TAIPEI -- Two more Taiwan tech suppliers have been hit by COVID-19 clusters, in a further threat to supply chain continuity amid the global semiconductor shortage.

After King Yuan Electronics Co suspended all domestic production on Friday, chip packaging and testing supplier Greatek Electronics and networking gear provider Accton Technology have also reported clusters among employees.

The two companies have production sites near a King Yuan plant in Miaoli County, which has confirmed 263 cases as of Sunday -- 219 of them among foreign workers,

SEOUL -- As South Korean President Moon Jae-in finds himself facing a backlash from the country's disillusioned youth, a 36-year-old political novice has taken a step closer to leading the party that will challenge Moon's Democrats in next year's presidential election.

"We will transform into a youthful People Power Party that the younger generation will recognize as bearing no resemblance to the party they once knew," Lee Jun-seok, the rising star of the main opposition party, said

BRUSSELS/NEW YORK/TOKYO -- Japan intends to issue COVID-19 inoculation certificates this summer to vaccinated residents traveling abroad, hoping to give business travel and other economic activities a boost, Nikkei has learned.

Such so-called vaccine passports are gaining use around the world. The European Union will adopt them in July ahead of lifting restrictions on travel within the bloc.

Some senior Japanese government officials already carry unofficial certificates when they travel to Europe, the U.S. or elsewhere because they increasingly are asked

William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."

As the globe sees flickers of light at the end of the pandemic-era tunnel, the view from Bangkok looks rather dark.

Much of the Asia-Pacific region is gearing up for a 2022 reopening and recovery cycle. Southeast Asia's No. 2 economy is on a 2023 track. This timeline does not come from overseas

TOKYO/NEW DELHI/SHANGHAI -- India's gold retailers who had put all their hopes on the annual festival season last month have been disappointed by sluggish sales after most parts of the country were locked down to fight an explosion of COVID infections.

They must now pin their hopes on the next big peak period after India's Monsoon season ends, hoping that the COVID crisis eases and that gold prices -- which have rebounded from lows in March -- remain favourable to encourage buying. Demand for gold from

TOKYO -- U.S. private equity giant KKR plans to ramp up investment in Japan's cloud-based software startups, the latest sign that investors believe businesses will continue to adopt digital services to tackle labor shortages.

KKR, whose tech portfolio includes China's ByteDance, Indonesia's Gojek and India's Jio Platforms, recently completed raising a $15 billion Asia fund. In addition to its strategy of buying out noncore businesses from conglomerates, it plans to make about two investments in Japan'

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.

Read our in-depth coverage:

-- International

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.

Read our in-depth coverage:

-- International

TOKYO -- Sony Group appears poised at long last to resolve the main management challenge it has faced for the past 20 years: how to combine its wide-ranging "software" operations -- music, movies, finance -- with its former flagship electronics business. Similar issues vex conglomerates around the world.

Sony Chairman and CEO Kenichiro Yoshida made his first public remarks since the company added "Group" to the Sony name in April in an online briefing on May 26. The event attracted a great deal