Latest news with #digitaldevelopment
Zawya
02-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Africa blockchain report 2025: Blockchain's multifaceted role in economic development
The newest blockchain activity across Africa is highlighting the dynamism of this technology, with use cases emerging that demonstrate exciting new developmental opportunities beyond its crypto transaction roots. As South Africa prepares to host the first G20 summit in Africa, a key theme set to be discussed throughout both the B20 (Business20) and G20 task teams is inclusive digital development. We've already seen announcements from the G20 Task Force on Artificial Intelligence, Data Governance, and Innovation for Sustainable Development stating their priorities, with data governance, quality, privacy, and security top of mind to ensure new technologies are harnessed for improved economies, and better lives. So in a year where blockchain-focused venture capital (VC) in Africa outpaced all-sector venture capital, as revealed in Absa's recently released 4th edition of the African Blockchain Report, the technology must remain a central part of such conversations. Blockchain specific investment activity has shown resilience, and the data indicates investor appetite in digital infrastructure solutions is growing. International (and local) investors are noticing the African entrepreneurial spirit, investing in markets where talent and skills in tech sectors are growing. This means even greater opportunities to leverage the technology (and the institutions that embed it in their systems) to help build stronger, more sustainable African economies. AI and Blockchain Revolutionising Digital Economies In recent months, we've seen a fusion of both AI and blockchain technologies – a development that has attracted both proponents and detractors. However, AI has been proven to enhance blockchain's capabilities by providing predictive analytics, automating processes, and improving decision-making. In financial services, the rich data that exists on businesses and individuals from traditional sources (bank accounts and books) can be combined with new sources (digital wallets, mobile money) to create new models for assessing risk and therefore build access to finance and credit, especially for those who have been under-banked or unbanked previously. This is an essential way of enabling digital and financial inclusion, as more people and business can access credit, but is also beneficial for banks who can monitor and predict defaults using AI tools and step in to help before it's too late. It certainly isn't farfetched to see a future world where digital money lives on blockchains, with AI tooling monitoring real time activity and patterns to detect and prevent fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing, and money transfers happening seamlessly when pre-agreed conditions are met. Banks are already using both these super technologies but combining them will increase security and trust across all financial processes, it's surely just a matter of time before we see it happening at scale. Meanwhile, the 2025 report has shown unique, purpose-led blockchain companies are attracting funding to develop important financial services: crypto payments across various nations, remittance and credit-building for Africans and the diaspora, trade access for SMEs (small and medium enterprises), and even the tokenisation of assets to make them more accessible investment products. Enabling Supply Chains and Intra-African Trade It's well understood that blockchain provides an immutable ledger that records every transaction and movement, fostering transparency and reducing inefficiencies. Therefore, harnessing this transparency in the complex process of International Trade and Supply Chains is a huge opportunity. In the realm of cross-border payments and trade, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) aims to integrate a market valued at over $3.4 trillion. Yet, intra-African trade currently represents less than a quarter of total trade volumes on the continent. By leveraging stablecoins and tokenized trade finance, financial institutions can reduce transaction costs, improve liquidity for small and medium-sized enterprises, and bolster regional economic integration. Outside financial services, blockchain technology is already unlocking supply chains – Hyundai and DP World are just two examples of organisations using blockchain, monitoring carbon emissions through the supply chain and tracking and tracing cargo all over the world. Within organisations, blockchain can replace paper-based processes with digital procedures, but if ecosystems can work together to create trust across full end-to-end value chains, the efficiency unlock could be profound. Through leveraging the trust and immutability of blockchain networks, combined with auto executing smart contracts once a party's obligations are complete, automation and removing friction in supply chains are obvious opportunities to pursue. Blockchain Transforming Financial Market Infrastructure It isn't just products and services that will be enhanced with blockchain technology, new financial market infrastructures will evolve – and have already. Blockchain's decentralised nature and immutable records enhance the security and efficiency of financial transactions, with enhanced trust and shared data through cryptographically signing and programmable smart contracts. This means intermediaries which currently provide services across the financial ecosystem may no longer be necessary, which could help reduce costs and speed up services. The relative affordability of setting up and scaling blockchains can accelerate this shift and move away from the traditional technology stacks run for existing financial market infrastructure too. Through accessing regulatory nodes, there is also the opportunity for regulators to be able to directly monitor transactions in real time instead of relying on banks and other market participants to send reports and data which are then ingested and reviewed, meaning greater power to identify and prevent transactions that could be fraudulent or illicit – in real time. Whether you're a believer of decentralisation or a believer that blockchain technology can offer new centralised infrastructure, there's no doubt that increased peer to peer transactions are already happening and will continue to proliferate on blockchain technology – especially without intermediary oversight bodies. Securing Sustainable Food Systems and Agriculture A once greatly underpromoted use of the technology – namely in the agricultural sector – is also finally gaining traction: traceability for farm-to-fork. Consumers are increasingly wanting to understand what they eat, and leveraging blockchain to ensure transparency and traceability in food production and distribution enables this easily. Blockchain lets farmers record and share data about their produce, from planting to harvesting, ensuring authenticity and quality. But it's not just about traceability either, blockchain and AI solutions can help improve crop yields, and provide data for a range of services, from veterinary and insurance to applying for credit facilities. The opportunities and use cases are wide and varied, which is why we believe it's an area that sure to grow in the years to come and especially for small holding farming across Africa. In the coming months, as G20 and B20 recommendations are implemented and new regulatory frameworks emerge to keep pace with recent advancements, we will likely see even more novel uses of blockchain technology. However, it is essential that financial institutions like our own continue to actively promote and enable the most sustainable and purpose-driven uses of the technology. Copyright © 2022 - All materials can be used freely, indicating the origin Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Huawei Unveils Fully-Upgraded Xinghe Intelligent Network Offerings to Accelerate Digital and Intelligent Transformation in Asia Pacific
HONG KONG, June 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- At Huawei Network Summit 2025 (Asia Pacific), Huawei unveiled fully-upgraded Xinghe Intelligent Network products and solutions for the Asia Pacific region, and released the Technical Requirements for Financial Data Center Networks with the Network Innovation and Development Alliance (NIDA). All of these announcements will inject new vitality into digital and intelligent development in Asia Pacific. In the opening speech, Spawn Fan, President of Huawei's Asia Pacific Enterprise Sales Department, pointed out that AI development has far exceeded expectations, with record-breaking growth in AI users and adoption rates. Huawei responds to this by leveraging its unique full-stack capabilities and collaborating with partners to help customers in all industries build advanced infrastructure for the AI era. Mr. Sword Cheng, Vice President of Huawei's Data Communication Product Line, said in the speech that global industries are actively promoting the convergence of AI and network technologies. However, most solutions are still in the early stages of "network management + AI". As such, only end-to-end AI-powered networks are viable solutions in the AI era. Huawei's Xinghe Intelligent Network Solution is ideal for AI-powered networks through innovations in diverse domains. Xinghe Intelligent Campus leverages Wi-Fi Channel State Information (CSI) sensing technology to detect intrusions and identify unauthorized cameras in seconds through Wi-Fi signals, ensuring campus space security and privacy protection. Xinghe Intelligent Fabric provides intelligent assurance for general-purpose computing and intelligent computing scenarios. Xinghe Intelligent WAN employs an AI latency compensation algorithm to reduce the two-way latency variation to 3 μs, which is a 20-fold improvement over SDH networks. It also draws on AI algorithms to achieve a 95% identification rate of encrypted traffic, helping Internet Service Providers (ISPs) reduce latency by more than 65% and increase revenue by 20%. Xinghe Intelligent Network Security builds on an AI detection engine to achieve a 95% unknown malware identification rate. It also leverages a high-performance graph database to trace up to 100 hops back to the source. All of these help detect threats at a high accuracy and prevent virus spread. Huawei also announced a full lineup of all-new Xinghe Intelligent Network products and solutions for Asia Pacific. Examples include the industry's first 5-radio Wi-Fi 7 AP, unique "3S (spanning, stable, and secure)" StarryLink optical modules, the industry's highest-density 400GE full-service router, and differentiated solutions across industries. Huawei and NIDA jointly released the Technical Requirements for Financial Data Center Networks, which systematically defines key technical indicators of financial data center networks for the first time, serving as an industry-recognized network construction guide for financial institutions. Looking ahead, Huawei will further deepen AI-powered Xinghe Intelligent Network innovation and collaborate with Asia-Pacific customers across industries to accelerate intelligent transformation, explore new use cases, and stride to the digital and intelligent future together. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Huawei
CNA
11-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
The Online Citizen's operator to be barred from financial benefit for two more years over repeated falsehoods
SINGAPORE: The Online Citizen's (TOC) website and social media pages have once again been designated as Declared Online Locations (DOL) over repeated falsehoods. The declaration under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) applies to TOC's website and its pages on Facebook, Instagram, and X. It will prohibit TOC's operator from receiving financial benefits from running the pages for another two years, said the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) on Wednesday (Jun 11). This is the second such declaration against TOC following a similar one in July 2023. The new declaration will come into effect on Jul 22, after the existing one expires, and will remain in force until noon on Jul 21, 2027, MDDI added. The ministry said the renewed designation was necessary as TOC had continued to spread falsehoods over the past two years, including on topics such as the death penalty and financial and social assistance schemes. "Members of the public are advised to be aware of TOC's history of communicating falsehoods on its online platforms, and to fact-check information published on these online locations," it added. An online location such as a website or webpage is declared as a DOL if it has carried three or more different false statements of fact that are the subject of active POFMA directions. At least three statements must also have been communicated to the online location in the six months before the DOL declaration. RECENT POFMA ORDERS In December 2024, a POFMA correction direction was issued to TOC after it published an article and social media posts that insinuated that parties, including ministers, are allowed to transact Good Class Bungalos away from public scrutiny or government oversight. In February, a correction direction was issued after TOC published an article and social media posts that made false statements about the rental of and works carried out at 26 Ridout Road. "Despite the current declaration, TOC has continued to communicate falsehoods through its online platforms over the past two years ... a new declaration is therefore necessary to ensure Singaporeans continue to be alerted to TOC's record of communicating falsehoods," said MDDI. Under the order, TOC must carry a notice on each of its pages to alert readers that it has been declared a DOL, that it had communicated multiple falsehoods and that viewers should exercise caution when using it for information. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS MDDI said that the conditions of the new declaration are unchanged from the current one. TOC's online platforms are also not required to cease operations. Digital advertising service providers must "take reasonable steps" to ensure that paid content on TOC's platforms is not communicated in Singapore. Individuals and companies are also not allowed to provide financial support to TOC's sites to avoid promoting the spread of falsehoods on these platforms. TOC's operator may apply to the Minister for Digital Development and Information to suspend, vary or cancel the declaration. If the Minister refuses the application, an appeal can be made to the High Court. There are currently three other sites that are marked as DOL. They are the websites and social media pages of Transformative Justice Collective, Gutzy Asia and Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam.
Reuters
10-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
China calls for cooperation with UK during ministers meeting
BEIJING, June 10 (Reuters) - China's commerce minister said China and Britain should engage in dialogue and expand cooperation in sustainability, digital development, green initiatives and finance, in a commerce ministry statement published on Tuesday. Wang Wentao made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with Britain's Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds in London, the statement added. Wang called for both countries to uphold the multilateral trading system and said British-funded enterprises are welcome to continue investing and doing business in China.
CNA
06-06-2025
- General
- CNA
Fine for blogger who claimed in video that Josephine Teo made offensive remarks against Malays
SINGAPORE: A blogger posted a video on TikTok claiming that Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo had made offensive remarks against Malays. Manmeet Singh Bahadar Singh did so after he received a link from an unknown person to a WordPress blog with the alleged offensive content. Singh, 57, then posted a commentary about the content without verifying its authenticity. He removed it once he realised that he had been "led on" by the unknown person, his lawyers S S Dhillon and Jasjeet Singh Harjindar Singh told the court. Singh was fined S$6,000 (US$4,700) on Friday (Jun 6) after he pleaded guilty to one charge of knowingly committing an act which promoted disharmony between different racial groups. Singh is a blogger who posts about socio-political issues on TikTok, among other social media platforms. He has been previously featured in the media as former presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian's bodyguard. HOW THE OFFENCE HAPPENED Before he posted the offending content on TikTok on Aug 12, 2024, he received a link to a WordPress blog post via WhatsApp from an unknown person. The blog post alleged that Mrs Teo, when asked about racial progress during an interview with Chinese media on Singapore's 59-year development, had made an offensive remark against Malays. Singh felt angry and offended. On the morning of Aug 12, 2024, he posted a video on his TikTok account with a visible representation bearing the words "Minister Josephine Teo blurted 'Malays are i*****' in a Chinese interview". He then repeated the blog post's allegations. Singh did not verify the authenticity of the claims on the blog post before making his video. In the video, Singh repeats the allegations and tells viewers to "go look it up". He then adds, "I have been voicing out for, you know, against racial discrimination in Singapore. And look what happened now? My prediction's right!" He finishes the video with the phrase "bring them down", according to court documents. At the time of the offences, Singh's TikTok account had around 9,054 followers. The video was available long enough for Mrs Teo's colleagues and a reporter to ask the minister about it. Around four hours after the video was published, Mrs Teo told her press secretary about it. The press secretary then downloaded a copy of the video and lodged a police report. Later that day, Singh suspected the allegations were false and removed the TikTok video by 1.40pm. He then posted another video in which he apologised to Mrs Teo, noting that his previous allegation was probably false. By 3pm, however, TikTok removed this video. Subsequently, Mrs Teo posted on social media platforms to state that the allegations were false. The blog post that sparked the offences was not available as of 6.30pm on Aug 12, 2024. Singh was arrested on Feb 4, 2025 and released on bail the next day. In mitigation, Mr Dhillon told the court the circumstances under which his client had been "led on" by the unknown person who sent him the blog post. Singh was on his way to work as a warehouse assistant when this person texted him and included the link to the offensive blog post. This person then encouraged Singh to do "what you need to do", said Mr Dhillon. "At the time, Manmeet had just alighted from his bus and was walking to his then-workplace, which was about a 10-minute walk from the bus stop. "Manmeet felt angry and offended and elected to take a snapshot of the blog post on his phone and proceeded to record a video of himself commenting on the alleged statement on his phone whilst walking," Mr Dhillon and Mr Singh said. Singh then went about his work. As he was working, he started having second thoughts about his post, as he had a growing suspicion that its contents were fake. However, as Singh's work involved sensitive information, he did not have access to his phone until lunch. "To his surprise and shock, he realised that the unknown person who had sent him the WhatsApp message that morning had deleted his account as well as the said message," the defence lawyers said. "This confirmed Manmeet's suspicions that he had been falsely led on." Singh immediately removed his video and published an apology video on his TikTok account. Unbeknownst to him, TikTok removed this video by 3pm. He subsequently posted a second video to apologise. The defence lawyers said that Singh was "racked with guilt" over his actions. "Manmeet is not in the business of making his videos for profit or clout. His content is akin to an extension of himself and his views, which he shares because he feels responsible to raise awareness," said the lawyers. Singh has since "deliberately steered clear of associating with other politicians to avoid controversy", the lawyers said. He also actively vets his news sources. The defence asked for a S$2,000 fine for Singh.
