SAKAI, Japan -- Bicycle gear maker Shimano has raised its profit and dividend forecasts for 2021 as cycling fans in the U.S. and Europe propel sales growth.

The Japanese company said Tuesday it now expects group net profit to rise 48% to 93.7 billion yen ($855 million), compared with an earlier estimate of a 25% gain to 79.6 billion yen.

While airlines and railways have lost business during the pandemic, the globally recognized

NAGOYA -- Toyota Motor will suspend production of the Lexus and the Land Cruiser at two domestic plants for several days in August as rising coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia disrupt parts production.

Lines producing the Lexus LS and IS models at the Tahara plant in Aichi Prefecture will be closed from Aug. 3 to Aug. 6. Toyota Auto Body's Yoshiwara plant will stop production of the Land Cruiser and other models for two days starting Aug. 5.

Those shutdowns will reduce production by roughly 5,000 vehicles

TOKYO -- The Olympics presents a dizzying array of sports, and multiple events within sports. Here is the list of events with medals up for grabs.

Medal events to watch on Wednesday, July 28 (Tokyo time)

3x3 Basketball

• 8:45 p.m. Women's Bronze Medal Game
• 9:15 p.m. Men's Bronze Medal Game
• 9:55 p.m. Women's Gold Medal Game
• 10:25 p.m. Men

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 195,093,652, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The worldwide death toll has hit 4,173,584.

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 -- 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:

Sale Lilly is a senior policy analyst and Scott W. Harold is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

When the U.S. and Japan agreed on a Digital Trade Agreement in late 2019, they declined to include language governing cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies. Given that some of the earliest cryptocurrency markets began in Japan, and that many of the largest companies originate in the United States, this decision was somewhat surprising.

Today, the overall supply of cryptocurrency, or digital representations of

PALO ALTO, NEW DELHI, HO CHI MINH CITY, MANILA, JAKARTA -- In October 2019, a T-shirt clad Mark Zuckerberg stood in front of an audience at Georgetown University and sounded a solemn warning.

"China is building its own internet focused on very different values and is now exporting their vision of the internet to other countries," he said.

"While our services, like WhatsApp, are used by protesters and activists everywhere due to strong encryption and privacy protections," Zuckerberg added

NEW YORK/ISTANBUL -- In a video posted on his personal Twitter account last week, the chief technology officer of Turkish defense company Baykar -- which is owned by his family -- was brimming with pride as he unveiled the details of a future unmanned combat aircraft.

Selcuk Bayraktar, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology-educated engineer in his early 40s, explained that the aircraft, known as MIUS, eventually will possess supersonic speed, stealth capability and a maximum payload of nearly 1.5 tons.

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MANILA/HONG KONG -- In his final state of the nation speech on Monday, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte suggested that he is sticking to his conciliatory stance toward China.

The outgoing president expressed his intent to keep an equal distance from other countries, saying he will "continue to work with all nations and seek partnerships that work." Critics think Duterte is afraid to get tough with China over the territorial dispute in the South China Sea while the Philippines remains dependent on China for economic assistance and COVID-19 vaccines