Headlines

The second death of SaaS

‍Silicon shock, token inequality, and techflation are no longer fringe theories floated on these pages. They have become the invisible gravity warping the global economy, rewriting policy, and keeping politicians awake at night. In January, when we called silicon shock an

Asia

China’s humanoid robots moving in as Asia’s workforce ages out

While the world focuses on the “tech cold war” and “de-risking” between the US and China, a quiet “tech truce” is unfolding at the baggage loading areas of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. As Japan faces a critical labor shortage and an aging workforce, it is turning to Chinese-made

Asia

Washington brought a memorandum to a war made of history

American power has a tell. When faced with a war it wants to end, Washington develops a comprehensive plan that includes phased withdrawals, monitoring arrangements, economic incentives, and a timeline. It then acts as though the document itself were the peace. This has gone on

Asia

Yen hovers near 40-year low against dollar

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama's conversation with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday helped the yen recover from a low of 161.93 per dollar, just short of the 161.96 level last seen in December 1996.

Asia

Lebanon tries to find a place on the map

In the jigsaw puzzle of Middle East peace talks under way, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun is trying to remind the warring parties in the current Middle East wars that his country is important, too. He worries because two powerful adversaries, Iran and the United States, appear

Asia

China sanctions US defense, rare earth firms in retaliation

China hit back at Washington on Monday with a sweeping two-pronged retaliation, barring government departments from buying products from 46 US defense contractors and blacklisting 10 American companies from receiving Chinese dual-use exports. The Ministry of Finance announced

Asia

Before SpaceX IPO, investors in China secretly acquired stakes

This article was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom. A businessman with ties to Chinese military contractors was among the overseas investors who acquired stakes in SpaceX while it was still a private company. An entity linked to the Qatari

Asia

Peace or not, the Middle East will now lean more toward China

The most important question about the US-Israel-Iran war is no longer one of who has lost. It is obvious that everyone has lost but that Iran has lost less badly than the others. Nor is it important to ask how humiliating the peace “memorandum” Iran and the US signed this week

Asia