MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9% to its highest since April 2022, while the Nikkei was close to its peak, the Topix hit all-time highs, and the Hang Seng rose for a fourth straight day

Two military drones were found at a port disguised as wind turbine parts, Italian officials said; they were seized because of a UN embargo linked to Libya's civil war

BYD opened an electric vehicle factory in Rayong on Thailand's eastern seaboard on Thursday, as China's grip on the local car sector ramps up

India has suffered water shortages for decades, but crises are now more frequent as summers get hotter, disrupting agriculture and industry and risking social unrest

Two billion parcels with a declared value of less than 150 euros arrived in the EU from outside countries in 2023

A Senate committee has recommended that Australia's corporate regulator be split in two, because the scope it has to cover is so large it launches relatively few prosecutions

Many Chinese battery-makers have invested in the African nation recently as JVs with local firms in countries with trade deals with the US may get tax credits

Among the top applicants for GenAI patents were China's ByteDance - which owns video app TikTok - and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group

South Korea's Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution opened the first EV battery plant in Indonesia on Wednesday. It is part of a $9.8bn plan to set up an EV supply chain in SE Asia's biggest economy

Confidence in China's services sector hit a 4-year low in June, according to a private survey, which blamed a drop in foreign orders. Meanwhile, Japan also saw a slide in services activity.

The EU is set to confirm provisional tariffs on Chinese EVs on Thursday, but many states are yet to decide on whether tariffs or a negotiated solution is the better outcome

Any larger scale or protracted industrial action would be a headache for Samsung as it scrambles to catch up with rivals in chips used for artificial intelligence