Japan M&A deals reach all-time high on foreign buyers

Japanese companies have faced a growing wave of cyberattacks in recent weeks, exposing millions of customers’ records as analysts warn that artificial intelligence is helping hackers exploit long-standing security weaknesses and overcome language barriers that once offered some protection. More than 500 breaches of corporate systems were reported in the year to this month, surpassing the total for all of 2025, the Yomiuri newspaper reported last week. On October 7, a ransomware attack on IDC...

The Australian defence ministry has launched an investigation into how a video recording device ended up in the cabin of a navy ship. The device was discovered aboard the HMAS Leeuwin, docked in the northeastern city of Cairns in the state of Queensland. Senator Jacqui Lambie – a prominent advocate for the Australian armed forces – said she had received a message from a former member of the navy claiming concealed cameras had been found in the women’s showers. “Even more disturbing are claims...

China’s exports grew last month at the fastest pace in almost any month since the end of the global financial crisis.

The case of Hokkaido Shimbun correspondent Imai Yuki could chill reporting from Russia’s Far East and narrow the space for even limited diplomatic engagement.

Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML expects China to account for about 20 per cent of its total sales this year, after seeing shipments to the market more than double during the previous quarter despite mounting US pressure for tighter export restrictions on less advanced chipmaking machinery. The company’s sales to China surged 109 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous three months, according to financial results released on Wednesday. That took China’s share of ASML’s...

Political donations, lobbying, and community influence help gambling companies block major policy reforms and protect huge profits.

Insights from Emily Feng.

A plan to confront Beijing without subsequent outreach toward Southeast Asian countries will sacrifice national imperatives for willing partners, and those are hard to come by.

Philippine officials want a new anti-foreign interference law ahead of the 2028 presidential election, as a raid on a suspected online scam centre near the country’s military headquarters and reports of Chinese-linked money transfers to a company tied to Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s family fuel national security concerns. On Monday, immigration and military operatives arrested 76 foreigners at a facility in Quezon City suspected of being linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators...

The rapid and unbridled development of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to disrupt the US economy in a way that is comparable to the “China shock” that displaced American workers, former US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo warns. Speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi on Tuesday, she drew parallels between AI’s potential disruption to American jobs and the past impact of Chinese manufacturing competition on the US labour market. “In America, we’ve seen what...

Competition can generate incentives for restraint, and restraint can create opportunities for further competition.

Tokyo summoned Russia’s ambassador after a Japanese reporter was arrested in Russia’s far east and accused of collecting military intelligence.