MATSU, TAIWAN -- In the darkness, Chinese ships edge closer to Taiwan's Matsu Islands, at times entering Taiwan-controlled waters. They are not military vessels, but huge sand dredgers that spend hours pumping up tons of sand from the ocean floor. There are so many lit boats they resemble traffic on a highway, and their loud mechanical rumblings echo across the otherwise quiet islands.

Dozens -- and at their peak, hundreds -- of these 2,000-ton vessels have been making

TOKYO -- Honda Motor will stop production of the Clarity fuel cell car this year, the automaker said Tuesday, as part of a broader push to trim underperforming models.

Honda has also decided to stop making the Legend, its top-class gasoline-fueled car, as well as the Odyssey luxury sport utility vehicle. Realigning global manufacturing operations, the Japanese company will focus on electrics to advance toward its goal of selling only zero-emissions vehicles by 2040.

The automaker first rolled out fuel cell vehicles

KOLAR, India -- Kolar, a city in India's southern state of Karnataka, is synonymous with its now-defunct gold fields. Today, the district's key export is "red gold" -- tomatoes being cultivated on over 20,000 hectares. But unlike gold, there are no guarantees in agriculture.

Despite a bumper crop this year, farmers are bitter because prices have crashed on the back of falling demand during the lockdown and restricted movement of traders and goods. A standard

TOKYO -- Around 1,200 doses of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine arrived at the Tokyo headquarters of Japanese trading house Itochu on Tuesday, a key moment in the battle against the coronavirus pandemic for the company and its employees.

"The vaccine gives [us] a positive outlook on the future. We are one step closer to normalization," a company representative told Nikkei Asia.

The long-awaited vaccines are being stored in two freezers the size of a small cooler. Itochu plans to

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's king is expected to host state rulers at a special conference on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, where they are likely to weigh the government's handling of COVID-19 and the state of emergency that expires in six weeks.

The outcome of the huddle could have significant bearing on the country's long political standoff.

Alongside discussions on whether to extend the decree, a key question is whether there will be any call to reconvene parliament, which was suspended in the name of the

Lionel Barber is former editor of the Financial Times. He is author of "The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times."

Benjamin Netanyahu has been the subject of countless political obituaries, but Israel's longest-serving prime minister has always had the last word.

The Israeli parliament's vote on June 13 to oust Netanyahu, or Bibi as he is universally known in Israel, from office may not prove conclusive. The 71-year-old strongman lost his grip on power by

SEOUL (Kyodo) -- South Korea's military and maritime police began a joint defense exercise on Tuesday around a group of islets in the Sea of Japan, local media reported, with Japan protesting the move around the outcroppings it claims.

The South Korean-controlled islets are called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea. South Korea conducts the drill twice a year, usually in June and December.

The latest drill mainly involves maritime training, not a landing exercise, according to the media. The military reportedly

TAIPEI -- As Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen struggles with the island's COVID-19 outbreak, her government faces some tough battles with the opposition on four referendum votes this summer.

Taiwanese on Aug. 28 will vote whether to bring back a ban on U.S. pork imports, resume the building of a nuclear plant, construct a natural gas terminal and move future referendums so that they coincide with elections -- all supported by the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang, or KMT. Tsai's

TAIPEI -- Tech suppliers in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea have been bracketed alongside China as "dangerous risks" to U.S. national security -- underlining how Washington's desire to strengthen its supply chains could rebound on business in Asia.

In a 250-page report released on June 8, U.S. officials produced a comprehensive picture of the country's supply chain vulnerabilities in four key areas: semiconductors, battery technology, pharmaceuticals and minerals.

Much of the report is aimed at