Half Of The Income example essay topic

Two strong earthquakes shook a remote desert region of north-western China, killing at least four people and seriously injuring eight others, the government said Sunday. Local officials reported collapsed houses and scores of minor aftershocks. The quakes -- with magnitudes 6.1 and 5.8 -- hit Gansu province at 8.41 and 8.48 pm (1241 and 1248 GMT) on Saturday, the official Xinhua News Agency reported from Lanzhou, the provincial capital. It said another 17 people suffered minor injuries. Gansu's seismological bureau said it expected more reports of injuries It said the areas hit hardest were in Minle and Shandan counties near the city of Zhang ye, about 1,400 km west of Beijing, the capital. Xinhua, quoting the provincial seismological bureau, said 30 per cent of houses near the quake epicentre's were damaged severely and that 90 per cent of buildings in Yaozhaizi, a small nearby village, had collapsed.

An official reached in Shandan County said the area had experienced more than 200 aftershocks in the hours since the two big temblors. Most were minor, he said. The State Seismological Bureau in Beijing said the most severe aftershock was magnitude 4.0. Officials in Minle and Shandan counties said they were still assessing damages on Sunday and had no details. They wouldn't give their names. The area is located in a narrow corridor between the Gobi Desert and mountains that line the border between the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.

The Hong Kong Observatory reported one 'intense' tremor at 8.46 p.m. (1246 GMT) on Saturday and said the epicentre was at the border of Gansu province with neighbouring Qinghai province. It estimated the magnitude at 6.1. In Golden, Colorado, the U.S. Geological Service's Earthquake Information Center measured the quakes at 5.7 and 5.5, according to geophysicist John Mensch. Earlier this month, a strong earthquake rumbled through a remote, seismically active area of China's mountainous south-west, killing three people and felling at least 50 houses in an ethnic minority enclave in Yunnan province.

Fourteen people were seriously injured in Day ao County SINGAPOREANS pressuring the Government to dip into the reserves received a sobering reminder from Prime Minister Goh Cook Tong yesterday of how much of the money it is already using. It now spends half of the income from investing the reserves, he said. Indeed, he admitted, the Government even slackened in its fiscal discipline during the good years and spent too much of its surpluses in some areas. But it could no longer afford to do so, he told residents and community leaders at a South-east district dialogue. 'We now have to get into the habit of looking at the dollar and telling ourselves how we can best spend it,' he said. What brought on the remarks?

Two opposing pleas by dialogue participants to the Government. Spend more, urged one. Spend less, cautioned another. The first request related to the reserves. A participant wanted to know why the Government refused to use the reserves to help those struggling to support their sick and aged parents. It was a variation of a call heard often in recent times - with even MPs urging the Government to relent on its long-held belief that the money should be strictly for dire emergencies.

Replying, Mr Goh said that, as it is, half of the investment income from the reserves is spent by the current Government. It therefore should not dip into the reserves. This principal sum is needed to generate income for the future, when there will be a greater need for funds as the population ages. He reminded Singaporeans that if the Government had not built up the reserves during the years of growth, the country would now be in 'deep trouble'.

It must continue to safeguard and grow the reserves as Singapore has no oil or other natural resources to turn into ready cash. 'At the moment, it's not critical that we need to use more and more of the income. We are already using half the income which we earn from the reserves,' he said. 'In future, we have to look at how we can use those earnings but not to the extent of eroding the real value of the reserves. ' Under the law, half the income earned from investing the reserves becomes part of the Government's revenue. It can spend this sum without seeking the President's permission.

The other half is locked away at the end of each term of government and goes to build up the principal sum of the reserves. Another participant asked the Government to spend less. Wasn't too much money being lavished on schools, he wondered. Mr Goh admitted he was surprised at the plush facilities in some junior colleges and institutes of technical education.

'I would agree that in the good years, we did slacken in terms of discipline in spending,' he said. But not anymore, he pledged. Indeed, calls from the public to cut back frills has resulted in the Government setting up a Cut Waste Panel. At the two-hour dialogue in Victoria School, residents raised other issues, including how to help the poor and make people more self-reliant. Resident S.A. Lee said the Government should reduce its role, but gradually. Singaporeans, she said, had not 'reached 21. '.