According to this article, there will be a change in the rules for immigrants. I'm not sure what it means by "breathing space" though.
[...] increase the three-month 'breathing space' for any worker who has held an employment permit for less than five years to six months
On top of that, anyone who has been working and living in Ireland for five years will not have to renew their work permit.
(Source: Irish Independent)
[UPDATE]
More info from The Irish Times.
"Breathing space" means more time to look for another job if one is made redundant. So if someone is laid off and has been working less than five years but have a work permit, then the time extended to find a job is six months now.
(Source: Irish Times. irishtimes.com)
It hasn't being brought in yet, but the government plans to.
Things to note:
The new fees are among a number of charges facing foreign nationals from outside the European Union. These include work permits (€500 annually), re-entry visas (€100), Garda registration cards (€150) and citizenship application (€950).
(Source: The Irish Times)
They are still at it, I think it'll take awhile to totally get rid of Chinglish.
Japanese young people have always been the forefront of fashion, games, and especially cosplay, so I'm not surprised that they won the world cosplay competition (lots of pics on the page for your to peruse over).
I heard something from my aunt that someone was told that "Lee" was a poor man's version spelling of the surname, whereas "Li" is the richer version. Now, whoever said this is telling people a pile of crock. "Lee" is an Anglicised version, whereas "Li" is the Americanised version. There is also another version, "Lie", as well. I did a quick search and found that there are many other versions.
I had to blog about it, it's really riling how people pass off remarks like that, especially about Chinese surnames, given that they are regarded highly by the Chinese, it's like passing a huge cultural insult.
Found this site via friend in Facebook, it's a blog called Joyful steps: Hong Kong and has entries on places he visited for food... mmmm... yummy just thinking about it. Lots of pics as well. Handy for those visiting HK and have no clue where to go, or what pressies to get.
My bro pointed out the outcome of air pollution in HK. IMO, it seems to depend on the direction of the wind and if it's blowing from the Mainland, then the smog seems to be worst.
This was my pic (or prob Mick's) taken back in 2006...
I am pretty sure it has gotten a lot worse since, I was back in 2007 (and 2008, me thinks), definitely a lot more smog. Was there for summer and month of Jan/Feb. (I know I have some pics somewhere.)
My cous got married early this year and she had her pics taken at the harbour and HK was pretty smoggy, a pity though.
Thanks, bro, for pointing it out.
It's a cultural thing, according to this article from the Beeb, Asians just study the eyes, where as the Western participants in the study shows that they look at the whole face, eyes, mouth, etc. to determine what expression that person is. When I looked at the faces, I looked at the whole face, started at eyes then taken into account the mouth and then eyebrows.
I maybe Chinese and would favour ramen as my emergency/lazy food, but some of there recipes are odd, ramen for dessert?!? Check it out.
Aside from China coming out of recession earlier than most countries, seems like HK has also come out of it. Media here has been speculating that Ireland will take another year before we can get back on our feet.
Handy, for those travelling Stateside from Shannon airport, full customs and immigration inspection done in Shannon before departing for America.