TOKYO -- Increased performance estimates prompted Nissan Motor to revise its earnings projection upward on Wednesday to a net profit of 60 billion yen ($548 million) despite lingering risks of chip shortages and increased pressure from price hikes for raw materials.

This yearly result, if made, would mean the first net profit for the Japanese automaker since the fiscal year through March 2019 as Nissan streamlines its business, parting from former Chairman Carlos Ghosn's aggressive expansion strategy.

Nissan had announced in May that

NEW DELHI -- The tense situation in Afghanistan and cooperation among Quad nations to ensure peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region topped the agenda for the talks between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Blinken, who arrived in India on Tuesday on his first visit since joining the Biden administration earlier this year, said both India and the U.S. are committed to the proposition that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan

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

The proceedings officially began with Friday's 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:

HONG KONG -- The Hong Kong government will investigate the publisher of the now defunct Apple Daily for fraud, in the latest setback for the company after being forced to shut down the pro-democracy local newspaper last month.

The territory's financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a hastily called new conference on Wednesday evening he had appointed a special inspector to investigate Hong Kong-listed Next Digital. Apple Daily published its final issue on June 24, after its assets were frozen by the government.

The appointment

TOKYO -- When double world champion judoka Chizuru Arai on Wednesday bested her Austrian opponent Michaela Polleres in a blistering final for the women's 70 kg category, Japan won its sixth gold medal in the martial art for the Tokyo games, putting it just two short of its record haul tallied in Athens in 2004.

But this time around, the coaches, athletes and sponsors are discovering new ways to throw their opponents to the ground by tapping the insights gained from data technology.

Since the 20

TAIPEI -- Hackers breached LINE messaging accounts belonging to more than 100 officials and political figures in Taiwan, it was learned Wednesday.

The hacked accounts include those of bureaucrats, senior party administrators and military officers. The Taiwanese government has confirmed the breach and has initiated an investigation.

The hack disabled a default privacy setting called Letter Sealing, which provides end-to-end encryption of messages. Japan-based LINE is a popular messaging app in Taiwan, and the personal data breach potentially affected a multitude of people

TAIPEI -- Taiwan authorities have begun an investigation into the former No. 3 member of its defense ministry over allegations of having contacts with a Chinese spy and leaking secrets, it was learned Wednesday.

Former deputy defense minister Gen. Chang Che-Ping, who served in the position until June, is the highest-ranking official in recent years to be probed over spying allegations.

Multiple local media outlets reported the development Wednesday. The Taiwan Taipei District Prosecutor's Office said the same day that a related matter was currently

TOKYO -- Big Japanese companies including Sapporo Breweries and Panasonic have begun to shift away from advertising based on online users' habits as governments and tech giants take new steps to ease rising privacy concerns.

Sapporo, which spends roughly 19 billion yen ($172.75 million) on advertising and promotions, has slashed its budget for targeted ads by about 70%. They now account for less than 10% of Sapporo's online ads, down from around 30%.

The beer

HANOI -- Vietnam's National Assembly on Wednesday approved a resolution to give Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the government centralized power for swift decision-making, in a bid to bring the country's coronavirus outbreak under control.

The resolution was approved by the majority of the lawmakers as the legislative session ended three days earlier than originally scheduled.

Chinh's new mandate came as Vietnam recorded a surge of coronavirus infections, mainly in the southern region surrounding commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon.