WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- U.S. President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he had approved additional military forces to go to Kabul to help safely draw down the American embassy and remove personnel from Afghanistan.

In a lengthy statement, Biden defended his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan, arguing that Afghan forces had to fight back against Taliban forces sweeping through the country.

"Based on the recommendations of our diplomatic, military and intelligence teams, I have authorized the deployment of approximately 5,0

TAIPEI -- It should have been a coup for Taiwan. A respected China-watcher was planning to relocate to Taipei with his family after he found, like many foreigners, that working on Chinese soil was increasingly risky.

He received the prestigious gold card, a special resident permit reserved for expert professionals, and everything seemed to be falling into place. His son was accepted into the Taipei European School, where he is supposed to start school at the end of the month.

Instead, the expert, who asked to

TOKYO -- Makers of electric vehicles and EV batteries have staked claim to both supplies and alternatives to lithium, cobalt and nickel as fast-rising prices of these crucial metals threaten to soar higher in the coming years.

The International Energy Agency estimates global demand for lithium will be 42 times greater in 2040 than in 2020, assuming a target of keeping Earth's temperature increase below 2 C. Cobalt demand is projected to increase by a factor of 21, while nickel use grows

KABUL (Reuters) -- American troops have flown into Kabul to help evacuate embassy personnel and other civilians in the Afghan capital, a U.S. official said on Saturday, a day after Taliban insurgents seized the country's second- and third-biggest cities.

The Pentagon has said two battalions of Marines and one infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops.

"They have arrived, their arrival will continue 'til tomorrow," the U.S

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Torrential rain continued in wide areas of Japan on Saturday, with the weather agency issuing emergency warnings in Hiroshima Prefecture as well as three prefectures in Kyushu, all of which have registered record downpours.

Landslides and flood damage are feared in a wide area stretching from western Japan to the northeastern part of the country with a seasonal front expected to hover near the main island of Honshu for a week, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Local authorities issued the highest level of alert to about 1.

BANGKOK -- A short-lived media gag order steamrolled by Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has raised skepticism among Thais over his government's respect for the constitution.

Prayuth repealed the order on Monday, according to the government's public journal, the Royal Gazette, on Tuesday. The withdrawal came shortly after the Civil Court of Bangkok issued a temporary injunction on Aug. 6 to block the order, which only had gone into effect on July 30.

The restriction claimed to target fake news

BEIJING -- China is toughening regulations around condominium transactions with an aim to contain speculative and illegal deals within three years, amid growing social discontent about soaring property prices.

Among the measures that authorities are taking are the introduction of eligibility rules for property purchases and the intervention in the secondhand market in big cities to prevent price inflation.

The real estate market is flooded with liquidity as a result of monetary policy relaxation to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the government has adopted caps on mortgage loans, prices have continued

HO CHI MINH CITY -- The Asian Development Bank and the UK-based insurer Prudential plan to announce an ambitious investment scheme to cut carbon emissions in Asia at the United Nations' COP26 climate conference in November.

The proposals will include a shortlist of existing coal-fired power plants across Asia to buy and retire well before the end of their life cycles and replace them with clean energy.

"We have not settled on a precise size [financially], but would expect the pilot to acquire several coal-

TOKYO -- A strong U.S. job market helped boost Japanese human resources company Recruit Holdings' market capitalization to 10.77 trillion yen ($97.5 billion) on Friday, closing above the 10 trillion yen mark for the first time.

Recruit's market cap ranked 159th among roughly 48,000 companies with comparable QUICK-FactSet data, and sixth among Japanese enterprises, behind only Toyota Motor, Keyence, Sony Group, SoftBank Group, and