A Singapore-based company and the government of Oman have pledged to build a US$3.9 billion oil refinery next to a Chinese-controlled port in what will be the largest foreign investment ever for Sri Lanka, officials said on Tuesday.The refinery will be a joint venture for the Singapore-based Silver Park International Private Limited firm and the Sultanate of Oman’s Ministry of Oil and Gas, said Nalin Bandara, Sri Lanka’s deputy minister of international trade. Construction will begin next week…
Coco Martin is one of the Philippines’ biggest stars – because he’s an everyman
Coco Martin is a Filipino everyman. In person, he’s shorter than you’d expect. Disarming; he’s also trim, handsome (but not too handsome) with an empathetic smile and warm eyes. When you meet him, he’s immediately familiar. He could be the mechanic from down the road, the kindly hospital orderly or the overseas foreign worker. Nondescript. Ordinary, but trustworthy.Meanwhile, the Philippines is three years into President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in office and is fast approaching the all-important…
Innovation needed to safeguard access to cash
Innovation is needed to ensure businesses and consumers in the UK can continue to access cash in an affordable way, a legal expert on payments has said.
From Kyoto to Kansas City, it’s Indonesian tuna on the world’s sushi counters
Workers at the East Java processing plant of Indonesian seafood supplier Bahari Biru Nusantara race every day to gut, fillet and freeze prized wild-caught fish for the world market.Company director Hadi Wijaja says they can process 35 tonnes of fish a day, or 5,000 tonnes a year, inside the spacious facilities whose sanitary practices are registered internationally – including in the US, the EU, and Korea, where fish must reach while still fresh enough to be consumed raw.Indonesia is the world…
Hong Kong’s Fung Group restores historic Hamada soy sauce factory in Japan, aims to grow condiments venture into business worth up to US$1 billion
Nearly three years after a severe earthquake wreaked havoc across Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture, on Kyushu island, the 200-year-old Hamada soy sauce factory has finally been restored.Unveiling the repaired building on Monday was Hamada’s majority owner Victor Fung Kwok-king, the Hong Kong supply chain veteran and group chairman of the privately owned Fung Group, who is eyeing a slice of the multibillion-dollar condiments market.Why is Japan so obsessed with being on time?Through his Heritage…
EU adds 10 countries to blacklist of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions
The EU has added 10 countries to its blacklist of “non-cooperative” tax jurisdictions, bringing the number now on the list to 15.
New Zealand shooting: Gun reforms to come in 10 days, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday her cabinet had made in principle decisions around the reform of gun laws following the mass shooting in Christchurch.“I intend to give further details of these decisions to the media and the public before cabinet meets again next Monday,” she said at a press conference.“This ultimately means that within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism we will have announced reforms which will, I believe, make our community safer.”Ardern also…
Indonesia’s gambling with a tax on e-commerce. Will it pay off?
Indonesia’s small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) and e-commerce platforms are up in arms over a plan to levy taxes on online businesses, as authorities in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy grapple with tax collection from its burgeoning digital sector.The Indonesian tax authority is set to introduce the e-commerce tax scheme next month, getting the ball rolling by tabulating taxpayer identification numbers from SMEs that sell products and services on online marketplaces. The task of logging…
At least 42 killed as flash floods hit Indonesia’s Papua province
At least 42 people have been killed by flash floods in Indonesia’s eastern Papua province, an official said Sunday, as rescuers raced to find more victims of the disaster.The floods in Sentani, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, were triggered by torrential rain and subsequent landslides on Saturday, and also left 21 people injured.Dozens of homes were damaged by floodwaters, national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.“The number of casualties and impact of the disaster…
Award for lawyer Cecil Rajendra, who spearheaded Malaysia’s first free legal aid clinic
Malaysian lawyer and octogenarian Cecil Rajendra has lived by one mantra during his legal career spanning more than four decades – “seek out the little guy and help if you can”.This conviction was what drove him and several friends to pioneer a free legal aid clinic in Bayan Lepas free-trade zone in his home state of Penang in 1980.The zone, set up in 1972, had boosted Penang’s economic fortunes but workers were struggling with housing issues, poor working conditions, non-payment of wages and…