HONG KONG -- Tokyo blue-chip Recruit Holdings, one of Japan's biggest staffing services groups, faces a decision that could make or break a $4.39 billion bid to take former Chinese business ally 51job private and delist its shares from the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Recruit first invested in 51job in 2006 and still holds 34.8% of its Chinese counterpart, where a management-linked group put forward a renewed proposal on May 4 to acquire all outstanding

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:

-- Suu

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:

-- Suu

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:

-- Suu

HONG KONG -- From limiting public access to corporate information to a potential travel ban, new rules and proposals by the Hong Kong government have raised concerns over the city's future as a free and open economic hub.

The Hong Kong government last month announced plans to allow companies to limit information available to the public on the city's companies registry. The registry currently includes data like the addresses and ID numbers of corporate executives.

The government in explaining the move cited a rampant misuse of personal information. But some

WASHINGTON -- Stimulus checks of up to $1,400, the centerpiece of President Joe Biden's coronavirus relief package approved in March, are reaching unintended recipients -- noncitizens who are no longer living in the U.S.

Japanese citizens who have left America a long time ago appear to be among them. Some people posted on the internet that they were surprised to receive stimulus checks from the U.S. Treasury.

The checks were sent out based on incomes claimed on tax returns to U

BEIJING -- The northern landlocked Chinese province of Shanxi marked the birth of a new bank formed through the merger of five regional lenders last month with the ceremonial unveiling of a new bank sign.

Shanxi Bank is capitalized at 24 billion yuan ($3.7 billion), making the institution the second-largest municipal commercial bank in China. The largest lender in that category, Sichuan Bank, was formed last November through the merger of two commercial banks in Sichuan Province.

The formation of Shanxi and Sichuan banks is

SHANGHAI -- China spent a record 213.6 billion yuan ($33 billion) in industry subsidies in 2020, eager to shore up key sectors including semiconductors and defense in its heated technology race with the U.S.

The figure represents a 14% increase from a year earlier, with payments to 113 businesses in the semiconductor sector totaling 10.6 billion yuan, or a 12-fold expansion from a decade ago. The figures were compiled by Nikkei

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

Joe Biden, it seems fair to say, had Yoshihide Suga at Konnichiwa .

The pained bromance between their predecessors -- U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe -- had all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship: Trump as bully; Abe as helpless subjugate.

Enter foreign-policy-fluent Biden, who envisions a monumentally different dynamic