Property tax rebate for most HDB flat owners

SINGAPORE: All one- and two-room owner-occupiers of HDB homes do not need to pay property tax in 2013, similar to 2012.

For a majority of other HDB flat types, the property tax bill for 2013 will increase by between S$40 and $50, after taking into account a new S$40 rebate.

The increase in property tax comes after the revision of Annual Values (AVs) of HDB flats with effect from 1 January 2013, reflecting the rise in market rentals.

To mitigate the increase in the property tax payable by lower and middle-income households as a result of the AV revision, the government will give a one-off rebate of S$40 to owner-occupied HDB flats.

The Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) reviews the AVs of all properties - including HDB flats - annually.

The AV, which is based on the estimated annual market rent of a property if it were to be let out, applies to all homes, including owner-occupied homes. It is used as a basis to compute the property tax payable.

Property tax is calculated at 10% of the AV for non owner-occupied homes. For owner-occupied homes, the property tax payable is calculated based on concessionary tax rates (see table).

Since the last revision of AVs of all HDB flats on 1 January 2012, market rentals of HDB flats have risen by 8% to 13%. Accordingly, the AVs of all HDB flats will be revised from 1 January 2013.

To mitigate the impact of the increase in property tax payable, all owners of owner-occupied HDB flats will be given a one-time rebate of S$40. It will be automatically set off against the property tax payable in 2013. This rebate will not apply to non owner-occupied HDB flats which are currently taxed at 10%.

94% of HDB flat owners will receive this rebate.

All one- and two-room HDB owner-occupiers will not need to pay any property tax in 2013 as their revised AVs remain below S$6,000.

The revised property tax bills of other owner-occupied flat types, after taking into account the property tax rebate, are shown in the table below.

- CNA/ir

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Jayalalithaa to meet Karnataka CM to sort out Cauvery river issue

CHENNAI: In a significant development, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa will meet her Karnataka counter part Jagadish Shettar on Thursday to find a solution to the contentious issue of sharing Cauvery river water.

Her move came against the backdrop of Monday's Supreme Court suggestion that an amicable solution to the Cauvery row could be thrashed out if both Tamil Nadu and Karnataka chief ministers sat and discussed the issue together.

However, the court did not issue any direction to both the states but adjourned the matter for further hearing on Friday to know the feasibility and time schedule for a possible meeting between the two CMs.

However, an official release from the TN government said that as per the suggestion of the Supreme Court, Jayalalithaa will meet Jagadish at Bangalore and would hold discussions on the issue.

The state government's decision also comes in the wake of a worsening situation in the delta districts where a farmer committed suicide, upset over possible crop loss.

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Co. Paying Just $1,200 for Each Factory Fire Life

A company that makes clothes for Sean Combs' clothing brand ENYCE and other U.S. labels reassured investors that a factory fire that killed 112 people over the weekend would not harm its balance sheet, and also pledged to pay the families of the dead $1,200 per victim.

In an announcement Monday, Li & Fung Ltd., a middleman company that supplies clothes from Bangladesh factories to U.S. brands, said "it wishes to clarify" that the deadly Saturday night blaze at the high-rise Tazreen Fashions factory outside Dhaka "will not have any material impact on the financial performance" of the firm.

The fire broke out on the ground floor of the nine-floor building as hundreds of workers were upstairs on a late-night shift producing fleece jackets and trousers for the holiday rush at American stores, including Wal-Mart, according to labor rights groups. Fire officials said the only way out was down open staircases that fed right into the flames. Some workers died as they jumped from higher floors.

PHOTOS from the factory fire.

After reassuring investors about its financial health, Li & Fung's statement went on to express "deepest condolences" to the families of the dead, and pledge the equivalent of $1,200 to each family. The company also said it would set up an educational fund for the victims' children.

Bangladesh Garment Factory Fire Leaves 112 Dead Watch Video

As reported on "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" earlier this year, Bangladesh has become a favorite of many American retailers, drawn by the cheapest labor in the world, as low as 21 cents an hour, producing clothes in crowded conditions that would be illegal in the U.S. In the past five years, more than 700 Bangladeshi garment workers have died in factory fires.

READ the original ABC News report.

WATCH the original 'World News' report on deadly factories.

"[It's] the cheapest place, the worst conditions, the most dangerous conditions for workers and yet orders continue to pour in," said Scott Nova, executive director of Worker Rights Consortium, an American group working to improve conditions at factories abroad that make clothes for U.S. companies. Nova said the fire was the most deadly in the history of the Bangladesh apparel industry, and "one of the worst in any country."

Today, U.S. companies extended condolences to the families of the victims, and scrambled to answer questions about the dangerous factory that had been making their clothes.

Wal-Mart inspectors had warned last year that "the factory had violations or conditions which were deemed to be high risk," according to a document posted on-line.

Yet Wal-mart clothing continued to be made at the factory, according to workers groups who found clothing with Wal-Mart's private label, Faded Glory, in the burned out remains along with clothing for a number of other U.S. labels, including ENYCE, Dickies and a brand associated with Sears.

Wal-Mart confirmed Monday that its clothes were being made at the Tazreen factory. Even though Wal-Mart is famed for maintaining tight control over its supply chain, the company said its clothes were being made at the plant without its knowledge.

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Egypt's Mursi to meet judges over power grab

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi will meet senior judges on Monday to try to ease a crisis over his seizure of new powers which has set off violent protests reminiscent of last year's revolution which brought him to power.

Egypt's stock market plunged on Sunday in its first day open since Mursi issued a decree late on Thursday temporarily widening his powers and shielding his decisions from judicial review, drawing accusations he was behaving like a new dictator.

More than 500 people have been injured in clashes between police and protesters worried Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood aims to dominate the post-Hosni Mubarak era after winning Egypt's first democratic parliamentary and presidential elections this year.

One Muslim Brotherhood member was killed and 60 people were hurt on Sunday in an attack on the main office of the Brotherhood in the Egyptian Nile Delta town of Damanhour, the website of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said.

Egypt's highest judicial authority hinted at compromise to avert a further escalation, though Mursi's opponents want nothing less than the complete cancellation of a decree they see as a danger to democracy.

The Supreme Judicial Council said Mursi's decree should apply only to "sovereign matters", suggesting it did not reject the declaration outright, and called on judges and prosecutors, some of whom began a strike on Sunday, to return to work.

Mursi would meet the council on Monday, state media said.

Mursi's office repeated assurances that the measures would be temporary, and said he wanted dialogue with political groups to find "common ground" over what should go in Egypt's constitution, one of the issues at the heart of the crisis.

Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University, saw an effort by the presidency and judiciary to resolve the crisis, but added their statements were "vague". "The situation is heading towards more trouble," he said.

Sunday's stock market fall of nearly 10 percent - halted only by automatic curbs - was the worst since the uprising that toppled Mubarak in February, 2011.

Images of protesters clashing with riot police and tear gas wafting through Cairo's Tahrir Square were an unsettling reminder of that uprising. Activists were camped in the square for a third day, blocking traffic with makeshift barricades. Nearby, riot police and protesters clashed intermittently.

"BACK TO SQUARE ONE"

Mursi's supporters and opponents plan big demonstrations on Tuesday that could be a trigger for more street violence.

"We are back to square one, politically, socially," said Mohamed Radwan of Pharos Securities, an Egyptian brokerage firm.

Mursi's decree marks an effort to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. It reflects his suspicions of a judiciary little reformed since the Mubarak era.

Issued just a day after Mursi received glowing tributes from Washington for his work brokering a deal to end eight days of violence between Israel and Hamas, the decree drew warnings from the West to uphold democracy. Washington has leverage because of billions of dollars it sends in annual military aid.

"The United States should be saying this is unacceptable," former presidential nominee John McCain, leading Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Fox News.

"We thank Mr. Mursi for his efforts in brokering the ceasefire with Hamas ... But this is not what the United States of America's taxpayers expect. Our dollars will be directly related to progress toward democracy."

The Mursi administration has defended his decree as an effort to speed up reforms that will complete Egypt's democratic transformation. Yet leftists, liberals, socialists and others say it has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

"There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said on Saturday.

WARNINGS FROM WEST

Investors had grown more confident in recent months that a legitimately elected government would help Egypt put its economic and political problems behind it. The stock market's main index had risen 35 percent since Mursi's victory. It closed on Sunday at its lowest level since July 31.

Political turmoil also raised the cost of government borrowing at a treasury bill auction on Sunday.

"Investors know that Mursi's decisions will not be accepted and that there will be clashes on the street," said Osama Mourad of Arab Financial Brokerage.

Just last week, investor confidence was helped by a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund over a $4.8 billion loan needed to shore up state finances.

Mursi's decree removes judicial review of decisions he takes until a new parliament is elected, expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened it with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

"I am really afraid that the two camps are paving the way for violence," said Nafaa. "Mursi has misjudged this, very much so. But forcing him again to relinquish what he has done will appear a defeat."

Many of Mursi's political opponents share the view that Egypt's judiciary needs reform, though they disagree with his methods. Mursi's new powers allowed him to sack the prosecutor general who took his job during the Mubarak era and is unpopular among reformists of all stripes.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh and Marwa Awad in Cairo and Philip Barbara in Washington; Editing by Peter Graff and Philippa Fletcher)

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S'pore's industrial output falls more than expected in Oct

SINGAPORE: Singapore manufacturing output fell more than expected in October as production of electronics and pharmaceuticals slipped.

Output fell 2.1 per cent in October from the same month the previous year, led by declines of 6.0 per cent and 11.7 per cent respectively in the electronics and biomedical sectors.

Economists had forecast a year-on-year drop in total manufacturing output for October of around 1 per cent.

The Economic Development Board (EDB) said in a statement most segments of the electronics industry continued to contract because of weak export demand.

Electronics output slumped 11.6 per cent in the first ten months of 2012.

The EDB said a 12.9 per cent on-year rise in output of medical technology was not enough to offset a 15.3 per cent contraction in pharmaceuticals.

Excluding biomedical, total manufacturing output grew by 0.6 per cent in October from a year earlier.

On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, Singapore manufacturing output rose 3.3 per cent. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 2.3 per cent in October from September 2012.

- CNA/ck

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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GOP Starting to Rebel Against No-Tax-Hikes Pledge

With the fiscal cliff looming for the United States, some Republican members of Congress said today they are ready to break a long standing pledge not to raise taxes.

"The only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece. And Republicans should put revenue on the table," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said on ABC's "This Week."

Read more of the discussion of the fiscal on "This Week" today.

Graham's comments followed those by another Republican senator, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, who said last week he'll no longer abide by the pledge.

"I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge," he said in a local interview.

He got support today from House member Peter King, another Republican from New York.

"I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss -- a pledge he signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago is for that Congress," King said on NBC's "Meet the Press." He added, "The world is changed and the economic situation is different."

JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Dick Durbin on 'This Week' Watch Video

Loathed and Loved: What We Never Knew About J.R. Ewing Watch Video

Read Matthew Dowd's analysis of the efforts to avoid the fiscal cliff.

This growing chorus is about the pledge that Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist has gotten hundreds of Republicans to sign. But in an interview with ABC News, Norquist says it's just a few deserters.

"The people who have made a commitment to their constituents are largely keeping it," he said. "The fact is there is more support for both protecting the rates, you saw the Republican leader in the house say rates are non-negotiable, and he also talked about revenue coming from growth."

But President Obama has said rates will go up for the wealthy. There could be some political cover for Republicans if the country actually goes over the cliff. All the Bush era tax cuts would expire, including those for the wealthy. Congress could then vote to actually reduce taxes for everyone expect the rich. Therefore, they wouldn't technically raise taxes and violate Norquist's pledge.

But Nordquist said he doesn't think the public would buy those political moves, and he also doesn't think the country will actually go over the cliff.

"I think we'll continue the tax cuts. Not raise taxes $500 billion. Obama made the correct decision (by extending the Bush tax cuts) two years ago," Norquist told us.

Leading Democratic Sen. Richard Durbin also said he believes a deal is possible now that the Thanksgiving holiday break is over.

"We can solve this problem," he said on "This Week," adding: "There's no excuse. We're back in town."

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Egypt's Mursi faces judicial revolt over decree

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faced a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense, deepening a crisis that has triggered violence in the street and exposed the country's deep divisions.

The Judges' Club, a body representing judges across Egypt, called for a strike during a meeting interrupted with chants demanding the "downfall of the regime" - the rallying cry in the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

Mursi's political opponents and supporters, representing the divide between newly empowered Islamists and their critics, called for rival demonstrations on Tuesday over a decree that has triggered concern in the West.

Issued late on Thursday, it marks an effort by Mursi to consolidate his influence after he successfully sidelined Mubarak-era generals in August. The decree defends from judicial review decisions taken by Mursi until a new parliament is elected in a vote expected early next year.

It also shields the Islamist-dominated assembly writing Egypt's new constitution from a raft of legal challenges that have threatened the body with dissolution, and offers the same protection to the Islamist-controlled upper house of parliament.

Egypt's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Judicial Council, said the decree was an "unprecedented attack" on the independence of the judiciary. The Judges' Club, meeting in Cairo, called on Mursi to rescind it.

That demand was echoed by prominent opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei. "There is no room for dialogue when a dictator imposes the most oppressive, abhorrent measures and then says 'let us split the difference'," he said.

"I am waiting to see, I hope soon, a very strong statement of condemnation by the U.S., by Europe and by everybody who really cares about human dignity," he said in an interview with Reuters and the Associated Press.

More than 300 people were injured on Friday as protests against the decree turned violent. There were attacks on at least three offices belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement that propelled Mursi to power.

POLARISATION

Liberal, leftist and socialist parties called a big protest for Tuesday to force Mursi to row back on a move they say has exposed the autocratic impulses of a man once jailed by Mubarak.

In a sign of the polarization in the country, the Muslim Brotherhood called its own protests that day to support the president's decree.

Mursi also assigned himself new authority to sack the prosecutor general, who was appointed during the Mubarak era, and appoint a new one. The dismissed prosecutor general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud, was given a hero's welcome at the Judges' Club.

In open defiance of Mursi, Ahmed al-Zind, head of the club, introduced Mahmoud by his old title.

The Mursi administration has defended the decree on the grounds that it aims to speed up a protracted transition from Mubarak's rule to a new system of democratic government.

Analysts say it reflects the Brotherhood's suspicion towards sections of a judiciary unreformed from Mubarak's days.

"It aims to sideline Mursi's enemies in the judiciary and ultimately to impose and head off any legal challenges to the constitution," said Elijah Zarwan, a fellow with The European Council on Foreign Relations.

"We are in a situation now where both sides are escalating and its getting harder and harder to see how either side can gracefully climb down."

ADVISOR TO MURSI QUITS

Following a day of violence in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and Suez, the smell of tear gas hung over the capital's Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the uprising that toppled Mubarak in 2011 and the stage for more protests on Friday.

Youths clashed sporadically with police near the square, where activists camped out for a second day on Saturday, setting up makeshift barricades to keep out traffic.

Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely read dailies, hailed Friday's protest as "The November 23 Intifada", invoking the Arabic word for uprising.

But the ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamist groups that have been pushing for tighter application of Islamic law in the new constitution have rallied behind Mursi's decree.

The Nour Party, one such group, stated its support for the Mursi decree. Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, which carried arms against the state in the 1990s, said it would save the revolution from what it described as remnants of the Mubarak regime.

Samir Morkos, a Christian assistant to Mursi, had told the president he wanted to resign, said Yasser Ali, Mursi's spokesman. Speaking to the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, Morkos said: "I refuse to continue in the shadow of republican decisions that obstruct the democratic transition".

Mursi's decree has been criticized by Western states that earlier this week were full of praise for his role in mediating an end to the eight-day war between Israel and Palestinians.

"The decisions and declarations announced on November 22 raise concerns for many Egyptians and for the international community," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

The European Union urged Mursi to respect the democratic process.

(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair and Shaimaa Fayed and Reuters TV; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Crunch time for defending champions Malaysia

SINGAPORE: Southeast Asian champions Malaysia will be desperate to put a run of poor performances behind them when they begin the defence of their AFF Suzuki Cup football title this weekend.

Malaysia host southern neighbours Singapore in what is set to be a hothouse atmosphere at Kuala Lumpur's Bukit Jalil National Stadium on Sunday, with the home fans hoping to see their team repeat their heroics of 2010.

The Tigers showed bite in that tournament when they overcame a poor start to win the Southeast Asian title for the first time with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Indonesia in the final.

Coach K. Rajagobal has maintained the nucleus of that winning side but their form has dipped alarmingly with warm-up losses to Vietnam and Thailand, and draws at home against unfancied Hong Kong and Bangladesh.

Rajagobal was livid after Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Bangladesh and warned he would make "drastic changes" if they slip-up again this weekend.

"We didn't get the desired result against Bangladesh and I'll take stern action if we don't get a positive result against Singapore," he said.

"I'm concerned with the team's display... Another below-par performance will force me to make drastic changes to the team."

Singapore will be looking to avenge a 2-0 loss to the Malaysians at the same venue in June, and the three-time Southeast Asian champions are coming off a 4-0 thumping of Pakistan in their final warm-up game on Monday.

Group B also includes Indonesia, who reached the final two years ago but now look a very different side following a rift which has split the country's football scene into two leagues with different governing bodies.

Players from the breakaway Indonesian Super League have been told by their clubs not to join up with the coach Nil Maizar's national team, although Persija Jakarta striker Bambang Pamungkas opted to put his country first.

"I came from my home to join the Indonesian national team training camp," said the 32-year-old. "As a professional, I hope that the Indonesian football dualism ends here."

Thailand are the hosts of Group A and they will kick off their campaign at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok on Saturday against the Philippines, the surprise package of the last Suzuki Cup.

The Thais have won the competition three times, but their last title came a decade ago in 2002. Led by wily coach Winfried Schafer, their squad blends experience with young talent and they will be fancied to end their long drought.

"The AFF Suzuki Cup is very important for this region and I hope we can at least reach the final, although it will not be easy," said the German. "We face three good teams but we are playing at home which is an advantage."

They face a tough opening test against the Filipinos, who reached the semi-finals for the first time in 2010 after a stunning 2-0 win over defending champions Vietnam in Hanoi.

The ambitious Azkals are looking to move a step beyond that and they are certainly well prepared after playing more than a dozen friendly matches in the past six months.

The match will be preceded by the tournament's opener between 2008 winners Vietnam and Myanmar.

Group matches are split between Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok with the semis and final, all played over two legs home and away, starting on December 8. The tournament wraps up on December 22.

- AFP/ck

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Corporation related to IT works in Haryana gets fourth head in 6 months

CHANDIGARH: After shifting whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka from Hartron, a corporation to handle IT-related projects, two months after his posting, the Haryana government on Friday transferred his successor Nitin Yadav just four months after he took charge.

A Haryana civil services officer, Vivek Atrey, will be the next managing director of the corporation. With this appointment, the corporation will have its fourth managing director in just six months. The state government on May 20 had transferred then managing director of the corporation Ankur Gupta and replaced him with Ashok Khemka. Khemka, who had exposed various alleged irregularities in the corporation, was transferred within 50 days of his appointment to land consolidation department.

"There was a nexus to award software development works of petty nature without tenders to selected companies at inflated rates of Rs 25 to 50 lakh each, whereas the rudimentary software development work could have been done in-house or through NIC," Khemka had stated in a communication to the state chief secretary on October 12.

Apart from Hartron, Atrey will also handle two more cadre (mainly meant for IAS officers) posts - director of supplies and disposals, joint secretary and director of electronics and information technology. The post of joint secretary is usually occupied by a senior IAS officer. Earlier, Atrey had handled IT department of Chandigarh administration as its director. Khemka had recently hogged headlines for cancelling the mutation of a land deal between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and DLF.

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