Asias

The rapid digitalisation of finance in Asia could pose new risks to financial system stability, Bank of Japan (BOJ) governor Kazuo Ueda said on Wednesday, stressing the right balance is needed between the benefits and costs of financial innovation.Digital financial services have spread dramatically in the Asia-Pacific region as many people living in emerging nations, who still do not have access to face-to-face financial services, jumped at the convenience of smartphones to make daily payments.Elevate Your Tech Prowess…

a) Levallois points (1–3); b) other tool types including denticulate on blade (1, 2), denticulate on flake (3), and end scraper (4); c) tanged tools showing the locations of notched retouching (red) and thinning of the tangs (light blue). Credit: IVPP A team of researchers from China, Australia, France, Spain, and Germany has revealed advanced material culture in East Asia dating to 45,000 years ago. The new study is published…

Image Source : FILE Generative AI to help boost worker retention in Asia's top firms by 60 per cent Around 60 per cent of Asia's top companies are expected to upgrade their hardware and software technologies. The implementation will start to take place in 2025 and the decision has been taken to increase worker retention with personalised work experiences, along with…

Around 60% of Asia's top companies will upgrade hardware and software technologies by 2025 to increase worker retention with personalised work experiences and enhanced collaboration, according to a new report by IDC."By 2026, businesses that link GenAI to smart document handling will discover 20% more ways to use it, boosting productivity, scalability, and delivering better customer experiences," the IDC report predicted.Elevate Your Tech Prowess with High-Value Skill CoursesOffering CollegeCourseWebsiteIIT DelhiIITD…

There are times when other customers browsing the malls in Gifu city, Japan, seem to wonder why Kenneth Gongon Watanabe is buying so many items, and why he is talking so energetically on his phone.But the goods in his trolleys – which can range from hoards of shoes and anime socks, to stacks of Japanese sweets and matcha latte powders – are not for him. They’re actually being bought by dozens of customers in Watanabe’s home country, the Philippines, who follow live on Facebook as he browses the shops.His live broadcasts…

In Western markets, freight forwarders are well into digitizing their operations, but the same doesn’t hold true in Southeast Asia, say the founders of Fr8Labs. The reasons for that include the lack of localized software and a more fragmented logistics industry where SMBs dominate. Fr8Labs wants to digitize Asia’s logistics industry with its SaaS operating system and has plans to turn it into an open ecosystem that multiple players can tap into with APIs. The Singapore and Indonesia-based startup announced today it…

Total fertility rate in Thailand and comparison of sex ratios at birth in Thailand vis-à-vis China, Vietnam and the world average, 1950–2020. Sources: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2019). World Population Prospects 2019, custom data acquired via website. Sex ratios at birth (as in male births per 100 female births) in Thailand, China, Vietnam and the world average are plotted on the primary vertical axis…

So far, about 30,000 students a month are using the solution, which is designed to assist Taiwan in its goal to become bilingual in Chinese and English by 2030. “We want to help our students quickly enhance their English skills to compete with other countries,” says Howard Hao-Jan Chen, an English professor at National Taiwan Normal University. Early concerns about generative AI in education centered around fears students would cheat or miss out on key steps in their learning. However, Microsoft’s Bartley Johns cites the…

A scientist drills into a massive Porites coral off the coast of Taiwan. The meter-long coral core recorded more than 2 decades of erosion during the region’s economic development. Credit: Yi Liu Economic expansion leaves indelible marks on coral chemistry, according to a new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. By analyzing barium levels in coral cores, scientists can access decades-old records of…

Monsoon Wind, Southeast Asia’s largest onshore wind farm, is Laos’ first wind project, and it’s also the region’s first cross-border wind power plant. The 600-megawatt (MW) Monsoon Wind, which is owned by Thailand-based Impact Energy Asia Development, has just kicked off construction. The site is in southeastern Laos, in the Sekong and Attapeu provinces, at an elevation of 1,200-1,600 meters (3,937-5,249 feet) above sea level. The 133-wind turbine wind farm will sell its power to…