DEsi leaves it to his esteemed readers /ER to analyse the following two reports, one affecting our southern neighbour, and the other giving an insight to China's many faces/phases of development after opening up the last three decades. Both are via the Malaysia Chronicle, which BTW, is doing GOoD National Serrvice without spending RM500million to RM1biillion a year! We have to be prepared like girl guides (leaqve the boy scouts along, they are up to no gOod on GOoD Fridae!):)~~~
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HSBC Singapore has asked some 100 staff to leave the bank last week as part of a global jobs-cut exercise.
A bank spokesman declined to confirm the number of employees who were asked to leave, but The Straits Times reported that the figure was more than 100.
Those asked to leave were from different departments including IT and marketing.
A staff who declined to be named told inSing News that one week after the retrenchment, the mood in his office was still “gloomy”.
He had four colleagues who were told to go.
He added that among them, some had worked for a few years, while one had been with the company for some 20 years.
“We knew last week that it was going to happen but we didn’t know who or in which departments,” said the employee. “The atmosphere (in the office) was bad.”
The job cuts come despite HSBC Singapore performing well last year.
It posted a pre-tax profit of US$595 million (S$744 million) in 2011 - a gain of 14 per cent from a year ago.
In an interview with the Business Times in February, Alex Hungate, group general manager and chief executive of HSBC Singapore, said the company is hiring in areas of growth but also “restructuring the business to become more efficient”.
Last year the bank announced in London that it will axe 30,000 jobs globally and sell almost 50 per cent of its US retail bank branches.
When contacted by inSing News, a HSBC Singapore spokesman said the bank is restructuring its business here as part of its global “efficiency programme”.
“At the same time, we are successfully growing our market share in Singapore, particularly in the areas of trade, wealth management and financial markets,” he said. “This underlying business growth means that we are creating new roles for people in these three areas. The net effect of this is about ensuring our long-term sustainable growth by improving efficiency and boosting our revenue capability.”
-AsiaOne
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THE only dangers that Singaporean students face on their journey to school would be inconsiderate drivers and an unpredictable public train service.
However, students in China and Indonesia, risk life and limb daily to get an education travelling over cliffs, ravines and a broken bridge.
In China, the children of Hongde village, Shuicheng county, Southwest China's Guizhou province also tempt fate in their journey to school.
They cross the Xuandongzi Canyon via a basket-ropeway. The children used a ropeway to cross the 80-metre gap between two mountains over the 140-metre canyon.
The students squeeze themselves into a basket attached to the ropeway that is pulled by people on the opposite side of the canyon.
These are not the only students in China that have to endure a treacherous expedition to school.
The children from Pili, a rural village in the Xinjiang region, travel to a school that is more than 200km away.
Their journey to school consists of 80 km of narrow mountain trails, dangerous cliffs and turbulent rivers.
Every year, at the start of school, teachers from the school will make a trip to the village. With help from the village officials, they will escort school kids along a perilous journey to the boarding school, before escorting them back at the end of every semester.
Closer to home the children from Lebak, Indonesia, cross a bridge that rivals Indiana Jones' exploits in The Temple of Doom.
A disintegrating wood-and-wire suspension bridge that hangs over the Ciberang River stands between the children and school, everyday.
The children cling on to it for dear life lest they fall prey to the rapid waters that holidaymakers use for their white-water rafting pleasure.
Suddenly, getting stuck in the train does not seem so bad after all.
-Edvantage
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