TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that his country is ready to continue talks with Japan toward a postwar peace treaty despite speculation in Moscow that last year's constitutional amendment would prohibit the country from committing to negotiations to resolve a territorial dispute with Tokyo.

"Both Russia and Japan share the strategic interest in concluding a peace treaty," Putin said in response to a question from Kyodo News during an online press conference involving major press agencies around the world.

"We are ready to continue negotiations

HONG KONG/ TAIPEI -- Investors on Friday shrugged off U.S. President Joe Biden's blacklisting of 59 Chinese companies, even as analysts described the move as a "more enforceable" extension of a Trump-era ban on U.S. investment in military-linked entities.

Biden's move also drew warnings that it could hinder American banks' attempt to break into the world's second-biggest economy as it opens up its capital markets.

Shares of most of the listed companies that

HANOI -- Vietnam will launch a public fund to finance the country's effort to secure 120 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of the year, as the country's industrial northern provinces struggle to control the spread of infectious strains of the virus.

The move comes as Hanoi shifts its strategy in dealing with the pandemic from containment to encouraging the population to be inoculated.

Since late April, key industrial parks in two northern provinces, Bac Giang and neighboring Bac Ninh near Hanoi,

TAIPEI -- A leading Taiwanese semiconductor supplier will suspend all domestic production for two days after reporting a COVID infection cluster, risking the continuity of the island's crown-jewel chip supply chain at a time of a global shortage.

King Yuan Electronics, the world's leading chip testing service provider, said it will suspend production at sites in Miaoli and Hsinchu -- the hub of the island's chip industry -- that account for around 80% of its revenue.

The company confirmed that 77

TOKYO -- Japan's restaurants and retailers will soon have to stop giving away plastic forks, spoons and containers under a law passed Friday to cut down on such waste, instead looking into such options as charging for utensils, switching to biodegradables, or letting customers fend for themselves.

Companies that use large amounts of single-use plastic will be required to take steps such as asking customers whether they want utensils, charging a fee for them or switching to products made from biodegradable materials -- or risk fines of up

TOKYO -- The China Coast Guard has been making repeated incursions into waters around the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, marking a record for the number of consecutive days it has done so.

Chinese vessels sailed through the contiguous zone around the islands on Friday for the 112th straight day, according to the Japan Coast Guard. They have entered the contiguous zone every day since mid-February, surpassing the previous record of 111 consecutive days from April to August of 202

TOKYO -- Financial chiefs from the Group of Seven major economies will discuss rules for digital currencies issued by central banks, hoping to bring China's digital yuan into an international regulatory framework.

The G-7 finance ministers, who kicked off a two-day meeting in London on Friday, will sort out potential issues arising from state-issued digital currencies, with the aim of announcing new rules as soon as this fall.

China's aggressive push to issue a digital yuan has raised concerns that it could give

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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HONG KONG -- Despite an official ban in Hong Kong against public commemoration of the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown against student and civilian protesters, people found ways to mourn the event.

The remembrances took part even though most of Victoria Park, where annual candlelight vigils have taken place over the past three decades, had been closed off by police since midafternoon, with warnings issued throughout the evening to people who gathered around the park and other locations to pay tribute to the protests and victims of the crackdown