company formations this year – a 17.7% increase as compared to the second half of the art gallery hong kongprevious year. There has also been a steady rise in the total number of foreign company registrations in Hong Kong. There were a total of 350 new foreign art gallery hong kongcompany registrations in Hong Kong during H1, 2010 – a 24.5% art gallery hong kongincrease as compared to the corresponding period in 2009. The Hong Kong Companies Registry confirms that 7,959 new foreign company formations were recorded from January 2010 until June 2010. The surge in Hong Kong company setup and foreign company registrations in Hong Kong are indicative of Hong Kong’s art gallery hong kongattractiveness as a regional business hub. Factors such as low taxes, a free economy, a stable government, excellent infrastructure, proximity to e New Year Eve celebrations. Sydney Sydney for a change has pleasant weather over the new year eve and most of the people are outdoors celebrating it. Popular are the New Year cruises in art gallery hong kongSydney… which provide magnificent and splendid sights of New Year Eve celebrations held at the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. On the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the scene is set for a spectacular display of art gallery hong kongfireworks all across the Sydney Harbor to the Cockatoo Island and also from Glades Ville Bridge to Harbour Heads. It’s as if the people of Sydney are out on the streets welcoming the New Year with excitement, enthusiasm and open arms. London London is the destination to head for a white New Year Eve celebration. The entire city of London is razzmatazz’s with lights all over the Parliament Square, Trafalgar Square, Big art gallery hong kongBen, Pall Mall, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and Berkeley Street. The London’s New Year’s Parade is the most breathtaking and scintillating event which has almost 10,000 performers from over 20 countries performing live. Apart from half a million spectators who witness it live almost 200 million viewers watch it on their television sets. For an eye catching display of fireworks do head for the South Bank which coincide with the Big Ben chiming in the mid night or the Westminster Bridge and central London too. Paris For an exciting but romantic celebration of New Year Eve, do opt for celebrating your New Year in Paris. A vibrant and exciting city, Paris is almost dancing to welcome the New Year. You would be surprised to see all Parisians outdoors, enjoying, drinking, dancing or merely soaking in the New Year ambiance against the Eiffel Tower with their beloveds or friends or family. The New Year is welcomed with greetings of “Bonne Annees” with eachmainland China, an efficient legal system, and availability of financial services contribute to Hong Kong’s success in attracting entrepreneurs and business professionals to set up and do business in Hong Kong. The biggest advantage of Hong Kong company set up is that the jurisdiction is unrivalled in terms of taxes. Hong Kong’s corporate tax rate of 16.5% is the lowest in the region. Moreover, there is no capital gains tax, no VAT, no taxation of foreign income, and no dividend tax. Secondly, Hong Kong is perfectly positioned for businesses wanting to enter the China market. Businesses that set up a Hong Kong company can gain preferential access to the China market under the China-Hong Kong free trade agreement, CEPA. Finally, the ease of Hong Kong company registration makes it an attractive place to establish and run a business. At present, it takes around 4-7 working days to incorporate a company in Hong Kong. However, the Hong Kong government plans to expedite the Hong Kong company incorporation process to less than a day, which is the current practice in Singapore. According to Registrar of Companies, Ms. Ada Chung, “We anticipate the launching of the electronic incorporation of companies and a one-stop service for company incorporation and business registration in early 2011.” Furthermore, in order to make Hong Kong company law more business-friendly, the government has launched a comprehensive effort to rewrite the Companies Ordinance. According to the IMF, Asia’s economy will make up more than a third of world output and will be 50% larger in five years time. To quote Mr. Dominique Strauss- Kahn, Managing Director of IMF, “Asia’s time has come. No one can doubt that Asia’s economic performance will continue to grow in importance.” Art Newspaper can reveal that a 500-year-old panel painting by Domenico Beccafumi of Marcia was broken in half, in one of the most serious handling accidents known to have occurred in a UK museum in living memory. This happened during deinstallation of the “Renaissance Siena” exhibition, which closed on 13 January. Gallery director Dr Nicholas Penny, who took over in February, admitted that the accident was “extremely serious”. Marcia was being removed from the wall in the Sainsbury Wing exhibition galleries when it slipped out of its temporary frame and dropped to the ground. The panel is composed of three vertical planks, each nearly one metre high, and the impact meant that the left plank broke completely away from the other two. Although conservation at the National Gallery is normally only done after approval of the trustees, remedial work was deemed urgent, in order to avoid further damage. Chairman Peter Scott was immediately informed and gave his authorisation. The two sections were fixed back together and loose paint was stabilised. Inevitably, there were paint losses where the planks had parted, and these appear to have extended for up to a centimetre around the area of the vertical break. This area was retouched. Thhttp://whitestone.hk/