UN Millennium Development Goals

See how you can play a part to end poverty by 2015? It requires international effort. First step would be to understand the problems and the 8 goals. Do you remember them?
There is an animated report on the plight of the world children's education. Very interesting! Check it out. One of the 8 goals is to achieve primary education for everyone in the world.

Guangdong to raise minimum wage

Feb 20, 2008

A customer buying vegetables at a market in Nanjing. Vegetables prices rose by 17.5 per cent last month in China. -- GRAPHICS: QUEK HONG SHIN, PHOTO: REUTERS

BEIJING - CHINA'S southern Guangdong province will raise its minimum wage to help workers cope with rising inflation and attract more migrants to its factories, the provincial government said yesterday.
The minimum wage in Guangzhou, the capital of the province that is China's manufacturing hub, will rise to 860 yuan (S$170) per month from 790 yuan from April 1, the Guangdong labour bureau said on its website (www.gd.lss.gov.cn).

'It will help relieve recent price pressure and ensure basic living standards for low-income labourers,' the bureau said.

'Raising the minimum wage will further increase the attraction of Guangdong for employees, lure external labourers and ensure they stay, thus resolving the difficulty of some local firms in recruiting sufficient workers.'

Up to 14,000 Hong Kong-owned factories in the Pearl River Delta may be forced to close over the next few months due to a shortage of workers, according to the Federation of Hong Kong Industries.

The federation's chairman, Mr Clement Chen, told Hong Kong newspaper The Standard on Sunday that there was a labour shortage because wages in Guangdong were no longer attractive.

The winter storms that had crippled the mainland's infrastructure had also prevented migrant workers from returning to work after their Chinese New Year holidays, he said.

REUTERS

4N1 & 4N2, didn't we just did an exercise about the spread effect from Hong Kong to Guangdong. Now, things have changed.... Guangdong's pay has not been attractive, therefore the workers have moved on to other cities. This may lead to the closing down of some HK factories because of shortage of workers. Strange.. things keep changing so we've to keep reading to update ourselves.

Why are we poor?

For those who are interested about Myanmar, you can take a look at the lavish wedding ceremony and preparation of General Than Shwe's daughter. There is an article about how people feel about this elaborate wedding.

Myanmar, is one of the world’s poorest countries, where the United Nations estimates 40 percent of children are malnourished. Yet, we've government leader who can spend so much on their daughter' wedding. Last year was also a turbulent time when the peaceful demonstration by the monks over a price hike in fuel was returned with violence by the goverment. This has led to the beating and capturing of monks. As we've studied about reasons for uneven development in the world, we can understand why Myanmar remains poor because of poor political leadership.

Top-quality cities

Remember I told you that DCs have most people working in the tertiary industries. Most people who work in the tertiary industries use their brains more than they use their hands. That’s why they are earning more. Singapore is moving in this direction and therefore we want our people to work in a knowledge-based economy. In other words, we use knowledge (your brain) to earn money. Some of the knowledge-based industries include, IT, medical technology, education, R & D etc. If you want to find out which are the top-quality cities… read on.

The Straits Times Feb 16, 2008

FINANCE Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam cited five places that are now famed for their knowledge-based industries.
They include established leaders as well as newly-emerging cities.

MUNICH
Once reliant on the car industry, it is today a high-tech, knowledge-based city.
The German city is home to leading biotechnology research centres like the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry as well as corporate giants such as BMW and Siemens.
It also boasts vibrant SMEs with world-beating technologies.
Rated world's most liveable city last year.

AUSTIN
This Texan city is fast becoming a centre of innovation for clean technology.
Named the best place for business in the US.
It has the third-highest number of patents among US cities in 2005, and more than 44 per cent of its people has a college degree.

HYDERABAD
Dubbed India's second Silicon Valley after Bangalore, it has invested heavily in education, research and digital infrastructure.
It is home to IT giant Satyam. Microsoft, IBM and Novartis are also there.

KYOTO
A city endowed with centuries-old traditions, beautiful temples and gardens.
Today, it is also major innovation hub with numerous high-tech start-ups. Also, an assortment of incubator facilities.
It is home to global companies like Murata, Kyocera, and Nintendo as well as many small, dynamic firms with world-leading technologies.
Five of Japan's nine Nobel prizes in science were from Kyoto University.

CHINA
Besides Beijing and Shanghai, second- and third-tier cities such as Hangzhou, Qingdao and Yantai are developing highly- competitive industry clusters.

Geography Commont Test 1

Date: 19 February 2008
3EA & 3EB, Test Topic: Chapter 3 (Test upon 15)
4N1 & 4N2, Test Topics: Chapter 8 & 9 (Test upon 12)
4N3 & 4N4, Test Topics: Chapter 8 (Test upon 12)

Please study hard.
READ your textbook.
Make NOTES.
REVISE your workbook.

Please also file your worksheets conscientiously. I'll be checking your file soon. Most likely after your common test.

Did you know?

Dear CCSS pupils,

This is the presentation about what will happen in the future. After viewing this, you'll understand why lifelong learning is a must, if not you'll be lagging behind and the future will be bleak for you. Hope this will help you know the importance of education, IT and the spirit of always wanting to learn.

Online Quiz for 4N1 and 4N2

Dear 4N1 and 4N2,

Please log in the school E-learning portal to complete the quiz for "uneven development in the world". Marks will be allocated as part of CA. 4N3 and 4N4 will only do this after I finish teaching you this topic.

Instructions to submit answer:

1. Log in to the E-Learning portal

2. Click 'Assessment'

3. Click 'Humanities'

4. Click 'Uneven development in the world'

5. You may begin

Deadline: 24 Feb 2008