Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It is located about one degree of latitude north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bordering the Strait of Malacca to the west, the Singapore Strait to the south, the South China Sea to the east, and the Straits of Johor to the north. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet; the combined area of these has increased by approximately 25% since the country's independence as a result of extensive land reclamation projects. It has the second highest population density of any country in the world, although there are numerous green and recreational spaces as a result of urban planning. With a multicultural population and in recognition of the cultural identities of the major ethnic groups within the nation, Singapore has four official languages – English, Malay, Mandarin, and Tamil. English is the lingua franca, with its exclusive use in numerous public services. Multi-racialism is enshrined in the constitution and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, and politics.
ASEAN, an abbreviation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 states in Southeast Asia. Together, its member states represent a population of over 600 million over a land area of 4.5 million km2 (1.7 million sq mi). The bloc generated a purchasing power parity (PPP) gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$10.2 trillion in 2022, constituting approximately 6.5% of global GDP (PPP). ASEAN member states include some of the fastest growing economies in the world.
The Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its headquarters are located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, led by Theo Panagiotoulias as CEO. As of April 2018, Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenger count with 762.27 million, ahead of both SkyTeam (630 million) and Oneworld (528 million), as well as other member airlines. Its slogan is "The Way the Earth Connects".
Lee Hsien Loong is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore, and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Teck Ghee division of Ang Mo Kio GRC since 1991, and previously Teck Ghee SMC between 1984 and 1991.
The United Malays National Organisation ; abbreviated UMNO or less commonly PEKEMBAR, is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia, UMNO has been known as Malaysia's "Grand Old Party".
The New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print, having been founded as The Straits Times on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the New Straits Times on 13 August 1974. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English-language newspaper.
The Straits Times is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. First established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and has a significant regional audience. The newspaper is published in the broadsheet format and online, the latter of which was launched in 1994. It is regarded as the newspaper of record for Singapore.
The Singapore Democratic Alliance is an opposition political coalition between Singapore Justice Party (SJP), Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), National Solidarity Party (NSP) and Singapore People's Party (SPP) in 2001. Now Singapore Justice Party (SJP) and Singapore Malay National Organization (PKMS) are left in the alliance in Singapore.
A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and include some of the oldest and most widely respected newspapers in the world. The level and trend in the number of "newspapers of record by reputation" is regarded as being related to the state of press freedom and political freedom in a country.
Mediacorp Pte. Ltd. is a state-owned media conglomerate in Singapore. Owned by Temasek Holdings—the holding company of the Government of Singapore—it owns television, radio, and digital media properties in the country.
PAP–UMNO relations refers to the occasionally-turbulent relationship between the People's Action Party (PAP), the governing party of Singapore since 1959, and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the leading party of the Barisan Nasional coalition which governed Malaysia from 1955 to 2018. The two parties' relationship has impacted Malaysia–Singapore relations given the countries' geographical proximity and close historical ties.
CNA, which is an initialism derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singapore multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in Singapore and internationally as a pay television channel to 29 territories across the Asia-Pacific.
The Five Eyes (FVEY) is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These countries are parties to the multilateral UK-USA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence. Informally, Five Eyes can also refer to the group of intelligence agencies of these countries.
Miss Universe 1955 was the 4th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 22 July 1955. This is the first edition that the pageant was televised.
Malaysia–Singapore relations refers to the bilateral relations between Malaysia and the Republic of Singapore, after the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965. Singapore has a high commission in Kuala Lumpur and a consulate general in Johor Bahru, while Malaysia has a high commission in Singapore. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Nations and ASEAN.
Fox Sports Asia was a pan-Asian pay television network broadcasting in Asia, operated by Fox Networks Group Asia Pacific, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company Pte. Ltd. It also oversaw a version of Star Sports available in Mainland China and South Korea.
Shopee Pte. Ltd., under the trade name "Shopee," is a Singaporean multinational technology company specialising in e-commerce. It is a subsidiary company of Sea Limited. It was launched in 2015 in Singapore, before its global expansion.
The Asia Golf Circuit was the principal men's professional golf tour in Southeast Asia from the early 1960s through to the mid-late 1990s. The tour was founded in 1961 as the Far East Circuit. The first series of five tournaments was held in 1962 and consisted of the national open championships of the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, plus a final tournament held in Japan. The tour gradually grew over the subsequent years, eventually becoming a regular ten tournament circuit in 1974.
