BooksActually brings local literature outside bookstores with its first machines located at the National Museum of Singapore and Orchard Road
Source link
Instant books? Singapore welcomes its first book vending machines
Stars rain in Singapore
Following hot on the heels of Team Captain America, Oscar winner Tom Hanks and Oscar-nominated comedienne Melissa McCarthy will be in Singapore this month for a series of publicity events at Marina Bay Sands.
The two stars are joined by directors Ron Howard, Paul Feig and Antoine Fuqua.
All of them will be here from June 12 to promote their movies and to kick off fund-raising efforts for Marina Bay Sands’ annual Sands for Singapore charity festival.
McCarthy and Feig are part of the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot starring an all-female lead cast, which includes Kristin Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. The original blockbuster 1984 movie starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.
Hanks, a two-time Best Actor Oscar winner for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994), has teamed up again with Howard for the new mystery thriller, Inferno.
The adaptation of Dan Brown’s best-selling 2013 novel of the same name features Professor Robert Langdon, a character that Hanks has played twice, in the hit films Angels & Demons (2009) and The Da Vinci Code (2006).
Fuqua, best known for the actioner, Training Day (2001), which won Denzel Washington a Best Actor Oscar, will be promoting his remake of The Magnificent Seven.
The movie, a reboot of the 1960 western of the same name, will star A-listers such as Washington and Chris Pratt, as well as Ethan Hawke and South Korean hunk Lee Byung Hun.
This article was first published on June 3, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 16:00
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
'House of Cards' star Michael Kelly 'binge watches' at home
LOS ANGELES – “House of Cards” star Michael Kelly revealed Thursday he binge-watches the show with his wife when he isn’t filming – but complained that she had cheated on him by getting ahead.
Kelly was nominated for an Emmy last year for his role as Doug Stamper, the ruthless chief-of-staff to Kevin Spacey’s machiavellian US president Frank Underwood in the hit Netflix series.
“You can see rough cuts and whatnot when we’re filming but I tend to not watch it until it comes out,” the 47-year-old told reporters in Los Angeles, adding that he preferred not to incur the wrath of wife Karyn.
“But she cheated on me this year – not literally, for the show,” he complained.
“I was in London working and I was only gone for like a week, and she was, like, ‘I’ve gone and watched a few without you.’ And I’d waited for her.” Kelly, who can also be seen on the big screen in “Everest” and “Man of Steel,” confirmed that his villainous henchman in “House of Cards” would be returning for the fifth season.
“We start up in July and I can’t wait to get back, and I don’t know anything unfortunately. I’m being honest this year – I really don’t know anything,” he said.
The Irish-Italian American, who grew up in Georgia, said he was next appearing in eight-episode FX/BBC period drama “Taboo” and described filming in England with British actor Tom Hardy as “a real treat.” Kelly was among around 70 stars of television past and present at a glittering gala in LA’s NoHo Arts District to celebrate the Television Academy’s 70th anniversary.
“Netflix really did change the landscape for the better, in my opinion, by doing what they’re doing with streaming television,” the actor said.
“It just broadened the scope of what we can do, and how many more jobs there are for actors and crews… directors and writers. This is another chapter in television.” Among the guests were Hollywood A-lister Christian Slater, “Cheers” star Ted Danson, “Rocky” actor Carl Weathers and housewives’ favourite David Hasselhoff, who is next due to appear in SyFy’s “Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens.” Danson, 68, confirmed that he was aware of discussions for a three-quel to comedy films “Three Men and a Baby” and “Three Men and a Little Lady” – possibly with the title “Three Grandfathers and Baby.” The 1987 and 1990 releases were box office hits and rumours have swirled ever since of a remake reuniting Danson with Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg.
“I heard they were going to do a remake or they’re floating that idea. I would never say no to anything like that. I had a great time,” Danson said.
The actors posed for a “class photo” at the academy’s new home, a $40 million media centre featuring the most advanced Dolby sight and sound system of any non-commercial theatre in the US.
Weathers, who played Apollo Creed in four of the “Rocky” movies, named 1960s sci-fi series “The Twilight Zone” and 1980s show “The Dukes of Hazzard” among his “TV moments” of the last 70 years.
“Television is with us and, in some form, will always be with us,” the 68-year-old said.
“Many of us are entertained by it, some of us have been babysat by it, and some of us are going to sleep at night with it. It’s just a part of our lives.”
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 14:21
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
Widow opens home as shelter for the less fortunate
When Alice’s daughter disappeared almost two weeks ago, she left behind her own little girl, aged just six.
And Alice, a cleaner, who declined to give her full name, has been at a loss as to how to comfort her granddaughter.
The 47-year-old grandmother told The New Paper yesterday: “She sometimes cries and says, ‘My mother doesn’t want me any more’.”
Because Alice works nine hours a day, six days a week, she is unable to look after her grandchild. The little girl lives under the watchful eye of Madam Sarah Tan, 52, owner of pau (steamed bun) shop Choon Ming Bao Dian.
Madam Tan, a widow with three children – a daughter, 20, and two sons, aged 26 and 28 – provides shelter to children, single mothers and the less fortunate as well as a place for them to work.
She currently houses a total of seven children, including an 11-month-old baby, and two single mothers at her five-room flat in Casuarina Road.
The younger children sleep with her and the older children and single mothers sleep in the other rooms.
She has been covering their living expenses while receiving government subsidies for their school fees.
Madam Tan’s pau shop has three outlets, two in Ang Mo Kio and a new stall at Toa Payoh North that offers only vegetarian options, and she plans to open a fourth stall at Beach Road soon .
The shop has been gaining popularity since news of Madam Tan’s philanthropy spread online.
When The New Paper visited the outlet at Toa Payoh, there were eight people helping at the shop.
They included Sabrinah Teo, 12, and her brother Samuel, 14, who are both charges of Madam Tan.
“We call her ‘mummy’,” said Sabrinah.
They both help Madam Tan by washing the dishes and arranging the items at the store.
“These children are God-sent,” said Madam Tan, who was teary-eyed as she described how they recently started to help out at the shop every day during their holidays.
Madam Tan, a Singapore PR, married when she was 20, but her husband died in a car accident a few years later. She left Malaysia to work in Singapore, opening her own clothing store at City Plaza.
In 2007, Madam Tan opened a dimsum stall in a coffee shop at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. When profits started rolling in, she closed her clothing store at City Plaza.
FAILED BUSINESS
She estimated that since then, she has provided about 50 people, mostly children, with a home.
Madam Tan has encountered difficulties along the way, including a failed business deal that reduced her number of shops from 13 to three.
Initially, the women who lived with her would also ask for more money, which strained her finances.
However, she remains undeterred.
“As long as someone needs my help, I’ll take them in. The kids are like my own. We’re a big family,” said Madam Tan.
Her younger son, Mr Bryan Tan, was among those helping out at the shop.
“My mum has done so much for us. She’s given us everything,” said Mr Tan, a freelance performer.
He takes care of the younger children and helps at the shops in his free time.
In addition to looking after the children, Madam Tan also cares for the single mothers.
“As a single mum myself, I understand the problems they face,” she said.
She does not know when the six-year-old girl’s mother will return.
“I can only hope, and pray, that she’ll come back soon,” she said.
Donations flow in
Ever since news of the social enterprise spread online, all three Choon Ming Bao Dian stores have been flooded with offers of donations. Members of the public have approached Madam Tan with cheques and cash, she said.
Some customers have even offered to buy her entire stock of steamed buns.
Others have also offered to give her milk powder and nappies for the young children, as well as a dishwashing machine.
However, she turned them all down as she wants to set an example to the women and children under her care.
“I want to show them that it’s important that they work hard and be self-reliant,” said Madam Tan.
tnp@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on June 03, 2016.
Get The New Paper for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Saturday, June 4, 2016 – 06:00
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
SIA aircraft damaged after hitting another plane
The tail cone of a Singapore Airlines (SIA) aircraft was damaged after it hit another plane that was being towed at Changi Airport on Monday evening.
The incident was first reported by the Airline Hub Buzz website yesterday, and SIA later confirmed it.
An SIA spokesman said there were no passengers on board the planes during the accident. No one on the ground was injured.
“Damage to the aircraft is being assessed and investigations will be carried out to determine how the incident occurred,” he added.
Last October, the nose gear of an SIA plane retracted while it was undergoing a landing gear system check at Changi Airport, causing the plane to tilt forward.
There were no passengers or crew on board at the time of the incident, but an engineer was on the aircraft.
He was not hurt.
This article was first published on June 2, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 14:05
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
First non-stop Singapore-San Francisco flight launched
The flight takes between 15 hours and 30 minutes and 16 hours and 20 mins – shaving up to four hours off the travel time between the two cities.
Source link
Tampines cat death case: Suspect out on bail
A shriek in the dead of night had cleaner Ng Siew Lan scrambling out of her third-floor Tampines flat.
The 57-year-old saw a man slamming a grey cat on the ground twice and kicking it, before setting it alight. The animal died.
On Tuesday, a 25-year-old man was arrested for allegedly abusing a cat at Block 884, Tampines Street 83. Animal protection group Cat Welfare Society said the suspect has since posted bail.
According to Madam Jaslynn Ong, 37 – who was with her mother, Madam Ng, when the incident occurred – the cat is one of several felines in the neighbourhood to have been abused.
Two of the three community cats are dead, she said. The third underwent surgery just three days ago for a dislocated left leg. “It’s been left crippled. I am now compiling all the details so I can report this to the authorities.”
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
Stomp, Facebook screengrabs, Shin Min Daily News, Lianhe Wanbao, The New Paper, Facebook / Yishun 326 Tabby Cat, Tra Cy’s Facebook
Cat Welfare Society chief executive Pauline Leow said: “Unfortunately, many people think it’s good enough to leave a Facebook post to raise awareness… But without proper reporting to the authorities, it’s hard to ascertain if they are truly all abuse cases.”
She cited another case on Tuesday when a cat was found with blood oozing from its mouth in a pool of urine at Block 765, Bedok Reservoir View. The person who found the cat did not report it to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or the police. Nobody has been apprehended.
From January to April this year, 53 cases of alleged cruelty to cats were reported to the AVA.
The Cat Welfare Society said its volunteer in Tampines is meeting cat feeders in the area to discuss how to keep other cats safe. Door- to-door surveys have also been done to appeal for information and witnesses.
This article was first published on June 3, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 14:00
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Rotator Image:
Story Type:
Others
$10m funds transfer for Punggol East authorised
The Aljunied-Hougang Town Council (AHTC), run by the Workers’ Party (WP), has authorised the transfer of another $10 million in sinking funds to Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council (PRPTC), said AHTC chairman Pritam Singh.
This brings the total sum of sinking funds transferred to PRPTC to $20 million, he added.
The money belongs to Punggol East constituency, which used to be under the former Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council. It is now under the PRPTC after the People’s Action Party won it back in last September’s general election.
After the change of hands, issues arose over the transfer of funds. PRPTC said AHTC has not handed over all of the sinking funds to date, and AHTC said it is following past practice and paying by instalments.
Mr Singh said, in his statement on Wednesday, that his town council will make a final transfer of any remaining sinking funds due to Punggol East once the constituency’s audited accounts are ready.
He also addressed a review of Punggol East’s accounts that was initiated by PRPTC.
On Tuesday, PRPTC said it has appointed Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) for the task, but the accountant was unable to proceed as AHTC has not handed over “additional documents” that were needed.
Mr Singh said: “This characterisation of the number of documents PRPTC requires is misleading.”
He said PRPTC chairman Zainal Sapari had in fact asked for “all documents and information that AHTC had made available for the Court of Appeal-mandated review”.
The apex court ordered the WP town council last December to appoint accountants to look into its books and establish if past payments made were improper. The order came after the Auditor-General found serious financial and governance lapses at the town council.
On Tuesday, PRPTC said that since it has taken over Punggol East’s management, it too has to comply with the court order on the constituency’s accounts.
Mr Singh, however, said AHTC has already appointed a team from KPMG under the court order.
KPMG’s job scope includes looking at payments made from 2011 to last year, which covers the period Punggol East was under the WP town council, he added.
PRPTC appointing PwC independently “would effectively duplicate the work of KPMG and, separately, require AHTC to commit resources devoted to the KPMG review to attend to PRPTC’s requests”, he said.
Despite this, he said, he and his town council did consider Mr Zainal’s request for documents, and it was put up at a May town council meeting. He said he informed Mr Zainal on April 19 that it would be discussed at the meeting.
AHTC’s town councillors decided the town council “ought to focus its fullest attention on the KPMG review”, said Mr Singh, adding that he told Mr Zainal about it on May 25.
PwC, in a progress report last month, said it needed additional documents from AHTC to get an accurate picture of Punggol East’s financial situation.
On Tuesday, PRPTC said it owed a duty to its residents to ensure all was in order. It also said it wants to ensure all the property and rights due to it have been transferred.
yuenc@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on June 03, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 15:00
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
16 hurt, buildings damaged in Sumatra quake
A magnitude-6.5 earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra yesterday, with tremors also felt in neighbouring Singapore.
Some buildings in West Sumatra province, near the epicentre, were damaged but there was no tsunami, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency .
The agency’s head of data and information, Dr Sutopo Nugroho, said the local authorities reported that 16 people were injured and about 55 buildings damaged.
Telecommunications and electricity supplies were largely unaffected, apart from a temporary power failure in Muko-Muko in Bengkulu province.
Tremors lasting up to a minute in Singapore caused some residents to panic, while at least one hospital in Sumatra evacuated patients, including those in beds, as a precaution.
Indonesia’s Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency said the quake struck at about 5.56am local time (6.56am Singapore time).
The epicentre was about 79km off the coast of West Sumatra at a depth of 72km. Adjacent provinces such as Bengkulu experienced strong to moderate shocks, said Dr Sutopo.
“Very hard tremors were felt by people in the south coastal district and Muko-Muko for about 20 to 30 seconds,” he said. “Beds and home appliances shifted out of position, people panicked and rushed out of the house.”
Strong tremors were also felt in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province, as well as Jambi and Pekanbaru, the closest city in Sumatra to Singapore.
“The earthquake was triggered by subduction activity of the Indian, Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates in the top of the Benioff zone,” Dr Sutopo said, referring to an inclined zone in which deep earthquakes typically occur.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of seismic activity running around the Pacific Ocean.
Experts have long said that a geological time bomb is ticking in Indonesia, and Padang, a city of about one million people, lies near it.
Findings published two years ago have indicated that coastal communities such as Padang, traditionally believed to be shielded from waves by offshore islands, may face a higher risk of tsunamis.
Sumatra has been struck by at least two strong earthquakes in recent months. They include a magnitude-5.9 quake on April 10 about 61km south-west of Bengkulu, and a powerful magnitude-7.8 earthquake about 800km off the coast of Padang on March 2.
A tsunami, caused by a magnitude-7.5 quake, destroyed hundreds of homes in the Mentawai Islands, just off West Sumatra, in 2010. More than 461 people died in that disaster, which came not long after a catastrophic magnitude-7.6 earthquake in Padang in 2009 killed more than 1,100 people.
Five major quakes, including the catastrophic 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, have struck the city over the past 12 years, giving it the dubious distinction of being the earthquake capital of the world.
This article was first published on June 3, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 14:00
Keywords:
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
Tiananmen anniversary sees rift among HK democrats
On June 5, 1989, a simply crafted advertisement appeared in a Hong Kong newspaper. Its message was heartfelt: “Deeply grieve the patriots who paid the price for their heroism. Strongly condemn the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders for the bloody massacre of Chinese people.”
The signee: Leung Chun Ying.
But in more recent times, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive has gone out of his way to avoid the subject of the June 4 Tiananmen incident. In 2013, he was even perceived to have scheduled a working trip to Shanghai to dodge the anniversary.
That did not stop the local press from asking about it. In response, Mr Leung spoke about his housing policies. The refrain from the pro-Beijing establishment has been that Hong Kong should let it go, given China’s progress since 1989.
Thus, Mr Leung’s remarks on Tiananmen this year are notable.
When asked on Tuesday about the impending anniversary, he did not sidestep it, as is his customary practice. Instead, he said: “Hong Kong is part of the country. Hong Kongers and the entire country’s people are connected by blood. Hong Kongers should care about major incidents on the mainland.”
The subtext: Tiananmen is worth remembering.
After years of urging Hong Kongers to let bygones be bygones, why this about-face now?
June 4 has been a special day on Hong Kong’s political calendar since 1989, when hundreds if not thousands were believed killed in the bloody crackdown on student activists in Beijing. That year, over a million Hong Kongers marched on the streets in solidarity with the Chinese activists. Pro-democracy advocates here smuggled key Tiananmen figures out of China.
Since then, Hong Kong – as the only place in China where the incident can be officially commemorated – has become the torchbearer for the memory of June 4. Over the past 27 years, an annual candlelit vigil at Victoria Park has become a pilgrimage for many Hong Kongers.
For them and the vigil organisers, getting Beijing to repudiate its narrative that the students were “counter-revolutionaries” and apologise for the crackdown is key to China’s democratic evolution – and, in turn, Hong Kong’s own political destiny.
Yet, a growing number of young Hong Kongers – spearheaded by the pro-independence localist movement which says it wants to safeguard Hong Kong’s identity and autonomy – appear set to eschew the event tomorrow.
For the first time, the Federation of Students, an umbrella group of student unions, will not be taking part. Alternative rival events are being organised, including a forum on “Hong Kong’s Future” featuring localist figures at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).
Also out in the open is the warfare between the localists and the traditional pro-democracy group. In an editorial, a student leader insulted the vigil organisers as “pimps and bawds in a brothel” for continuing to care about what happens in China.
CUHK student union president Chow Shue Fan told The Straits Times: “The candlelit vigil is calling for a democratic China. But we don’t think we are Chinese and so we don’t have the responsibility to remember June 4. Whatever significance it holds for China, it means nothing to us.”
The rejection of the June 4 commemoration is symbolically potent, a deepening of the line in the sand between both groups.
The traditional pan-democrats – including the original organisers of the Occupy movement – have always declared themselves to be Chinese patriots who “love the country but not the party”.
Thus, for instance, they also stand shoulder to shoulder with China’s nationalistic activists in demanding the “return” of the Diaoyu (or Senkaku) Islands from Japan. Mr “Bull” Tsang Kin Shing, a former legislator from the radical League of Social Democrats, for instance, is among those who embark on regular voyages to stake a claim on the disputed islands.
So, they may needle the CCP with incessant calls to “remember June 4” or for one-party rule to come to an end, but at least it is a recognition that they are Chinese and have a stake in developments.
Now, many of Hong Kong’s young people are simply indifferent. This has clearly rattled Beijing and the local government – thus Mr Leung’s cryptic exhortation for Hong Kongers to care about what happens on the mainland.
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
Reuters, AFP
xueying@sph.com.sg
This article was first published on June 03, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.
Image:
Publication Date:
Friday, June 3, 2016 – 15:00
Send to mobile app:
Source:
Story Type:
Others
