Mass exercise sessions and diabetes screening will reach more Singaporeans, as Minister of Minister of State for Health Chee Hong Tat announced enhanced measures to support healthy living on Wednesday (Apr 13).
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More mass fitness classes to promote healthy living: MOH
China court rules against same-sex couple's marriage application
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Beijing – A Chinese court ruled against two men seeking to marry, it said Wednesday, as more sexual minorities push for equal rights in the country.
Sun Wenlin, 27, sued a civil affairs bureau after it refused to grant him and his partner, Hu Mingliang, a marriage certificate.
The Furong district court in Changsha, in the central province of Hunan, agreed in January to hear the case, a move many observers considered a landmark development in itself.
But the court quickly dismissed the suit after hearing it on Wednesday.
“According to our country’s relevant marriage laws and regulations, marriage is only between a man and a woman,” it said on an official social media account.
The couple’s lawyer said they would appeal against the verdict.
“This is the first gay marriage case in China, and I believe there will be more gay people fighting for their rights in different ways,” attorney Shi Fulong told AFP.
China’s judicial system is firmly under the control of the Communist Party, and so-called politically sensitive rulings are rarely decided based purely on legal matters.
China only officially decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, and listed it as a mental illness for another four years.
More recently tolerance has grown in larger Chinese cities, but conservative attitudes remain deeply ingrained and discrimination against gays and lesbians is common.
The same-sex marriage case is just the latest in an increasingly vocal tide advocating for equal rights for China’s sexual minorities.
A tribunal in the southwestern city of Guiyang is hearing a transgender discrimination suit where a man, identified only as Chen, who was born female, claimed he was fired from his job at a health clinic.
According to the Guiyang Evening News, a manager at the Ciming Medical Centre said: “Chen’s appearance really didn’t fit our standards.”
Chen is now claiming he was unfairly dismissed and is seeking 2,000 yuan ($309) in compensation at a labour tribunal. He has also demanded an apology.
But the Changsha couple’s lawyer remained upbeat about prospects for same-sex couples.
“We lost, but I think it is just a matter of time for same-sex partners being allowed to get married,” Shi said.
Ireland celebrates as gay marriage is now approved
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Two weeks of Govt-paid paternity leave from Jan 2017
SINGAPORE – A new law mandating two weeks of paternity leave for fathers of newborn Singaporean children will take effect from next year.
Fathers, who currently get one week of mandatory Government-paid paternity leave, will get that extra second week if…
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Parliament: Fathers to get longer paternity leave and shared parental leave from 2017
April 13, 2016 5:55 PM
SINGAPORE – Fathers are set to get more time off from work to look after their newborns, under a slew of new measures announced on Wednesday to support young parents.
The most swoon-worthy moments from Descendants of the Sun
It is one of the biggest TV phenomenons in years, and it’s nearing its end.
Millions across Asia will tune in this week to catch the final episode of the massively popular Korean drama Descendants of the Sun.
Even…
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Movie date – The Huntsman: Winter's War
Mars – Jason Johnson
So this is the franchise where they dumped the main character and tried to continue as if nothing happened.
The results, predictably, are dire.
Kristen Stewart was the star of 2012’s Snow White And The Huntsman. It was her film. She was the point of it.
Now we are left with her sidekick, the Huntsman, as the lead. To me, it is like making a James Bond movie with Moneypenny taking over as the main character.
It is just dumb.
Of course we still have the villainous Ravenna, but she is absent for much of the film.
Blunt tries to pick up the slack as Freya, but she never comes across as anything more than a Frozen reject. We have had our fill of ice magic, guys.
Another new addition, Chastain, plays Hemsworth’s love interest Sara, but she cannot hold a candle to Stewart.
She is super boring and has no business in a fantasy film. She should stick to Oscar bait.
Beyond its central fatal flaw, Winter’s War is confusing and boring.
It is both a sequel and a prequel, with some of the story set before the first flick and some after, which makes it really tough to figure out where we are in the timeline as things move along.
The plot is uninvolving, the costumes are lacklustre, the sets are uninspired and those dwarves are a constant annoyance.
Venus – Joanne Soh
Winter’s War will go down as a case study of how a star-studded cast can’t save a half-baked story.
We have Hemsworth giving us action and bits of comedy, and Chastain emoting as much as she can to give her character some depth.
Blunt gives us a steelier version of Elsa from Frozen, and Theron is at her evil best.
But this “sprequel” is going at multiple directions at the same time and the powerhouses are nothing but empty calories.
The prequel bit – where we are introduced to a young Ravenna and her pure-hearted sister Freya – is well played, and how Freya embraces the dark side is truly empathetic.
But things get truly baffling when the plot segues into the sequel part.
Hemsworth should consider stepping out of the action genre for a while. He is easy on the eyes but his Eric is unbearably bland.
And who in the right mind chooses to bookend Theron? Do they not know she was the best thing in the first movie?
Also, a bow and arrow does not make Chastain a Katniss Everdeen. She may have done her own fight sequences, but the award-winning thesp just cannot cut it as an action heroine.
And why did Nicolas-Troyan, who obviously paid more attention to the visual effects, stick the amazing Blunt in a position that only lets her glower in anger? This outing is such a waste of talent.
STARRING: Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt DIRECTOR: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan THE SKINNY: Eric the Huntsman (Hemsworth) is called upon to serve Snow White, whose kingdom is again under threat by another evil queen – Freya (Blunt), a witch who can turn anything into ice. He also has to deal with the surprise appearance of Sara (Chastain), his supposedly dead wife, and the re-emergence of Freya’s sister Ravenna (Theron), who is more power-hungry than ever.
RATING: PG13
THE CONSENSUS: So what if it’s got a hunky Huntsman and three hot chicks? Winter’s War will still leave you cold.
This article was first published on April 13, 2016.
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JUST IN: Police officer probed over alleged negligence in rape case
The police investigation officer involved in rapist Lee Seow Peng’s case is himself being probed over how the case was handled.
Lee, 40, a former crane operator, was jailed 12 years and given nine strokes of the cane on…
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Actress Rui En allegedly involved in another accident earlier this year
It’s not the first time local actress Rui En has been involved in an accident this year.
According to Lianhe Zaobao, the 35-year-old was also involved in another incident where she reportedly knocked her white BMW into a vehicle along Lornie Road. The incident happened on January 6 at 6.20am, reported Lianhe Wanbao.
The owner of the vehicle had to track her down using social media by posting Rui En’s car license plate number online. The actress then reached the owner of the hit car and made a private settlement, reported the Chinese daily.
A Stomp reader also submitted a video of the accident to the citizen journalism website on January 8. A white BMW is seen brushing along the right side of the vehicle, before speeding away.
The incident has been confirmed by Rui En’s manager. Her manager declined to comment further but denied that she had run away after the accident earlier this year. The manager claims Rui En wasn’t aware of the incident and only found out about it after a car workshop mechanic pointed it out, reported Lianhe Wanbao. According to reports, the incident was “resolved satisfactorily”.
The Chinese daily added that her certificate of entitlement had run out and she bought a new car after that accident.
In a Lianhe Wanbao report on Wednesday, Rui En was accused of drink-driving and knocking down a parked motorcycle at a Clementi Avenue 2 carpark on Tuesday afternoon.
According to the Chinese daily, the actress was given a breathalyser test and is now assisting police with investigations.
Rui En knocks down bike in alleged drink-driving accident
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The New Paper, Lianhe Wanbao
Her management, Hype Records, said in a statement that the incident happened at around 4.10pm when she was returning home and driving into the car park located at her block.
“Due to some misjudgement, she accidentally knocked over a stationary motorcycle. No other driver and no one was hit or involved in the incident,” said the statement.
Mr Bahrom Sarmiten, the 52-year-old owner of the motorcycle, reportedly told Wanbao that he was walking to the carpark when he heard a loud sound. He then saw that his motorcycle had been hit by a black BMW, which appeared to be out of control and was driven onto a kerb.
Instead of stopping to check on the situation, the driver of the BMW reversed back onto the road and continued to drive on, he told Wanbao.
Seeing this, he knocked on the car window and told the female driver to stop but according to him, she continued to drive forward. She stopped the vehicle after Mr Bahrom knocked on her window repeatedly, and only stepped out of it after putting on a pair of sunglasses.
According to Mr Bahrom, the driver smelled of alcohol and the first thing she asked was: “Do you know who I am?”
However, he did not know who she was and only found out she was a celebrity after a passer-by told him so.
Rui En ‘black face’ at Star Awards draws online brickbats
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Hype Records said in their statement Rui En had wanted to park her car “to avoid any congestion from oncoming traffic” before addressing the matter but she was stopped by the owner.
“The car park is where she parks her vehicle everyday over many years and she had no intentions of ignoring or even running away from her responsibility.
“Understandably, the owner of the motorcycle was upset and unfortunately, her intentions to position her vehicle in a safe area were mistaken”, added the statement.
Mr Bahrom also claims that Rui En offered to settle the matter with him privately and offered him $2,000 to compensate for his three-month-old bike. When Mr Bahrom rejected the offer, the actress allegedly asked: “I’m giving you $2,000 and it’s not enough? It’s cash, you know?”
He told her that if she offered him $6,000, enough to make a down payment on a new motorcycle, he would consider letting the matter rest. But the actress did not respond to this and got an elder man to speak to him over the phone instead.
“If she spoke more humbly, I might have been able to accept it. But she was not sincere at all,” Mr Bahrom told Wanbao.
He told the Chinese daily that when the police arrived, Rui En walked back to her car and locked herself in. She eventually stepped out of the car and is believed to have told officers that she only had one glass of alcohol earlier.
Media reports said the police confirmed an accident involving a car and a stationary motorcycle at around 4.16pm at Block 331, Clementi Avenue 2 was reported, and that a 35-year-old female driver is assisting with investigations.
Hype Records said in its statement that they “sincerely apologise for any inconveniences caused” in the “unfortunate accident”.
The actress is nominated for the Best Actress award at the upcoming Star Awards on Sunday and her management has said that she will attend the awards night.
ljessica@sph.com.sg
spanaech@sph.com.sg
Rui En puts on 4kg to play an ‘auntie’
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Actress Rui En apologises for accident; allegedly involved in another accident earlier this year
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Local actress Rui En knocks down bike in alleged drink-driving accident
SINGAPORE – Local television actress Rui En has been accused of drink-driving and knocking down a parked motorcycle at a Clementi Avenue 2 carpark on Tuesday afternoon, Lianhe Wanbao reported on Wednesday.
According to the Chinese daily, the actress was given a breathalyser test and is now assisting police with investigations.
Rui En knocks down bike in alleged drink-driving accident
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The New Paper, Lianhe Wanbao
Mr Bahrom Sarmiten, the 52-year-old owner of the motorcycle, reportedly told Wanbao that he was walking to the carpark when he heard a loud sound. He then saw that his motorcycle had been hit by a black BMW, which appeared to be out of control and was driven onto a kerb.
Instead of stopping to check on the situation, the driver of the BMW reversed back onto the road and continued to drive on, he told Wanbao.
Seeing this, he knocked on the car window and told the female driver to stop but according to him, she continued to drive forward. She stopped the vehicle after Mr Bahrom knocked on her window repeatedly, and only stepped out of it after putting on a pair of sunglasses.
According to Mr Bahrom, the driver smelled of alcohol and the first thing she asked was: “Do you know who I am?”
However, he did not know who she was and only found out she was a celebrity after a passer-by told him so.
Rui En ‘black face’ at Star Awards draws online brickbats
Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source:
The New Paper, Twitter, SGAG, facebook, MediaCorp
He also claims that Rui En offered to settle the matter with him privately, and offered him $2,000 to compensate for his three-month-old bike. When Mr Bahrom rejected the offer, the actress allegedly asked: “I’m giving you $2,000 and it’s not enough? It’s cash, you know?”
He told her that if she offered him $6,000, enough to make a down payment on a new motorcycle, he would consider letting the matter rest. But the actress did not respond to this, and got an elder man to speak to him over the phone instead.
“If she spoke more humbly, I might have been able to accept it. But she was not sincere at all,” Mr Bahrom told Wanbao.
He told the Chinese daily that when the police arrived, Rui En walked back to her car and locked herself in. She eventually stepped out of the car and is believed to have told officers that she only had one glass of alcohol earlier.
The actress is nominated for the Best Actress award at the upcoming Star Awards.
ljessica@sph.com.sg
Rui En puts on 4kg to play an ‘auntie’
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Shenzhen police gather information on online lenders as China cracks down – newspaper
SHANGHAI – Police in Shenzhen have started collecting information from the city’s peer-to-peer (P2P) lenders, as part of a campaign to regulate China’s fast-growing but risk-fraught online financing sector, the official Securities Times reported.
Shenzhen’s move came after the collapse of Ezubao, the country’s biggest online P2P lender, which is accused of defrauding 900,000 investors of more than 50 billion yuan (S$10.4 billion).
As of the end of March, 1,490 P2P platforms in China had run into operational problems, and bosses at more than half of them had absconded.
China has been tightening supervision over the country’s loosely regulated P2P and wealth management industry, but the southern city of Shenzhen is the first Chinese city to take such action, the article said.
Some P2P companies in Shenzhen have received registration forms from police, requiring them to provide information including details of shareholders and executives, the number of clients and payment accounts, the newspaper reported.
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Wednesday, April 13, 2016 – 16:46
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