SINGAPORE/BANGKOK -- Gojek motorbike drivers clad in AirAsia's corporate color of red have been delivering takeout meals to app users in Bangkok since mid-August.

The Malaysian budget carrier acquired Indonesian ride-hailing and payment company Gojek's Thai operations in July, part of its effort to expand super app operations.

The purchase was followed by the launch of a ride-hailing service in Malaysia last month. The company first seeks to capture demand among passengers traveling on its flights, letting them use frequent-flyer

NEW DELHI -- India next month is expected to begin inoculating 12- to 18-year-olds with a domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine that is also the world's first DNA-based anti-coronavirus jab.

The vaccine has received approval for emergency use among this age group and older people.

Ahmedabad-based producer Zydus Cadila's ZyCoV-D vaccine, developed in partnership with the Indian government's Department of Biotechnology, is administered in three needle-free doses. It showed

BANGKOK -- Three rival logistics companies in Thailand have joined forces to launch a delivery business for frozen and refrigerated foods, the demand for which is rising due to COVID-19.

State-owned mail carrier Thailand Post has set up a joint venture with e-commerce logistics startup Flash Express and listed JWD InfoLogistics in a major alliance between three fierce competitors.

Thailand Post President Danan Suphatthaphan said the joint venture will focus on cold chain logistics under the name Fuze Post. It began operations on Sept. 1 in Bangkok

Jacques Attali is a writer and the president of Positive Planet. He served as a counselor to French President Francois Mitterrand and was the first head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

What is happening in Afghanistan should remind us of an obvious fact that is too often forgotten: any event, whether positive or negative, whose dynamic materialization is certain or very likely, generally occurs much sooner than expected, surprising those who live in the comfort of the present.

Thus, it was obvious that the very announcement of the

JAKARTA -- It's a tale of two countries when it comes to Indonesia's COVID-19 situation.

The capital, Jakarta, is set to remove restrictions over the coming weeks as cases continue to decline and half of its residents are fully vaccinated. But concerns remain across the rest of the sprawling archipelago, especially in remote regions where infections are surging and vaccines are scarce.

Indonesia's new daily cases averaged 11,600 over the past week, a drop from over 16

TOKYO -- Japan's Digital Agency, a new government body aimed at upgrading online services and infrastructure in the public sector, begins work on Wednesday. When Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced the move about a year ago, he called it a "pillar of the new growth strategy."

Hopes are high. The COVID-19 pandemic has jolted paperwork-bound local governments and companies to accelerate their shift to digital services. The launch comes at a time when Suga's popularity is sinking, with the public

HONG KONG -- Major Chinese and Hong Kong shipping groups logged record revenue and profit growth in the first half of the year, buoyed by a confluence of factors driving up international freight rates.

State-owned COSCO Shipping Holdings, the world's third-largest maritime carrier by capacity, said first-half revenue grew 88% on year to 139.26 billion yuan ($21.5 billion) while net profits soared by a factor of 32 to reach 37.0

GUANGZHOU -- Chinese gamers under the age of 18 will be allowed to play online for just an hour a day and only on weekends, authorities announced Monday, as the government increases its involvement not only in schools but on how youth spend time at home.

Underage video game players will be restricted to 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as on public holidays, according to the National Press and Publication Administration. The agency, which issued the rules

TOKYO -- Bukalapak, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Indonesia, saw its revenue for the first six months of 2021 jump nearly 35% on the year, as pandemic-induced social restrictions continue to be a tailwind for online retailers.

The company booked revenue of 863 billion rupiah ($60.5 million) for the six months ended June, up 34.6% from the previous year, financial results released on Tuesday showed. This was Bukalapak'