■ Corporate taxes
Singapore to cut taxes
Singapore will lower its existing corporate tax rate of 20 percent by at at least one percentage point to stay competitive, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew (李光耀) said in remarks published yesterday. "You know this is a tough and competitive world. People don't come because they like Singapore," Lee, the influential minister mentor in his son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's (李顯龍) Cabinet, was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times. "They come because the returns are better," he said. In reference to Hong Kong, where companies are taxed at just 17.5 percent, one of the lowest in the world, Lee said Singapore had to lower its corporate tax rate or lose out to the former British colony in attracting investors. Details will be announced on Feb. 15.
■ Health products
TV show a false advertiser
Japanese newspapers vented their anger yesterday after a popular local television program made false claims about the weight loss benefits of fermented soybean. The program, aired earlier this month, claimed that eight people who ate the substance -- called natto in Japan -- for two weeks at breakfast and dinner lost as much as 3.4kg. The program, Encyclopedic Discovery, triggered a buying frenzy, emptying shelves of the product. But the show's producers reluctantly admitted the weight loss claims were fabrications and apologized on Saturday.
■ Fishing
Tuna tracking in the works
International fisheries officials are expected to push for a global tracking system that would certify the origin of every tuna headed to market at an unprecedented conference that convenes today to reverse a sharp decline in tuna catches. The conference brings together the world's regional tuna management groups and runs through Friday in Kobe, Japan. Attendees, representing commercial fishing and government regulators, will seek the creation of a framework to produce certificates of origin for all species of tuna they catch, Kyodo News reported yesterday.
■ Toys
Crocodile Hunter doll
A talking "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin action figure with his recorded voice will go on sale across the US next month. The toys will also be sold in Canada, the UK, France and Germany. The 39-piece Steve Irwin Wildlife Adventure Series will launch next month at the 2007 International Toy Fair in New York, toy maker K&M International said. Irwin recorded the voice for the toy before his death last year. The doll says phrases like "Do you see that? It's a giant golden orb spider and she's built her web right across our path! It's super sticky for catching small birds and bats. Let's not disturb it."
■ Insurance
Chinese market booms
China's insurance market expanded 14.4 percent to US$73 billion last year as demand for insurance coverage rises. Insurance companies' total assets rose by 29 percent, according to documents issued at the China Insurance Regulatory Commission's annual conference yesterday in Beijing. The premiums on property and casualty cases jumped 22.6 percent to 150.9 billion yuan, while life premiums rose 10.7 percent to 359.3 billion yuan, the regulator's Chairman Wu Dingfu (吳定富) said. Efforts to dismantle the welfare system are spurring sales.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
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