KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin on Thursday expressed his unhappiness over the government's handling of the nation's coronavirus state of emergency -- the quiet and abrupt cancellation of which has sparked an uproar in parliament.

The king had proclaimed the emergency from January to Aug. 1. He and his fellow Malay state rulers recently made it clear the declaration should not be extended beyond that date, and urged the reluctant government to reconvene the country's suspended parliament to debate ordinances passed

TOKYO -- An analysis of messages posted on Twitter about the Tokyo Olympics reveals how greatly Japanese public opinion has changed since the opening ceremony on July 23, as tweets favoring the event have come to outnumber unfavorable ones prompted by scandals and rising COVID-19 cases.

Nikkei analyzed messages posted on Twitter using NTT Data's Nazuki no Oto linguistic analysis system. Sampling 400 tweets that included the word "Olympics" per hour, Nikkei divided them into "positive" or "negative" to the Tokyo

TOKYO -- Isko Moreno, the mayor of Manila, is raising his profile ahead of the presidential election in the Philippines in May 2022. He is the second-most popular potential candidate for the country's top political office, after Sara Duterte, President Rodrigo Duterte's eldest daughter and the mayor of Davao City.

And he may actually run. Moreno, who comes from a poor family and rose to fame as an actor, he could influence the presidential race if he decides to jump in

Vandana Hari is founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights, which tracks energy markets.

One of the oldest beliefs that the pandemic has prompted the world to reexamine is that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is a cartel solely aimed at propping up oil prices, incompatible with today's free global markets.

But being seen in a more favorable light is a double-edged sword for OPEC. While the producers' group will still be condemned for any oligopolistic behavior, it will also face growing pressure to continue making wise decisions

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:

Thursday,

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 195,972,235, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 4,187,446.

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

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor Group said on Thursday it will partner with LG Energy Solution to build an electric vehicle battery factory in Indonesia to secure a stable supply of battery cells for its EVs.

The two South Korean companies signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian government to establish a joint venture to manufacture battery cells.

Under the agreement, Hyundai and LG Energy will invest a total of $1.1 billion to build a battery cell plant in Karawang, just east of Jakarta, with both companies holding 50%

HONG KONG -- China Evergrande Group has been sued by a state-owned construction company over nonpayment of 401 million yuan ($62 million), underscoring the liquidity crunch at the world's most indebted property developer.

Huaibei Mining Holdings, which is majority-owned by Anhui Province's state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit on July 26, claiming the outstanding bill and penalties from a unit of Evergrande.

The companies entered into a construction

Boonsithi Chokwatana is the Chairman of Saha Group, Thailand's leading consumer products conglomerate. This is part 9 of a 30-part series.

After six years in Osaka, I returned to Bangkok in 1960. Saha Pathanapibul was doing well, but no work was assigned to me. "Do what you want," my father told me.

So the following year I decided to work at a new factory that packed shampoo powder, made by Lion, a big Japanese toiletries manufacturer, into containers