“We’ve made some progress and we obviously need to do more,” Matt Brittin, president of Google’s Europe, Middle East and Africa division, told reporters at Google’s European headquarters in Dublin on Thursday.

A day after bombshell indictments in a US probe of Moscow’s election interference and possible coordination between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia, Facebook, Google and Twitter told concerned lawmakers Tuesday they were taking necessary steps to rid their platforms of disinformation, propaganda and provocation.

In their testimony, the social media companies revealed startling new data showing many more millions of Americans were exposed to the fake news than previously thought.

In another hearing on Wednesday, Facebook said the apparent political meddling included use of its image-oriented messaging service Instagram, and that those suspect accounts were seen by some 20 million Americans last year.

The latest data on Instagram was on top of the estimated 126 million Americans exposed to Facebook posts from Russian entities seeking to create divisions during the election campaign.

In Thursday’s interview, Brittin revealed that “there had been a very limited use” of their advertising by Russian interests during the election, highlighting two accounts which spent “about $4,700 on advertising” that was not targeted on demographics or geography.

“But any misrepresentation is bad, and we have continued to look at how we can improve our policies and transparency,” he said.

– Committed to Europe –

But misinformation is not the only battle Google is facing.

In March, The Times newspaper revealed that ads for companies and other organisations were being promoted alongside extremist content, including videos posted by American white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan member David Duke as well as by Wagdi Ghoneim, an Islamist preacher banned from the UK for inciting hatred.

The scandal exposed the weaknesses of a system of automated sale of advertising space based on algorithms, and shook advertiser confidence. It led to a slew of companies pulling ads from Google’s internet platforms.

“The advertisers pullback has been limited but relatively serious,” Brittin said, but there was “no big impact on our numbers”.

The group has in any case passed a battery of measures to reassure advertisers — which can now more precisely determine the type of content on which they want their ads to appear.

Google has also invested in ways to better detect suspicious content, including with artificial intelligence and machine learning tools, hiring significant numbers of people, and putting in place faster procedures in case of emergency.

Brittin also said Google was committed to developing its European operations, which count about 14,000 employees.

“We want to continue to invest in Europe,” he said, even as the European Union wages a major crackdown on member states bending rules to give big international firms unfair tax breaks, with Apple and Google in the firing line.

In June, the EU slapped Google with a record fine of 2.4 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for illegally favouring its shopping service in search results, accusing the company of booking huge profits while denying state-coffers much-needed money.

“Taxes are due where we make our profits and that’s in the US,” Brittin said.

Finance Undersecretary Antonette Tionko told reporters that they were firming up the upcoming implementation of alcohol tax stamps, with the terms of reference and memorandum of agreement between the government and state-run printer APO Production Unit Inc targeted for signing in the third week of November.

In January, she said the Bureau of Internal Revenue would start to affix tax stamps on alcohol. The scheme is expected to be fully implemented by June next year.

“We have to give the manufacturers time to adjust,” Tionko said.

Manufacturers will be given sufficient time to reengineer their products to match the design of the stamp, she added.

According to Tionko, it would be more difficult to implement the Internal Revenue Stamps Integrated System (Irsis) for distilled spirits and wines, compared to cigarettes.

“There are many issues, such as on which part of the bottle will the stamp be affixed,” she noted.

Also, unlike cigarettes that are now slapped a unitary rate, different rates are charged on different types of alcohol, she said, adding that tax rates were also based on the alcohol content of the product.

Tionko said industry players were consulted about the stamp design, its size, the point of payment for the excise tax, as well as possible exemptions from the tax stamp.

In January, the BIR said that one of its priority programmes for 2017 was the implementation of Irsis for alcohol products as well as distilled spirits.

Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay had said that the implementation of Irsis for alcohol and distilled spirits would “ensure the collection of correct excise taxes on distilled spirits and wines as well as curb illicit trade of alcohol products in the country.”

Dulay’s predecessor, Kim Jacinto-Henares, had planned to introduce Irsis on alcoholic drinks before her term ended in mid-2016.

However, on this side of the causeway, Malaysians are curious over the fact that one Tan Hock Eng, the man helming the US$100 billion semiconductor giant, is actually one of their own.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that Broadcom would be relocating its legal address from Singapore to the US.

The move, which would return US$20bil in revenue to the US, is reportedly to faciliate a takeover of US network provider Brocade Communications Systems.

By becoming a US-based company, Broadcom’s deal would no longer be scrutinised by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US.

Following Trump’s announcement, Tan was invited to the podium, where the Penangite remarked his wonder at standing at the White House.

“Let me say my mother could never have imagined that one day her son would be here in the oval office in the White House standing beside the President of the United States,” he quipped.

Tan, an MBA degree holder from Harvard University, worked with Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan as managing director of Hume Industries in Malaysia from 1983 to 1988 before helming a venture capital fund in Singapore from 1988 to 1992.

According to reports, the 65-year-old also held financial positions at General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc before joining the technology sector at Commodore International Ltd.

He went on to become the chief operating officer of Integrated Circuit Sytems Inc. When this company was sold to Integrated Device Technology Inc, he became the latter company’s chairman.

Avago was created following a US$2.66 billion buyout of Integrated Circuit Systems in 2005 by private equity firms Silver Lake and KKR & Co. Tan was hired to lead the company as chief executive.

In 2015, Tan merged the company with Broadcom Corp following a US$37 billion acquisition, leading to the creation of Broadcom Ltd, which manufactures products that span computer and telecommunication networking.

Its exports are expected to hit RM65bil in 2018, making it the country’s biggest semiconductor and electronic exporter.

Assets of seven state-owned banks rose 8.69 per cent to nearly 4.2 quadrillion dongs , accounting for 45.4 per cent of the total number. State-owned banks where the state holds the majority stake include Agribank, Vietcombank, Vietinbank, Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam (BIDV), Viet Nam Construction Bank, GPBank and Ocean Bank.

Meanwhile, assets of joint-stock commercial banks stood at more than 3.72 quadrillion dongs, up 8.75 per cent. Total assets of finance and financial leasing companies were a little more than 134 trillion dongs ending August, but this group witnessed the strongest asset growth of more than 17.2 per cent.

Only Co-operative Bank of Vietnam saw its assets fall by 1.36 per cent. Ending August, total charter capital of the whole banking sector hit VND505.3 trillion, up 3.45 per cent compared to the start of the year.

Finance and financial leasing firms, and joint-venture and foreign banks had the strongest capital expansion of 8.3 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively.

Joint-stock commercial banks raised charter capital by 2.9 per cent during the period, reaching more than 206.6 trillion dongs, while the State-owned banks’ capital increased by just 0.8 per cent, valued at 147.7 trilliondongs.

Equity capital of joint stock commercial banks (267.7 trillion dongs) was also higher than that of State-owned banks (246.2 trillion dongs).

Ending August, the average capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the whole system was 12.37 per cent, much higher than the 9 per cent rate allowed by the central bank.

However, CAR of the State-owned bank group remained below 10 per cent, standing at 9.69 per cent, while the similar number of the joint-stock commercial banks was 11.12 per cent.

Joint-venture and foreign banks have the highest CAR of more than 32 per cent, followed by finance and financial leasing companies of 18.3 per cent.

CAR is expressed as a percentage of the bank’s capital to its risk-weighted assets and is one of the main metrics used to promote the stability and efficiency of financial systems.

However, bank experts warn that when BASEL II norms are applied, bank CAR may decline by 2-3 percentage points due to an increase in the amount of their risky assets. BASEL II also requires banks to maintain CAR of at least 8 per cent.

Following the SBV’s roadmap, about 12-15 Vietnamese banks must apply BASEL II by 2020, but 10 banks, including three State-owned banks (Vietcombank, Vietinbank and BIDV), participated in an earlier pilot programme that started in September.

Moody’s Investors Service on Tuesday upgraded its outlook for Vietnam’s banking system to positive for the next 12-18 months from stable, reflecting the country’s strong economic prospects and the positive outlook for most rated banks.

More than 1,900 small and medium enterprises have registered their interest to be involved in the DFTZ, surpassing the target of 1,500.

The overwhelming response is not surprising, as SMEs are eager to reach out to international markets through the DFTZ, an e-hub set up by Malaysia Digital Economy ration (MDEC) together with China’s Alibaba Group.

MCA president and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said an increase in export volume is expected with the DFTZ up and running.

Paving the way for the logistics sector to flourish are various development projects, such as the Special Border Economic Zone in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah (to draw cargo from southern Thailand to Penang Port), the expansion of Port Klang, the East Coast Rail Link, Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail and Sabah and Sarawak’s Pan Borneo Highway, Liow added.

In fact, MCA had mapped out 10 economic strategic directions and identified logistics and small traders as among the key areas to focus on back in September 2015.

The 10 economic strategic directions and the “Stronger Together” internal transformation programme are part of MCA’s information plan spearheaded by Liow when he took the helm in December 2013.

Four years on, Liow said, the efforts have resulted in a revamped, united party that is “cool” enough for youths.

“Youths had the impression that supporting the opposition was a cool thing. They felt uneasy supporting Barisan Nasional.

“We understand their feelings. We couldn’t penetrate the youths’ circle because unlike the Opposition, we wouldn’t resort to spreading sensational messages on social media that people love to share,” he said.

He said MCA has improved on its reserved and traditional ways by ging members to be more active on social media.

As former Youth chief, Liow said he understands that youths are full of idealism and want to be part of nation-building, but the Opposition takes advantage of this by giving the false impression that supporting them is to play the role of checks and balances with the Government.

“In actual fact, MCA is performing the function of checks and balances in Barisan and the government.

“When you join the party, you are able to ensure government resources are channelled to help the community and the youths,” he said, adding that this is more effective than just spouting empty rhetoric outside the government.

MCA has long emphasised education and training for youths through Tunku Abdul Rahman University, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, VTAR Institute and the Institute of Childhood Education Studies and Community Education, he said.

The party’s commitments are not confined to Malaysian shores either, Liow added.

It has actively developed external relations by becoming part of the standing committee of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties and forging close ties with China’s ruling party, the Communist Party of China (CPC).

It also set up the MCA Belt and Road Centre, which is recognised by the CPC as an important bridge between the two countries on Belt and Road cooperation, he said.

Liow noted that the party has successfully attracted more young members to be part of its big family.

There have been 66,093 new members recruited since 2013, bringing the total number of party members to 1.09 million.

About 40 per cent of the new members – 26,533 people – are below 40 years old.

If the numbers are anything to go by, the additions suggest that joining MCA is a cool thing to do for these people, Liow said.