TOKYO -- A promising Myanmar swimmer is calling on the International Olympic Committee to ban the Myanmar Olympic Committee from representing the country in the upcoming Tokyo Games, saying it "does not share Olympic values."

"The Myanmar Olympic Committee cannot be a part of that Olympic movement because it is essentially operating as an extension of the military's rule," Win Htet Oo told Nikkei Asia.

The 26-year-old swimmer, who currently lives in Australia, last month said in a Facebook post that by

SINGAPORE -- A coronavirus-induced labor shortage is deepening in Singapore, where fears of explosive outbreaks in South Asia prompted the government to cut off flows of workers the city-state relies on.

Foreign nationals comprise about a third of the total workforce in Singapore. Sectors such as construction and shipbuilding depend heavily on low-cost labor from India and Bangladesh, in particular. But even before the authorities stopped entries from India in late April and other South Asian nations in early May, departures and tighter travel rules were keeping

HONG KONG -- China's long-form video platforms are stepping up acquisitions of popular media content and producing their own shows to lure back viewers from short-video apps.

Baidu-backed iQiyi, Alibaba's Youku and Tencent Video all reported better-than-expected user growth in their most recent quarterly earnings thanks to the popularity of several self-produced variety shows and TV series.

The increased emphasis on original content at China's trio of big video streaming platforms echoes the successful approach of global companies

SHANGHAI -- Shares of Chinese infant formula and parenting product makers were mostly higher on Tuesday, following Beijing's move to loosen family planning controls and permit couples to have a third child.

Baby formula producer Beingmate Baby & Child Food opened 6.5% higher, at 6.40 yuan, on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, building on a 8.1% gain on Monday when the policy change was announced. The Hangzhou-based company is one of China's largest baby formula makers, sourcing raw

TOKYO -- The COVID-19 pandemic may be helping to halt a trend that many had thought irreversible: the concentration of Japanese businesses in central Tokyo.

The number of Japanese companies that have moved their headquarters from the center of Tokyo in fiscal 2020 increased more than 20% from fiscal 2019, according to data from National Tax Agency.

Relocations to the suburbs or regional cities by small and midsize companies, especially service operations, signaled a fairly dramatic change brought about by the pandemic

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:

-- Myanmar

JAKARTA -- As Indonesia considers tax increases to cover stimulus spending sparked by the pandemic, the country's business community warns that higher levies could dampen a nascent economic recovery after four straight quarters of contraction.

The Finance Ministry contemplates two options for a hike in the value-added tax: raising the current across-the-board rate, or enacting separate rates for different categories of goods and minimizing increases on food and other necessities. The ministry envisions the change taking effect next year.

The VAT options are part of

MANILA -- Philippine food juggernaut Monde Nissin debuted on the stock exchange on Tuesday after a record initial public offering that gave the company additional capital to expand its key noodle and plant-based meat segments.

The company, which makes the Philippines' bestselling instant noodle line, Lucky Me!, and owns U.K. meat-substitute brand Quorn, raised 48.6 billion pesos ($1 billion) in the country's biggest-ever IPO last month.

But trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange got

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:

-- Myanmar