MediaCorp, the state-owned media corporation, operates all seven local broadcast television channels in Singapore. It also runs 13 radio stations of the total 18 radio stations in Singapore. Radio and television stations are all owned by government controlled companies. However, one radio transmitter in Singapore is not controlled by the government. That is the Far Eastern Relay Station of the BBC World Service.
Print media of Singapore includes 16 newspapers and several magazines. Daily newspapers are published in English, Chinese, Malay, and Tamil.
The national flower of Singapore is Vanda Miss Joaquim. It is a type of orchid and it is a hybrid orchid. This makes Singapore the only nation in the world to have a hybrid as a national flower. It was chosen because it was part of the effort to create national pride and identity.
Singapore has a strong and free economy that supports a large middle class. The city state is a global shipping and logistics hub and many multinational firms have their offices in Singapore. The national airline, Singapore Airlines, has a large global network which brings tourists and business travelers alike, to the city. The airline has often been ranked as the world's best airline.
Singapore also has a port located at the south of Singapore, called Keppel Harbour. It is one of the busiest ports around the world with many ships coming in to trade in a single day. Singapore also has another port on Jurong Island.
Singapore's currency is the Singapore dollar. The short name for the Singapore dollar is SGD. Brunei dollar can be used in Singapore, because they have the same value.
Singapore is made up of 63 islands, including the main island, which is known as Singapore Island to most people, but is also known as Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north, and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at .
About 23% of Singapore's land area are forest and nature reserves. Urbanisation has removed most primary rainforest, with Bukit Timah Nature Reserve the only significant remaining forest. Even though there is very little primary rainforest left, there are more than 300 parks and four nature reserves in Singapore. There are also many trees planted all over Singapore and almost fifty per cent of the country is covered by trees and plants. Because of this, Singapore is also commonly known as the 'Garden City'.
Singapore, being a small country, has been reclaiming land from the sea around the island. The first time Singapore started to reclaim land was in the 1960s. The total land area of Singapore at that time was 581.5 km and it has increased to 730 km in the 2010s, which is an increase of about 20% in total land area. It may grow by another by 2030. Some land reclamation projects involve joining together smaller islands to make larger islands with more uses, like Jurong Island. Singapore uses the landfill method to reclaim the sea at the south of the country, but polders have been recently used too. The country's rapid reclamation projects has made disputes with its neighbouring countries, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Singapore is hot and wet all year round. It has a tropical rainforest climate ("Af" in the Köppen climate classification), which means there are no seasons (spring, summer, autumn and winter) in Singapore. There is the most rain at the end of the year, and the temperature is usually around 20 °C to 35 °C.
Although Singapore does not experience the four seasons, the period from May to June is usually warmer, while the period from November to January is cooler because of the more frequent rains and monsoonal winds in Singapore during the year-end.
Singapore has diplomatic relations with 175 other Sovereign states. Singapore's foreign policy is to maintain a secure environment in Southeast Asia as well as the countries near Southeast Asia. A basic rule is the political and economic stability in Southeast Asia.
Singapore is part of the ASEAN (Association of the South East Asian nations) network, which is an organisation that unites all Southeast Asian countries. Member countries of ASEAN work with and help other countries in ASEAN. Singapore is one of the countries that founded ASEAN, and is the most developed country among them all.
Singapore is also part of the Commonwealth of Nations, which is for countries that used to be under the British.
Public holidays in Singapore:
There are also school holidays, lasting one week in March and September, about one month in June, and about one and a half months in December.
Even though it is a small country, Singapore holds many world records with its buildings and people. Some are:
Singapore has one of the best infrastructure qualities in the world. Buses, trains, and taxis are easily found.
Most of Singapore are well-connected by a railway system known as the Mass Rapid Transit, or MRT in short. There are also taxi companies like Comfort Cabs, Silver Cab, SMRT Taxis, CityCab and Premier Taxi. There is one telephone number to call a taxi, of which the closest taxi from any company will respond. Apps such as Grab and Gojek as an alternative to taxi companies are also available.
The Mass Rapid Transit of Singapore is the most commonly used form of transportation in Singapore.
The Singaporean land transport system is controlled by the LTA (Land Transport Authority) of Singapore.
The Singapore Changi Airport is the main airport of Singapore. It is in the east of Singapore, with a total of four terminals with airlines flying to many different parts of the world. It has also received many awards for being the best airport in the world. A Skytrain service is also available at the airport.
The airport is in Changi. It is on a 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi) site which was reclaimed from the sea.
Johannesburg
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa. It is the capital of the Gauteng Province. It was founded on October 4, 1886 and has the JSE Securities Exchange, which is the largest stock exchange in Africa.
Johannesburg houses the tallest office block in Africa, the Carlton Centre (50 stories) and the tallest tower, the Hillbrow Tower (270 metres, or 90 stories). The city is nicknamed Egoli or Jozi, which means ""place of gold"", for the large gold deposit at Witwatersrand.
Johannesburg has a subtropical highland climate (Cwb in the Köppen climate classification).
Nelson Mandela died there on 5 December 2013, aged 95. He was also given the "Freedom of the City" award.
Breakfast
Breakfast is the first meal of the day. It is usually eaten in the morning. The word comes from two other words; "break" ("end") and fast ("not eating for a long time").
Definition: [1463] from break (v.) + fast (n.). Cf. Fr. déjeuner "to breakfast," from L. dis-jejunare "to break the fast."
People around the world eat different things for breakfast:
Fast
Fast can mean different things:
Town
A town is usually a place with a lot of houses, but not a city. As with cities, there is more than one way to say what a town is in different countries. In some places, it is a kind of local government. When they say "town" people are normally thinking of a big, important place. It may even be a city.
Generally, the difference between towns and villages or hamlets is the sort of economy they have. People in towns usually get money from industry (factories etc.), commerce (shops etc.) and public service (working for the town), not agriculture (growing food).
The number of people who live in a place does not tell us if it is a town or a village. In many areas of the world, like India, a big village can have many more people than a small town. It is also difficult to say if a place is a town because today, some towns are becoming bigger.