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What's New - New Look & Changes
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NEW LOOK & CHANGES
2008
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New
CEPAS-compliant ez-link card |
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The Land Transport Authority’s (LTA)
next-generation e-payment system for public transit, Symphony for
e-Payment (SeP), is ready for implementation... |
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With SeP, commuters will be able to use
cards issued by any card issuer for transit purposes as long as the
card complies with the CEPAS standard and includes the transit
application. Commuters can eventually use CEPAS-compliant cards for
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) payments in vehicles fitted with the
new generation In-vehicle Unit (IU), Electronic Parking System (EPS)
carparks and other electronic payment systems that support the CEPAS
standard... |
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More..... |
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More clinics to offer anonymous HIV testing |
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The Ministry of Health will increase the
number of anonymous HIV test sites in Singapore from the current three -
Anteh Dispensary, Cambridge Clinic, and the Action for AIDS Anonymous
HIV Testing and Counseling Clinic - to seven, with
effect from 1 November 2008... |
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More..... |
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MOE
appoints 50 principals in 2008 |
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The Ministry of Education (MOE) will be
appointing 50 Principals at the 11th Appointment
Ceremony for Principals to be held on 30 Dec 2008.
They comprise 27 newly-appointed Principals and 23
serving Principals/HQ officers who will take up
appointments in other schools... |
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More..... |
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2007
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Estate of Tan Sri Khoo Teck Puat launches $25 million
fund for education |
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The Fund will provide for three programmes:
training opportunities to strengthen English language teaching in the
region, opportunities for needy students in our polytechnics and the
Institute of Technical Education to gain overseas exposure, and
scholarships for deserving students from Singapore and China to pursue
their undergraduate studies in Singapore universities. |
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The Ministry of Education will administer
the fund... |
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More..... |
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New pay and career package for teachers |
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MOE will be introducing a new Education
Scheme of Service (2008) from 1 April 2008 to better recognise and
reward good teachers. The new scheme will be more market responsive and
there will be a stronger link between pay and performance. |
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Officers will be placed on a salary range
system with merit increments that are based on one’s performance,
potential and market wage movements. This will replace the current
salary scale system with fixed annual increments. With the revision to
the salary ranges, a one-off salary increment of up to 4% will be made
to the salaries of eligible officers on the new scheme... |
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More..... |
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Comfort and CityCab taxi fares to go up on 17 Dec 2007 |
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Basic Fare |
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Current |
Revised |
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Flag Down: $2.50 for 1st km
1km to 10km: $0.10 for every 210m
Above 10km: $0.10 for every 175m
Waiting time: $0.10 for every 25sec |
Flag Down: $2.80 for 1st km
1km to 10km: $0.20 for every 385m
Above 10km: $0.20 for every 330m
Waiting time: $0.20 for every 45sec |
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More..... |
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Reduced hospital subsidies for non-citizens |
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From January 1, 2008, non-PR foreigners will
not receive any healthcare subsidy. PRs will continue to be subsidised
for hospital services, but at 5 percentage points less than citizens. |
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From July 1, 2008, another 5
percentage-point reduction will be applied... |
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More..... |
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New foreign workforce measures to meet strong market
demand |
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With effect from 1 January 2008, the S Pass
quota for all sectors will be increased from 15% to 25%. The new S Pass
quota will come entirely from companies' Work Permit quota which will be
increased for all sectors. Companies can therefore employ more S Pass
holders, in lieu of Work Permit holders, hence improving the quality of
their foreign workforce... |
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To strengthen our
global talent attraction and retention efforts, refinements will be made
to the PEP scheme. Foreign professionals whose last drawn fixed monthly
salary overseas was at least S$7,000 will be eligible for a PEP. The PEP
will also be granted to former P1 Employment Pass holders upon
application. |
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These changes
will take effect from 1 March 2008. Existing and new P1 pass holders
working in Singapore that apply for the PEP ahead of the 2-year
requirement will be accorded in-principle approval. They can apply to
take up the PEP at the end of 2 years on their current P1 pass... |
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More..... |
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NEA commissions book on Singapore hawker centres |
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The National Environment Agency has
commissioned a book that traces the social history of this uniquely
Singapore icon. |
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"Singapore Hawker Centres - People, Places, Food" is the
definitive account on hawkers, their food and their stories. It also
features environment and public health officials who have been
instrumental in transforming hawking from a public health nightmare to a
respectable trade... |
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More..... |
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Electronic Medical Records Exchange extended to
community hospitals |
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By the first quarter of 2008, over 4000
patients yearly at the community hospitals will be able to enjoy better
patient care, improved drug safety, fewer repeat tests and hence lower
costs with the extension of the Electronic Medical Records Exchange (EMRX)... |
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The extension marks the first step in the
Ministry of Health's plans to extend the EMRX beyond the public
sector... |
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More..... |
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Cosmetic products to be regulated from 1 Jan 2008 |
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Effective from 1 January 2008, all new
products must comply with the ACD requirements and notify HSA prior to
sale. |
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All existing products that are currently
sold in the local market will be given 12 months to notify HSA and to
fully comply with the requirements by 1 Jan 2011... |
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More..... |
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Singapore to start video games classification system
in 2008 |
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The Board of Film Censors (BFC) will be
launching a video games classification system next year to provide more
choice for adults while protecting the young. |
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In the interim period, the BFC has decided
to selectively use games rating to enable highly anticipated games to be
launched in Singapore... |
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More..... |
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National Registry Of Diseases Bill passed |
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Part II of the Bill establishes the
National Registry of Diseases and sets out its functions. These
include the collection of information on reportable diseases,
establishment of registers, compilation and publication of
statistics, and the provision of information for supporting health
services and national public health policies... |
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Clause 6, in Part III of the Bill,
makes the notification of reportable diseases mandatory for
managers of all healthcare institutions. The burden is placed on
the manager as he has the management and control of the
institution. Very limited data will be required to make a
notification... |
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More..... |
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Inaugural National Infocomm Club Awards |
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The National Infocomm Club Awards recognise
the creativity of Infocomm Club students in using technology to educate
and connect to the wider community, or within schools... |
Primary Category
Top Winner : River Valley Primary School (Project: The Adventures
of Respect)
Merit Winner : Chua Chu Kang Primary School (Project: Intelligent
Communicators)
Merit Winner : Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School (Project: HOPE) |
Secondary / Junior College
Category
Top Winner : Raffles Institution
(Project: E-learning Packages for Down Syndrome Youths)
Merit Winner : Hwa Chong Institution (Project: Spiderportal)
Merit Winner : Victoria Junior College (Project: Automated Quiz
Management System)... |
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More..... |
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Stiffer measures to deter errant taxi drivers |
- Stiffer penalties for errant
taxi drivers
- Taxi advisories for the public
- More taxi stands within the
Central Business District (CBD) / Street hail of taxis on CBD
roads disallowed from 1 March 2008
- Enhanced taxi QoS requirements
fully phased in from 1 January 2008
- Taxi Mystery Customer Audit
kicked off
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More..... |
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Changes
to SingPass system |
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Come 25 November 2007, Singaporeans who have
forgotten their Singapore Personal Access (or SingPass) password will be
able to get it reset almost immediately... |
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The new hotline, SingPass website and system
administration will be managed by CrimsonLogic Pte Ltd, who was
appointed by the Government through a competitive tender to develop,
operate and maintain SingPass in April 2006. SingPass was previously
managed by the Central Provident Fund Board... |
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More..... |
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S$40 million infrastructure upgrade for Orchard Road |
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With the planned landscape and
infrastructural enhancements, Singapore’s premier shopping street will
have state of the art lighting highlighting its lush tree-lined
boulevard, new creative spaces for staging events and a more integrated
and engaging pedestrian mall... |
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Orchard Road's infrastructure works will be
carried out in phases to minimise disruption to businesses and the public, while
access points to buildings will be maintained at all times... |
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Works are expected to be completed by April
2009. |
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More..... |
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SGNIC launches bidding for fully numeric domain names |
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While alphanumeric domain names already
exist, (eg, www.in2015.sg), fully numeric ones like www.123.sg have not
been allowed till now... |
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SGNIC, the national registry for domain
names, will now also allow pure numeric domain names in all the seven .sg
categories (ie. .sg, .com.sg, .net.sg, .org.sg, .gov.sg, .edu.sg, .per.sg).
The registration for pure numeric domain names will be phased
accordingly: |
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- 05 November – 28 December 20071:
All qualifying applicants including businesses and individuals can
register. Trademark owners2 will get priority over other
applicants. Example: A company with "123" as its trademark will get
priority for 123.sg, or in any other .sg domain category... |
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More..... |
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Singapore population in 1990, 2000 and 2006 |
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Total Population by
Residential Status for 1990, 2000 and 2006 (Mid-Year Estimates)[1]
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Year
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1990
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2000
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2006
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Total Population
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3,047,100
(100.0%)
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4,027,900
(100.0%)
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4,483,900
(100.0%)
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Singapore Citizens
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2,623,700 (86.1%)
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2,985,900 (74.1%)
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3,145,800 (70.2%)
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Permanent Residents
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112,100 (3.7%)
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287,500 (7.1%)
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462,700 (10.3%)
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Non-Residents[2]
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311,300 (10.2%)
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754,500 (18.7%)
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875,500 (19.5%)
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More..... |
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Travellers to declare currency or bearer negotiable
instruments over S$30,000 |
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From 1 November 2007 onwards, persons who
move into or out of Singapore physical currency1 or bearer
negotiable instruments2 (CBNI) the total value of which
exceeds SGD 30,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) will be
required to give a report by filling up a form and submitting it to the
authorities. |
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The form is available at all checkpoints,
police establishments, Singapore Visitors Centres and branches of
Singapore Post... |
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More..... |
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Singapore Airlines A380 enters commercial service |
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The Singapore Airlines A380 enters
commercial service today (25 Oct 2007), with its first flight – SQ380 – from Singapore
to Sydney, Australia... |
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The majority of the seats on the two legs of
this flight were sold on eBay, the global online marketplace, with all
proceeds donated to charities... |
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More..... |
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New governance structure for NUH and NUS School of
Medicine |
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MOE and MOH have jointly agreed for NUS and
NHG to establish a new governance structure for the NUS School of
Medicine (NUS-SoM) and the National University Hospital (NUH)... |
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Under the new governance structure, NUH and
NUS-SoM will be repositioned as a joint operating entity. This new
NUH-SoM entity will be governed by one Governing Board which will
include senior members from NHG, NUS, MOH and MOE... |
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More..... |
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New applied subjects at 'O' Level from 2008 |
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From Jan 2008, eight secondary schools will partner the polytechnics to
offer to their Express and Normal (Academic) students, three new ‘O’
level subjects in applied disciplines: Creative 3D Animation,
Fundamentals of Electronics and Introduction to Enterprise Development. |
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These new Applied Subjects will be reflected in the students’ GCE ‘O’
level Examination Certificates and be recognised for admission into
Junior Colleges and Polytechnics... |
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More..... |
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The Penal Code (Amendment) Bill passed |
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The new section 376C (Commercial sex
with minor under 18 outside Singapore) will have extra-territorial
effect so that it would be an offence for Singapore citizens and
Permanent Residents to solicit or engage in commercial sex with
minors under 18 in other countries...
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Feedback received highlighted concerns over
female sexual abuse of male minors. On further consideration, we accept
that these younger male children could be exploited by older women.
Consequently, we have decided to make it an offence for a woman to
engage in penile penetrative sexual acts with a male minor under 16 and
to have commercial sex with a male minor under 18... |
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Whilst prostitution per se is not an
offence, new section 376B (Commercial sex with minor under 18)
will make it an offence for a person to solicit, communicate or
obtain sexual services from a minor under 18 years of age... |
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More..... |
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Secondhand Goods Dealers Act effective from 1 Dec 2007 |
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Under the new Act, only dealers who deal in
secondhand goods that are listed in the Schedule will be regulated. This
will be regardless of whether such dealings take place at a shopfront,
via a makeshift stall or over the Internet. |
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The list of items was drawn up based on
crime data of commonly stolen items. While the existing Act has a wider
list of items, the new regulatory regime has a reduced list which
comprises commonly stolen items. This allows a sharper regulatory focus
in preventing fencing1. |
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Dealers who deal in items which are not in
the new list will not be regulated. The list of items may also be
revised according to crime trends... |
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More..... |
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Medical devices in Singapore to be regulated |
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HSA is adopting a phased approach in
implementing the new regulations to minimise the impact to the
supply of medical devices and to provide sufficient time for the
industry to meet the new standards and requirements. The control
measures will be implemented in three phases, starting from 1
November 2007:.. |
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More..... |
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MOE
appoints 65 principals in 2007 |
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This year, 23 of the 36 newly-appointed
Principals are aged 40 and below, which is the largest number of young
newly-appointed Principals in the last ten years. |
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Among them, the youngest are Mdm Eugenia Tan
and Mrs Clara Lim-Tan at age 35. They will be heading Crescent Girls'
School and CHIJ (Kellock) respectively... |
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More..... |
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Proposed exemption from maximum credit card limit |
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The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
has issued a consultation paper proposing to exempt card issuers from
complying with the maximum credit limit when issuing credit or charge
cards to individuals with an annual income of at least $120,000 or net
personal assets exceeding $2 million[1]. |
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With the proposed exemption, card issuers
may determine the appropriate credit limits for this higher income group
in line with their assessment of the credit worthiness of these
individuals... |
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More..... |
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Proposed amendments to the Infectious Diseases Act |
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Therefore, we propose to amend the IDA to
empower the Director of Medical Services (DMS) to obtain left-over
samples, and send them for the tests and examinations for the purpose of
monitoring the infectious disease situation in Singapore... |
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The Ministry proposes to expand the IDA to
empower DMS to close any premises as non-food establishments may also be
the source of an outbreak... |
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We propose to amend the IDA so that when
required, the DMS may require medical practitioners as well as other
categories of health care workers (e.g. TCM practitioners, dentists,
pharmacists, etc.) to obtain disease related information from their
patients... |
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MOH proposes to expand the IDA to
address the situation where an individual who, although unaware
that he is HIV-positive, has reason to believe that he has been
exposed to the risk of contracting HIV or AIDS (e.g. by having
unprotected casual sex with multiple partners)... |
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More..... |
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159 Foreign Medical Schools recognised in Singapore |
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The Ministry of Health and the Singapore
Medical Council (SMC) will be including an additional 19 leading
international medical schools to the Schedule of the Medical
Registration Act with effect from 1st October 2007... |
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Included are 6 medical schools from China, 4
from India, 4 from Japan, 2 from Taiwan and 1 from South Korea. 2 more
medical schools from Europe have also been added... |
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Singaporeans graduating from any of the 159
international medical schools can also come back to Singapore, to
supplement the number graduating from our own medical schools... |
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More..... |
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Five schools to pilot boarding programmes for students |
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Five schools will be piloting various models
of boarding programmes starting from 2008, to support the all-round
development of their students... |
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Anglo-Chinese School
(Independent) Year 1 – Year 4 Integrated
Programme (IP) students will board together to forge bonds across
levels, through activities such as inter-hall games. Each IP student
will board for at least two semesters in total. |
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Hwa Chong Institution
Sec 3, Sec 4, JC1 and JC2 students will have the opportunity to
board together on an optional basis, to forge bonds across levels.
Boarding will take place for one term (3 months)... |
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More..... |
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Singapore and UK conclude landmark Open Skies
Agreement |
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Singapore and the United Kingdom (UK) have
concluded a landmark Open Skies Agreement (OSA) on 2 October 2007,
removing all restrictions on air services operated by carriers of both
countries. |
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With this agreement, Singapore Airlines (SIA)
will now be able to operate as many services as the Singapore-UK market
could support... |
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Similarly, UK carriers will be able to
operate any number of services beyond Singapore to any other city
in the world. These rights, which will be effective from end-March
2008, come nearly two decades after Singapore first made its
request to the UK... |
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More..... |
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New initiatives for Normal (Academic) Course |
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Currently, the criteria for promoting the
N(A) students to Sec 5N comprise a pass in English Language (EL)
and the aggregate score of their best 3 subjects at the
‘N’ level examinations. MOE will introduce the following refinements: |
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(a) Include both EL and
Mathematics as compulsory subjects for computation in the aggregate
score; and
(b) Increase the number of
subjects to be included in the aggregate score to 5... |
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The refined promotion criteria will
apply to the 2009 Sec 4N(A) cohort onwards... |
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More..... |
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Singapore's seaport to be world's first Wi-Max-Ready
by 2008 |
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By early 2008, all ships in Singapore can
have access to mobile wireless broadband, allowing real-time and
data-intensive communications between the ships and their customers and
business partners... |
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WISEPORT is one of the initial projects
under the Infocomm@SeaPort programme, which aims to provide a mobile
wireless broadband network within 15km from Singapore's southern
coastline... |
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More..... |
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MAS issues revised property fund guidelines |
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The revised Guidelines are intended to
improve safeguards for investors and to provide greater clarity and
flexibility for commercial transactions... |
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MAS will amend the Securities and Futures
Act (SFA) to include REIT management as a regulated activity... |
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More..... |
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Summary of key amendments to the Penal Code |
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It will
be made an offence to engage in penetrative acts
such as oral and anal sex with a minor under the age
of 16, with or without the consent of the minor; |
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It will
be made an offence to obtain commercial sex from a
minor under the age of 18, or communicate with any
person for such a purpose; and |
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A new
offence of sexual grooming of minors under the age
of 16 will be introduced... |
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More..... |
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Medisave lucky draws for self-employed and informal
workers |
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The Government is introducing the Medisave
Contribution Draw (MCD) to encourage low-income self-employed persons (SEPs)
and informal workers to contribute to their Medisave accounts... |
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The MCD will consist of four quarterly draws
for each year of work done... |
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The MCD will run for three years and will be
reviewed thereafter... |
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More..... |
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HDB introduces family season parking ticket from 1 Oct
2007 |
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The Family SPT is for HDB residents who
require SPT to two different car parks because of family arrangements... |
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For such residents, who have already bought
a regular SPT to park at their own residential car park, there is a need
for a second SPT to park at another car park for visiting their parents,
children, grandparents, siblings or their in-laws. |
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The Family SPT will be sold at 50% of the
regular SPT price applicable to the car park where the Family SPT is to
be purchased. |
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More..... |
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Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Serious Crimes
(Confiscation of Benefits) Act passed |
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Clause 11
of the Bill makes it mandatory for anyone physically
carrying currency and bearer negotiable instruments or
CBNI, above S$30,000, into or out of Singapore, to
declare this to the authorities at the checkpoints... |
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The threshold amount of
S$30,000 is based on the recommendation by the FATF,
and includes not only currency in circulation, but
also bearer negotiable instruments such as travellers
cheques, money orders, cheques, bonds and promissory
notes... |
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Hence, for clarity, a crossed cheque
made payable to a specific person with the word “bearer” deleted
is not considered a bearer negotiable instrument because only the
person named on the cheque can receive the amount stated on it. |
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The new measure would be
non-discriminatory and will be imposed on all travellers,
including citizens, residents and foreigners, entering and exiting
the country. |
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The penalties for non-declaration and false
declaration are a maximum fine of S$50,000 or a term of imprisonment of
up to 3 years or both... |
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More..... |
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