PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Nikon will partner with an American startup founded by former Apple employees to develop better measurement tools for auto and aircraft manufacturing, using technology developed to guide autonomous vehicles.

The tie-up announced Tuesday between the Japanese camera manufacturer and Silicon Valley-based Aeva will leverage the latter's lidar -- light detection and ranging -- sensors for more precise measurements. They want to bring products to market in 2025.

The arrangement aims to expand applications of Aeva'

Stephen Givens is a corporate lawyer based in Tokyo.

At the end of July, after enduring eight months of dogged resistance from management, and 15 years after his arrest on dubious insider trading charges, Yoshiaki Murakami took control of Japan Asia Group (JAG) in what deserves to be recorded as Japan's first successful hostile corporate takeover.

That this arguably historic moment has received little media attention reflects a paradox.

On the one hand, it is a welcome sign of progress that hostile takeover bids, which made headlines

HONG KONG -- For years, China's efforts to develop a digital currency seemed intended for domestic use only. The introduction of an "e-yuan," which is still being tested, would help China go cashless while giving the central bank tight centralized control over digital money.

However, a new development appeared on July 16: A government white paper shook up financial markets by saying China was exploring cross-border payments for the e-yuan.

The digital yuan now appears to be the latest in

NEW YORK -- Eager to tap into a promising market while burnishing his administration's credentials on free trade now that rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership looks as distant as ever, U.S. President Joe Biden appears ready to engage a new free trade zone in Africa.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which took effect in January, is the largest such zone by number of countries since the creation of the World Trade Organization. Fifty-four of the African Union's 55 members

TOKYO -- Overseas companies that have military-linked businesses, such as Japan's Kirin Holdings, are reporting losses amid a shaky market outlook that has been exacerbated by political uncertainty brought on by the military takeover in February.

Kirin Holdings on Tuesday posted an impairment loss of over 21.4 billion yen ($193 million) in the six months through June on account of its beer production businesses in Myanmar.

The brewery said in a statement that the loss was recorded "considering the outlook for a

TOKYO -- China has become No. 1 in the output of highly cited natural science papers, a development that could make the country even stronger in terms of industrial competitiveness.

Japan's National Institute of Science and Technology Policy counted the number of academic papers that are ranked among the top 10% in terms of citations and found that China has overtaken the U.S. and become No. 1.

The number of highly cited papers is an important indicator of a country's research strength. The Japanese

Brahma Chellaney is a geostrategist and author of nine books, including "Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan."

Japan, America's most pivotal ally in Asia, faces pressing security challenges due to Chinese President Xi Jinping's expansionist policies, which appear to be driven by an increasing appetite for taking risks.

After accelerating a provocative campaign of aerial and maritime incursions designed to challenge Japanese control of the Senkaku Islands which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyu, Xi has also set his sights on absorbing

SEOUL -- Shares in South Korean game developer Krafton plunged on Tuesday in a disappointing market debut for the developer of worldwide hit "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds," or PUBG, amid concerns over the company's exposure to China.

Krafton closed at 454,000 won ($395) per share on the benchmark Kospi exchange, down 8.8% from its initial public offering price of 498,000 won, but 1.2% above it's

TOKYO -- China is overtaking the U.S. in artificial intelligence research, setting off alarm bells on the other side of the Pacific as the world's two largest economies jockey for AI supremacy.

In 2020, China topped the U.S. for the first time in terms of the number of times an academic article on AI is cited by others, a measure of the quality of a study. Until recently, the U.S. had been far ahead of other countries in AI