The photographer behind a shockingly-bad album of wedding photos which went viral on social media has come out to defend himself.
On Sunday (April 10) night, Ms Jaclyn Ying posted an album on Facebook containing 21…
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5 silly ways football clubs can go green as German club rolls in the honey
A German club is doing their bit to help the environment – by rearing their very own bee colonies.
St Pauli, which ply their trade in the Bundesliga 2, have set up a pair of beehives on their home ground – the Millerntor-…
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NEA to test using bacteria-carrying mosquitoes in fight against dengue
The small-scale field study will involve the release of male Wolbachia-Aedes mosquitoes at a few selected sites at the end of the year.
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14-member committee formed to propose ways to sustain hawker trade
SINGAPORE – A 14-member committee has been set up to make recommendations on hawker centres and to promote the hawker trade.
Led by Senior Minister of State (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor, the Hawker Centre 3.0 Committee will look into ways to…
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Smoking ban extended to reservoirs and more than 400 parks
SINGAPORE – From June, smoking will be banned at reservoirs, parks in public housing estate managed by town councils and those under JTC Corporation’s purview, as well as neighbourhood parks in private housing estates under the National Parks Board.
The new…
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Rival wedding groups clash with knives, fireworks in 4-hour battle
In Chinese almanac and geomancy, what’s considered auspicious to one person is bad luck to another.
And having two weddings at the same time in the same neighbourhood doesn’t necessary mean double happiness.
A four-hour-long clash involving knives and ignited fireworks between two wedding groups in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Sunday (April 10) can testify to that.
When the two grooms leading their respective entourage of celebrants in Bohai county stopped just before crossing paths, they weren’t reaching out their hands to congratulate one another.
Instead, the two groups hissed at each another, questioning why the other deliberately chose that route and timing. Superstitious beliefs, or rather, stubbornness won the day when both parties refused to budge to let the other pass.
The ensuing battle that followed wasn’t over a lack of decorum: it’s about the probability of bringing bad luck to one’s marriage when such a ‘collision’ takes place, online news portal Youth.cn reported.
The news portal said tensions ran high after members of the Lin family’s wedding procession tried to stop the Qi family’s party from walking through a decorated archway they had built for the wedding, which they claimed would bring them misfortune if they did.
Instead of making peace, the rival groups inflicted greater misfortune on each other when they took out knives, sticks and fireworks for a never-before-seen marathon street fight.
Starting at 2pm, the fiery confrontation saw dozens dressed in wedding red clashing with knives and hurling flaming firecrackers and fireworks at one another.
When it ended at 6pm after the police quelled the situation, 10 persons were found injured and the aftermath resembled a war zone.
Chinese netizens were stumped when they saw footages of the incident on social media and in People’s Daily reports.
Many Weibo users slammed the wedding groups for harbouring superstitious beliefs that not only ruined their special day but also turned them into violent people.
“Now this is really bad luck!’ commented one user.
Others sarcastically remarked that an opportunity for creating romantic videos was turned into an “action film”.
One Weibo user wondered: “So did the couples get married in the end?”
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NBA: 'I wanted to destroy Kobe' says Durant
Los Angeles – Kevin Durant showed no mercy to Kobe Bryant in his penultimate game in the NBA on Monday as the Oklahoma City Thunder trounced the Los Angeles Lakers 112-79.
Bryant, playing his final game on the road before he retires after Wednesday’s home game at the Staples Center, was given a torrid send-off by the Thunder’s star players.
Durant, who finished with 34 points, said he had been motivated by the memory of Bryant’s ruthless approach to Michael Jordan when the NBA icon was approaching retirement.
“I remember when Michael Jordan was on his way out and Kobe didn’t take it easy on him,” Durant said.
“That’s all I was thinking. I was trying to destroy him every chance I got. Every time I got the ball, he was ‘Come on. Let’s see what you got.’ That shows what type of player, what type of competitor he is. I just wanted to play against him one last time.” Durant’s points tally was matched by yet another triple double from Russell Westbrook, his 18th of the season – the most by any player in one season in the past 30 years.
Bryant was left voicing admiration for Westbrook after his latest triple.
“I have never seen a guy get as many triples-doubles as many times as he has in a season,” Bryant said.
“That is pretty outrageous what he has been able to do all year long. He has been flying under the radar because of what Steph (Curry) is doing up there in Golden State. But he is having a remarkable season himself,” added Bryant, who was pleased with the lack of sentimentality shown to him by Westbrook.
“I didn’t smile much on the court either,” Bryant said of Westbrook. “He plays the game with such energy, such aggressiveness, it needs to be appreciated. He is not out there trying to be cute with the basketball. He’s not out there trying to look fancy. This guy’s playing hard every time down.” Bryant finished with 13 points on four-of-12 shooting from 19 minutes.
The 37-year-old admitted he was looking forward to signing off from the sport on Wednesday after two decades.
“I feel really excited,” Bryant said. “I feel really happy. I’m looking forward to lacing them up one more time.” The Thunder’s Steven Adams meanwhile joked of being awestruck by Bryant.
“I shook Kobe’s hand,” Adams said after the game. “I ain’t going to wash my hand for like a week.”
Sevens fever taking hold
They had come expecting to see the likes of All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams in the flesh.
So it was no surprise that some 60 boys from the Spartans Rugby Club were disappointed when news broke that Williams’ New Zealand rugby sevens team would not show up as scheduled.
The All Blacks, along with Hong Kong Sevens champion Fiji, England and Scotland were due to arrive in Singapore at 7.10pm yesterday, ahead of this weekend’s HSBC Singapore Sevens.
However, a medical emergency involving a passenger on board forced the aircraft to turn back to Hong Kong. The teams arrived later, close to midnight.
Any lingering disappointment soon dissipated as the players from the United States, Australia, Wales and South Africa streamed into the Pan Pacific Singapore hotel, to the boys’ delight.
The players took the opportunity to autograph pieces of rugby apparel held out keenly by the thrilled boys.
American Nate Ebner, 27, was pleasantly surprised with the turnout at the hotel. He said: “It’s pretty awesome, we haven’t had the same reception anywhere else we’ve gone to.
“The guys love it, what a warm welcome.”
Australian fly-half James Stannard, 33, brushed aside any worries of fatigue: “We’ve played enough footy to get over that sort of thing. There are a few fresh faces coming in too to regenerate us, so we’ll be fine.”
As the youngsters gradually left to prepare for school tomorrow, the remaining faithful were rewarded for their patience as the South Africans entered the building an hour later, amid chants of “SA boleh”.
Despite having just touched down on Singapore soil, Blitzboks winger Seabelo Senatla, who leads the World Sevens series with 48 tries, was already raring to go on his first visit to Singapore.
The 23-year-old said: “We’re going to sweat a little bit, but I’m looking forward to just stepping out there and playing in a new place.”
Singapore American School student Mikey Mirabelli, 14, was ecstatic after having his shirt autographed by American players Perry Baker and Garrett Bender.
He said: “I’ve followed the US sevens and 15s rugby teams since I was eight…I hope they do really well in this tournament.”
This article was first published on April 12, 2016.
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Keep looking up – the economy depends on it
Taxi crashes into restaurant undergoing renovation at Bugis+ shopping mall
A taxi crashed into a shop under renovation at Level 1 of Bugis+ mall on Monday night (Apr 11), according to online reports.
The accident left one construction worker injured.
A Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said it received a call at about 10.55pm on Monday requesting for assistance at Queen Street.
SCDF said it had despatched an ambulance and conveyed one casualty, who was still conscious, to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Stomp contributors Wayne, Lim and aprileleven witnessed the incident and submitted photos of the scene to the citizen journalism website.
Their photos showed how the taxi had driven through the temporary walls that were put up due to the restaurant’s renovation works.
They added that they had also spotted police cars at the scene.
Channel NewsAsia reported that police investigations are still underway.
ssandrea@sph.com.sg
