SINGAPORE: A total of 8,230 flats were put up for sale by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) on Tuesday (Nov 14) in its November sales exercise.
Under the Build-To-Order (BTO) exercise, 4,829 units were launched. An additional 3,401 units were launched under the Sale of Balance Flats (SBF) exercise, HDB said in a news release.
The 4,829 BTO flats on offer are spread across five projects. Three of the projects are in the non-mature towns of Punggol and Sengkang, while the other two are in the mature towns/estates of Geylang and Tampines.
In total, about 22 per cent of the BTO flats launched this year will be constructed using PPVC, HDB said, adding that it aims to adopt PPVC for 35 per cent of BTO units launched by 2019.
The 3,401 balance flats comprise 759 two-room Flexi flats, 692 three-room flats, 1,407 four-room flats, 460 five-room flats, 76 3Gen flats and seven executive flats. The majority of the flats are reserved for first-timer families, although eligible first-timer singles may also apply for a two-room Flexi flat in non-mature towns.
Application for the new flats can be submitted online on the HDB InfoWEB until next Monday (Nov 20).
The November BTO launch brings the number of BTO flats launched this year to 17,584. Together with the 7,347 balance flats offered in May and November, and the 1,394 units in the August Re-Offer of Balance Flats exercise, HDB has put up a total of 26,325 flats for sale this year.
About 3,600 BTO flats will be launched in the next sales exercise in February 2018. A concurrent Re-Offer of Balance Flats exercise will also be held, HDB said.
A 52-year-old man was arrested after he used criminal force on a police officer when he was asked for his particulars.
A video of the incident which happened at Lavender MRT Station on Saturday (Nov 11) at about 12.30pm, was captured by a Facebook user, Justin Lee and uploaded online.
In the video, the man could be seen being subdued by three police officers.
Throughout the process, the man shouted in Mandarin that he wanted to call the police as he used his phone.
He also asked the officers to pass him his bag.
A passerby told the officers that they should bring the man back to a police station, to which the man responded by saying that he had just been discharged from Singapore General Hospital.
The passerby retorted by saying that Singapore is a place of law, and anyone who broke the law would be arrested, even if he was the ‘president or prime minister’.
The Straits Times reports that the man allegedly refused to co-operate when three officers who were on a routine patrol asked for his particulars.
He then forcefully pushed one of the policemen.
This was supported by Justin’s account of the event, who said that the officers had asked the man ‘very politely’ for his identification card.
Said Justin: “But the uncle got agitated and started shouting ‘I pay taxes’ in Mandarin, along with a lot of vulgarities for about five minutes.
“When one of the officers tried to take the IC from him, he pushed the officer away and shouted ‘robbery’.
“That was when the other two officers pinned him down and I took out my phone to film it.
“I really respect the officers. Throughout the entire incident, none of them raised their voices. They were all very calm.”
In an official statement, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said: “The police confirm that during a routine patrol at Lavender MRT station on 11 November 2017 at about 12.30pm, a 52-year-old man was arrested for using criminal force on a police officer and for refusing to provide his particulars.
“The man was uncooperative when the police officers requested for his particulars.
“He then forcefully pushed one of the police officers.
“The SPF takes a serious view against persons who obstruct police officers from carrying out their duties or cause them physical and verbal harm.
“Any person convicted of using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty can be jailed for up to four years and/or fined.”
on Facebook
Police officers arrested a 52-year-old man in Lavender MRT station on Saturday after he refused to cooperate with them…
Posted by The Straits Times on Sunday, 12 November 2017
An 86-year-old man was taken to hospital after he was hit by a taxi at the junction of Choa Chu Kang North 5 and Choa Chu Kang Drive at around 10.30am on Nov 10.
The man was crossing the road while the green man light was showing.
A video of the accident was posted on Roads.sg’s Facebook page, showing the taxi making a right turn and hitting the elderly man.
The man is seen lying on the road and the taxi driver pulls over to the left.
In response to media queries, the police said that the 86-year-old man was taken conscious to hospital and that police investigations are ongoing.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said that it received a call for ambulance assistance along Choa Chu Kang North 5 at around 10.25am that day and dispatched one ambulance.
One person was taken to Ng Teng Fong Hospital.
on Facebook
Comfort taxi knocking down uncle pedestrian.
Happened 10/11/17 @ about 1030 am at junction of CCK North 5 & CCK Drive.
SINGAPORE: A pair of hornbills were spotted at Commonwealth on Sunday (Nov 12), perched near an air-conditioner compressor on the 10th floor.
Channel NewsAsia reader Chia Mei Kim saw the birds at around 11.05am outside her unit in Block 108 Commonwealth Crescent, where they lingered for about 20 minutes.
This was the fourth or fifth sighting of hornbills in the area, Ms Chia said. She added that to her knowledge, residents have not attempted to interact with or feed the birds.
Ms Chia also said that she had encountered more hornbills in the Holland Village area in September this year.
Speaking to Channel NewsAsia, ornithologist David Tan identified the birds as oriental pied hornbills (anthracoceros albirostris).
Mr Tan added that hornbills have increased rather dramatically in number in recent years, partly due to the breeding programme by the National Parks Board (NParks) and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, and the ongoing nest box strategy by NParks. This is despite the species being extinct in Singapore as recently as the 1970s, he said.
A pair of hornbills spotted at Commonwealth Crescent on Nov 12, 2017. (Photo: Chia Mei Kim)
Mr Tan said that he is unsure if hornbills favour a particular movement pattern, but added that they seem to be consistently found in certain areas such as Changi, Pulau Ubin, Holland Village and the Botanic Gardens.
He advised against interacting with the birds as hornbills are “fundamentally wild” and may “retaliate” if they feel threatened.
“Feeding wildlife is also unadvisable as it may alter the behavioural patterns of the hornbills. Regular feeding may increase the degree to which hornbills are dependent on humans, and overprovision of food may artificially inflate the hornbill population and cause these birds to become urban pests.”
This story came from a reader tip-off. If you would like to send in photos or videos of something newsworthy, WhatsApp our Mediacorp news hotline at +65 8218 8281 or message us on Facebook.
Amazon.com Inc has bought the global television rights to “The Lord of the Rings,” the company said on Monday, in what may be its biggest and most expensive move yet to draw viewers to its streaming and shopping club Prime.
Amazon said it will produce a multi-season series that explores new storylines preceding author J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring,” the first instalment in the famed fantasy trilogy.
Three movies made of the trilogy in the early 2000s, filmed in New Zealand and based on Tolkien’s novels, garnered nearly $3 billion at the box office and 17 Academy Awards.
New Line Cinema, which distributed the film trilogy, the Tolkien Estate and Trust, and publisher HarperCollins will work with Amazon to produce the television series.
Amazon did not say how much it was paying for the rights.
The project underscores a shift in Amazon’s video programming. Its studio started in 2010 with a focus on unique shows beloved by critics, such as “Transparent,” about a father coming out as transgender to his family.
That was a winning formula for attracting Hollywood talent, awards and buzz, though not Prime subscribers around the world.
Now, Amazon is looking for a dramatic show that could be a hit globally, much like HBO’s popular fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” This puts Amazon in uncharted territory, with higher-than-usual production costs expected so it can transport viewers to Middle Earth.
Amazon justifies its spending on programming as a way to draw new sign-ups to Prime, whose members buy more goods more often from the world’s largest online retailer.
“Amazon is committed to producing super high quality, recognised, branded entertainment,” said Wedbush Securities industry analyst Michael Pachter.
“That’s a departure from shows like “Transparent” and “Catastrophe.”” “By definition this will be expensive,” he added.
Online shopping has long been the norm in South Korea — from food and plants to furniture, almost everything you need can be delivered to your doorstep with just a few clicks on the internet.
In 2016, over 2 billion parcels were handled by local courier companies, as the parcel service market grew to 4.7 trillion won ($4.2 billion), quadrupling from 1.3 trillion won in 2005, according to data from the Korea Integrated Logistics Association and corporate credit appraiser Korea Ratings.
The convenience of online purchases and home delivery, however, has its downsides. All the delivery boxes, wrapping and padding meant to protect what’s nestled inside are waste, once delivered, and a burden on our environment.
According to Korea Waste Association, most of plastic bags are single-use, while packing tape is made of polyvinyl chloride, which takes a century to decompose.
Cardboard boxes are another problem.
Many believe that cardboard boxes are OK because they can be recycled, but officials say at least 10 per cent of such boxes are dumped as trash and even those collected for reuse have a not-so-long life span after recycling.
“Unfortunately, cardboard can’t be recycled indefinitely, because every time it’s remade, the fibers shorten. After five to seven recycling loops, the fibers become too short to be made into cardboard,” said Kim Dong-hyuk from Korea Recycle Association.
The growing waste from parcel packaging is a problem in many other countries where online shopping is popular. China is grappling with mountains of packaging waste, while shipping boxes and packaging materials accounted for 30 per cent, or 75 million tons, of total solid waste generated in US in 2015.
Around the world, over 16.9 billion meters of box tape were used for parcel service in 2016, according to industry data, equivalent to the length it would take to wrap around the Earth about 425 times. Over 8.2 billion plastic bags and 3.1 billion packing strings were used in the same year.
As parcel packaging becomes a growing environmental headache, some companies have begun to seek out green alternatives.
Innisfree, a local cosmetics brand, has been using recycled cardboard boxes and biodegradable foam made of corn since 2012.
Though costs went up, the company said it has decided to stick to eco-friendly options to provide consumers the value of going green.
“We wanted to convey the message that our company values naturalism and cares about environmental issues and waste problems. Delivery is a small part of our business, but it may be the most effective way to portray our value,” said Seo Sung-hyuk, a manager at Innisfree’s E-commerce team.
Boxes for some of the cosmetic products are made of recycled citrus peels and green tea leaves, he added.
Some consumers are going package-free on their own.
“After I saw a box of toothpaste that I ordered online arrived packed with several layers of plastic bags and air caps, I always leave a note (to the seller and the courier service provider) that I do not need extra wrapping when the product is not something fragile,” wrote a member of an online moms’ community.
Going package-free and promoting zero-waste shopping has been a trend around the globe in recent years, although it hasn’t arrived here yet.
In a typical package-free grocery store in Europe, customers are required to bring their own containers to buy food and ingredients in bulk, from cooking oil and vinegar to grains.
Ko Su-ra, 33, shops at local organic stores and expressed hopes for more package-free shopping options here.
“It’s such a great idea. You can just go and shop at those stores, instead of telling the industry what they should do (for the environment),” Ko said.
“We want to see the world become sustainable, clean and thriving for future generations to enjoy.”
Singer BoA and actor Joo Won recently put an end to their romantic relationship, with their respective agencies, S.M. Entertainment and Huayi Brothers, confirming the reports Monday.
The two had first met in 2015 through acquaintances and became close, as they had similar interests. During the latter half of 2016, BoA and Joo Won’s relationship turned into a romantic one. They publicly acknowledged they were dating in January 2017.
BoA has kept herself busy juggling jobs as a singer and actress. She was cast in her second film, “Autumn Post Office,” as well as Mnet’s entertainment programme “Produce 101 Season 2.”
Joo Won, on the other hand, is currently an Army assistant instructor for the 3rd Infantry Division. He enlisted in the Army on May 16 and trained for five weeks at the Korea Army Training Center before officially starting his 21-month military service. The actor is to be discharged from the military in February 2019.
The Filipinos’ favourite foreign-dignitary visitor? It must arguably be Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Anything he does here turns viral.
And, add to that, a selfie with Trudeau is easily one of the hottest must-dos this ASEAN week.
Right after his arrival in Manila yesterday to attend the ASEAN Summit, the amiable and endearingly goodlooking head of state made a quick stop-over at Jollibee in North Harbor, Tondo, Manila.
The prime minister gives a young guest a ‘high-five’.Photo: Credits
He ordered his Chickenjoy with rice and Strawberry Tea Float, mingled with the crew and customers, going from table to table-and sharing the fries of some guests as he table-hopped.
If that’s not ASEAN-cool, we don’t know what is.
Media photographers had a field day documenting Trudeau’s visit at Jollibee North Harbour.Photo: Facebook/Jollibee
In truth, it was Trudeau himself who “personally requested” the visit, according to Francis Flores, Jollibee Global Brand Chief Marketing Officer.
“We were just advised a few days ago. He really loves Jollibee and knows how much Filipinos love it. He also went to our first Jollibee store in Canada last February, and he knows we are opening more stores in Canada.”
The staff, of course, won’t pass up the opportunity for a group photo with the Canadian leader.Photo: Facebook/Jollibee
Jollibee is opening in Toronto in 2018.
If he feels some affinity to Filipinos, because there are about 700,000 Filipinos living in Canada.
Trudeau gets a little token of appreciation from the staff.Photo: Facebook/Jollibee
Flores described Trudeau’s memorable visit at Jollibee’s Tondo: “He’s such a charismatic and sincere person. You will not feel intimidated by his presence. He went around the store, table-hopping to talk and sit down with the guests. He loved the fries and shared some with the guests.
“In a brief chat with Jollibee executives, he said he visited our first store in Canada in Winnipeg last February,” Flores said.
Trudeau chats with some customers.Photo: Facebook/Jollibee
Trudeau said, “I heard you’re expanding in Canada.”
Flores added, “Our president for North America talked to him about our store openings¬-one more in Winnipeg this year and two in Toronto next year. He also spent some time with our crew and even went behind the counter and to our kitchen to shake hands with the crew and take photos with the store team.”
Trudeau wasn’t able to finish his meal so he left the store with a take-out. He was photographed with the take-out as he headed to his car, waving at the crowd.
He even got some takeout.Photo: Facebook/Jollibee
Flores said, “We are definitely happy with the buzz it’s been getting here and even from international media. It helped us establish that Jollibee is truly a national icon.”
SINGAPORE: Parents these days are using mobile devices as a tool for their children learn everything from mathematics to science to language, so much so that apps for preschoolers and toddlers are the most popular paid downloads in the App Store.
Some experts, however, warn that most learning apps may not teach children anything much. On the contrary, such apps could be making them dumber and not smarter, messing about with their brains in the long run.
Usually marketed as educational, many of these apps are made to work just like games – they use the same strategies and techniques to hook children and get them staying the course for as long as possible.
In Singapore, more than seven in 10 children between the ages of three and eight use their parents’ devices – the highest in Southeast Asia.
A recent study, “Predictors of screen viewing time in young Singaporean children: The Gusto cohort”, showed that among two-year-olds, 51 per cent spend two hours or less on mobile devices. But by the time they reach three, 55 per cent are on their screens for longer than two hours.
That is where the danger lies.
MORE SCREEN TIME, LOWER IQ
When children spend too much time watching any form of screen content, it lowers their executive function skills, cautioned researchers Aishworiya Ramkumar and Evelyn Law from the National University Hospital’s (NUH) Child Development Unit, citing previous studies.
“(When) you’re exposed to all this fast-paced stuff, your brain can’t take it all in at once. It’s using up all its resources,” explained Dr Law on the Channel NewsAsia programme Why It Matters. “So anything that follows, the brain might not be able to do it as fast.” (Watch the episode here.)
In Singapore, more than seven in 10 children between the ages of three and eight use their parents’ devices.
Executive function skills refer to a set of mental skills that help a child to plan a task and complete it.
The two researchers met hundreds of Singaporean families to look at their children’s screen habits, and what they found was worrying.
For example, the more time a child spent watching television at a year old, the lower the child’s IQ was at four and a half years of age.
The long-term outcomes of excessive screen time could be a cause for concern too, said Dr Law.
She cited the scenario of a child unable to sit still in class, disturbing his classmates or disrupting the lesson instead, which could “translate into worse school outcomes, poorer jobs, poorer health as well as more crimes in society”.
Researchers Aishworiya Ramkumar and Evelyn Law from NUH’s Child Development Unit.
So while some learning apps promise to supercharge a child’s intelligence, there might be other effects instead, if the child has been hooked on these apps for years.
USE IT OR LOSE IT
The science of how and why can be found in the connections children produce in their brains, called synapses, which allow information to be passed from one part of the brain to another.
“The resulting networks of connections influence (a child’s) abilities to sense, act, communicate, compute and, overall, make sense of and interact with his world,” child development expert Gail Gross wrote in Huffington Post last year.
But if children focus too much on just one thing and do little of anything else, such as talking with their parents or running around outdoors, then many other connections might not be made.
Over time, those unused connections are snipped away, like the branches of a tree. This “synaptic pruning” occurs mostly during early childhood, before a child turns four, and cannot be undone, said Dr Gross.
Over time, those unused connections in the brain are snipped away, like the branches of a tree.
In the case of children who are heavily reliant on digital devices, they might fall into a passive mode of learning, receiving information in a one-way process rather than relating to others such as their peers, observed Ms Renee Chong, principal of the Safari House preschools.
“(Computer programmes) tend to captivate children’s attention, not through participation and engagement, but rather through the very stimulating and high-intensity graphics,” said Ms Chong, whose preschools do not use electronic devices to teach their children.
“Being over-exposed to computers, the child is not able to cultivate the social-emotional skills that are needed for integrating with the society.”
Added Dr Law: “Neuroscience research shows us that children learn best when there are two-way conversations or communication. So the more time spent on screens, the less they’ll have interacting with the environment, interacting with caregivers.”
WATCH: An experiment done with a pair of 4-year-old twins (3:06)
DO THE APPS REALLY TEACH?
Learning apps have also not been substantiated by research to prove that they benefit children under the age of two, senior consultant Jennifer Kiing from the NUH’s Child Development Unit told the TODAY newspaper in June.
There are as many as 80,000 learning apps for digital devices nowadays. And Mr Alfred Siew, who edits the Techgoondu.com blog and runs a technology and media consultancy, does not buy into the notion that all learning apps are educational.
“I don’t think it’s possible to teach the all-important concepts (just through one game),” said Mr Siew, who has young children too. “You learn more when you engage, rather than trying to memorise all the concepts.”
Apps for preschoolers and toddlers are the most popular paid downloads in the App Store.
And a child as young as two may be unable to retain or remember what the app is supposed to teach.
“The worry is that the takeaway won’t be there,” said Mr Siew. “Some things need to be learned by repetition, some things by comprehension. You need a bit of both sometimes.”
When it comes to teaching preschoolers, National Institute of Education researcher and lecturer Nirmala Karuppiah does not dismiss screen devices altogether, but she underlined the need for more research into the long-term impact on children’s cognitive, social and emotional development.
DIGITAL ADDICTS
One problem that early childhood experts and parents have certainly seen is children turning into digital addicts.
Dr Kiing, who works with children on a range of developmental issues, has seen preschoolers here who have withdrawal symptoms when they go cold turkey on their digital devices.
The effects of addiction on the brain are almost similar.
It is one of the reasons that she recommends zero screen time for preschoolers.
The single most important predictor of success in school is the ability to delay gratification.
This means, she explained, that if children want something, they must be able to wait for it and work for it. “What the screen time does is that it teaches the brain that you can get your reward now, you can get it many times now, and there’s no point in waiting.”
The “only way” to be weaned off this instant gratification is a digital detox, she added.
Ms Mia Kusen went through that process recently. She had let her twin boys Matthew and Bennett play with the iPad since they were 10 months old, initially as a distraction and then as a tool for educational activities.
But a friend told her that the boys, now four, were getting too much screen time, so Ms Kusen put a stop to it. And that was when she realised something was wrong.
It was so scary because I’d call out their names, and they wouldn’t look up. I’d try to talk to them, and they wouldn’t look at me. They were frustrated … and sad.
After six months of regular sessions with Dr Kiing, the twins, like most boys their age, now seem noisy, playful and sociable. But it has been an emotional roller coaster ride for their mother.
“It’s something that I wouldn’t wish on any parent,” said Ms Kusen.
Malaysia’s strong stand against the atrocities committed in Rakhine state and the resulting humanitarian crisis appears to have borne fruit as Myanmar has finally agreed to a number of important concessions.
“Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar leader) said that she was working on an MoU with Bangladesh for the repatriation of Rohingya refugees back to Rakhine,” said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
“And this is due to happen soon.”
Najib said he once again raised the Rohingya issue at the plenary session of the 31st ASEAN Summit.
“I stressed that this humanitarian crisis had become an international embarrassment to ASEAN and should be resolved as soon as possible.
“ASEAN cannot keep quiet while the rest of the world watches … we have to act,” he said.
He added that urgent and extensive humanitarian aid should be allowed to reach the refugees.
“I also warned Myanmar that if left unchecked, the Rohingya could turn to violent extremism and be influenced and recruited by groups like the Islamic State (IS).”
Najib said that unlike the last ASEAN Summit in April, this time, Suu Kyi took Malaysia’s suggestions positively.
“She also agreed to co-operate and allow humanitarian aid into Rakhine,” Najib said.
“She said that she was committed to achieving a long-term solution that would be based on trust and harmony, but that this could not happen overnight,” he said, adding that Myanmar also accepted former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan’s recommendations on Rakhine state.
On the South China Sea issue, Najib said China appeared to be softening its stance.
“At the ASEAN-China Summit, Chinese premier Li Keqiang said that the South China Sea must be the ‘anchor of peace and stability’ in the region. We have agreed to start negotiations with China on a Code of Conduct that will govern how the area’s disputes are handled.”
He said China agreed to co-operate on maintaining peace, stability, freedom of navigation and over-flight above the South China Sea in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Najib also revealed that Malaysia would hold an ASEAN seminar on sexual offences against children in July 2018. “This is an issue that Malaysia feels strongly about and it cuts across all ASEAN nations,” he said.
As well as the main ASEAN Summit, Najib attended nine meetings in all yesterday, and this is set to continue with a full day today, which will end with the closing ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit at 8pm.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that US President Donald Trump praised Najib for what he said was an excellent job in carrying out Malaysia’s role as country coordinator for ASEAN-US dialogue relations.
In his brief remarks at the ASEAN-US 40th Anniversary Commemorative Summit in Manila, Trump said: “I appreciate it very much.”
Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman told Malaysian media on Saturday that Najib, as country coordinator for dialogue relations for the period 2015-2018, would present a report on the significant progress made throughout the past 40 years and the future direction.
