TAIPEI -- Taiwan's government has said it restored power after a massive series of outages Thursday afternoon left millions of households without electricity and risked the production continuity of the island's booming tech companies.

The economic ministry said that the electricity supply was restored by 8 p.m. local time. In an address to the public, President Tsai Ing-wen apologized for the outages.

A malfunction caused four generators to trip at Hsinta Power Plant in the southern city of Kaohsiung around 3 p.m. This

PARIS -- Nationalism has been sweeping Europe over the last decade or so, with countries from the U.K. to Hungary now led by flag-waving leaders. France could be next.

Marine Le Pen, a far-right French politician, is tipped to run incumbent Emmanuel Macron close in next spring's presidential election. Macron's popularity will depend on his government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Le Pen is seeking to woo voters by focusing on public safety issues.

NEW YORK/SILICON VALLEY -- The key gasoline pipeline on the east coast of the U.S. shut down by a ransomware cyberattack has resumed operation, although it could take two weeks before fuel supply returns to normality.

Colonial Pipeline, the largest in the country, reopened the 8,800-kilometer pipeline from Texas to New York on Wednesday after it was shut down by a group of hackers that called themselves DarkSide.

But it could still take two weeks for newly poured gasoline supplies to reach New

HONG KONG -- Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba Group Holding swung to a net loss of 5.5 billion yuan ($850 million) in the January-to-March quarter, hit by a record 18 billion yuan fine from Beijing over anticompetitive practices.

"We recorded a loss this quarter for the first time since our history as a public company," said Daniel Zhang, chairman and chief executive, on a call with analysts Thursday.

Zhang said the company has gone through "all kinds

DALIAN, China -- Chinese market regulators have fined a pair of major distance learning startups 2.5 million yuan ($387,000) each for engaging in false advertising and misleading consumers on pricing.

Zuoyebang, an online tutor backed by SoftBank Group and Alibaba Group Holding, was found to have stated falsely on its website that the company is working in cooperation with the United Nations. Yuanfudao, an ed-tech startup with Tencent Holdings among its investors, claimed incorrectly that it offered "one

JAKARTA -- The U.S.-China tug of war for influence in Southeast Asia looks to intensify in the coming weeks with a pair of ministerial meetings in the works, including Beijing's first face-to-face gathering with the regional bloc since early last year.

Beijing and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are planning a meeting of foreign ministers June 7-8, possibly in China, an ASEAN diplomatic source said.

The two sides have avoided in-person talks since a February 2

TOKYO -- SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son told Nikkei on Thursday that his Japanese tech conglomerate wants to more than double its Vision Fund portfolio to 500 companies, bringing dozens to public markets every year.

The ambition comes despite big gyrations in the values of SoftBank's tech portfolio and shows that Son -- who said his investments took "courage" -- is intensifying his group's focus on using its multibillion dollar Vision Funds to pick new tech winners.

"My focus is completely narrowed down

HONG KONG -- The political winds of change are blowing in Samoa, as voters anxiously await a Supreme Court decision expected Friday that will likely determine if they head back to the polls on May 21.

The island nation's April 9 election pitted one of the world's longest-serving prime ministers, Tuilaepa Aiono Sailele Malielegaoi, against former deputy Fiame Naomi Mata'afa -- a challenger who could become the country's first female leader. Her opposition party was on track to win with a one

TOKYO -- Japan and the U.S. will begin discussing concrete measures to pressure China to curb greenhouse gas emissions, including ending preferential treatment on climate issues afforded to Beijing as a developing economy.

They believe that China must step up its efforts as the world's second-largest economy, and plan to raise the issue at the Group of Seven summit next month in the U.K. and the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP26, in November.

Under a bilateral climate partnership launched