, the flagship $50 billion Pakistan component of China's Belt and Road Initiative.

A source with close links to the Taliban told Nikkei Asia

HO CHI MINH CITY -- It sounds like the setup for a Vietnamese riddle: Why did the car company buy the supermarket? But instead of a punchline, the answer reveals a common yet obscure aspect of foreign investment in Vietnam.

The blandly named economic needs test, or ENT, is a little-known trade tool that Vietnam uses to control foreign investment and protect local companies. To expand in the country, foreign chains must pass the test by applying to local governments, which decide if their cities need the new

TOKYO -- Japan dispatched Self-Defense Force aircraft to Kabul on Aug. 26 to evacuate local staff and others from Afghanistan after the country fell to the Taliban. The plan to bring evacuees to the airport aboard buses fell through due to suicide bomb attacks just before their departure.

While Japanese media and others in Japan are focused on who will be the next prime minister, it must not be forgotten that Afghanistan faces a crisis that requires immediate attention. Around 500 Afghan employees of the Japanese Embassy and the

TOKYO -- Japan’s Administrative Reform Minister Taro Kono is the favorite to succeed outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as the next president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to an opinion poll conducted by Nikkei and TV Tokyo on Sept. 9-11.

The LDP presidential election, scheduled for Sept. 29, will effectively pick the next prime minister. Suga on Sept. 3 said he will not seek reelection.

A total of 27% of respondents picked Kono when asked who would be "the

Chandran Nair is the Founder and CEO of Global Institute for Tomorrow and a member of the Executive Committee of the Club of Rome. His latest book "Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World" will be available from December.

During the Olympics, there was worldwide jubilation in celebrating humanity's sporting excellence. Briefly, it felt like global unity had improved.

But as the baton was passed to Paris, with France flexing its economic and military might during the closing ceremony, this feeling faded.