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SHREK THE MUSICAL

The Broadway spectacular, SHREK THE MUSICAL opens in Singapore in 3 weeks!

Based on the Oscar®- winning DreamWorks Animation film, this live adaptation brings the hilarious story of everyone’s favourite ogre to the stage with all the usual suspects, a feisty Princess Fiona, Donkey and of course Lord Farquaad.

Book your tickets through SISTIC at http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/shrek0616 now!

SHREK THE MUSICAL

SHREK THE MUSICAL is based on the Oscar® – winning DreamWorks Animation film that started it all. This live adaptation brings the hilarious story of everyone’s favorite ogre to the stage. In a far away kingdom turned upside down, things get ugly when an ogre – not a handsome prince – shows up to res…

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AsiaOne comes in third in global media awards

SINGAPORE – AsiaOne’s mobile apps for iOS and Android have come in third place for Best Use of Mobile at INMA Global Media Awards held on Tuesday night at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

AsiaOne is the only Asian news website among the regional and international winners, and was up against big names such as New York Times’s Chat App, which came in first, and Germany’s FAZ DerTAG.

Designed and updated to feature an improved interface, the AsiaOne mobile apps were launched in July last year. The new concept  was designed to help readers save time and to appeal to new groups of users such as younger readers aged between 20 to 25.

The team behind the apps’ revamp also decided to enhance the apps with a sleek design that is clean and modern to give readers a better user experience.

The news website, which is under SPH’s Digital Media Group, introduced a brand new ‘My Favourites’ feature for users to customise their own section to quickly read through categories that they are most interested in.

Other new features include more varied content from a much wider range of content partners from both global and local publications such as BBC, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal and Vulcan Post.

Ms Karen Lim, editor at AsiaOne, said: “The award is a nod to the collaborative and innovative effort behind the development of the apps. Our strength is in digital content presentation and we will continue to look at various ways to deliver our best content to readers, whereever they are.”

The INMA Global Media Awards competition received 699 entries from 264 news brands in 40 countries and was judged by an international panel of 41 executives from 19 countries representing stakeholders in the media industry.

Other Singapore Press Holdings’ brands also picked up awards last night.

The Straits Times Innovation Lab won first place for Best New Concept to Incubate Products or Ideas and first place for Best Execution of Print Advertising for “The Interactive Newspapers”.

Chief executive officer of SPH Mr Alan Chan said: “These awards demonstrate our desire and ability to constantly innovate and engage all our stakeholders in the face of challenges in today’s media industry. As Asia’s leading media organisation, we will continue to strive and excel in all our businesses by enhancing our media offerings and staying ahead of the competition.”

a1admin@sph.com.sg

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:34
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SingPost deputy chairman to step down next month

Mr Goh Yeow Tin “wishes to devote more time to his other commitments”, says the national postal service provider. 

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Cosby will stand trial for sex assault, judge rules

Disgraced television legend Bill Cosby will stand trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman after plying her with pills at his Philadelphia home 12 years ago, a judge ruled Tuesday.

The pioneering black comedian, who faces up to 10 years if convicted, kept his glance averted from onlookers as he left a county court house in Pennsylvania, dressed in a grey suit and floral tie, leaning on a member of his entourage.

More than 50 women have publicly alleged sexual abuse at the hands of the former megastar, who attained his greatest fame for his role as a lovable obstetrician and family man in the hit 1980s sitcom “The Cosby Show.” But the 2004 allegations made by Andrea Constand, who worked for Temple University basketball team and now lives in Canada, are the only criminal assault charge brought against him.

Judge Elizabeth McHugh ruled after a three-hour preliminary hearing in Norristown, just outside Philadelphia, that there is enough evidence to justify a trial. “Good luck to you sir,” she told Cosby at the end.

“Thank you,” he replied, making no further comment.

The former star posted bail at $1 million in the case last December but has yet to enter a plea and a trial date has yet to be determined.

If he pleads guilty, he can still avoid the enormous publicity that will come with one of America’s most famous entertainers going on trial.

His reputation was shredded further Tuesday by an admission of having sex with at least two teenage girls, made in his deposition in the Constand suit and revealed by US media.

He also said that “five or six” models were brought to his studio each week while he was filming one of his sitcoms.

Cosby has become a pariah since an avalanche of women accused him of feeding them pills and having sex with them over four decades.

“We’re here because we want to seek the truth. We want to serve justice,” Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele told reporters.

“We’re going to move forward on the case and consequently look forward to getting a trial date,” he added.

Constand, 43, did not attend Tuesday’s hearing but Steele called as a witness Katherine Hart, a detective who took her original deposition in January 2005 detailing the alleged assault.

Hart read out passages from the deposition in which Constand said Cosby plied her with pills and wine until she was unable to resist his advances at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.

After sitting her down on the couch, Constand claimed in the passages read in court, Cosby fondled her breasts, put his fingers in her vagina and put her hand on his erect penis.

But Cosby’s legal team attacked Constand’s credibility.

Lawyer Brian McMonagle said Constand had chopped and changed certain passages and omitted from the final version having laid down on a bed next to the actor to relax and having visited his home for dinner after the alleged assault.

“We’re not at trial,” warned McHugh at one point to Cosby’s team. “Let’s try to keep it limited, Mr McMonagle.” Cosby has admitted giving Constand a pill but said all relations with her were consensual and accused her of lying about the assault.

The case was initially settled by a civil suit in 2006 and Cosby’s lawyers say reopening it has violated an agreement that he would never be prosecuted.

But prosecutors have justified revisiting the case, saying that new evidence came to light last July.

Although dozens of women have publicly accused Cosby of assault, the vast majority of their claims cannot be prosecuted because they have expired under statutes of limitations.

Cosby’s lawyers flatly deny any wrongdoing by the actor and say that he is now almost blind.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 10:08
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Football: Love him or hate him, Mourinho set for United

LONDON – Jose Mourinho will be faced with a litany of problems once the polarising Portuguese manager finally starts his Manchester United reign later this week.

Mourinho could be confirmed as United’s new boss as early as Wednesday after his agent Jorge Mendes met the club’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward for talks in London on Tuesday.

The former Chelsea boss is reported to have been offered a three-year deal worth £15 million (S$30.3 million) per season and would be given a transfer war-chest of around £200 million to revive the troubled Premier League club following Louis van Gaal’s sacking on Monday.

Mourinho has long dreamed of managing United, but the fulfilment of that ambition will come with strings attached.

The 53-year-old’s arrival at Old Trafford will be greeted with relief by large sections of the United fanbase and squad in the aftermath of two turbulent years under the drab management of arch pragmatist van Gaal.

However, Ronald De Boer, who played under van Gaal at Ajax before joining him at Barcelona where Mourinho was working as an assistant, says Mourinho can be just as conservative and acerbic as van Gaal.

“People run away with the impression of Mourinho and it’s the same with van Gaal. You hate him or you love him,” De Boer said.

“There will always be players who are not playing who will dislike him.

“Mourinho is like Van Gaal, a workaholic. Sometimes it’s not pretty but he knows how to grind out wins. That’s what you get.” Before he even has time to settle into his new office at United’s Carrington training ground, Mourinho must solve the thorny problem of Ryan Giggs’ status.

Mourinho is expected to bring long-time assistant Rui Faria and goalkeeping coach Silvino Louro with him, meaning van Gaal’s assistant coaches Albert Stuivenberg and Frans Hoek are likely to be dismissed.

That would leave Giggs as the last member of van Gaal’s staff and his future is now uncertain after he was reportedly offered a less senior coaching position by Mourinho.

United legend Giggs has spent 29 years with the club and was a popular caretaker manager following David Moyes’ dismissal in 2014.

The Welshman is believed to be disappointed he wasn’t offered the chance to succeed van Gaal and is said to have flown to Dubai to consider his options before giving Mourinho an answer.

Getting rid of a United icon at the start of his reign would be a risky move for Mourinho, but it is far from his only problem.

After being sacked by Chelsea in December following a series of rifts with senior players, Mourinho, who has won three Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues, will find a United dressing room at a low ebb after van Gaal’s constant criticism.

While Van Gaal earned admiration for promoting youngsters such as Marcus Rashford, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Jesse Lingard, the Dutchman is regarded as having failed to control a group of volatile personalities.

Netherlands winger Memphis Depay, a £25 million pre-season signing, is said to be in danger of squandering his talent due to a dubious attitude, while veteran German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger is reported to have been given special treatment by van Gaal after a series of injuries.

Mourinho must decide on the future of England midfielder Michael Carrick, who is out of contract shortly but retains a strong voice in the squad.

Spanish winger Juan Mata could also be on his way out after being sold to United within six months of Mourinho arriving at Chelsea for his second spell at the club.

Once Mourinho decides who will be leaving, he can turn his attention to the signings required to revitalise an unbalanced squad that finished fifth in the Premier League and crashed out of the Champions League at the group stage.

Yet, without the lure of Champions League action next season, Mourinho might find it hard to land his top targets – especially with the Pep Guardiola revolution getting underway across town at Manchester City.

City and Barcelona are believed to be ready to compete with United for the signature of Everton’s England defender John Stones, who Mourinho was unable to sign while at Chelsea last year.

As if that wasn’t enough to be getting on with, Mourinho also has to deal with the distraction of his upcoming court appearance over claims he discriminated against Chelsea’s former club doctor Eva Carneiro.

Mourinho called Carneiro “impulsive and naive” after she ran on to the pitch to treat Eden Hazard during Chelsea’s match against Swansea last year and she was later dropped from first-team involvement.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:58
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Canola the manatee named River Safari's new animal icon

The two year-old manatee measures 216cm in length and weighs 186kg. It can be seen swimming with the herd at River Safari’s Amazon Flooded Forest. 

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Star agent who discovered Madonna impressed with US-based singer Yuna

PETALING JAYA – Is US-based Malaysian songstress Yuna destined for superstardom like music legend Madonna?

In its April edition, a Billboard magazine interview with notable music agent Rob Prinz revealed that the singer had caught the eye and ear of the man credited with advocating Madonna in the early days of her career.

Asked if he was looking for the “next Madonna”, Prinz said an agent was always looking for somebody who could move them the way Madonna did.

He then proceeded to highlight Yuna’s unique voice.

“Recently, I started working with this artist named Yuna – a very different type of artist, a Malaysian artist signed to Verve.

“You never stop listening, never stop looking – because you never know when the next one is coming along,” said Prinz.

Prinz, who has worked with legends such as Celine Dion, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand and Bon Jovi, currently leads a team of 35 agents in New York and Los Angeles.

According to his profile in the interview, the team had booked more than 400 clients such as Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige, Nicki Minaj, J. Cole, Barry Gibb, Fifth Harmony, Charlie Wilson, Kamasi Washington and Kristin Chenoweth.

On her Twitter, Yuna also shared an eight-second clip of her flipping through the magazine to reveal a full-length picture of herself on the Contents page.

“Check this out! Whoaaaaa! It’s me!” she said excitedly.

Yuna has enjoyed success after success, notably releasing a duet with Usher called Crush.

She is also one of five singers selected for the 2016 Olympics promotional song, including Grammy award-winner Lenny Kravitz.

Yuna’s new album, Chapters, which was released on May 20, also features the work of big names such as David Foster and DJ Premier.

Up next is her 15-date tour in the United States, which will cover cities like Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:32
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Taiwanese teen slits mum's throat for refusing to give him money

A 16-year-old in New Taipei City, Taiwan, killed his mother after she refused to give him NT$60,000 (S$2,540), Oriental Daily reported.

The teenager, surnamed Xiang, was said to have been livid at his mother for rejecting his request at about 10am on Monday.

Together with a friend, he beat the woman at one of their homes in the city so violently that the punches fractured her skull.

The boy did not stop there. He dragged his mother to their other home nearby and slit her throat with a fruit knife. He fled after grabbing some money.

The mother was found dead by the teenager’s stepfather when he came home at about 8pm.

Police sources said the teenager was caught in his mother’s car at about midnight yesterday.

Police also arrested a 17-year-old suspect, believed to be the boy’s accomplice.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:25
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Taiwanese teen murders mum for not giving him money

A 16-year-old in New Taipei City, Taiwan, killed his mother after she refused to give him NT$60,000 (S$2,540), Oriental Daily reported.

The teenager, surnamed Xiang, was said to have been livid at his mother for rejecting his request at about 10am on Monday.

Together with a friend, he beat the woman at one of their homes in the city so violently that the punches fractured her skull.

The boy did not stop there. He dragged his mother to their other home nearby and slit her throat with a fruit knife. He fled after grabbing some money.

The mother was found dead by the teenager’s stepfather when he came home at about 8pm.

Police sources said the teenager was caught in his mother’s car at about midnight yesterday.

Police also arrested a 17-year-old suspect, believed to be the boy’s accomplice.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:25
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Singapore Botanic Gardens top pick on Chelsea Flower Show judge's list of 10 best gardens

The Singapore Botanic Gardens is the top pick for Chelsea Flower Show judge Christopher Bailes on his list of the 10 best gardens in the world.

In a column for British newspaper The Telegraph, published on Monday (May 23), Mr Bailes said the site offered a “real taste of the tropics”, pointing to its collections of economic plants, ginger and spices set in a “charming colonial era landscape” dating back to its founding as a national garden.

Describing himself as a “committed orchidophile”, Mr Bailes was impressed with the National Orchid Garden’s vibrancy and its “remarkable” collection of bromeliads.

“As an antidote to all this colour, the garden still preserves a piece of Singapore’s original rain forest,” the curator of the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden in Rosemoor, England, concluded.

The 157-year-old Botanic Gardens, which is home to more than 10,000 species of plants, was inducted as a Unesco World Heritage Site last July.

It is the first and only tropical botanic garden on the Unesco list.

New Zealand’s rhododendron-rich Pukeiti Gardens and Monet’s garden at Giverny in northern France rounded up Mr Bailes’ top three spots.

The Japanese Garden in Portland and South Africa’s Kirstenbosch National Botanic Garden were also shortlisted.

Mr Bailes said travelling the globe to visit different gardens was one of the most rewarding and pleasurable forms of tourism.

He wrote: “At its purest, gardening is a manifestation of mankind’s love of plants, beauty and landscape, and gardens are as infinitely varied as the people and cultures that create them.

“A great deal can be discovered about countries or individuals through their gardens.”


This article was first published on May 24, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2016 – 09:24
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