ASEAN Tech

The Philippines Blocked Discord for a Day, Without a Court Order

The block followed a 24-hour ultimatum over child safety and ended after the platform promised new measures. The legal basis was never tested.

30 Sep 2026 · 4 min read

ASEAN Tech

Thailand's THIM Immigration App Reads Your Passport Chip and Scans Your Face

THIM launched formally on 25 September with the digital arrival card on board. The bureau plans to add visa extensions and 90-day reporting.

28 Sep 2026 · 4 min read

ASEAN Tech

Amazon's Vietnam Satellite Licence Covers Testing Dishes, Not Selling Internet

Hanoi granted Amazon Kuiper a nationwide private network on 23 September to test terminals made in the country. Starlink still holds the consumer pilot.

27 Sep 2026 · 4 min read

Finance

Why China withholds more tax from the same salary by December

A ¥20,000 salary in China is withheld ¥318 in January and ¥1,060 from May. The tax is annual and the payslip is a running payment towards it. Here is how cumulative withholding works, and the job starts, job changes, bonuses and late deductions that leave a balance to settle in spring.

27 Sep 2026 · 8 min read

Finance

How much MPF comes out of your salary in Hong Kong

You and your employer each pay 5% of your relevant income, you pay nothing below HK$7,100 a month, and neither of you pays more than HK$1,500. But the floor is really HK$280 a day, so across a band of pay a weekly-paid worker is not required to contribute while a monthly-paid one on the same annual salary is.

27 Sep 2026 · 6 min read

ASEAN Tech

Ho Chi Minh City Utility Warns Data Centres It May Cut Power in Tariff Dispute

The dispute is over which electricity rate applies, and 11.35 billion dong is owed. The same week, a US-funded study began on a 300 MW AI campus planned for the same city.

27 Sep 2026 · 6 min read

ASEAN Tech

Singapore's Second and Third Mobile Operators Confirm Talks

StarHub and Keppel told the exchange on 23 September that they are discussing M1, while stating there is no certainty whatsoever. Nothing has been agreed, and a previous sale collapsed in May.

26 Sep 2026 · 5 min read

ASEAN Tech

UnionPay Says Its QR Network Reaches Every ASEAN Country

The figure was disclosed at a trade fair in Nanning, not audited. A 90 per cent fall in fraud at pilot banks arrives with no methodology attached.

25 Sep 2026 · 4 min read

Finance

How to write the amount on a Hong Kong cheque in words

English or Chinese are both accepted, and whichever you write, the words beat the figures. Write HK$10,001 in Chinese and one character goes missing in almost every online converter, including ours until this week: we ran 29,877 amounts through four of them and every single error was the same dropped zero.

25 Sep 2026 · 9 min read

ASEAN Tech

An Investor Paid Above Market for Enablence's Vietnamese Chip Capacity

Enablence sold 3,226,000 shares at C$7.75 to a single buyer for about C$25 million. A Foxconn unit has been building its optical chips in Vietnam since August.

22 Sep 2026 · 5 min read