G7 Nations Agree To Minimum Corporate Tax Rate Amid Feud Over Digital Taxes

The G7 nations, which include some of the world’s richest countries, have agreed to a minimum corporate tax rate of 15%. The development is important because several member countries have been feuding over digital taxes that the US argues unfairly targets its companies.

The agreement aims to force large, profitable multinational companies to pay taxes where they operate – not just where they base their headquarters. For many years, large MNCs – especially tech companies – have been accused of not paying enough taxes or shifting profits overseas to avoid taxes.

US Treasury Secretary said the deal would end the practice of countries racing to the bottom on corporate taxation, Reuters said. She also said that European countries would repeal their digital services taxes because of it.

The US, which is part of the G7, has been threatening to slap punishing tariffs on six countries, including fellow G7 members Britain and Italy, over their digital taxes. The UK previously defended its digital tax as “reasonable, proportionate and non-discriminatory.”

Facebook, Amazon, and Google all seem publicly supportive of (or are at least resigned to) the G7 tax deal, according to CNBC’s reporting. The G7 (Group of Seven) nations are the US, the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.

iPhone Screens With 120Hz Refresh Rate Enters Production

Rumours of an iPhone generation featuring a display with 120Hz refresh rate started with the iPhone 12. That didn’t happen, as all four variants sport the standard 60Hz refresh rate displays. But that didn’t stop the rumour from resurfacing for this year’s model. Such displays have reportedly entered their production stage.

South Korean news outlet The Elec reports that Samsung and LG have both started the production of said display. The outlet’s sources claim that the former started production in the middle of the month. The latter, on the other hand, began production more recently.

Also included in the report is the fact that this production run started a month early compared to last year. Apple itself made the request to start production earlier. This could suggest that the iPhone maker intends to introduce this year’s phones a month earlier than it did in 2020, which was in October.

While the 120Hz display is the more recent of rumours surrounding this year’s iPhones, they are not the only one. Others, some dating all the way back to 2019, include the lack of a Lightning connector port, or just ports in general. Then there’s the alleged design leaks of a mini variant, which contradicts the one on portless design.

AstraZeneca Revises Its COVID-19 Vaccine Efficacy Rate To 76 Percent

British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca released data showing that its Covid-19 vaccine was 76% effective in preventing symptoms of the disease and 100% effective against severe disease and hospitalisation, CNN said. For volunteers aged 65 and older, the vaccine was 85% effective against developing symptoms, AstraZeneca claimed.

The company released those numbers after it was criticised earlier in the week by a US health agency for possibly including outdated information when it claimed 79% efficacy against symptomatic Covid. All the figures are based on a Phase 3 clinical trial done across the US, Chile, and Peru.

While generally held in high regard by health authorities across the world, the AstraZeneca vaccine has been dogged by controversy – including fears that it may cause blood clots.

Those (blood clot) concerns caused a whole bunch of European countries – including France, Germany, and Spain – to temporarily stop using the vaccine, CNN said. They ultimately resumed usage after the European Union’s drug regulatory agency declared the vaccine to be safe, saying its benefits outweigh the risk.

In Malaysia, the AstraZeneca vaccine has received conditional approval, with the government ordering 12.8 million doses, according to CodeBlue. Putrajaya is sticking with its purchase, convinced for now that the vaccine isn’t linked to blood clots, Bernama reported.

Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin previously said that the AstraZeneca vaccine would likely be administered in rural areas – as opposed to the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine in urban centers.

realme 8 And 8 Pro Now Official In India; Both Feature 180Hz Touch Sampling Rate

Just four short months after the realme 7 5G was brought into Malaysia, the company has now announced the realme 8 and 8 Pro. And the company’s choice of internal parts for these two models are pretty interesting. At least, when you compare them to what came before.

One thing both devices have in common is the 6.4-inch Full HD+ Super AMOLED display with a 180Hz touch sampling rate. Moving inside, the base model comes with a MediaTek Helio G95 chipset, 128GB of storage, and a 5000mAh battery that supports 30W charging. For cameras, it has a 64MP main + 8MP wide-angle + 2MP macro and 2MP monochrome cameras at the back. In front, it has a 16MP camera in a punch hole cutout on the top left corner.

Moving on to the realme 8 Pro, this instead comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipset, a familiar 128GB internal storage, and a 4500mAh battery with 50W charging. At the back, it has a 108MP main camera, but the other three cameras are similar to the base model. Ditto the front-facing camera in a punch hole cutout on the top left corner.

By now, you’ll probably notice that both the realme 8 and 8 Pro use an older chipset than the previous realme 7 5G. It’s definitely a little jarring to see. Improvements are seen instead in the display touch sampling rate, and the pixel count of the primary rear camera.

At any rate, the realme 8 has three RAM options. They are 4GB, 6GB and 8GB, for prices of INR14999 (~RM855), INR15999 (~RM912) and INR16999 (~RM969). As for the Pro model, there are only two RAM configurations of 6GB and 8GB. The prices accompanying them are INR17999 (~RM1026) and INR19999 (~RM1140). They will be available today in India, but it remains to be seen when they will be making their way to our shores.

Nubia Announces RedMagic 6 Series Phones With 165Hz Refresh Rate

ZTE sub brand Nubia has announced new additions to its line of RedMagic phones in its home country of China. They are the Nubia RedMagic 6 and the RedMagic 6 Pro. And while the company has only announced the phones in China, it also has a website counting down to a global launch later in the month.

But first, the phones themselves. Starting with the Nubia RedMagic 6, it comes with a 6.8-inch Full HD+ OLED display, with a refresh rate of 165Hz. It’s the highest refresh rate among phones for now. It also comes with a much faster single-finger touch sampling rate of 500Hz. Odd that the company would specify that, and the fact that the touch sampling rate drops to 360Hz for more than one finger instead. Then there are the capacitive shoulder triggers, with a sampling rate of 400Hz.

On the inside, the Nubia RedMagic 6 runs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and a 5050mAh battery that supports 66W charging. Then there’s the RedMagic signature fan, which goes up to 15000rpm in speed. It has a 64MP main + 8MP wide angle + 2MP macro camera setup at the back, and an 8MP camera in front. And as a bonus, it also has a 3.5mm audio jack.

Then there’s the Nubia RedMagic 6 Pro, which is mostly identical to the base model, with a few differences. For one, the battery is a little smaller at 4500mAh, but supports 120W charging. The fan speed is also pushed up to a maximum of 20000rpm.

The Nubia RedMagic 6 is priced at CNY3799 (~RM2388), while the Pro model comes with a CNY4399 (~RM2766) price tag. Then there’s a “Dao” special edition that comes in two configurations. One comes with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage, and a CNY5599 (~RM3520) price tag. Another, with a whopping 18GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, costs, CNY6599 (~4149). No price for the global market yet, but we’ll likely find out more on 16 March.