BEIJING -- The value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies plunged Monday after the Chinese central bank told the nation's largest banks to be more aggressive in cracking down on the trading of such assets.

Bitcoin has fallen as low as $31,744 during early-morning trading Monday, according to CoinDesk. The leading cryptocurrency is down 22% from its most recent high recorded last week, plumbing depths last realized on June 8.

The People's Bank of China said that day it summoned representatives

WASHINGTON -- U.S. President Joe Biden's budget request for a fund aimed at deterring China in the Indo-Pacific has come under fire from lawmakers arguing that his administration's priorities are off target.

The friction with Congress -- including some members of Biden's own Democratic Party -- over the Pacific Deterrence Initiative underscores confusion in the administration over how to handle the Pentagon's pivot to China.

The program was set up earlier this year to fund base infrastructure and joint exercises with allies

TOKYO -- Japan hopes to remake itself as a nation full of foreign executives that overseas businesses are eager to pour money into.

To that end, the government aims to roughly double the number of senior foreign executives in the country by 2030. The number of foreigners working in Japan under a business manager visa will be raised to about 200,000 from around 95,000 in 2019.

By bringing in more foreigners with managerial and technical knowhow, Japan

From Anwar Al Hejazi, President of Aramco Asia.

As many countries continue to struggle with the biggest health and economic crisis of modern times, there have been fears that the COVID-19 pandemic could overshadow and perhaps derail the push toward a cleaner future for our planet.

Against this backdrop, Asia has forged an impressive path that can serve as a model for others. On the one hand, countries have taken decisive actions necessary to stop the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, they remain

Kenneth E. Thorpe is a professor of health policy at Emory University and advisory board member for the Partnership to Fight Infectious Disease.

In the pandemic's early days, while Western countries struggled to tamp down surging case numbers and prop up health systems on the brink of collapse, Japan could take comfort in the fact that the pandemic was mostly under control within its borders.

COVID-19 has claimed just over 14,000 Japanese lives to date, compared with 600,000

SINGAPORE -- As superpower encounters go these days, it was par for the course.

At the online ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting Plus, or ADMM-Plus, on June 16, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pushed Washington's vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. His Chinese counterpart, Gen. Wei Fenghe, vowed to protect Beijing's "core interests." The world has heard both points countless times.

But for Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen, the important thing

TOKYO -- Japan's lifting of the coronavirus state of emergency in areas including Tokyo and Osaka has brought alcohol back to bars and restaurants, to the relief of both drinkers and businesses battered by lockdowns .

Customers were drinking Monday afternoon at restaurants in Tokyo's Ameya Yokocho shopping district. An 86-year-old from the Tokyo suburb of Chofu ordered a mug of beer and a bowl of rice topped with sashimi. The man received his second vaccine dose early this month, and "got the urge to

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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-- Myanmar

JAKARTA -- Indonesia and Canada will begin negotiations on a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, both countries said on Monday, as the Southeast Asian nation steps up its economic diplomacy under President Joko Widodo.

In a joint statement, they agreed to open talks covering areas including "market access, rules to facilitate trade and investment, and cooperation, taking into account each other's sensitivities and different levels of development." The first round will be held "at the earliest opportunity," they added.

Canada was Indonesia's