English soprano Sarah Brightman, English jazz-funk band Shakatak and renowned local artists are set to enliven the third Prambanan Jazz Festival in Yogyakarta from Aug. 18 to 20.

Held at Prambanan temple, the event is expected to offer high quality performances for local and foreign music enthusiasts and present local culture-influenced entertainment.

Festival initiator and organizer Rajawali Indonesia Communication CEO Anas Syahrul Alimi told Antara news agency that the festival’s opening day would showcase a “1990s Moment” concept featuring artists who had popular hits in the 1990s, such as Andre Hehanusa, Katon Bagaskara, T-Five, Base Jam, Emerald, Lingua, Ada Band, The Groove, Ipang, Shakey and Rif/.

In addition to Brightman, who will reportedly be accompanied by an orchestra, and Shakatak, which has released more than 35 albums throughout its career, negotiations are being conducted with other foreign artists to join the event.

Others slated to perform at the festival include Afgan, Glenn Fredly, Kahitna, KLA Project, Kunto Aji, Marcell, Payung Teduh, Rio Febrian, Sandy Sondoro, Saxx in the City, Shaggy Dog, Syaharani, Tompi, Yovie Nuno and Yura Yunita.

Samsung Electronics said Thursday it has carried out a reshuffle of its executives in its smartphones and home appliances units, the first high-level moves made since it has been embroiled in a corruption scandal.

“The company has decided to carry out the reshuffle as further delaying it, after failing to do so last year, would lower the metabolism of the organisation,” a Samsung Electronics spokesperson said, meaning the continued tenure of the retirees-to-be has created congestion for personnel and organizational discipline.

The much-awaited personnel moves also came two days after the election of the country’s 19th president, Moon Jae-in.

The Korean tech giant has typically carried out reshuffles and appointments of its executives and CEOs in December.

However, Samsung delayed last year’s appointments after the company was thrown into a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye and arrest of Lee Jae-yong, the group’s de facto leader, for suspected bribery.

Samsung said it promoted 54 executives, including six to executive vice president positions, 11 to senior vice president and 30 to vice president.

Five were promoted to advisory executives and two were promoted to master seniors.

There are two new executives with foreign nationalities, Joseph Stinziano and John Herrington, and two new female executives, Lee Ae-young and Lee Hye-jeong.

The new executive vice presidents are: Kim Seog-gi, visual display enterprise business chief; Kim Jeong-hwan, Central and South America supervisor; Lee Sang-hun, consumer electronics mecca solutions head; Lee Jae-seung, consumer electronics business development chief; Hong Hyung-chil, Southwest Asia regional supervisor; and Hwang Jung-wook, mobile communications global hardware development head.

Samsung Electronics is also expected to announce reshuffles in its chip and display units as early as Friday and gradually for other affiliates, including Samsung Display, Samsung SDI and Samsung Electro-Mechanics.

As for the chip business, the number of promoted executives is predicted to be larger than last year, considering its continued strong performance.

The naming of CEOs is expected to be carried out around or after August when Lee Jae-yong’s trial is set to end.

Samsung is currently without a control tower to appoint CEOs since the strategy office was dismantled in February.

There are about 40 CEO posts in the group.

In February, Samsung carried out personnel moves and promotions for non-executive and lower-ranking employees.

TAIPEI, Taiwan – One of the most popular bakery chains among foreign visitors to Taiwan, Vigor Kobo has been selling expired food with modified expiration date labels, its Chairman Sun Kuo-hua confirmed on Wednesday.

Sun’s wife Hsiao Shih-chin,who is in charge of the company’s sales and marketing, has been suspended and is under investigation with bail set at NT$1.5 million (S$70,043), he said.

Vigor Kobo’s products were a souvenir at the national banquet for foreign guests at the president’s inauguration ceremony in 2012.

Its signature products include pineapple cakes and other pastries.

Investigators from the Shilin District Prosecutors Office searched Vigor Kobo’s headquarters on Wednesday.

Preliminary reports indicated that employees from the bakery’s Wugu store had modified the expiration date labels on approximately 10 boxes of its products without the management’s authorisation.

Prosecutors said that some employees have admitted to wiping out the original labels with alcohol, replacing them with fake ones and putting the products back on shelves.

Sun apologised for the scandal at a press conference at the Taipei Exchange on Wednesday, vowing to “take full responsibility” and refund customers who have purchased the problematic products two to five times the original price.

Customers can claim for a refund or product exchange at any Vigor Kobo store in Taiwan with receipts. There is no deadline set for claims, Sun said.

He added that the company has been using the ISO 22000 food safety management system for years, and had created its own product insurance profiles, however “malpractice caused by poor management is sometimes unavoidable.”

Sun insisted that the scandal was just an individual act, and the company has suspended all employees allegedly involved.

Mainland Tourist Impact

Vigor Kobo is especially popular among mainland Chinese visitors.

Some travel agencies focused on mainland Chinese business announced later Wednesday that they will boycott the shop.

Chung Hsing Travel Service Chairman Lee Chi-yueh condemned the bakery chain, saying that it has not only betrayed its customers but also the travel agencies that supported it for so long.

He revealed that the bakery holds almost 50 per cent of the market share for mainland Chinese tour groups in Taiwan.

In the peak season, the chain can see a total of 4,000 to 5,000 customers per day.

The two Vigor Kobo stores at Taoyuan International Airport have suspended operations late Wednesday.

Customers who purchased products with an “EXP” label on the box can claim a refund at five times the original price. Empty boxes will be accepted.

Seol Kyung-gu is an actor who possesses a “strange kind of charisma,” whose mere presence on camera evokes a sense of pathos, according to director Byun Sung-hyun of upcoming action flick “The Merciless (Bul Han Dang).”

Having tackled a diverse array of roles and now in the 24th year of his career, Seol is a formidable figure in Korean cinema.

But the actor will be the first to admit that his filmography by no means reflects a pristine track.

There were periods when he fell into complacency, following the motions but not putting his heart into his craft, Seol said at an interview at a cafe in Samcheong-dong, Seoul, Wednesday.

“After finishing the filming of ‘Lucid Dream,’ I felt a sudden sense of embarrassment,” he said, referring to the sci-fi drama he starred in last year. “My face went red. Thinking back on my work (for the film). I realised that if I continued this way, I would probably get kicked out of the acting scene.”

The experience was a jolt, he said.

Seol returns in full form in “The Merciless,” which will screen at Cannes Film Festival’s midnight screenings category next week.

His character Jae-ho is a complicated figure — maniacal, brutal, damaged and cunning — that Seol portrays with both the gusto of his earlier years and a newfound gravitas.

As in Seol’s past roles, a sense of wretchedness underlies Jae-ho, the ruthless drug kingpin who grows dangerously fond of a young delinquent, played by Im Si-wan, with questionable intentions seeking to join his operation.

But this time round, Seol says, he is more “polished” than ever before.

When he first met with Byun to discuss the film, the director had remarked that Seol seemed “too crumpled up, wrinkled.”

“(The director) said he wanted to flatten me out, make me stand taller,” said Seol. “I think he meant many things by that.

“So for the role, I was put in an expensive suit. I wore an expensive watch, my hair was combed back. It was incredibly uncomfortable at the beginning … but I discovered that your body movements change according to your clothes.”

Seol has rarely taken on clean-cut roles.

He rose to acclaim around 2000 after portraying the demise of the idealistic youth Yong-ho in the 1999 film “Peppermint Candy,” and cemented his reputation as both an uncanny talent and a box office hit-maker in 2002 with roles like the roguish detective in “Public Enemy” and the mentally challenged delinquent in “Oasis.”

He went through a massive physical and methodical transformation in “Rikidozan: A Hero Extraordinary” when playing the professional Japanese wrestler, gaining some 30 kilograms and learning Japanese.

“So for the role, I was put in an expensive suit. I wore an expensive watch, my hair was combed back. It was incredibly uncomfortable at the beginning … but I discovered that your body movements change according to your clothes.” – Seol Kyung-gu

The actor has stayed active in recent years, starring in hits like the 2009 disaster film “Haeundae,” and box office misses like the 2015 war film “The Long Way Home,” and many more.

The character Jae-ho, though he may appear to be on the verge of psychopathy with his high-pitched laugh and killing spree, is to Seol a “calculating” character, he said.

“But he can’t help himself when it comes to Hyun-soo,” said Seol of Im’s character.

The film has been described as a bromance-slash-romance between the two characters.

“It’s love, I think,” said Seol, though not necessarily a romantic love.

“I viewed the film as a coming-of-age of Hyun-soo. It deals with his evolution. Jae-ho acts as a sort of mentor to him. (Hyun-soo) becomes someone who he would go to all lengths to protect even though he knows he’s being tricked.”

This year marks Seol’s fourth presence at Cannes, after “Peppermint Candy” (2000), “Oasis” (2002) and “A Brand New Life” (2009).

“The Merciless” will open in local theatres on May 18.