Search Results for: Singapore

BY MARK ROWE
SINGAPORE, said to be the world’s most expensive place to buy a car, has scrapped legal requirements for would-be buyers to hand over a 30 per cent down payment on purchases. Instead of having to pay up-front fees of at least US$11,000, in future they will be able to pay for the whole car on credit.…

BY MATTHEW BRACE
WITH Australia sharing the front-line in President Bush’s war against terrorism with Britain and the USA, and also having witnessed its citizens dying in last year’s Bali nightclub terror attack, it is maybe not surprising that it has been tightening its money laundering legislation, especially as regards terrorists.…

BY MARK ROWE
Book sales in Singapore for the Christmas period remained buoyant for larger retailers, defying the city state’s generally dismal retail climate.

Kinokuniya, one of the biggest retailers, pushed an aggressive holiday advertising and promotion campaign that helped it achieve almost 10 per cent growth for the year.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
JAPAN has rejected an American government demand that it lower landing fees at its two major international airports as part of wider business deregulation, according to the Japanese Shipping & Trade News. It says that the demand was made at a meeting of government officials from the two countries on regulations and business competition.…

BY MARK ROWE
SINGAPORE and Australia have reached an informal ‘general agreement’ on an open skies arrangement and formal discussions are expected to begin on liberalising the two countries’ respective air space within months. The deal could clear regulatory hurdles hindering a Qantas-Air New Zealand alliance and allow Singapore Airlines to operate direct Australia-USA-Europe direct flights.…

BY MARK ROWE
US pharmaceutical giant Schering-Plough has opened (NOTE: LAST WEEK) two drug manufacturing plants in Singapore worth Sing$320 million (Euro 231 million). A sterile facility with investments worth Sing$180 (Euro122 million) will be used for the freeze-drying, finishing and packaging of leading drugs for the treatment of hepatitis C and Crohn’s disease, which causes inflammation of the intestines.…

BY MARK ROWE
SAND quarrying in Indonesia has been suspended for two months amidst claims by mining companies that they cannot afford new taxes and royalties imposed by the central government; investors have also blamed complicated licensing procedures designed to reduce smuggling.…

BY MARK ROWE
SINGAPORE has launched a 10-year strategy called “London Plus” with the aim of becoming a leading global integrated logistics hub offering aviation, maritime and land transport expertise. The country’s Economic Review Committee says Singapore should cut airport landing and parking charges at Changi airport and also recommends that special customs treatment for cargo at the airport’s free trade zone be extended to allow logistics companies to handle cargo outside these zones.…

BY MARK ROWE
GORY images of diseased lungs may soon appear on cigarette packs in Singapore, alongside health warnings in an amendment to the country’s Smoking Control Act. Images including pictures of tar-filled lungs on cigarette packets are to be put before the Singapore Parliament this autumn, according to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.…

BY MARK ROWE
VIRGIN Management (Asia) Ltd, the Asian arm of Richard Branson’s empire, is to expand its Virgin Vie cosmetics in Singapore, going head to head in south-east Asia with Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, and Shiseido, Japan’s largest cosmetics company. Branson also plans to spend a further US$2billion expanding his cosmetic and beverage businesses across the Asia-Pacific region.…