THIMPHU -- High up in the mountain regions bordering Tibet the inhabitants of Laya, one of the highest settlements in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, are still coming to terms with the death of 10 of its community members who were killed in a mudslide in one of the worst tragedies to hit the highlands.

Members of the nomadic community were deep in the mountains, a day's walk from their village, collecting Cordyceps, the highly valued wild medicinal fungus. They had camped at the edge of a slope,

NEW YORK -- During U.S. President Joe Biden's eight years as vice president, Japan had five prime ministers. The party in power switched from the Liberal Democratic Party to the Democratic Party of Japan and then back to the LDP, depriving the U.S. and Japan of the opportunity to strengthen their alliance in any meaningful way.

So when Biden became president in January, one of the key decisions he made was to signal that Japan was the most important U.S. ally in the

BANGKOK -- Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha survived his third no-confidence vote on Saturday, along with five of his ministers, with critics mostly focused on their poor handling of the country's COVID-19 crisis.

The final tally showed 264 lower house members voting to retain the prime minister, while 208 cast a vote of no-confidence. Three lawmakers abstained.

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will also remain in his position for now. There

TOKYO -- Mikako Fujita had been working as a barista for seven years when she began noticing, sometime in 2017, that it was becoming harder for her to do simple tasks like putting her hair up in a ponytail.

Not long after, she was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, an incurable motor neuron disease that destroys the nerve cells that control muscles throughout the body.

Four years later Fujita is still serving coffee to customers in Tokyo's Nihonbashi district. The only difference is that

BANGKOK -- Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha faces his third parliamentary no-confidence vote on Saturday along with five of his ministers, mostly focused on their alleged poor handling of the country's COVID-19 crisis.

The cabinet members should easily survive the censure motion if coalition parties vote together as expected. Prayuth's coalition has 277 out of 500 seats in the lower house.

The opposition, which has 212 seats, is trying to drive a wedge into

MANILA -- Philippine Airlines on Saturday said it filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S., paving the way for a crucial restructuring to help the flag carrier survive the COVID-19 crisis.

The pre-arranged Chapter 11 petition was filed in a New York district court, the company said, following an agreement with creditors, lessors, suppliers and its majority shareholder.

The restructuring plan, subject to court approval, provides Philippine Airlines with over $2 billion in payment reductions and allows the airline to

TOKYO -- Dealing with China would be a top priority in his government, Fumio Kishida, a contender to succeed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, told Nikkei, expressing "deep alarm" at Beijing's aggressive behavior on the diplomatic and economic fronts.

To protect "basic values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights, we will work with those that share the same values, such as the U.S., Europe, India and Australia, to stand against authoritarian systems,"

TOKYO -- SoftBank will start providing an AI-based sign language translation service as soon as 2024 using a smartphone app that can turn 5,000 signs into Japanese text in one second or less, Nikkei has learned.

There are more than 300,000 people with hearing or speech impairments in Japan. SoftBank hopes the sign language translation service can promote smooth communication between hearing people who do not understand sign language and those with hearing impairments.

The system employs artificial intelligence to

TOKYO -- The Tokyo Stock Exchange has begun weighing a proposal to lengthen cash stock trading hours by 30 minutes to 3:30 p.m., according to people familiar with the matter, in hopes of boosting its appeal to international investors.

The TSE's current trading day of 5 hours is shorter than that of the New York and Singapore exchanges.

If adopted, the longer trading day would be expected to take effect in 2024, when the market's trading system is scheduled