FINAL
BRUNEI DPMM 0
ALBIREX NIIGATA 2
(Rui Kamada 42, Atsushi Kawata 79)
Don’t take your eyes off the local football scene because something special is…
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Geylang eye strong S.League finish after Plate win
PLATE FINAL
HOUGANG UNITED 1
(Jozef Kaplan 45)
GEYLANG INTERNATIONAL 2
(Mark Hartmann 33, Shawal Anuar 36)
It was a day of smiles for the men from…
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Kean wants to stay with Brunei DPMM
When asked how he felt after his first barren season in three years in charge of Brunei DPMM FC, Steve Kean quickly quipped: “It’s not over yet.”
Be that as it may, the defending S.League champions are third in the league, 16…
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No doubts over hawkering
He knew what he wanted to do even before completing his national service.
Mr Benjamin Aw, 27, tells The New Paper on Sunday: “Food has always been my passion.
“I knew that I wanted to sell hawker food. My parents have…
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Father apologises on behalf of dead son
His son had only four months left to serve in his national service.
Mr Hiroyuki Matsuo, 54, told reporters that there were plans to send the 21-year-old for further studies overseas.
But now, the plans will never work…
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White Swans on a roll
FINAL
BRUNEI DPMM 0
ALBIREX NIIGATA 2
(Rui Kamada 42, Atsushi Kawata 79)
Don’t take your eyes off the local football scene because something special is…
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One Singaporean’s journey across the globe
SINGAPORE – A few days before she crossed the border from Myanmar into Manipur on June 9 last year, a deadly militant attack shook the Indian state. And just days after she left Pakistan in early March this year, suicide bombings took place in Lahore and…
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Restaurants around Sports Hub observe mixed demand during NDP period
Not all businesses around the Sports Hub have enjoyed a boost in customers. Some eateries at Kallang Wave Mall have benefited from the increased human traffic, while some establishments at Leisure Park Kallang experience slow days.
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The magic is back: Harry Potter play hits London stage
LONDON – Harry Potter fans were buzzing with excitement Saturday ahead of the opening gala of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, a stage play that imagines the fictional boy wizard as a grown-up father of three.
After nearly eight weeks of preview performances that received rave reviews from critics, the Palace Theatre in London throws open its doors to the general public for a new adventure in the saga that has captivated millions around the globe.
Creator J. K. Rowling has begged fans not to give away any plot details after seeing the show.
Set 19 years after the events of Rowling’s seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”, the play sees a grown-up Potter working at the Ministry of Magic.
The official plot outline for the play reads: “While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted.
“As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places,” it said.
Jamie Parker plays Potter, who is joined on stage by his old school friends Ron Weasley, played by Paul Thornley, and Hermione Granger, played by Noma Dumezweni.
Albus actor Sam Clemmett has been a big hit, as has Anthony Boyle as Draco Malfoy’s son Scorpius.
The performance is split into two shows, each lasting around two and a half hours. The first showing is at 2:30pm (1330 GMT), with the second at 7:30pm (1830 GMT).
The script will be released in Britain at midnight on Saturday (2300 GMT), with bookshops planning to stay open into the wee small hours to satiate the desires of Potter fans. July 31 is the birthday of both Rowing and Potter.
Rowling’s books have sold more than 450 million copies since 1997 and been adapted into eight films.
The theatre show is written by English screenwriter and playwright Jack Thorne, based on an original story co-written with Rowling and the play’s director John Tiffany.
Given the millions of fans around the world, the decision to move the characters on two decades was seen as risky.
Like many of his fans, Potter has now grown up and has three children with his wife Ginny Weasley, the sister of his friend Ron.
He still has his trademark round-rimmed glasses and the scar on his head, a permanent reminder of his nemesis Lord Voldemort, but must now help his youngest son Albus confront the family’s dark past.
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is currently sold out, but another 250,000 tickets are set to go on sale next week as the play’s run has been extended until December 2017.
“Judging by the whooping and cheering, nobody was disappointed,” Clare Fitzsimons wrote in the Daily Mirror newspaper after the first preview showing last month.
“The storyline, a hymn to friendship and teenage misfits, contains enough twists to please the most knowledgeable of fans,” Hannah Furness wrote in The Daily Telegraph.
“Any fears that the world of Hogwarts on stage would struggle to compete with the multimillion-dollar special effects of film were quickly kicked into touch”.
Bangladesh police identify cafe attack 'mastermind'
DHAKA – A Canadian citizen was one of the masterminds behind a mass killing at a Dhaka cafe, Bangladesh police said Saturday, after new information came to light following a raid on an extremist hideout.
Tamim Chowdhury, whose whereabouts are unknown, returned to Bangladesh from Canada three years ago. He has since led and financed efforts to radicalise young Muslims, officers with knowledge of a probe into recent attacks told AFP.
The dual Canadian-Bangladeshi national, in his early 30s, is thought by counter-terrorism officials to lead a faction of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group, blamed for scores of murders of foreigners and religious minorities.
Five assailants stormed an upscale cafe in Dhaka’s Gulshan neighbourhood on July 1 and killed 20 hostages, including 18 foreigners in Bangladesh’s deadliest single militant attack.
A week later, gunmen attacked an Eid prayer gathering of 250,000 people held to mark the end of Ramadan, killing three.
“So far what we learnt is that Tamim Chowdhury is one of the masterminds of the attacks of Gulshan cafe and Sholakia Eid prayer ground,” an officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“He trained the extremists behind the two attacks and the nine extremists killed at Kalyanpur,” the officer said, referring to a shoot-out by police at a flat used as an extremist hideout on Tuesday.
He added that Chowdhury “has been working to radicalise” young Muslims.
Reuters, AFP
Another senior police officer told AFP that Chowdhury’s role in fostering extremism was revealed during the interrogation of Rakibul Hasan, 25, who was arrested in the raid on the hideout.
According to a police first information report into the raid, seen by AFP, Chowdhury and others gave him and the nine militants killed in the raid “money, explosives and weapons” and “trained and advised” them.
Hasan told police during the interrogation that Chowdhury “used to visit the extremists’ flat and give them necessary funds and encourage them by talking about extreme and religious issues,” the report said.
Authorities blame the JMB militant group for the attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka and the assault on the Eid gathering.
However, the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the cafe attack, releasing photos of the carnage and of extremists posing with the group’s flag.
Arrested extremist Hasan told police the group busted in the raid were members of IS, with officers recovering its signature black flags and robes from their hideout.
But the national police chief A.K.M Shahidul Hoque has rejected that claim, asserting that they were members of the banned JMB.
Another senior officer told AFP that foreign intelligence agencies sounded alarm bells on Chowdhury’s extremist activities a year ago.
Police are investigating whether the JMB faction allegedly led by Chowdhury has any ties with IS.
