KUALA LUMPUR -- The U.S. has lifted a ban on imports of medical gloves made by Top Glove, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Malaysian company.

The agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a notice published Friday on the website of the Federal Register that it found the gloves "are no longer being mined, produced, or manufactured wholly or in part with the use of convict, forced, or indentured labor by Top Glove in Malaysia

TOKYO -- Convenience store operator FamilyMart looks to open about 1,000 unstaffed shops by the end of fiscal 2024 offering the same products as the chain's regular outlets, in the first large-scale deployment of fully automated stores in Japan.

Japan loosened regulations last year that required stores to have employees on staff. The country's labor shortage is set to intensify as the population continues to decline, and more businesses are moving to streamline operations using digital technology.

Japan's labor

HONG KONG -- Tens of billions of dollars in household savings from mainland China could flow into Hong Kong starting next month as the latest cross-border financial services link opens.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Friday announced details for implementing Wealth Management Connect, expanding an effort to promote cross-border investment that already includes channels for stock and bond trading.

Edmond Law, deputy chief executive of the authority, told reporters that more than 20 Hong Kong banks and financial institutions had expressed interest in joining the program. They

TOKYO -- Japanese prime minister candidate Sanae Takaichi said Friday she was willing to roughly double the nation's defense spending to match the level of many Western nations.

"If we were to bring [the spending] in line with the West, it would be 2% of the GDP, or around 10 trillion yen ($91 billion)," Takaichi told reporters inside the parliament building.

Japan's Ministry of Defense has requested spending in excess of 5.4 trillion yen for the fiscal year

NEW YORK -- Political divisions are emerging in Washington over how to use the U.S.'s financial leverage over the Taliban government in Afghanistan amid warnings that the country faces an economic and humanitarian disaster.

While some in the policy establishment argue that freezing the regime out of international aid programs risks further harming the Afghan people, conservative lawmakers say there should be no letup in the financial pressure on the Islamist group.

The debate has potentially far-reaching implications because the U.S. acts as the effective gatekeeper

TOKYO -- Japan Post and courier service Sagawa Express will partner in package deliveries, the companies announced Friday, dividing collection and delivery duties and sharing logistics networks to better compete with industry leader Yamato Transport.

Sagawa, a unit of SG Holdings, and Japan Post currently rank second and third in Japan in package delivery. They already partner on certain services, but will now create joint transport and delivery networks for small parcels, international packages and refrigerated deliveries.

"The growth in e-commerce is accelerating an increase in package

BEIJING/HANOI -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Vietnam on Friday, hoping to reassert Beijing's influence following high-profile trips to the country by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and the defense chief in recent months.

Vietnam marks the first leg of Wang's four-country Asian tour through Wednesday, which also includes Singapore, Cambodia and South Korea.

After Wang's meeting with Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh, Hanoi announced that China is supplying 3 million more doses of COVID

BEIJING/WASHINGTON/NEW YORK -- The Biden administration looks set to put the diplomatic focus back on the Indo-Pacific and especially China, after a grueling month that was absorbed almost entirely by Afghanistan.

Key in this effort will be next week's first in-person summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue taking place in Washington, with outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison attending along with President Joe Biden.

Countering Chinese behavior is expected to be a theme

Satoshi Ikeuchi is professor of religion and global security at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo.

America's 20-year war in Afghanistan has ended.

U.S. President Joe Biden eloquently defended the withdrawal by chiding U.S. proteges in the collapsed Afghan government for their failure to fight for themselves.

But America's haphazard withdrawal from Afghanistan also put an end to 20 years of the war on terror, which mobilized U.S. allies and other like