TOKYO -- Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy has developed an offshore wind turbine able to withstand strong winds, aiming to deliver it to typhoon-prone Japan and other parts of Asia, executives told Nikkei in interviews.

Each unit, with a 200-meter diameter, can generate 11 megawatts, and the blades can resist winds of up to 57 meters per second.

Siemens Gamesa recently obtained certification from the International Electrotechnical Commission for the turbine and seeks to have a 14 MW model certified as well, said

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party failed to win a combined majority in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan assembly election, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his LDP-Komeito coalition in national politics as they gear up for a general election slated for the fall.

The result was likely attributed to voter dissatisfaction with Suga's response to the coronavirus pandemic and his stance on the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

The LDP won 33 seats in the 127-seat assembly

JAKARTA/BEIJING -- China plans to open a big solar panel module plant in Malaysia and build a 580 km highway in Laos, part of a charm offensive as the U.S. steps up efforts to counter Beijing's influence in Southeast Asia.

The plant will be built by Chinese solar power giant Risen Energy, which has agreed to invest 42.2 billion ringgit ($10.1 billion) in the photovoltaic industry in Malaysia, the nation's Ministry of International Trade and

William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

As Federal Reserve officials in Washington search for a way out of years of desperate rescue-stimulus moves, they might consider looking to a most unexpected place: Beijing.

Suffice it to say, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has a serious punch bowl dilemma on his hands. The reference here is the famous metaphor served up by Fed chief William McChesney Martin in the 19

BANGKOK -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand is putting all its effort into developing new measures to lure listings from "sexy" foreign companies and small- and mid-sized enterprises, aiming to become the leader among Southeast Asian stock markets.

"We would like to have 30 to 50 IPOs at the SET each year, with them raising roughly 250 billion baht ($7.8 billion) per year," Pakorn Peetathawatchai, the president of the exchange, told Nikkei Asia in an online interview

ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) -- The owners and insurers of the Ever Given container ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March said on Sunday a formal settlement had been agreed in a compensation dispute, and the canal authority said the vessel would be allowed to sail on July 7.

The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has held the giant ship and its crew in a lake between two stretches of the waterway since it was dislodged on March 29, amid a dispute over a demand for compensation by the SCA.

TOKYO -- S hochu makers eager to take advantage of the dismantling of import barriers by the U.S. and Europe are instead running into a serious regulatory roadblock at home.

Late last year, the U.S. eased import regulations on the size of shochu bottles, allowing distillers to ship spirits in their traditional 720-milliliter and 1.8-liter bottles. Previously, they had to rebottle their liquid exports, a requirement many considered a non-tariff barrier.

The European Union relaxed its

CAIRO -- Chinese music streaming service Boomplay is sharply increasing subscribers in Africa, backed by the rapid expansion of its parent's presence in the smartphone market on the continent.

Boomplay is upgrading its content in cooperation with a major American music company. In addition, rising income levels and widespread use of smartphones in Africa are helping the service penetrate deeper among consumers there.

Transsnet Group, under the wing of Chinese mobile phone maker Transsion Holdings, launched the Boomplay service in Nigeria in West Africa in 2015,

TOKYO -- China's alleged abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang are now casting a shadow over the solar industry, as human-rights-conscious countries shy away from a region that is one of the world's biggest sources of silicon.

The price of silicon used to make polycrystalline wafers for solar panels now stands at more than $27 per kilogram, compared with $6 or so in June 2020, according to Tokyo-based consulting firm RTS. Roughly 80% of global production