Discover upcoming condo launches in Singapore

Learning to drive a car or ride a motorcycle? You will have to undergo compulsory simulator training starting later this month, the police said on 7 Dec 2019 - Saturday.

From 16 Dec 2019, all Class 2, 2A, 2B, 3 and 3A learner motorists will have to complete the driving simulator training before they are allowed to book their practical driving or riding tests. The requirement does not apply to those who enrolled with driving schools before Dec 16. The training comprises three modules, with each taking about 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Learner motorists must have completed a minimum of five practical lessons before booking the simulator training.

The scenarios used in the simulator training are based on the top 10 causes of traffic accidents that often result in injuries. These include high-speed expressway cornering, cyclists in blind spots and driving or riding in wet weather conditions.

As part of efforts to help learner drivers and motorcyclists better prepare for various road situations, and to inculcate good driving habits, the simulator training provides learner motorists with the opportunity to practise defensive driving or riding in a safe and controlled environment.

The simulator training will be available at the ComfortDelGro Driving Centre, Bukit Batok Driving Centre and Singapore Safety Driving Centre.

MOE would like to remind everyone that the novel containing vulgarities that was chosen by a school as a literary text was NOT part of the recommended text list from the Ministry of Education (MOE) but selected by a school for its "literary merit" - the ministry announced on 9 Dec 2019.

On 7 Dec 2019 - Saturday, a Facebook group called Singaporeans Defending Marriage and Family criticised the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which contains several swear words. It said the book uses "foul and blasphemous language" and claimed it "breaks Singapore's racial and religious harmony laws". The post, which did not identify the school, continued: “Do parents need to inspect every single (school's) material and sit inside every classroom to ensure our children are free from unacceptable immoral indoctrination and corruption?”

The book, written by British author Mark Haddon, features a 15-year-old protagonist with Asperger's syndrome. It was selected by the school for its extended reading programme to complement its English Language lessons, said Mr Jeffrey Low, director of English Language and Literature at MOE.

MOE also provides a set of criteria for selecting texts outside of the recommended list. "This set of criteria includes the literary value, appropriateness and accessibility of the text in terms of themes and language for the target age-group of the students, the values the text promotes, and careful consideration of any areas of concern, such as social and cultural sensitivities," Mr Low explained.

In 2015, the book made headlines after it was withdrawn from a Florida school's summer reading list following concerns from parents about swearing. In response, Mr Haddon told The Guardian his book was “not just a novel that contains swearing but a novel about swearing”. He also noted that the main character Christopher is “completely unaware of the offence that swearing is intended to cause and therefore it simply washes over him”.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and was named 2003 Whitbread Book of the Year. It also took home the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize that year.

One of the MC's claims is the cabinet reduced the width of the common corridor available for fire escape. Evidence failed to bear it out. The defendants' lawyer, Mr Raymond Lye, pointed to the Singapore Civil Defence Force's practice code for fire safety precautions. It prescribed a minimum width of 1.2m for corridors in high-rise buildings. As the 0.36m-wide cabinet reduced the corridor width to no less than 1.44m, it satisfied the code.

The case eventually turned on a broadly phrased additional by-law that prohibits storing, leaving or discarding personal belongings in common areas and staircases, regardless of the size, nature and whether the object obstructs people's path. It is so widely couched that it could be a breach to leave even small items such as a flower pot or a pair of shoes in a common corridor, the judge noted. He chided the MC for not being even-handed in enforcing its by-laws.

​From 20th Dec 2019 – 1st Jan 2020, Uncle Ringo and friends are setting up the largest fun event at Marina Bay in 2019 - Escapade @ The Great Circus – an huge carnival cum night market event with yummy street food, fun exciting games and amazing world class circus acts all integrated into one. ​

Come celebrate the end of 2019 at one of the largest food havens at the Bayfront Event Space. As part of the Uncle Ringo Carnival, Escapade Festival Village will house over 50 food stalls and retail spaces from 20 December 2019 to 1 January 2020.

Challenge your friends & family to exciting rounds of giant beer pong, let our food inspire photo opportunities to create Insta-worthy memories, find the perfect gift as you wander through our retail space or tap your toes to ear candy from our live performances. Whatever the activity, be it family, fun or food, Escapade will be the perfect getaway for you.

Uncle Ringo presents you with The Great Circus of Europe, direct from the UK! Here to entertain you with a sensational show, every act will be appearing for the very FIRST TIME in Singapore at the Bayfront Event Space!

From 20 December 2019 to 1 January 2020, enter the Big Top and get up close and personal with acrobatics and gravity defying motorbikes, contortionists and clowns. Soak in the spectacular sights, sounds and the excitement in the air as you witness near-impossible routines and jaw-dropping performances.
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Don’t forget to indulge in the carnival games, thrill rides and the food street – all of which will only add to making your family fun day a treasured and memorable experience.

Find out more at ​http://www.uncleringo.com/circus/

Singapore is studying the feasibility of adopting a proposal for female urinals to be designed to cut female usage time at public toilets by half to only about 90 seconds to help reduce the long queueing time faced by women at public toilets in Singapore, especially at shopping malls or convention centres.

Hong Kong Toilet Association is trying to combat the extremely torturous waiting times faced by women to access a public toilet in the densely populated cities of Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Toilet Association, such facilities would cut peeing time to just 90 seconds (1.5 minutes), compared with the usual two to three minutes, and thus help to shorten queues outside women’s washrooms.

Moreover, urinals would also take up only half the space of a full cubicle, therefore allowing more space to build more urinals to cut the queue at the ladies toilets. The facilities could include disposable paper urine funnels to help women aim accurately, and a shelf above for bags to be hung.

“It is much more feasible to install additional female urinals than to build new cubicles, especially in smaller and older public toilets,” said the group’s vice-president Henry Hung Chi Kuen, who has a 40-year career in plumbing engineering.

As a precautionary measure, the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) is recalling these three metformin medicines that are used to control high blood sugar levels in diabetic patients [see above Table for the list of recalled metformin medicines].
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HSA said that it is also working with the companies supplying these medicines as well as international regulatory agencies to verify the causes of the contamination, and to address the issue.

According to HSA, worldwide recalls have been conducted for the affected products.

Patients taking the affected metformin medicines are advised not to stop treatment on their own, as the sudden stopping of medicines will raise blood sugar levels, which may pose a greater health risk.

Healthcare professionals have been advised by HSA to contact their affected patients to arrange for an exchange of their medicines as soon as possible. Patients who are concerned about their current treatment can speak to their doctor or pharmacist.

“The additional risk posed by NDMA from metformin, at the levels detected, is considered very low,” HSA said.