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CPA Australia and HICPA sign Memorandum of Cooperation

HAIKOU, CHINA – Media OutReach – 26 October 2021 – CPA Australia, one of the world’s largest professional accounting bodies, and the Hainan Institute of Certified Public Accountants (HICPA) have today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation (Memorandum).

 

The Memorandum is designed to facilitate closer collaboration between CPA Australia and HICPA. Together, the bodies aim to enhance the standard of international accounting professionals, broaden opportunities for members from both bodies, and commit to the future development of the Hainan Free Trade Port.

 

He Yongmei, Secretary General of HICPA and Deborah Leung FCPA (Aust.), Executive General Manager International of CPA Australia, signed the Memorandum at a virtual signing ceremony in October. Over 600 representatives from the Hainan Ministry of Finance, the financial and accounting industry and the business community across Greater China attended the virtual ceremony.

 

William Huang FCPA (Aust.), President of CPA Australia’s South China Committee, said the signing of the Memorandum was a great milestone in the relationship between the two bodies.

 

“Today marks the first anniversary of the announcement of the Hainan Free Trade Port Institutional Integration and Innovation Action Plan 2020 – 2022. We are very proud to strengthen our relationship with HICPA on such a remarkable day, which we hope will contribute to the Action Plan by nurturing high-level talent in Hainan.

 

“Accounting and financial professionals play a critical role in enhancing the trade and investment relationship between Hainan and the world and establishing Hainan into a globally influential and high-level free trade port.

“As a leading global accounting body with deep commitments in Mainland China, CPA Australia has worked closely with HICPA in promoting professional standards in the region for many years. We believe this Memorandum will strengthen our relationship and enable us to continue working together to advance the knowledge, professional networks, skills and competitiveness of accounting and finance professionals.

“Together with HICPA, we look forward to creating more continued professional development resources and career development opportunities for our members, while elevating professional standards and positively contributing to the sustainable development of the Hainan Free Port,” Huang said.

 

CPA Australia has also collaborated with the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) since the early 1990s. Through the International Partnership Program, CPA Australia offered members from CICPA the opportunity to study the CPA Program and obtain the CPA Australia designation from 2007 to 2010. In 2020, the CPA Australia designation was added to the “Accreditation Criteria for Hainan Free Trade Port High-level Talent” released by the Hainan Government.

About CPA Australia

CPA Australia is one of the largest professional accounting bodies in the world, with more than 168,000 members in over 100 countries and regions, including more than 20,000 members in Greater China. We have offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Our core services include education, training, technical support and advocacy. CPA Australia provides thought leadership on local, national and international issues affecting the accounting profession and public interest. We engage with governments, regulators and industries to advocate policies that stimulate sustainable economic growth and have positive business and public outcomes. Find out more at cpaaustralia.com.au

#CPAAustralia

Thai Conspiracy Theorist Calls on Lao Authorities to Investigate Naga Fireballs

Mysterious Naga Fireballs in the Mekong River
Mysterious Naga Fireballs in the Mekong River (Photo: J A Forbes)

A Thai national and head of a group of conspiracy theorists has called on authorities in Laos to investigate the source of mysterious fireballs known to appear in the Mekong River.

Jackson Wang first lifelike wax figure arrived in Singapore

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach – 26 October 2021 – Celebrating Madame Tussauds Singapore’s 7th Anniversary, they have welcomed GOT7’s Jackson Wang, the Hong Kong rapper-singer-dancer into the music zone.  His figure portraying the iconic “W’ gesture of Team Wang, is dressed in a black attire, exclusively collaborated with Fendi, called Fendi x Jackson Wang Capsule Collection.

He is placed beside Singapore’s homegrown Mandopop singer, JJ Lin on stage as they have collaborated in a Single in December 2020 “過 Should’ve Let Go”. The song describes looking back on memories of a past love and learning to let go. His figure will only be here until 14 January 2022.

Team Wang fans can also stand to win an autographed magazine when they take part in “100 ways” Tik Tok Challenge in the attraction, and tag @mtssingapore on Tik Tok. Check out @mtssingapore on Tik Tok for more information.

“We are very excited to have Jackson Wang joining us in our music zone together with other award- winning superstars. We believe that his figure will be a smashing hit and a great addition to an already glittering lineup of stars. We will continue to bring in more stars throughout the year,” says Alex Ward, General Manager of Madame Tussauds Singapore. 

Madame Tussauds Singapore’s music zone is also a home to other celebrities including Jay Chou and JJ Lin. More exciting figures will be added in the attraction in the coming year.


To celebrate the arrival, Madame Tussauds Singapore will be launching a promotion bundle in November through its website and or redeem with SingapoRediscovers vouchers on Klook. The bundle is priced at $45 which includes a ticket to 5 different experiences (Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore, Ultimate Film Star Experience, Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride, and Marvel Universe 4D), a Digital Photo and an exclusive Jackson Wang 2D Plaque. More details will be made available in November.

 

For high res images: https://bit.ly/MTSGjacksonwang

Madame Tussauds

The ultimate celebrity experience and the world’s best known and most popular wax attraction. There are currently 23 Madame Tussauds attractions around the world. Each of the attractions is unique and tailored to the host city and visitor demographic to feature both local as well as international figures.


The result of 200 years of expertise and painstaking research every figure takes Madame Tussauds’ gifted sculptors a minimum of three months to make, and costs more than $300K (Singapore dollars). Most contemporary figures are also produced following sittings with the celebrities themselves.


Madame Tussauds Singapore
Twitter: @MTsSingapore

Instagram: @MTsSingapore

Facebook: @MadameTussaudsSingapore
Hashtag: #MadameTussaudsSG

Linde Announces CEO and Chairman Succession

GUILDFORD, UK – EQS Newswire – 25 October 2021 – Linde (NYSE: LIN; FWB: LIN) today announced its Board of Directors has appointed Sanjiv Lamba to succeed Steve Angel as Chief Executive Officer and Steve Angel to succeed Wolfgang Reitzle as Chairman, effective March 1, 2022.

Lamba was named Linde’s Chief Operating Officer in October 2020. Throughout his more than 30-year tenure with Linde, he served in various leadership roles including Executive Vice President APAC, Head of Regional Business units (South & South East Asia) and Managing Director India. In addition to his appointment as CEO, Lamba will join Linde’s Board of Directors, effective March 1, 2022.

“I am truly honored to lead this outstanding company into the future,” said Lamba. “Linde is exceptionally well-positioned to capitalize on profitable growth opportunities in several end markets, including electronics, healthcare and clean energy. I look forward to working with the talented Linde team to continue driving our high-performance culture and create sustainable value for Linde shareholders.”

Angel was named Chief Executive Officer of Linde plc in 2018, having successfully led the merger of Linde AG and Praxair into the world’s largest global industrial gases and engineering company. Under his leadership, the company implemented a culture of operational excellence and capital discipline which, when combined with industry leading growth, generated 100% Total Shareholder Return over the last three years. Prior to his role as Linde CEO, Angel served as Chairman, President and CEO of Praxair, Inc. since 2007.

“It has been a privilege to lead Linde to become the best performing industrial gases and engineering company in the world,” said Angel. “As Chairman, I look forward to working with Sanjiv as we further strengthen Linde’s reputation for excellence. I’m confident that under Sanjiv’s leadership, Linde will maintain our high-performance culture, aggressively implement our new sustainability goals and leverage the many growth opportunities we have in front of us to create significant shareholder value.” Angel continued, “I want to thank Wolfgang for his partnership in enabling our highly successful merger and his leadership as Chairman of the Board of Directors.”

Reitzle retires from Linde after nearly 20 years with the company, during which he served as President and CEO of Linde AG and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Linde AG.

“It was an honor to work with Linde’s outstanding board members and senior management throughout my tenure as Chairman,” said Reitzle. “I’m pleased to know Steve will now lead the Board of Directors and Sanjiv will be at the helm of the company. Linde could not be in better hands.”

About Linde

Linde is a leading global industrial gases and engineering company with 2020 sales of $27 billion (€24 billion). We live our mission of making our world more productive every day by providing high-quality solutions, technologies and services which are making our customers more successful and helping to sustain and protect our planet.

The company serves a variety of end markets including chemicals & refining, food & beverage, electronics, healthcare, manufacturing and primary metals. Linde’s industrial gases are used in countless applications, from life-saving oxygen for hospitals to high-purity & specialty gases for electronics manufacturing, hydrogen for clean fuels and much more. Linde also delivers state-of-the-art gas processing solutions to support customer expansion, efficiency improvements and emissions reductions.

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.linde.com

digiXnode Technology Limited unveils digixnode.io — access digital economies economically

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 25 October 2021 – digiXnode Technology Limited (dXn) today launched the exclusive service portal for the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) in Hong Kong and Macau. In the past, users could only easily have access to a couple of mainland China or foreign blockchain frameworks and needed to spend tremendous costs, time and resources to use blockchain technology. By subscribing blockchain services from the dXn website, digiXnode.io, blockchain application developers and users can legally access to numerous blockchain frameworks in both mainland China and worldwide, saving time, cost and effort while accelerating cross-border deployments of distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based applications. 

 

Paul Wong, co-Founder of dXn, mentioned, “dXn provides a one-stop portal for subscriptions to both mainland China and global blockchain infrastructure services. Users can access the frameworks on Blockchain-based Service Network with the cheapest, easiest, and quickest way to make secure and trusted cross-border digital transactions.”

 

dXn believes that data trust and privacy play are pivotal to the success of digital economies. The exclusive access to trusted infrastructure on both sides of the border provided by dXn will spur innovation and create immense benefits by enabling talent, information, value and goods flow between enterprises, users, and partners. A virtuous cycle will be created and it can reinforce confidence, synergy and better cost performance for all parties involved.

 

dXn envisions to be the enabler of the fairest shared economies of the world. With the launch of digiXnode.io, dXn has built bridges between digital economies by offering the most economical means for blockchain-based application development and deployment. Upping the ante, dXn will next focus on bringing these bridged digital economies to the masses, building up and operating the most secured and trusted marketplace. Soon, developers and consumers will be able to publish and subscribe to various digital assets and services in the most convenient and cost-effective manner.

 

High resolution event photos downloadable HERE.

 

Photo 1: Group photo

Photo 2: Paul Wong, Co-Founder of dXn

Photo 3: Lo Wai Shun, Co-Founder & Chairman of dXn

Photo 4: Tim Bailey, Vice President of Red Date Tech

Photo 5: Sean Lee, CEO & Director of Algorand Foundation

About BSN and the consortium

The BSN Consortium consists of the Chinese government’s State Information Center (SIC), China Mobile, China UnionPay and Red Date. It operates a global public Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), where all types of blockchain distributed applications (DApps) can be deployed on its cross-cloud and cross-framework public city nodes (PCN) around the world.

To participate in digital economies, visit www.digixnode.io.

#digiXnode

Hong Kong Baptist University’s discovery of new coral and nudibranch species reflects Hong Kong’s rich marine biodiversity

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 25 October 2021 – Biologists from Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) have discovered in Hong Kong waters a new species of hard coral and two new species of nudibranch, a type of marine mollusc, that have never been identified anywhere else in the world. The discoveries of new species from these commonly seen animal groups are a vivid reflection of Hong Kong’s rich marine biodiversity.

Professor Qiu Jianwen (right) and Mr Yiu King-fung, a member of the research team and a research postgraduate student (left) introduce the new coral and nudibranch species.

 

The new marine species were identified by research teams led by Professor Qiu Jianwen, Professor of HKBU’s Department of Biology. The descriptions of the new coral and nudibranch species were published in the academic journals Zootaxa and Zoological Studies, respectively.

 

First new hard coral species discovered and named in Hong Kong in the past two decades

 

The new coral species belongs to the genus Tubastraea, which is commonly known as sun coral due to its bright orange polyps (individuals making up the colony) and the circle of tentacles that surround its mouth. HKBU biologists discovered the new species while conducting underwater surveys at the Breaker Reef in the eastern waters of Hong Kong in the summer of 2020.

 

The team named the coral Tubastraea megacorallita, with “mega” and “corallite” meaning “big” and “skeletal cup”, respectively. The species name reflects the fact that it has the biggest and most structurally complex corallite among the eight recognised Tubastraea species around the world. This species forms small colonies of between three and 12 polyps, and they share a common calcareous skeleton.

 

Sun corals are different from most reef-building corals, as they do not host symbiotic algae that produce energy via photosynthesis. Instead, these corals gain energy and nutrients by capturing small animals called zooplankton from seawater using their tentacles. While reef-building corals in Hong Kong typically inhabit shallower waters up to a depth of 10 metres, sun corals live in deeper waters at a depth of between 10 and 30 metres.

 

“Although 98 species of hard coral have been recorded in Hong Kong, the last time a new coral species discovered in Hong Kong waters was in 2000. It is in over around 20 years a new hard coral species discovered and named in Hong Kong,” said Professor Qiu.

 

Two new nudibranch species

 

Nudibranchs, commonly known as sea slugs, are gastropod molluscs that only have a shell during their larval stage. They are eye-catching animals, and they can often be spotted on coral reefs due to their vivid body colour patterns.

 

The HKBU team also discovered in Hong Kong waters two coral-eating species of nudibranch, both belonging to the genus Phestilla that has only nine recognised species prior to these discoveries. One of them, named Phestilla goniophaga, was collected from Sharp Island and Chek Chau. The word goniophaga” derives from the name of the host coral, “Goniopora“, which is commonly known as flowerpot coral, and the Latin word “phaga“, which means “eat”.

 

Phestilla goniophaga is rather big, and its body is around three centimetres long. It can be distinguished from other species of the genus by the large number of long finger-like, brown and white striped projections called cerata, and the white rounded hump on its back. The hump resembles the host coral’s mouth, while the cerata resemble the coral’s tentacles. This mimicry makes it difficult for its potential predators, such as fish, to spot them. Its egg masses, however, are bright orange in colour and they can normally be found glued to the coral skeleton.

 

The other newly discovered nudibranch species is smaller in size, and its body is less than one centimetre long. It lays eggs and feeds on the tissue of the leaf coral Pavona decussata. It has a white body with brown stripes and exhibits excellent mimicry against the colour pattern of its coral host. It was named Phestilla fuscostriata, with the species epithet adopting the Latin words “fuscus” and “striatus”, which mean “brown” and “streaky”.

 

This new species was discovered while culturing the leaf coral samples collected from Sharp Island during a study of coral bleaching mechanisms. The HKBU team discovered the new nudibranch species and its crescent-shaped white egg masses after noticing the wounds on the coral surface caused by its feeding.

 

While the seas around Hong Kong are only 1,651 square kilometres in size, the territory has around six thousand marine species – one-quarter of all the marine species recorded in China.

 

The work conducted by Professor Qiu’s team highlights the rich biodiversity found in Hong Kong, and reflects the urgent need to train local young talent to implement the Hong Kong Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.

 

Man Arrested for Attempted Murder with Improvised Firearm

An improvised firearm seized by police.
An improvised firearm seized by police..

A man was arrested in Vientiane’s Saysettha District last week on charges of attempted murder using an improvised firearm.

Village House Opens Up More Jobs in Japan Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

To support its community through challenging times, Village House is working with a job matching service to offer local and foreign residents additional income.

TOKYO, JAPAN – Media OutReach – 25 October 2021 – Village House, a trusted rental housing service company in Japan, has recently leveraged Erikura to provide employment opportunities to its tenants and local residents. A job matching service owned by Recruit Co., Ltd, Erikura enables residents to apply for one-off cleaning work at any of the Village House properties.

On top of affordable homes and rooms for rent with no brokerage fees, Village House continues to support its community in the best ways possible. 

Supporting Livelihoods During Difficult Times


In the face of the global COVID-19 pandemic which has had a serious economic impact, Japan has experienced the largest decline in average job availability ratio in nearly half a century as of fiscal 2020, with the unemployment rate up for the first time in 11 years.

The sudden reduction in demand, especially in the services sector, during the pandemic meant that many firms had no choice but to lay off workers or stop renewing contractors who depended on part-time work.

For those who suddenly find themselves unemployed or have some time to spare, they can acquire income with the help of Village House. In addition to supplying safe and secure rental housing to everyone including low-income earners, the company now enables job seekers to tide over this period with jobs that they can apply for as and when they want. 

Through Erikura, Village House will post available job vacancies which mainly involve cleaning of common areas that can be completed within minutes.

Those interested can easily sign up for the job and proceed to complete the task. Once finished, they are required to report with photo proof to receive the matching fee.

As of January 2021, this service has been introduced to 31 prefectures in Japan with over 9,000 successful trials. This job matching service is available in the following regions:

●       Aomori

●       Iwate

●       Akita

●       Miyagi

●       Kanagawa

●       Nagano

●       Niigata

●       Toyama

●       Gifu

●       Aichi

●       Mie

●       Shizuoka

●       Shiga

●       Kyoto

●       Nara

●       Osaka

●       Hyogo

●       Wakayama

●       Okayama

●       Hiroshima

●       Totori

●       Shimane

●       Yamaguchi

●       Kagawa

●       Kochi

●       Tokushima

●       Fukuoka

●       Nagasaki

●       Kumamoto

●       Kagoshima

●       Oita

This service will be phased in all prefectures sequentially to improve the quality of life for all Village House residents. This will include:

●       Hokkaido

●       Yamagata

●       Fukushima

●       Ibaraki

●       Tochigi

●       Gunma

●       Saitama

●       Chiba

●       Tokyo

●       Yamanashi

●       Ishikawa

●       Fukui

●       Ehime

●       Saga

●       Miyazaki

●       Okinawa


Increasing the Quality of Life in Japan


Village House Management is promoted by the Japan Organization for Employment of the Elderly, Persons with Disabilities and Job Seekers (JEED). With almost 1,100 properties operating in 47 prefectures in Japan, Village House caters to the needs of the people who live and thrive in its community.

About Village House

Village House provides high-quality rental properties with easy procedures at affordable prices in Japan. Starting from ¥20,000 per month, explore their promotions and discover a new life in one of their low-cost units today!

#VillageHouse