TOKYO -- First-quarter data from major economies has underscored how the response to the coronavirus pandemic can make the difference between fiscal growth and malaise.

The U.S. economy has expanded for three straight quarters through March while China logged four consecutive quarters of growth. China contained its coronavirus epidemic earlier than other major countries, and the U.S. has reaped dividends from its stimulus payments and vaccine rollout.

Japan, on the other hand, saw its economy contract for the first time in three quarters in January

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

When the health of Japan's 126 million people falls to the nation's CEOs, you know you are in serious trouble.

Hey, it is great that corporate chieftains are ringing alarm bells about a surefire super-spreader event. Case in point: Hiroshi Mikitani, head of Rakuten, Japan's biggest e-commerce company, calling the

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

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks took a wild ride on Wednesday, setting up a potentially volatile day in Asian trading after China's regulatory crackdown on cryptocurrencies erased billions of dollars from the value of bitcoin and other digital money.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by as much as 580 points, or 1.7%, in a broad sell-off in early trading, but narrowed its losses to close at a 0.48% decline. The S&P 500

MANILA -- Philippine e-commerce company Great Deals has raised $30 million as the pandemic sparks a boom in the country's digital economy.

The fresh capital will fund the construction of an automated warehouse that can handle a million transactions daily, and lays the groundwork for an overseas expansion that is set to begin in the next few years, Great Deals founder and CEO Steve Sy told Nikkei Asia.

The funding round was led by local logistics company Fast Group, whose investment will help Great Deals reduce shipping costs

NEW DELHI -- Sanjeev Joshipura and his family are safe and well in Washington D.C. but they live in a state of fear. Every time the phone rings or WhatsApp pings, "We get goose-bumps."

A father of two, Joshipura, 44, migrated from Mumbai, India's financial capital, in 2000, leaving behind a large extended family. He and his wife Radhika are both naturalized U.S. citizens but they worry constantly about their COVID-1

HANOI -- After shutting down four industrial parks in northern Vietnam on Tuesday, authorities are scrambling to smother outbreaks of COVID-19 at other parks to protect the country's position as a regional manufacturing hub.

Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City, the country's southern commercial center, say they are taking new measures to accelerate mass testing to detect infections among workers. The city has 17 export processing zones, industrial parks and high-tech zones where 1,500 companies employ some 28

TOKYO -- Nikkei Inc. on June 1 will reshuffle the component stocks of the Nikkei Asia300 Investable Index, which gauges the performance of 300 fast-growing Asian companies.

Chinese online search company Baidu will be among 26 stocks joining the index, while 18 others -- including Indian auto parts maker Motherson Sumi Systems -- will be removed.

The index comprises listed companies in 10 Asian markets based on factors such as market capitalization, trading value, revenue growth and percentage of public

Henny Sender is a managing director at BlackRock in Hong Kong, and a senior adviser to the BlackRock Investment Institute.

Earlier this month, one of China's largest conglomerates held a conference in Beijing to address what the company plans to do in support of the government's environmental targets.

One by one, every one of the company's dozens of large subsidiaries, from its financial arms to its specialty steelmaking unit, announced ambitious goals.

Such events are now a feature of corporate life in China. Beijing'