Taliban's exiled leaders return to form new Afghan government
TOKYO -- Fresh from their swift and dramatic conquest of Afghanistan, the Taliban are now hastening efforts to form a government as their exiled leaders return. Anxiety is deepening, however, that the militant Islamist group will return to the politics of fear they employed when they last ruled the bulk of the country 20 years ago.
Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other key figures arrived at Afghanistan as of Wednesday, gathering at the group's longtime stronghold of Kandahar. Baradar heads the Taliban's political
China Huarong announces state bailout alongside $16bn loss
SHANGHAI -- China Huarong Asset Management is set to receive a capital injection from a group of companies led by Citic Group, the state-owned bad-debt buyer said Wednesday, as it announced an estimated 102.9 billion yuan ($15.9 billion) net loss for 2020.
The embattled company cited a "decline of contract performance ability of certain customers" amid the coronavirus pandemic, which led Huarong to reassess asset risks and book large impairment losses. The liquidation of risky
Telemedicine gains no traction in Japan despite COVID surge
TOKYO -- Almost no doctors are seeing first-time patients online in Japan more than a year since the government greenlighted the option, Nikkei has learned, even as the health care system struggles to cope with the resurgence of coronavirus infections.
An average of 2,400 initial doctor appointments were conducted online per month across most of the country, according to data obtained by Nikkei from the health ministry, accounting for less than 0.1% of the total.
Among Tokyo, Osaka and nine other prefectures that
Analysis: China begins sending signals that Xi should stay
Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He is the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize for international reporting.
TOKYO -- In a video clip prepared for the internet, state-run China Central Television put the spotlight on the love story between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife and popular singer, Peng Liyuan.
The headline, "Hand in hand,
Turkey to decide on Taliban recognition after government forms: foreign minister
ANKARA -- It is "too early" for Turkey to commit to recognizing a new Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, its foreign minister says, as Ankara rushes to evacuate its own citizens while urging greater European cooperation to avert a refugee crisis.
Read the full interview here .
"I hope they will reach an understanding and there will be peaceful transition, and at the end they make a deal for the future of the country," Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in an exclusive interview with Nikkei, noting reports of talks
Transcript: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's interview with Nikkei
ANKARA -- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke with Nikkei on Wednesday on the situation in Afghanistan following a wide-ranging written interview covering such topics as Ankara's pivot to Asia and the environment.
Here is a transcript of Cavusoglu's remarks, edited for clarity.
In-person interview
Q: There have been reports that the Japanese Embassy in Kabul is moving to Istanbul.
A: Temporarily they will be serving in Istanbul, right? We will be very happy to have the Japanese mission here and we will
Ghosts of Malaysia's past imperil its economic future
William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."
Malaysia is inspiring a bull market in cynicism as it seeks a new prime minister who will take power holding very bad cards.
On any list of the world's most thankless jobs, leading Malaysia currently ranks at the very top. Whoever replaces Muhyiddin Yassin, who resigned Monday, must curb a fresh COVID-19 surge, stabilize a flagging economy and restore
Austin says US troops unable to bring people to Kabul airport
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. troops do not have the capability to help get people to the airport in Afghanistan's capital Kabul to be evacuated because they are focused on securing the airfield, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.
The speed with which Taliban forces retook Afghanistan, as U.S. and other foreign forces withdrew after a two-decade-long war, has sparked chaotic scenes at Kabul's airport with diplomats, foreign citizens and Afghans trying to flee
AI-packed 'robocar' puts Baidu in the self-driving fast lane
BEIJING -- The vehicle has no steering wheel nor a gas or brake pedal, but the AI-loaded concept dubbed "robocar" unveiled Wednesday by Baidu, the Chinese company best known for its search engine, showcases its advances in an eight-year effort to develop autonomous-driving technology.
The debut of the futuristic car coincides with Baidu's renewed push to produce electric vehicles through a joint venture with automaker Geely.
"We believe that cars of the future will be robocars," Baidu CEO and Chairman Robin
Japan defends rare-earths industry from unwanted foreign takeovers
TOKYO -- Rare-earth metals were added on Wednesday to Japan's list of industries subject to tougher restrictions on foreign investment, as Tokyo attempts to shield a potential weak point in its supply chains.
The measure covers 34 materials, including other strategically important metals such as cobalt and titanium. Foreign investors will be required to notify the government before investing in a variety of connected fields, including mining, building survey ships, component analysis, and construction of ports on remote islands.
Japan imports the bulk of its