Singapore: Amazon is planning to expand its local workforce in Singapore because it aims to add more than 200 jobs through its new office in Asia Square.

The online retailer stated in a press release on Wednesday (October 27): “The company plans to expand its local workforce in its consumer business and corporate functions. There are currently more than 110 job vacancies in Singapore.”

Amazon also plans to add more than 200 new jobs to these departments in Singapore by the end of 2022 to expand its product range in the country and provide more support for local companies to go global.

The company said that since 2019, it has created more than 1,000 direct jobs in Singapore and has about 2,000 full-time and part-time employees to date.

Amazon’s new office is located in Asia Square in Marina Bay, and the three-story building will exceed 100,000 square feet. It will accommodate up to 700 employees from consumer business and corporate functions.

The new office will house more than 30 teams, including employees who support Amazon.sg, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Advertising, Prime Video, seller support, and other regional company functions.

Amazon said: “As Amazon’s business, operations and investment in Singapore continue to grow, the new office is called SIN16, which aims to optimize agile work, learning and collaboration.”

Henry Low, Amazon Singapore’s regional manager, said that the company’s new office demonstrates its “continued commitment” to invest in Singapore and Singapore’s long-term potential to become a leader in the global digital economy.

Minister of Trade and Industry Yan Jinyong, who attended the opening ceremony on Wednesday, said that Amazon has always been an important partner in supporting the local business community and helping to develop the Singapore ecosystem.

The company has been an investor in Singapore since 2010, the country being its first business in Southeast Asia.

“In addition to supporting our SMEs, Amazon has also created many good job opportunities for Singaporeans in technology and non-tech positions in the technology sector,” Mr. Gan said.

He added that as Amazon continues to expand its business in the country, he believes that more Singaporeans will benefit from these opportunities.

Singapore: The Ministry of National Development (MND) and the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Wednesday (October 27) announced the details of a new housing model that will build public housing in the center of a prime location.

Under the new housing model, build-to-order (BTO) apartments-prime location public housing (PLH)-will be built in areas such as the city center and the Great Southern Waterfront.

Before buying a BTO apartment in these places, you need to know the following:

Q: Who is eligible to buy BTO apartments in prime locations?

The qualifications for buying BTO units in prime locations from the HDB will be the same as the current conditions for BTO units.

However, the priority allocation quota for the Married Children Priority Plan will be reduced. Currently, the program provides up to 30% of BTO units for those who wish to live with parents or children in the area or live nearby.

MND and the Housing and Development Board said in a press release that the reduced quota makes public housing in these areas more inclusive and provides more opportunities for Singaporeans whose family members do not live near the area to also live in these communities.

Looking ahead, the quota of the PLH project will be adjusted according to its location.

Q: How does the extra subsidy work?

Since apartments in these prime locations “naturally gain a higher market value”, in addition to the subsidies currently provided for all BTO apartments, the pricing of these units will also receive additional subsidies.

However, future owners of such apartments will pay HDB a certain percentage of the resale price of the units, so that the authorities can “fairly recover the scope of the additional subsidies originally given.”

“The subsidy recovery rate will reflect the level of additional subsidies provided at the time of launch, and the same rate will be applied regardless of when the apartment is resold in the future,” MND said in response to CNA’s inquiry.

More details, including the subsidy recovery percentage, will be announced during the BTO exercise in November.

Q: Can I sell my apartment? when?

Future owners of BTO condominiums in prime locations must fulfill a 10-year minimum occupancy period (MOP) before they can sell their condominiums on the open market or purchase private residential properties.

This 10-year MOP is twice that of a typical BTO project.

They can also only be sold to resale buyers who meet the current BTO eligibility criteria (such as income ceiling).

MND stated: “Sellers who are trying to set prices for subsidized recovery based on sales prices, hoping to get the most benefit, may find that their potential buyer base is smaller.”

The ministry added that sellers need to have “realistic expectations” when determining the price of an apartment.

Those buying resale apartments also need to consider the impact of additional ownership conditions, such as extended MOP and rent restrictions.

Q: Can I rent out my apartment?

Those who buy such units in prime locations are not allowed to rent out the entire unit even after MOP.

They will only be allowed to rent out spare bedrooms.

These conditions will apply to those who purchased the unit from HDB, as well as all subsequent buyers in the resale market.

Q: Where will these apartments be built?

The PLH model will apply to “selected” public housing projects located in prime locations and central locations, such as the city center and surrounding areas, including the Great Southern Waterfront.

The first project launched in this mode will be held in Rochor next month.

Located along Kelantan Road and Welding Road, it will provide 960 three- and four-bedroom units and 40 two-bedroom rental units in the same block.

“In order to maintain the inclusiveness and diversity of our public housing, we will build public rental apartments where feasible as part of PLH,” MND said.

It added that the exact arrangement will vary from project to project.

There are plans to launch at least one PLH project every year, but the specific number and proportion of the total supply of new apartments may vary from year to year due to factors such as site availability.

Q: Have you discussed the PLH model with other owners?

The PLH model was launched after 10 months of public participation from November 2020 to September 2021.

MND and HDB stated that more than 7,500 Singaporeans, including first-time home buyers, existing homeowners, industry experts and academics, shared their views on the new model.

MND and HDB stated: “Across a wide range of perspectives and perspectives, Singaporeans recognize that each measure has its advantages and trade-offs and requires a balanced approach.”

“Most Singaporeans say that it is fair for the government to introduce new policy conditions.”

Singapore: A few days after going to the clinic to confirm that his girlfriend was nine weeks pregnant, a man had an argument with her while discussing pregnancy and attacked her abdomen.

On Monday (October 25), 24-year-old Shawn Tan Jia Jun was fined S$3,500 after pleading guilty to a crime of voluntary injuring.

The fetus was fine after the attack, but his girlfriend later miscarried. The court was informed that the couple planned to get married before the end of the year, and the judge believed that this proved the victim’s forgiveness to the defendant.

The court learned that Tan and his 24-year-old girlfriend went to a clinic on July 10 last year for a pregnancy test.

The doctor told them that the victim had been pregnant for nine weeks and asked her if she wanted to continue her pregnancy or if she had a miscarriage. She was told to make a decision before July 17 because of the risk of further medical complications.

On July 14, the victim visited Tan and stayed overnight. The next day, they had a dispute while discussing pregnancy. Tan and the victim yelled at each other. Tan pushed the victim onto the bed, then punched and kicked her in the abdomen many times.

The commotion was heard by Tan’s mother, and she stopped arguing. The victim then called a friend who accompanied her out of the apartment.

Later that day, the victim sought treatment in the emergency department of a hospital with facial pain and bruises on his limbs. She was diagnosed with facial bruises and facial redness, and was later discharged from the hospital on sick leave.

A bedside ultrasound performed on the victim revealed an active heartbeat in the fetus.

The victim reported the assault to the police, but later tried to withdraw the charges.

The situation surrounding the natio

Defence Cites Circumstances Surrounding Incident
Defense lawyer Terence Yeo demanded a fine on the grounds that the victim was “minorly injured”, the quarrel was short in duration, and the circumstances of the incident.

Speaking of “the elephant in the room,” he said that the victim had aborted the baby. He said that this is not a situation where his client has a clear intention to harm or harm the victim.

The judge pointed out that the victim’s intention to marry the defendant before the end of the year was the “most obvious form of forgiveness.”

She agreed with the prosecutor that these actions would not only harm the victim, but also the unborn baby, but pointed out that this was Tan’s first crime and there were “some mitigating factors”.

The judge said: “Yes, this is a family dispute, but it may be due to pregnancy and a decision must be made within a short period of time.”

“For me, what stands out is that the victim may indeed accept the fact that he didn’t intentionally harm her in a malicious sense…It was spontaneously generated during the dispute,” she added.

For voluntarily causing injury, Chen Ke was sentenced to up to three years in prison, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.

Singapore: According to official data on Monday (October 25), consumer prices in Singapore continued to rise in September, partly due to higher food and electricity and natural gas prices.

Core inflation-excluding accommodation and private transportation costs-rose slightly to 1.2% year-on-year, up from 1.1% in August.

At the same time, according to data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade, the headline consumer price index or headline inflation rate rose slightly to 2.5% in September from 2.4% in August. And Industry (MTI).

MAS and MTI stated that this reflects higher inflation in accommodation and food.

Food prices, electricity and natural gas prices are rising
The food inflation rate in September rose to 1.6% from 1.5% in August, because the prices of non-cooked and prepared foods rose slightly.

Electricity and natural gas prices rose even more sharply, from 9.7% in August to 9.9%. MAS and MTI stated that this was due to the larger increase in the average electricity price paid by households under the open electricity market.

The cost of retail and other commodities remained negative, declining by 1.1% at the same rate. The authorities stated that the smaller declines in the prices of clothing and footwear were largely offset by lower inflation rates for personal items and larger declines in the prices of non-durable household items.

Accommodation increases, private transportation remains unchanged
Accommodation prices in September rose to 1.9% from 1.7% in August. MAS and MTI stated that this is due to the faster increase in housing rents.

As the rate of increase in car prices is similar to that in August, the private transport inflation rate remains unchanged at 10.8%. The authorities stated that the strong increase in motorcycle prices was offset by sharp declines in other private transportation costs.

Service costs also remained stable at 1.2%. MAS and MTI attributed this to increased inflation in holiday expenses and hospital services, but it was offset by falling inflation in point-to-point transportation services and entertainment and cultural services.

Inflation outlook
MAS and MTI expect that in the context of rising import and labor costs and the recovery of domestic economic activity, core inflation will rise steadily in the next few quarters.

The authorities stated that core inflation-a key policy consideration for the central bank-will approach the upper limit of the 0% to 1% forecast range this year, and will further rise to 1% to 2% in 2022.

It is estimated that the overall inflation rate this year will be about 2%, and will average 1.5% to 2.5% next year.

In the case of construction delays, accommodation inflation should “stay firm” and continue to support overall inflation in 2022.

The authorities said that due to the slowdown in COE premiums and gasoline costs, private transportation inflation may slow down next year.

MAS and MTI stated that as Singapore transitions to managing COVID-19 as a local regulation, the recovery of the domestic labor market should continue.

They added that as the weakness in the labor market dissipated, wages have rebounded and are expected to “steadily rise.”

The authorities expect that consumer demand should increase, so that the accumulated business costs will be more passed on to consumer prices.

MAS and MTI stated that as for global inflation, this is still “rising” and may continue for some time.

“Due to OPEC+’s decision to maintain moderate supply growth, crude oil prices have recently risen, and as global natural gas prices have risen, demand for oil has also rebounded.”

They added that the mismatch between supply and demand in various commodities and commodity markets and the “bottleneck” of global transportation may continue to exist in the short term.

They also expect that as the global and regional recovery progresses, potential inflation of Singapore’s major trading partners will gradually rise.