skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Sources: Isle of Man Today and Isle of Man public holidays. The House of Keys have voted to give Onchan MHK, David Quirk, leave to introduce a private member's bill to ensure that Tynwald Day is held on July 5th, even if it falls on a weekend. This motion was seconded by Trade and Industry Minister, David Cretney, whose similar private member's bill ran out of parliamentary time, in 2002.Currently if July 5th falls on a Saturday or Sunday then the Tynwald Day public holiday is moved to the following Monday. The change, if passed, would affect the date of the Tynwald Day public holiday in 2008 and 2009, and then be without effect until 2014.
Sources: Philippine Information Agency and Philippines public holidays. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) has issued decrees 1465 and 1466, declaring Tuesday February 26 and Thursday February 28, 2008, as municipal public holidays (Special Non-Working Day) in the cities of Zamboanga and Tangub, to celebrate their respective foundation anniversaries.
Sources: Nordea Bank, SIS SegaInterSettle, and Denmark public holidays. According to a communique by Nordea Bank, the day after Ascension will be a bank holiday (not a general public holiday) in Denmark, starting in 2008.
This agreement is the result of negotiations between the Finance Sector Union and the Employers' Association for the Financial Sector, and still requires approval from the members of the two organisations, before being definite. We will post an update as soon as more news are available.Update: The agreement was endorsed at the end of February by a ballot with 83.9% participation and a convincing 90.3% yes to the agreement, which covers all the employees in banks, savings banks, co-operative banks, mortgage institutions and others.
Sources: Singapore Ministry of Manpower and Singapore public holidays. The Singapore Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has released its tentative list of 2009 public holidays in Singapore.The published listing confirms all the dates predicted by Q++Studio, with the exception of the date of Deepevali 2009, which MOM has listed almost a month later than our predicted date (and that of most other sources). We have been in direct contact with MOM since last week to try to resolve this difference and will post again as soon as we have something to report.
Sources: La República (Santo Domingo) and Dominican Republic public holidays. The Supreme Court of the Dominican Republic (Suprema Corte de Justicia - SCJ), in plenary session, has declared as un-constitutional, articles 1-2-4 of the law 139-97, which move the August 16 Restoration Day public holiday to the following Monday, whenever August 16 falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.The court, however, only judged as un-constitutional the moving of the August 16 public holiday, meaning that the other holidays, presently covered by law 139-97 will continue to be moved to a Monday, whenever their reference date falls on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.The change in the calculation rules of the August 16 public holiday takes effect immediately (the SCJ being the final recourse), but as August 16 will fall on a Saturday in 2008, a Sunday in 2009 and a Monday in 2010, the ruling will have a concrete effect, for the first time, in 2011.The recourse in front of the SCJ had been brought forth by the Dominican Historical Academy (Academia de la Historia Dominicana) which considered that moving the dates of public holidays that commemorate historical events is un-patriotic (a feeling shared by many, throughout Latin America).
Sources: Reuters and Serbia public holidays. The Government of Serbia is organizing what it hopes will be a massive demonstration against Kosovo's independence, later this afternoon. To that end, it has decreed that all schools and educational institutions would be closed for the day, and urged businesses to give the day off to their workers. Most government services are also expected to be closed for the day, while the nationalized train system has been requisitioned for the day to provide free transportation to people traveling to partake in the demonstration in Belgrade.
Sources: The Nation News and Barbados public holidays. The Government of Barbados has declared tomorrow, February 21st (the day after teenage pop singer Rihanna's 20th birthday) to be the official 'Rihanna Day'. That day will be marked with Rihanna's traveling back to Barbados to accept the honor and will, later that day, will give a free concert.However, our local sources in Barbados have confirmed that, contrary to the many online reports, that day will not be a public holiday (ie. businesses and government service will function as usual).
Sources: A Voz Da Cidade (Rio de Janeiro) and Brazil public holidays. The State Assembly of the Brazilian State of Rio de Janeiro, approved the bill by Jorge Babu (PT-RJ) making the previously optional and municipal holiday of São Jorge (Saint George's Day, April 23) into a full public holiday throughout the State, beginning this year in 2008.
Sources: Le Devoir (Montréal) and Canada public holidays. Yesterday was the first occurrence of the new Family Day/Louis Riel Day public holiday decreed last fall in Ontario and Manitoba (see our posts of September 26 and October 11). The weeks leading up to that occasion were marked by the grumblings and confusion of many federal and municipal civil servants who discovered that they were not eligible for this new holiday (see our posts of October 20 and November 2). In that context, NDP party leader, Jack Layton, has urged the federal government to make Family Day a national public holiday, starting in 2009 (the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta also observe it).
Sources: Malacañang Press Office and Philippines public holidays. Despite the repeated pronouncements by the Philippines Information Agency to the contrary, earlier today, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (PGMA) issued Proclamation No. 1462 declaring Monday, February 25, 2008, as a Special Non-Working Day throughout the country in connection with the observance of the 22nd anniversary of the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Kapayapaan at Pagkakaisa Tungo sa Kaunlaran!”.In addition, President Arroyo also signed Proclamation No. 1463, "Declaring the regular holidays and special non-working days for 2008" which diverges from last summer's RA 9297 (An act to rationalize the celebration of national holidays) by not moving the observance of Labour Day to the nearest Monday, and by declaring an additional one-off bridge public holiday, the day after Christmas.
Sources: Kosovo public holidays. Yesterday afternoon, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. For the moment many details such as the future flag and list of public holidays of this republic are tentative. The initial list of public holidays that we are publishing comes from the international organisations that have been based in Kosovo since 1999. We are using the Albanian flag, for the moment, as no official flag has been agreed upon since 1999, and this was the flag shown in all the broadcast images of the celebrations following yesterday's declaration.
Sources: The News (Islamabad) and Pakistan public holidays. According to a press release issued by the Interior Ministry, the government of Pakistan has declared Monday, February 18, 2008, as a one-off public holiday on account of the general elections being held on that day.
Sources: The Antigua Sun and Antigua and Barbuda public holidays. Minister of Labour, Dr. Jacqui Quinn- Leandro, announced that next Tuesday, February 19, 2008, would be a one-off-public holiday, in Antigua and Barbuda, to coincide with the funeral of late Minister of Agriculture and former MP for All Saints East and St. Luke, Charlesworth Theophilus Samuel.
Sources: Inquirer.net and Philippines public holidays. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, in behalf of President Macapagal-Arroyo, earlier signed Proclamation No. 1455 which declared Wednesday, February 13, 2008, a special nonworking holiday in the city of Parañaque.Yesterday, Mayor, Florencio Bernabe Jr., announced that there would be no work in government and private offices and classes in private and public schools in the city on February 13, which has been declared "Parañaque Day".
Sources: Kuwait Times and Kuwait public holidays. The Civil Service Commission sent a proposal to the Cabinet to make Sunday, February 24, a holiday. If the proposal pushes through, government employees will have a five-day holiday, as February 25 and 26 are already public holidays (and, since September 2007, weekends are Fridays and Saturdays). The proposal will be presented in next week's Cabinet session when a final decision will be made about the issue.Same Day Update Deputy Premier and State Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Faisal Al-Hajj, announced that the Cabinet had approved Sunday, Febraury 24, 2008, as a bridge public holiday because it falls between the weekend and the two official holidays coinciding with February 25 and 26.
Sources: The Daily Star and Lebanon Public Holidays. Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, has declared February 14, 2008, a one-off public holiday, on account of the rally that will take place on the third anniversary of the slaying of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
Sources: Asian Times and Iraq public holidays. The government of Iraq has overhauled the list of public holidays, removing 3 public holidays that were indirect reminders of Sadam Hussein, creating a new national day on October 3, and adding 2 new Shiite holidays.In addition, the Associated Press reports that Iraq's parliament passed a law to change the Saddam Hussein-era flag of Iraq (the one shown in the present post), meeting the demands of Iraq's Kurdish minority, which threatened not to fly the banner during a pan-Arab meeting in the Kurdish-run north next month.
Sources: Reuters and Peru public holidays. Following the recent announcement of the dates of the upcoming 2008 APEC Summit in Lima (our post of February 3), the government of Peru has declared November 20-22 as public holidays in the capital, Lima, and the Province of Callao (D.S. 009-2008-PCM). Note that the Province of Callao is where the Lima International Airport, and Peru's main harbour are.In addition, May 15-17 was declared a public holiday in the same regions, on account of the EU/Latin America/Caribbean summit also taking place in Lima this year (D.S. 008-2008-PCM), and May 2 and December 26 were declared bridge public holidays for public servants (D.S. 007-2008-PCM).(May 10) The government of Peru has issued a decree stipulating which businesses and services would or would not be running on those 6 days.
Sources: ONN and Pakistan public holidays. Thursday February 7, 2008, is the Chehlum (40 days after her death) of late Benazir Bhutto. On that occasion, and to minimize any public disturbances, many cities and regions have declared, or are expected to declare, a public holiday.
Sources: The Jakarta Post and Indonesia public holidays. Earlier today, in an effort to improve its civil service efficiency, the Government of Indonesia announced that it was canceling 3 of the 2008 bridge public holidays that it had announced on May 31 of last year.The joint-decree by the State Ministry for Administrative Reform, the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry, cancels the Shared Holiday by Government Decree for an Extended Weekend (as bridge holidays are called in Indonesia) of February 8 (three days only from today), May 2, and May 19, 2008.The decree does not cover the private sector, but it is expected to follow the government overall.
Sources: La República (Lima) and Peru public holidays. The dates of the this year's APEC meeting in Peru have finally been announced. The 2008 APEC meeting will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 22-23, in Peru's capital, Lima. As was the case in Sydney last year, and as we had surmised would be the case (our post of September 10) local media are expecting the government to declare a municipal public holiday on the 2 days flanking the week-end, Friday November 21, and Monday, November 24, 2008.
Posts
