Category: Uncategorized

Statutory interest paid by a company in administration on a surplus is ‘yearly interest’ for UK tax purposes and must therefore be paid after deduction of basic rate tax, the Court of Appeal has decided, overturning a previous decision of the High Court. 

ANALYSIS: Traded companies, banks and insurers with a calendar financial year will be assessing how to comply with new non-financial reporting obligations over the coming months, including the obligation to report on anti-bribery and anti-corruption matters.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) needs to strengthen its disaster management efforts after the region was hammered by deadly storms that left a path of destruction in their wake, its new chief said on Friday.
Secretary general Lim Jock Hoi, a veteran Bruneian diplomat, pointed to a tropical storm that battered the southern Philippines last month leaving at least 240 dead and tens of thousands displaced.
Also in December, a tropical cyclone pounded Indonesia’s main island…

Vietnamese police said they arrested a business tycoon wanted for revealing state secrets after he was deported by Singapore on Thursday.
Vietnamese officials said in a statement that Phan Van Anh Vu will be investigated “in accordance with regulations of the law.”
The 42-year-old Vu is a real estate developer who also served as a senior officer in Vietnamese intelligence service.
Police raided his home in the central city of Da Nang on December 21 and issued an arrest warrant…

Trading in bitcoin futures could present a potential risk to financial stability if financial institutions are left liable for losses, a member of the executive board at the European Central Bank has warned.

Myanmar’s president called on Independence Day on Thursday for reform of a military-drafted constitution and for justice for all recognised minorities under a federal system, but made no mention of the treatment of its Rohingya Muslim people.
Amending the charter to remove a dominant political role for the military has been one of the most contentious issues facing Myanmar as it emerges from nearly half a century of strict army rule.
The debate over constitutional reform, however, has…

Changes to life expectancy, combined with a “highly competitive” market, will continue to drive opportunities for companies seeking to transfer pensions risk to the insurance market in 2018, an expert has said.

US President Donald Trump boasted that he has a bigger and more powerful “nuclear button” than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – but the president doesn’t actually have a physical button.
The president’s Tuesday evening tweet came in response to Kim’s New Year’s address, in which he repeated fiery nuclear threats against the United States. Kim said he has a “nuclear button” on his office desk and warned that “the whole territory of the…

Sorong is booming. With 9.3 per cent GDP growth in 2016 (almost double Indonesia’s average) and located on the westernmost point of Papua, the 300,000-strong city is fast becoming a regional transport and logistics hub, boosted by its proximity to the fabled Raja Ampat islands and the ever-elusive bird of paradise.
However, Sorong isn’t a pretty sight. In fact, the city feels as if it’s still emerging from the scrubland – its urban sprawl stretching many kilometres into…

Washington’s Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley dismissed the utility of possible direct talks between North and South Korea, warning that a harder line is necessary in light of reports that Pyongyang might be preparing for more ballistic missile tests. “North Korea can talk with anyone they want, but the US is not going to recognise it or acknowledge it until they agree to ban the nuclear weapons that they have. We won’t take any of the talks seriously if they…