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Southeast Asian ride-hailing service Grab expects to raise US$2.5 billion in a record round of fundraising to cement its lead over Uber Technolgies in the region and grow its payments platform.
Southeast Asia has become a key battleground for technology startups vying for a market of more than 600 million people, with a burgeoning middle class as well as a youthful, internet-savvy demographic.
Grab’s Chinese peer Didi Chuxing and Japan’s SoftBank Group, both of which are existing…

It is a weekday night in the Singaporean border town of Marsiling, and 42-year-old security guard Taufiq Mohamad is in a hurry to get home after completing a 12-hour shift. Home – located on the island’s western district of Jurong – is a 40-minute metro commute away, but the trip is less grinding for Taufiq these days as he zips to the nearest station on one of the city’s newly launched shared bicycles. This allows him to save precious minutes spent on a winding…

The left-wing party championed by former Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri has taken the lead in East Timor’s parliamentary elections, winning about a third of votes counted by early on Sunday.
The Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor, better known as Fretilin, is in a close contest, however, with the centre-left National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction, or CNRT, led by former independence fighter Xanana Gusmao, who became the tiny country’s first president after…

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo has instructed law enforcement officers to shoot drug-traffickers to deal with a narcotics emergency facing the country.
“Be firm, especially to foreign drug dealers who enter the country and resist arrest. Shoot them because we indeed are in a narcotics emergency position now,” Widodo said in a speech delivered at an event held by one of Indonesia’s political parties late on Friday.
His remarks have drawn comparison to that of…

The Philippine Congress on Saturday voted to extend President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in the south until the end of the year to defeat Islamist gunmen.
In a special joint session of the House and the Senate, legislators overwhelmingly backed Duterte’s bid to have martial law remain in force in the Mindanao region until December 31.
The vote came as troops continued their two-month long fight to wrest back the southern city of Marawi from militants inspired by…

TSB is set to become the first European bank to deploy eye-scanning technology to allow customers to login in securely to their accounts.

Businesses cannot send marketing emails to customers that have elected to opt out of receiving such messages as part of moves to update their terms and conditions, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said.

Malaysia bans world’s most popular song as it’s ‘not suitable’ for Islam
Malaysia has stopped playing the sexually charged song Despacito on public radio, a senior minister said after critics labelled it un-Islamic. Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said his ministry received numerous complaints about the steamy lyrics of the song that has won international popularity. Ruling party official Atriza Umar told The Star newspaper: “I regret that…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte hit back on Friday at US lawmakers opposed to the prospect of his visiting the White House, saying he would never go to the United States, which he called a “lousy” country.
Duterte was responding to remarks by Massachusetts Congressman James McGovern, who told a hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission that he would protest against such a visit if US President Donald Trump followed through on an invitation to the firebrand Philippine…

ANALYSIS: How long financial technology (fintech) companies have been operating in the UK’s payment services market will determine whether they have a choice over whether to temporarily opt out of new regulations that will apply from early next year, according to new plans published by the Treasury.