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A two-year-old girl from Britain has caught the fancy of the Internet for her uncanny resemblance to British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran.
A photo of Isla Walton, who is from Exeter city in south-west England’s Devon county, has gone viral online. One post has garnered 177,000 likes and 80,000 retweets on Twitter.
The little tyke has been said to “look more like Ed Sheeran than Ed Sheeran”.
The photo of her was posted by her aunt, Stacey Walton, who told The Sun in a report on Thursday (March 16) that “everyone comments saying how she’s a mini Ed”.
Ms Walton, who calls her niece “Baby Sheeran”, said the toddler loves Sheeran’s music.
She also claimed that little Isla “tries to sing along to the words and has a dance”.
Ed Sheeran, 26, is arguably popular with netizens – a photo of Sheeran with a fan, with the former’s ginger hair blown up by a stray gust of wind, went viral earlier this month.
lydialam@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Mar 20, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – How many times have you been told to “please off the tap”?
The Grammar gods will have you know that happens because people are confused about subject-verb agreement.
Then there is the officious sounding “please revert to me”. It really should be “please reply”.
To avoid such gaffes, the Speak Good English Movement has published a free guidebook to help people with their grammar.
Grammar Rules is a pocket-sized book which covers topics in grammar, including tenses and the use of adverbs and conjunctions. The book also highlights common English language errors made by Singaporeans and provides the correct words and phrases.
The Speak Good English Movement will be distributing 10,000 copies of the book to the public.
Most of the material in the guidebook appeared in notebooks issued over the years.
“The popularity of the notebooks and the grammar tips they contained motivated the Movement to compile the material into one volume,” said a spokesman. “Through Grammar Rules, the Speak Good English Movement hopes to draw attention to the importance of grammar so that Singaporeans may be encouraged to improve their standard of spoken and written English.”
Those who want a copy of Grammar Rules may collect it from the Singapore Philatelic Museum and Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall during opening hours from Monday (March 20). It will be given out on a first come, first served basis and while stocks last.
Singaporean blunder: Please off the tap
Standard English: Please turn off the tap
Singaporean blunder: With regards to the matter, I think…
Standard English: With regard to the matter, I think…
Singaporean blunder: Today is my off day
Standard English: Today is my day off
Singaporean blunder: Please give me lesser salt
Standard English: Please give me less salt
Singaporean blunder: I will fetch the kids to school
Standard English: I will take the kids to school
Singaporean blunder: I need to draw money from the ATM
Standard English: I need to withdraw money from the ATM
Singaporean blunder: We discussed about this during the meeting
Standard English: We discussed this during the meeting
Singaporean blunder: Please revert to me as soon as possible*
Standard English: Please reply as soon as possible
Pls note: “Revert” means to return to (a previous state, practice, topic, etc.). Very different from “Reply”
This article was first published on March 20, 2017.
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SINGAPORE – Movie queen Li Li-hua, a prodigious actress who enjoyed a long career of nearly 40 years in Chinese cinema and brought to life characters like imperial beauty Yang Guifei and empress Wu Zetian, has died.
She was 92.
Singapore’s Capital 95.8FM reported the death on Facebook on Monday (March 20), citing former Shin Min Daily News journalist Alice Kwan.
With a career spanning more than 120 films in nearly four decades, she was known as the “evergreen tree” of Chinese cinema, said Taiwan’s Central News Agency.
A glamorous beauty and gifted actress, she shone in historical and contemporary movies, in female and male roles.
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Among her best-known films are a pair of lavish costume epics, Yang Gui Fei (1962) and Empress Wu (1963), both with director Li Han-hsiang.
Yang Gui Fei won a Technical Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Chinese-language movie to be honoured there.
She was the first Chinese actress to star in a Hollywood film, the 1958 war romance China Doll.
Memorably, she also starred in King Hu’s The Fate Of Lee Khan (1973) as innkeeper Wan Jen-mi, a worldly woman who inspired a later incarnation, Maggie Cheung’s saucy proprietress in Tsui Hark’s New Dragon Gate Inn (1992).
Li also had an eye for talent. She was the one who recommended Li Han-hsiang direct her in Blood In Snow (1956), a film that succeeded and kick-started the director’s career.
Li Li-hua was born into an acting family in China in 1924. Her father was Peking opera actor Li Guifang and her mother was actress Zhang Shaoquan.
Li Li-hua was 16 when she made her screen debut in Shanghai, in a role in Three Smiles (1940) that earned her instant popularity.
She met department store scion Zhang Xupu and married him in the 1940s.
But her career, which took her to Hong Kong and the United States, kept the couple apart and the marriage ended.
She married director Yen Chun in Hong Kong in the 1950s. He died in the United States in 1980.
Retiring completely in the 1980s, she lived in Hong Kong and Singapore, said reports. She was around 80 when she quietly married businessman Wu Zhongyi, who was around 90. He died in 2006.
In 2015, she accepted a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Horse Awards.
woeiwan@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on Mar 20, 2017.
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SEOUL – Ousted South Korean president Park Geun-Hye reported to prosecutors Tuesday for questioning over the corruption and abuse of power scandal that brought her down, after using executive privilege to avoid them for months while in office.
Park apologised to the public as she arrived at the prosecutors’ office in Seoul, adding: “I will undergo the investigation sincerely.” South Korea’s first female president, Park was impeached by parliament in December as millions of people took to the streets to demand her removal over the sprawling scandal, which has exposed the links between politics and business in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Her dismissal was confirmed by the country’s top court earlier this month, ending the political career of a woman who grew up in the presidential palace as the daughter of army-backed dictator Park Chung-Hee.
A private citizen once again, Park’s convoy drove at walking pace through crowds of flag-waving supporters lining the street outside her home, before speeding up.
Every inch of the short journey was covered live on television, with cameramen trailing the group in cars and on motorcycles, and at fixed points along the route.
Read also: South Korea’s ex-president hounded over dumped dogs
Questioning by prosecutors is a key step in South Korea’s judicial process before a suspect is charged. It can last for many hours, late into the night, and can be repeated if officials deem it necessary.
Park, 65, faces multiple charges from abuse of power and coercion to bribery, and is the fourth former South Korean leader to be probed or jailed over corruption scandals.
Two former army-backed leaders who served in the 1980s to 1990s – Chun Doo-Hwan and Roh Tae-Woo – served prison terms for bribery after they stepped down.
Roh Moo-Hyun, who served from 2003 to 2008, killed himself by jumping off a cliff after being probed by prosecutors over corruption allegations in 2009.
Park has been named as an accomplice of her secret confidante at the heart of the scandal, which has also seen Samsung heir Lee Jae-Yong arrested and charged with bribery.
The friend, Choi Soon-Sil, is accused of using her presidential ties to force local firms including Samsung to “donate” nearly $70 million to non-profit foundations she allegedly used for personal gains.
Park is accused of offering governmental favours to the business tycoons who enriched Choi, including Lee.
The former leader is also accused of letting Choi, who has no official title or security clearance, handle a wide range of state affairs including nomination of top officials or diplomats.
Park also allegedly forced her aides to create a “blacklist” of thousands of artists who had voiced criticism of her to stop offering their projects state subsidies.
Prosecutors have accused her of pressing local businesses including Hyundai and steelmaker Posco to award lucrative deals to firms or individuals linked with Choi.
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Read also: Investigators name Park Geun-hye as bribery suspect; indict 17 more suspects
The ties between the two women stem from Park’s relationship with Choi’s late father, Choi Tae-Min – a religious figure who was a close mentor to Park until his death in 1994.
The seven-times-married founder of a cult-like group 40 years Park’s senior was also accused of using his ties with Park to squeeze money from local businesses for decades.
The ex-president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and blamed Choi for abusing their friendship. Choi is currently on trial for charges including abuse of power and coercion.
Park won the presidential vote in 2012 largely thanks to the popularity of her late father among the aged, conservative voters who benefited from the rapid growth under his iron-fisted rule from 1961 to 1979, but the scandal sent her once-bulletproof support ratings to record lows.A vote to elect her successor will be held on May 9 with Moon Jae-In, her rival in 2012 and a former leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, leading polls by large margins.
Read also: The Choi Soon-sil scandal explained
Andy Lau is taking baby steps to take baby steps.
Reporting to fans on his progress after his discharge from hospital, the Heavenly King said in a message on his website on Saturday (March 18): “Every day I’m sitting a little bit longer. Every day I’m standing a little bit longer. One day I’ll take the first step. I’m tough!”
Read also: Insurers to pay Andy Lau $14.4m for horse-riding injury
The 55-year-old is resting his injured lower back after he was thrown off a horse during a tea commercial shoot in Thailand on Jan 17. On March 10, he announced his discharge from Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital.
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On Saturday, he also shared a five-second video in which he is dressed as a cowboy, slinging a rifle and strutting out of a stable, said Apple Daily. It is not known whether the video is from the shoot.
Fans left him messages including “Boss is the best, proud of you” and “Waiting for you to run and jump”.
Read also: Andy Lau’s wife asked 148 monks to pray for his recovery
This article was first published on Mar 21, 2017.
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SINGAPORE: Singapore has surpassed Silicon Valley as a startup ecosystem in terms of talent, according to a survey of 10,000 startup founders across more than 100 cities.
The Global Startup Ecosystem Report and Ranking 2017 by Startup Genome assessed the startup ecosystems in 50 countries based on overall performance, funding, market reach, talent and startup experience.
Silicon Valley in the US remained the dominant global ecosystem, followed by New York and London. The Bay Area tech hub reigned supreme in all metrics in the report except talent, where it was ousted by Singapore.
(Source: Startup Genome)
The report noted that Singapore clinched the top ranking for talent due to its strong performance in access to quality talent and cost.
The experience levels of Singaporean talent was found to be comparatively strong, with 80 per cent of engineering and 74 per cent of growth teams boasting at least two years of prior startup experience compared to the global averages of 72 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively.
The average software engineer salary in Singapore, at US$35,000 (S$49,000), was also below the global average of US$49,000 – pointing to lower costs for businesses.
Startup founders based in Singapore were the youngest in the world, with a median age of 28 years.
Overall, Singapore slipped two places from 10th to 12th place among the cities surveyed from 2015, due to the entrance of Beijing at fourth place and Shanghai at eighth place. However, the report said that Singapore was “poised for a continued startup revolution” with its geographical location that renders it an easy access point to up-and-coming tech markets in Southeast Asia and significant government subsidies.
Early-stage funding per startup in Singapore averaged US$276,000, compared to US$252,000 globally. The country also had the sixth-highest percentage of immigrant founders in the world, with immigrants making up 35 per cent of startup founders compared to a global average of 19 per cent.
(Source: Startup Genome)
Manchester City face a charge of failing to control their players by the Football Association for their surrounding the referee Michael Oliver when he awarded a penalty in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool on Sunday.
Oliver, the same referee who was surrounded by Manchester United players in the fractious FA Cup quarter-final with Chelsea last week and resulted in the club being fined £20,000 (S$34,500), awarded a penalty to Liverpool when he judged Gael Clichy to have fouled Roberto Firmino in the 50th minute.
“It is alleged that in or around the 50th minute of the fixture, the club failed to ensure its players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion,” said an FA statement.
James Milner tucked away the penalty to give the visitors the lead but Sergio Aguero levelled with just over 20 minutes remaining to ensure City salvaged a point in the gripping match at Etihad Stadium.
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Oliver booked both Clichy and his Spanish team-mate David Silva – who was the most forthright in protesting – after awarding the penalty.
City have until Thursday to respond to the charge.
This article was first published on Mar 21, 2017.
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One in four Filipinos has high blood pressure, and half of that number do not know they are hypertensive.
An estimated 200,000 deaths annually can be attributed directly or indirectly to high blood pressure.
This was cited during a forum at the 22nd Annual Convention of the Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH) with Philippine Lipid and Atherosclerosis Society.
PSH will soon launch a series of activities for “Blood Pressure Awareness” in the country with the International Society of Hypertension (ISH).
PSH will spearhead the May Measurement Month 2017 (MMM17), which targets to screen at least 1 million Filipinos 18 years and older.
The goal is to measure 25 million around the world, making it the biggest screening programme ever.
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Leading cause of death
High blood pressure remains the leading cause of death in the country and worldwide.
“The biggest single killing risk factor is high blood pressure-9.4 million people die every year in relation to blood pressure. It is the biggest single epidemic that mankind has every experienced,” said professor Neil Poulter, ISH president.
Poulter said those found hypertensive-equal or greater than 140/90- during the MMM17 programme will be counseled on diet and lifestyle modification, and treatment.
Hypertension is also a lifestyle disease caused by physical inactivity, high fat and sodium diet and alcohol and tobacco use.
Today, with the rise of obesity and sedentary lifestyle of children and adolescents due to gadget use, young people are already being diagnosed with high blood pressure.
“Of 60,000 people measured for blood pressure, only half know they have it, 40 per cent get treated, and only a third of that number gets controlled. We eat too much salt, we eat too much fat, we eat too many calories,” Poulter said.
Hypertensive minors
Even children today are hypertensive.
“People think young kids do not get heart disease or kidney disease, do not get hypertension, but they eat a lot of fast food,” said Dr. Rafael Castillo, past president of PSH and currently a member of ISH.
He said some parents even allow their kids to eat a lot of fatty and oily food, believing they’re too young to acquire any serious disease.
Dr. Dolores Bonzon, pediatrician and kidney and hypertension specialist, told Lifestyle that the most common cause of hypertension in children is acute postinfectious glomerulonephritis in children 5 years old and above, an acute condition in which hypertension eventually resolves.
“So, hypertension, in this case, is only transient,” Bonzon said. “However, essential hypertension is starting to be seen more frequently especially among adolescents because of the increasing incidence of obesity in children and the proliferation of fast-food restaurants which serve high fat and high-salt food.”
The exact incidence of hypertension in the Philippine pediatric population, however, is unknown, she said.
“More than 50 per cent of adults don’t know they are hypertensive, (the number is higher) among our pediatric patients,” said Dr. Lynn Gomez, president of PSH.
She added that bewildered parents often ask how and why their children got hypertensive.
In the United Kingdom, Poulter said, among the highest sources of salt in the diet are bread (brown or white) and cereal.
Poulter said consuming a bowl of cereal is like drinking a bowl of seawater. It is therefore imperative that parents always check the nutritional labels on the food they are serving their children.
‘Walking time bombs’
Castillo said those who remain untreated or unaware that they have hypertension are like “walking time bombs.”
They are called such, he continued, because “anytime they could ‘explode’ to develop complications like massive stroke, acute myocardial infarction, and even sudden cardiac death.”
Filipinos love their fast food, salty food, bagoong, cured meats like longganisa for breakfast.
The maximum limit of salt intake for those with hypertension is 1 teaspoon of salt per day.
A typical Filipino household, however, consumes 5 tablespoon or more per day.
“In the end it’s about education. We are duty-bound to treat sick people. Cheap generic drugs are now being produced,” Poulter said.
Doctors are encouraged to participate in the MMM17, one of the major activities under the observance of the World Hypertension Day.
It was raining concrete on Victoria Street yesterday afternoon. Literally.
Witnesses told The New Paper that blotches of wet cement and pieces of concrete dropped on several cars near Raffles Hospital at about 3.30pm.
TNP understands that the cause was a burst pipe at the construction site for the extension of the hospital.
Nine vehicles, including at least three taxis, were hit by the concrete hail.
One affected car owner, who did not want to be named, was on his way home with his wife and two children.
He had stopped at the traffic junction of Victoria Street and Ophir Road.
He said it felt like stones were being thrown at the window.
“We were stunned,” he added. “Then, as suddenly as it started, the cement hail stopped.”
He got out and found that his car was badly scratched and covered with patches of cement.
But the situation was worse for other motorists around him, with some having their rear windscreen completely smashed.
He said: “I’m frustrated that this happened as I use my car every day. I don’t know how long the repair will take.
“But I am also grateful that my family is safe.”
Drivers of the affected vehicles went to the construction site and were directed to the open space carpark nearby where they met workers from Keong Hong Construction.
At the scene, TNP saw two construction workers talking to some of the drivers.
But the workers declined to comment when approached. Subsequent calls to Keong Hong Construction were not answered.
This article was first published on Mar 21 2017.
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