TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that he believes rigorous control measures will "make it possible to hold a safe and secure Tokyo Olympics while protecting the lives and health of our citizens."

His statement comes the same day the government expanded its COVID-19 state of emergency to include three more prefectures amid rising infections.

Despite the rapid increase in new cases and seriously ill patients, Suga noted at a press conference on Friday evening that Pfizer's vaccine donations to participating athletes, border controls

NEW YORK -- With more people receiving vaccines for the coronavirus every day in developed countries, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian is hopeful the aviation industry has finally cleared the heaviest turbulence caused by the more-than-yearlong pandemic that has closed borders and grounded flights.

In a recent interview with Nikkei at Delta's headquarters in Atlanta, Bastian said travel demand was recovering quickly at least at home, and that the U.S. travel industry could rebound by summer.

But not all travel is expected to return

TOKYO -- Lawmakers from Japan's ruling party on Friday drafted proposals for the government to beef up its human rights diplomacy with steps such as ratifying a United Nations convention on genocide and introducing legislation to enable sanctions.

The recommendations from the Liberal Democratic Party's Foreign Affairs Division also urge government support for corporate due diligence on human rights risks. The party plans to submit the proposals this month.

The move comes amid growing scrutiny of alleged Chinese abuses against the Uyghur Muslim population in Xinjiang, and concern that 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.

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TOKYO -- Japan's controversial immigration bill designed to reform the deportation process has faced staunch opposition in parliament, with the recent death of a Sri Lankan woman in custody raising questions about the nation's lengthy detentions of foreigners.

Opposition lawmakers have seized on her death to denounce the bill, which they fear would make deportation easier, even as the ruling coalition moves to pass the measure in the lower house next week.

Ratnayake Liyanage Wishma Sandamali, 33, died in a detention facility in March this year,

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics has enlisted some of pop culture's biggest names from the worlds of music, fashion and sports in a bid to gain the attention of consumers in a smartphone industry where it is becoming harder and harder to stand out.

Last month, Samsung released Adidas-branded wireless Galaxy Buds earbuds, targeting design-focused young consumers. The 6,000 limited-edition pairs have already sold out in South Korea.

With smartphones and accessories showing symptoms of the commodification that has plagued TVs and

SHANGHAI -- With China cracking down on the country's tech giants, Alibaba Group Holding has extended an olive branch to longtime rival Tencent Holdings in a shift away from exclusionary platforms long at the heart of its business strategy.

The leading e-commerce provider has long enjoyed strong earnings buoyed by its grip on the massive Chinese market. But antitrust pressures and its struggle to diversify have cast doubt over its ability to continue growing long term, especially as the company grapples with its first-ever quarterly loss since going public

Lizzie O'Shea is a lawyer. She is author of "Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us about Digital Technology."

Just over a year ago, international borders closed as part of the unprecedented emergency response to the pandemic.

Governments began to experiment with technological solutions to managing the movement of people, specifically at borders, but also more broadly for the purposes of contact tracing and enforcing social distancing rules. Since then, we have witnessed the rapid acceleration of the

NEW YORK -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will soon travel to Denmark, Iceland and Greenland on a trip that spans nearly all of next week and aims to signal the Biden administration's focus on the Arctic region.

Blinken will visit Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Kangerlussuaq from Sunday to Thursday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement. In Rekyavik, Blinken will participate in the May 19-20 Arctic Council Ministerial and hold bilateral meetings, including with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.