The Afternoon Update with Lynlee Foo

A mother and son duo are facing five charges each for giving false and misleading information to the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) during its audit of cases of the so-called “99-to-1” arrangement for private properties. This is the first prosecution of taxpayers providing false and misleading information to Iras during its investigation into the two-step “99-to-1” property transactions for possible tax avoidance.  On Viewpoint, law-trained Invest Editor at The Straits Times, Tan Ooi Boon, shares his views about 99-to-1 property transactions. 

Japan's currency hits a two-month low amid geopolitical tensions and strong employment figures from the United States. How is the Yen faring against the USD and the SGD? Yeap Junrong, Market Strategist at IG explains this to us as well as his thesis for a trade idea. 

Independent cinema in Southeast Asia has been on the rise recently. A new generation of filmmakers in this region are making an impact on the world stage. While independent filmmakers face countless obstacles, the community has sought ways to fuel growth and ambition. Vietnamese horror comedy film, 'Don’t Cry, Butterfly', which Singapore was involved in, has won two awards at this year's Venice International Film Festival.The debut film by Vietnamese film-maker Duong Dieu Linh, held its world premiere at Venice Critics’ Week. It was presented with the section’s top prize for Best Film and the Verona Film Club Award for Most Innovative Film. The Vietnam-Singapore-Philippines-Indonesia production was supported by the Infocomm Media Development Authority's (IMDA)Singapore Film Commission, through the Southeast Asia Co-production Grant. We speak with Tan Si En of Singapore-based Momo Film Co about the business of filmmaking in Southeast Asia. Si En is the producer for the award-winning 'Don't Cry, Butterfly'.

Singapore’s reputation as a hub for luxury living and investment has been growing steadily. A stable political environment and a robust economy are just some of the factors that have attracted affluent buyers and investors from around the globe. To that end, Christie's International Real Estate, a global leader in luxury real estate, has recently launched operations in Singapore, marking a significant milestone in its Southeast Asia expansion strategy.  At the helm of this new venture is Himmat Singh, joint Managing Director, Christie’s International Real Estate Singapore. Himmat shares more about the luxury real estate market in the region and Christie's plans in the near future.

Former Transport Minister S. Iswaran has been sentenced to 12 months’ jail, in a high-profile trial that has gripped Singapore. This was more than what the prosecution had asked for. He had pleaded guilty to accepting gifts worth more than S$403,000 while in public office, as well as obstructing the course of justice. Linette Lai, Assistant News Editor from The Straits Times tells us more.

Sustainability may be a top business priority, BUT would it surprise you to know that only 6% of business leaders report that their organisation has completed at least one round of sustainability implementation according to  NTUC Learning Hub’s Sustainability for Business Resilience Report 2024. Holding back efforts seems to be a gap between management and employee expectations when it comes to sustainability training and implementation.  Rachel Kelly speaks to Mr Low Choon Chye Head, Sustainability, NTUC LearningHub to get the details.

Singapore has positioned itself as a hub for deep tech ventures, leveraging its knowledge-intensive economy and world-class research institutions. Skilled deep tech entrepreneurs receive increased support through grants, subsidies and investments.  On Industry Insight, Associate Professor Benjamin Tee, Vice President (Ecosystem Building) at the National University of Singapore, who has founded and sold a medtech startup, sheds more light on Singapore’s deep tech innovation and investment landscape and the current state of Singapore’s deep tech start-up ecosystem.

Vice-president candidates JD Vance from the Republican Party and Tim Walz from the Democratic Party engaged in a vice-presidential debate today in what could be the last  face-to-face showdown for both camps, before the November 5 US election.  How did both VP Candidates perform? What's the outlook for the final 5 weeks before the election? Do Vice-President debates even matter? Samuel Garrett, Research Associate at the United States Studies Centre at theUniversity of Sydney weighs in on the Veep debate and gave his take on the impact of such debates. 

The technology industry is at an exciting juncture. Cloud services provider Akamai launched an initiative earlier this year, to help companies deliver better experiences by moving their workloads closer to end-users. Akamai aims to increase its cloud-computing network with an additional 10 regions worldwide in the first quarter of this year and then another 75 throughout the rest of the year. Jay Jenkins, CTO, Akamai, shares insights into edge computing and the company's current efforts to interweave cloud computing capabilities into its large-scale edge network to become the preferred cloud computing platform. 

The Singapore dollar is trading at its strongest level in almost a decade against the U.S. dollar amid lower U.S. interest rates coupled with investors' confidence in its resilient economy. The recent rate cut by the Federal Reserve and announcements by the People’s Bank of China have caused movements among many major currencies. How is the Singapore dollar faring against the US dollar, the sterling pound, the yuan, the Australian dollar and the Malaysian ringgit?  Yeap Junrong, Market Strategist at IG, gives his take on the state of play at the current levels and shares a trade idea.