Year 2008
Pay cut for top civil servants
Monday, 24th November 2008
Ministers and top civil servants will get a pay cut of up to 19 per cent next year. The Civil Service is also reducing the year-end bonus payment for this year. In 2009, the Prime Minister and President will see their annual salaries cut by 19 per cent. Ministers and Senior Permanent Secretaries will see an 18 per cent fall. The allowance for Members of Parliament will be cut by 16 per cent. Next year, according to his spokeperson, the Prime Minister will actually see his salary fall to pre-revision levels?
COE crashes to $2
Wednesday, 19th November 2008
What was thought to be impossible, the COE (open bidding system for car buyer) had crashed. At the close of the tender, COE premium for cars was at an unprecedented $2. Motor traders were shocked. All said the market was soft, but no one expected the price to crash. The number of bids submitted exceeded the COE supply of 1,851 by only one. The last time it crashed was in 1997 when the bid was stopped at 50 bucks .
Indian won Singapore Open
Sunday, 16th November 2008
Jeev Milkha Singh, an Indian National, thanked the 'golfing gods' after clinching the 2008 Barclays Singapore Open in Sentosa by a shot from Ireland's Padraig Harrington and South Africa's Ernie Els in a dramatic finish. This is Mr. Singh's third victory of the 2008 season, with his seven-under-par 277. He pocketed a cool USD 792,500 dollars in this win.
Zoo cleaner killed by Tigers
Thursday, 13th November 2008
A zoo cleaner, a contract worker with Sun City Maintenance Company, was mauled to death at the Singapore Zoo's white tiger enclosure. The tragic incident when he jumped into the enclosure and provoked the tigers into attacking him. It is not known exactly why the 32-year-old, Nordin Montong from Malaysia, decided to jumped into the tiger enclosure. During the incident, zookeepers and onlookers had thrown various items at the tigers in an attempt to distract them from Nordin. He was still alive after zookeepers succeeded in making the tigers retreat to their dens, but Nordin died later of his neck and leg injuries. This was the first time a person had been killed by an animal at the zoo since it opened in 1973.
First city reservoir opens
Saturday, 1st November 2008
The Marina Barrage has created Marina Reservoir, the 15th reservoir here and the first one in the heart of the city - the most densely built-up part of the island. This reservoir and two other new ones will raise the portion of the country's land area used for water catchment from half to two-thirds. The idea of damming the mouth of the Marina Channel to create a freshwater lake came from Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew in 1987, when he was prime minister. That was the year the massive clean-up of the Singapore River was completed, and fish had returned to it.
Prostitute Murdered at Flanders Square
Saturday, 25th October 2008
At about 7.15pm, the victim, a 41-year-old Malaysian woman, stumbled out of a room on the ground floor of a three-storey building in Flander Square, a dead-end street off Petain Road in Little India, with a knife still lodged in her chest. Neighbours believe the suspect was a regular patron of the dead woman, who goes by her working name Coco. She was described as being over 1.7m tall, slim and attractive. Coco was known as an "Ang Pai" (Red Card in Hokkien) in that area which means she was one of the most popular prostitutes there - her asking rate was $50 per session and have about 20 male clients a day. More than 100 women working in the stretch of budget brothels along Flanders Square.
PM Lee asked Citizen not to Over react
Friday, 24th October 2008
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for a measured response to the ongoing global financial crisis, cautioning against an over-reaction that might cause more alarm and uncertainty. He urged Financial authorities to keep in close contact. PM Lee stressed that it is important to engage the international financial institutions, which have the resources and knowledge to help governments manage this crisis.
STI Stock Index Fell
Friday, 24th October 2008
The STI Stock Index is at 1,600 a fall of about 55% from New Year Day 2008 where it was hovering in 3,500 region. Billion of Dollars were wiped out from the Singapore stock market. A sea of red washed over the Asian markets as investors, fearing the global recession would drag on.
China Free trade pact signed
Wednesday, 22nd October 2008
The landmark free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Singapore, which is the Chinese government's first with an Asian country, will eliminate tariffs for 85 per cent of Singapore's exports to China from January 2009. An additional 10 per cent of exports, or 95 per cent of Singapore's exports to China, will be duty-free from 2010 onwards. The Singapore exports covered by the FTA, which include such items as instant coffee, aviation kerosene and ornamental fish, have a total trade value of over $18 billion. As part of the China-Singapore FTA , Singapore will lift tariffs for all Chinese exports to Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao signed the FTA in Beijing.
PM Lee opens Fusionopolis
Friday, 17th October 2008
Singapore's second major research and development (R&D) hub - Fusionopolis - was opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday, with the announcement that the Republic recorded the highest gross domestic expenditure in R&D last year. the futuristic 30-hectare Fusionopolis, which will be developed over six phases, is Singapore's icon for R&D in interactive media, physical sciences, engineering and technology. About 800 scientists, engineers and game developers currently works in Fusionopolis.
Major Events 8 Nation Building 10 People 33 Places 47 Politics 10 Religion 1
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