A RAG-AND-BONE man charged in court on Wednesday with threatening to hurt Jalan Besar GRC Member of Parliament Denise Phua was wrong in saying that he had not received any help for a year.

Setting the record straight, Ms Phua said that Ng Kim Ngweng, 49, had been receiving help from her and the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) for some time.

IN CRAFTING the Budget this year, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had one thing in mind - getting 'maximum bang for the buck'.

And he believes the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit scheme surpasses that goal, by giving the economy a big fiscal boost as well as enhancing job security for locals.

RETAILERS are pulling out all the stops in a bid to draw shoppers, offering special discounts and other deals to get people to spend. The latest to offer goodies is department store Robinsons, which yesterday unveiled its very own 'stimulus plan'.

The store, which has two outlets - at Centrepoint and Raffles City - says it will absorb the 7 per cent goods and services tax (GST) for two weeks, starting from today. Other carrots it is dangling include free home delivery and free parking for the first hour, as well as interest-free instalments for its card members.