The current push towards electronic payments in Southeast Asia also increases the need for government regulation and consolidated systems to facilitate the smoothness and security of transactions.The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) recent introduction of the Payments Council in February 2018 is one such example. The Payments Council is being set up with the aim of developing strategies that would drive increased adoption of e-payments.

We outlined in Part 1 how e-commerce taxes are likely to affect the Southeast nations of Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Since e-commerce is transnational by nature, a few technical issues also surface when redefining conventional taxation laws to suit a more international context. It is, however, possible to look at what different jurisdictions have done so far.

Part 1: The need for e-commerce taxes in local economies  The introduction of e-commerce taxes in Singapore is very likely, a Bloomberg survey conducted between 12 economists in February 2018 concluded. Singapore’s next budget tabling, scheduled to take place on 19 February, is anticipated to provide for the taxation of online vendors operating within that region.

Will a rose by any other name smell just as sweet? This may be the key question China's Baofeng Nova Co Ltd is attempting to answer when it created its blockchain-based game, known simply as 'The Rose', which is set to launch worldwide by the end of Valentine’s Day. Blockchain is defined as a digitised, decentralised public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions, according to financial education website, Investopedia.

Technology has changed the way consumers decide about food choices; be it where and when to buy it, or how it should be delivered to them. This in turn influences how the food industry reaches out to its customers today. The challenge for the food industry is to provide highly efficient services while catering to unique customer preferences in different markets across Southeast Asia.

Aircraft makers, Boeing and Airbus have plenty to be happy about. Air travel is increasing and as a consequence, demand for commercial planes are up as well. According to a report by Airbus earlier this year, globally, air transport has grown by 60 percent in the last 10 years. Accounting for that growth, the projected demand for commercial planes will reach almost 35,000 by 2036 and Asia Pacific represents 41 percent of that demand.

The e-commerce market in Southeast Asia is expected to be worth US$200 billion by 2025, according to a 2017 report jointly produced by Google and Temasek Holdings. Meanwhile mobile commerce is expected to ride on e-commerce growth as smartphone users account for more than 90% of Southeast Asian internet users, according to the same report.

Grab first started out as MyTeksi in Malaysia. Its founder Anthony Tan started the business to improve on the poor state of the existing taxi system here, and to provide better security for women, whenever they used public transport. Grab’s initial strategy to use technology to overcome these issues has since proven itself across still-developing Southeast Asia. As of 2017 the company holds 72% of market share in private vehicle hailing across a total of 156 cities in the region.

Southeast Asia produces 90% of the world's rice supply, which means global rice supply is significantly affected whenever extreme weather conditions disrupt production cycles. Extreme weather conditions, however, are increasingly common as the result of global climate change. Prolonged droughts in Thailand, for instance, during the mid-2016 period resulted in a 16% drop in rice production due to the lack of water supply delaying harvests.

The world’s oceans are seeing a steady increase in dead zones. Dead zones are regions where there is a depletion of oxygen in the water which cause fish and other marine life at the bottom of the sea to die.