Tencent and ByteDance smell opportunity brewing in China cafe chains
SHANGHAI -- Tencent Holdings and ByteDance are among the Chinese tech companies betting that their products and coffee shops will go together as good as, well, coffee and cream.
Despite last year's Luckin Coffee accounting scandal still fresh in the minds of many, China's up-and coming coffee chains have become the favorite of many of the country's largest tech companies, which can smell opportunity brewing.
The coffeehouse market is expected to expand by double digits -- and a poster child of that growth is
Panasonic unloads entire Tesla stake
OSAKA -- Panasonic sold all its shareholdings in key battery customer Tesla last fiscal year, Nikkei learned Friday, in a move that likely earned the Japanese company billions of dollars to fund new strategic investments.
Panasonic will continue to supply electric-vehicle batteries to the American automaker. "Our relationship with Tesla as a business partner will not change going forward," a Panasonic executive said.
All of the Tesla shares held by Panasonic were sold by the end of March. The gain likely accounts for much of the 42
Japan drops out of 10 most populous countries: 2020 census
TOKYO -- Japan now ranks 11th worldwide by population, based on preliminary 2020 census data compared with United Nations estimates for other countries, the lowest since 1950.
An influx of foreign residents slowed the pace of Japan's population decline, measured at 0.7% from the previous census five years earlier, but the Tokyo region continued to gain as urban concentration intensified.
The 126.22 million people living in Japan as of Oct. 1, 20
Microsoft challenges Apple's business model with Windows 11
Microsoft Corp on Thursday showed Windows 11, its first major operating system revamp since 2015 with new changes that take direct aim at Apple Inc's lucrative App Store business model.
Windows 11, which will hit the market by the end of this year, will include a new Windows Store that will let software developers use their own in-app payment systems and pay no commissions to Microsoft. It will also let users both find and run Android mobile applications on their laptops and PCs, thanks to
Former Philippine President 'Noynoy' Aquino dies at 61
MANILA -- Former Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino died Thursday morning at the age of 61 due to kidney disease, his family said.
"It is with profound grief that on behalf of our family I am confirming that our brother, Benigno 'Noynoy' S. Aquino III, died peacefully in his sleep," said Pinky Aquino-Abellada, sister of the former president.
He was pronounced dead at 6:30 a.m. due to renal disease secondary to diabetes, Aquino-Abellada
Malaysia's Genting rolls the dice on new $4.3bn Las Vegas resort
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia-based casino operator Genting Group on Thursday is set to open its $4.3 billion resort in global gambling mecca Las Vegas as the U.S. gets moving again after a mass inoculation campaign reduced coronavirus infections.
Resorts World Las Vegas is an integrated facility covering nearly 88 acres at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip and the first mega-resort to open there in more than a decade. Hopes are high that the project will provide a welcome boost to the desert city
Indonesian daily COVID cases jump past 20,000 as Delta fears grow
JAKARTA -- Indonesia's pandemic situation rapidly deteriorated on Thursday as the nation confirmed a new daily high of 20,574 new COVID-19 cases, a jump of more than 5,000 from the previous day.
The figure takes Indonesia's cumulative COVID-19 cases to 2,053,995 -- by far the biggest among its Southeast Asian peers; 355 additional deaths were also reported, taking the total deceased to 55,
Hong Kong's Apple Daily yields to 'inevitable fate'
HONG KONG -- In its 1995 debut edition, Apple Daily's inaugural editorial directly addressed the timing of its launch just two years ahead of Hong Kong's scheduled return to Chinese rule -- and the start of an uncertain era for the city's previously freewheeling press.
"We are afraid, but we don't want to be intimidated by fear or blinded by pessimism," the editorial said.
On July 1, 1997, the city's first day under
Singapore's Keppel talks merger of offshore unit with Sembcorp Marine
SINGAPORE -- Keppel wants to merge its offshore rig unit with local competitor Sembcorp Marine, the Singaporean group said Thursday, pursuing a major consolidation in a sector that has faced headwinds due to the global shift from oil and gas to cleaner energy.
The two companies have started talks for the potential merger, they said in a joint statement, stressing that discussions are at a preliminary stage.
If a deal is concluded, the combined entity will be listed, with state investor Temasek Holdings expected to be the controlling shareholder in that
Ambani's Reliance Jio joins race for world's cheapest phone with Google
NEW DELHI -- Billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, announced on Thursday a "breakthrough" smartphone that has been developed by Jio, his Indian conglomerate's telecom arm, in partnership with Google and will be launched on Sept. 10.
The JioPhone Next is an Android phone running "an extremely optimized" operating system that Jio and Google have developed specially for the Indian market, Ambani said during the company's 44th annual general meeting. For the second year running, this was