Glenn Nye is a former Member of Congress and President and CEO of the Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress (CSPC). Dan Mahaffee is Senior Vice President and Director of Policy at CSPC.

The growing competition with China over technology dominance is bridging divides both abroad and at home.

In response to Beijing's aggressive campaign of cyber espionage, intellectual property theft and bare-knuckle diplomacy, the U.S. and close partners are beginning to rally behind a more unified front.

Recently an unprecedented alliance

Nikkei Asia is tracking the spread of the coronavirus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Cumulative global cases have reached 196,518,666, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 4,196,339.

For more information about the spread of COVID-19 and the progress of vaccination around the world, please see our interactive charts and maps.

-- Global coronavirus tracker charts

-- Status of

TOKYO -- Nomura reported on Friday a 57% fall in pretax profit for the April-June quarter, as the Japanese brokerage house looks to rebound from a massive loss on trades with Archegos Capital Management.

Three-month pretax profit came to 78.5 billion yen ($710 million), as revenue fell 21% to 405.1 billion yen.

The results came after two other Japanese brokers, Daiwa and SMBC Nikko, reported double-digit increases in revenue in the

TOKYO -- The Tokyo Olympics are well underway after a long journey filled with controversy, and an unprecedented one-year postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proceedings officially began with the opening ceremony at the National Stadium , a mostly subdued affair mixed with joyous moments like a high-tech drone show, and capped by tennis star Naomi Osaka lighting the Olympic cauldron.

We're tracking the latest medal count .

Read our breakdown of the events to watch .

Here are the latest developments:

Friday,

TOKYO -- The Tokyo Olympics are well underway after a long journey filled with controversy, and an unprecedented one-year postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proceedings officially began with the opening ceremony at the National Stadium , a mostly subdued affair mixed with joyous moments like a high-tech drone show, and capped by tennis star Naomi Osaka lighting the Olympic cauldron.

We're tracking the latest medal count .

Read our breakdown of the events to watch .

Here are the latest developments:

Friday,

SINGAPORE -- This year is shaping up to be a bumper year for startups in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations looking to raise funds, as deal values skyrocket to a high not seen even in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, defying a health crisis that has dragged the world into a slump.

Despite the pandemic largely sealing off borders in the 10-country bloc, which keeps investors and young companies from meeting face to face easily, deal values hit $11.

BANGKOK -- After pulling off Thailand's last coup in 2014 when he was army commander, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha is in an altogether different place as drumbeats quicken for a putsch against his military-backed government.

With corpses lying in the streets of the capital, Thailand's rising political temperature is being fueled by outrage at the government's failure to contain the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By mid-July, as the economy continued to flounder, the

Nikkei Asia is tracking the spread of the coronavirus that was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

Cumulative global cases have reached 196,518,666, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 4,196,339.

For more information about the spread of COVID-19 and the progress of vaccination around the world, please see our interactive charts and maps.

-- Global coronavirus tracker charts

-- Status of

Boonsithi Chokwatana is the Chairman of Saha Group, Thailand's leading consumer products conglomerate. This is part 10 of a 30-part series.

Business at our powdered shampoo container factory was going well, and we branched out into soap as well. Since both used products from Lion Fat and Oil, not Lion Toothpaste, from where Kobayashi-san hailed, we decided to fill toothpaste containers as well.

However, we were unable to find any tubes. Container manufacturers, afraid of Colgate, the market leader