The European Free Trade Association states – Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Iceland – and Indonesia have signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will slash tariffs on a majority of industrial goods.

The Hong Kong Government has published in the Gazette legislation to provide profits tax concessions to certain ship lessors and ship leasing managers.

Among patients given hydroxychloroquine, 32.3% ended up needing a ventilator or dying, compared with 14.9% of patients who were not given the drug

The company has also resumed operations at its global research and development hub located in Mysore, Karnataka

The move lifts the overhang of a warning letter for a plant that Dr Reddy's had been dealing with for long. Now all their plants have become USFDA compliant

Jio has also announced new add-on data packs under work from home theme

The findings, published in the Lancet medical journal, showed that on average, people who got the triple drug reached the point of no detectable virus five days earlier than those in the control group - at 7 days versus 12 days

SBI FD interest rates for senior citizens have been slashed by 20 bps as well. For tenor 7 days to 45 days, State Bank of India has changed the rates from 4 per cent to 3.80 per cent, while it has been changed to 4.80 per cent from 5 per cent for 46 days to 179 days tenor

During a January 7, 2018, debate in the UK House of Commons, UK lawmakers discussed the country's plans to leave the EU, its customs union, and value-added tax area.

Singapore has announced that it has activated automatic exchange of information relationships with a total of 61 territories, as part of global efforts to tackle tax evasion and fiscal crime.

Singapore is engaging businesses on tweaking the design of its new carbon tax, which is proposed to be in place by 2019.

Singapore's tax agency has made two announcements recently concerning the automatic exchange of information on foreign taxpayers' affairs, on the Common Reporting Standard and the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on February 23, 2018, released the fifth edition of its Transfer Pricing Guidelines for income tax.

Singapore has gazetted a law to repeal the income tax concession for intellectual property income derived by companies benefiting from the Pioneer Service Companies Incentive or the Development and Expansion Incentive schemes.

Singapore's recently released 2019 Budget included few significant tax announcements except confirmation that Singapore's carbon tax will be levied this year and the goods and services tax will be hiked in the medium term.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore has released new transfer pricing guidance on determining the economic value of taxpayers' commodity marketing and trading activities in Singapore.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) has released new guidance for GST-registered persons on the completion of new boxes in the GST F5 return from next year.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore has updated its guidance on the introduction from January 1, 2020, of an obligation on Singaporean taxpayers to collect GST on imported services under a reverse charge.

Singapore is to add provisions to draft legislation to enhance the new GST regime for imported services and clarify new rules for virtual currencies.

The European Free Trade Association, which comprises Liechtenstein, Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway, intends to take forward free trade negotiations with India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Ecuador this year.

Malaysia has decided to keep the crude palm oil export duty at 5.5 percent next month, despite higher Indian taxes on imports, which are expected to dent demand.

Canada and representatives from the ASEAN member states have agreed to launch exploratory discussions to determine the potential for a free trade agreement.

Canada's Revenue Minister has provided an update on the progress made by the Government in addressing tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.

The Malaysian Government in its Budget 2018 announced numerous tax changes, including an income tax cut, incentives for women to return to work, and tax relief for property investors and venture capital firms.

The Malaysian tax agency on December 1 released guidance on whether gifts provided for no consideration can be excluded from the goods and services tax net.

Malaysia's Inland Revenue Board on January 11, 2018, released guidelines on applying for the resolution of double tax cases through the Mutual Agreement Procedure.

Malaysia's tax agency has released Public Ruling No. 1/2018, setting out the goods and services tax rules concerning the sale of buildings on commercial land that are used for both residential and commercial purposes.

On March 26, 2018, Malaysia's tax agency announced that businesses can newly challenge late-payment penalties in respect of goods and services tax (GST) via the tax agency's online portal.

The Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia has released new guidance on restrictions to the deductibility of interest expenses.

Franklin Templeton: The fund house has not given any clear indication about the possible timeline within which it will liquidate all its investments and return investors' money

Experts believe there was already a visible turnaround in the pharma sector, both on the domestic as well as on the exports side even before any traces of COVID-19

Besides lending against securities held by MFs, banks have been allowed by the RBI to do outright purchase of more than 25 per cent of Hold Till Maturity (HTM) securities in mutual funds portfolios in the absence of liquidity in the secondary market

Observing the need gap, two start-ups LazyPay and Spocto have launched products that will help you figure if you require the moratorium or not

The crisis served as a wake-up call for banks whose digital operations were growing at a snail's pace. They have started embracing the change

The lesson here is don't marry your stocks. If your original investment thesis fails, you shouldn't shy away from exiting your positions

Coronavirus news: Fears ran amok that Franklin Templeton closing its six debt mutual fund schemes may trigger outflows from debt mutual funds. However, net outflows were only seen in credit risk and medium duration categories

Lack of emergency funds will force you to either go for distress selling of your investments or high-cost borrowing, which will jeopardise all your future goals. One should ideally have an emergency fund which can take care of at least 6 months of expenses

The International Monetary Fund has recommended that the United States raise indirect taxes to boost revenues, to offset the cost of recent tax cuts and spending increases.

A number of incentives have been included in the Finnish Government's 2019 Budget to encourage investment in the shares of both small and listed companies.

The OECD and the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development have finalized three practice notes intended to support resource-rich developing countries to protect their tax bases from erosion and profit shifting.

On March 6, 2019, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an Accounting Standards Update that is intended to help organizations align their accounting for production costs for films and episodic content produced for television and streaming services.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said that France should prioritize tax cuts following the conclusion of a three-month national consultation on the Government's economic and tax policies.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe announced on April 30, 2019, that plans for reductions in personal and corporate income tax will be released by the Government in June 2019.

The IMF has welcomed Luxembourg's efforts to meet international tax standards but cautioned that international tax reform could hit the country's tax base.

On May 31, 2019, the Hungarian Ministry of Finance announced numerous tax cuts as part of an economic growth plan.

A group of 21 Republican members of the US Senate have signed a letter to the Treasury Secretary urging him to amend how capital gains tax liability is calculated.

United States President Donald Trump said on August 20, 2019, that the administration is considering additional tax cuts to help maintain economic growth.

Belgium should look to broaden its tax base to fund labor tax reductions, the International Monetary Fund has said in its annual report for the country.

US congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) has introduced legislation designed to amend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act so that incentives for US corporations to shift income and production overseas are reduced.

The Australian Government has set out the numerous changes made to the tax system on July 1 and launched a consultation on new tax rules for "stapled structures."