OSAKA -- Panasonic has joined a project led by U.S. oil services leader Schlumberger that seeks to extract lithium from underground salt water in a fraction of the time, reducing the process from over a year to a matter of weeks.

Schlumberger has started a pilot plant to extract lithium from underground salt water in the U.S. state of Nevada, with Panasonic testing samples of the extracted lithium to determine if it is suitable for electric vehicle batteries. The Japanese company will also provide consultation on points for improvement

TAIPEI -- Efforts by nations to bring chip production onshore could backfire, failing to achieve self-sufficiency despite massive cost outlays, warned Morris Chang, the founder of top contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

"If no one says anything about this, it could turn out to be terrible," Chang told a news conference Friday following an informal Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, where he served as Taiwan's envoy.

"What may happen is that after hundreds of billions and many years have been spent,

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE -- As the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus tears through much of Southeast Asia, Japanese companies and authorities are moving to get Japanese nationals back home.

At noon on Friday local time, the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia stopped taking requests for seats on chartered flights to Japan for citizens living in the country, with nearly 2,000 people hoping to get on board. All Nippon Airways is set to begin flights Wednesday, followed by Japan Airlines on July 25.

The rapidly deteriorating conditions

TASHKENT/BEIJING -- China and Russia have proposed economic assistance to fragile neighbor Afghanistan as a relentless Taliban offensive and looming U.S. exit threaten to spill turmoil across their borders.

"China will support the development of roads and pipelines in Afghanistan," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at the inaugural conference for Central and South Asia ties in the Uzbek capital Tashkent this week.

The two-day event through Friday, which also drew Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and other senior officials from across the region, focused

Rashesh Shrestha is an economist with the Economic Research Institute for Association for Southeast Asian Nations and East Asia.

Just before COVID-19 hit, the Japanese government was reforming its labor migration system, which is often criticized for being too restrictive.

In the process, it had signed agreements in 2019 and early 2020 with 12 migrant-sending Asian countries, including six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, a region with which Japan has close trade and investment ties. But the

TOKYO -- The Japanese government looks to have renewable energy generate almost 40% of the country's power in fiscal 2030 in the latest version of its electricity mix targets, bringing zero-emissions sources as high as 60% of the total.

Renewables -- particularly solar -- are set to make up between 36% and 38% of overall generation in the revised energy plan to be drafted Wednesday, up 14 points from the current goal, with nuclear remaining flat at

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong had its busiest day for initial public offerings in six months on Friday, reinforcing the city's role as a listings venue when regulators in both China and the U.S. are putting a chill on foreign IPOs by mainland companies.

Five companies begin trading on the city's stock exchange, after raising a combined $630 million, marking the biggest day for IPO listings since Jan. 8.

The newcomers include clinical testing company Kindstar Globalgene Technology, pearlescent pigment maker Global

TOKYO -- Seibu Holdings is set to sell off some of its iconic hotel and leisure facilities for over 100 billion yen ($908 million), as the pandemic prompts the Japanese railway and hotel conglomerate to offload those assets to focus on their operation, multiple sources told Nikkei.

It is seeking proposals from investment funds and will begin negotiations for around 40 of its facilities in the country with the aim of completing sales by April 2022.

Seibu is the latest railway company to try

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