COLOMBO -- China's de facto control of high-profile Sri Lankan infrastructure projects has renewed fears that the island nation may soon become a Chinese colony.

As China steadily expands its footprint across the island, China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of state-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), won a new development project last month when the government approved CHEC's proposal for a 17-km elevated highway on the outskirts of Colombo.

But the terms of the deal allow CHEC

TOKYO -- Japan's three megabanks will lower internet banking fees as soon as in October, as competition with fintech startups heats up, Nikkei has learned.

The country's major banks plan to cut their internet banking fees making them cheaper than ATMs and storefronts to encourage individuals and businesses to transfer money online. In fiscal 2022, the banks also plan to introduce a smartphone app that will allow users to send money at a discount.

Banks are facing a torrent of criticism over high fees, while

SEOUL -- A South Korean cryptoasset exchange company has begun to handle fewer altcoins, cryptocurrencies other than bitcoin, a cleansing effort undertaken amid sudden drops in the currency markets that are hurting young people's investments but one that has come up against vehement opposition from coin issuers and investors.

There are more types of cryptocurrencies in South Korea than in the U.S. or Japan, including "kimchi coins," which are issued primarily by South Koreans.

Upbit, the country's largest exchange, made the big

James Crabtree is executive director of IISS-Asia in Singapore. He is author of "The Billionaire Raj."

President Joe Biden recently rolled back a ban on WeChat and TikTok pushed through by his predecessor, Donald Trump. To Biden's critics, the move hinted at a softer approach to Chinese technology companies, and indeed China in general.

That view is almost sure to be misleading. The fate of the two Chinese apps still looks far from certain. More important is Biden's new regulatory regime on data

GUANGZHOU -- The Chinese city of Shenzhen will overhaul its rules on worker pay for the first time in 17 years, looking to curb surging labor costs and stem the exodus of companies to cheaper markets in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.

A bustling technology hub, Shenzhen's plan boils down to three main components -- reducing overtime pay for irregular workers, tightening bonus rules and extending deadlines for paying employees.

The Shenzhen government has explained that supporting businesses serves workers' interests in the medium to long term. Employment in

TOKYO -- Fujifilm Holdings will spend 90 billion yen ($813 million) on biologics manufacturing unit Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, the company announced Tuesday, accelerating its push into a field that is experiencing surging demand amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Producing biologic treatments, which involve steps like making cell cultures and genetic manipulation, requires expensive equipment and advanced technology, leading more drugmakers to contract out their development and production to companies like Fujifilm Diosynth, a joint venture with trading house Mitsubishi Corp. The latest announcement brings Fujifilm'

TAIPEI -- Marty Chang, a veteran graphic designer who worked for more than 15 years at Taiwan's Apple Daily, headed out the door for the final time late one night in May.

He was carrying all his belongings out after designing nearly a thousand front pages for the daily newspaper that used to be a must-read for ordinary Taiwanese, business executives and officials. In its heyday, the print run was 700,000 on an island of 23 million.

Apple Daily announced

JAKARTA -- Novel Baswedan has endured many things in his 14 years as an investigator at Indonesia's anti-graft agency. They include incrimination attempts, being hit twice on his motorbike, and an acid attack that rendered him permanently near-blind.

But Baswedan survived through all of those as well as many threats and other forms of intimidation, faithfully committed to his duties at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) -- until he failed the so-called nationalism tests for civil servants, which led to his

TOKYO -- The Japanese government on Tuesday reiterated its pledge to establish pre-college International Baccalaureate programs in 200 schools nationwide, even as politicians and academics say the country's leadership must provide more funding to hit this long-delayed target

"We'll continue to work toward the goal of at least 200 schools by fiscal 2022," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters, referring to the period ending March 2023.

Japan originally targeted fiscal 2018