AirAsia QZ8501: Divers find more bodies, reach fuselage - CNA 23 January 2015
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia: Indonesian divers on Friday (Jan 23) finally reached the fuselage of an AirAsia plane that crashed last month, an official said, as four more bodies were recovered from the Java Sea.
Flight QZ8501 went down on December 28 in stormy weather with 162 people on board as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
"Divers have reached the fuselage this morning but they could not get in because there were so many cables and debris," S B Supriyadi, a rescue agency official coordinating the search, told AFP. He said bad weather later in the day hampered further efforts to check if there were bodies inside."
This is SO FRUSTRATING! Knowing that it is there and YET helpless to do anything more! Rest in Peace.
1. "5-room unit first to hit $1 million mark at Pinnacle@Duxton - AsiaOne Jan 23, 2015
PANGKALAN BUN, Indonesia: Indonesian divers on Friday (Jan 23) finally reached the fuselage of an AirAsia plane that crashed last month, an official said, as four more bodies were recovered from the Java Sea.
Flight QZ8501 went down on December 28 in stormy weather with 162 people on board as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
"Divers have reached the fuselage this morning but they could not get in because there were so many cables and debris," S B Supriyadi, a rescue agency official coordinating the search, told AFP. He said bad weather later in the day hampered further efforts to check if there were bodies inside."
This is SO FRUSTRATING! Knowing that it is there and YET helpless to do anything more! Rest in Peace.
1. "5-room unit first to hit $1 million mark at Pinnacle@Duxton - AsiaOne Jan 23, 2015
SINGAPORE - A five-room Pinnacle@Duxton unit above the 40th floor of the premier Housing Board project was sold for $1,028,000 this week, according to information from the Singapore Real Estate Exchange.
It is the first Pinnacle unit to have broken the $1 million mark in the resale market.
December saw most home owners completing the five-year minimum occupation period. At least nine other units in have been resold since, The Straits Times reported."
Congratulation to the seller. A MOST lucrative deal for 5-year! Am I glad for my kids that the original HDB flat prices HAD BEEN delinked from HDB Resale prices after the ouster of the last Minister of MND!
p/s: I wondered aloud IF this piece of news is released to NEGATE the overall trend of HDB and private properties prices going DOWN DOWN and DOWN? :-)
2. "High business costs a top concern for SMEs: Survey - CNA 23 January 2015
SINGAPORE: High business costs amid the manpower crunch is the top concern for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to findings from the Business Sentiments Survey 2014 conducted by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).
In a media release on Friday (Jan 23), ASME revealed that 86.6 per cent of respondents said manpower was the top contributing factor for higher business costs, while 57.1 per cent cited rental costs and 48.2 per cent cited the foreign worker levy.
In addition, 84.6 per cent of respondents also predicted that their operational costs will increase in the next six months.
Both "initiatives to reduce rental costs" and "initiatives to look for local staff and talent" are important in terms of expectations for Budget 2015 for 58.3 per cent of the respondents, according to the survey findings. And 57.4 per cent of respondents would also like to see more “initiatives to increase productivity”.
In its Budget recommendations to the Government, ASME said there should be a structured framework or curriculum that allows SMEs to work with higher education learning institutes in providing certification for students who have been employed by these companies for a
certain duration.
"ASME would like schools and institutions to recognise these certificates, distributing credits to students should they choose to further their studies," it said. Students from universities, polytechnics and ITEs should also be encouraged to join the workforce for work experience and to advance their career path, ASME added.
The survey also showed that 79.6 per cent of respondents utilised the Enhanced Productivity & Innovative Credit (PIC) scheme - making it the most utilised Government scheme. The second most popular Government scheme was the “ICT for Productivity & Growth” (IPG), utilised by 13.9 per cent of respondents.
Meanwhile, 55.3 per cent said the requirement to pay upfront and be reimbursed later was the top deterrent of tapping on Government schemes. "As PIC requires SMEs to pay first and then be reimbursed later, this will significantly affect their cashflow and deter them from investing in productivity enhancements," said ASME.
Recommendations included a three-year extension with a S$6,000 cash bonus to maintain support for productivity upgrades, and fine-tuning the PIC scheme to move beyond "hardware purchase" to "soft skills, soft processes and software development".
Meanwhile, 68.2 per cent of respondents are also looking to expand overseas in the next two years. ASME recommended efforts to connect SMEs to overseas business opportunities, including financial assistance for market assessment and penetration."
Well, this set of requests seem reasonable. Let's see if the ASME's wishes are met or not when the Budget2015 is announced in February 2015!
p/s: Noted that there were NO COMPLAINTS but good requests! :-)
It is the first Pinnacle unit to have broken the $1 million mark in the resale market.
December saw most home owners completing the five-year minimum occupation period. At least nine other units in have been resold since, The Straits Times reported."
Congratulation to the seller. A MOST lucrative deal for 5-year! Am I glad for my kids that the original HDB flat prices HAD BEEN delinked from HDB Resale prices after the ouster of the last Minister of MND!
p/s: I wondered aloud IF this piece of news is released to NEGATE the overall trend of HDB and private properties prices going DOWN DOWN and DOWN? :-)
2. "High business costs a top concern for SMEs: Survey - CNA 23 January 2015
SINGAPORE: High business costs amid the manpower crunch is the top concern for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to findings from the Business Sentiments Survey 2014 conducted by the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME).
In a media release on Friday (Jan 23), ASME revealed that 86.6 per cent of respondents said manpower was the top contributing factor for higher business costs, while 57.1 per cent cited rental costs and 48.2 per cent cited the foreign worker levy.
In addition, 84.6 per cent of respondents also predicted that their operational costs will increase in the next six months.
Both "initiatives to reduce rental costs" and "initiatives to look for local staff and talent" are important in terms of expectations for Budget 2015 for 58.3 per cent of the respondents, according to the survey findings. And 57.4 per cent of respondents would also like to see more “initiatives to increase productivity”.
In its Budget recommendations to the Government, ASME said there should be a structured framework or curriculum that allows SMEs to work with higher education learning institutes in providing certification for students who have been employed by these companies for a
certain duration.
"ASME would like schools and institutions to recognise these certificates, distributing credits to students should they choose to further their studies," it said. Students from universities, polytechnics and ITEs should also be encouraged to join the workforce for work experience and to advance their career path, ASME added.
The survey also showed that 79.6 per cent of respondents utilised the Enhanced Productivity & Innovative Credit (PIC) scheme - making it the most utilised Government scheme. The second most popular Government scheme was the “ICT for Productivity & Growth” (IPG), utilised by 13.9 per cent of respondents.
Meanwhile, 55.3 per cent said the requirement to pay upfront and be reimbursed later was the top deterrent of tapping on Government schemes. "As PIC requires SMEs to pay first and then be reimbursed later, this will significantly affect their cashflow and deter them from investing in productivity enhancements," said ASME.
Recommendations included a three-year extension with a S$6,000 cash bonus to maintain support for productivity upgrades, and fine-tuning the PIC scheme to move beyond "hardware purchase" to "soft skills, soft processes and software development".
Meanwhile, 68.2 per cent of respondents are also looking to expand overseas in the next two years. ASME recommended efforts to connect SMEs to overseas business opportunities, including financial assistance for market assessment and penetration."
Well, this set of requests seem reasonable. Let's see if the ASME's wishes are met or not when the Budget2015 is announced in February 2015!
p/s: Noted that there were NO COMPLAINTS but good requests! :-)
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