BEIJING – With barely a flicker of concern, Chinese policeman Mao Weidong celebrated with push-ups after setting a new Guinness World Record for planking for eight hours, one minute and one second.
Mao edged out the previous record holder, retired US Marine George Wood, who collapsed on the mat after seven hours, four minutes and five seconds in the head-to-head competition.
Planking is a core strength exercise in which the body is kept in a straight line from head to feet, with its weight borne on the forearms and toes.
Mao said his police work had helped him. “Actually, as Special Weapons And Tactics police, we have lots of strength training every day. I think the strength training is very helpful for doing planking,” he told Reuters TV.
Wood had set the world record for abdominal planking last year with a time of five hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will kick off a four-day trip to Russia from Tuesday (May 17) to make an official bilateral visit and attend a meeting commemorating the 20th anniversary of ASEAN-Russia relations, said a statement by the Prime…
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during his official trip from May 17 to 20.
Exclusive MasterCard all-in return fares from $199 to Bandung, Kuching, Langkawi, Palembang, Pekanbaru. Enjoy extended travel dates from 27 June to 31 October 2016, exclusively for MasterCard cardholders only.
TOKYO – Japan vowed to cooperate with a French probe into $2 million allegedly paid to help Tokyo secure the 2020 Olympics on Monday, as the son of ex-world athletics chief Lamine Diack denied receiving the money.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had ordered full cooperation with the French investigation into the payments, sent to a Singapore bank account which has been linked to Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack.
Japanese officials have been swift to deny wrongdoing in what is the most serious in a series of problems to affect the 2020 Games, including over the main stadium’s design and the event’s official logo.
French prosecutors said last week they suspect the payments were intended to help secure the 2020 Olympics for Tokyo, which beat out competition from Istanbul and Madrid.
Japan’s Olympic chief last week insisted the payments were a “legitimate consultant’s fee”, while the top government spokesman insisted the bid was “clean”.
And Prime Minister Abe told parliament on Monday: “I have instructed the education and sports minister to fully cooperate in the investigation.” “Education and sports minister Hiroshi Hase told the Japanese Olympic Committee and the former bid committee to cooperate in the investigation,” he added, according to Jiji Press.
French prosecutors said some 2.8 million Singapore dollars (1.8 million euros, $2 million) were paid to the now defunct Black Tidings consulting company, which Britain’s Guardian newspaper has linked to Papa Massata Diack.
Controversy behind Japan’s stadium for 2020 Tokyo Olympics
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
Japan Sport Council, Video screengrabs, YouTube screengrabs, Stomp
Lamine Diack was an International Olympic Committee member in 2013 when Tokyo won the hosting rights for 2020. Diack and his son already face corruption charges in France.
The payments were discovered as part of an inquiry into allegations the Diacks organised bribes to cover up failed dope tests by Russian athletes, French prosecutors said. France became involved as the money may have been laundered in Paris.
But Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, speaking to Kyodo News agency in his native Senegal, insisted he hadn’t received any money from the Tokyo bid team.
“I haven’t got any money,” he said in Dakar. “Let them investigate… I have nothing to hide,” he added.
He added that he had been friends with Ian Tan Tong Han, formerly the sole proprietor of Black Tidings, since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. But he said he didn’t know Tan’s company was contracted by the Japanese bid team.
“I’ve been in this sports business for 25 years. I know the rules,” Diack said, adding that Tokyo’s bid “shouldn’t be tarnished” and had been done “very fairly”.
Tsunekazu Takeda, the Japanese Olympic Committee president who led Tokyo’s bid, said the money was for “professional services” for consulting work.
“I never knew there was a link (between the company and Papa Massata Diack),” Takeda told lawmakers in parliament on Monday. “Anyway, if it is in the realm of acquaintance there is no problem,” he added.
“Internationally it is quite common” to have a contract with an international consultant, Takeda added.
The controversy comes after Tokyo had to scrap its original main stadium design due to its eye-watering price tag, and also had to weather plagiarism accusations over the Games’ initial logo.
The national carrier’s operating results show that in total, the airline carried 1.57 million passengers last month, compared to 1.48 million passengers the year before – an increase of 5.8 per cent.
Singapore is a backdrop in yet another Hollywood film.
This time, it is the upcoming sci-fi romance Equals starring English actor Nicholas Hoult and US actress Kristen Stewart.
Miss Suzy Yeo, a Singaporean who served as the local Line Producer for the Drake Doremus-directed film, which opens here on May 26, spent 27 days with the leads when they were in town two years ago to shoot a portion of Equals.
The veteran location scout, who is in her 40s, was impressed by Hoult and Stewart’s professionalism.
Miss Yeo said the shoot was tough because it was during the hot season. The film-makers chose Singapore for its lush greenery, so most of the scenes were shot outdoors, at Marina Barrage, Singapore Botanic Gardens and Henderson Waves at Southern Ridges.
She added that local regulations did not allow the production crew to set up mobile tentages, which meant the actors sometimes did not have proper rest areas.
Miss Yeo told The New Paper: “The weather was horrific and the actors were wearing such thick clothes yet they never complained one bit. They remained positive and their attitude really earned my respect.”
Equals is set in a futuristic utopia, where emotions have been genetically suppressed in an effort to protect society from war and strife.
Silas (Hoult) and Nila (Stewart) find their emotions awakened and they are drawn to each other, but their connection becomes a threat to their community and the only way for the star-crossed lovers to remain together is to escape the only world they know.
Guess where this scene was shot? For the answer. see the gallery.
Miss Yeo also served as location scout for last year’s action thriller Hitman: Agent 47, which was also filmed in Singapore, and she said both projects were very different.
Hitman: Agent 47, starring Rupert Friend and Zachary Quinto, showcased Singapore landmarks such as Marina Bay Sands, Gardens By The Bay and Shenton Way.
Miss Yeo said Equals’ producer Ann Ruark specifically did not want any recognisable locations as “it is set in a world that does not exist”.
“My brief was to find locations that are clean, have a Zen-like palette and are futuristic-looking,” she said.
Where is this place in Singapore? A stadium in a housing estate?
‘Too sterile’
Miss Yeo said Miss Ruark approved all her suggested venues except for Gardens By The Bay, which the latter felt was “too sterile”.
And thanks to her experience working on Hitman: Agent 47, Miss Yeo said getting approval from local authorities for the team to shoot on location was much easier.
“The people at Marina Barrage were very supportive and Keppel Land helped us facilitate the filming at the Reflections at Keppel Bay condominium,” she said.
Singapore Botanic Gardens took more time because the filming schedule coincided with the period it was being assessed by the International Council On Monuments And Sites in the bid to have the park become a Unesco World Heritage Site.
“We had to work on the dates, but everything turned out well,” said Miss Yeo.
Where is this ‘futuristic’ place in Singapore? Find out the answer in the gallery.
She has no airs, he’s friendly to everyone’
He’s a dream guy while she’s unassuming and sweet.
That’s how Miss Suzy Yeo (on the right with Ann Ruark in the photo below) described the stars of Equals, Nicholas Hoult and Kristen Stewart, both 26. She told The New Paper that Stewart was “friendly and fun”, unlike how the press usually depicts her as aloof and unsociable.
“She had no airs and was very casual. This girl was full of energy,” said Miss Yeo, adding that Stewart was constantly skating on the sets.
“She brought her own skateboard with her. She’s so cool.” As for Hoult, Miss Yeo said the handsome heart-throb was “the sunshine on set”. “He’s always so friendly to everyone, even the local actors.
“I remember there was one day when a six-year-old boy came to the set to see Nicholas, as he was a big fan, having watched Nicholas (as the titular character) in (the 2013 fantasy flick) Jack The Giant Slayer.
“But when Nicholas went to greet him, the boy angrily told him that he was not Jack and started to cry.”
Miss Yeo said Hoult patiently calmed the upset child and played iPad games with him.
“That moment was so real and humbling. I never would have expected a star to behave that way,” said Miss Yeo.
During the production, there were rumours that Hoult and Stewart were an item. This came about after fans photographed them on dinner dates together here and in Tokyo, where a large portion of Equals was shot.
Miss Yeo admitted she did her own “investigations” upon hearing the gossip, but clarified there was no real-life romance.
“They are good friends on- and off-set. That was about it.”
This article was first published on May 16, 2016. Get The New Paper for more stories.
WITH less than four days left for Malaysian death row prisoner Kho Jabing to serve his sentence in Singapore, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on President Tony Tan to urgently grant clemency.
Kho, who is due to be executed on May 20, was convicted in 2007 of the murder of Cao Ruyin, a construction worker, in a botched robbery attempt.
HRW Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director said: “President Tan should grant clemency to Kho Jabing in recognition of sentencing reforms under Singapore law. The death penalty is always cruel, and a man’s life should not hinge on a legal technicality.”
On April 5 this year, the Court of Appeal, Singapore’s highest court, dismissed Kho’s appeal. An Appeals Court panel in January 2015 reversed a High Court ruling overturning his death sentence.
The dispute was whether or not his actions during the botched robbery had been done in “blatant disregard of human life”. At the time of Kho’s conviction, Singapore law imposed a mandatory death penalty for the offense, thus preventing the court from considering the full circumstances of the crime.
Robertson said in a statement released today that mandatory death sentences are contrary to the rights to a fair trial.
He pointed out that a mandatory death sentence “makes it impossible [for the court] to take into account mitigating or extenuating circumstances and eliminates any individual determination of an appropriate sentence in a particular case”.
“The adoption of such a black-and-white approach is entirely inappropriate where the life of the accused is at stake,” he said.
A passport photo of Malaysian death row inmate in Singapore Kho Jabing. Image via The Star Online.
In 2012, Singapore’s parliament amended the Penal Code to provide courts with some discretion in sentencing certain categories of murder, including murder without intent.
Since the change of law was considered retroactive, Kho sought a review of his death sentence, stating the murder had not been premeditated and there had been no “blatant disregard for human life.” In August 2013, the High Court agreed, and re-sentenced Kho Jabing to life imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane.
Kho’s accomplice in the crime, Galing Anak Kujat, had his conviction for murder overturned, and the court re-sentenced him for committing robbery with hurt, giving him 18 and a half years in prison and 19 strokes of the cane.
Last month, Kho’s family launched a petition urging for clemency.
SINGAPORE – Embattled match-fixing kingpin Dan Tan Seet Eng’s ex-wife is on trial for a single charge of providing false information to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) on June 6, 2013.
According to The Straits Times, Guan Enmei, 41, allegedly called Tan’s associate, Eric Ding, to seek help for two laptops that were in her possession after the CPIB started investigating Tan.
During the trial which began today (May 16) and will end tomorrow, Ding, who is currently serving six years in prison for bribing Lebanese football officials with prostitutes in return for match-fixes, testified that Guan called him after the graft investigation.
Alleged global football match-fixer Dan Tan freed in Singapore
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The Straits Times, The New Paper
His testimony was in response to the prosecution’s query about why she had called him. He said that he “shared the same network of encrypted phones and laptops with Tan to communicate with each other”.
The report stated that on June 6, after Tan was told to head to the CPIB office, he had instructed Gan to “take two laptops from the study, place them in a bag and hand him the bag after he was released”.
Guan had allegedly lied about not taking “with her a paper bag containing two laptops, which according to the charge, she knew to be false”, as she had travelled with the white Dior paper bag to the CPIB building but had left it with her driver, Chen De Zhan. She had been driven to the CPIB by another driver, Akbar Abdul Ali.
The bag had subsequently been seized from Chen, while he had been waiting for her.
If found guilty, Guan could be fined up to $10,000 and jailed up to one year in prison.
