NEW YORK -- As the U.S. military pulls assets out of the Middle East to focus on China, it is increasingly looking to allies and partners to join the effort to deter Beijing and maintain a "free and open Indo-Pacific."

No country is in a better position to help than Japan, which sits near the Taiwan Strait and hosts well over 50,000 American military personnel -- the U.S.'s largest forward-deployed force in the world.

But

TOKYO -- Japan named veteran diplomat Takeo Mori as the country's new vice foreign minister effective Tuesday, tapping his experience handling some of Tokyo's most delicate negotiations with the U.S. to navigate the ever-fraught ties with China.

By taking the position, he is now the top career official at the ministry.

Mori, whose diplomatic mettle has earned him the trust of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, will help lead the Foreign Ministry as Suga grants the agency greater say over Japan's security and

TOKYO -- Japan expressed dismay Tuesday over trailing most of the world on gender equality, calling its 120th-place ranking among 156 countries "very disappointing" as the prime minister pushed to do better.

The self-criticism came as part of a task force review of progress toward the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga urged the panel to "step up efforts to achieve a society that leaves no one behind."

The review, to be submitted to the U.

Vandana Hari is founder of Singapore-based Vanda Insights, which tracks energy markets.

The alliance of OPEC and non-OPEC oil-producing countries curtailing production since last year amid a COVID-induced slump has much to celebrate. Its efforts, coupled with a sharp pickup in oil demand from reopening economies over recent months, have nearly quadrupled crude prices in just over a year.

But the better part of that success story -- and probably the hardest -- lies in the producers ensuring that it is inclusive, sustainable

TOKYO -- Until a few days ago, Tokyo had been in the grip of a state of emergency. Throughout the period of restrictions, as always, cavernous wholesale supermarket Gyomu Super in downtown Tokyo bristled with people: Young men pile bulk frozen potatoes into their shopping carts, a bargain at 195 yen ($1.80). Frail seniors scoop up single serves of Chinese noodles or fermented natto beans at 20 cents apiece.

Illuminated by fluorescent light, splashed across the building's unlovely exterior

YANGON/BANGKOK -- Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.

The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November . But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud.

For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.

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Dien Luong is a Vietnamese journalist who has covered the issue of Agent Orange for over a decade. Opinions expressed here are his own.

For nearly half a century, Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange have been fighting a losing battle against multinationals that manufactured the toxic defoliant. Their plights have been ignored, their lawsuits dismissed and their voices drowned out.

That David-and-Goliath struggle came to the fore again last month when a French court rejected a lawsuit by a Vietnamese-French woman against 14 chemical manufacturers that produced

HONG KONG -- Two years before Britain was scheduled to hand Hong Kong back to China, businessman Jimmy Lai, who had made his fortune from clothing chain Giordano, boldly entered the city's crowded newspaper market in 1995 by founding Apple Daily with a commitment to "defy the fear."

Worries about the outlook for press freedom under Chinese rule are now proving well-founded. After two police raids on Apple's offices, the arrests of Lai and several top editors and executives, and the

TAIPEI -- As Taiwan battles its first major COVID-19 outbreak, a plane touched down carrying 2.5 million doses of Moderna vaccines -- a gift from the U.S.

The donation is a boost to President Tsai Ing-wen's government, which has suffered a drop in public approval and come under pressure to accept Chinese vaccines.

It is also a sign that the Biden administration is continuing to strengthen its relationship with Taiwan as the island deals with diplomatic, economic and military pressure from China