Recent decisions by the EU General Court should be seen as confirmation of the core approach taken by the European Commission to tax rulings granted by member states to multinational companies, according to legal experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.
Singapore Airlines plunges into US$3.20 billion annual loss amid weak travel demand
Singapore Airlines on Wednesday posted its second-consecutive annual loss, which widened to a record S$4.27 billion (US$3.20 billion), and said it would issue S$6.2 billion of convertible bonds to help weather the coronavirus crisis.The loss for the 12 months ended March 31 was worse than the average S$3.27 billion forecast by eight analysts, according to Refinitiv, and included S$2 billion of impairments largely on the 45 older planes surplus to requirements.It was also far bigger than the S…
Coronavirus: no truth to India news reports on ‘Singapore variant’, says health ministry
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has refuted news reports in India claiming of a “Singapore variant” of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, adding that “there is no truth whatsoever in the assertions found within the reports”.“There is no ‘Singapore variant’,” MOH said in a statement late on Tuesday night.The ministry was referring to two reports published on the day.The first was in Hindustan, an English-language daily, with the headline “Coronavirus variant found in Singapore can be…
As Biden pledges 80 million Covid-19 vaccines for world, US expats in Asia ask ‘what about us?’
Mai Le in Boston does not know when her parents will be able to get vaccinated. The Vietnamese Americans went to Vietnam last January to visit family members and have been stuck there since.With Vietnam now struggling with a fourth wave of Covid-19 that has infected more than 1,400 people in the past three weeks – accounting about a quarter of the country’s total tally – she fears they are vulnerable.“I feel terrible. They should be vaccinated, not me. I’m younger, I’m healthier. They are in…
Scottish courts move Code balance in favour of telecoms operators
The Inner House of the Court of Session in Scotland has handed down a significant judgment on the interpretation of the 2017 Electronic Communications Code (‘new Code’) which will be welcomed by telecoms operators, according to experts at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.
Firms must change tack to meet financial regulators’ expectations on supplier risk
Financial firms should review all of their supplier arrangements, not just those constituting major outsourcings, to ensure they meet UK regulators’ expectations on operational resilience.
Coronavirus: World Economic Forum cancels Singapore meeting, citing pandemic
The World Economic Forum has cancelled its 2021 annual meeting scheduled for Singapore in three months time, the Swiss-based organisation said on Monday.“Regretfully, the tragic circumstances unfolding across geographies, an uncertain travel outlook, differing speeds of vaccination roll-out and the uncertainty around new variants combine to make it impossible to realise a global meeting with business, government and civil society leaders from all over the world at the scale which was planned,”…
US ready to pull troops from Philippines ‘in months’ if no new VFA: expert
Some 400 American soldiers and defence contractors deployed in the southern Philippines could be pulled out within months if Washington and Manila do not sign a new Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) by then.So heard an international conference titled “The Philippines Hedging Between Alliance or Appeasement: Can the Biden Administration Tip the Balance?”The US was “ready to withdraw” the contingent of soldiers from the Mindanao island group, where they are involved in operations against Islamist…
UN General Assembly to consider call for arms embargo on Myanmar military junta
The UN General Assembly on Tuesday is set to consider a draft non-binding resolution calling for “an immediate suspension” of the transfer of weapons to the military junta of Myanmar, a UN official said on Sunday.Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are non-binding but carry strong political significance.If an approval by consensus cannot be reached, then the full General Assembly – 193 member states – will vote on the measure.Introduced by Liechtenstein, with…
Cyberattack in Asian countries hits subsidiary of French insurance giant Axa
A subsidiary of French insurance giant Axa has been hit by a ransomware attack affecting operations in several Asian countries, the company said on Sunday, confirming a Financial Times report.“Asia Assistance was recently the victim of a targeted ransomware attack which affected its IT operations in Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Philippines,” Axa Partners said in a statement.“Certain data processed by Inter Partners Asia (IPA) in Thailand has been accessed,” it added, saying it would …