Chinese telecom operators cut back 5G network construction
HONG KONG -- Spending on 5G networks and other infrastructure by Chinese telecommunications companies dropped 25% in the first half of the year, a period they had previously identified as a peak time for building out their new high-speed systems.
The drop reflects a combination of microchip shortages that have affected equipment availability and efforts by the carriers to cut costs by sharing infrastructure.
In announcing its half-year results on Thursday, China Unicom indicated that its capital investments fell 45% from a year before to 1
Starbucks Japan targets food waste with 20% end-of-day discount
TOKYO -- Starbucks Coffee Japan will fight food waste by offering discounts on products nearing expiration, with the markdowns beginning Monday at stores nationwide.
Certain baked goods, sandwiches and other items will be sold at a 20% discount around three hours before store closings. The specific items and the timing for the markdowns will depend on the day's inventory. Markdowns will not apply to delivery services or orders placed on the coffee chain's app.
Expired products account for about 15% of food waste at Starbucks
Taliban faces growing dissent as protests spread in Afghan cities
NEW DELHI (Financial Times) -- The Taliban was facing growing signs of dissent in several cities as Afghans carried the national flag in a second day of protests that led to reports of at least two deaths.
Protesters marched in Kabul and other cities on Thursday to celebrate Afghanistan's Independence Day, which commemorates the 1919 war that ended British control of the country.
Some carried Afghanistan's black, red and green flag in an apparent show of defiance to the Taliban, which flies a white flag
Fake COVID-origin news floods China as officials turn blind eye
BEIJING -- Misinformation about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic is circulating heavily in Chinese cyberspace, where a normally aggressive censorship regime has been staying its hand in an apparent effort to blunt the domestic impact of a forthcoming American report.
One conspiracy theory that has gained traction has the disease originating in Italy.
"Extra: Italy is the source of the novel coronavirus, prime minister reveals today," reads the headline of an online item that went viral in June.
The piece claims that Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi admitted that
Toyota to cut global output 40% in September on ASEAN outbreaks
NAGOYA, Japan -- Toyota Motor said Thursday it will reduce global production for September by 40% from its previous plan, as the spread of the coronavirus in Southeast Asia adds to supply troubles for Japan's top automaker.
The maker of the Prius hybrid and the RAV4 SUV planned to build nearly 900,000 automobiles for the month, but that number has been reduced to about 500,000. Nikkei reported on the production cuts earlier.
Unlike other automakers,
Japan burger chain lets staff work remotely with robots
TOKYO -- Fans of Japan's Mos Burger now can order a meal and have it brought to their table without interacting face-to-face with an employee. But there is more to this month's robotic initiative than meets the eye.
The operator of the robot is not inside the burger shop at the parent company's Tokyo headquarters, or even nearby. In July, the company tested remote service run by a person living hundreds of kilometers away in northern Japan's Akita Prefecture. The operator
Chaotic Afghan exit compels Japan to rethink reliance on US security
TOKYO -- The U.S., the U.K., Germany and other nations dispatched military planes to Kabul's international airport on Monday in a mad rush to evacuate their nationals following the Taliban's swift takeover of Afghanistan, but Japan never sent its own aircraft -- the only Group of Seven nation not to do so.
The unfolding events following the U.S. military exit from Afghanistan have forced Japan to grapple with shortcomings in its own security strategy, as lawmakers here draw parallels between
US struggles to find footing after repeated Afghan miscalculations
WASHINGTON/LONDON -- In an interview Wednesday, President Joe Biden touched on the possibility that U.S. forces could stay in Afghanistan beyond the stated goal of Aug. 31 to evacuate all American citizens.
The departure from the original plan is one example how the administration is being forced to shift policies on the run, in large part due to vastly underestimating the speed of the Taliban advance.
"There was nothing that I or anyone else saw that indicated a collapse of this army and this government in 1
Malaysia's 'leaderless' protests spark political awakening
Benjamin Loh is a senior lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at Taylor's University Malaysia and an associate with the Asia Center in Bangkok.
Fresh turmoil in Malaysia triggered by the resignation of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Aug. 16 has deepened public criticism of politicians' antics and fueled calls for reform of traditional backroom politics. More important, it has put the spotlight on the rise of leaderless protest movements that have the potential to change the dynamics of Malaysia's failed political system.
Muhyiddin's 1
'An iPhone with four wheels': Inside Foxconn's bid to build EVs
TAIPEI/TOKYO -- Foxconn, the world's largest contract consumer electronics manufacturer and the biggest supplier to Apple, has long dreamed of building cars.
"If we can make iPhones, why can't we make EVs? It is an iPhone with four wheels," founder and former chairman Terry Gou told internal meetings more than once, according to people at the meetings.
Gou backed an internal project in 2014, code-named "A-Fu Initiative," to build a prototype of
