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SINGAPORE – Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced more support measures and payouts to help households, workers and businesses deal with inflation in the Budget speech on Tuesday.

Here are some highlights from his speech: 1. Assurance Package top-ups and payouts ST PHOTO: BENJAMIN SEETOR A total of $3 billion will be pumped into the Assurance Package. The package will cost $9.6 billion, up from $6.6 billion.

Payouts will come in the form of a new Cost-of-Living Special Payment of between $200 and $400 for each eligible adult Singaporean. An additional senior bonus of between $200 and $300 will be given to each eligible Singaporean aged 55 and above.

Cash payouts will be increased by between $300 and $650 for eligible Singaporeans, bringing the total amount received by each adult Singaporean to between $700 and $2,250 over five years.

Singaporean households will also receive $300 in Community Development Council (CDC) vouchers in January 2024, up from the $200 the Government had earlier announced.

READ FULL STORY: Sporeans to get more in GST voucher, cash payouts to cope with rising costs 2. Housing measures and grants PHOTO: ST FILE Families with young children, as well as married couples aged 40 and younger buying their first home will get more support in their house hunt.

This group of home seekers will get an additional ballot chance for their first Build-To-Order flat application. This will be implemented later in 2023.

For those buying resale flats, the Central Provident Fund Housing Grant will, with immediate effect, be increased from $50,000 to $80,000 for eligible families purchasing four-room or smaller resale flats for the first time, and from $40,000 to $50,000 for those buying five-room or larger flats.

READ FULL STORY: Higher grant for first-time HDB resale flat buyers; additional BTO ballot chance for some 3. Higher taxes for high-value property, luxury cars and tobacco PHOTO: ST FILE Buyers stamp duty for residential properties: The portion of the propertys value in excess of $1.5 million, and up to $3 million, will be taxed at 5 per cent, up from the current 4 per cent. The portion in excess of $3 million will be taxed at 6 per cent, up from the current 4 per cent.

Luxury cars: Buyers of vehicles with open market value (OMV) of more than $40,000 will pay higher marginal additional registration fee (ARF) rates than they do today. For the highest OMV tier, the revised ARF rates will be 320 per cent, up from 220 per cent today.

Tobacco: Excise duty across all tobacco products will increase by 15 per cent from Tuesday.

READ FULL STORY: Help to weather inflation, more progressive property and vehicle taxes 4. CPF monthly salary ceiling to rise PHOTO: ST FILE The CPF monthly salary ceiling will be increased from $6,000 to $8,000 in 2026 to keep pace with rising salaries.

The increases will be phased in over four years, starting from 2023, to allow employers and employees to adjust to the changes.

READ FULL STORY: CPF monthly salary ceiling to be raised to $8,000 by 2026 5. Baby Bonus boost ST PHOTO: FELINE LIM The Baby Bonus cash gift will be increased by $3,000 for all eligible Singaporean children born on Feb 14, 2023 and after. This means first and second children will receive $11,000, up from $8,000. For the third child onwards, the gift will be $13,000, up from $10,000.

Parents can expect up to $9,000 in payouts in the first 18 months of the childs life. Subsequently, $400 will be paid out every six months starting from when the child is two years old until the child turns 6.

Government-paid paternity leave will be doubled from two weeks to four weeks for eligible working fathers of Singaporean children born on or after Jan 1, 2024.

The one-off Baby Support Grant of $3,000 will be extended to children born from Oct 1, 2022 to Feb 13, 2023. It was previously for children born from Oct 1, 2020 to Sept 30, 2022.

READ FULL STORY: $3k more in baby bonus, more financial support for childrens early years 6. More support for workers ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI The Government will continue to provide wage offsets until 2025 to employers who hire senior workers.

It will extend the Part-time Re-employment Grant until 2025 to encourage employers to offer part-time re-employment, other flexible work arrangements, and structured career planning to senior workers.

It will pilot the role of Job-Skills Integrators in precision engineering, retail and wholesale trade sectors. These integrators, which can be existing institutions, will engage enterprises to understand the manpower and skills gaps in the sector and work with training providers to close these gaps.

To encourage firms to employ former offenders, the Government will introduce the Uplifting Employment Credit to provide wage offsets for a limited time.

READ FULL FULL STORY: Jobs-Skills Integrators to ensure training leads to good job prospects 7. Tax deductions for donations extended PHOTO: ST FILE The 250 per cent tax deduction for donations to Institutions of a Public Character, or registered charities, and eligible institutions which was announced in Budget 2021 will be extended for three years to the end of 2026.

To further support social service agencies that serve seniors, there will be a $1 billion top-up to the Community Silver Trust that allows the Government to match donations dollar for dollar.

READ FULL STORY: Govt to extend 250% tax deduction for donations until 2026 More On This Topic Govt will help Sporeans tide through tough times and uncertainties, says PM Lee Singapore Budget 2023: Read more stories, views and analyses

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Banksy’s piranhas police box put in protective storage ahead of museum display

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Banksy's piranhas police box put in protective storage ahead of museum display

A Banksy artwork, where a glass police box looks like a tank of piranhas, has been moved into protective storage ahead of its display at the London Museum’s new location.

The artwork made headlines last summer when it featured as part of the street artist’s animal-themed collection in the capital, which concluded with a gorilla appearing to lift up a shutter on the entrance to London Zoo.

The piranhas piece is now in the care of the London Museum and will be kept in secure storage before it becomes accessible to the public as part of a permanent display at the museum’s Smithfield location, which is opening in 2026.

The artwork is moved from London's Guildhall. Pic: PA
Image:
The artwork is moved from London’s Guildhall. Pic: PA

The police box had stood in Ludgate Hill since the 1990s before it was painted to resemble a fish tank.

The box was temporarily relocated by the City Of London Corporation to Guildhall Yard, where thousands of visitors viewed it from behind safety barriers, after Banksy confirmed he was responsible for the artwork.

It was later moved to Guildhall’s South Ambulatory.

Banksy’s London animals collection was made up of nine works including a rhino seemingly mounting a silver Nissan Micra, two elephant silhouettes with their trunks stretched out towards each other, and three monkeys that appeared as though they were swinging on a bridge.

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Some of the works, which also included a howling wolf on a satellite dish, were removed, covered up or vandalised, after being painted across the city from 5 to 13 August 2024.

Chris Hayward, policy chairman of the City of London Corporation, said: “Banksy stopped Londoners in their tracks when this piece appeared in the Square Mile – and now, we’re making it available to millions.

“By securing it for London Museum, we’re not only protecting a unique slice of the City’s story, but also adding an artwork that will become one of the museum’s star attractions.”

The artwork after it first emerged. Pic: PA
Image:
The artwork after it first emerged. Pic: PA

Brendan Barns, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s culture, heritage, and libraries committee, said: “Banksy’s Piranhas are already part of City legend – and soon, they’ll be part of London’s story, too.

“Moving this piece into the care of London Museum guarantees that millions of people will be able to enjoy it, alongside an extraordinary collection that celebrates the capital’s creativity and diversity.”

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Glyn Davies, head of curatorial at London Museum, added: “With the arrival of Banksy’s Piranhas, our collection now spans from Roman graffiti to our first piece of contemporary street art.

“This work by one of the world’s most iconic artists now belongs to Londoners, and will keep making waves when it goes on show next year in the Museum’s new Smithfield home.”

London Museum’s London Wall site opened in 1976 and closed in December 2022 in preparation for the move to Smithfield.

London Museum Docklands remains open.

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Taylor Swift announces engagement to boyfriend Travis Kelce

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Taylor Swift announces engagement to boyfriend Travis Kelce

Taylor Swift has announced she is getting married to her NFL star boyfriend, Travis Kelce.

The pop star and Kansas City Chiefs tight end shared the news in a joint post on Instagram, with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

The announcement was liked more than 1.7 million times just over 30 minutes after it was posted.

Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift
Image:
Pic: Instagram / @taylorswift

Swift and Kelce started their relationship in 2023, after the three-time Super Bowl winner said on his podcast New Heights that he tried and failed to meet the singer at her Eras Tour concert in Kansas City.

Rumours grew that the couple were dating after Swift was spotted at a number of Chiefs games. On her seventh time in the stands, she brought her father, Scott Kingsley Swift, along.

Kelce told the Wall Street Journal in November 2023: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming [to the Eras Tour]?’

I had somebody playing Cupid… She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”

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From January: Taylor cheers on Travis after Chiefs win

Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelce’s podcast, New Heights, and announced her 12th album, titled The Life Of A Showgirl.

Speaking to Kelce and his brother Jason, Swift said it was inspired by the Eras Tour – and also talked about his attempt at meeting her two years ago.

While she said his plan to give her his number on a friendship bracelet was a “wild, romantic gesture,” she joked he “didn’t do any proper logistical planning” and thought he would be allowed backstage.

“Because he knows the elevator lady, he thought he could talk to her about just getting down to my dressing room,” she added. “That’s how it works in 1973.”

Read more about Taylor Swift:
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The new album, which will be released on 3 October, marks her first release since she took back control over her entire back catalogue from private equity firm Shamrock Capital.

Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.

Despite rumours he would retire after losing this year’s Super Bowl, Kelce will play for the Kansas City Chiefs again this season.

He told GQ magazine his on-field performances “slipped a little bit” as he started acting, and added: “I’m just saying that my work ethic is such that I have so much pride in how I do things that I never want the product to tail off, and I feel like these past two years haven’t been to my standard.”

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Men should ‘demand’ prostate cancer test, ex-Sky presenter says – as he speaks about his stage-four diagnosis

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Men should 'demand' prostate cancer test, ex-Sky presenter says - as he speaks about his stage-four diagnosis

Former Sky News presenter Dermot Murnaghan has called on men to “demand” a prostate cancer test and for the government to actively offer screenings, after his own stage-four diagnosis.

Speaking to Anna Jones on Sky News, Murnaghan said he didn’t have any of the usual prostate cancer symptoms – such as frequent or urgent urination or the occurrence of blood – but “fell very ill on a foreign holiday”.

Upon being treated by the NHS, he was diagnosed with stage-four cancer.

Pointing to how prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests are getting more accurate, Murnaghan said they should be offered in the same way as screenings for other cancers are.

“They might cost a little bit more money, but think about the money you save,” he said.

“Treating people who get to my stage, there’s an awful lot of things that are being thrown at me that are costing a lot of money.

“As in so many other cancers, if you are diagnosed much, much earlier, then of course you save money much further down the line.”

Symptoms of prostate cancer

According to the NHS, symptoms will usually occur only once the cancer has grown or spread.

People may notice changes to the way they urinate, such as:

• Finding it difficult to start urinating or straining to urinate

• Having a weak flow of urine

• “Stop start” urinating

• Needing to urinate urgently or often, or both

• Feeling like you still need to urinate when you’ve just finished

• Urinating during the night

Other symptoms can include:

• Erectile dysfunction (being unable to get or keep an erection)

• Blood in your urine or blood in your semen

• Lower back pain and losing weight without trying to (these may be symptoms of advanced prostate cancer)

He said he finished chemotherapy in early July and is currently waiting to see what the effect has been.

It comes as a coalition of more than 60 cancer charities, known as One Cancer Voice, is warning the government must take urgent steps to tackle cancer care in England – including faster diagnosis targets and better prevention policies.

According to analysis carried out by the charities, more than six million new cancer cases could be diagnosed in England between now and 2040.

This would equate to a diagnosis every two minutes, which is up from one every four minutes in the 1970s.

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Cancer cases to rise in England

Murnaghan said there is “no formal screening programme” for prostate cancer and men “actually have to ask for it rather than be offered it as so often happens with other cancers”.

In the absence of a screening programme, he said he would advise men of a certain age to “go and demand it”.

‘A real bolt from the blue’

Speaking of how he put off screening, Murnaghan said: “In my own case, I fell through those gaps.

“I foolishly sat in your [presenter Anna Jones] position for many many years speaking to people about this very issue and talking about men, particularly over the age of 50, men in high risk groups who may have a history of it in their family, to go and ask for this screening…

“And I kept thinking you know ‘once I got over that age I will go and do that’,” he said.

“I kept thinking, ‘okay well you know I’ll get round to it’, life intervenes, jobs, children, holidays…all kinds of things and I never did…

“So what happened was at the end of last year I fell very ill on a foreign holiday and kind of rushed back here to get treated by a wonderful health service and was diagnosed, a real bolt from the blue.”

Read more:
England warned it faces six million new cancer cases by 2040

The former Sky News presenter is planning to join Sir Chris Hoy on a charity bike ride to raise money for cancer charities.

Sir Chris was himself diagnosed with stage four prostate cancer in September 2023.

Murnaghan is a familiar face to Sky News viewers as one of its main presenters from 2007 until 2023.

In September 2022, he announced the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II on the channel.

Before joining Sky, he presented ITV’s News At Ten and the BBC Ten O’Clock News – now known as BBC News At Ten – as well as Channel 4 News.

Murnaghan also presented the quiz show Eggheads on BBC Two for 11 years.

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