Business News – Global Business Magazine https://thegbm.com Business news, opinion, reviews, interviews Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:24:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://thegbm.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Bizmag-logo.png Business News – Global Business Magazine https://thegbm.com 32 32 195744517 NextDC shares surge 43% after Goodman, Digital Realty stake purchases https://thegbm.com/nextdc-shares-surge-43-after-goodman-digital-realty-stake-purchases/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:24:57 +0000 https://thegbm.com/nextdc-shares-surge-43-after-goodman-digital-realty-stake-purchases

The logo of Australian data centre operator NextDC is seen on its Artarmon facility in Sydney on September 15, 2026. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP via Getty Images)
Saeed Khan | Afp | Getty Images

Shares of Australian data center operator NextDC surged more than 42% Thursday after Goodman Group and U.S.-listed data center operator Digital Realty moved to acquire stakes of up to 9.9% in the company.

In a regulatory filing on the same day, NextDC said the two companies conducted an aftermarket bookbuild Wednesday, seeking shares at A$9.50 apiece.

NextDC’s board called the move “opportunistic,” noting that it came two weeks after the company disclosed a power supply delay at its M3 Melbourne data center and revised its fiscal 2027 guidance.

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Shares of NextDC on 5 Nov.

The company said it was not aware of the outcome of the share purchase. Goodman and Digital Realty told investors they had no current intention of making a takeover bid, but reserved the right to do so.

NextDC’s rally came against a backdrop of weakness in U.S. data center stocks overnight. Shares of CoreWeave fell about 9%, while Iren dropped roughly 11.2% on Wednesday.

The sell-off followed sweeping Democratic victories in the U.S. midterm elections, which raised expectations of tighter scrutiny and potential restrictions on data center development that could slow the AI infrastructure buildout.

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]]> 44529 China expands overseas mining stakes, tightening grip on critical minerals https://thegbm.com/china-expands-overseas-mining-stakes-tightening-grip-on-critical-minerals/ Wed, 04 Nov 2026 13:00:01 +0000 https://thegbm.com/china-expands-overseas-mining-stakes-tightening-grip-on-critical-minerals

SHENZHEN, CHINA – SEPTEMBER 25: In this photo illustration, a metal cube model labeled with yttrium’s chemical symbol, atomic number and atomic weight rests on a mirrored surface, with reflections of the model and a Chinese national flag visible in the mirror, on September 25, 2026, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China.
Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

China is mobilizing state-linked companies to take bigger ownership stakes in mines overseas, seeking to strengthen its stranglehold over the metals vital for electric vehicles, semiconductors and jet engines

The state-led push could give Beijing greater leverage over global supplies of critical minerals and who gets access to them, analysts say.

“China is rolling out a state-coordinated global mining strategy” to replace firm-level decision-making, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia, adding that the model would allow for larger, better-aligned global mining investments.

In April, a dedicated overseas bureau was set up to oversee investments abroad by central state-owned enterprises. Several government agencies, ministries and policy banks have been mobilized to steer overseas mining deals.

Later in July, a mining investment vehicle was created to coordinate overseas deals, advising Chinese companies on compliance, risk management, and market conditions as they face growing geopolitical tensions and regulatory hurdles abroad.

The push for greater centralization could curb disorderly competition among Chinese firms and strengthen their hand against Western competitors and newer entrants, such as Saudi Arabia and India, Wang said, though a longer review and approval process could also raise corruption risks and weigh on investment returns.

Chinese firms have invested heavily in overseas mining for two decades, making big bets in places avoided by Western miners, from Tajikistan to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The push has gained urgency as governments increasingly view critical minerals as a source of geopolitical leverage.

Chinese mineral acquisitions abroad reached $8.8 billion in the first three quarters this year — already the highest annual total since at least 2018, according to a Rhodium Group report released Wednesday.

“Acquisitions have mostly been concentrated in minerals that China lacks domestically,” said Armand Meyer, senior research analyst at Rhodium, naming lithium, nickel and cobalt during the electric-vehicle boom in the mid-2010s and gold in recent years.

Safe range

Outbound investment in upstream critical minerals will likely roughly double from the 2021-2025 period, according to Eurasia, as China doubles down on overseas push to secure access and reserves that it lacks domestically.

Beijing treats 70% import dependence as an implicit red line – which puts copper, lithium, cobalt, nickel, bauxite and iron ore under a hard national security constraint to expand supply abroad, Wang said.

Even where reliance is lower, Beijing wants more. For gold, which sits within the 50% “safe” range, the government still seeks additional access to high-grade resources, Wang said. That pursuit of scale and “ultimately geopolitical strength” could override decisions over investment risk and profitability, she added.

Processing ‘monopoly’

But the push is facing growing resistance as host governments demand more local processing, a stage China dominates and has turned into a key supply-chain chokepoint. More resource-rich countries are restricting exports of unprocessed minerals and requiring foreign partners to refine them locally.

Countries have long shipped rare earths to China for processing because refining carries high environmental costs, allowing Beijing to build out massive processing capacity across the country. The U.S. has abundant supplies of rare earths, but it relies on China to refine them.

China now produces about 92% of the world’s refined rare earths, according to the International Energy Agency.

If a rival builds a new [mineral] refinery, China can produce more, oversupply the market and push prices below economic levels
Brad Handler
Director, Energy Finance Lab at the Payne Institute

That gives Beijing the ability to withhold supply or flood the market to influence prices and project power, said Brad Handler, director of Energy Finance Lab at the Payne Institute. “If a rival builds a new refinery, China can produce more, oversupply the market and push prices below economic levels,” he said.

China has curbed exports of seven medium and heavy rare earths since last year, requiring exporters to obtain licenses.

Japan has been among the hardest hit, reportedly coming within months of running out of yttrium. The element, used for screen displays and semiconductors, is produced as a byproduct during the extraction of other rare earth metals.

China’s exports of yttrium oxide to Japan collapsed to 4,000 kilograms in September from 51,000 kilograms a year earlier, according to Chinese customs data. And the oxide’s price reportedly surged to about $1,150 a kilogram outside China — roughly 179 times its level two years earlier — compared with about $9 a kilogram inside the country.

Japan spent 16 years building stockpiles after China’s 2010 restrictions, yet “there is virtually no yttrium or lutetium separation capacity outside of China,” Bedford said.

But Chinese companies have adapted in recent years, ramping up greenfield investment and setting up processing capacity near the mines, instead of outright acquisitions, according to Rhodium.

“That is most visible where host governments require local processing,” said Meyer, pointing to Indonesia’s ban on nickel ore exports that has led Chinese firms to build smelting and refining capacity in the Southeast Asian country, instead of shipping them back to China.

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]]> 44518 The Cat Economy and the Isolated Modern Soul https://thegbm.com/the-cat-economy-and-the-isolated-modern-soul/ Tue, 03 Nov 2026 15:31:58 +0000 https://thegbm.com/the-cat-economy-and-the-isolated-modern-soul Japan is home to nearly 16 million domesticated dogs and cats—surpassing the country’s population of children under 15. This phenomenon mirrors deep demographic disruptions: protracted declining birthrates, shrinking family units, escalating child-rearing expenses, and the relentless pressures of metropolitan existence.

Yet the innate human yearning for emotional connection has not withered.

In that hollowed-out space, companion animals—cats in particular—emerge as an ideal emotional fit: intimate, steady, and undemanding. According to research by Professor Katsuhiro Miyamoto of Kansai University, this “cat economy,” or catnomics, is projected to generate roughly 3 trillion yen (around 19 billion USD) for Japan in 2026. Still, feline commerce represents only the visible crest of a far broader social reality.

The Burgeoning Industry of Emotional Substitutes

Economists have coined a term for this expansive commercial terrain: the loneliness economy. It encompasses every commodity and platform engineered to bridge human separation: matchmaking apps, remote teletherapy portals, companionship-for-hire agencies across Japan and South Korea, and conversational AI companions. The AI companion market alone was valued at 37 billion USD in 2025 and is projected by Precedence Research to hit 552 billion USD by 2035.

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Isolation has evolved into a dual economic force, producing staggering social overhead while simultaneously driving immense commercial revenues. The two realities sustain each other in a closed loop.

The deeper concern lies in how society reacts to this shift. Pervasive solitude is no longer treated merely as an unintended byproduct of modernization. The modern market has adapted to monetize disconnection, turning human detachment into a reliable consumer baseline.

Vietnam offers clear evidence of this urban transition. The urban population grew at an annual rate of 3.06% from 2019 to 2024, half again as fast as the preceding period. In 2024, the national total fertility rate dropped to a historic low of 1.91 children per woman. Citizens are clustering into metropolises at unprecedented rates. Yet the organic architecture of community life—accessible civic squares, tight neighborhood networks, and informal community anchors—has lagged far behind. Urban density draws bodies closer geographically while driving them further apart emotionally.

Across high-rise developments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, residents rarely know their immediate neighbors. An entire generation is coming of age in packed high-rises devoid of the default social ties that once sustained traditional alleyways and older collective residential blocks. For many young urbanites, particularly Gen Z, dating platforms have quietly replaced civic gathering spaces. People use them to seek romance, but also to find casual conversation, visibility, or simply a glowing screen to wind down the night.

Systemic Isolation as a Public Health Crisis

This estrangement spans far beyond national borders. The World Health Organization confirmed in 2025 that one in six people worldwide experiences persistent loneliness. The United Kingdom appointed a Minister for Loneliness in 2018 after reports showed more than 9 million citizens felt chronically isolated. Japan instituted a similar ministerial post in 2021 following the first rise in national suicide figures in over a decade. These public offices are not tasked with comforting individual sorrow; they coordinate systemic public policy to treat chronic isolation as an urgent societal and public health challenge.

Formalizing the problem as the UK and Japan have done marks critical progress. Many global initiatives still rely heavily on supplemental support programs, which simply layer on more paid services.

Such measures can soothe immediate emotional distress, yet they rarely touch the deeper roots: fractured historical communities, fragmented workdays, and living setups that discourage lasting bonds.

Here lies the fundamental paradox: an industry that monetizes solitude has little incentive to cure it. Its business model requires managing symptoms just enough to keep consumers returning to the checkout counter. Professional counseling, community hubs for migrant workers, and eldercare services offer undeniable value. Yet the prevailing corporate framework prioritizes user retention over human resolution. The moment genuine human connection is cataloged as a billable item on an invoice, social life shifts onto perilous ground.

Reclaiming Bonds Beyond the Checkout Counter

Are we willing to seek out the things that cannot be packaged or sold?

Modern psychological research offers a clarifying insight: profound isolation rarely begins with a lack of surrounding people. It starts with self-alienation—losing touch with our own interior needs, emotions, and aspirations beyond algorithmic recommendations. Adding another app or attending another superficial meetup merely multiplies interactions; it does not build authentic communion.

The moments that cultivate enduring relationships carry no commercial barcodes. They live in quiet shared meals free from glowing phone screens, unrecorded personal stories shared without an audience, and calm pauses spent sitting together without needing digital entertainment. No corporate entity gains financially by prompting us toward those quiet spaces. For that precise reason, no algorithmic feed will ever recommend them.

The four-legged pet coats flying off retail shelves in Tokyo are not popular because of an eccentric subculture. The market is simply performing its assigned function: locating the emotional vacuums carved out by modern life and converting them into consumer stock-keeping units.

We must ask whether humanity is letting isolation become the easiest desire to fulfill simply because it carries a retail price tag, while neglecting the unmonetized practices that actually bring us together.

Source: vnexpress.net

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]]> 44474 Eatery in 640,000-VND Meal Case Fined Over 8.2 Million VND https://thegbm.com/eatery-in-640000-vnd-meal-case-fined-over-8-2-million-vnd/ Tue, 03 Nov 2026 13:50:07 +0000 https://thegbm.com/eatery-in-640000-vnd-meal-case-fined-over-8-2-million-vnd

On November 3, the People’s Committee of Nghia Giang Commune issued an administrative fine against the owner of Ba Chin eatery, located on the access road to the Da Nang–Quang Ngai expressway, for two violations: failing to list prices and selling goods above listed prices.

Specifically, the mustard greens soup was sold 10,000 VND higher than the declared price, while boiled chicken was not listed on the price board. In addition to paying the fine, the eatery must display prices fully and refund the excess amount charged to the customer.

This enforcement action was taken after local police stepped in to clarify the violations.

(The 300,000-VND chicken portion criticized by the driver for its high price)

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The Meal Dispute

The incident stemmed from a meal on October 22 involving driver Nguyen Van Duc and three companions. The group ordered half a boiled chicken, boiled sweet potato greens, braised pork with eggs, minced meat mustard greens soup, and rice, and was billed a total of 640,000 VND.

Within that total, half a chicken cost 300,000 VND, braised pork with eggs was 150,000 VND, mustard greens soup was 80,000 VND, sweet potato greens were 60,000 VND, and rice was 50,000 VND. Believing the price was excessively high, Mr. Duc questioned the charges, leading to an argument with the staff. Afterward, the eatery reduced the chicken portion to 250,000 VND, bringing the total bill down to 590,000 VND.

Mr. Duc said the eatery neither listed nor announced the price of each dish before serving. The incident was posted on social media, sparking considerable debate.

Mrs. Tran Thi Minh Trinh, the eatery’s owner, later explained that a whole chicken costs 500,000 VND. When the customer ordered half a chicken but requested extra cuts from the remaining chicken, the staff charged 300,000 VND instead of the customary 250,000 VND. She admitted that the eatery did not notify the customer of the price beforehand and apologized to the guest.

Land Use Violations and Public Apology

During the inspection, local authorities also determined that several facilities on the eatery’s premises had been built by the landowner on agricultural land without permission, with a total violating area of 1,747 square meters. The landowner was fined 15 million VND in May but has not yet rectified the situation; the commune is continuing to urge compliance.

On the morning of November 3, Ba Chin eatery published an apology to customers, transport companies, and the people of Quang Ngai, stating that it would not dispute right or wrong and hoped to prove its change through food quality and service attitude.

Source: vnexpress.net

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]]> 44509 Australia hikes rates to 18-year high to fight inflation https://thegbm.com/australia-hikes-rates-to-18-year-high-to-fight-inflation/ Tue, 03 Nov 2026 03:46:20 +0000 https://thegbm.com/australia-hikes-rates-to-18-year-high-to-fight-inflation

Michele Bullock, governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), during a news conference at the central bank’s head office in Sydney, Australia, on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Australia’s central bank raised its key interest rate for a third consecutive meeting, underscoring its determination to tame stubbornly strong inflation and cementing its outlier status among global counterparts. Photographer: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Australia’s central bank raised its benchmark cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.85% on Tuesday, the highest level since November 2008.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s move was in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters, and marked its fifth rate increase this year.

In its statement, the RBA said that the move was a split decision, with six members voting for the increase and three opting for a hold.

This also comes as the country continues to grapple with high inflation, with the consumer price index rising 4.3% in September, up from 4% in August and marking its highest level since March.

The central bank also said inflation is now expected to “remain elevated through much of 2027,” and not expected to fall back into its 2%-3% target range till late 2027, three quarters later than previously forecast.

This was due to higher fuel and other commodity prices, in addition to factors including AI-related investment, which is driving rapid growth in prices for technology-related goods, the RBA said.

In its September decision, RBA governor Michelle Bullock said that inflation is “too high,” driven by higher oil prices from the Iran War and stronger domestic spending.

“We’re seeing signs that upside risks to inflation are materializing,” she added, saying that additional hikes will come “if that’s what’s needed to get inflation down.”

Growth has slowed in the first two quarters of 2026. Australia’s GDP rose 2.1% in the June quarter compared to a year earlier, down from 2.5% in the March quarter.

The RBA is trying to bring inflation back under control while higher borrowing costs and cost-of-living pressures weigh on households and activity.

When asked if she sees a recession for Australia, Bullock said that it is “not our base case at the moment.”

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]]> 44465 CNBC’s The China Connection newsletter: Nvidia’s humanoid push relies on China-made robot hands https://thegbm.com/cnbcs-the-china-connection-newsletter-nvidias-humanoid-push-relies-on-china-made-robot-hands/ Mon, 02 Nov 2026 23:00:01 +0000 https://thegbm.com/cnbcs-the-china-connection-newsletter-nvidias-humanoid-push-relies-on-china-made-robot-hands

In this article

A mechanical hand is on display at the Robot Mall, world’s first embodied intelligent robot 4S store, on August 13, 2025 in Beijing, China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Hi, this is Evelyn, writing to you from Beijing. Welcome to the latest edition of The China Connection — a snapshot of what I’m seeing and hearing from local businesses.

Chinese robot companies still underpin many U.S. tech endeavors, especially when it comes to the pain point of robotic hands. Who is one of the latest on Nvidia’s radar?

The big story

In just a few months, Nvidia has showcased two humanoid robot training packages: one with mechanical hands from Sharpa, and another with hands from Wuji.

Both have ties to founders in Shanghai.

Pan Yunzhe founded Wuji in 2019, eventually moving much of the team to Shenzhen and drawing backers such as Ant Group, HSG and Future Capital, according to PitchBook. A demo video last week claimed a Wuji Hand 2 could autonomously spin a pen, despite interference.

The Wuji Hand 2 made it onto a slide Oct. 21 behind Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang as he told a crowd in Berlin about a new humanoid hardware system for training the robots on Nvidia software. The robot body comes from Agile Robots, which has offices in Germany, China and the U.S.

“It will be the flywheel by which we can accelerate development of robotics,” Huang said of the hardware system, called Agile One SN. Agile Robots announced the system, which uses Nvidia’s Isaac robotics software and Jetson Thor computing platform.

Research institutions, such as Stanford and ETH Zurich, can likely start using the Agile One SN system in early 2027, according to Nvidia.

Stanford and ETH Zurich were also among the institutions Nvidia named in connection with its first reference humanoid design, announced May 31. That system uses a body from Chinese humanoid company Unitree and mechanical hands from Sharpa. It was scheduled for delivery from late 2026.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether deliveries had begun, or whether the researchers would try both reference robots, or just one.

Sharpa, headquartered in Singapore, was co-founded by David Li, CEO of Shanghai-based lidar company Hesai. Sharpa has said its manufacturing R&D is in Shanghai.

While these are just two of the many robotic hand makers in China — and globally — they’ve grown so much in prominence that Google DeepMind research lead Keerthana Gopalakrishnan directly compared the two startups in a podcast last month.

Sharpa Wave is a bit stronger than Wuji, which is closer in size to a typical human hand but has the strength of a ten-year-old, she said. It was not clear whether she was testing the Wuji Hand 2 or an earlier version.

In September, humanoid startup JoyIn’s Zhu Mingxuan told me she found Wuji’s mechanical hands very light and very good at completing tasks, but prone to heating up while doing so. She said Sharpa’s performed better, but were far more expensive.

Hardware is limiting humanoid development, and hands are the main challenge, she said. Zhu said she left U.S. humanoid company Figure last year, where she had also worked on models to help humanoid robots mimic human actions.

As China pushes its humanoid industry to develop more core technologies, mechanical hands are one way companies can try to stand out in the robot race.

Consumer electronics company Xiaomi said last week that, by testing its robotic hand in its car factory, it found that most of the tasks it tested required only a specific range of movement.

And in another sign of just how far along the tech may have come in China, Meta has worked with Chinese startup Fourier for a humanoid prototype, The Information reported Oct. 31, citing sources. Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.

Need to know

Why China is desperate to ship cars outside of the country

Car salesman Li Ke said that, other than the Covid-19 pandemic, the “golden September and silver October” season is the slowest this year he’s seen in his 26 years on the job.

China industrial profits see strongest growth since June

Profits at large industrial firms rose 14.4% in September from a year earlier, according to official data.

Labubu-maker Pop Mart’s shares extend declines as sales plunge

The company reported a 45% to 50% year-on-year drop in third-quarter revenue, with the Americas and Asia-Pacific seeing the steepest sales drops.

Coming up

Nov. 2-4: Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong

Nov. 4: Moonshot AI to release full weights for new K3.1 Pro model

Nov. 4: RatingDog China Services PMI

Nov. 5-10: China International Import Expo in Shanghai

Nov. 6-9: China’s World Internet Conference in Wuzhen

Nov. 7: Trade data

Nov. 9: CPI, PPI

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]]> 44454 MH370 Pilot Spoke Five Chilling Words Before Disappearance Over Vietnamese Airspace https://thegbm.com/mh370-pilot-spoke-five-chilling-words-before-disappearance-over-vietnamese-airspace/ Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:45:12 +0000 https://thegbm.com/mh370-pilot-spoke-five-chilling-words-before-disappearance-over-vietnamese-airspace

Twelve years after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished, the captain’s final words still haunt the aviation world. The fate of the wide-body aircraft remains unsolved.

On March 8, 2014, Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people on board. Around 38 minutes after takeoff, the crew checked in with air traffic control over the South China Sea.

Minutes later, the transponder went dark on civilian secondary radar screens. However, Malaysian military radar tracked the Boeing 777 for another hour. The jet veered west off its filed route. It finally dropped off radar 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang Island.

An Abrupt Turn into the Unknown

Authorities found no clear cause for the plane’s disappearance. Investigators considered various theories, including hijacking and deliberate crew intervention. Search teams presume all 239 passengers and crew died.

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Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 52, commanded the aircraft. The veteran aviator joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and logged 18,365 flight hours. First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 26, flew alongside him, bringing 2,763 hours of flight experience.

Captain Shah signed off with air traffic controllers as the jet exited Malaysian airspace. His final radio call was routine: “Good night, Malaysia three seven zero.”

Those words marked the last voice transmission from the cockpit. The aircraft never checked in with air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City.

Unsolved Questions in the Modern Radar Era

The baffling incident shocked people worldwide. Observers wondered how a massive jet could vanish during an era of modern satellite surveillance.

Small fragments of verified marine debris washed up on western Indian Ocean beaches. Even so, search teams never found the main fuselage.

Investigators believe the aircraft likely crashed in the remote southern Indian Ocean. Consequently, the Malaysian government approved several deep-sea search operations.

Satellite data shows the aircraft flew for several hours after going dark. The engines sent automated pings for another seven hours before fuel ran out.

New Research Weighs Leading Crash Scenarios

Simon Maskell, a professor at the University of Liverpool, spoke to The Diplomat about the tragedy. His team analyzed Weak Signal Propagation Reporter data to reconstruct the final flight path. The method tracks low-frequency radio transmissions recorded by amateur radio operators.

Maskell’s group examined years of database records to identify three plausible scenarios.

First, a sudden emergency may have incapacitated the crew before they could divert. Second, a perpetrator staged a murder-suicide and survived until impact. Third, the perpetrator died before the plane crashed.

The murder-suicide theory gained support after investigators examined a flight simulator at Shah’s home. The simulator held routes deep into the southern Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, investigators found no definitive proof that either pilot deliberately crashed the plane.

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]]> 44452 Hanoi Traffic Police Escort Vehicle Through Congestion to Rush Unconscious Patient to Hospital https://thegbm.com/hanoi-traffic-police-escort-vehicle-through-congestion-to-rush-unconscious-patient-to-hospital/ Mon, 02 Nov 2026 14:35:41 +0000 https://thegbm.com/hanoi-traffic-police-escort-vehicle-through-congestion-to-rush-unconscious-patient-to-hospital

The Hanoi Traffic Police Department reported that at approximately 2:40 PM on November 1, at the Thach Ban–Co Linh intersection, a duty team from Road Traffic Police Team No. 5 cleared an emergency corridor to transport an injured, unconscious man to 108 Military Central Hospital.

At the time, Captain Giap Thanh Tung and Captain Nguyen Ngoc Son, officers of Road Traffic Police Team No. 5 under the Hanoi Municipal Police Department’s Traffic Police Division, were regulating traffic flow at the Thach Ban–Co Linh intersection when they received an urgent request for assistance from Ho Van Cuong, a ride-hailing driver operating a vehicle with license plate 29H-971.82.

Cuong reported that his passenger, identified as D.X.U., had been picked up in the Nhu Quynh area of Hung Yen province. According to relatives, U. had suffered a fall resulting in a head injury, was vomiting, and had lapsed into unconsciousness, requiring immediate emergency hospitalization.

Recognizing the critical condition of the passenger, the police team deployed specialized patrol motorcycles to escort the vehicle through traffic and clear the way directly to 108 Military Central Hospital.

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The swift intervention of the traffic officers enabled the patient to reach the medical facility in time, securing crucial minutes during the emergency.

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]]> 44463 South Korea targets ‘world’s highest performance’ sovereign AI model in record new budget https://thegbm.com/south-korea-targets-worlds-highest-performance-sovereign-ai-model-in-record-new-budget/ Mon, 02 Nov 2026 06:02:03 +0000 https://thegbm.com/south-korea-targets-worlds-highest-performance-sovereign-ai-model-in-record-new-budget

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 22: President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung addresses the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, which brings together leaders and senior representatives of UN member states in New York, United States, on September 22, 2026.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung unveiled the country’s largest ever budget on Monday, pledging to “boldly invest in AI and future growth engines.”

Speaking to the National Assembly on Monday, Lee said total spending for 2027 would rise 12.8% to 820.9 trillion won ($610.14 billion), including 21.3 trillion won for semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers — nearly double the 2026 level.

A separate 4.7 trillion won will go toward developing a sovereign AI model with what Lee described as the “world’s highest performance.”

The government also plans to invest heavily into talent, including training 2,000 specialists to “lead semiconductor design and the regional semiconductor industry,” while expanding AI education for students, job seekers and existing workers.

South Korea has set up university “contract departments,” where students can enroll in company-linked degrees that offer pathways to jobs at firms like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix before graduation.

Companies help design courses, provide financial support and recruit qualifying graduates.

The record spending plan comes as the International Monetary Fund forecasts South Korea’s economy will grow 3.3% in 2026, its fastest pace since the post pandemic rebound in 2021. 

Lee said the higher spending would result in “virtually no net increase in government debt,” with newly issued bonds used to repay existing debt.

The budget also increases spending on defense and social security spending for the youth. Defense expenditure is set to rise 8.2% to 73.3 trillion won.

“We will rapidly transform into a smart, elite, and powerful military by establishing a hybrid manned and unmanned system based on AI, robots, and drones,” Lee said.

South Korea’s strong economic growth has been driven largely by semiconductor exports as global demand for computing power rises with the AI boom.

Exports surged 93.7% from a year earlier to a record $115.3 billion in October, according to data released Sunday by the Korea Customs Service.

Shipments totaled $930 billion in the first 10 months of 2026, surpassing the $900 billion mark for the first time.

The country posted a $42.5 billion trade surplus in October, with imports rising 36% year on year to $72.8 billion.

Lee said South Korea was within reach of $1 trillion in annual exports, citing strong performance in key industries including semiconductors.

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]]> 44443 At 0:00 on December 24, Vietnam’s 416-Trillion-VND Mega Airport Officially Begins Operations https://thegbm.com/at-000-on-december-24-vietnams-416-trillion-vnd-mega-airport-officially-begins-operations/ Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:09:09 +0000 https://thegbm.com/at-000-on-december-24-vietnams-416-trillion-vnd-mega-airport-officially-begins-operations

On October 30, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) announced that it had dispatched an official notice to the People’s Committee of Dong Nai regarding the projected operational launch of Long Thanh International Airport starting from 0:00 on December 24, 2026.

The scheduled timeline announced by ACV is grounded in the operational planning roadmap for Long Thanh Airport. It establishes a definitive benchmark for line agencies and relevant units to align their final preparations, aiming toward safe, synchronized, and comprehensive commercial operations.

ACV formally requested the People’s Committee of Dong Nai to instruct affiliated departments and units to coordinate and assist the corporation within their respective functions, duties, and jurisdictions, creating favorable conditions to put the airport into service.

Currently, core infrastructure components of Long Thanh Airport are undergoing synchronized completion to serve commercial launch requirements. These assets include the runway system, taxiways, and aircraft aprons; aeronautical ground lighting and navigation aids; passenger and cargo terminals; aviation jet fuel supply infrastructure; emergency search and rescue and firefighting facilities; aviation security systems; alongside the air traffic control tower and flight navigation support structures.

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To facilitate passenger transit during the initial operational phase, ACV previously proposed that authorities study priority transport solutions connecting to Long Thanh Airport.

Under these proposals, dedicated airport express buses and inter-airport shuttles operating between Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat could receive dedicated transit priority at major intersections and along critical arterial corridors. This approach aims to mitigate traffic gridlock risks and secure predictable, reliable travel times for air passengers.

Over the long term, ACV plans to build an integrated multimodal transit network linking Long Thanh International Airport with Tan Son Nhat International Airport and key regional metropolitan hubs. Ground transportation modes, including public bus routes, express coaches, and inter-airport transit vehicles, will directly tie into primary transit junctions, public passenger transfer centers, and future urban rail networks.

Airports Corporation of Vietnam plans to allocate a maximum of around 366 flights per week at Long Thanh International Airport during its preliminary operational window. Domestic services will make up the bulk of early operations with 322 flights, alongside 44 scheduled international departures and arrivals.

Long Thanh International Airport spans an area of approximately 5,000 hectares in Dong Nai, with an estimated total capital expenditure exceeding 16 billion USD—equivalent to roughly 416 trillion VND—divided into three distinct investment phases.

Phase 1 represents an investment of over 5.4 billion USD, engineered to process 25 million passengers and handle 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. The opening phase is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026 after more than five years of construction.

Upon full development across all three phases, Long Thanh Airport’s design capacity will scale up to 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of freight annually. With this scale, Long Thanh is positioned to emerge as one of Southeast Asia’s major international aviation transit hubs.

The facility features a 4,000-meter primary runway capable of accommodating the largest wide-body commercial aircraft, including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8. This represents a foundational infrastructure asset engineered to serve long-haul intercontinental flight networks in the coming years.

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Source: Vietnam Insider

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