TOKYO -- When the mudslide triggered by torrential rain came crashing down the hillside in Japan's coastal city of Atami this month, it made what witnesses described as a "horrible sound."

The river of earth and debris, which left at least 10 dead and 17 missing as of Tuesday, came perilously close to taking out the railway used for by the Tokaido shinkansen , the bullet train line that links Tokyo and Osaka, running under an elevated tracks. Those tracks also serve the Tokaido main line for

TOKYO -- Sony Group is regaining is luster, as seen in its first-ever net profit in excess of 1 trillion yen ($9 billion) in fiscal 2020 ended March this year.

Kazuo Hirai, Sony's former top executive, who currently serves as the company's chief adviser, gives a behind-the-scenes look at Sony's rejuvenation even as other Japanese electronics titans face an onslaught from Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean rivals.

Less than a decade ago Sony,

NEW YORK -- The Chinese woman was in her 20s, dressed in black from head to toe, with a mask and sunglasses to conceal her identity. On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in New York City's Central Park, she was explaining colorful messages -- many with the rainbow of the LGBTQ movement -- affixed to slabs of carboard and hung on a fence.

"These are messages from members of our community. They're from all over the world but most of them live in China,

TAIPEI -- "Foreign chipmakers vying for U.S. subsidies will keep their valuable intellectual property on their own shores, ensuring that the most lucrative and cutting-edge manufacturing stays there."

In Politico last month, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger took aim at Washington's decision to subsidize the $12 billion chip fabrication plant being built by rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in Arizona.

The U.S. lured TSMC with the promise of generous support as part of its effort to break its reliance on foreign

MUMBAI -- The owner of India's leading digital payment provider Paytm plans to sell shares worth 166 billion rupees ($2.2 billion) in the country's biggest-ever initial public offering.

One97 Communications, which counts China's Alibaba, Japan's SoftBank and Berkshire Hathway's Warren Buffet as its marquee investors, is offering to sell 83 billion rupees new shares, according to the draft offer documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Another 8

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong biotechnology startup Prenetics is set to be absorbed by a New York-listed special purpose acquisition company backed by New World Development Chief Executive Adrian Cheng.

The deal with Cheng's Artisan Acquisition SPAC will value Prenetics, known for its COVID-19 screening work for the English Premier League as well as Hong Kong International Airport and London Heathrow Airport, at about $1.3 billion, according to three people familiar with the deal.

"The valuation is not a done deal as yet

JAKARTA -- The local unit in Indonesia of U.S. mining giant Freeport-McMoRan said on Friday that talks with China's Tsingshan Holding Group about joint development of a major copper smelting plant in the Southeast Asian country have failed.

"[Freeport] could not reach a deal with Tsingshan to build the smelter," Riza Pratama, Freeport Indonesia's vice president for corporate communications, told Nikkei Asia, referring to a project the Chinese company had proposed in North Maluku Province.

Pratama declined to explain what

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's chief executive on Friday said she has been given a list of steps to "deepen" implementation of Beijing's national security law, including instructions to take a firmer hand with schools, the media and online activity.

Carrie Lam briefed reporters after a closed-door meeting during which she said Xia Baolong, the head of the Chinese State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, delivered directives from Beijing via videoconference.

No media except for Chinese state outlets were allowed to

JAKARTA -- Garuda Indonesia posted a net loss of $2.4 billion in 2020, with its auditor raising concerns over the continuity of the Southeast Asian country's flagship airline.

The net loss is Garuda's biggest since at least 2005, the oldest available data on Quick-Factset, and marks a staggering increase from the $38.9 million loss it reported the previous year.

The figures, posted to the Indonesian Stock Exchange late Friday, further highlight the dire