The evolution of morality and ethics in the 21st century has taken a whole new direction, owing to the mass awareness and participation made possible by the ubiquity of social media. Throughout history, there have been discoveries that have changed society in unimaginable ways. Two important developments that shaped the history of moral evolution can be mentioned here. First, written language has revolutionised the communication of ideas over space and time. Second, new modes of transport radically transformed social norms by bringing people into contact with new cultures. Both these epoch-making events contributed significantly in shaping and reshaping moral thinking…
Author: Asia News Network
5G is changing businesses worldwide, and Vietnam is catching up very quickly, being among the first countries to deploy 5G trials. The Dau tu (Investment) Newspaper organised a talk titled “Getting 5G Ready for Vietnam’s Digital Transformation” on April 4. All three major carriers, including VinaPhone, MobiFone, and Viettel, have started their 5G journey by announcing the trial of the service in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City at the end of 2020 and then consecutively expanded to other cities. The 5G network was commercially tested by three operators, Viettel, VNPT and MobiFone, in 16 provinces and cities…
South Korea’s SK Square is poised for two stock market flotations of its key affiliates – a mobile app marketplace and a security service – on the Korea Exchange in May, filings showed on April 4. The initial public offerings (IPO) of the subsidiaries will amount to up to 1.33 trillion won ($1.09 billion) if combined, in the first two attempts since SK Square was spun off from Korea’s largest telecom carrier SK Telecom. SK Shieldus, a security service subsidiary of SK Square formerly known as ADT Caps, aims to attract up to 1.05 trillion won by offering 27.1 million…
Real estate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are expected to be a good source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam this year, said Savills, forecasting that M&A activity is likely to increase in terms of frequency and value. Le Thi Phuong Lan, head of Investment, Savills Hanoi, believes Vietnam has enormous investment potential, saying: “Foreign investors should be aware of the potential obstacles within M&A deals.” Vietnam has an active M&A market. In 2021, real estate businesses received more than $31 billion of registered FDI. However, disbursed capital decreased by $1.6 billion year-on-year and reached $2.6 billion. The M&A outlook…
Vietnam’s Covid-19-hit rental real estate market is bouncing back from hibernation as the successful vaccination campaign nationwide has allowed the reopening of economic activities, pushing up demand. The market saw increases in the number of listings and searches for rental properties in recent months. For more than two years, the rental market fell into hibernation due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic with social distancing measures in place to fight the spread of the virus. However, from the beginning of this year, the successful vaccination campaign allowed the reopening of economic activities with people returning to work, stores and…
The gap between people categorised as South Korea’s wealthiest and the poorest groups has been growing sharply in recent years, with houses, buildings and land owned by the top 20 per cent valued at an average 251 times higher than that owned by the bottom 20 per cent, a report showed on April 5. The report suggested pandemic-triggered inflation as a key reason behind the widening economic polarisation. Koreans in the top 20 per cent income bracket had real estate valued at a combined 1.2 billion won ($990,000) on average as of last year, while the bottom 20 per cent’s…
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s pledge to restore relations with Tokyo appears likely to experience difficulties, with the issue of distorting history in Japanese textbooks reemerging. Yoon stressed Seoul-Tokyo relations as a priority during his campaign, and expectations have risen since his election win. Yoon is reportedly considering sending a delegation to Japan for policy coordination and to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida around May. Before Yoon could put his words into action, however, an issue pertaining to Japanese history textbooks arose. In late March, Japan released evaluations of its textbooks, including history and geography. The textbooks include the claim…
A public opinion poll conducted by Australian think tank Lowy Institute has found that although the majority of Indonesians were committed to democracy, many showed a high level of confidence in authoritarian leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The survey found that four in 10 respondents, or 40 per cent of those surveyed, said they had confidence in Putin. “It should be noted, though, that this survey was conducted prior to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine,” the think tank said in a statement. The survey also showed that respondents had a preference for other authoritarian leaders like Saudi Arabia’s Crown…
The key to effective engagement between the US and ASEAN is that it is multifaceted, with many strands, Kurt Campbell, Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific at the National Security Council, said on Tuesday in Washington. Referring to a US-ASEAN summit that President Joe Biden wants to host in Washington sometime in the spring – that is, quite soon, but with no dates given – Campbell said: “In fact, that is the key that we seek when the leaders come to Washington.” Campbell, a former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009-2013 under former President Barack Obama,…
Closed-circuit Television (CCTV) cameras are helping police to monitor and resolve crimes, with almost 100 incidents of anti-social activity recorded by cameras last year. The issue was tabled for discussion at a recent meeting of the CCTV Control Centre of the Police Department of the Ministry of Public Security, when the centre’s work over the past year was summarised and plans for this year were outlined. The meeting was chaired by the director of the CCTV Control Centre, Colonel Khonesy Naovalath. Deputy Director Lieutenant Colonel Bolivong Vongluanglath said that over the past year the centre had set up an emergency…