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COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's lawmakers are set to vote on a social media regulation bill on Jan 24 which opposition politicians and activists allege will muzzle free speech.
The Online Safety Bill proposes jail terms for content that a five-member commission considers illegal and make social media platforms such as Google, Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, liable for those posted on their platforms.
President Ranil Wickremesinghe's government says the bill is aimed at battling cyber crimes including child abuse, data theft and online fraud.
Voting was expected later on Jan 24, a day after the bill was introduced in the parliament for the lawmakers to debate on. The main party backing Mr Wickremesinghe has a majority in the parliament.
Introducing the bill on Jan 23, Public Security Minister Tiran Alles said: "Sri Lanka had 8,000 cyber crimes complaints last year. We all agree that we need laws to address these issues. This is why we are bringing this law.
"It is not to suppress the media or the opposition... Any complaint will be taken up by the commission, who will be appointed by the president and they will decide how to act."
The Asian Internet Coalition (AIC), which has Apple, Amazon, Google and Yahoo as members, warned Sri Lanka that the bill could impact investments in the country's IT industry and called for extensive amendments to it.
"We unequivocally stand by our position that the Online Safety Bill, in its current form, is unworkable and would undermine potential growth and foreign direct investment into Sri Lanka's digital economy," the AIC said in a statement.
A small group of activists and opposition members protested outside parliament on Jan 24 against the legislation.
"We do not understand why the government is in such a hurry to pass this bill," Mr Eran Wickramaratne, a lawmaker of Sri Lanka's main opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya, said during the Jan 23 debate.
"We should take more time and have a better approach to passing laws that are this significant." REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/sri-lanka-votes-on-new-law-to-regulate-online-content
| 2024-01-24T08:02:36Z
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TAIPEI - Taiwan's president-elect, Lai Ching-te, signalled on Wednesday his desire for Taipei to join the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, considering the island's key role in the global economy.
The United States excluded chip powerhouse Taiwan from the framework, part of the Biden administration's effort to counter what it says is Beijing's increasing economic and military coercion in the region, when it was set up in 2022.
But the United States then set up the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade, which joins the U.S.-Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue and Technology Trade and Investment Collaboration Framework the two sides have.
Taiwan plays a key role in the global economy and the three existing structures "echo the issues valued by the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework", Lai told the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council at a meeting in Taipei.
"I very much hope that this can become an important basis for Taiwan to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in the future," a statement from the presidential office cited Lai as saying.
Lai, who takes over as Taiwan's new president on May 20, is now its vice president.
Taiwan is a major producer of chips used in everything from microwaves to iPhones and fighter jets, and is home to TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker.
Taiwan has previously sought to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.
In November, U.S. negotiators pressed hard to complete trade talks on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework initiative, but failed to reach a deal in time for a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, at which Biden had hoped to showcase it as an alternative to deeper trade ties with China.
China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory despite the objections of the government in Taipei, has condemned the U.S. Indo-Pacific push, saying Washington is creating "exclusive clubs".
Any Taiwan participation in the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework would probably further strain Sino-U.S. ties, with Beijing angered by any show of support from Washington for the island. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/taiwan-president-elect-signals-desire-to-join-us-led-trade-framework
| 2024-01-24T08:02:47Z
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BANGKOK - A Thai court will on Wednesday decide whether former prime ministerial hopeful Pita Limjaroenrat broke the rules of a 2023 election won by his party, the first of two cases targeting an opposition that has threatened radical reforms in the country.
The Harvard-educated Pita, whose bid to become premier was thwarted by lawmakers allied with the royalist military, is accused of holding shares in a media company in violation of election law and could lose his parliamentary seat.
Pita has argued before the Constitutional Court that the firm's loss of its broadcast concession in 2007 meant it cannot be considered a mass media organisation.
"I am confident in the facts and that I am innocent," Pita told reporters ahead of the verdict. "Regardless of the verdict, we will continue to work and fight for you," he said of his Move Forward Party.
The anti-establishment Move Forward were the surprise winners of last year's election, courting young and urban voters with its bold agenda to end business monopolies and reform a law that punishes insults of the monarchy with long prison terms.
The same court will next week decide whether its plan was unconstitutional and tantamount to an attempt to "overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as the head of state".
If found guilty, Move Forward would be ordered to abandon its controversial push to change the law, under which more than 200 people have been prosecuted since 2020, including a man facing a record 50 years of prison time.
The two cases, brought by conservative politicians, are part of a two-decade battle for power in Thailand that broadly pits a nexus of royalists, military and old money families against parties elected on populist or progressive platforms.
As the biggest party in parliament, Move Forward remains a threat to the status quo long-term, maintaining appeal among liberal and young voters through its charismatic politicians and creative use of social media.
An opinion poll last month by the National Institute of Development Administration showed Pita, 43, was Thailand's most popular politician for 39% of respondents, with Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin at 22%.
But Move Forward's supporters fear unfavorable rulings this month could lead to more serious legal moves to stifle the party, including pursuit of criminal charges against Pita over his shareholding, party dissolution and lengthy political bans for its executives.
Move Forward's predecessor, Future Forward, was on the wrong end of two Constitutional Court rulings from 2019 to 2020, with then leader and prime minister candidate Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit disqualified, also over a shareholding violation, and the party disbanded for breaching campaign funding rules. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/thai-court-to-decide-former-pm-hopefuls-fate-in-election-case
| 2024-01-24T08:02:57Z
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SINGAPORE – With a lineup of 114 galleries at the sophomore edition of the recently concluded Art SG, a record 45,300 visitors streamed through the halls from Jan 19 to 21 to relish some of the best international art works today.
For those who missed out on this year’s fair, here are five artworks that stole the show from an intriguing double portrait to an interactive plastic-based sculpture.
1. David Chan’s Lee And Raffles – 5 Stars Rising (2024)
When a viewer beholds Singaporean artist David Chan’s strikingly realistic double portrait bringing together Sir Stamford Raffles and Mr Lee Kuan Yew, does one detect likeness or antagonism?
Undoubtedly one of the most talked-about pieces at Art SG, the shared intimacy of two founders of Singapore on a single canvas is rich enough in its surreal composition to yield a thousand interpretations and talking points.
Singaporean artist David Chan, who was present at the fair, was swamped by curious visitors and students asking questions about the running cats and curios in the 160 x 200 cm painting.
Chan told The Straits Times that the work is part of a new series titled National Identity 4.0, which seeks to introduce political leaders to a new generation. He is working on new works and teases a future double portrait that will feature Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong as the PM prepares to step down.
Lee And Raffles (2024) sold to a Singapore-based private collector for an undisclosed amount, and a spokesman from Art Seasons Gallery said there was considerable interest amongst collectors to be placed on a waitlist for Chan’s work.
2. Marcos Kueh’s Woven Billboards: Nenek Moyang (2023)
Draped from the ceiling in lush scrolls, Sarawak-born textile artist Marcos Kueh’s woven billboards naturally became the gravitational centre of the art fair.
The work weaves Malaysian and Bornean imagery with street advertisements and brand logos to create a delicious tapestry of modernity and tradition. They are part of Kenyalang Circus, which interrogates the artist’s identity as a Chinese-Malaysian from Borneo who currently lives among Europeans in The Netherlands.
The work, presented by Kuala Lumpur-based gallery The Back Room, consists of two editions and both were sold during the fair: one to an unnamed Singapore institution for between $50,000 to $100,000 and the other to a future private museum in the region.
3. Red Hong Yi’s Mother! (2024)
For those familiar with Malaysian artist Red Hong Yi’s large-scale installation works such as her portrait of action star Jackie Chan made of 64,000 chopsticks, this work will appear modest – but it is also much more intimate.
Hong, as a new mother, has created a piece – a mix of body paint, embroidery, baby diapers, pregnancy test pill strap, gauze, cotton bud, stocking and napkin – that responds to the experience of motherhood in a refreshingly confessional manner.
Visitors stood in front of this work at The Back Room’s booth to read its text, almost invisible as it blends in with the background, as if to emphasise the mother’s inner monologue.
The moving text begins: “I cannot believe that I will be a mother, that my life will revolve around yours, that I will be birthing a complete new pure and innocent human with dreams and desire.”
4. Eko Nugroho’s We Are Here Now (2023)
Visitors relished a chance to step into two colourful mask sculptures by Yogyakarta-born artist Eko Nugroho and snap polaroids that were stuck onto a third sculpture in the interactive work We Are Here Now (2023).
Nugroho, who has a background in street and community-based art, fashioned the sculptures out of recycled materials such as bottle caps collected in his hometown in a comment on plastic waste and environmental awareness.
The artist said in a press statement that the interactive work is “a symbol of our collective responsibility, representing our shared commitment to find solutions and break the cycle”.
Presented by UBS, also the founding and lead partner of Art SG, visitors have posted photographs of the artwork under the hashtag #weareherenow.
5. Mona Hatoum’s Fossil Folly (2023)
You can be forgiven for missing Mona Hatoum’s humble pair of red oil barrels amid blue-chip gallery White Cube’s superstar line-up of artists such as English artist Tracey Emin and German artist Georg Baselitz.
But the British-Palestinian artist’s quietly surreal work, conceived specifically for the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, rewards the eye for simplicity.
It features plant-like figures emerging from a beaten-up barrel of oil, and reads like a comment on the ability for hope to emerge from the rubble.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/art-sg-five-artworks-that-drew-crowds-including-an-lky-and-raffles-double-portrait
| 2024-01-24T08:03:08Z
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Only The River Flows (PG13)
101 minutes, opens on Jan 25 at The Projector
4 stars
The story: It is 1995 in China. In a village, by the river, the corpse of an older woman is discovered. Local police chief Ma Zhe (Zhu Yilong) comes to investigate. As his search for the killer goes on, his sense of disquiet grows, leading to doubts about not just the murder, but his entire existence. This film was nominated for an award in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Existential cops – they brood. The burden of the world sits on their shoulders, a pressure relieved by drink and cigarettes. They feel the foundations of reality shifting beneath them as they dig into crimes committed without motive or meaning.
Add Zhu’s Ma Zhe to the list of detectives rattled to their core by baffling acts of violence. He joins cops such as Peter Yu’s Lok in A Land Imagined (2018) and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Detective Loki in Prisoners (2013): souls drawn to the edge of the void, their eyes fixed on the darkness below.
Beijing-born director and co-writer Wei Shujun’s third feature is remarkably self-assured for a film-maker who has never done a crime drama, much less one that features an unreliable narrator. His first feature, Striding Into The Wind (2020), is a road movie and his second, Ripples Of Life (2021), is a small-town drama.
He has adapted the conventions of the noir detective story for rural China in the 1990s without making it feel forced.
The death of a poor, elderly goose farmer is, in the eyes of regional political leaders, a matter that should be disposed of by any means necessary. The detective’s superiors pressure him to find someone to hang for the crime to keep the records spotless. His moral and political compasses spin wildly as a result.
Hairstyles and clothes are still somewhat uniform in that time period, so anyone with a slightly irregular look is easily identifiable. Anyone who defies the norm in fashion and sexual behaviour must harbour criminal tendencies, according to the established beliefs that surround the cop.
In cinema, the traditional noir setting favours dense cities or rain-drenched cyberpunk streets, but Wei makes his villages and factories look as grim and gloomy as any New York alley.
Because of the rustic Asian setting, there is a surface resemblance to South Korean crime classics such as Bong Joon-ho’s Mother (2009) and Memories Of Murder (2003).
In those films, the deepest questions are about the nature of evil. In this story, however, the most profound discoveries are to be found in the realms of identity, memory and forgetting.
Hot take: This dive into the psyche of a troubled cop in rural 1990s China is a well-paced and compelling addition to the library of noir detective stories.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/at-the-movies-in-only-the-river-flows-a-moody-cop-searches-for-the-truth
| 2024-01-24T08:03:18Z
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SINGAPORE - Whether you love or loathe Coldplay, it is hard to remain indifferent and not get caught up in the British pop-rock band’s live performances.
The quartet, fronted by singer Chris Martin, brought their famously big, bold and colourful show to the National Stadium on Jan 23.
It was the first of their unprecedented six sold-out nights – until Jan 31 – at the 55,000-capacity venue, one of the largest for gigs in Singapore.
It is also the band’s longest Asian stopover in their Music Of The Spheres world tour, named after their latest album released in 2021.
Coldplay – which also comprise guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion – last performed two nights at the same venue in 2017.
Martin reminded the audience that the group’s first performance in Singapore took place more than two decades ago, in 2001 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. The band returned there in 2006 and 2009.
He also complained about the hot and humid weather.
“I’m sweating so much,” he said, later apologising to fans who got up close because he “smells bad”.
Here are three highlights from Day 1’s show, which lasted a little over 110 minutes.
1. An aural and visual feast
Coldplay are not the first music act to use interactive LED lights sported by the audience, but the sheer scale of the show takes the spectacle to another level.
The wrist bands changed colours and blinked in time with the tempo and mood of the songs, and transformed the crowd into a dynamic canvas.
There were pyrotechnics, confetti showers and giant balloons resembling planets, and the band made full use of the massive main stage and a catwalk that led out to a smaller stage in the middle of the stadium floor.
There was also a third stage closer to the audience at the opposite end of the venue.
Bizarrely, there were also singing muppets and, at one point, the band donned alien-like masks as Martin did a goofy dance and performed Something Just Like This, their 2017 hit with American dance-music duo The Chainsmokers, in sign language.
2. A rapturous audience
All the pageantry would be meaningless if the stadium did not have a full house and receptive fans – which it most certainly did.
Most were familiar enough with Coldplay songs – or at least hits like Fix You (2005), Yellow (2000) and A Sky Full Of Stars (2014) – and sang every word with gusto, at times drowning out Martin’s voice.
They gamely put away their phones when he asked them to during A Sky Full Of Stars, fully immersing themselves in the moment as they raised their hands and jumped up and down to the euphoric track.
And, in the most emotional moment of the show, Martin pulled up a man and a woman from the audience who held up a sign that said, “Can you sing Everglow for our Papa in heaven”.
The woman told Martin onstage that her father was supposed to attend the show but tragically died recently. Martin then sang a tender rendition of the 2015 song as the teary-eyed pair sat with him at his piano.
In line with Coldplay’s eco-conscious stance, the crowd also helped to power the concert by pedalling on stationary bicycles and jumping on kinetic floors that generated electricity.
The band have been dedicated to making their tour as environmentally sustainable as possible, using green technology and pledging to reduce their carbon emissions.
The audience also showed love for Singaporean singer Jasmine Sokko, who followed Indonesian singer Jinan Laetitia as the second of the night’s two opening sets.
Oozing poise and confidence, the electronic pop artiste held her own in front of the massive crowd, winning them over and getting them to wave their hands and shine their phone lights in time to her music.
3. Chris Martin’s quick thinking and infectious energy
When the piano malfunctioned after Martin sang the first few lines of popular ballad The Scientist (2002), he stopped the song and quickly got Buckland to back him up on guitar instead.
The technical snafu did not dampen the 46-year-old frontman’s enthusiasm. He seemed blessed with boundless energy, constantly engaging the crowd and running from one end of the stage to another.
Towards the end, Coldplay moved to the third stage at the back. As the video live feed focused on random audience members, Martin would ad lib comical songs about them.
He teased a man with binoculars slung around his neck, and another group where three out of four were wearing glasses.
Martin pointed out the diverse make-up of the crowd, adding that it is possible for people of different backgrounds, beliefs and cultures to “hang out just fine”.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/the-life-list-3-highlights-from-coldplay-s-s-pore-show-from-teary-tribute-to-piano-glitch
| 2024-01-24T08:03:29Z
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SINGAPORE – A total of 119 people aged between 17 and 72 are being investigated for their suspected involvement in unlicensed moneylending activities.
This followed a five-day islandwide operation from Jan 15 to 19 by officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven police divisions, the police said in a statement on Jan 24.
Preliminary investigations show that 11 people had allegedly caused harassment at debtors’ residences, and 35 people are believed to be runners who had helped unlicensed moneylending businesses carry out ATM transfers.
The remaining 73 individuals are believed to have opened bank accounts and provided their ATM cards, personal identification numbers or Internet banking tokens to unlicensed moneylenders to facilitate their businesses.
Investigations are ongoing, said the police.
Under the Moneylenders’ Act, when a bank account, ATM card or Internet banking token of any person is used to facilitate unlicensed moneylending, that person is presumed to have helped the process.
First-time offenders found guilty of the offence of carrying on or assisting in a business of unlicensed moneylending can be jailed for up to four years, fined between $30,000 and $300,000, and given up to six strokes of the cane.
Those found guilty of acting on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender to commit or attempt to commit any acts of harassment can be jailed for up to five years, fined between $5,000 and $50,000, and punished with three to six strokes of the cane.
“The police will continue to take tough enforcement action against those involved in the unlicensed moneylending business, regardless of their roles, and ensure that they face the full brunt of the law,” the statement said.
“This includes taking action against those who open or give away their bank accounts to aid unlicensed moneylenders.”
Unlicensed moneylenders are increasingly using text messaging or online platforms to send unsolicited loan advertisements, the police added.
Members of the public are reminded not to reply or respond to such advertisements and to report these messages as spam.
They are also advised to stay away from unlicensed moneylenders and not to work with or assist them in any way.
The public can call 999 or the X-Ah Long hotline on 1800-924-5664 if they suspect or know of anyone who could be involved in unlicensed moneylending activities.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/119-people-under-probe-for-suspected-roles-in-unlicensed-moneylending
| 2024-01-24T08:03:39Z
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SINGAPORE - Three men allegedly worked together in a fraudulent investment scheme in which two people were cheated into handing over more than $541,000 in total.
Two of the alleged scammers, Kang Chee Wee and Lim Jun Hong, both 35, were handed four cheating charges each on Jan 24.
A search with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) reveals that Kang is a shareholder at multiple companies, including Adwhiz and Artpro Nailgraphic.
Acra also states that Lim is a director and shareholder of a firm called Vican Construction.
The third man, Dexter Lau Yu Hong, 28, was charged with two counts of cheating.
The police said on Jan 24 that the Singaporean men allegedly entered into a conspiracy between November 2016 and February 2017 to cheat investors by falsely claiming their investments were for a firm purportedly based in the United States called 1Meltz.
The investors were promised fixed returns of 40 per cent over 28 days, the police said.Their statement and court documents did not disclose details about 1Meltz.
The three men are accused of working together to cheat one of their alleged victims of $79,000 between November 2016 and January 2017.
Lim and Kang are also said to have cheated this person of another $321,000 between January and February 2017.
The three men are accused of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat another alleged victim of $4,000 in December 2016.
Between January and February 2017, Kang and Lim allegedly worked together to cheat this person of another $137,049.
The trio’s cases have been adjourned to Feb 21.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/3-men-face-cheating-charges-after-2-alleged-victims-were-duped-into-giving-more-than-541k
| 2024-01-24T08:03:49Z
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SINGAPORE - Five Malaysian men allegedly linked to a syndicate involved in fake friend call scams targeting Singaporeans, causing over $1.4 million in losses, were each handed a cheating charge on Jan 24.
They are: Kek Yuan Chun, 19; Chua Zi Huang, 23; Heng Guo Hao, 25; Loh Chuan Sheng, 35; and Yee Kong Yao, 36.
An advisory on the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) website states that in such scams, offenders contact their targets through methods such as text messages, pretending to be someone they know.
The scammers then ask victims for “financial assistance” before making off with their monies.
The police said on Jan 23 that from January to November 2023, more than 6,300 victims fell prey to fake friend call scams, resulting in losses of at least $21.1 million.
SPF and the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) collaborated to share information on such cases.
SPF’s Commercial Affairs Department and RMP’s Johor Commercial Crime Investigation Department worked together to cripple a transnational syndicate said to be involved in fake friend call scams targeting Singaporeans.
On Jan 16, the Malaysian authorities raided two apartments in Johor and arrested the five men.
SPF said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that the syndicate started their scam operations in June 2023. The syndicate is believed to be involved in more than 500 reports made, with total losses of more than $1.4 million.”
The men were brought to Singapore on Jan 23, and their cases have been adjourned to Jan 31.
For cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/5-men-allegedly-linked-to-syndicate-behind-fake-friend-call-scams-charged-with-cheating
| 2024-01-24T08:04:00Z
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SINGAPORE - A 53-year-old pedestrian was taken to the hospital on the morning of Jan 24 after he was involved in a car accident in Whampoa.
The police said they were alerted to an accident involving a car and a pedestrian along 90 Whampoa Drive at about 6.20am. The injured man was taken conscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital by the Singapore Civil Defence Force.
The driver, a 69-year-old woman, is assisting with investigations.
A photo sent in by a Straits Times reader showed a white car which had crashed through the railings of a pavement and landed on a grass patch near a basketball court. The accident appeared to have caused a banner to come partially undone, and two workers can be seen trying to fix the problem.
A cordon had been put up around the accident site.
Shin Min Daily News reported that the front of the car was damaged, and many blood-stained tissues could be seen on the ground next to it, according to eyewitnesses.
A woman was sitting at the scene and rubbing her right wrist, with a male family member comforting her, according to the Chinese daily.
In a similar accident in December 2023, two people were taken to the hospital after an accident took place between an unmarked police car and a motorcycle in Balestier.
The car had crashed through the railings on a pavement and landed in a drain.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/pedestrian-injured-after-car-crashes-into-pavement-in-whampoa
| 2024-01-24T08:04:10Z
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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Clippers took full advantage of the injury absence of LeBron James on Jan 23 and played as a team to clinch a 127-116 National Basketball Association (NBA) win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and James Harden added 23 as the Clippers’ impressive recent form continued with a third consecutive victory.
Former Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook was among six Clippers players to reach double figures in a balanced offensive performance by Tyronn Lue’s side.
“Everybody contributed to the win,” Leonard said, as quoted by ESPN. “That’s what we got to do, knock down shots when they’re open and tonight we did.”
The Lakers, missing James due to a sore ankle, were led by D’Angelo Russell with 27 points while Anthony Davis finished with 26.
After briefly trailing early in the first quarter, the Clippers maintained control, leading by 16 points just before half-time and successfully keeping the Lakers at arm’s length for most of the game.
Although the Lakers got to within two points midway through the fourth quarter, the Clippers tightened their defence and pulled away late in the game.
“For us we’re taking it day by day,” Westbrook said aftewards.
“We’ve got so much talent, so many great Hall-of-Famers in this locker room and our job is to make sure that every night we keep chipping away.”
Leonard, however, was less than impressed by how the team allowed the Lakers to fight back late in the game.
He said: “They’re a good transition team and we allowed them to play to their strengths. We got to be better at that.”
The victory leaves the Clippers in fourth place in the Western Conference standings with 28 wins against 14 losses, behind the Oklahoma City Thunder (30-13), Minnesota Timberwolves (30-13) and Denver Nuggets (31-14).
In Indiana, Nikola Jokic scored a triple-double as Denver held off a late rally to defeat the Pacers 114-109.
A wild game saw the lead change hands 12 times before the Nuggets finally edged clear late in the fourth quarter.
Jokic finished with 31 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists to lead the Denver scoring alongside Jamal Murray, who had 31 points with eight rebounds and seven assists.
With the Pacers still missing the injured Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana’s scoring was led by Myles Turner with 22 points while new recruit Pascal Siakam finished with 16 points.
“The whole first half was bad, but the second half was good for us,” Jokic said.
“We had a really good third quarter. We controlled the pace. We just need to do that in more of the game.”
The Thunder, meanwhile, claimed a nail-biting 111-109 home win over the Portland Trail Blazers, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 33 points and Jalen Williams’ game-winning jumper.
Off the court, the Milwaukee Bucks have sacked head coach Adrian Griffin, in a shock dismissal that comes with the team ranked second in the Eastern Conference standings.
“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement.
“We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”
Griffin, 49, was appointed in June after the abrupt sacking of predecessor Mike Budenholzer, who was ditched after the Bucks crashed out of last season’s play-offs in the first round.
At the time, Horst said Griffin had been hired for his “championship-level coaching pedigree, character, basketball acumen and ability to connect with players”.
There had been few clues that Griffin’s position was under threat, with the Bucks making a solid start to the season that has left them with a 30-13 record – the second-best winning percentage in the league.
His last game in charge was the 122-113 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Jan 22.
The Bucks added that assistant coach Joe Prunty would be promoted to take over from Griffin in the interim until a permanent successor is appointed. AFP, REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/basketball/clippers-down-lakers-in-battle-of-la-denver-nuggets-sink-indiana-pacers
| 2024-01-24T08:04:21Z
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MELBOURNE - Third seed Daniil Medvedev was forced to dig deep into his reserves to outlast Hubert Hurkacz 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 in the tightest of quarter-finals on Wednesday and reach the last four of the Australian Open for third time.
The Russian, twice a losing finalist at Melbourne Park, went toe-to-toe with the big Pole for almost four energy-sapping hours on Rod Laver Arena before finally setting up a clash with Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev.
Ninth seed Hurkacz, who was playing in only his second Grand Slam quarter-final but had a winning career record against Medvedev, twice came from a set down and made the Russian work hard for every single point.
Former U.S. Open champion Medvedev, who saved 10 of the 15 break points he faced over the contest, grizzled and moaned his way around the court but finally secured a place in his eighth Grand Slam semi-final on his second match point. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/gutsy-medvedev-outlasts-hurkacz-to-reach-melbourne-semis
| 2024-01-24T08:04:31Z
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MELBOURNE – Rohan Bopanna’s worn-out knees have not stopped him from climbing tennis’ world doubles rankings and the 43-year-old Indian became the oldest player to reach No. 1 after making the Australian Open semi-finals with Matthew Ebden on Jan 24.
Bopanna and his Australian partner beat Argentinian pair Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) to ensure that the evergreen Indian would top the rankings once they are updated on Jan 29 following the conclusion of the year's first Grand Slam.
Ebden will become world No. 2, having played three more tournaments than Bopanna during the ranking period.
It marked the latest milestone for the Indian, who became the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion when he won the Indian Wells doubles crown with Ebden last season and then followed it up by becoming the oldest to win a match at the ATP Finals.
Bopanna, who hails from the south Indian state of Karnataka and often jokes that the coffee from his plantation in Coorg was behind his success, said that focusing on his recovery and optimising training had contributed to his longevity in the game.
For context, even a top professional like Roger Federer called it a day at 41, while Jimmy Connors retired at 43 – the same age as Bopanna – and John McEnroe at 46.
“The real focus was on that (recovery), not to really go out there and run on the treadmill or lift weights,” said Bopanna on his bid to have a long career.
“That wasn’t something I wanted to do when I hired my physio from Belgium last year.
“I told her specifically what I needed, because I have no cartilage in my knees. It’s completely worn out.
“I said, no matter what happens, even if the days we’re practising and I’m not 100 per cent fit, that’s fine. I want to feel 100 per cent fit during these matches. That’s the commitment I’d made when I decided to play with Matt.”
Bopanna and Ebden were without partners at the end of 2022 but have gelled well since joining forces, winning titles in Doha and Indian Wells and reaching the finals at Rotterdam, Madrid, the US Open, Shanghai and Paris.
They also reached the title clash in Adelaide earlier in 2024, falling to Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram – the latter holding the previous record for the oldest doubles No. 1 at 38 when he got there two years ago.
Bopanna also said his mental strength had played a big role in ensuring his partnership with Ebden succeeded.
“I think that’s something I’ve always had when I take up a challenge,” he said.
“I try to persevere in it and bring in that will power. I think that’s what has helped us as a team a lot.”
The duo next face Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/no-cartilage-no-problem-as-indian-veteran-bopanna-tops-doubles-rankings
| 2024-01-24T08:04:41Z
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MELBOURNE - Dayana Yastremska extended her dream run at the Australian Open on Wednesday to become the first women's qualifier to reach the semi-finals in 45 years but made sure to remind tennis fans about her countrymen fighting in Ukraine.
Getting to the pointy end of the year's first Grand Slam was not a specific goal for the 23-year-old, but instead she has focused on keeping her emotions in check after battling personal challenges, which she did not want to talk about.
"I was just trying to enjoy playing here," Yastremska told reporters after beating Czech teen Linda Noskova 6-3 6-4.
Fresh attacks on Ukraine add to the weight on the shoulders of the world number 93, who revealed at an Australian Open lead-up tournament in Brisbane that just before one of her matches her grandmother's house had been hit by a rocket.
At Melbourne Park, she has been undaunted by higher ranked players across the net, beating former Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova along the way.
"The girls, you know, at any ranking can show amazing game," she said.
"I was doing just my thing and focusing on myself, the way I play. I think that's working."
On her way off the court, Yastremska, dressed in blue and yellow matching her country's flag, scribbled on the camera: "I'm proud of our fighting people from Ukraine."
She later said the fighters deserve huge respect.
"I think it's my mission here," she told reporters. "If I do well, I can get - (it's) tough to express. I'm just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I'm really proud of it."
In the wake of Moscow's war on Ukraine, Ukrainian players on the tour have refused to shake hands with opponents from Russia and Belarus, which has been used as a staging ground for Russian attacks.
However, a Ukrainian junior, Yelyzaveta Kotliar, caused a stir when she shook hands with her Russian opponent after losing her first round match this week. Yastremska called it a youthful mistake.
"You know, Ukrainians, we have our position. We are not shaking the hands. But I think she's still a little bit young. Not so experienced," Yastremska told reporters.
"But I'm sure that she stands by Ukraine, and I'm sure that she just got too emotional and confused."
Yastremska is not letting tennis get in the way of her musical ambitions. She is working on releasing a song with two other people in February which she said would bring together three countries.
"You're going to hear it soon, I hope." REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:04:52Z
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BEVERLY HILLS, California - "Oppenheimer," the epic film about the World War Two race to build the first atomic bomb, landed a leading 13 Oscar nominations on Tuesday and cemented its role as frontrunner for the prestigious best picture trophy.
The three-hour drama directed by Christopher Nolan outpaced gothic comedy "Poor Things," another best picture contender that scored 11 nominations for the film industry's highest honors.
Both movies will compete with feminist doll adventure "Barbie," Leonard Bernstein biopic "Maestro," and Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," about the 1920s murders of members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, among others.
Nolan, a best director nominee, said it was "a real thrill" to see "Oppenheimer" pile up so many nominations.
"I think it's a great year for movies, and it's a real honor to be included," he said in an interview.
One of Hollywood's most acclaimed filmmakers, Nolan has never had a film win best picture at the Academy Awards.
"Oppenheimer" is considered the favorite for the top prize this year, based on early awards season wins and polling of experts by the Gold Derby website. The movie was distributed by Comcast Corp's Universal Pictures.
The remaining best picture nominees were "American Fiction," "The Holdovers," "Past Lives," "The Zone of Interest" and French film "Anatomy of a Fall."
"Barbie," last year's highest-grossing movie, received eight nominations, including supporting actress for America Ferrera - who gave a memorable monologue about the challenges of womanhood - and supporting actor for Ryan Gosling. Voters passed over lead actress Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig.
"Oppenheimer" secured a lead actor nomination for Cillian Murphy, who played scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and for supporting cast Emily Blunt and Robert Downey Jr.
With "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in the mix, the Oscars telecast on March 10 will showcase two big-screen blockbusters. The films collected nearly $2.4 billion combined in a summer box office battle dubbed "Barbenheimer."
FIRST-TIME NOMINEES
Ten of the 20 acting contenders were first-time nominees. Among them were Native American "Killers of the Flower Moon" star Lily Gladstone, and Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown for "American Fiction," the story of a Black writer fed up with book publishers pushing stereotypes.
Wright said he did not watch the nominations live.
"I did not want to have to break a screen," he joked. "So, I just let it all happen."
Colman Domingo, nominated for playing gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin in "Rustin," did tune in.
"I listened, watched my husband listen to my name being called, and then I watched him lay down on the floor and start crying," Domingo said. "And then, of course, I picked him up and we both had a little cry together."
In a surprise, voters snubbed "Flower Moon" actor and past Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio. Fellow Oscar winner Robert De Niro received a supporting actor nomination for the movie.
Emma Stone nabbed a best actress nod for her role in "Poor Things" as Bella, a woman who goes on a journey of self-discovery after being raised from the dead.
"I am forever thankful for the opportunity to play Bella and see the world through her eyes," said Stone, another previous Oscar winner, who was also nominated for best picture as a "Poor Things" producer.
Winners of the gold Oscar statuettes will be chosen by the roughly 11,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The organization added more women and people of color to its ranks after the #OscarsSoWhite uproars of 2015 and 2016, and it increased membership from outside the United States. This year, votes came in from a record 93 countries.
Late-night talk show's Jimmy Kimmel will for the fourth time host the Oscars ceremony, which will be broadcast live on Walt Disney's ABC.
For best original song, Gosling's lament "I'm Just Ken" will compete with Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?," also from "Barbie." REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:05:03Z
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PARIS - Protests by French farmers demanding better working and living conditions could intensify and road blockades could target Paris, the head of the country's biggest farming union said on Wednesday.
"I am not ruling out any option," Arnaud Rousseau, the head of the FNSEA farming union, said when asked by France 2 TV if the protests could disrupt the Paris region.
The protests, heading into a second week after spilling over from neighbouring countries such as Germany, come as campaigning for European Union elections gathers pace. The unrest is the first major challenge for new Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.
The protests have blocked many important transport networks in southern France this week, and there have been signs that they are spreading. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:05:13Z
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BERLIN - German train drivers walked off the job again on Jan 24 in what is set to be Germany's longest-ever rail strike.
It spells more headaches for commuters with scant signs of a return to the negotiating table on the horizon.
The strike, which began at 2am local time on Jan 24 and is set to last until the evening of Jan 29, is the fourth round of industrial action in the GDL union's dispute with state-owned Deutsche Bahn.
The action comes just two weeks after a previous strike ground national rail traffic to a near halt for three days.
A spokesperson for the national rail operator spoke of renewed "massive restrictions" across the country.
"We believe you have to come to the table, you have to find compromises. That is the only way," the spokesperson told reporters, pointing to the six-day strike's "massive impact on the economy".
Drivers in rail freight are holding a simultaneous strike.
GDL leader Claus Weselsky told broadcaster ARD that he was ready to compromise in the dispute over pay and working hours, but said Deutsche Bahn's offers did not go far enough.
"We have to strike longer and harder because the railway management is resistant to advice," he said. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:05:23Z
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PARIS - Power generated from low-emissions sources, such as wind, solar and nuclear, will be adequate to meet growth in global demand for the next three years, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said, adding that power-sector emissions are on the decline.
Following record growth, electricity generation from low-emissions sources will account for almost half of the world’s power by 2026, up from less than 40 per cent in 2023, the IEA said in a report on Jan 24.
Renewables are expected to overtake coal by early 2025, accounting for more than a third of total electricity generation, the report said.
Nuclear power is also forecast to reach a record high globally as French output continues to recover from lows in 2022, several plants in Japan come back online and new reactors begin operations in markets including China, India, Korea and Europe.
Electricity demand is expected to rise on average by 3.4 per cent from 2024 to 2026, with about 85 per cent of demand growth seen coming from China, India and South-east Asia, after growth eased slightly to 2.2 per cent in 2023, IEA data showed.
Over this period, China is expected to account for the largest share of the global increase in electricity demand in terms of volume, despite a forecast for slower economic growth and a lower reliance on heavy industry, the report said.
Meanwhile, global emissions are expected to decrease by 2.4 per cent in 2024, followed by smaller declines in 2025 and 2026, the report said.
“The decoupling of global electricity demand and emissions would be significant given the energy sector’s increasing electrification, with more consumers using technologies such as electric vehicles and heat pumps,” the report said.
Electricity accounted for 2 per cent more of final energy consumption in 2023 from 2015 levels, though reaching climate goals would require electrification to advance significantly faster in coming years, the IEA said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/growth-in-low-emissions-power-expected-to-cover-demand-for-next-three-years-iea
| 2024-01-24T08:05:34Z
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BRUSSELS - The European Parliament election in 2024 could make passing ambitious climate change policies harder, if the vote delivers the “sharp right turn” that recent opinion polls suggest, researchers said on Jan 24.
European Union citizens are set in June to elect a new EU Parliament – the body of 705 lawmakers which, alongside member countries’ representatives, passes new EU policies and laws.
The election is expected to yield more seats for populist, right-wing parties, and losses for centre-left and green parties, producing an “anti-climate policy action” coalition in the Parliament, according to a study commissioned by the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
“This would significantly undermine the EU’s Green Deal framework and the adoption and enforcement of common policies to meet the EU’s net-zero targets,” the study said.
The research combined opinion polls from each EU member state with a statistical model of how national parties performed in previous EU elections.
It noted uncertainties in this method, including in predicting how some national political parties will group together in the EU Parliament.
The EU has passed a raft of environmental measures to cut CO2 emissions, curb pollution and protect nature in the last few years – interlinked issues that Brussels has said must be tackled in tandem.
Yet recent environmental laws have met pushback from some governments, lawmakers and industries concerned about cost and red tape.
To demonstrate the potential post-election shift, the researchers compared a recent EU Parliament vote on a law to restore nature against how the same vote could play out after the 2024 elections.
The EU Parliament passed the law in July by just 12 votes. If the same vote was held after the 2024 elections, based on the projected outcome, the researchers said parties opposed to the law could reject it by 72 votes.
The EU election comes as Europe heads into a challenging stage for its efforts to fight climate change.
The bloc is drafting a 2040 CO2-cutting target and considering the measures to achieve it, which will require far deeper CO2 cuts in politically sensitive sectors including farming. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/opinion-polls-signal-eu-election-result-could-hamper-climate-action-research-says
| 2024-01-24T08:05:45Z
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A person called the 999 emergency line in Wales after experiencing stomach pain after eating too much kebab.
Another person dialled the number over missing dentures.
One other person had a hand stuck in a letterbox.
Further 999 calls were made because of the person losing his or her voice, or having a ring stuck on a finger.
The Welsh Ambulance Service, which runs the 999 service, revealed on Jan 23 that of the 414,149 calls made in 2023, 68,416 were not a life-or-death emergency.
That is an average of 188 non-emergency calls a day, which prompted the service to remind people to tap the number only if someone is seriously ill or injured.
The service has released transcripts of some of the most inappropriate calls:
Call 1
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: Yesterday evening, we had some kebab, and I might have had a little bit more than I’m used to. Then this morning, I’ve had a very painful stomach.
Call 2
Caller: I have a bottom part denture, and I went to clean my teeth and I said ‘Where’s my false teeth?’ This sounds crazy… but I don’t know what else to do. Could I have swallowed my false teeth?
Operator: So, you don’t know where your false teeth are?
Call 3
Caller: What it is with her, her voice has given up on her. We don’t know what to do. We’ve tried lemon and whatever, but it’s not doing any good.
Operator: Where is she in pain?
Caller: It’s her throat. She can hardly speak.
Operator: And is it just that she’s lost her voice, is it?
Caller: Yeah.
Mr Andy Swinburn, executive director of paramedicine for the service, said inappropriate calls put additional strain on an already over-stretched service and may delay help for others.
“Our plea to the public is to apply your common sense – most people know the difference between a real emergency and something that is uncomfortable, painful or irritating but not life-threatening,” he added. “Make the right call.”
Mr Lee Brooks, executive director of operations, urged people to “take some ownership and accountability” for their health and well-being at a time when the National Health Service (NHS) services are stretched beyond measure.
NHS is the publicly funded healthcare system in Britain, of which the Welsh Ambulance Service is a part of.
Welsh Ambulance Service chief executive Jason Killens said some people might find accessing the NHS confusing and that the service is committed to helping people navigate the right pathway to the most appropriate service in the future.
“But until then, we need the public to continue to use us sensibly to protect our precious resources for those who need us most.”
Misuse of emergency numbers is not new.
Peel municipal police in Ontario, Canada, revealed that of the 644,106 calls to the 911 line in 2022, nearly 50 per cent or 1,765 calls per day, were deemed inappropriate.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said in December 2023 that almost 5 per cent of the calls made to the 995 hotline are non-emergencies.
SCDF collaborated with popular humour site SGAG and came up with a two-minute YouTube music video, which gave examples of what is considered an emergency, and asked the public to think twice before making calls.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/where-s-my-false-teeth-welsh-ambulance-service-asks-people-to-make-the-right-call-for-help
| 2024-01-24T08:05:56Z
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BEIJING -China and Nauru re-established diplomatic ties on Wednesday, after the tiny Pacific island nation unexpectedly severed relations with its now former ally Taiwan in a move the United States described as "unfortunate".
The Pacific has become a source of intense competition for influence between Washington which has traditionally viewed it as its backyard, and Beijing, which has targeted Taiwanese diplomatic allies there.
During a ceremony in Beijing, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Nauru counterpart Lionel Aingimea formally signed a document to restore bilateral relations, with ties at the ambassadorial level resuming with immediate effect.
According to the document Nauru recognises that there is "only one China in the world" governed by the People's Republic of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
Taiwan rejects China's sovereignty claim and accused it of trying to pressure Taiwan immediately after its recent presidential election with news of Nauru's switch.
Severing ties with Taiwan was "an independent political decision made by the Nauruan government," Wang told reporters after the signing ceremony.
"We are willing to share with Nauru the development opportunities brought by Chinese-style modernisation."
Aingimea said his country looked forward to their new relationship.
"It'll be built on strength, built on development strategy. It will have a synergy of policies. It will have good collaboration and shared governmental principles that both our countries enjoy," he said.
"The prospect is bright."
Democratically governed Taiwan lost Nauru, one of its few remaining diplomatic allies, to China on Jan. 15, just two days after a new Taiwanese president was elected.
China claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes.
Nauru's government said it was seeking full resumption of diplomatic relations with China "in the best interests" of the country and its people.
Nauru had recognised China before, between 2002 and 2005.
'UNFORTUNATE'
The United States, which only recognises China but is Taiwan's most important international backer, said last week that Nauru's decision was "unfortunate" and "disappointing", warning Beijing's promises often go unfulfilled.
Taiwan's 12 remaining diplomatic allies include the Vatican, Guatemala and Paraguay, plus Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.
Wang said having diplomatic ties with Taiwan ran counter to those nation's own interests, infringes on China's sovereignty and "should be corrected sooner or later".
"We urge these countries to recognise the trend of the times, seize historical opportunities, fulfill their obligations under international law, stand with the international community, and correctly align with history," he said.
Tuvalu expects to review its diplomatic ties with Taiwan after an election on Friday, Finance Minister Seve Paeniu told Reuters, adding voters wanted more financial support from the international community for climate change and development.
Taiwan's presidential office said president-elect Lai Ching-te, currently vice president, spoke on Wednesday with Marshall Islands President Hilda Heine and invited her to attend his inauguration on May 20.
"For the people of Taiwan, President Heine's visit will be a symbol of the firm friendship between the two sides," it cited Lai as saying.
After Nauru said it was cutting ties with Taiwan, the Marshall Islands offered its firm support to Taipei.
Taiwan's presidential office said Heine assured Lai that relations are "rock solid" and she was grateful for Taiwan's development aid.
"Truly Taiwan can help," it quoted her as saying. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:06:06Z
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SEOUL - North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles towards the sea off its west coast on Jan 24, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, in the latest sign of heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The missiles were fired at around 7am (6am Singapore time) and the launches were being analysed by South Korean and US intelligence, the JCS said in a statement.
Further activities by the North were being monitored, the JCS said.
The latest firing of missiles by Pyongyang comes as the South Korean Navy's special warfare unit was taking part in training along the east coast in Gangwon province bordering the North for 10 days.
The training was aimed at strengthening operational readiness following North Korea's recent artillery firing near a disputed maritime border and weapons tests, the JCS said.
Pyongyang said it tested a solid-fuel hypersonic missile with intermediate range earlier in January in a move that was condemned by the United States, South Korea and Japan.
The isolated North has also demolished a major monument in its capital that symbolised the goal of reconciliation with South Korea on the orders of leader Kim Jong Un, who last week called the rival a "primary foe" and said unification was no longer possible.
Satellite imagery of Pyongyang on Jan 23 showed that the monument, an arch symbolising hopes for Korean reunification that was completed after a landmark inter-Korea summit in 2000, was no longer there, according to a report by NK News, an online outlet that monitors North Korea.
Reuters could not independently confirm that the monument, known informally as the Arch of Reunification, had been demolished. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T08:06:16Z
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Death in Paradise has announced its star-studded guest cast for series 13, including a returning star from series one and an Oscar-winning actress. The series premiere, which kicks off on BBC One on Sunday 4 February, marks the show's 100th episode and will see a fan-favourite character fighting for their life.
The opening episode welcomes season one guest star Sean Maguire back to Saint Marie. The Scott & Bailey actor will reprise his role as crook Marlon Collins, becoming the first guest star to do so. Leon Herbert (Outlander), Cathy Tyson (Boiling Point) and Mensah Bediako (Andor) will also make appearances.
The landmark episode will see Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington) celebrating fifty years of police service, before having to fight for his life after being shot by a mysterious assassin.
Elsewhere in the series, Neville (Ralf Little) faces a huge decision while Catherine (Élizabeth Bourgine) finds herself wrapped up in a murder case.
The synopsis teases: "Across the rest of the series, Marlon confronts his future, Naomi lets loose to double date with Darlene, and Catherine finds herself embroiled in a murder case when an old friend becomes a suspect. New and returning faces arrive on Saint Marie, and Neville faces his biggest decision yet. Will our hapless detective finally get his happy ever after? There's also a deadly game of bingo, a poisoning at a cookery competition, death during a blackout, and a mystifying murder in a lift."
Fans can expect plenty more exciting guest stars in the upcoming episodes, including Oscar-winning actress Hayley Mills, known for her roles in The Parent Trap, Whistle Down the Wind, and more recently, ITV's Unforgotten.
Motherland star Ellie Haddington will also feature, alongside Unforgotten's Kate Robbins, Detectorists actor Pearce Quigley and Last Tango in Halifax's Ronni Ancona.
Richard Fleeshman (The Ark), Juliet Cowan (The Power), Shvorne Marks (The Walk-In), Michael Fenton Stevens (Hapless), Ben Wiggins (You), Guy Henry (Holby City) and Kevin Garry (Ted Lasso) are also confirmed in the cast list, alongside Taj Atwal (Hullraisers), Emma Naomi (Bridgerton), Gabrielle Glaister (Coronation Street), Ellise Chappell (Poldark), Ali Ariaie (The Great), Eve Ponsonby (Carnival Row) and Emma Sidi (Starstruck).
Rounding out the list of guest stars are Calvin Demba (The Rig), Rachel Adedeji (Hollyoaks) and Richard Lintern (Nolly). Fans can also expect to see Selwyn's daughter Andrina, played by Genesis Lynea (Champion), make a comeback.
If series 13 isn't enough to get excited about, fans can also look forward to a new spin-off series, which will be set Down Under.
The upcoming show, titled Return to Paradise, will follow London Met star Mackenzie Clarke who is forced to move back home to Australia – and murder isn't far behind…
The synopsis teases: "When a murder takes place in Dolphin Cove, Mack can't help but put her inspired detective brilliance to good use and determines, despite her reservations, that she needs to make the best of it, including tying up the loose ends with the man she left at the altar six years ago."
Series 13 of Death in Paradise airs on Sunday 4 February on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/film/511930/death-in-paradise-series-13-release-date-guest-cast-returning-star/
| 2024-01-24T08:06:51Z
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Charles, the 9th Earl Spencer, 59, regularly shares updates about his ancestral home, Althorp House, from interior decorations to historical discoveries, but he was feeling reflective about his childhood recently.
Next to a photo of the majestic exterior bathed in soft sunlight, Charles revealed the appearance of the Northamptonshire Grade I listed stately home left him "overwhelmed by the formality" while growing up with his older sisters Princess Diana, Sarah and Jane.
"The classical lines of Althorp from the south-facing front courtyard. Built in 1508 as a red brick Tudor structure, @althorphouse was remodelled in the 1780s by the architect Henry Holland who clad it in 'mathematical tiles' - inch-thick grey-white limestone fronting that has dappled over the past 250 years.
"As a child visiting my grandparents here, I felt overwhelmed by the formality of the place - but now I love its essential Englishness," he wrote.
Princess Diana moved into the property at age 14, and it is where she first met her future husband King Charles in 1977 while he was dating her sister Sarah.
The late Princess was buried at Althorp following her death in August 1997 in a car accident in Paris. The initial plan was for Diana to be laid to rest in the family vault at the local church, but with concerns for security and privacy, Charles decided on an island at the centre of the family home's oval lake.
Prince Harry opened up about visiting his mother's private grave with his wife Meghan Markle in his book Spare. "The bridge had been removed, to give my mother privacy, to keep intruders away," he wrote.
However, the house is open to visitors in the summer months, with areas such as the 115-foot-long Picture Gallery and Wootton Hall, the entrance hall accessible. Charles explained the opening dates were a "strange coincidence", as they are meaningful dates for his late sister.
"With these big houses and their contents, you do an agreement with the government as to how many days to be open," he said on model Twiggy's podcast Tea with Twiggy. "We agreed to be open for July and August, so we open on the first of July, which is Diana's birthday, and we close on 31 August, which is the day she died."
He added: "That was agreed five years before she passed away, so strange."
DON'T MISS: King Charles' 900-acre country mansion looks fit for royalty as it prepares for new guests
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| 2024-01-24T08:06:57Z
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Most Anticipated Game of 2024 - Article
by Miles Gregory , posted 1 hour ago / 288 ViewsWith amazing remakes of classic games, genre-defining titles, hotly anticipated sequels, and huge expansions to existing games, 2023 really spoiled gamers. Following up such a fantastic year would never be easy, and there are a lot of mysteries on the horizon. Will Nintendo release its follow up to the Switch? What are Sony’s studios working on? Will we begin to see the fruits of Microsoft's new acquisitions?
Though these burning questions are currently unanswered, we still have some fantastic games on the horizon to look forward to. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will continue the saga of Cloud Strife in Square Enix’s reimagining of what's considered to be one of the best RPGs ever made. The sequel to Capcom's cult classic Dragon's Dogma is on the horizon, as is Nintendo's remake of Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, an entry that many consider to be the pinnacle of Mario RPGs. Fans of metroidvanias are eagerly anticipating the sequel to Hollow Knight in Hollow Knight: Silksong. Lastly, there's Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, the follow-up to Ninja Theory’s remarkable indie experience that was one-part graphical showpiece, two parts intimations of the effects of abuse and the complexity of mental health. There can be only one winner, though, so who will it be?
The Shortlist:
Hollow Knight: Silksong
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
Dragon’s Dogma II
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Runner Up:
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
When Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice arrived on PS4 late 2017 many were blown away. Though that first game was self-published with a very modest budget, it still looked incredible and rivalled even the best AAA experiences from a graphical and narrative standpoint. Now that Ninja Theory is owned by Microsoft, budget is practically a non-issue, which means we'll get to witness Ninja Theory’s graphical and storytelling prowess unfettered. Though not much has been shown from a gameplay standpoint, what we’ve seen leaves little doubt that this is justifiably one of the most anticipated releases of 2024.
The Winner:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
The sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake, Rebirth seeks to tell the story of Cloud and the rest of Team Avalanche post-Midgar. Given the changes its prequel made, as well as what we’ve already seen, Rebirth promises to not just be a retelling of the same narrative with better visuals, but rather a complete reimagining of the Final Fantasy VII experience. With lessons learned from Final Fantasy VII Remake, the benefits of more powerful hardware, and the potential of more open environments, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks to be even bigger & better than its predecessor. All of that and more makes it VGChartz's Most Anticipated Game of 2024.
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https://www.vgchartz.com/article/459623/most-anticipated-game-of-2024/
| 2024-01-24T08:39:21Z
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As you might expect, scientists tend to be fairly interested in a variety of doomsday scenarios. Two aficionados of the apocalypse, astrophysicists Michael Hahn and Daniel Wolf Savin, have joined forces to conjure up several scientifically-founded plans to survive the end of the world when it inevitably occurs.
Writing for Nautilus, they look to the far future, wherein a swelling Sun will render Earth too hot to live on. Their solutions? Genetically modifying crops to keep them alive, pushing Earth away from the Sun, and turning us into immortal robots.
“In a paltry 500 million years or so, no humans will remain on the surface of the Earth – at least, not outside of some hypothetical controlled environment,” they write. “1.5 billion years from now, even the poles will be too hot. Not even cockroaches will survive.”
When the Sun burns up all its hydrogen and helium, it will begin to swell and burn heavier elements. Lev Savitskiy/Shutterstock
Every billion years, the Sun swells and increases in brightness by 10 percent. This leads to a temperature increase back here on Earth, which initiates geological and planetary processes that remove carbon dioxide, our primary heat insulation layer, from our atmosphere.
Without this warming layer today, Earth’s average temperature would be roughly -18°C (-0.4°F); instead, it’s about 17°C (62.6°F). Assuming that catastrophic climate change doesn’t kill us off first, the Sun will eventually brighten and swell to such a size that much of the atmospheric carbon dioxide will have disappeared.
Plants need carbon dioxide to photosynthesize. Most plants – including almost all of our crops – are C3 plants, in that they use the most common form of carbon molecule around, one that contains three carbon atoms. In about 200 million years, when the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration drops below 150 parts per million, C3 plants will disappear.
C4 plants, which include some rice, will survive a little longer, and the two researchers suggest that we should amp up our efforts to use genetic modification to change C3 plants into C4 if we still want edible crops far into the future. Sadly, the Sun’s continuing expansion will cause even these more resilient plants to bite the bullet 300 million years from now.
Without any photosynthesis, the world would be starved of oxygen, and life will begin to perish across all ecosystems. Perhaps with the exception of some extremophiles, in 1.5 billion years, the entire world will be completely uninhabitable. Don’t fret, though: we could always casually change the orbit of the Earth.
By using rocket-powered asteroids, we could theoretically perturb Earth’s orbit just enough that it will be dragged further away from the Sun. If we’re worried about those asteroids actually smashing into the planet, then we could always use a solar sail – one that is 20 times the diameter of Earth – to capture the incoming solar wind and pull us away from our local star.
Who needs biology when you have robots? Vasilyev Alexandr/Shutterstock
There is one more option available to us, and for a while, it involves us doing nothing at all. In a billion years from now, the world will be bathed in light, which means that solar cells will be all we need to power a wealth of advanced machinery.
If we uploaded our consciousness into these machines, we could live on as immortal, solar powered beings. This may sound impossible – and at present, it is – but in a hundred million years, we should be able to hash out a workable plan. That way, we can enjoy the scorched Earth for another 5 billion years before the Sun becomes a red giant and gobbles it up.
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https://www.iflscience.com/two-astrophysicists-explain-how-humanity-could-survive-end-world-35565
| 2024-01-24T08:59:44Z
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TOKYO - Japanese audiences will be able to watch Oppenheimer in cinemas from March 29, distribution company Bitters End said on Jan 24, after the biopic on the nuclear bomb’s creator was nominated for 13 categories at the Oscar Awards.
The release date is almost eight months after memes mixing visuals from the film Barbie with atomic blasts provoked anger from people in Japan – the only country hit by a nuclear bomb during war.
The outrage over the “Barbenheimer” memes prompted an apology from Barbie distributor Warner Brothers Japan, which said at the time they were “extremely deplorable”.
A spokesperson for Bitters End declined to comment on the release date or say why it took over half a year for Oppenheimer to be screened in Japan.
“We decided to release this film in Japan after much debate and deliberation, as the themes covered in this film are ones that hold a very significant and special meaning for us as Japanese people,” Bitters End said in December, when it said Oppenheimer would be released in Japan sometime in 2024.
The United States dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 during World War Two, killing thousands instantly and about 140,000 by the end of the year.
It later dropped another bomb on Nagasaki three days later, killing more than 73,000 people. Japan ultimately surrendered on August 15, 1945. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/oppenheimer-to-be-shown-in-japan-from-march-29-8-months-after-barbenheimer-outrage
| 2024-01-24T09:34:42Z
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NEW DELHI - French President Emmanuel Macron will attend India’s Republic Day celebrations on Friday as the chief guest, as New Delhi and Paris continue to negotiate multi-billion dollar deals to buy French fighter jets and submarines for the Indian military.
However, officials in New Delhi and Paris said the visit will be more ceremonial than substantial, and no major outcomes are expected.
France is India’s second largest arms supplier, and has been one of its oldest and closest partners in Europe for decades. It was the only Western nation that did not impose sanctions on New Delhi after India conducted nuclear tests in 1998.
Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit for Bastille Day celebrations in July, the Indian government had given an initial approval to buy 26 Rafale jets and jointly produce three Scorpene class submarines worth around 800 billion rupees ($9.62 billion).
But the deals are yet to be finalised. France is also keen to enhance cooperation in space and nuclear sectors.
For France, this visit is an opportunity to cement the strategic partnership Paris has forged with New Delhi over the past decades, but no new contract in the defence sector is expected, French presidential advisers told journalists ahead of the visit.
India has relied on French fighter jets for four decades now. Much before buying Dassault Aviation's Rafale, India bought Mirage jets in the 1980s and those still comprise two squadrons of the air force.
This would be the fifth meeting between Modi and Macron since May.
India had earlier hoped to have U.S. President Joe Biden as well as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to be the ceremony's chief guests. The three nations along with India form part of the Quad group of countries, and New Delhi had planned to hold a Quad summit this week.
That plan fell through because Biden was unavailable.
During his 40-hour state visit Macron will also meet business leaders from pharmaceutical, auto, space, energy and hydrogen industries, according to officials in New Delhi and Paris. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/india-to-strengthen-ties-with-france-with-macron-as-chief-guest-on-national-day
| 2024-01-24T09:34:52Z
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KUALA LUMPUR – Palm oil output in Malaysia, the No. 2 supplier, could rise five per cent in 2024 after the government allowed plantations to hire foreign workers, said Mr Joseph Tek, chief executive of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association.
The admission of new workers potentially means that an additional 5.2 million tons of fresh fruit bunches can be harvested, the top growers’ group said in a statement. That translates into one million tons of crude palm oil, Mr Tek said.
The extra tonnage would also generate revenue of close to four billion ringgit (S$1.13 billion), bringing “significant relief” to the industry, which is grappling with a substantial shortage of 40,000 workers, the group said. The news pressured benchmark palm oil futures in Kuala Lumpur trading.
The government has been trying to reduce reliance on cheap foreign labour across many industries including manufacturing, construction and plantations, and seeks to regulate admission processes to prevent any issues like forced labour, worker exploitation and human trafficking.
In March 2023, the country temporarily suspended the application and approval process for foreign workers under a quota system in order to speed up the entry of workers already approved.
Malaysia’s palm oil industry is heavily reliant on foreign labour. A chronic shortage of workers resulted in revenue losses estimated at 20 billion ringgit in 2022 and continued to curb growth in output last year.
Palm oil production in Malaysia totalled 18.55 million tons in 2023, and earlier in January the Palm Oil Board, which regulates the industry, predicted output of 18.75 million tons for this year. This is less than half the supply from top producer Indonesia, where output has expanded steadily in recent years.
The association represents over 40 per cent of the oil palm area in Malaysia. Members include some of the top plantation companies such as Sime Darby Plantation, Kuala Lumpur Kepong, IOI Corp. and FGV Holdings.
Palm oil futures in Kuala Lumpur climbed as much as 0.9 per cent to 3,985 ringgit a ton on Jan 23, before paring gains to 3,955 ringgit by midday.
The higher output estimate is capping the rally, said Mr Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, head of trading and hedging strategies at Kaleesuwari Intercontinental. The move to allow more foreign workers “adds to supply woes,” he said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysia-palm-oil-harvest-gets-boost-from-foreign-worker-move
| 2024-01-24T09:35:03Z
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BANGKOK - Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled on Jan 24 that prominent Thai opposition figure Pita Limjaroenrat had not breached media shareholding rules, clearing the way for his return to Parliament six months after his suspension.
Mr Pita, 43, the former leader of the Move Forward Party (MFP), had been suspended from Parliament since July 2023 pending this verdict.
He had been blocked from assuming the premiership in Thailand despite his party winning the most seats in the May 2023 general election, largely due to opposition from senators appointed under military rule.
The case on Jan 24 pertains to Mr Pita’s holding of shares in ITV, a company which lost its broadcasting concession in 2007.
People owning media businesses are not allowed to run for Parliament. Mr Pita, who inherited the shares from his late father, had argued that it was not an active media organisation.
The court concurred on Jan 24: “There’s no information indicating that ITV conducted media business since its media licence was suspended on March 7, 2007. So ITV was not conducting media business when (Mr Pita) registered to be an MP.”
After the verdict, Mr Pita posted a message on platform X, formerly known as Twitter: “Thank you everyone for your encouragement; we will continue with our work without waiting.”
He later told reporters: “I will go back to working in the Parliament as soon as I am allowed too.”
The ruling comes as a reprieve for the MFP. The party had gone from election winner to largest opposition party after the Pheu Thai Party, the runner-up in the polls, formed its own coalition government.
Chulalongkorn University political scientist Pandit Chanrochanakit sees the verdict as a turning point for Thailand to move along the path of political reconciliation, four years after the court-mandated dissolution of the progressive Future Forward Party sparked youth protests that snowballed into larger demands for reforms in Thailand’s conservative establishment.
“It could help them make peace with the youth movement,” he told The Straits Times on Wednesday.
The Constitutional Court had determined in 2020 that Future Forward had violated campaign funding rules.
Key party executives, including leader Thanathorn Juangroonruangkit, were banned from politics for 10 years following the 2020 court decision.
Remaining members of Future Forward, including Mr Pita, went on to form the Move Forward Party.
The government then was headed by Mr Prayut Chan-o-cha, a former army chief who staged a military coup in 2014, ushering in junta rule in Thailand for the next five years.
“In the past, we have seen the use of the judicial branch to get rid of political opposition that challenges the authoritarian regime,” Dr Pandit said. “Pita not only represents the voters who voted for him, he (also) represents people’s hopes for change.”
On Jan 31, the MFP will face another legal challenge.
The Constitutional Court is set to rule on whether the party’s bid to amend the lese majeste law amounts to an attempt to overthrow the constitutional monarchy.
The controversial law, which critics argue could lead to political abuse, recently resulted in a man receiving a cumulative jail sentence of 50 years.
If found guilty, the MFP could be ordered to stop trying to change this law. MFP supporters fear it could be used as a pretext to dissolve the party itself.
Mr Pita, currently acting as adviser of the MFP, has argued that political parties should disappear only when they cannot get popular support, rather than be disbanded through judicial intervention.
In an interview with ST in December 2023, he had talked about the need to take the long-term view on the current challenges faced by his party and the progressive sections of Thai society.
“I felt like we might not win immediately, but we will win definitely, and we will win eventually,” he had said then.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thai-court-clears-opposition-figure-pita-limjaroenrat-to-return-to-parliament
| 2024-01-24T09:35:14Z
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BANGKOK - Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Jan 24 he believes the country’s economy is in crisis, adding that the government would roll out stimulus measures in addition to handouts to boost growth.
“I confirm that the economy is not doing well and is in crisis,” he told reporters, adding that it was fine if the central bank disagreed with him.
Mr Srettha’s comments come after the central bank governor told Reuters on Jan 23 that government stimulus measures would not fix structural issues plaguing South-east Asia’s second-biggest economy.
The government this week slashed 2024’s growth projections to 2.8 per cent from an earlier forecast of 3.2 per cent on weaker exports and foreign tourist arrivals.
Thailand’s growth has been slower than expected, but the economy is not in crisis as portrayed by the government, said Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, who has come under fire from the Premier for not cutting interest rates despite low inflation.
Mr Srettha, who is also Finance Minister, has told the governor that high rates were hurting businesses and has urged the BOT to lower rates, which are at a decade-high of 2.5 per cent.
His government has promised a slew of stimulus measures to revive the economy, including a US$14.3 billion (S$19.2 billion) handout programme targeting 50 million Thais.
“Reducing interest rates is a central bank matter... but there will be more policies in addition to the digital wallet,” said Mr Srettha. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/thai-pm-says-economy-in-crisis-pledges-more-stimulus
| 2024-01-24T09:35:24Z
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LANGTANG – High in the Himalayas, two villages near Nepal’s border with Tibet are getting power from an unusual source: a threatening glacial lake.
In this high-altitude region, climate change is accelerating the melting of mountain ice, with villages located below fast-filling glacial lakes facing a rising risk of catastrophic flooding.
But efforts to drain some of the excess water building up in the lakes in order to lower surging disaster risk also present an opportunity to boost clean power production using small hydropower generators in the drainage channels.
Since 2017, 175 households in Langtang and Kyanjin, two villages in the high Kyanjin Valley, have been able to tap clean hydropower generated by draining the Kyanjin glacial lake for cooking, lights and other energy needs.
“We used to go three hours away from here to collect firewood” – something hard to find above the tree line, said 48-year-old Pasang Tamang, who runs a hotel in Kyanjin, a popular stopping point for tourists trekking in the mountains.
“Now we have electricity to cook food and boil water,” she said.
The hydropower project, which cost US$448,000 (S$600,600), was paid for by the Hong Kong-based Kadoorie Charitable Foundation.
But expanding such smart solutions – which unusually cut both disaster risk and climate changing emissions – is proving challenging in Nepal, with funding limited and work in high-mountain environments challenging and often costly.
Power from risk
Communities in the Himalayas – and other high mountain regions – face growing risks from fast-filling glacial lakes, which can suddenly burst under pressure and send huge volumes of flash floodwater surging downstream.
More than 150 people were killed and 2,000 houses damaged after Lhonak Lake in the north-eastern Indian province of Sikkim burst its banks in October 2023.
Nepal has worked to lower the pressure in several of its most at-risk mountain lakes, including Tsho Rolpa and Imja, using canals to channel some water away.
It also has looked at generating power from glacial lake draining since at least 2016, when Dr Dhananjay Regmi, a glacier expert at Tribhuvan University, recognised the possibility while leading work to reduce lake levels and cut disaster risk near Mount Everest.
Working with colleagues, he studied four Nepalese glacial lakes – Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu-2 – and produced a study showing hydropower generation was possible as part of drainage efforts.
All four lakes were identified in a 2020 report by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development as having a high risk of bursting their banks.
“There are two benefits to us: First, the risk of outburst will be reduced, and second, we get energy at the same volume throughout the year,” Dr Regmi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
He has focused in particular on Thulagi glacial lake, about 200km from Kathmandu in Manang district.
The 2.5km-long lake is 73m deep and holds 36 million cubic m of water, according to Dr Regmi’s 2017 report – enough to fill more than 14,400 Olympic swimming pools.
If it were to burst, the resulting floods could directly affect 166,000 people downstream and impact many more, with roads, bridges and larger hydropower projects in the region at risk, according to an unpublished analysis by Professor Narendra Khanal, a geographer at Tribhuvan University.
Losses could reach US$415 million, the research found, if expected flood levels of 35m above the riverbed were reached, requiring replacement of the Marsyangdi and Middle Marsyangdi hydropower dams and putting their revenue at risk.
Channelling water out of the lake to hydropower generating equipment, could produce 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity year-round, he said, and lower the lake’s water level by 5m to 10m.
“When the water level is reduced, we don’t have to worry about the lake bursting,” Dr Regmi said.
Funding dilemma
But finding money for such double-benefit projects and putting them into operation is not easy.
Nepal, working with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is seeking US$50 million from the Green Climate Fund, with co-financing from the government, UNDP and the private sector, to lower water levels and cut the risk of floods from the Thulagi, Lower Barun, Lumding Tsho and Hongu-2 lakes.
But the proposal does not include plans to also generate hydropower.
Mr Chiranjeevi Chataut, the director-general of Nepal’s Department of Energy Development, said making such generation projects work in the high Himalayas is too challenging, one reason the country is not making plans for them.
Still, “if any private sector (applicants) are interested, we can discuss”, he said.
Dr Regmi admitted that working at high altitude could be difficult and costly, but said such generation could be helpful in regularising year-round hydropower supplies.
Nepal, for instance, in recent years has generated about 2,800MW of hydropower nationally each year during the monsoon season, but only a third of that at other times of year, according to the Nepal Electricity Authority.
Mr Deepak K.C., a climate change and resilience analyst for UNDP in Nepal, said tapping the country’s high-mountain hydropower potential in combination with efforts to cut disaster risk would likely require more joined-up funding.
“Only the private sector can invest in that type of (power) project,” he said. “Donor agencies don’t invest in generating hydropower.”
If the government goes ahead with a lake-lowering project at Thulagi, Dr Regmi’s team hopes to find private backing to build a demonstration hydropower project, to show generating clean power at high altitude can work.
Installing the project could have other benefits as well, Dr Regmi said. For instance, putting in place a hydropower system would require establishing a cable in the mountains to transport equipment to the site.
That could then be turned into a cable car system to attract tourists, or for local transport, he said.
“The project can be done without environmental or ecosystem loss,” he said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/nepal-explores-tapping-flood-risk-glacial-lakes-for-clean-power
| 2024-01-24T09:35:35Z
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NEW DELHI – Butter chicken – one of India’s best-known dishes globally – is delicious and apparently also contentious, with two Indian restaurant chains battling in court over claims to its origins.
The lawsuit, which has become a hot topic in India, was brought by the family behind Moti Mahal, a famed Delhi restaurant brand that has counted the late United States president Richard Nixon and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru among its guests.
It claims restaurant founder Kundan Lal Gujral created the curry in the 1930s, when the restaurant first opened in Peshawar before it moved to Delhi.
In a 2,752-page court filing, it accused rival chain Daryaganj of falsely claiming to have invented the dish, as well as dal makhani, a popular lentil dish that is also laden with butter and cream.
The Gujral family is seeking US$240,000 (S$321,000) in damages, also alleging that Daryaganj has copied the layout of Moti Mahal’s website and “the look and feel” of its restaurants.
“You cannot take away somebody’s legacy… The dish was invented when our grandfather was in Pakistan,” said Mr Monish Gujral, managing director at Moti Mahal.
Daryaganj, which was established relatively recently in 2019, counters that its late family member, Mr Kundan Lal Jaggi, partnered with Mr Gujral to open the Delhi restaurant in 1947, and the dish was invented there. That gives it the right to also lay claim to the creation of the dish, it argues.
Daryaganj shared with Reuters a faded, hand-written partnership document registered in 1949 to back its argument.
The dispute has captured India’s attention, with Indian TV broadcasters running segments on the history of the dish and debate raging on social media.
“It’s an offbeat, unique case. You really don’t know who created the first dish of butter chicken. The court will be hard pressed and will need to rely on circumstantial evidence,” said Mr Ameet Datta, an intellectual property lawyer at India’s Saikrishna & Associates.
Testimonies of people who can link the brand to the dish they consumed decades ago could be critical proof, Mr Datta added.
Made with tandoor-cooked chicken pieces mixed in a tomato gravy with dollops of cream and butter, the dish was ranked 43rd in a list of the world’s “best dishes” by TasteAtlas as rated by nearly 400,000 users.
It was the second-ranked Indian food after butter garlic naan bread. The two are often paired together.
The case was first heard by the Delhi High Court last week, and the next hearing is scheduled for May. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/who-invented-butter-chicken-indian-judge-to-rule-on-dispute-over-global-favourite
| 2024-01-24T09:35:45Z
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SINGAPORE – Local actress-host Fatin Amira, the alleged third party in the marriage of fellow actress-host Nurul Aini and her husband Sofian Roslan, has been removed from the local infotainment programmed Manja.
In its eighth season, the show airs on Mondays on Mediacorp’s Suria channel with four presenters.
However, the latest episode on Jan 22 featured only three hosts – Iskandar Shah, Zhin Sadali and Natasha Faisal – with Fatin missing from the line-up.
When contacted by Malay-language daily Berita Harian (BH), Mediacorp said: “Fatin Amira was not in the episode of season 8 of Manja that aired on Jan 22 and will not appear in the episode that airs on Jan 29.”
BH understands that Jan 29 marks the final episode of Manja’s eighth season.
Mediacorp did not explain why Fatin has stopped co-hosting Manja, something she has done regularly since the eighth season aired on May 8, 2023. She also could not be contacted.
She has been embroiled in the alleged cheating scandal after a video posted on Jan 20 went viral on social media.
In the clip, captioned “Check in Hotel”, a man and a woman are seen in an undergound carpark leaving a car separately. The TikTok account that posted the video claimed the pair are Sofian and Fatin, both property agents.
They are then seen entering a door with the words “Welcome to Capri by Fraser, China Square”, and later return to the same car.
Nurul – best known for her role in the Channel 5 drama Lion Mums (2015 to 2022) – and Sofian, both 41, married in 2008 and have three children, aged four to 13. The actress regularly shares videos and photos of the family on social media.
She reacted to the TikTok video with a statement on her social media on Jan 20, requesting “understanding and privacy” as they navigate the “incredibly difficult time”.
Sofian also issued on Instagram a statement which was later deleted, apologising to Nurul and hoping he can “spend the rest of my life making it up to you and our children”.
Fatin, who is 30 and also married, has not released any statement so far. Both the Instagram accounts of Fatin and Sofian have since been made private.
The alleged affair has set tongues wagging on social media, with several netizens urging Fatin to issue an apology, while others said they did not want to see her on screen again.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/actress-host-fatin-amira-dropped-from-suria-show-after-nurul-aini-cheating-scandal
| 2024-01-24T09:35:56Z
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Jessica Biel loves to eat while showering - and she plans to take this to another level by starting a “shower eating movement”.
The 41-year-old Hollywood actress wants more people to embrace her unconventional eating habit, especially those who multitask.
Biel posted a TikTok video on Jan 22, sharing her thoughts on how to eat in the shower. The minute-long “All your shower eating questions finally answered” video was a response to a commenter who asked for “pro tips”.
“I’m so thrilled everyone is so interested. I want to start a movement, a shower eating movement… it’s going to be such a huge relief for people who are multitasking,” Biel said.
One of the tips include having a ledge. “You can stick your cup, your yogurt container, your coffee, your espresso, whatever it is you’re enjoying,” she explained.
“I like to take a bite or a sip and put it on the ledge... it’s pretty simple guys, you can do this. I find it deeply satisfying,” Biel explained.
The Total Recall (2012) actress, who shares two sons, ages eight and three, with singer Justin Timberlake, cautioned her TikTok followers: “Do not open your mouth when you are chewing. Do not let the shower water in.”
Her latest TikTok video has garnered more than 141,000 views and more than 230 comments since it was posted on the platform.
In December 2023, Biel shared her favourite shower-eating food items, such as cereal or yogurt, popsicles, coffee and tea, in a “Food for thought” TikTok video.
The actress first revealed her strange eating habit in 2017 on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.
She had told host Fallon that being a new mother to a two-year-old meant she needed to manage her time efficiently. She said she often found herself feeding her son in the morning while getting ready, only to realise she had not eaten her own breakfast.
Thus, the strategy of eating while in the shower, Biel said.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/actress-jessica-biel-wants-more-people-to-embrace-shower-eating
| 2024-01-24T09:36:06Z
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An unknown number of New Hampshire voters received a phone call on Jan 21, 2024, from what sounded like United States President Joe Biden. A recording containing Mr Biden’s voice urged voters inclined to support him and the Democratic Party not to participate in the state’s Jan 23 Republican primary election.
Mr Biden was heard saying: “Republicans have been trying to push non-partisan and Democratic voters to participate in their primary. What a bunch of malarkey. We know the value of voting Democratic when our votes count. It’s important that you save your vote for the November election. We’ll need your help in electing Democrats up and down the ticket. Voting this Tuesday only enables the Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again. Your vote makes a difference in November, not this Tuesday. If you would like to be removed from future calls, please press two now.”
The call falsely implied that a registered Democrat could vote in the Republican primary, and that a voter who voted in the primary would be ineligible to vote in the general election in November. New Hampshire does allow unregistered voters to participate in either the Republican or Democratic primary.
The call, two days before the primary, appeared to have been an artificial intelligence (AI) deepfake. It also appeared to have been an attempt to discourage voting. Mr Biden was not on the ballot because of a dispute between the Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire Democrats about New Hampshire’s position in the primary schedule, but there was a write-in campaign for Mr Biden.
Robocalls in elections are nothing new and not illegal; many are simply efforts to get out the vote. But they have also been used in voter suppression campaigns. Compounding this problem in this case is what I believe to be the application of AI to clone Mr Biden’s voice.
In a media ecosystem full of noise, scrambled signals such as deepfake robocalls make it virtually impossible to tell facts from fakes.
Recently, a number of companies have popped up online offering impersonation as a service. For users like you and me, it is as easy as selecting a politician, celebrity or executive like Mr Joe Biden, Donald Trump or Mr Elon Musk from a menu and typing a script of what you want them to appear to say, and the website creates the deepfake automatically. Though the audio and video output is usually choppy and stilted, when the audio is delivered via a robocall it is very believable. You could easily think you are hearing a recording of Mr Joe Biden, but really it is machine-made misinformation.
Context is key
I am a media and disinformation scholar. In 2019, information scientist Brit Paris and I studied how generative adversarial networks – what most people today think of as AI – would transform the ways institutions assess evidence and make decisions when judging realistic-looking audio and video manipulation. What we found was that no single piece of media is reliable on its face; rather, context matters for making an interpretation.
When it comes to AI-enhanced disinformation, the believability of deepfakes hinges on where you see or hear it or who shares it. Without a valid and confirmed source vouching for it as a fact, a deepfake might be interesting or funny but would never pass muster in a courtroom. However, deepfakes can still be damaging when used in efforts to suppress the vote or shape public opinion on divisive issues.
AI-enhanced disinformation campaigns are difficult to counter because unmasking the source requires tracking the trail of metadata, which is the data about a piece of media. How this is done varies, depending on the method of distribution: robocalls, social media, e-mail, text message or websites. Right now, research on audio and video manipulation is more difficult because many big tech companies have shut down access to their application programming interfaces, which make it possible for researchers to collect data about social media, and the companies have laid off their trust and safety teams.
Timely, accurate, local knowledge
In many ways, AI-enhanced disinformation, such as the New Hampshire robocall, poses the same problems as every other form of disinformation. People who use AI to disrupt elections are likely to do what they can to hide their tracks, which is why it is necessary for the public to remain sceptical about claims that do not come from verified sources, such as local TV news or social media accounts of reputable news organisations.
It is also important for the public to understand what new audio and visual manipulation technology is capable of. Now that the technology has become widely available, and with a pivotal election year ahead, the fake Biden robocall is only the latest of what is likely to be a series of AI-enhanced disinformation campaigns.
I believe society needs to learn to venerate what I call Talk: timely, accurate, local knowledge. I believe that it is important to design social media systems that value timely, accurate, local knowledge over disruption and divisiveness.
It is also important to make it more difficult for disinformers to profit from undermining democracy. For example, the malicious use of technology to suppress voter turnout should be vigorously investigated by federal and state law enforcement authorities.
While deepfakes may catch people by surprise, they should not catch us off guard, no matter how slow the truth is compared with the speed of disinformation.
Professor Joan Donovan is an assistant professor of journalism and emerging media studies at Boston University in the United States.
This article was first published in The Conversation
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https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/fake-biden-robocall-points-to-dangers-of-ai-enhanced-disinformation-campaign
| 2024-01-24T09:36:16Z
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After a period of heavy drinking, one 40-something professional woman felt a short-term fix would not be the answer. So, instead of simply attempting “Dry January”, as many drinkers now do, she decided to abstain in December as well. That way, she reasoned, the prospect of an ascetic new year would not fill her with dread.
When she stopped, she told me recently, there was little ceremony. “My last drink wasn’t a last hurrah, I had two G&Ts (gin and tonic), went to bed and thought, ‘That’s that’.” She found the dry spell made her healthier and happier – so much so, she hasn’t touched a drop since.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-bottle-and-the-blues-how-different-generations-respond-to-stress
| 2024-01-24T09:36:27Z
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SINGAPORE – Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) chief executive Lee Chuan Teck will be appointed executive chairman of the statutory board on April 1.
He will succeed Mr Peter Ong Boon Kwee, a long-time civil servant who has spent more than 30 years in the public sector, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) said on Jan 24.
EnterpriseSG will also change its leadership model from the current structure of having a non-executive chairman and a CEO to one that will have an executive chairman and a managing director.
“The new structure will enhance EnterpriseSG’s strategic engagement with business counterparts, advancing Singapore’s economic interests and the interests of Singapore companies,” MTI added.
The managing director’s appointment will be announced at a later date.
Since assuming the role of CEO on May 1, 2023, Mr Lee has led EnterpriseSG in reviewing its priorities and developing strategies to uplift local enterprises, transform key industries and scale up promising local enterprises, MTI noted.
This includes initiatives to drive productivity, innovation, digitalisation, internationalisation and sustainability, in close partnership with trade associations and chambers.
Prior to this role, Mr Lee held various appointments at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Transport and MTI.
Mr Ong was appointed as the non-executive chairman of EnterpriseSG in 2018, following the merger of International Enterprise Singapore and Spring Singapore.
He led the management team to shape EnterpriseSG’s leadership and organisational identity, and contributed to programmes such as Scale-Up, EnterpriseSG’s flagship growth programme to boost high potential enterprises.
Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong thanked Mr Ong for his contributions.
He said: “His distinguished leadership and strategic foresight have been instrumental in guiding both EnterpriseSG and the broader Public Service towards success.
“I am confident that Chuan Teck will build on Peter’s commitment to excellence and innovation, and steer EnterpriseSG to new heights.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/enterprisesg-ceo-lee-chuan-teck-will-be-executive-chairman-from-april-1
| 2024-01-24T09:36:37Z
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SINGAPORE - Some 58.9 million passengers passed through Changi Airport in 2023, rebounding to 86 per cent of traffic levels seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.
This was also an 83 per cent increase from the 32.2 million passengers the airport handled in 2022.
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, the airport registered 68.3 million passenger movements.
About 328,000 flights took off from or landed at Changi Airport in 2023, according to the latest figures released by airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) on Jan 24. It handled 382,000 flights in 2019.
Between October and December 2023, the airport recorded 16.1 million passenger movements, surpassing 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.
December was the busiest month of the year for Changi Airport, with 5.8 million passengers moving through the airport. This was 91 per cent of traffic levels in December 2019.
The airport recorded its busiest day of the year on Dec 22, the Friday before Christmas, with 203,000 passengers passing through its terminals.
In December, 30,400 flights landed at or departed from Changi Airport.
CAG said all regions to which the airport is connected are recording healthy recovery in passenger traffic from pre-pandemic levels. North America was the region that recorded the greatest growth of more than 25 per cent, compared with 2019.
Meanwhile, Europe, the South-west Pacific (comprising Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands such as Fiji) and South Asia are near full recovery, rebounding to more than 90 per cent of passenger traffic levels in 2019.
Compared with 2022, North-east Asia was Changi Airport’s leading region in 2023, with passenger traffic increasing more than four times from that of the previous year.
This was mostly due to a rise in travel between China and Singapore, said CAG.
China had gradually loosened its Covid-19 controls from January 2023. Singapore later became one of the first countries China allowed its citizens to travel to in tour groups. Last July, China reinstated 15-day visa-free entry for Singaporeans.
From early 2024, a 30-day mutual visa-free arrangement between Singapore and China is set to be rolled out.
Following closely behind North-east Asia was South-east Asia, which posted the second-strongest growth for the airport in 2023, growing 72 per cent from a year ago.
Changi Airport’s top five markets for 2023 by passenger traffic were Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Thailand and India.
Among the airport’s top 10 markets, China, Japan and South Korea were the fastest growing compared with 2022.
The busiest routes to and from the airport throughout the year were Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, Bangkok in Thailand, Jakarta in Indonesia, Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia, and Manila in the Philippines.
Changi Airport’s cargo flows dipped 6 per cent compared with 2022 amid global economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures.
Mr Lim Ching Kiat, executive vice-president for air hub and cargo development at CAG, noted that the airport had resumed connections to more than 10 cities in 2023, including Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, and Okinawa in Japan. It also restored almost 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic city links, making it the world’s fifth-busiest airport by seat capacity.
He added: “We step into 2024 hopeful of making a full recovery to Changi Airport’s pre-Covid-19 connectivity and traffic levels.”
In 2023, the airport also brought in three passenger airlines. Air Macau restored flights to Macau in March, Malaysian low-cost carrier Firefly made a comeback with flights to Penang the same month, and Indonesian budget airline TransNusa started services to Jakarta in November.
As at January 2024, 93 airlines operate more than 6,700 weekly scheduled flights at Changi Airport, which connect Singapore to 154 cities in 49 countries and territories worldwide.
Compared with January 2020 before the effects of the pandemic kicked in, more than 100 airlines ran about 7,400 weekly scheduled flights then, linking Singapore to over 170 cities in about 50 countries.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/changi-airport-s-2023-passenger-traffic-rebounds-to-86-of-pre-covid-19-levels
| 2024-01-24T09:36:48Z
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DOHA – Palestine’s captain said that his team had fulfilled “a promise to the Palestinian people” after reaching the Asian Cup knockout rounds for the first time on Jan 23.
The 3-0 victory over Hong Kong was also their first win in the history of the competition and enough to squeeze into the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed teams.
Oday Dabbagh was the hero in Doha with two goals and at the final whistle Palestine’s players and staff celebrated on the pitch, hugging and waving flags.
The United Arab Emirates went through in second place in Group C despite losing 2-1 to group winners Iran.
Palestine’s victory came against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war in the Palestinian territory of Gaza, with players and staff having lost loved ones in the conflict.
Captain Musab Al-Battat said that his men had made good on their promise to the Palestinian people.
“I would like to thank all those who supported us,” he said. “We managed to put a smile on the faces of those who follow us... inside or outside Palestine.
“We wanted to deliver a message to the world that we have a right to participate in every major football tournament, and not just for the sake of participation, but to show our skills. We deserve to be here.”
A pre-match moment’s silence was overrun by shouts of “Free Palestine”.
No side had played more Asian Cup matches without a win than Hong Kong (12 games) or Palestine (eight), but victory would offer either side a chance of making the last 16.
In the 12th minute, Palestine scored when Battat made an overlapping run from right-back and launched a cross into the box which Dabbagh headed into the net.
But Hong Kong started creating chances as the half wore on, Philip Chan and Everton Camargo blazing over.
Throughout the game, the 6,568 people inside the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium were almost entirely supporting Palestine, like at most grounds during the team’s campaign.
Minutes into the second half, Palestine doubled their lead, Battat again the provider from the right wing, this time Zeid Qunbar taking him up on a generous invitation to score.
Palestine got a third after the hour, Tamer Seyam’s long-range effort hitting the bar and falling to Dabbagh, who tapped in his second of the match.
Winning coach Makram Daboub said his team “knew this match was decisive... especially concerning the current circumstances that Palestine is going through”.
Looking ahead to the next round, he said he was realistic about the challenge, but that his team was “very confident in our ability and everything is possible in the second round”.
Hong Kong coach Jorn Andersen rued his team’s inability to get a goal in the game’s opening stages, which might have changed the complexion of the contest.
“That’s the difference between us and the better teams before us, because they have the quality to make a goal out of nothing,” he said. AFP
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/palestine-fulfil-promise-after-historic-asian-cup-win
| 2024-01-24T09:36:58Z
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MELBOURNE – Two-time Australian Open runner-up Daniil Medvedev had no more energy left and will need a well-deserved break, as he ground past big-serving Hubert Hurkacz into the semi-finals on Jan 24.
As he edged closer to winning a second Grand Slam, he admitted that his latest match had “destroyed” him physically.
The world No. 3 eventually tamed the Polish ninth seed 7-6 (7-4), 2-6, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 in draining heat on Rod Laver Arena after a contest lasting nearly four hours, and will meet either Spanish second seed Carlos Alcaraz or German sixth seed Alexander Zverev for a spot in the Jan 28 final.
Playing his 100th Grand Slam match, the 27-year-old Russian is now into an eighth major semi-final, but has only gone to win only one title – at the 2021 US Open.
He made the final in Melbourne in 2021 and 2022, but succumbed to Novak Djokovic and then Rafael Nadal.
“I am so destroyed right now,” said Medvedev, who saved 10 of the 15 break points he faced, grizzled and moaned and finally secured a place in the last four.
“Not that I ran out of gas, but I was honestly feeling it physically at the end of the second set and I said to stay tough.
“Fourth set I just (had) no more concentration left and I’m like, ‘OK, I have to try my best to do whatever I can and let’s see. If I lose, I lose, I go home and it’s OK’.”
The Russian, who had also played a five-set marathon into the early hours of the morning in the second round against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori, added: “I’m happy that I managed to win.”
Hurkacz has one of the biggest and best serves in the game, but Medvedev is arguably the game’s top deep-court returner and he went on the attack from the outset, breaking immediately.
The Pole’s nerves settled and a backhand winner from the baseline in Game 6 brought the first set back onto level terms. It went to a tiebreak, where too many unforced errors from the 26-year-old proved costly.
Angry at his lapse in concentration, Hurkacz came out firing at the start of the second set, breaking Medvedev straight away and again in the seventh game to level the match.
But a rare double fault from the Pole – only his second of the match – while 30-40 down on his opening serve in the third set again gave Medvedev the upper hand.
With Hurkacz stuttering, the Russian dialled up the pressure in the fourth set with an early break, but he faltered on serve at 4-3 to let Hurkacz back and it went to a deciding set.
The critical moment of the match came when Hurkacz was serving at 3-3 in the fifth and sent a backhand long to give Medvedev the break he ultimately needed.
With the most delicate of drop shots on match point, the Russian then secured his spot in the semi-finals after a hard day’s work.
“I really liked the match point!” Medvedev added of the unique finish. AFP, REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/destroyed-daniil-medvedev-grinds-into-australian-open-semi-finals
| 2024-01-24T09:37:08Z
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SINGAPORE – It may seem unthinkable, but in 1990, former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had been on the brink of the sack at Old Trafford after a string of bad results and no silverware to show for in three years.
Ultimately, the Scot would lead the Red Devils to a FA Cup triumph that year before adding 37 more trophies.
Similarly, Singapore football finds itself in the doldrums and Sport Singapore chief executive Alan Goh is hoping national project Unleash the Roar (UTR) will get the same patience that Ferguson was given to find success.
In an interview with The Straits Times on the Hard Tackle podcast published on Jan 24, Goh and Singapore Sport Institute (SSI) chief Su Chun Wei both insisted the UTR project was moving in the right direction.
Citing the early struggles of Ferguson, Goh said: “Not to say that I am going to promise Alex Ferguson type of success but actually, that’s the level of patience that we hope, we minimally give UTR and FAS.
“Of course, we’re not going to abdicate accountability. Hopefully we can compete at a higher level than the results we have seen in recent times. We’ve been there before in our history. And our aim collectively as one Team Singapore is hopefully to replicate conditions to get back there again.”
While a long term ambition under UTR is for the Lions to qualify for the 2034 World Cup, results in the interim have not made for good reading. Fans have also grown disillusioned with poor results and a lack of identity in the various national teams.
The Republic lost 4-1 to Malaysia at the Asean Football Federation Championship in January 2023 and suffered an early exit from the tournament. Months later in May, the Under-22 team were thrashed 7-0 by their Causeway rivals in a disastrous Cambodia SEA Games campaign which then led to the squad being withdrawn from the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Among other criticisms of UTR has been the project’s slow start. It was announced in March 2021 and the first significant move was in July 2022 when the Schools Football Academy programme was launched with 10 schools.
A year later, the inaugural batch of eight teenage footballers were awarded overseas scholarships shortly after the Junior Development (for those eight to 12) and National Development Centres (13 to 16) for promising youths was set up.
Goh said: “These are the pieces. And hopefully in a few years, we start to see more support and more interests, and it will then translate into more success on the pitch.”
Su insisted UTR “is on track” and said: “It is a long term plan...Of course, it takes a longer time for the entire fruits to come to bear.”
He added: “Everyone wants to see winning teams. Everyone wants our senior Lions or Young Lions to be competitive. If we are going on this long journey and we are seeing signs of improvement, we have got to support our Lions...
“We cannot be giving them wet blankets and demoralize them. We need to be together. And as I said, in another three to five years, if we do this collectively as one… I’m pretty sure that everyone will share the collective fruits of this journey.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/unleash-the-roar-football-project-is-on-the-right-track-insist-senior-singapore-sports-officials
| 2024-01-24T09:37:19Z
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CHISINAU - Moldova's foreign minister announced his resignation on Wednesday, saying he had fulfilled his objective of steering the country towards the European Union, a process that pro-Russian separatists in the country have threatened to fight.
The small former Soviet republic led by pro-European president Sandu was given the green light by the EU in December to open negotiations on joining the 27-nation bloc along with neighbouring Ukraine.
Both countries face a long process involving changes to meet EU standards, which Popescu, who became foreign minister in 2021, noted had been going on for several years.
"I have completed all obligations to integrate Moldova into the EU which were set by President Maia Sandu. I need a pause," minister Nicu Popescu told a media briefing.
Analysts praised Popescu's role in supporting Sandu's efforts to move the country closer to the EU and said he was resigning to spend more time with his family living in France.
His resignation comes at a sensitive time for Moldova, where a duty on imports and exports introduced in the New Year were met this week by a call from pro-Russian separatists in its Transdniestria region for military readiness.
Sandu has denounced Russia's invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of plotting a coup to oust her. The Kremlin says she is fomenting Russophobia.
Before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the bulk of Moldovan energy needs came from a single Soviet-era pipeline controlled by the Russian state-owned gas monopoly, Gazprom.
The Moldovan government took steps to reduce its reliance on Russian gas and strengthen its energy security.
Sandu has also said that Chisinau could press ahead with its bid to join the EU without Transdniestria, which split from Moldova before the collapse of Soviet rule and fought a brief war against the newly independent state lying between Ukraine and Romania.
Transdniestria, which lies on Moldova's eastern fringe, has since seen little turmoil or violence -- 2,000 Russian "peacekeepers" remain on the line separating the two. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/moldovas-foreign-minister-resigns-as-country-moves-towards-eu
| 2024-01-24T09:37:29Z
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GENEVA - Environmental activists face a severe crackdown in Britain, a UN expert warned on Jan 23, lamenting that peaceful protesters face long prison terms and are the targets of “toxic discourse”.
Mr Michel Forst, the United Nations special rapporteur on environmental defenders, said he had received “extremely worrying information” during a recent visit to Britain about “an increasingly severe crackdown”.
“Regressive laws” were being used to slap environmental and climate activists with severe penalties, “including in relation to the exercise of the right to peaceful protest”, he warned in a statement.
Mr Forst is an independent expert appointed under the UN’s Aarhus Convention, which among other things provides for justice in environmental matters, but he does not speak on behalf of the United Nations.
He stressed that “the right to protest is a basic human right” and “an essential part of a healthy democracy”.
British police were controversially granted anti-protest powers by the government 8n 2023 following several years of disruptive demonstrations by environment activists.
Mr Forst said peaceful demonstrators are being prosecuted under the 2022 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act for the criminal offence of “public nuisance”, punishable by up to 10 years behind bars.
In addition, the 2023 Public Order Act is being used “to further criminalise peaceful protest”, he said.
In December, for instance, a peaceful climate protester who took part in an approximately 30-minute slow march on a public road was sentenced to six months in prison.
‘Toxic discourse’
Mr Forst stressed it had hitherto been “almost unheard of since the 1930s for members of the public to be imprisoned for peaceful protest in the UK”.
The expert also said it was incomprehensible that some judges were barring “environmental defenders from explaining to the jury their motivation” for protesting “or from mentioning climate change at all”.
He voiced alarm at harsh bail conditions slapped on environmental protesters while they await trial, including bans on further protests or having contact with others in their movement.
Some activists were also required to wear electronic ankle tags or GPS trackers.
Currently, “environmental defenders may be on bail for up to two years from the date of arrest to their eventual criminal trial,” he said.
Mr Forst said environmental activists were frequently publicly derided in British media and by politicians, placing them at heightened risk of threats, abuse and physical attacks.
This “toxic discourse”, he warned, “may also be used by the state as justification for adopting increasingly severe and draconian measures against environmental defenders”.
“We are in the midst of a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Environmental defenders are acting for the benefit of us all,” Mr Forst said.
A spokeswoman for Britain’s Home Office told AFP: “The right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, but we must also protect the law-abiding majority’s right to go about their daily lives.
“While decisions on custodial sentences are a matter for the independent judiciary, the Public Order Act brings in new criminal offences and proper penalties for selfish, guerrilla protest tactics,” the interior ministry added. AFP
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/un-expert-slams-britain-s-severe-crackdown-on-climate-activists
| 2024-01-24T09:37:39Z
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JOHANNESBURG - South African police have arrested a man suspected of starting the fire that killed more than 70 people in a hijacked building in downtown Johannesburg in August.
The 29-year-old man confessed to an inquiry tasked with determining responsibility for the blaze that he was involved in starting it, the police said in a statement sent to Reuters on Wednesday.
He is expected to appear before a Johannesburg court soon on charges of arson, 77 counts of murder and 120 counts of attempted murder, the statement said.
One of the worst disasters in living memory in South Africa's economic hub, the blaze broke out on Aug. 31 in a dilapidated building crammed with mostly foreign migrants. Many of the victims were burned beyond recognition.
The deaths shed light on the unsafe conditions in which many poor people live in Johannesburg's city centre, where dozens of buildings have been abandoned and taken over by criminal groups who charge fees for staying there. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/man-to-be-charged-with-murder-for-deadly-johannesburg-fire
| 2024-01-24T09:37:49Z
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DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM -Israel and Hamas broadly agree in principle that an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners could take place during a month-long ceasefire, but the framework plan is being held up by the two sides' differences over how to bring a permanent end to the Gaza war, three sources said.
Intense mediation efforts led by Qatar, Washington and Egypt in recent weeks have focused on a phased approach to release different categories of Israeli hostages - starting with civilians and ending with soldiers - in return for a break in hostilities, the release of Palestinian prisoners and more aid to Gaza.
The latest round of shuttle diplomacy started on Dec. 28 and has narrowed disagreements about the length of an initial ceasefire to around 30 days, after Hamas had first proposed a pause of several months, said one of the sources, an official briefed on the negotiations.
However, Hamas has since refused to move forward with the plans until the future conditions of a permanent ceasefire are agreed, according to six sources. Most of the sources consulted for this story requested anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive matters.
While Israel has sought to negotiate one stage at a time, Hamas is seeking "a package deal" that agrees a permanent ceasefire before hostages are released during the initial phase, said one of the sources, a Palestinian official close to the mediation efforts. Israel and Hamas are speaking through the mediators, not talking directly.
A White House spokesman said on Tuesday U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk was in the region - for the second time in a week - for discussions about releasing hostages and that Washington would support a longer "humanitarian pause".
The U.S. State Department and White House, Qatar's foreign ministry and Egypt's State Information Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Two Egyptian security sources said that there was work underway to convince Hamas to accept a one-month truce to be followed by a permanent ceasefire. However, Hamas is requesting guarantees that the second phase of the deal would be carried out, in order to agree to the initial truce, the sources said.
The sources did not provide details of what such guarantees might consist of.
Asked about the negotiations, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Monday the organization was open to discussing ideas but that no deal was yet in place.
"We are open to all initiatives and proposals, but any agreement must be based on ending the aggression and the occupation's complete pullout from Gaza Strip," said Abu Zuhri.
One offer by Israel is to end the war if Hamas removes six senior leaders from Gaza, said a seventh source, a senior Hamas official. However, Hamas "absolutely" rejected the proposal, he said.
The source said the list included the masterminds of Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, Yahya Sinwar and Mohamed al-Deif, who are Israel's top targets to kill or capture in the war and are thought to be hiding deep within Hamas' extensive network of tunnels beneath Gaza.
Reuters was not immediately able to confirm this proposal with Israeli sources. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office declined a request for comment about the proposal or the broader negotiations. According to recordings leaked to Israel's N12 news network, Netanyahu said such a "surrender and exile" scenario was being discussed in early January.
NETANYAHU UNDER PRESSURE
Almost four months after the Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people, Israel's offensive in Gaza has yet to eliminate Hamas' senior leadership or its capacity to fight, despite razing much of the coastal enclave and killing more than 25,000 Palestinians.
Netanyahu reiterated this week that only "total victory" over Hamas would bring an end to the war, but he is under increasing pressure to reach a deal, including from members of his war cabinet and the families of around 130 hostages who remain in captivity since the Hamas incursion.
Israel's military on Monday suffered the highest daily death toll of its Gaza offensive with 24 fatalities, including 21 in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack in central Gaza and three elsewhere.
Five of the sources said Israel had refused to discuss any end to the war that did not include Hamas being dismantled. They did not specify if exiling the leadership would meet that bar.
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said at a press conference on Tuesday that efforts were ongoing to secure the hostages' release. He said Israel would not agree to a ceasefire deal that leaves Hamas in power in the enclave.
Qatar and Washington were instrumental in negotiating a week-long truce in November that led to the release of more than 100 hostages and around 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Starting on Dec. 28, Qatar's negotiators sent the framework of a new agreement to Hamas and Israel, asking both sides to indicate what they were prepared to agree to, the official briefed on the negotiations said.
When the two sides responded earlier this month, Hamas sought a truce that would last several months, while Israel wanted all the hostages freed in weeks, the official said.
Over the past few weeks, U.S. and Qatari mediators have drawn the two sides closer to agreeing the 30-day process, which would include the release of all hostages, entry of more aid to Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, the official said.
Despite the difficulty of bridging the gap in positions, one of the sources, briefed on the discussions, described the talks as intensive and said a deal could be agreed "at any minute."
U.S. DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS
Washington is ratcheting up diplomatic pressure to end the violence. Earlier in January, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken shuttled between Arab states and Israel on a frenetic tour aimed at finding a way forward from the bloodshed.
However, Hamas is seeking guarantees that Israel will not restart the conflict, a U.S. source briefed on the matter and the Palestinian official said.
Hamas wants the United States, Egypt and Qatar to guarantee the implementation, and is concerned that Netanyahu's government would resume fighting once Hamas frees civilian hostages, even if Israeli soldiers remain captive, the Palestinian official said.
During this round, Hamas had sought the release of all Palestinian prisoners from Israel's prisons, including those that participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, the U.S. source said. The official briefed on the talks said Hamas had since softened that demand, which would likely be vehemently opposed by Israel.
Hamas believes that before seriously talking about a long-term ceasefire, Israel wants to conclude its operations in Khan Younis, the southern city in Gaza that has seen the most intense offensive and fighting in recent weeks, the Palestinian official said.
Reuters could not immediately establish the status of discussions about whether Israel's troops and armour would remain in Gaza during any prolonged ceasefire. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T09:38:00Z
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ATLANTA - The nose wheel of a Boeing 757 passenger jet operated by Delta Air Lines popped off and rolled away as the plane was lining up for take-off over the weekend from Atlanta’s international airport, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Boeing was not immediately available to comment outside regular business hours.
The nose gear mishap on Jan 20 came amid heightened scrutiny of the aircraft manufacturer by federal regulators following the mid-air blowout of a fuselage panel that left a gaping hold in an 8-week-old Boeing 737 Max 9 jet flown by Alaska Airlines.
Nobody was seriously injured in the blowout, but the FAA grounded 171 Max 9s after the Jan 5 incident.
The agency has since recommended that airlines operating Boeing 737-900ER jets inspect door plugs on those jets to ensure they are properly secured after some carriers reported loose hardware during inspections of grounded Max 9 planes.
According to a preliminary FAA notice filed on Jan 22 documenting the 757 nose gear detachment, none of the 184 passengers or six crew members aboard was hurt in the incident, which took place at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
The report said the aircraft was lining up and waiting for take-off when the “nose wheel came off and rolled down the hill”.
The plane had been scheduled for a flight to Bogota, Colombia, when the mishap occurred, and a Delta spokesperson said the passengers were put on a replacement flight, according to the New York Times, which broke the story late on Jan 23.
The newspaper said Boeing declined comment and directed questions to the airline. The FAA told the newspaper it was continuing its investigation of the incident. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T09:38:10Z
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Siân Welby made her debut on ITV's This Morning this week – and it's safe to say she's gone down a treat with viewers of the programme. The TV and radio presenter is best known for appearing on Capital Breakfast alongside Roman Kemp and Chris Stark. But how much do you know about the star's life away from the cameras? Keep reading to find out all about Siân, including her producer fiancé to her family life…
Born in Nottingham, Siân is a radio and TV presenter who began her career at the tender age of 19 when she starred in an advert for New! Magazine. From there, she landed a role as Channel 5's weather presenter after being spotted by former Channel 5 boss Richard Desmond.
The 37-year-old joined Capital Breakfast in 2020, when she replaced Vick Hope. Before her hosting debut on This Morning, Siân regularly appeared on the programme as a competition presenter in 2023.
Away from the cameras, Siân lives in Wandsworth, London, with her fiancé Jake Beckett, who works for Heart Breakfast as a creative producer. Check out their amazing living room in the video below.
Siân announced her engagement in August last year, revealing that her boyfriend popped the question during a holiday abroad. Taking to Instagram, Siân flashed her sparkly ring in sun-soaked snaps of the loved-up couple. "On Tuesday I thought we were just going on a boat trip!! Genuinely didn't see this coming," she penned in the caption. "For once I am totally speechless. I didn't think it mattered until he asked me, and then suddenly it meant everything."
"Love you Jakey x. 15.8.23," she added.
Whilst hosting This Morning on Tuesday, Siân opened up about her father's "devastating" health condition. During a chat with co-host Dermot O'Leary about a new blood test for Alzheimer's, Siân spoke about her father's vascular dementia. "It's one of the most devastating, my dad's going through it, he has vascular dementia," she explained. "You're scared to lose a person that you know, it is quite frightening. Like you say, would I want to take a test knowing I could be susceptible to it? It's hard to know! I don't know if I want to know, is ignorance bliss? But then again, if I could do something about it?"
This isn't the first time the presenter has been open about her father's health struggles. Back in 2022, Siân revealed her fears for her father, Ian, after he contracted Covid-19 following his cancer diagnosis.
Ian became seriously ill after suffering from sepsis and pneumonia in both lungs. Speaking to The Sun at the time, Siân said: "He was so ill, we all thought he was going to die. He couldn’t even open his mouth to eat, he went down to six and a half stone.
"He went so downhill in such a short amount of time the doctors thought he had advance dementia and would be bedridden. We had to tell them, 'no! He wasn't like this at all before!'"
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| 2024-01-24T09:38:56Z
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The Traitors star Diane Carson has firmly established herself as one of the series' most iconic players. The retired teacher has provided some of the show's most entertaining moments, including dramatically revealing her connection to Ross in the style of a true crime documentary.
While many viewers will know by now that Ross isn't Diane's only son, and that the former contestant is the mum of Game of Thrones actor Kerr Logan, did you know that she's also related to an Endeavour star?
Diane's son Kerr, 35, who is known for playing Mathos Seaworth in Game of Thrones, as well as for his roles in Alias Grace, Strike and Showtrial, is married to actress Sara Vickers, making Diane her mother-in-law.
Sara, 39, is perhaps best known for starring in ITV's detective drama Endeavour. She played the role of Joan Thursday, the daughter of Fred Thursday who has an on-and-off relationship with Endeavour Morse.
The Scottish actress has appeared in a wide range of major TV shows and films, including episodes of Netflix's Lovesick, The Crown and BBC One drama, Shetland.
Viewers may also recognise her as Ms. Crookshanks in HBO's superhero drama Watchmen, as well as for her portrayal of Eilidh in the 2013 musical film, Sunshine on Leith.
Kerr and Sara first crossed paths whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which they both graduated in 2010. They tied the knot seven years later and now share two children.
The couple tend to keep their personal lives off of social media, so little else is known about their relationship.
However, we do know that they've been tuning into the latest series of The Traitors. Reacting to his mother's appearance on the show after the BBC released a cast photo back in January, Kerr wrote on X: "I'm not joking….. a family member of mine is in this photo and I've only just found out."
Warning! Spoilers for episode seven of The Traitors ahead!
In a separate tweet, he penned: "My mother is on the traitors. My mother is on the traitors. My mother is on the traitors. She’s bonkers. I’m scared."
Later on in the series, Ross took to social media with a photo of a family video call, which shows Kerr and Sara wearing black in honour of Diane's fake funeral in episode seven. "Prosecco at the ready for the slow slow death," Ross penned in the caption.
While Ross remains on the show, Diane was murdered by traitor Miles with a "poisoned chalice" of fizzy rosé wine. It didn't take long for the faithfuls to work out who was responsible for the death, however, and Miles was banished at the following roundtable.
Chatting with HELLO! about killing Diane, Miles joked: "I'm the real victim here because I love fizzy rose! I love it! I had to hand mine out and give it to Diane to get the job done, so I'm so dedicated as a Traitor! I had to have a boring, flat rose, so who really suffered here guys?!"
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BEIJING - The Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday said China's claims to the Paracel and Spratly Islands in the South China Sea were backed by "history" after Vietnam over the weekend repeated it had sufficient evidence to claim sovereignty over the islands.
The Paracel and Spratly Islands, known as the Hoang Sa and Trong Sa islands in Vietnam, are in the South China Sea, a busy global maritime waterway almost all of which is claimed by China. Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Brunei are among other claimants.
Vietnam has "full legal basis and ample historical evidence" to assert its sovereignty over the two island chains, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, in response to a query from the media on China's "invasion" of the Paracel Islands in 1974.
"Viet Nam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa Islands has been established since at least the 17th century in accordance with international law, and exercised in a peaceful, continuous and public manner by successive Vietnamese states," it said.
But the Chinese foreign ministry said China's claims are "fully supported by history and jurisprudence."
"China was the first to discover, name, develop and manage these islands and archipelagos, and continue to exercise sovereign jurisdiction over them," said Wang Wenbin, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, at a regular news conference.
"China always opposes relevant countries' illegal claims on China's territory and will continue to firmly safeguard its sovereignty."
Vietnam's re-assertion of its claims coincides with months of vigorous claims by the Philippines in other parts of the South China Sea after dramatic maritime encounters between Chinese and Philippine vessels near disputed territory.
In December, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Vietnam and sealed an agreement to move towards the building of a community with a "shared future" between the two countries. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T11:06:58Z
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TOKYO – Three foreign-born residents of Japan will next week file a lawsuit against the government over alleged racial profiling by police, a case that would be the first of its kind, their lawyers said on Jan 24.
The three men – one born in Pakistan, an African-American man and a Pacific Islander – have been repeatedly questioned by police because of their ethnicity or appearance, their lawyers said in a statement.
“It would be the first lawsuit over an operation of racial profiling by police in questioning”, even though suits over police’s excessive questioning have taken place in the past, one of their lawyers, Mr Moe Miyashita, told AFP.
Despite rising immigration, foreign-born residents of Japan account for only 2.3 per cent of the country’s population, one of the lowest shares in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The man born in Pakistan, who identifies himself only as Zain and is in his 20s, came to Japan at the age of eight and obtained Japanese citizenship with his family at the age of 13.
“In total, he has been questioned about 15 times by the police in Japan,” the lawyers said.
In April and September 2023, he was questioned by a police officer in front of his house, according to his lawyers.
He told the officer that he was a Japanese citizen, but the officer was not convinced.
“The officer asked him to show his residence card and passport, and then searched his belongings,” the lawyers said in the statement.
The two other plaintiffs are Maurice, an African-American man in his 40s who lives with family members who are Japanese citizens, and a Pacific islander in his 50s who identifies himself only as Matthew.
Matthew lived in several countries before marrying his Japanese spouse in 2002 and moving to Japan, where he became a permanent resident.
“In total, he has been questioned about 100 times by the police in Japan, and experienced being questioned twice a day about four times,” the statement said.
In October 2021, a police patrol car that passed him while he was driving made a U-turn and ordered him to stop his car, it said.
After he stopped, the police officer asked for his driver’s licence.
“When Matthew’s wife asked if he had committed any traffic violation, the officer replied: ‘No, it’s rare to see a foreigner driving in this area,’” it said.
They will file the lawsuit at the Tokyo District Court on Jan 29, seeking compensation.
“We claim that the practice of racially discriminatory police questioning both at institutional and individual levels is unconstitutional and illegal,” the lawyers said.
Japan’s National Police Agency was not immediately available for comment. AFP
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/in-first-of-its-kind-case-japanese-police-accused-of-racial-profiling
| 2024-01-24T11:07:09Z
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SEOUL – North Korea is developing artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for everything from how to respond to Covid-19 and safeguard nuclear reactors to war-gaming simulations and government surveillance, according to a new study.
International sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme may have hindered North Korea’s attempts to secure AI hardware, but it appears to be pursuing the latest technology, wrote study author Kim Hyuk of the James Martin Centre for Non-proliferation Studies in California.
“North Korea’s recent endeavours in AI/ML development signify a strategic investment to bolster its digital economy,” Mr Kim wrote in the report, which cited open-source information including state media and journals.
The report was published on Jan 23 by the 38 North project and found that some of North Korea’s AI researchers have collaborated with foreign scholars, including in China.
Seoul’s spy agency on Jan 24 said it detected signs that North Korean hackers had used generative AI to search for targets and seek technologies needed for hacking, though it appears they have yet to use it in actual cyber attacks.
The National Intelligence Service said it was closely monitoring the situation.
North Korea established the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute in 2013 and several companies have promoted commercial products featuring AI in recent years, the report said.
Communications technology is heavily restricted and monitored in the authoritarian North.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, North Korea used AI to create a model for evaluating proper mask usage and prioritising clinical symptom indicators of infection, Mr Kim said in the report.
North Korean scientists have also published research on using AI for maintaining the safety of nuclear reactors, the report added.
The UN nuclear watchdog and independent experts said in December 2023 that a new reactor at North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex appears to be operating for the first time, which would mean another potential source of plutonium for nuclear weapons.
The AI development presents many challenges, Mr Kim wrote.
He added: “For instance, North Korea’s pursuit of a war-gaming simulation program using (machine learning) reveals intentions to better comprehend operational environments against potential adversaries.
“Furthermore, North Korea’s ongoing collaborations with foreign scholars pose concerns for the sanctions regime.” REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T11:07:19Z
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MOSCOW - The Kremlin on Wednesday said it did not consider Boris Nadezhdin, a former opposition lawmaker seeking to run for president on an anti-war ticket, as a serious rival to President Vladimir Putin.
Nadezhdin, 60, is currently trying to collect 100,000 signatures by the end of January to be registered as a candidate in the March 15-17 presidential election.
In recent days, some Russians opposed to what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine have queued up in the cold to offer their sigantures in his support.
When asked on Wednesday if Nadezhdin was a rival who posed a political threat to Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Not at all, we don't see him as a rival. Any citizen has the right to run for president if they meet a number of conditions."
Putin, in power as either president or prime minister since the end of 1999 and in control of all the state's levers, is widely expected to win another six-year term in March.
Nadezhdin's supporters say he has passed the 100,000 siganture mark, garnering considerable support in Moscow and St Petersburg, but still needs more from other parts of Russia because the signatures need to be spread across at least 40 regions of the world's largest country.
The Kremlin says most Russians back what it casts as Moscow's quest to ensure its own security in Ukraine. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T11:07:29Z
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SINGAPORE – Tucked away on Pearl’s Hill, a short trek from People’s Park Food Centre, is a police barracks-turned-independent arts enclave. This one-of-a-kind creative mess grew organically, bucking the trend in overplanned Singapore.
Once home to the Sikh contingent in the 1930s, 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace (195PHT) today houses a vibrant community of creatives with 148 sub-tenants. These include a jewellery atelier which collaborates with an upcycled kimono label, a cluster of tattoo artists, Mandopop music schools and, until recently, Singapore’s only commercial taxidermy and art studio.
Regular patron Wong Zhi Ying describes it as “surprising at every turn”. The 27-year-old consultant first visited the space in 2021, when her friend set up a somatic healing studio there.
Nowadays, she frequents the cluster monthly, visiting Paaru’s bakery and cafe, which offers unhurried food experiences in front of a miniature bamboo garden, and Asaru Studio, a Japanese experiential retail studio – recommending them heartily to friends who appreciate niche encounters.
Master tenant Jerry Tan, 63, has leased the gazetted building from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) since 2007, lining the space with an eccentric collection of Greek, Buddhist and Snoopy sculptures while giving his sub-tenants – 95 per cent of which he says are start-ups – the space to experiment, fail and grow.
But come March 2025, the current lease with the SLA will expire. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) told The Straits Times there are tentative plans to “revitalise the conserved former police barracks”, with plans to build 6,000 public and private homes in the area over the next decade. The cluster will, in all likelihood, disappear to make way for these plans.
Mr Tan is worried that the community he has painstakingly built will splinter and is holding out hope for an extension after the end of his three rounds of three-year leases. “I really hope the Government can lend some support to this cause, especially since there is no immediate use for the area.”
Ask any Singaporean to name “independent” arts spaces in Singapore, and most will draw a blank. Yet clusters like 195PHT have developed through ground-up efforts, unlike arts spaces under tenancy schemes planned and managed by the National Arts Council (NAC).
But such ground-up spaces face an uphill task of being recognised as contributors to the diversity of Singapore’s arts scene.
The Potters’ Guilt – a ceramic studio at 195PHT since 2018 which occupies three units – says Mr Tan has allowed eclectic offerings to take shape organically.
There are advantages to situating their creative start-up in a private space, say artists and founding partners Teo Huey Min and Thomas Cheong in an e-mail interview.
“Although we may not enjoy the subsidised rates that NAC’s arts housing scheme offers, we are also not bound by the stipulations their tenants are obliged to observe with the onus on individual tenants to manage their own sustainability and overheads.”
For first-time business owner and jeweller Junie Lim, 32, who works on commissioned pieces and teaches workshops at Clink Clank Clunk, the affordability of the unit and its accessible location make 195PHT the perfect “stepping stone” to growing her jewellery business.
Mall rentals are prohibitively expensive and the NAC’s arts spaces tenancy do not accommodate crafting businesses or commercial arts, she notes, while her current location is ideal “for an artist to come in for a year to experiment and try out a new business”.
Mr Tan adds that the 195PHT loved by many today did not blossom overnight, but took 17 years of hard work. Understanding that artists require flexible rental arrangements to succeed, he provided alternative agreements and kept starting rental rates low, at $500 a month for an 80 sq ft unit.
This is a contrast to mall rentals, which can chain tenants to two-year rental agreements that charge up to $2,200 monthly for a unit of comparable size in the same area.
Space in tiny Singapore is a perennial bugbear for the arts scene which, according to NAC, has maxed out the gross floor area allocated to arts housing. According to a 2020 article by Dr Hoe Su Fern, assistant professor of arts and culture management at Singapore Management University, about 46,000 sq m have been allocated for arts housing.
Even veteran arts groups face precarity over their leases, as the 24-year-old Intercultural Theatre Institute (ITI) experienced. In 2020, the independent academy for Asian performing arts almost lost its home since 2007 when a rent hike meant it was effectively priced out of its campus.
The academy counts among its illustrious alumni Golden Horse Award-winning Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann and Grace Kalaiselvi, founder of Brown Voices, Singapore’s first collective of Indian theatre practitioners.
After protracted negotiations with SLA and NAC, ITI has remained at its original home and is now the master tenant of 11 Upper Wilkie Road – also known as Emily Hill. Its lease – from October 2021, for a period of 3+3+3 years – is directly with SLA.
The independent arts cluster was formed by now-defunct Emily Hill Enterprise – comprising glass artist Tan Sock Fong, sculptor Sun Yu-li, glass studio Solideas, art gallery Monsoonasia Gallery and ITI – with popular food and events space Kult Kafe as one of its former tenants. Under the new arrangement with SLA from 2021, 11 Upper Wilkie Road is now meant solely for arts use.
Nestled atop a hill at the nexus between creative and cultural zones in Little India, Orchard Road and Middle Road, Emily Hill saw the opening of The Private Museum (TPM) in August 2023 and has been home to artist studios since 2007.
Cultural medallion recipient Thirunalan Sasitharan, 65, co-founder and director of ITI, told ST that “nine years may seem like a long time, but it is not when you are running a three-year programme”, making the case that veteran arts groups should be able to negotiate for longer leases which help independent groups make longer-term plans.
He says: “The authorities ought to be able to make exceptions for good reasons and for rational grounds when they are dealing with people who have a good track record and whose cause has a definite public interest cause.”
It is a point echoed by Mr Aaron Teo, associate director of TPM, a non-profit private museum that has hosted more than 50 exhibitions since its inception in 2010 and offers different perspectives from those of Singapore’s national museums.
TPM tackled the ephemerality of space and place-making in land-scarce Singapore in its final show in Waterloo Street titled 3+3+3: On Condition.
The museum moved out of 51 Waterloo Street, its home of 11 years, after its 3+3+3-year lease ended in 2021.
The Waterloo building, which also once hosted the Singapore Ballet Academy, has been vacant since 2021. NAC has not announced plans for the site, but says feasibility studies are ongoing.
Returning to a similar lease structure in the Osborne House on Emily Hill, Mr Teo says: “To receive the same 3+3+3 really gives us a lot of anxiety because we need to find a place to be rooted in – and being reviewed every three years, you might not get the plus three, you know?”
Plans for renovation or to install a lift in the two-storey villa for accessibility are harder to sell to the board of directors, as the tenancy is less certain, says Mr Teo.
But he acknowledges that a silver lining of the short 3+3+3-year lease scheme is that it “forces organisations to reinvent and innovate, given that there is an expiry date to where you should be”.
While TPM has been able to adapt and move from its approximately 1,500 sq ft unit to its own building measuring 8,200 sq ft, where it hosts twice the number of guests on opening nights, he adds a caveat: “There are a lot of spaces that have died – not everyone has the capacity or capability to be forced to relocate and reinvent.”
When asked if the NAC would work with SLA and URA on options beyond 3+3+3-year schemes for veteran arts groups, the NAC did not respond directly. Instead, it cited former instances of its close collaboration with the public and private sectors to “catalyse spaces for arts groups and businesses”.
Amid the fight for permanent homes, Selegie Road might best embody the space-scarce zeitgeist with its stretch of ephemeral pop-up arts spaces.
Peace Centre was given an extended lease of life by social movement PlayPan in August 2023 and has drawn a predominantly indie youth crowd hungry for an organic community. But its tenure was always meant to be short, as tenants will have to move out for the building’s demolition by Jan 31.
The Substation, too, after losing its home of 30 years in Armenian Street in 2021, had to grapple with its rootlessness and held the 2023 edition of its annual arts festival on the rooftop carpark of Parklane Shopping Mall, beside Peace Centre.
To NAC’s credit, it has facilitated introductions between arts groups and shopping mall GR.iD in Selegie Road, to temporarily activate a 16,000 sq ft space that will end in February. The mall now features an ongoing show by arts groups including Deck, Arts Management Collective and Supper House.
Supper House moved out of its Tagore Lane home in November 2023 as rent in the industrial space had increased by 25 per cent.
Multidisciplinary designer Ashley Chiam, founder of the experimental design studio which has been drawing a steady pool of creatives to its exhibitions, says rising rents and land scarcity have forced arts groups to adapt.
“Temporary short spaces allow experimental art spaces like ourselves the allowance to take a breather, to reset our art calendars. It also gives us the opportunity to get creative, think outside the box, and not be confined or held hostage by the past.”
What brings together independent clusters within 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, Emily Hill and Selegie Road is more than just a shared sense of ephemerality. They commit to a creative messiness in their approach with a bold, independent spirit that is a counterpoint to cultural work within official institutions and policies.
Mr Teo, citing TPM’s ongoing show Chronic Compulsions, which showcases rarely seen work from 15 private collectors, says: “The narratives that come out of the shows that we do value-add to the overarching art history or art ecology in Singapore.”
For glass artist Tan Sock Fong, 58, her studio, located on Emily Hill since 2007, gives her access to three-phase power systems she needs for glasswork. This feature cannot be found in many studio spaces under the NAC’s arts housing scheme, and is a limitation for artists trained in the medium.
A challenge for her, however, is that costs have gone up by 50 per cent since 2018 while her revenue from workshops has dipped by almost 80 per cent.
Koh Wan Ching, 43, head of acting at ITI, says: “You learn to let the messiness become some kind of drive to make art and experiment. A lot of the work that we do here may be experimental and may not be refined, but that’s what we want as a training ground for the students – to have a space to fail.”
Sasitharan concurs: “The cultural scene is an ecosystem of living organisms – and living organisms cannot always be engineered into efficiency.”
Clink Clank Clunk’s creative director Raymond Luo, 36, uses the same ecological metaphor to describe 195PHT’s importance: “There is a hidden community here and in other areas that doesn’t fall under (the policymaker’s) arm. Like habitat conservation, you need to be careful not to disturb the areas.”
He adds: “If all the hidden enclaves or spaces are gone, then where will the naturally occurring talents be? Everything would be pre-funded and pre-vetted.”
As a veteran in the arts scene, Sasitharan believes that rather than a hands-off approach for independent spaces, the NAC needs to think more systematically about how independent arts clusters and groups figure in its long-term plans.
He asks: “Since the start of NAC, there have been six arts plans – tell me where the individual artists or independent arts organisations figure in those arts plans? They are not there.”
Observing that the state of independent arts has “gone backwards” over the decades, he adds: “I think we need more funding, we need more attention and we need more focus.
“If we want a scene which is diverse and plural – which really reflects ground-up community and individual artists’ interests, where freedom and autonomy are important and where diversity is cherished, particularly diversity of local arts – I think that’s where independent arts organisations are so important.”
What’s on at Singapore’s independent arts spaces this weekend:
As part of Singapore Art Week, The Private Museum is organising Chronic Compulsions: Selected Works From Art Addicts Anonymous (till March 24), and the artist studios on Emily Hill are arranging an open studio exhibition (Jan 25 to 28, 1 to 9pm; individual workshops, various timings).
Several art exhibitions and spaces – including Supper House’s experimental show Nothing But A Day Dream – will also be at Level 7 of GR.iD, 1 Selegie Road (till Jan 29, 3 to 10pm). Artists are also showing work at Peace Centre (till Jan 28, 11am to 9pm).
At 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, music venue Wild Pearl Studio is curating a community garden event at bar Kult Yard’s backyard (Jan 27, 2 to 5pm). For a listing of studios and businesses at 195 Pearl’s Hill Terrace, go to 195pearlshillterrace.com
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SINGAPORE – The second edition of mega art fair Art SG shrugged off its smaller exhibitor count to attract a record 45,300 visitors over four days, reporting major sales across galleries and reaffirming Singapore’s prospect as a global art hub.
Gallery directors noted the “higher energy” for the 2024 edition, with visitors showing a clearer intent to buy and sales being transacted more quickly.
By the end of the VIP preview on Jan 18, many booths had already placed works with both private and institutional collectors, including a few who snapped up all available works by artists such as Australian painter Del Kathryn Barton within hours of the fair’s opening.
Fair director Shuyin Yang on Jan 22 said she was gratified to see Singaporeans turn out in full force for the Singapore Art Week tentpole event from Jan 18 to 21 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.
This was in addition to a cosmopolitan crowd of visitors and private collectors, as well as museum directors and curators, from the rest of South-east Asia and Australia; alongside those from Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Europe and the United States.
Among them were representatives from Hong Kong’s new M+ Museum, the director of international programmes for Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates, the director of Japan’s Mori Art Museum and personnel from the Whitworth Art Gallery in the United Kingdom.
Home-grown Mandopop star JJ Lin also turned some heads when he showed up to the fair with bodyguards on Jan 20.
This year’s edition featured a line-up of 114 galleries from 33 countries and territories, down from 2023’s 164 exhibitors.
Ms Yang had previously said this was due to galleries having to make “difficult, strategic decisions” as freight costs stay high and other fairs heat up competition.
But there was still more on offer than most visitors could digest. A Platform programme sited eye-catching large-scale art installations around the fair, and Malaysian textile artist Marcos Kueh’s Woven Billboards: Nenek Moyang (“ancestor” in Malay) quickly became a totemic image of Art SG 2024.
Comprising layered textile “billboards, banners and postcards”, Kueh’s huge work incorporated Malaysian and Bornean imagery, and the crude imagery of street advertisements.
Presented by young Malaysian gallery The Back Room, exhibiting at an international fair for the first time, the work was sold to an unnamed institution in Singapore with a price range of between $50,000 and $100,000.
Another high-profile Platform piece, Lake No. 1 (Tide) by British artist Ian Davenport – best known for pouring liquid paint onto surfaces to create puddles – was also sold to an unnamed collector by London gallery Waddington Custot for US$360,000 (S$483,000).
There were bigger sales, chief of which was an unexhibited work by German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, which Thaddaeus Ropac sold for €1.1 million (S$1.6 million).
White Cube gallery’s combined sales was one of the highest at the fair, amounting to £1.5 million (S$2.5 million). Its booth included many hard-hitters, including the illuminated text tubes of Tracey Emin and the upside down sculptures of Georg Baselitz.
Australian artist Jessica Rankin’s embroidered painting also received a lot of attention and was sold on the first day.
Asian artists were also in high demand: Lehmann Maupin sold works by South Korean artist Lee Bul for between US$200,000 and US$300,000, while Sundaram Tagore sold a range of works by Hiroshi Senju, Jane Lee, Miya Ando and Zheng Lu for a combined total of over US$1 million.
Indonesian artist Atreyu Moniaga’s complex iconography likewise proved popular, with gallery Carl Kostyal selling out his works at US$18,000 each.
Singapore-based galleries hailed this edition of Art SG as a greater success than the edition in 2023, and Can Yavuz, founding director of Yavuz Gallery, said he was already convinced in the first hours of the VIP preview based on the number of sales.
The gallery went on to sell more than 23 works, each ranging between US$5,000 and US$40,000, including pieces by Singapore artists Alvin Ong and Nicholas Ong, to both local and international collectors.
Gajah Gallery also saw its efforts to promote the late I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih pay off. The Indonesian artist died in 2006 and has of late been receiving international recognition for her works on female sexuality.
Her works, along with those by established Singaporean sculptor Han Sai Por and Filipino artist Leslie de Chavez at the booth, all found buyers. Gajah Gallery declined to provide numbers, saying it had sold at least one work by every artist it brought to the fair.
Less established galleries like new gallery 39+ Art Space, located at Tanjong Pagar Distripark, had a harder time, and founder Liu Ying Mei said sales were still below expectations.
She added, though, that the experience has been constructive, with the fair team trying hard to boost the visibility of participating galleries and educating the budding local market about art and the art business.
This was a similar point made by South Africa’s Goodman Gallery, part of an increase in African participation at the fair.
A spokesman said the ongoing Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics exhibition, organised by The Institutum at Gillman Barracks, helped it sell works by African and Caribbean artists such as Misheck Masamvu, Tavares Strachan and William Kentridge.
He added that fairs like Art SG help to introduce collectors to unfamiliar, though no less important, voices. “We are delighted to broaden the international conversation and reach of contemporary art from Africa and its diasporas.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/arts/sold-art-sg-2024-sees-record-45300-visitors-speedier-sales
| 2024-01-24T11:07:50Z
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It was a dream come true for South Korean actress Han So-hee.
An ambassador in South Korea for French luxury fashion house Christian Dior, Han attended the presentation of the Spring/Summer 2024 Haute Couture collection by Dior during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, France, on Jan 22.
The 29-year-old star took to social media on Jan 23 to share several photos and videos of herself at the event, including one in which she appeared like an adoring fan in the presence of Israeli-American actress Natalie Portman.
Han shared another photo with the Hollywood star in another post, writing: “Dreams come true.”
Portman, 42, won the Best Actress Oscar for the psychological drama Black Swan (2010) and is also known for playing Padme Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy Episodes I to III (1999 to 2005).
Other celebrities who attended the event included Barbadian pop star Rihanna, The Queen’s Gambit (2020) actress Anya Taylor-Joy, The Crown (2016 to 2023) actress Elizabeth Debicki, American comedienne-actress Ali Wong and Indian actress Sonam Kapoor.
Han was a commercial model before she made her acting debut in the TV series Reunited Worlds (2017). She gained wider recognition after playing a young mistress in the hit K-drama The World Of The Married (2020), opposite Kim Hee-ae and Park Hae-joon.
Han recently starred in the Netflix period thriller Gyeongseong Creature (2023 to present) alongside Park Seo-joon.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/life/entertainment/dreams-come-true-k-actress-han-so-hee-starstruck-by-natalie-portman-at-dior-event-in-paris
| 2024-01-24T11:08:01Z
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SINGAPORE – Run out of food and drinks on the first day of Chinese New Year? You can head to FairPrice supermarkets as 144 of its 159 supermarkets will remain open on that day – Feb 10.
Forty-two of the outlets will operate round the clock, an increase from the 34 in 2023, the supermarket chain said on Jan 22.
It aims to “provide customers convenient access to groceries, alleviating the need for rushed stockpiling and concerns about limited access to festive supplies”.
On the eve of Chinese New Year on Feb 9, 35 stores will be open round the clock and all other outlets until 5pm.
On Feb 8, 69 branches will be open for 24 hours.
Operating hours for more than 30 outlets will be progressively extended, starting on Jan 26. For instance, branches in Tampines Mall and Downtown East will close at midnight instead of 11pm from Jan 26 to Feb 8.
Regular operating hours will resume on the second day of Chinese New Year on Feb 11.
Delivery slots for the online shop of the supermarket chain will be available only from 8am to 6pm on Feb 9.
While regular delivery hours of 8am to 10pm resume on the first day of Chinese New Year, there are limited slots and customers are advised to place their orders for Feb 10 and Feb 11 early.
More details of each store’s opening hours are available on the FairPrice website.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/144-fairprice-supermarkets-to-stay-open-on-first-day-of-cny
| 2024-01-24T11:08:11Z
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SINGAPORE - Children who were exposed to high levels of adversity in the womb, such as their mothers’ mental and physical health challenges during pregnancy, show an accelerated pattern of brain development, likely in order to survive their difficult circumstances.
This early maturity can shorten the window period of neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to change – needed for children to learn, and hence lead to an increased risk of cognitive impairment and mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.
These were the findings of a new study led by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) published in January 2024.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganise itself to learn, recover from injury, and adjust to new experiences. In early childhood, the brain is typically more adaptable. Low neuroplasticity is associated with poor emotion regulation, aggression, risk-taking behaviours and poor executive functioning skills such as organisation.
About 10 per cent of the Singapore population were found to have exposure to high levels of early life adversity, based on the study’s representative sample.
Early life adversity is measured in the study by the mother’s poor mental and physical health, along with other factors such as hypertension, postnatal depression, smoking, low household income and family structure. Out of the 354 children who participated in the study, 34 had high levels of exposure to early life adversity.
The children studied were those enrolled in the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (Gusto) cohort study since birth. Gusto is a 10-year-old study started in 2008 to study how conditions in pregnancy and early childhood influence the health and development of women and their children.
The Gusto study and the new study are a collaboration between the institute, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, National University Health System and the National University of Singapore.
For the new study, the research team took MRI brain scans from the children at ages 4.5, 6 and 7.5 years to examine the link between early life adversity and brain development.
The research team found that exposure to high levels of early life adversity is linked to the decline of neuroplasticity, especially between the ages of 4.5 and 6.
Dr Tan Ai Peng, principal investigator with the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences at A*Star and clinician with National University Hospital, who led the study, said: “It is the time when the brain changes the most and it also means that this is the time where the brain is most susceptible to any form of intervention.”
Dr Tan said the effects of early life adversity are reversible if identified and treated within this period, but are likely to be permanent otherwise.
“If we can find out what exactly are the brain changes that links early life adversity and the adverse outcomes that we see in our children, that we can potentially develop interventions that target these brain changes,” she said. “If we can develop screening tools to detect accelerated brain development, we will be able to implement interventions earlier.”
For instance, bypass surgery was developed to help treat heart attacks after it was found that coronary artery occlusion is the cause of heart attack, she said. Dr Tan also gave the example of cognitive behavioural therapy, an approach that helps people manage problems by changing the way they think and behave.
Dr Tan highlighted the importance of children’s ability to manage stress in protecting against the effects of early life adversity.
“Some people, when they’re exposed to the same level of stress, feel like ‘It’s fine, whatever happens, happens’, and they take it in a very positive manner. And these people... have a high level of psychological resilience. No matter what stress you throw at them, they will still survive and thrive.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/children-exposed-to-adversity-in-womb-have-faster-brain-development-higher-risk-of-mental-health-disorders
| 2024-01-24T11:08:21Z
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SINGAPORE – His scam victims included his then Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) supervisor, and three teenage boys.
On Jan 24, Nicol Teo Chee Kang, 31, who made more than $194,000 in profit, was sentenced to two years and six months’ jail. He pleaded guilty to multiple charges including four counts of cheating.
Five other charges were considered during sentencing.
Teo was a full-time SCDF national serviceman in November 2020.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jeremy Bin said he was under investigation for the offence linked to his then supervisor – a 47-year-old SCDF female paramedic – involving over $77,000, when he committed most of his other crimes.
Teo hatched a plan to cheat the woman after finding out she had bought a new Housing Board flat. He claimed that his sister owned a firm which could help in renovations.
He also deceived the woman into thinking he had a friend who sold furniture. She agreed to engage the services purportedly offered by his sister and his friend.
Between Nov 24, 2020, and Dec 29, 2021, Teo claimed that he corresponded with an HDB officer named “Janice Tan”, who was purportedly in charge of handling transactions involving the flat.
The DPP told the court: “He informed the victim that ‘Janice’ required payment for renovation certificates, fire insurance and other administrative purposes. The victim therefore transferred the corresponding sums to the accused.”
In all, there were more than 75 instances in which he cheated the victim.
The offences came to light when she contacted HDB and Teo came clean about what he had done. He admitted that he used the monies for personal expenses.
She lodged a police report in January 2022 and he has since repaid $3,000.
Separately, he targeted three boys, aged between 17 and 19, and duped them into transferring more than $64,000 in total.
Teo got to know one of the boys through his mistress, who was a tenant in a unit. The teenager’s mother was her landlady.
On or around Nov 24, 2022, Teo lied to the 18-year-old boy, claiming that he had an investment opportunity – for every $1,000 invested, one would earn up to $30,000 in profit. The teenager gave him $45,856.
The 17-year-old boy transferred $3,400, and the 19-year-old boy more than $15,000, to Teo.
The 18-year-old boy’s mother found out that he had been transferring large sums of cash and confronted Teo.
Teo concocted a false narrative that he and her son were victims of a scam perpetrated by “Jia Jing” and “Jared”. He told her that he would help her find these “scammers”.
Teo also took her son’s phone and deleted all the messages relating to his offences.
The mother, who believed Teo, filed a police report and innocently repeated his lies to the authorities.
Teo told the teenager to tell the police that he had been scammed by “Jia Jing” and “Jared”. Teo also said the teenager would not get his money back if he did not do as he was told.
The boy gave a false statement to the police.
In unrelated investment scams, Teo duped a woman into transferring $3,600 and cheated a 50-year-old man of nearly $49,000.
For each count of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/jail-for-scammer-whose-victims-included-his-then-scdf-supervisor
| 2024-01-24T11:08:23Z
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You are reading the Evening Update newsletter. Get up to speed with the important stories from the day. Subscribe to our newsletter.
Self-radicalised S’porean, 16, who identified as white supremacist given restriction order under ISA
He had chanced upon videos by a foreign far-right political commentator and white supremacist and was exposed to violent extremist material online in 2022.
Changi Airport’s 2023 passenger traffic rebounds to 86% of pre-Covid-19 levels
All regions to which the airport is connected are recording healthy recovery in passenger traffic from pre-pandemic levels.
Trump on track to win nomination after Nikki Haley falls short in New Hampshire
But exit polls show that support is weak among independent voters, who make up the largest chunk of the US electorate, notes Bhagyashree Garekar.
Nelson Loh, Singaporean linked to Newcastle United takeover bid, handed 58 more charges
‘I did not do it,’ says man charged over attempt to murder his sleeping mum
New guide on emergencies for outdoor adventure education after 2021 death of ACS(I) student
Jethro Puah Xin Yang fell from a high-element course on Feb 3, 2021, at Safra Yishun during a school activity.
ComfortDelGro tie-up wins contract to operate, maintain Stockholm Metro
The 11-year contract will be the transport group’s first rail contract in Sweden and its largest rail passenger operation outside Singapore.
Thai court clears opposition figure Pita Limjaroenrat to return to Parliament
He had been blocked from assuming the premiership despite his party winning the most seats in the May 2023 general election.
askST Jobs: Will quitting right after a promotion hurt chances for your next job?
In most circumstances, it is not advisable to resign shortly after a promotion, says a recruitment manager.
Actress-host Fatin Amira dropped from Suria show after Nurul Aini cheating scandal
She is the alleged third party in the marriage of fellow actress-host Nurul Aini and her husband Sofian Roslan.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/evening-update-today-s-headlines-from-the-straits-times-on-jan-24-2024
| 2024-01-24T11:08:34Z
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DOHA - Saudi Arabia coach Roberto Mancini has come under criticism for his team selection at the Asian Cup but the Italian coach said on Wednesday that his policy is to pick young players so they can gain experience as he tried to build a team.
Saudi Arabia scraped a 2-1 win over Oman in their group opener and qualified for the last 16 after they beat nine-man Kyrgyzstan. They are top of Group F ahead of their last group game against second-placed Thailand (four points).
However, Saudi Arabia arrived in Qatar under a storm cloud of team selection after Mancini said three players opted out of the camp -- a claim the players denied.
Players from the squad that famously beat Argentina at the 2022 World Cup were not picked while former Saudi skipper Yasser Al-Qahtani called Mancini a 'coward' for leaving behind players he said had served the national team well in the past.
"My policy is that the players who are ready to play will play. I have 26 players. Some are famous, others are young, but if you win it's as a team, not because of one player," Mancini told reporters ahead of Thursday's game.
"We need to have a strong team with a strong mentality. We need them to think they can win all games as a team together. I use players that I feel can be important now and for the future. We have a mix of some young players and senior players.
"In the next month we need to change and increase the number of young players for the future. For now we have to think about this tournament, which is very important for us."
Despite the murmurs of discontent on the outside, Mancini said the players are in good spirits in the camp as they look to win their fourth title and their first since 1996.
"I've managed this team for four months. Sometimes it's not enough, you need more time. But we've improved a lot in four months and we can improve in the future," he said.
"Can we win? I don't know, it's a long road but we want to try.
"We had a lot of chances in the last game and didn't score enough, we have to improve this. But it's important we're able to create chances. After that, probably we will score."
Mancini also denied claims he said Saudi Arabia do not have a chance after naming Japan, Iran, South Korea and Australia as favourites last week.
"I only said there are four teams -- Japan, Korea, Australia and Iran -- who are very high in the rankings and they have more chances to win. But I never said we can't win," he said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/saudi-coach-mancini-stays-true-to-his-philosophy-as-he-battles-selection-critics
| 2024-01-24T11:08:44Z
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Synopsis: Every fourth Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times dives into a sports topic and tackles the hard questions with its guests on Hard Tackle.
In this episode of Hard Tackle, Deepanraj Ganesan speaks to Sport Singapore CEO Alan Goh and Singapore Sport Institute chief Dr Su Chun Wei and quizzes them on what is ahead for Singapore sports in 2024 and gets them to address some hot issues in local sports.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:45 What can Singaporeans expect from local sports in 2024?
6:50 What is SportSG doing to revive the mass participation scene, and what more needs to be done to get it back to pre-pandemic levels?
12:10 Do Alan Goh and Chun Wei believe Singapore football will recover from the lows of 2023?
20:20 How SportSG plans to convince more Singaporeans to go to events given the low turnout at 2023 Women’s World Floorball Championships
28:00 On helping Shanti Pereira to get even quicker in 2024
Read: https://str.sg/iYfd
Produced by: Deepanraj Ganesan (gdeepan@sph.com.sg), Amirul Karim & Penelope Lee
Edited by: Amirul Karim
Follow ST Sports Talk every month:
Channel: https://str.sg/JWRE
Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWRa
Spotify: https://str.sg/JW6N
SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/
Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg
Follow Deepanraj Ganesan on X: https://str.sg/wtra
Read his articles: https://str.sg/ip4G
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Discover more ST podcast channels:
COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE
In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt
Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7
Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN
Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf
Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m
ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE
#PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad
Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX
Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts
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Special edition series:
True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T
The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2
Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn
Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB
Singapore’s War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa
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Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts!
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/outlining-2024-in-singapore-sports-with-sportsg-and-ssi
| 2024-01-24T11:08:54Z
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SINGAPORE – As Singapore sports heads into a new year with an Olympics on the horizon, Sport Singapore (SportSG) chief executive Alan Goh wants local athletes to be “ruthless” and “hungrier” in their pursuit of success.
In a wide-ranging interview on The Straits Times’ Hard Tackle podcast published on Jan 24, Goh, who was alongside Singapore Sport Institute chief Su Chun Wei, said the Republic must build on last October’s Asian Games in Hangzhou where Singapore’s athletes claimed three gold, six silver and six bronze medals.
Despite that tally being the country’s worst-ever haul of golds and overall medals this millennium, Su at the post-Games conference had hailed the outing as a “successful” one with “significant wins” for the contingent.
Asked during the podcast whether there is a need to be more ruthless in their assessment, Goh said: “We don’t want to just be comfortable with that performance in Hangzhou. But we say successful contextually because we see the trajectory and potential of where we can go.
“But yes, I agree with you, we should be ruthless about it. We should not be satisfied. And that’s not the attitude and posture we want Team Singapore to have coming out of Hangzhou, we want them to be hungrier.”
He highlighted how swimmer Letitia Sim, 20, exemplified that ruthless approach. Sim missed out on a Asiad medal three times in China but picked herself up and at the Japan Open in November, she became Singapore’s first female swimmer to make the A qualifying time for the Paris Olympics in the 100m breaststroke whilst also setting a new national record.
Su maintained that it had been a successful Asiad but urged athletes and coaches to “learn from the experience” and “be ruthless about getting the medal”.
Among Singapore’s standout stars for the July 26-Aug 11 Paris Olympics are sprint queen Shanti Pereira and kitefoiling world champion Maximilian Maeder.
Goh described the latter, who is only 17, as “very intelligent, very mature and level-headed”, and said the young sailor is being supported by SSI and SportSG even as he trains abroad.
Goh added: “Because of the nature of sailing, his best training areas are not in Singapore. So SSI and SportSG have to make sure that wherever he is, we give him the best support.
“I do have direct conversations with him, his parents, and there’s a two-way feedback between his family and us. The key is to keep him focused on Paris 2024.
“We have fingers crossed, he is the world champion but at same time, we don’t put undue pressure on him. But we are quietly confident that he will stay focused and fly our flag high in Paris.”
As for Pereira, 27, Su is eager to see her get even quicker in 2024 and said she is on “an exciting journey”. In 2023, she bagged the 100m/200m double at the SEA Games and Asian Championships, before adding the 200m gold in Hangzhou. She also reached the 200m semi-finals of the world championships, which earned her a spot at Paris 2024. It was her first qualification on merit for the Summer Games.
Su said: “She is only beginning to discover where we can break through and she is quietly working together with Luis (Cunha), with the team who continue to prime her in good shape. Let’s watch this space, lets cheer her on and get excited.”
Team Singapore had won medals at the 2008 to 2016 Olympics, but returned home empty-handed from the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Beyond individual athletic performances, Goh also highlighted an active sporting calendar in 2024. Singapore will host table tennis’ Singapore Smash in March, triathlon’s PTO Asian Open in April and the World Rugby HSBC SVNS in May. More events are expected to be added later in the year.
It is important to strike a balance between events for spectators and those that Singaporeans can excel and be competitive in, Goh said.
He noted: “I’ll be candid to say that when you bring in events that are too high level, it’s actually more for the spectator. We need both the very high end because we all celebrate sports and are fans but we also want those that Singapore athletes can take part in and benefit from the experience and do well.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/ruthless-and-hungrier-mindset-needed-for-team-singapore-as-paris-olympics-beckons
| 2024-01-24T11:09:05Z
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MELBOURNE - Daniil Medvedev pounced on the few chances offered up by Hubert Hurkacz to seal a semi-final spot at the Australian Open on Wednesday, while Dayana Yastremska did the new generation proud by reaching the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time.
Third seed Medvedev, who lost back-to-back Melbourne Park finals in 2021 and 2022, took a step closer to returning to the title clash with a 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3 5-7 6-4 win over Pole Hurkacz.
He had looked on course to wrap up the match in four sets before Hurkacz grew in belief and forced a decider, where Russian Medvedev broke for a 4-3 lead and soaked up the applause before serving out to seal the win.
"I knew how 'Hubi' can play and he played quite well. I felt like the games, almost all of them, probably except 2-0 in the first set, I had a small chance," Medvedev said.
"I managed to take it. So really happy and proud about that. Because with him you don't get many chances."
The former U.S. Open champion has sometimes found it hard to get the crowd on his side but has received great backing in Melbourne this year and will hope to ride that support when he plays Carlos Alcaraz or Alexander Zverev in the semis.
Spanish second seed Alcaraz seed meets his German opponent in the final match of the day on Rod Laver Arena after China's Zheng Qinwen wraps up her match with Russian Anna Kalinskaya.
Organisers were able to breathe easier on Wednesday as the day session finished on schedule. On Tuesday, epic matches involving holder Novak Djokovic and U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff meant the action spilled over into the evening.
Yastremska kept things on track with a swift 6-3 6-4 win over giant-killing Czech Linda Noskova to become the first women's qualifier to make the last four since the 1978 tournament.
The Ukrainian world number 93, who had already taken out Grand Slam champions Marketa Vondrousova and Victoria Azarenka during her stellar run, meets either 12th seed Zheng or world number 75 Kalinskaya next.
"It's nice to make history," said Yastremska, who followed in the footsteps of Christine Dorey, the last qualifier to reach the Melbourne Park semi-finals 45 years ago.
"It's something new for me and for my generation because the last time it happened it was a long time ago. I wasn't born yet.
"I think I was a little too emotional. Today before my match I got angry at the practice of my coach. But that's fine because I could put my emotions away. Another step is done." REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/medvedev-battles-to-reach-australian-open-semis-yastremska-cruises
| 2024-01-24T11:09:15Z
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MOSCOW - Mr Boris Nadezhdin, a 60-year-old former opposition lawmaker, is running a long-shot campaign to challenge Russian President Vladimir Putin for the presidency and says his call to end Russia’s war in Ukraine has put rocket boosters under his bid.
Mr Nadezhdin, who sometimes appears on state television where he criticises the authorities before being swiftly drowned out by television anchors, must collect 100,000 signatures across Russia by the end of January to be registered as a candidate.
His supporters say he has already passed the 100,000 mark, garnering considerable support in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, but still needs more from other parts of Russia as the signatures need to be spread across at least 40 regions of the world’s largest country.
Mr Nadezhdin said he was confident of being registered and had been surprised by how his call to end Russia's war in Ukraine had prompted people to queue up in the depths of the Russian winter and abroad to give their signatures in his support.
“It (opposition to the war) is huge. People are tired of all this. They want to live a normal life in a normal country, they don’t want what is happening,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“People are putting their signature not because they really like me but simply because it’s a chance to do something for peace, for this whole story to end, and for people to stop dying,” said Mr Nadezhdin, who seemed remarkably relaxed for a man challenging the Kremlin’s formidable political machine.
A small sample of voters interviewed by Reuters appeared to confirm he was attracting a generic anti-war vote.
“I came here to express my anti-war position. I believe this is the only way to declare your position, we don’t have any other yet,” said 42-year-old Moscow resident Sergei Yasinsky.
Tight control
In Russia’s tightly controlled political system, people have run against Mr Putin in the past and portrayed themselves as genuine opponents, only to disclose years later that they were doing so as part of an agreement with the authorities to make up the numbers.
The Kremlin says the March 15 to 17 election is a bona fide political contest and that Mr Putin, who enjoys an approval rating of around 80 per cent, is genuinely popular.
Mr Putin, who has chosen to run as an independent rather than as the candidate of the ruling United Russia party, has already collected more than three million signatures, more than 10 times the 300,000 he needs, say his supporters.
The Kremlin also says that most Russians support what it calls Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
State television has worked around the clock for nearly two years telling voters that the conflict is an existential struggle with the West for a new world order.
The outcome of the election is not in doubt. Mr Putin, in power as either president or prime minister for more than two decades and in control of all the state’s levers, is set to win another six-year term in a contest critics say is a crude imitation of democracy.
There are currently 11 presidential candidates. Critics say the Kremlin needs people like Mr Nadezhdin to provide a semblance of competition even if the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
Asked on Jan 24 if Mr Nadezhdin posed a political threat to Mr Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “Not at all, we don’t see him as a rival. Any citizen has the right to run for president if they meet a number of conditions.”
If Mr Nadezhdin is allowed to run and garners a small percentage of the vote, the Kremlin will be able to point to how weak opposition to the Ukraine war is. He is also a useful focal point to allow war critics – including some of the wives of mobilised soldiers – to let off steam, those same critics say.
Many opponents of the war have fled Russia or have been fined or imprisoned under tough laws which mandate long jail terms for anyone convicted of spreading “fake news” about the Russian army.
Mr Nadezhdin said he was careful.
He added: “I’m not trying to break the law or calling for unrest. I’m acting in accordance with the law. I can’t see how they can’t register me.
“I want to change the country. I want Russia to be a peaceful, free country.”
He said his only funding came from grassroots supporters, and joked about how he had taken some modest measures to safeguard his personal security. But he also spoke about his electoral chances in a way that few in modern Russia would dare.
He said: “Did you see queues outside the Putin headquarters, did you see crowds standing in the frost saying they wanted to give their signature for Putin? It didn’t happen.
“It seems to me, after we got this campaign going, that Putin himself isn’t very sure about that (victory).” REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/in-russia-anti-war-candidate-tries-to-harness-protest-vote-against-putin
| 2024-01-24T11:09:25Z
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has issued a new plea against all wars as he evoked the horror of the mass killing of Jews and other victims of the Nazis ahead of Saturday's Holocaust Memorial Day.
"The memory and condemnation of that horrible extermination of millions of people...may help everybody to not forget that the logic of hatred and violence can never be justified," he said during his Wednesday weekly audience.
"Let us not get tired of praying for peace, for conflicts to end, for weapons to stop, for relief for exhausted populations," Francis added.
The leader of the world's more than 1.35 billion Roman Catholics mentioned the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the bombing of civilians in "martyred Ukraine".
He repeated his assertion that "war is always a defeat" in which "the only winners, so to speak, are weapons manufacturers". REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/pope-issues-new-anti-war-plea-as-he-evokes-nazi-holocaust
| 2024-01-24T11:09:36Z
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MOSCOW - A Russian military transport plane crashed near the Ukrainian border on Jan 24, with state news agency RIA quoting the Defence Ministry as saying it was carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war to be exchanged in a swop.
In its report, RIA said the plane was carrying 65 Ukrainians, along with six crew members and three other people, when it crashed. There was no immediate information on the cause.
Reuters could not immediately verify details of who was on board the Ilyushin Il-76.
A video posted on messaging app Telegram by Baza – a channel linked to Russian security services – showed a large aircraft falling towards the ground and exploding in a vast fireball.
The Ilyushin Il-76 is a military transport aircraft designed to airlift troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons. It has a normal crew of five people, and can carry up to 90 passengers.
Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that an unspecified “incident” had occurred in the region’s Korochansky district, north-east of the Russian city of Belgorod, and that he was going to inspect the site.
He said investigators and emergency workers were already at the scene.
The Kremlin said in response to a reporter’s question that it was looking into the situation.
Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under frequent attack from Ukraine in recent months, including a December missile strike which killed 25 people. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/russian-plane-crashes-near-ukrainian-border-while-carrying-65-ukrainian-prisoners-of-war
| 2024-01-24T11:09:46Z
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LONDON – The United States, which together with Britain, has carried out a number of attacks on Houthi rebel bases in Yemen, determines the pace of the military strikes and any broader diplomatic moves to halt the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The snag is that while Britain warned on Jan 23 that it will not hesitate to strike again if the Houthis continue to attack ships in the Red Sea, the authorities in Washington remain conflicted about their next moves.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/us-now-committed-to-what-it-sought-to-avoid-military-attacks-against-iranian-proxies
| 2024-01-24T11:09:57Z
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Donald Trump cruised to victory in New Hampshire's Republican presidential contest on Tuesday, marching closer to a November rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden even as his sole remaining rival for the nomination, Nikki Haley, vowed to soldier on.
"This race is far from over," Haley, a former U.N. ambassador, told supporters at a post-election party in Concord, challenging Trump to debate her.
"I'm a fighter. And I'm scrappy. And now we're the last one standing next to Donald Trump."
At his own party in Nashua, Trump, 77, opened his speech by mocking Haley, 52, calling her an "imposter" and saying: "She's doing, like, a speech like she won. She didn't win. She lost ... She had a very bad night."
The former president's remarks followed a series of angry posts on his Truth Social app, denouncing her as "DELUSIONAL."
The next competitive contest is scheduled for Feb. 24 in South Carolina, where Haley was born and served two terms as governor.
Trump has racked up endorsements from most of the state's Republican figures, and opinion polls show him with a wide lead there.
In New Hampshire, with 86% of the expected vote tallied, according to Edison Research, Trump held a comfortable 54.4% to 43.5% lead.
Haley had hoped the northeastern state's sizable cadre of independent voters would carry her to an upset win that might loosen Trump's iron grip on the Republican Party.
Instead, Trump became the first Republican to sweep competitive votes in both Iowa and New Hampshire since 1976, when the two states cemented their status as the first nominating contests.
The result will likely bolster some Republicans' calls for Haley to drop out so the party can coalesce behind Trump.
Her campaign vowed in a memo earlier on Tuesday to push forward until "Super Tuesday" on March 5, when Republicans in 15 states and one territory vote.
ONE-ON-ONE
Tuesday's vote was the first one-on-one matchup between Trump and Haley, after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, once seen as Trump's most formidable challenger, dropped out on Sunday and endorsed Trump.
Meanwhile, Edison projected Biden, 81, the winner of the New Hampshire Democratic primary, brushing aside challenger, U.S. Representative Dean Phillips.
Despite Trump's win on Tuesday, exit polls hinted at his potential vulnerabilities in a general election campaign.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges for a range of offenses, including his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat and his retention of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021. He has denied any wrongdoing and claimed to be a victim of political persecution.
About 42% of voters who participated in the Republican primary said he would not be fit to serve if convicted in court, according to exit polling by Edison.
There were also warning signs for Biden, however. Three-quarters of Republican primary voters said the economy was either poor or not good, an area where Biden has struggled to highlight his administration's accomplishments.
Republicans made up a slightly smaller share of voters in the primary relative to the state's 2016 Republican contest in the state, the exit polls showed.
Some 51% of voters considered themselves Republican, compared to 55% in the 2016 primary. Six percent said they considered themselves Democrats, compared to 3% in 2016. The share of independents was little changed at 43%.
Biden declined to appear on the ballot in New Hampshire's Democratic primary, having supported an effort by his party to move their first primary election to the more diverse state of South Carolina.
New Hampshire supporters were still able to vote for Biden by writing his name on the ballot, offering a barometer of his political strength. With 56% of the estimated vote counted, according to Edison, Biden had 67.0%, far ahead of Phillips at 19.6%.
BIDEN AIMS AT TRUMP
The Democratic president, whose advisers are anticipating a rematch with Trump, took aim at Republicans over their efforts to curb abortion rights in a Virginia speech on Tuesday.
In a statement later, Biden said: "It is now clear that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee. And my message to the country is the stakes could not be higher. Our democracy. Our personal freedoms — from the right to choose to the right to vote. Our economy — which has seen the strongest recovery in the world since COVID."
Haley had stepped up her attacks on Trump as the election drew near, criticizing his affinity for strongmen such as North Korea's Kim Jong Un.
Haley has also gone after Trump's age and mental acuity, attacks she has also regularly leveled at Biden.
In her speech on Tuesday, Haley warned that Trump would lose to Biden again if nominated.
"The worst-kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump," she said. "They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat." REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/trump-cruises-to-new-hampshire-win-haley-vows-to-fight-on-to-south-carolina
| 2024-01-24T11:10:07Z
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SALEM, New Hampshire – It might seem too soon to crown former United States president Donald Trump the official candidate of the Republican Party.
The primary season began just two weeks ago and only two states have held nominating contests in which fewer than half a million Americans participated.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/united-states/trump-bullish-after-new-hampshire-win-but-haley-says-race-for-republican-nomination-far-from-over
| 2024-01-24T11:10:17Z
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Savannah Guthrie may have more of a connection to musicians than you'd think! The Today Show anchor opened up during a public event about her own tie to the arts.
On January 18, the 52-year-old TV host conducted a conversation and Q&A with singer-songwriter Rachel Platten in New York City which HELLO! attended. They talked about her career beginnings, her rise to fame with "Fight Song," and finding peace through her music.
The Daytime Emmy Award winning musician got real about her early days of struggle, which involved performing through the night at clubs, and remarked that one of the hardest parts of the job was "hauling an 85-pound keyboard."
Savannah added to it: "I once dated a guy in a band, and he would make me carry the amp…'why didn't I respect myself more in my 20s' is the question I ask myself," which left the audience in stitches.
Rachel remarked: "I should've made them carry the keyboard!" and Savannah continued: "I mean honestly, I wasn't even in the band," before slyly adding: "They weren't even that good," which once again resulted in laughs from the crowd.
The evening proved to be an emotional one for the "Mercy" singer, who spoke openly about suffering from depression and using her music as a means of healing, even getting emotional during her performance and asking for support from the crowd.
The intimate concert was held in association with the Grammy Museum, and Rachel gushed about the show and her time with Savannah after, writing on Instagram: "I knew this show was going to be special but I never predicted HOW special.
SEE: Savannah Guthrie's throwback swimsuit selfie as she turns 52
"@savannahguthrie your positive energy and authenticity is contagious. Thank you for leading this interview with heart," she wrote.
"And to my audience, THANK YOU, for allowing me to show up as my most vulnerable self. For going deep with me and encouraging me through each song I shared. And last but not least thank you to @grammymuseum for hosting us. I couldn't have asked for a better night," Rachel concluded, to which Savannah responded: "Soul sisters."
MORE: Inside Savannah Guthrie's personalized dressing room at the Today Show studios
As for her love life, Savannah is now happily married to PR and communications consultant, and former Democratic advisor, Michael Feldman. They began a relationship in late 2009 and announced their engagement in 2013.
They tied the knot in 2014 and just two days later, Savannah announced that she was four months pregnant. She welcomed their daughter Vale in August 2014, and then their son Charles "Charley" in December 2016.
MORE: Savannah Guthrie reveals the sweetest gesture made by Today co-star Hoda Kotb
Prior to becoming a mainstay on morning news with the Today Show, Savannah was previously married to BBC News reporter Mark Orchard. The pair reportedly met while covering the trial of Michael Jackson in 2005 and got married later that year.
However, their marriage didn't last, as they had separated by 2008 and by January 2009, their divorce was finalized. At the time, Savannah was a White House Correspondent for NBC News living in Washington D.C. It was not long after, in 2011, when she began hosting Today for the first time.
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/511916/today-savannah-guthrie-rare-confession-rocky-romance-musician-ex-boyfriend/
| 2024-01-24T11:11:00Z
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Victoria Beckham got heads turning on Wednesday when the fashion designer shared a look at an upcoming cover of HTSI, the lifestyle magazine for the Financial Times, in which she appears on.
The 49-year-old went for quite the daring pose on the cover, as VB wowed in a white knit jumper and a pair of black shoes. The star posed with her legs crossed, giving an almost nude illusion as she showed off her toned pins. Alongside her outfit, Victoria styled out two silver watches and allowed her brunette hair to be swept across her face.
In her caption, the fashion mogul penned: "Such a pleasure speaking with @JEllison22 at the @fthtsi on all things Victoria Beckham fashion and @VictoriaBeckhamBeauty! I'm so proud of where we are today… On newsstands and online this Saturday! Kisses x."
Victoria has worked hard to get the incredible physique that she had on display in the new photo and she's previously admitted to starting exercise at 5:30 in the morning. " That's the only time I watch TV – boxsets, documentaries – so I look forward to that," she said of the routine, which is a 7km run on a treadmill.
Victoria's workout regime then sees her with a personal trainer inside the star's private gym, where targets her various muscle groups. "30 minutes legs, 30 minutes arms, toning and conditioning, then loads of planks and that kind of thing for my core," she told the Guardian.
The mum-of-four is known for her "disciplined" diet and she drinks apple cider vinegar each morning, before her breakfast, which typically includes green smoothies, homemade cereals, or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.
It's not just Victoria who keeps fit in the Beckham household, as husband David often limbers up to help his wife with her training, although the pair are known to do some solo workouts from time to time.
David recently filmed himself taking part in a weighted workout where he performed a series of press-ups. The former football legend had decided to go shirtless for his exercise regime which showed off his impressive arms and a glimpse at his toned physique.
David showed off how hard the workout was as the 48-year-old as he was seen gurning as he progressed through it, only managing a small exhausted chuckle. In his caption, the star joked about his physical prowess, as he commented: "998, 999, 1000," finishing the post off with an eyes emoji.
David has previously shared with his followers how he recovers from his intense workouts, admitting to being a fan of acupuncture. "The one thing that repairs me after a hard week of working out. Acupuncture," he shared alongside a photo of himself covered in needles.
The star is a fan of an F45 workout, which incorporates explosive, power-focused, multi-directional exercises. The regime is a partially football-inspired 4:4:2 class formation, with stations representing typical football positions including Goal, Defence, Mid-Field, and Attack.
RELATED: David Beckham poses topless in new self-care video – and wife Victoria has the cheekiest response
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| 2024-01-24T11:11:06Z
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If you've got it, flaunt it! Dolly Parton's appearance went viral in November 2023 when she rocked a Dallas Cowboys Cheerleading outfit for the team's Thanksgiving Day game.
The country music queen looked phenomenal in a tiny pair of hotpants, cropped blue shirt and white vest as she performed for The Salvation Army's Red Kettle Kickoff Halftime Show.
The crowds went wild for Dolly's bold look - and so did her husband Carl Thomas Dean. Speaking to People at the launch of her new Duncan Hines baking mixes, Dolly spoke about her beau's reaction to her cheeky outfit.
"It turned out pretty cool," she said. "And my husband liked it." Although, he did have one complaint: "He said, 'Those shorts were a little too short.' I said, 'Jealous?'"
Dolly had a little more to say about keeping her outfits youthful: "And I said, 'They weren't as short as the other girls!' He was just being funny. I think he thought that because everybody's making a to-do over it, he thought, well, maybe you shouldn't be showing your butt at that age. But anyway, he got a kick out of it too."
Dolly is an advocate for body confidence at any age and explained: "I try not to get into anything I don't think I can pull off, just like that little Dallas Cowgirl outfit.
"I really thought, well, I'm just going to do this for fun, because I mean, I've never been to one of their halftime shows, and they're so famous, the girls," she said of the incredibly cheerleading team.
"All the guys love them, my husband included, and I kind of did it for him. I thought, well, if I can pull this off, it'll be cute, and if not, then they'll just think that some older woman did a stupid thing!" she quipped.
"I just thought it was cool, and it evidently was because it turned out to be a big sensation. And so, I may have a poster made, a pinup, and donate all the money to the Red Kettle."
Dolly and Carl have been married for 57 years and when she celebrated her 78th birthday recently, she gifted her fans with some new music which Carl was no doubt thrilled with.
Dolly posted a message on Instagram that read: "Hey fans and friends. It's my Birthday so I'm going to give you a present."
She then revealed: "I'm releasing four never released songs for my birthday, to go with the Rockstar album, and a few others that you may not have heard before that were not on the album. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you all have a happy birthday for me! LOL." Dolly signed off: "Thanks for everything."
Carl would likely have been thrilled to hear more rock tunes from his wife, because he doesn't like country music.
During an interview on Absolute Radio Breakfast last year, she confessed: "Country music was his least favorite, he was into hard rock. All of our lives, and we've been together almost 60 years, anytime I'm around him, in the house, in the car he's always playing rock songs."
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/511940/dolly-parton-rarely-seen-husband-carl-reaction-tiny-outfit-revealed-photo/
| 2024-01-24T11:11:12Z
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Princess Anne stepped out for a royal engagement in Edinburgh recently and to keep out the Scottish chill, she ensured to wrap up warm in her trademark coat, scarf and leather gloves and there was a sentimental meaning behind her outerwear.
The Princess Royal, 73, attended the opening of the Institute for Regeneration and Repair South building at Edinburgh University last, alongside professors and academics from the university and the Chancellor, and was photographed wearing her gorgeous chequered merino wool scarf from Highgrove and The Prince's Foundation's recent collaboration.
During her engagement in Edinburgh, the Princess Royal casually hung the accessory around the collar of her tailored tan coat. Underneath, the royal made sure to layer up from the cold with a brown check jumper and a red neckerchief.
Princess Anne effortlessly paired the pop of colour with a slick of red lipstick to match, finishing the ensemble with simple gold studded earrings and her hair styled in her signature bun.
Princess Anne was also seen wearing the scarf on Christmas Day for the royal family's annual walk to St Mary Magdelene Church in Sandringham for a service on Christmas morning and her husband, Sir Timothy Laurence, 68, wore the same matching scarf, pairing their outfits together beautifully.
Given the monarch's eco-friendly credentials, the scarves are sustainably sourced with complete wool traceability and are crafted from 100% ultrafine RWS (Responsible Wool Standard) merino wool from Australia. The design takes the form of the iconic Prince of Wales check, which has been woven over an enlarged Shepherd check.
Meanwhile, Princess Anne was all smiles as she met the medical professionals on her engagement, which took place in the Scottish capital last week. The outing reiterates the royal's hard-working nature and she was even the first royal to return to duty following the Christmas break.
The Princess Royal's first engagement of the year took her to Oxford where she visited the Farming Conference as Honorary President of the organisation. Princess Anne gave a speech emphasizing how "farming as a family enterprise understands long-term value".
MORE: 19 sparkling royal wedding tiaras that stole the show: From Princess Kate to Meghan Markle
MORE: 14 opulent royal living rooms: Princess Kate, Meghan Markle, Crown Princess Mary, more
What's more, the Princess' booked and busy schedule flew her overseas for work, too. Joined by her husband, the couple opted to fly commercially with Sri Lankan Airlines to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka for a two-day official visit.
Princess Anne is undoubtedly flying the flag for the royal family of late, who had been rocked by a number of health setbacks. Last week, Kensington Palace confirmed that the Princess of Wales had been hospitalized after undergoing "planned abdominal surgery".
At the time, it was explained that Princess Kate would remain in hospital for ten-14 days before returning home to recuperate. The future Queen will not return to royal duties until after Easter.
Shortly after, a statement from Buckingham Palace confirmed that King Charles would undergo a corrective procedure for a benign enlarged prostate. The monarch has been spending time at his home in Birkhall ahead of the operation and is said to be in "good spirits."
"His Majesty's condition is benign and he will attend hospital next week for a corrective procedure. The King's public engagements will be postponed for a short period of recuperation," the statement read.
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/fashion/royal-style/511937/princess-anne-re-wears-special-gift-from-king-charles-as-she-steps-in-amid-royal-hospitalisations/
| 2024-01-24T11:11:18Z
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Apple TV+'s highly-anticipated World War Two epic is just days away from dropping on the streaming service. Masters of the Air, a nine-part series adapted and executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, tells the story of the men who flew in the 100th Bomb Group of the US Eighth Air Force – aka the Bloody Hundredth – and helped defeat Nazi Germany.
With a production cost of $250 million, there'll no doubt be some big-budget explosions, impressive stunts, and epic scenery. But where exactly was the show filmed? Keep reading for all we know.
The new series, which is a follow-up to Band Of Brothers and The Pacific, was filmed in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Hertfordshire.
Locations include Oxford City Centre, Dalton Barracks in Abingdon, the historic village of Bledlow, Hemel Hempstead Old Town, and Bovingdon Airfield Studios.
According to Bucks Free Press, parts of the show were secretly filmed at Newland Park, a Grade II listed country house near the village of Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire. A set was built on the grounds, which doubled up as the English base and landing field of the American pilots, which was in fact located in Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk during the war.
During an exclusive interview with HELLO!, Jon Ewart, who plays Lieutenant William Couch in the series, spoke about his first time stepping onto the film set, describing the grand scale of the production.
"I remember getting out of the car and I was like, 'Oh my goodness'," he said. "There were 100 supporting artists marching down the road, military buildings all built, people driving past in military vehicles and planes. They built the whole thing. It was a barracks. They left no stone unturned."
Praising one of the show's directors Cary Joji Fukunaga, Jon continued: "One of his big rules was: This needs to be real. If it's going to take longer or we need a bigger budget, this needs to be real. It made it very easy for the actors to give their best performances."
For those unfamiliar with the new series, it's based on Donald L Miller's book of the same name and features a star-studded cast including Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keoghan, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Rafferty Law, and Ncuti Gatwa.
As per the synopsis, the series follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group "as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air".
It continues: "Portraying the psychological and emotional price paid by these young men as they helped destroy the horror of Hitler’s Third Reich is at the heart of Masters of the Air. Some were shot down and captured; some were wounded or killed. And some were lucky enough to make it home. Regardless of individual fate, a toll was exacted on them all."
Master of the Air arrives on Apple TV+ on Friday 26 January.
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| 2024-01-24T11:11:24Z
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When the Duchess of Sussex is out, we're always guaranteed to receive a masterclass in minimalistic dressing
The former Suits actress has had a penchant for 'quiet luxury' long before the term became a regular in the fashion vernacular, and after schooling us in wearing all-white recently, she's given us a lesson in styling all-black with a brand new fashion moment that combined 90s simplicity with the current romance-clad sartorial craze.
Meghan and Prince Harry travelled to Jamaica to attend the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love - a biopic movie about the iconic reggae singer starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, James Norton and Michael Ward.
For the occasion, fashion muse Meg oozed elegance in a spaghetti-strapped top with a square neckline (eschewing her typical bardot neck) tucked into a black ball skirt from one of her go-to brands, Carolina Herrera.
MORE: 5 ways the fashion set is styling all-white this winter
READ: Meghan Markle wore £1,600 worth of iconic Hermès accessories on her Caribbean holiday
Spaghetti straps are a 90s classic - whether in more formal dress settings in the form of a satin slip, or the affordable plain vest top - both of which were supermodel-approved. From Gwenyth Paltrow to Naomi Campbell, and Paris Hilton sporting 'tiny tanks', minimalistic, easy-to-wear, thin-strapped clothing was an It-girl wardrobe must-have.
The vest tops then had a revival around 2018, when street style muses Kim Kardashian, Hailey Bieber, EmRata et al paired them with anything and everything for any occasion.
Meghan reviving the classic base layer is perhaps unsurprising considering the current popularity of the supermodel simplicity off-duty agenda: jeans and a white t-shirt, shirts over biker shorts, trousers and a tank top.
Meghan paired her retro-inspired vest with a stunning satin ball gown skirt with a voluminous A-line silhouette. Its billowing yet elegant shape perfectly offset her form-fitting vest, creating a dramatic yet understated all-black look.
2023 was coined the 'year of the girl' with uber-feminine aesthetics like bows, roses and ballet-esque silhouettes. Leading on from this, resale platform Depop have predicted 'post romance' as one of its major trends for this year, explaining that "2024 is ushering in a wave of realism," and Meghan's sophisticated yet girly ensemble puts the proof in the pudding.
A Sofia Richie-approved low bun in a middle parting, gold statement earrings and a black and gold Jimmy Choo box clutch finished off her effortlessly elegant ensemble.
She's started 2024 as she means to go on, and we can't wait to see what else comes out of her wardrobe.
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| 2024-01-24T11:11:30Z
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Welp, Nicola Peltz Beckham joining Kim Kardashian as a Balenciaga ambassador was most definitely not on my 2024 bingo card and I have a sneaky suspicion that 2024 has a few too many tricks up its sleeve…
Posted yesterday to her 3.1 million Instagram followers, Nicola shared the news that she was working with the recent "controversial" fashion empire, posting a branded image of her kitted out in a full Balenciaga look, posing inside a wardrobe filled with the Spanish-founded brand's most iconic bag silhouettes.
Victoria Beckham's daughter-in-law captioned the post “My dream closet [cloud emoji] @balenciaga shot by @inezandvinoodh [cloud emoji] thank you so much for having me. Quickly after sharing the grid post, her followers flocked to the comments to express their thoughts.
Nicola wasn’t the only socialite to be involved in the new imagery. American influencer and co-founded the company Wildflower Cases, Devon Lee Carson was also involved in the closet campaign. Sharing a similar image to Nicola’s to her 1.4 million followers, excitedly captioning the post, “The first designer bag I ever got was a @balenciaga city bag AND NOW 10 YEARS LATER IM DOING A CAMPAIGN FOR IT... Thank you to the @balenciaga team for including me!! @inezandvinoodh thank you for being the greatest and @johanfleury I love you!!!!!!!"
Devon's post seemed to welcome a lot more support with the likes of Matilda Djerf commenting "YOU ARE INSANE" and Lila Moss leaving a simple "DEVON!!!!!"
The new campaign comes just days after Kim Kardashian announced that she officially signed on to be the brand’s newest ambassador. The eldest Kardashian sister and business mogul also posted her recent closet campaign with the brand to her Instagram, sharing a video of herself in a black strapless unitard, counting her Balenciaga bags.
Kim guessed that she had a whopping 130 Balenciaga bags in her personal closet, and after a little quick math, the A-lister confirmed that she was "one bag off" and in fact has "129."
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| 2024-01-24T11:11:36Z
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In the last year, our Instagram feed has turned into an endless catwalk of Sambas.
Following a blockbuster past year with collaborations that had everyone talking, from Wales Bonner's quirky touch to Sporty & Rich's athleisure vibe. Adidas had already started 2024 with a bang by releasing the shoe in five new colourways, and now Adidas is teasing us with a Samba so luxe, it's practically in a league of its own.
Enter the Adidas Samba ‘Wonder White’ - at first glance, it's the classic white sneaker you thought you knew. But lean in, and you'll discover it's hiding some serious game under its pristine exterior. This isn't just any white sneaker; it's a white sneaker on a spa day.
The new version boasts leather that apparently resists creasing, for that box fresh look week after week. First introduced in 1949, the iconic three-striped silhouette that has gained such fame over the decades has now been given a dash of ‘Magic Beige’ with chic suede stripes in the tonal hue. We can see the fashion crowd going nuts for these.
MORE: Adidas Sambas are getting a stylish revamp on TikTok, here's how to get the look
RELATED: 7 Trainers that will be everywhere in 2024
Those new perforations at the front? They're not just there for show – they're your feet's best friend during the balmy spring and summer months. It’s also kept the subtle Samba branding in silver that nods respectfully to the shoe’s 1940s football heritage.
“The Samba took the top spot for the most cult-adored trainer in 2022 and 2023 by a landslide, adored by the likes of Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid and social media influencers alike,” explains Hello! Fashion’s Lauren Ramsay.
MORE: Adidas has just released the Samba in 5 new colourways, here's why we want them all
RELATED: Meet the hot new sneaker set to trump the Adidas Samba
The Adidas Samba ‘Wonder White’ is making its grand entrance this spring, ready to dazzle shoe aficionados worldwide. While the price tag remains a mystery, brace yourself to spend a tad more for these beauties.
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| 2024-01-24T11:11:40Z
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Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark have shared a beaming snapshot of their daughter Countess Athena to mark her twelfth birthday.
In the image, which was uploaded to the royal couple's official Instagram page, Athena is pictured flashing a huge smile, surrounded by snow and sunshine.
In one picture, Prince Joachim's daughter posed for a solo image outside her family's Washington D.C. home, whilst in a second photo, Athena was all smiles as she cosied up to her pet pooch.
For the special occasion, Athena wrapped up warm in a white North Face puffer jacket, a cream roll neck jumper and a pair of light wash jeans. She styled her brunette tresses in a sleek ponytail and showed off her flawless, natural complexion.
Alongside the pair of images, the Danish royal family's social media team penned: "Her Excellence Countess Athena has a birthday and turns 12 years old today.
"In honour of the birthday, the Countess' mother, Her Royal Highness Princess Marie, photographed her daughter at the family home in Washington D.C."
It's been a month of celebrations for the Danish royals! Back on 14 January, Athena's uncle was proclaimed King Frederik X of Denmark in the wake of his mother Queen Margrethe II's abdication.
The historic occasion was a family affair, with Frederik's wife Queen Mary in attendance, in addition to their four children: Crown Prince Christian, 18, Princess Isabella, 16, and 13-year-old twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Also in attendance was King Frederik's brother and Queen Margrethe’s youngest son, Prince Joachim. The father-of-four was spotted in Copenhagen without his family in tow. While he didn't make a joyous balcony appearance alongside his newly crowned brother, he was photographed behind-the-scenes dressed in his military uniform.
A palace spokesperson confirmed Marie and her children's absence to Danish magazine, Billed Bladet, ahead of King Frederik's accession.
It's understood that this is due to Henrik and Athena's schooling in Washington D.C. where the family is currently based for Joachim's role as defense industry attaché at the Danish Embassy.
Joachim's eldest sons, Count Nikolai, 24, and Count Felix, 21, from his first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, also did not attend the formal ceremony.
As of January 1 2023, Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena are all styled as Count/Countess of Monpezat. Queen Margrethe sent shockwaves through the Danish royal family towards the end of 2022 when she announced her decision to strip Prince Joachim's four children of the royal titles.
At the time, Prince Joachim expressed his surprise, saying: "We are all very sad. It's never fun to see your children being mistreated like that. They find themselves in a situation they do not understand."
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/511932/countess-athena-beams-new-photo-uncle-king-frederik-accession/
| 2024-01-24T11:11:47Z
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From improving your mental health to clearing your mind and strengthening your immunity, it all starts in the gut, according to experts. And probiotics for gut health are one of the must-have supplements for women, men and kids too.
So what are probiotics? Probiotics are a live bacteria or yeast that lives in and on the body and promotes tons of benefits, but there are factors which can destroy our natural probiotics - hence why probiotic supplements are necessary to give our bodies, and gut, that needed boost to function at optimum level.
According to the NHS website, probiotics can "help restore the natural balance of bacteria in your gut (including your stomach and intestines) when it's been disrupted by an illness or treatment".
Probiotics - the expert opinion
What are probiotics?
According to dietician at Symprove, Dr Sammie Gill, has explained probiotics are a form of supplement, which contain live microbes and provide various health benefits.
Dr. Gill told HELLO!: "Probiotics are live microbes that when consumed, support the gut microbiome and offer health benefits. "They are often packaged as supplements, in liquid, powder or tablet form. While probiotics come in different forms, they also come in different strains and strengths too. Importantly, not all probiotics are equal and different strains do different things."
What are the benefits of probiotics?
There are multiple benefits to probiotics, from supporting your immune system, to gut health, and other health benefits. In recent months there has been growing conversations around gut health and your skin, as a bad diet or intolerances, as well as hormone imbalance, can sometimes show in the form of breakouts on the skin.
Speaking about the pros of probiotics, Dr. Gill said: "Probiotics can work in several ways when they reach the gut – for example, release of beneficial molecules (such as short-chain fatty acids), supporting the immune system (of which 70% sits along the gut), helping to weed out potentially harmful microbes and improving the gut lining.
Dr. Gill added: "There is good evidence for taking probiotics in certain scenarios, so it’s important to take a prescriptive approach. If you’re considering taking a probiotic, do your homework and choose one that is evidence-based."
How do probiotics improve gut health?
The main benefits of probiotics work to target gut health, which can speed up metabolism, calm inflamed gut that could leave you bloated and constipated.
Dr. Gill explained: "Currently, much of the research on probiotics lies in gut disorders, such as IBS. Although research is limited to date, people will often choose to take a probiotic as a type of 'insurance policy', almost as a preventative measure to support gut health."
Dr. Gill recommends following a plant based diet when taking the supplement. "For general gut health, there are other many things we can do. Work from the inside out is my advice – our gut health is central to overall health so target the gut microbiome with a nutrient-dense plant-based diet. Variety is key - a hallmark feature of a healthy gut microbiome is diversity. Focus on wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes.
"But, it’s not just diet, there are other key things we should be paying attention to. For example, sleep. It is underrated but so important. Driven by our internal body clock, our gut microbes have their own circadian rhythm, and this changes the shape of the microbial landscape over a 24-hour period.
"Therefore, it’s key to prioritise quality and quantity of sleep – aim for 7-9 hours per night, keep timings consistent, limit screen time in the few hours before bed and keep the room cool at night to mimic the drop in body temperature. Also, if you’re feeling mentally stressed, the gut will feel physically stressed and this can manifest as gut symptoms. This is because the gut and brain are intrinsically connected (labelled the ‘gut-brain axis’)."
Certain foods contain probiotics, but for those looking for another alternative, there are plenty of supplements to shop online. We have all the details on probiotics, from what they are, their health benefits, as well as the best forms to consume probiotics.
Holland & Barrett Live Friendly Bacteria with Acidophilus
Holland & Barrett Probiotics
Shipping: £3.49 or free when you spend £30
Returns: Within 30 days
How to use: Take 1 capsule a day with a meal
Editor's note: "With over 880 glowing reviews Holland & Barrett’s Live Friendly Bacteria is a firm favourite with shoppers.
"This creation uses three billion bacteria cultures across lactobacillus and bifidobacterium probiotic groups, while the addition of Acidophilus is a friendly bacteria in the gut, mouth and vagina.
"Shoppers say they make a "real difference" and "the best I've tried."
Optibac Every Day EXTRA
Optibac Probiotics
Shipping: £3.95 or free when you spend £25
Returns: Within 35 days
How to use: Take 1 capsule a day, ideally with breakfast
Editor's note: "The Optibac Probiotics comes in various creations from Every Day supplement, to Extra and Intimate for Women, so there is something to suit everyone’s needs.
"The Every Day variation in particular contains five billion bacterial cultures and FOS fibres, to complement your natural gut flora."
Seed DS-01 Daily Synbiotic
Seed Probiotics
Shipping: $10
Returns: Not specified
How to use: 2 capsules daily, ideally on an empty stomach
Editor's note: "The Daily Synbiotic is a two in one capsule in capsule supplement with probiotic and prebiotic.
"This unique creation has a prebiotic outer capsule, and probiotic centre, which works to target digestive health issues, skin health, as well as cardiovascular benefits.
"Need further proof? Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan."
Gallinée Skin and Microbiome Food Supplement
Gallinée Probiotics
Shipping: £3.95 for standard delivery
Returns: Within 30 days
How to use: Take 1 capsule a day, before a meal
Editor's note: "Gallinée’s supplement is a concentrated supplement with five billion live bacteria, as well as a blend of pre and post biotics.
"It is a gut-skin treatment, designed to make you feel and look good on the inside and out."
JSHealth Probiotic+
JSHealth Probiotics
Shipping: Free shipping from £35 spend
Returns: Not accepted
How to use: 1 capsule per day with water
Editor's note: "From supporting your digestive system to relieving constipation, these JSHealth probiotics get glowing reviews across the board.
"Shoppers have praised them for helping to relieve a bloated stomach to feeling "so much better" since taking them."
Solgar Advanced Acidophilus
Solgar Probiotics
Shipping: Costs vary
How to use: Take 1-2 capsule a day, preferably with a meal
Editor's note: "Solgar has a whole host of probiotics on offer, including daily wellbeing supplements, immunity, beauty and shape, digestion and much more.
"But it's the Solgar Advanced Acidophilus that has been recommended by Dr. Marie Drago as each capsule contains 500 million cultured strains to target gut health."
The Nue Co.Probiotic + Prebiotic
The Nue Co. Probiotics
Shipping: Free shipping with a £25 spend
Returns: Within 30 days
How to use: Take 2 capsules in the morning
Editor's note: "The Nue has a whole host of supplements to target different needs and ailments, including gut health, debloating probiotics, as well as pre and probiotics.
"The Nue Co.Probiotic + Prebiotic in particular is a vegan formula, which claims to be easily absorbed into the body to boost natural functions.
"Most reviews applaud it for lessening bloat and even clearer skin."
Symprove Daily Essential
Symprove Probiotics
Shipping: Free next day delivery
Returns: Within 14 days
How to use: One shot every morning on an empty stomach
Editor's note: "Symprove has a number of subscriptions on offer to shop to see you through one month to a year, and it turns out the annual subscription is the cheapest option so you will never run out.
"This formula is gluten free, vegan and dairy free, which makes it the perfect probiotic for those with any intolerances."
Bio-Kult Everyday
Bio-Kult Probiotics
Shipping: £3.95 or free when you spend £25
Returns: Within 35 days
How to use: Take 1-2 capsules a day, ideally with food
Editor's note: "Bio-Kult contains live bacteria to complement the existing gut flora naturally present in a healthy person’s digestive system, containing 14 live bacterial cultures to target the digestive system."
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/shopping/511877/best-probiotics-for-gut-health/
| 2024-01-24T11:11:53Z
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"You look like a ninja and yes, you look cool. But finding someone dressed all in black makes it a hell of a lot more challenging for us to find you." This was the reaction from Gavin, one of the Arrochar mountain rescue team, as he first laid his eyes on me. I thought I looked resplendent in all-black waterproof hiking gear but as the blood visibly drained my face in mortal embarrassment, I hoped this was my first and only mistake hiking into the stunning Scottish Highlands.
Getting back out into nature
I’ve always considered myself an outdoors person with some semblance of an idea of what they are doing when venturing into nature. This experience made me quickly realise that I was perhaps a little egotistical in thinking I knew what I was doing. Being accompanied by the inspiring Anton, Kevin and Antwon from the non-profit aptly named AKA also helped me understand how prepared you need to be for any eventuality. As Kevin Spriggs, Co-founder of AKA, told me when I asked him if he’d ever been "caught out" by the weather: "We've had our share of surprises - soles coming off boots, rain coming at us sideways, and darkness creeping in. We had good advice early from our late mentor who used to tell us there’s, 'no bad weather, just bad clothing.' Extra jackets, head torches, and even duct tape have saved the day." Considering AKA specialise in taking large groups of disadvantaged and socially isolated people on outdoor adventures, this was another moment where cold realisation struck. My preparedness in these situations was completely lacking.
The storm moves in
Arrochar in the Highlands is enclosed between rising hills and frothing lochs and a gateway to the Argyll Forest parks. Stunning vistas give way to some of the best climbs in the Highlands with some hills towering over three thousand feet. You need to be experienced when tackling these, but it is essential even for the most relaxing of hikes that you have the kit for any eventuality. The weather can change instantly and it often does without warning. We discovered this as our morning hike was cancelled abruptly due to dark ominous clouds suddenly developing overhead, a heavy howling wind whipping around us and sharp spears of rain burrowing relentlessly into our cold and exposed faces.
The barriers to getting outdoors
My aim here is not to make people shy away from getting out there, far from it; the UK possesses some of the most beautiful outdoor spaces in the world. Sadly, recent research from outdoor clothing company Helly Hansen revealed that 46% of the British public state that ‘lack of knowledge’ is preventing them from getting outdoors and that three in ten of the population (29%) have not participated in any outdoor activities in the past year. When you consider the potential costs and organisation of leaving home to pursue an outdoor activity if you are city-bound, we could argue this is unsurprising. However, going on a regular hike or trail run could be considered a better alternative to the ubiquitous gym membership which will keep you indoors. The health benefits of getting out in nature have been well documented, but for me, nothing can beat the uplifting feeling you only get when fresh air is coupled with exercise.
Layers, layers and more layers
Upon speaking with the mountain team further, it was highlighted that some people have been known to just rock up to the mountains with no map, no waterproof clothes and sadly, no idea. This is not only unprepared but also downright dangerous. As we discovered, the weather can disrupt your plans (or lack of them) instantaneously. Whilst we all huddled in the Mountain Rescue Centre waiting for the remnants of the storm to dissipate, Kevin and I also discussed good preparation and his advice was: "Always check the weather and be ready for it. Plan your route, tell someone about it, and arrange check-ins. Use apps like OS maps to help navigate, and don’t forget a spare battery pack." I was very glad to be wearing hiking socks, hiking boots, waterproof trousers, and a breathable folded-up jacket. However, as the temperature rapidly dropped I also donned my gloves, beanie, and lightweight insulated jacket which I was eternally grateful for.
Saving Lives
Luckily for those who are ill-prepared or for those who sadly succumb to injury, we are fortunate to have rescue teams who are volunteers and will jump at a moment's notice to head out and save lives. Mike Park, Chief Executive Officer for Mountain Rescue England and Wales, stated, "Safety advice is often simple, such as checking the weather, telling someone where you are going and when you are expected home, and ensuring you have appropriate clothing and footwear on. If you do find yourself in trouble, we are always here to help – just dial 999, ask for the police and then mountain rescue." As I participated in a scaled-down hike, we were trained on the inordinate difficulty of rescuing someone on a mountain in a stretcher. This was a moment where I felt huge gratitude that there are experienced people out there, willing to risk their own lives to save others. We can all play our part however by ensuring we are all just that little bit more prepared.
Leave your worries at home
As my day concluded at the bleak base of a hill in Arrochar, luckily still dry and warm thanks to my gear (albeit in the wrong colour) it made me more determined to get out more regularly. Even with the poor weather and a little added humility, the endorphins were certainly rushing alongside the joy of imbibing a hot cup of tea. Those previous statistics can be considered disheartening but I hope that with just a little bit more preparation and desire we can all benefit mentally and physically from being outside more, we just have to be prepared. As we packed up to leave, Kevin had some final words for me: "Just enjoy nature" he said, "it’s where you’re meant to be. Leave your worries at home!"
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https://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/511874/mountain-rescue-highlands-adventure/
| 2024-01-24T11:24:11Z
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Germany, for the first time, will transfer military helicopters to Ukraine. This announcement was made by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius following the 18th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense Issues in the “Ramstein” format. According to “European Pravda” citing DPA, Pistorius stated that Germany would be providing Ukraine with decommissioned Sea King Mk41 multi-purpose military helicopters.
The provision of Sea King helicopters is expected to enhance Ukraine’s military capabilities, particularly in reconnaissance and transportation, contributing to a stronger defense posture in the ongoing war.
Ukraine is set to receive six Sea King Mk41 helicopters along with a set of spare parts. The German side will also provide training for Ukrainian military personnel. Defense Minister Pistorius emphasized the proven reliability of the Sea King helicopters, noting their versatility in multiple areas, including reconnaissance over the Black Sea and troop transportation. This marks the first German delivery of such equipment.
Since the onset of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, Germany’s total military assistance to Kyiv has reached approximately six billion euros. It was previously reported that Germany will provide over 7 billion euros worth of military goods to Ukraine in 2024.
This announcement comes alongside Canada’s declaration during the 18th Contact Group meeting on Ukraine’s defense, where Canada revealed a new package of military assistance to Kyiv. This includes Canadian instructors joining the training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.
Canada to provide naval boats and F-16 training support to Ukraine
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https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/01/23/germany-commits-to-military-helicopter-transfer-to-ukraine-in-historic-first/
| 2024-01-24T11:26:03Z
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Russian troops continued their drone and missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities and villages, Ukraine says.
Over the last day, the occupiers shelled Kherson Oblast 101 times, launching 524 projectiles on the region and damaging a factory, education facility, and private houses. Eight projectiles hit the center of the oblast – Kherson.
At least five civilians were injured in the attacks, and five were killed. Among those who died due to Russian shelling were a 49-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman, who was found under the rubble of a destroyed house in the village of Sablukivka, UkrInform reported.
In Poltava Oblast, Ukraine’s air defense systems shot down four Russian drones. One of the drones hit the Lubensky district. Details of the attack are being clarified, as well as the number of casualties
On 23 January, Russian troops shelled Sumy Oblast 28 times with mortars, artillery, and grenade launchers and dropped incendiary devices from drones. Ukraine said the occupiers used cluster munitions and an FPV drone to attack the region.
Four schools, a rehabilitation center, a sports complex, a cultural institution, 15 multi-story buildings, and vehicles were damaged in Russian attacks on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast.
In Pavlohrad and Dniprovsky districts, Ukraine’s air defense systems shot down two missiles. In Pavlohrad, a 43-year-old woman was killed in a Russian strike. In the Dniprovsky district, debris fell on the territory of an enterprise, causing a fire.
Russian forces also attacked the region with four kamikaze drones and shelled Nikopol, Myrivska, and Marganets communities with artillery three times. Private houses, utility structures, a sanatorium, an enterprise, a fire station, gas pipelines, and power lines were damaged.
From yesterday until morning, the communities again suffered from artillery shelling by the invaders. Educational and medical institutions, four five-story buildings, 11 private houses, three utility structures, vehicles, power lines, and gas pipelines were damaged.
On the evening of 23 January, Russian troops reportedly targeted the Kyivskii and Kholodnogirskii districts of Kharkiv with S-300 missiles from the territory of the Belgorod region. Due to the attack, nine civilians were injured, including a 4-year-old girl. Two women and two men were hospitalized. The strike damaged buildings of the National Academy of Legal Sciences building and a postal company, “Nova Poshta”.
Yesterday, after a week-long break, Russia launched another massive aerial attack on Ukraine. The main target of the assault was the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv. President Zelenskyy said the Russian attack killed at least six civilians and injured dozens. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force says Russia has used 41 missiles of five types as the air defenders destroyed 21 of those. The attack claimed the lives of at least six people and injured about 80 civilians.
Russia had been stockpiling missiles for such winter attacks since last summer, as its missile production remained at low levels and the Soviet-era stocks were depleted during the first 1.5 years of the all-out war. These missiles were deployed en masse only starting in late December 2023, following months primarily focused on suicide drone attacks.
Read also:
- UN: 26.5% surge in Ukraine civilian casualties in December due to intensified Russian air attacks
- Ukraine downs 21/41 Russian missiles in another massive missile assault that killed at least six civilians (updated)
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https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/01/24/russia-attacks-ten-ukrainian-regions-over-last-24-hours/
| 2024-01-24T11:26:43Z
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A man in his 50s allegedly chain-smoked as he ran an entire marathon in China, according to Chinese media reports, and apparently completed the event in three hours and 33 minutes.
For his lung-busting efforts and “smoking” in the competition on Jan 7 at the C&D Xiamen Marathon 2024, he is facing a two-year ban from events and races organised by Xiamen Marathon’s organising committee.
The smoker, whose surname is Chen, will also be reported to the Chinese Athletics Association for additional penalties, according to a Chinese-language notice dated Jan 12 issued by the competition department of the committee.
Xiamen Marathon’s statement also said its organising committee verified Mr Chen’s smoking based on “race supervision, referee reports, timing chip data, race videos, pictures and other materials”.
Mr Chen’s marathon timing and ranking were not provided by the committee and were voided. But the website Canadian Running said his timing was three hours 33 minutes.
This was not the first time that Mr Chen puffed while running a marathon. Media reports stated he smoked while taking part in the Xin’anjiang marathon at Jiande in Zhejiang province in November 2022.
He completed that race in three hours 28 minutes, and placed 574th out of more than 1,500 runners. His feat and smoking were widely reported by media outlets such as Canadian Running, HuffPost and Sky News.
Photographs of Mr Chen smoking were circulated on social media.
Xiamen Marathon’s website listed “(punishable) uncivil behaviours” such as “open defecation, smoking, littering, trampling on the flowers and grass and other behaviours that might affect other runners”.
According to media publication Sixth Tone, other Chinese cities have started to act against smoking during marathons. Hangzhou and Guangzhou have rules to curb “uncivilised behaviour”, but did not specifically ban smoking.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/runner-banned-for-2-years-for-chain-smoking-throughout-marathon
| 2024-01-24T12:39:17Z
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MOSCOW - Russia's State Duma on Wednesday passed the first stage of a bill allowing the confiscation of property from those convicted of a number of crimes including spreading "deliberately false information" about the Russian army.
The measure will also apply to those found guilty of "discrediting" the armed forces, calling for sanctions against Russia or inciting extremist activity.
The Duma, parliament's lower house, passed the bill in the first of three required readings by 395 votes to 3.
It would allow the state to seize the property of Russians who have left the country and have criticised the war in Ukraine, but who continue to rely on revenue from renting out their houses or apartments in Russia.
Since sending its army into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has intensified a long-running clampdown on all forms of political dissent. Under laws passed in March of that year, discrediting the armed forces or spreading false information about them are already punishable by long jail terms. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/russias-parliament-approves-property-confiscation-for-spreading-fakes-about-army
| 2024-01-24T12:39:28Z
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COLOMBO - Sri Lanka's lawmakers passed a bill to regulate online content on Wednesday, the speaker of the parliament announced, a law which opposition politicians and activists say will muzzle free speech.
The Online Safety Bill proposes jail terms for posting content that a five-member commission considers illegal and makes social media platforms such as Google, Facebook and X liable for messages on their platforms. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/sri-lanka-parliament-passes-bill-to-regulate-online-content
| 2024-01-24T12:39:35Z
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SINGAPORE - The teen who was found to have radicalised himself had consumed online far-right extremist propaganda since 2022, said the Internal Security Department (ISD).
The 16-year-old became the second Singaporean pulled up under the Internal Security Act for being radicalised by far-right extremist ideologies. He was issued a restriction order in November 2023, ISD said in a statement on Jan 24.
The Straits Times unpacks the far-right extremist content that the then Secondary 4 student consumed on his path towards identifying himself as a white supremacist, and aspiring to carry out attacks abroad to further the cause.
Q: What is far-right extremism, and why can it be harmful for Singapore?
A: Far-right ideologies often espouse white supremacist, anti-Islam, xenophobic and anti-immigration beliefs, which can be adapted to fit Singapore, said ISD.
Such beliefs advocate the superiority of specific communities that have a shared ethnic, racial, cultural, religious or linguistic identity.
ISD said: “Far-right extremist rhetoric promotes an ‘us-versus-them’ narrative, ‘them’ being members of other communities who are perceived to be the enemy.”
This can divide communities, amplify prejudices and encourage acts of violence towards minorities.
The latest ISD report in 2023 that assessed terrorist threats to Singapore said recent terror incidents inspired by far-right extremism overseas suggest that the ideology is increasingly becoming widespread.
Far-right extremists often take inspiration from one another in online communities, the report said. Apart from casualties and property damage, incidents involving far-right extremists can spark a cycle of violence with Islamist extremists, like the spate of far right-related Quran desecration incidents in Europe in January 2023.
Q: Who is the far-right Internet personality who influenced the teen?
A: The self-radicalised teen was in 2022 exposed to violent extremist material online after chancing upon videos by far-right Internet personality Paul Nicholas Miller, according to ISD.
Miller, 35, is an American who became popular for streaming discussions of his extremist beliefs with strangers on the now-defunct chat website Omegle, while dressed up as pop culture characters like Batman’s nemesis, the Joker.
He often went by the moniker GypsyCrusader. He has been calling for a race war, and also espouses white supremacist and neo-Nazi rhetoric, said ISD.
In 2021, a United States court sentenced Miller to 41 months in jail for illegally possessing firearms – after the FBI took his threats seriously and raided his home in Florida.
Prosecutors said he had amassed a large following of 42,000 people on social media, and he encouraged them to spread hate, US news station NBC6 reported.
In January 2023, after he left jail, Miller continued to create hundreds of posts, mostly videos of “his racist and harassing webcasts, interspersed with ads for merch”, on Telegram and Gab – a social networking service known for its far-right community, USA Today reported in May 2023.
Soon after Miller’s release, a Telegram channel that he founded to harass targets by maliciously publishing personal information was revived, the report added.
Out of caution, Miller was removed from community confinement and placed in a secure facility, the US Bureau of Prisons told USA Today.
Q: Which are the far-right extremist organisations named by ISD?
A: Miller had ties with multiple far-right extremist organisations overseas, two of which were identified by ISD as the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo movement.
The Proud Boys is an exclusively male, far-right extremist group that was involved in the attack on the US Capitol in 2021. It operates in the US and Canada.
The group’s members were part of a mob that attempted to disrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 US presidential election.
Most of the group’s public activity involves protests or attending political rallies and events, typically with the goal of provoking violence, according to Stanford University’s Centre for International Security and Cooperation.
The Boogaloo movement refers to a loosely organised anti-government group that believes in the eventual arrival of a second US civil war – described as the “boogaloo” – that ends with the collapse of the US government.
Members of the movement who were targeted by law enforcement officials have been incorporated into the movement’s history as “martyrs” who justify anti-government extremism, said a post by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
Facebook banned communities and users associated with the militia movement in June 2020, although recent research suggests that the ideology is still flourishing.
Q: What is the Great Replacement theory, and why is it harmful?
A: The self-radicalised teen subscribed to the Great Replacement theory, a conspiracy theory that has become increasingly visible in mainstream US politics.
The theory propagates the notion that the white population in Western countries is in danger of being replaced by non-white immigrants, said ISD.
It has been commonly referenced by far-right terrorists like white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who fatally shot 51 people in New Zealand, ISD added.
On March 15, 2019, Tarrant carried out a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, which also injured 40 people. He titled his attack manifesto The Great Replacement.
In 2021, another Singaporean teen, the first detainee in Singapore to be inspired by far-right extremist ideology, was reported to have been influenced by a video of Tarrant’s actions and his manifesto.
Q: How can I tell if someone might be radicalised by far-right ideology?
A: ISD said family members and friends are best placed to notice changes in behaviour.
Possible signs of radicalisation include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Frequently surfing radical websites
- Posting or sharing extremist views on social media platforms, such as expressing support or admiration for terrorists or terrorist groups as well as the use of violence
- Sharing extremist views with friends and relatives
- Making remarks that promote ill will or hatred towards people of other races or religions
- Expressing intent to participate in acts of violence overseas or in Singapore
- Inciting others to participate in acts of violence.
People should look out for these signs, so the authorities can intervene before a tragedy occurs, said ISD.
Radicalised people do not come from any particular gender, age, ethnic or socio-economic groups, according to the SG Secure website.
Q: What can I do if I suspect that someone is radicalised by far-right ideology?
A: Those who know or suspect that someone has been radicalised should contact the ISD Counter-Terrorism Centre hotline on 1800-2626-473.
If unsure, the public can report anything suspicious by calling the police on 999, sending an SMS to 71999 or via the SGSecure app.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/askst-what-is-far-right-extremist-ideology-and-how-did-a-s-porean-teen-become-radicalised
| 2024-01-24T12:39:47Z
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SINGAPORE - Transport giant ComfortDelGro has clinched a major contract to operate the Stockholm Metro system, further expanding the group’s international footprint.
Connecting Stockholm, the group’s joint venture with Go-Ahead Group, was awarded an 11-year contract worth more than 40 billion Swedish krona (S$5.1 billion) to run and maintain Stockholm Metro’s three existing lines – covering seven routes – from May 2025.
This is ComfortDelGro’s first rail contract in Sweden and will be its largest rail passenger operation outside of Singapore, the group said in a statement on Jan 24.
On a work day, the metro serves more than 1.2 million passengers in the Swedish capital. It includes 100 stations, six depots and 107km of track.
Connecting Stockholm will handle customer service, planning and delivery of rail services, as well as fleet, station and depot facility maintenance.
The contract will also allow Connecting Stockholm to provide project support for Trafikforvaltningen, the Stockholm Public Transport Administration, to develop and expand the metro system in future. Stockholm is building extensions to its three-line metro network and a fourth line.
ComfortDelGro holds a 45 per cent stake in the joint venture. Its partner Go-Ahead is the majority owner of British rail network Govia Thameslink Railway, with experience in rail operations in Norway and bus services in Sweden.
The Stockholm Metro is currently run by Hong Kong’s MTR, whose concession agreement ends in 2025. MTR has been operating the rail system for 14 years, since 2009.
According to MTR’s annual report, Stockholm Metro is operated by MTR Tunnelbanan AB, a fully owned subsidiary of MTR Nordic AB, which is wholly owned by MTR Corp.
ComfortDelGro had faced competition from MTR and Singapore’s dominant rail operator SMRT to operate the metro. Strides International Business, a business arm of SMRT, collaborated with France’s Transdev Group to bid for the contract.
The latest contract brings the total length of rail operated by ComfortDelGro to 317km, and comes after the group was awarded a contract in July 2023 to operate the south sector of Paris’ Line 15 for an initial term of six years, with an opportunity for an extension to nine years.
In 2021, the group won a $1.13 billion contract to operate rail services in Auckland in a joint venture with Australian operator UGL Rail Services.
ComfortDelGro chairman Mark Greaves said the group’s active expansion into the international rail scene is part of its strategy to grow its core public transportation business into new regions.
In Singapore, ComfortDelGro’s subsidiary SBS Transit operates three rail lines – the North East Line, the Downtown Line and the Sengkang-Punggol LRT.
ComfortDelGro’s shares closed one cent higher at $1.41 on Jan 24.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/comfortdelgro-joint-venture-clinches-51-billion-stockholm-metro-contract
| 2024-01-24T12:40:00Z
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SINGAPORE – Snaking queues were seen at automated teller machines (ATMs) islandwide on Jan 24, the first day hongbao notes can be withdrawn for Chinese New Year, which falls on Feb 10.
As with past years, new and “fit-for-gifting” notes can be withdrawn without any prior booking at selected DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and UOB pop-up and branch ATMs. Fit-for-gifting notes, or fit notes, are those that are clean and suitable for recirculation.
At Tampines West Community Club, around 30 people were in line at two POSB pop-up ATMs at 9.30am. By 10.10am, the queue had grown to around 60 people.
A woman, who wanted to be known only as Madam Loh, was the first in the queue before the ATMs started dispensing hongbao notes at 10am. The 75-year-old retiree said: “I have been queuing at this venue (over the past) seven years because I live across the road.”
Long queues were also spotted at UOB and OCBC ATMs at Toa Payoh Hub just before noon.
DBS, OCBC and UOB started taking reservations for hongbao notes on Jan 17 on their websites.
Only those who have successfully made appointments online can exchange cash for new notes at bank branches from Jan 24.
DBS and OCBC stated on their websites on Jan 24 that all available slots have been booked. DBS also said priority reservation slots are still available for people aged 60 and above.
At UOB, the only available slots are for those who want to exchange cash for fit notes.
Walk-in exchanges at DBS, OCBC and UOB branches are available only for those aged 60 and above and people with disabilities.
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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/snaking-queues-at-atms-on-1st-day-for-withdrawal-of-hongbao-notes
| 2024-01-24T12:40:10Z
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DOHA - South Korea skipper Son Heung-min has struggled to make his mark at the Asian Cup as defensive opponents do their best to shut him down but the Tottenham Hotspur forward will find a way in the coming games, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Wednesday.
Son is one of the most recognisable players at the tournament in Qatar with years of experience in the Premier League, but he has scored only one goal in two games -- a penalty in a 2-2 draw with Jordan.
"Son will always get special attention in this tournament because he plays in the Premier League, it's a normal process," Klinsmann told reporters.
"When he gets the ball there will be two or three players closing him down since they play with a defensive-minded approach. It's similar for Lee Kang-in who plays for Paris St Germain.
"For them to find space and opportunities to score and assist, opponents will always try to minimise that wherever they can no matter who you play against.
"Sonny knows how to deal with that, he knows he can find space and we all hope he has more to put his stamp on the tournament."
South Korea have not yet guaranteed a top-two finish, with the team on four points, and play Malaysia in their final group game on Thursday. Klinsmann said there was a lot of room for improvement as they look to regain their rhythm.
"Obviously it's a very tight group, we're ready for this difficult game against Malaysia, we respect them. We've done our homework and scouting," Klinsmann said.
"We're focused on Malaysia. We don't look at whoever comes after that (in the knockout stage). There are no easy games in the Asian Cup whether it's game one or game seven. We got a lesson from Jordan.
"When expectations are high and you don't meet them right in the first games, then you're expected to take it step-by-step in the next games. We know we can play better but we need to respect the next opponent first."
Malaysia, who are bottom of the group after two losses, have a South Korean coach in Kim Pan-gon.
He is no stranger to the South Korean team having been a technical director of the Korean Football Association before making the switch to Malaysia and helping them qualify for the Asian Cup for the first time in four decades.
"Mr Kim knows these guys really well. He's very well informed about us, that's good for him," Klinsmann said with a smile.
"We have to approach the game the right way and respect his team." REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/klinsmann-expects-south-koreas-son-to-put-his-stamp-on-asian-cup
| 2024-01-24T12:40:21Z
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HYDERABAD, India - India have not lost a test series at home since 2012-13 but captain Rohit Sharma does not want him team mates to start believing they are unbeatable in their own conditions.
Since Alastair Cook led a touring England to a 2-1 series victory more than a decade ago, India have gone on to win 16 consecutive test series at home.
Rohit's team would begin as favourites in the five-test series against Ben Stokes's England but the home captain looked determined to prevent any complacency from creeping into their approach.
"No, no, not at all. At the end of the day, it's sport," Rohit said dismissing the suggestion in his pre-match press conference.
"By no means whatever records we have in the past decade or so gives us the guarantee that we are going to win the series.
"I won't say we are not beatable, we are.
"We want to think that if we don't step up or don't show up well, we are going to find ourselves in trouble. We don't want to be doing that."
Especially against an England team, who are out to redefine how test cricket is played with an ultra-aggressive 'Bazball' approach championed by captain Stokes and coach Brendon "Baz" McCullum.
"England obviously is a very good team, they play their test cricket really well and obviously the last team to beat us here in our conditions," Rohit said.
"For us it will be important that we stick to our strength and do the things that we know how to do."
England have named a spin-heavy attack with Mark Wood as the lone fast bowler for the series opener.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja would shoulder India's spin load but Rohit did not reveal who between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav would be their third spinner.
The India captain also confirmed KL Rahul, primarily a batter who kept wicket in the 50-overs World Cup last year, would not be deployed behind the stumps.
On what is widely expected to be a turning track, India would rather prefer a specialist though Rohit would not reveal whether it would be Srikar Bharat, who has played five tests, or the uncapped Dhruv Jurel. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/india-not-unbeatable-at-home-says-skipper-rohit
| 2024-01-24T12:40:31Z
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MELBOURNE - Four months after her defeat in the U.S. Open final, Aryna Sabalenka will have the opportunity to avenge that heartbreak when she meets Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Thursday.
Sabalenka is the defending champion, having landed her first Grand Slam crown at Melbourne Park last year, and is yet to drop a set in her run to the semis this season.
She is only the third woman to reach six consecutive Grand Slam semi-finals since the turn of the century after Americans Jennifer Capriati and Serena Williams.
The Belarusian baseliner was once famous for failing to master her emotions on court but the Sabalenka who has demolished all comers in Melbourne this year seems far more at ease with herself.
Her social media feeds are filled with lighthearted moments with her coaching team, and one of her rituals is to sign her name on her fitness trainer's bald head before each match.
Levity aside, however, she remains a formidable competitor, with the raw power to blow her opponents away from the back of the court.
"After the U.S. Open, I really want that revenge," Sabalenka said of her meeting with Gauff.
Teenager Gauff, who won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open, leads their head-to-head with four wins from six meetings and knows she will have to raise her game if she is to reach the final.
She eased into the quarters without dropping a set but her level dropped noticeably in her last-eight clash with Marta Kostyuk.
The 19-year-old struggled with her serve against the Ukrainian and was forced to fight her way back from 5-1 down in the first set, then lost a second set tiebreak, before finally finding her feet in the third set to advance.
"Definitely a 'C' game," was Gauff's verdict. "Didn't play my best tennis."
A lot will depend on whether Gauff can get her service game back to where it was before the quarter-final.
While the second semi-final could have been forecast before the tournament, it would have been a brave pundit who would have predicted the first between Dayana Yastremska and Zheng Qinwen.
The pair came through the top half of the draw where all but one of the 16 seeds were knocked out before the quarter-finals, including world number one Iga Swiatek.
NO REGARD TO RANKINGS
Ukrainian Yastremska, who will be playing her ninth match at the tournament after becoming the first women's qualifier to reach the last four in Melbourne since 1978, said she had been paying no regard to rankings.
"The girls at any ranking can show amazing game," she said. "I was doing just my thing and focusing on myself, the way I play. I think that's working."
Zheng, the 12th seed, is looking to follow in the footsteps of compatriot and hero Li Na, who became the first Chinese player to win the Australian Open a decade ago.
Li, who played four semi-finals in Melbourne, gave the 21-year-old some advice when they met after Zheng's third-round victory.
"She said to me 'don't think too much, just keep it simple'," Zheng said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/sabalenka-out-for-vengeance-in-gauff-showdown
| 2024-01-24T12:40:42Z
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MELBOURNE – Maybe it was a sign after all that Zheng Qinwen finally met her idol Li Na at this Australian Open.
On Jan 24, the Chinese player nicknamed “Queen Wen” by her fans shook off a sluggish start to outclass Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1 and reach the Melbourne Park semi-finals for the first time.
The 12th seed – whose previous best performance in a Grand Slam was the quarter-finals at last season’s US Open – will next take on Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska for a place in the final on Jan 27.
Significantly, Zheng became the first Chinese to make it to the Australian Open semi-finals in a decade.
The last player who did it? It was Li, who went on to win the 2014 edition for her second Grand Slam title following her 2011 French Open win.
The stars are probably aligned and it helped that Kalinskaya appeared nervous in her first Grand Slam quarter-final.
She gifted the opening break of the match with a double fault but Zheng returned the favour immediately and the duo were locked until the tiebreak after more shaky displays on serve.
The Chinese came under pressure when she hit a forehand wide to hand Kalinskaya two opportunities to take the opening set and the Russian calmly finished it with a backhand winner.
“She played really good today, especially good with baseline strokes,” said the 21-year-old Zheng.
“In the first set, we had a big good competition, the match was very tough for me. I just told myself, ‘stay focused, don’t think about the first set’. I’m so happy right now, really excited.”
She then broke her 25-year-old opponent for a 5-3 lead in the next set before levelling the contest at one set apiece, playing top-quality tennis and pounced again without losing a point in the third game of the decider.
Kalinskaya needed a medical timeout for a right leg problem after going a double break down but threatened a late fightback at deuce while down 4-1, but Zheng maintained focus to pull away further and secure the victory.
“It’s the first time (in the semi-finals) for me,” Zheng added. “I’m really happy to be in the semis, especially with such a good performance like this.”
Victory also meant the WTA’s most improved player of 2023 will break into the top 10 after the year’s first Grand Slam.
“That’s good news for me, another motivation for me,” she said. “Last year at the Australian Open I said I wanted to be top 10 and now I am.”
If she does make it all the way in Melbourne and win the trophy, she would probably have to thank her compatriot Li.
The 41-year-old is back in Melbourne and met Zheng after her third-round match last week – the first time they have spoken in person.
“Obviously, second time (in a Grand Slam last eight) I have more experience, I’m just trying to tell myself to focus on the moment,” Zheng said then before her match against Kalinskaya.
“Li Na gave me advice to ‘just play, don’t think too much’.”
Next up for her will be a clash with Ukraine’s Yastremska, who said her mission was to show pride in her war-torn home after becoming just the second women’s qualifier in the Open Era – after Australia’s Christine Matison in 1978 –to reach the last four in Melbourne.
The world No. 93 broke three times to beat unseeded Czech Linda Noskova 6-3, 6-4 in 78 minutes.
The 23-year-old wrote a message of support for Ukrainian fighters involved in the war against Russia on a TV camera lens after her win.
“I’m very proud of them,” she said. “They really deserve huge respect. I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine.
“I think it’s my mission here. If I do well, I can get... (it’s) tough to express (in words). But I’m just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I’m really proud of it.” REUTERS, AFP
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https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/zheng-finds-groove-to-down-kalinskaya-reach-australian-open-semis
| 2024-01-24T12:40:52Z
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SINGAPORE - The convenience of ChatGPT, streaming videos and digital banking comes at a hefty price: surging carbon emissions from data centres, a growing concern for the tech sector’s environmental impact.
To study how the coding behind artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and other software tools can be more environmentally friendly, the authorities have set up a $30 million research initiative, which will rope in academic institutions and tech firms to set common standards and find new solutions.
The research is in response to rising emissions that are expected from the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, which will account for up to 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, up from around 1.4 per cent today, said Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information Janil Puthucheary on Jan 24.
Dr Janil announced these plans on the morning of Jan 24 at the Singapore Computer Society’s Sustainable Tech Forum 2024 at Orchard Hotel.
He said: “Digital technology itself generates emissions; it is important to make sure that digital technology is adopted in an energy-efficient way... This is why IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) is rolling out two programmes targeted at lowering the carbon emissions of software applications.”
Under the Green Computing Funding Initiative, $30 million will be set aside to drive research into how software can be coded to prioritise energy efficiency.
The initiative will bring together researchers from institutes of higher learning and from the industry to build low-carbon digital solutions.
Major tech companies like Amazon Web Services, NCS and Alipay owners Ant Group are also participants of green software trials that aim to put theory to the test to assess how effective green software truly is.
AI is among the most pressing areas of concern as its computation uses high amounts of energy, said Dr Ong Chen Hui, IMDA’s assistant chief executive of Biztech.
“One commonly cited statistic is training a GPT-3 language model is equivalent to the lifetime carbon emissions of eight cars,” she told the media.
The initiative aims to find ways to improve the sector’s energy efficiency, as well as to set common standards for the industry, instead of relying on subjective benchmarks set by companies, Dr Ong said.
“If we can have a more objective metric that can be applied to different kinds of software, that will really help us to drive the conversation (forward) as an objective criteria of what is green.”
Mr Henry Chang, deputy chief executive at GovTech Singapore, said in a keynote that the tech sector can improve in how it manages computing resources, such as building systems that are “always available instead of always on” to be more resource-efficient and by implementing data lifecycle policies instead of hoarding outdated data.
“All of these consume energy,” he said.
Ms Carrie Suen, the firm’s senior adviser of global affairs and sustainability strategies, said companies like Ant Group use AI to time when to increase computing capacity, like when large volumes of customer traffic are detected during a sale.
The new initiative expands the scope of IMDA’s plans to green the ICT sector and comes after guidelines issued in June 2023 to make data centres here more energy efficient despite operating in warm tropical climates.
Dr Janil said: “We recognise that merely improving hardware efficiency is not sufficient to move carbon emissions to a more sustainable level... The software also needs to be addressed.”
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https://www.straitstimes.com/tech/fears-of-tech-sector-s-environmental-impact-prompts-30m-research-into-carbon-aware-software
| 2024-01-24T12:41:02Z
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VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis, acknowledging that he was the victim of a deepfake photo, on Wednesday warned against the "perverse" dangers of artificial intelligence, renewing a call for its worldwide regulation to harness it for the common good.
Francis spoke of his fears and hopes for artificial intelligence (AI) in his message for the Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Social Communications, which will be marked around the world on May 12.
While he urged people to temporarily "set aside catastrophic predictions and their numbing effects" about new things, his three-page message was mostly dire, warning of "cognitive pollution" that can distort reality, promote false narratives and imprison people in ideological echo chambers.
"We need but think of the long-standing problem of disinformation in the form of fake news, which today can employ
'deepfakes', namely the creation and diffusion of images that appear perfectly plausible but false - I too have been an object of this," Francis wrote.
He apparently was referring to a fake image of him that went viral on social media last year. It depicted him wear an ankle-length white puffer coat posted by someone who used an image generating programme.
Francis also spoke of fake "audio messages that use a person's voice to say things which that person never said".
On Monday, the attorney general in the U.S. state of New Hampshire said his office had opened an investigation into the origins of fake robocalls that simulated President Joe Biden's voice and encouraged voters not to cast ballots in the presidential primary on Tuesday.
"The technology of simulation behind these programmes can be useful in certain specific fields, but it becomes perverse when it distorts our relationship with others and with reality," the pope wrote.
He renewed a call he made last month for a legally binding international treaty to regulate AI.
In Wednesday's message he spoke of the "associated pathologies" of AI, including a decrease in pluralism and a proliferation of "groupthink," where consensus positions are taken without considering outside criticism or alternatives.
Francis also spoke of the danger of AI in the media, particularly in the reporting of war, which he said could be subjected to a parallel war waged through disinformation campaigns.
AI must support and not eliminate the role of journalism on the ground, he said. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T12:41:13Z
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NAIROBI - Ethiopia's deal to lease a port in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland has infuriated the government in Mogadishu and prompted concern it will further destabilise the Horn of Africa region.
Under a memorandum of understanding signed on Jan. 1, landlocked Ethiopia would lease 20 km (12 miles) around Somaliland's port of Berbera for 50 years, in exchange for stakes in Ethiopian state-run companies and possible recognition as an independent nation.
Somalia has responded by calling the deal an act of agression and says it will block it. Ethiopia says it is merely striking a commercial arrangement to address a need for access to the sea.
WHY DOES ETHIOPIA WANT A PORT?
Ethiopia, Africa's second most-populous country with 120 million people, depends for more than 90% of its trade on ports in neighbouring Djibouti, costing it more than $1.5 billion a year in fees.
In a speech in October, as Abiy publicly made the case for Ethiopia to gain sea access, he cited an 19th-century Ethiopian general, who had called the Red Sea the country's "natural boundary."
Ethiopia lost sea access in the early 1990s when its then-province Eritrea seceded following a three-decade war. Abiy's drive to reclaim it is seen as enjoying wide political support.
The prime minister also wants a sea base for Ethiopia's navy, which has been rebuilt in recent years but is currently limited to conducting training exercises on an inland lake.
WHY IS SOMALIA SO ANGRY?
The Mogadishu government considers Somaliland an integral part of Somalia even though it enjoys effective autonomy.
While Somaliland declared its independence in 1991, it has not been recognised by any country. If Ethiopia does so, it could set a precedent that other countries would follow.
Somalia's President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud signed a law that claimed to nullify the deal, and his government rejected an African Union proposal for dialogue with Ethiopia, saying it would not negotiate over its sovereignty.
WHAT ARE REGIONAL COUNTRIES SAYING?
Given chronic instability in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan as well as the Horn of Africa's strategic location across the Red Sea from the Gulf, some analysts fear the dispute could draw in outside actors if it escalates.
Middle Eastern powers, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey and Qatar, have been vying for influence in the region by making economic investments, opening military bases and selling weapons.
So far, no country has publicly backed the port deal. The Arab League, of which Somalia is a member, reaffirmed its support for Somalia's sovereignty over Somaliland, as did the African Union, European Union and United States.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which has a frosty relationship with Ethiopia related to a dispute about a dam Ethiopia has built on a tributary of the Nile River, said on Sunday he would not allow anyone to threaten Somalia.
Eritrea has not commented on the deal but its President Isaias Afwerki invited Somalia's Mohamud to Asmara shortly after it was was announced.
The UAE, which is a strong ally of Ethiopia and Somaliland and manages the Berbera port through state-run DP World, has not commented on the deal beyond the Arab League statement. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/explainer-how-ethiopias-quarrel-with-somalia-could-destabilise-horn-of-africa
| 2024-01-24T12:41:24Z
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RAFAH, Gaza - Hussam Abdulhadi walks around tent camps and outside hospitals in Rafah, southern Gaza, selling freshly picked red roses to try to comfort Palestinians displaced by an Israeli offensive that has pummelled much of the enclave to rubble.
"I am here selling flowers to spread joy among people during the war in the hope that this changes their mood, makes them happy and puts a smile on their faces," said Abdulhadi, who like most Gazans has himself been displaced by the conflict.
He said many of his customers bought the flowers for injured family members, for relatives in hospital or for those who have lost their homes during the Israeli military offensive.
"This raises the spirits and brings optimism after what we witnessed from war, destruction, and the destruction of homes," said resident Wafaa al-Arraj, clutching a red rose.
At least 25,700 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 64,000 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the territory's health ministry said on Wednesday.
The strikes are in retaliation for a rampage on Oct. 7 by militants of the Hamas group that runs Gaza in which Israel says 1,200 were killed and 253 taken hostage.
The tiny coastal territory's population now live packed into communal shelters in U.N. schools or in makeshift tent camps.
Abdulhadi obtains his flowers from a plant nursery in Rafah and sells them for the equivalent of about 80 U.S. cents apiece. But he gave one for free to Rafat al-Satari, a 16-year-old kidney dialysis patient being wheeled by his sister out of a nearby hospital.
"(The rose) has improved his mood, given him hope," said his sister Mahar al-Satari, adding their mother and two siblings had been killed by Israeli shelling. "God willing, Rafat will hold on to hope, especially after what he has been through." REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T12:41:35Z
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DUBAI - Iran's hardline Guardian Council has banned former pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani from standing again in an election in March for the Assembly of Experts, which appoints and can dismiss the supreme leader, state media said on Wednesday.
The 88-member assembly, founded in 1982, supervises the most powerful authority but has rarely intervened directly in policy-making.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is 84, so the new assembly is expected to play a significant role in choosing his successor since its members are only elected every eight years.
Close to moderates, Rouhani was elected president in a landslide in 2013 and 2017 on a promise to reduce Iran's diplomatic isolation.
But the mid-ranking cleric angered political hardliners who opposed any rapprochement with the U.S. "Great Satan" after reaching a 2015 nuclear pact with six major powers.
The deal unravelled in 2018 when then-U.S. President Donald Trump ditched the agreement and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Efforts to revive the pact have failed.
"There was no reason given for the Guardian Council's decision," a source close to Rouhani told Reuters, adding that "no decision has been made yet for an appeal" as Rouhani has three days to object.
"Rouhani has been a member of the assembly since 1999 for three terms ... It will be interesting to see what the reason for his disqualification was."
The 12-member Guardian Council, which oversees elections and legislation, disqualified 80% of candidates running for the assembly in its last election in 2016.
Moderate politicians have accused the Guardian Council of disqualifying rivals, and said that excluding candidates from the race undermines the vote's legitimacy.
A low turnout for the upcoming elections is expected, with Rouhani saying last week that the majority of people do not want to vote and that this will favour the ruling minority which relies on low turnout.
With Rouhani's disqualification, the Guardian Council had made it clear that hardliners intended to keep moderates away from the assembly, a pro-reform insider said.
The Guardian Council has also disqualified hundreds of hopefuls running for the parliamentary election also to be held on March 1.
State media reported that only 30 mid-ranking moderate candidates have been qualified to stand for the 290-seat parliament. Around 12,000 hopefuls will run for parliament, state media reported. REUTERS
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| 2024-01-24T12:41:45Z
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JERUSALEM - More than 100 days into Israel's quest to destroy Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being challenged by members of his own war cabinet about strategy, pressured by Washington over post-war Gaza plans and hemmed in by his far-right ministers.
On Thursday, two hours before the prime-time airing of an interview with an increasingly critical cabinet minister and former military chief, Netanyahu summoned reporters to say he would not relent until Hamas was eradicated.
The combative performance was a response to those in Israel who increasingly argue that the war's twin aims of destroying Hamas and freeing the hostages still held by the dominant Palestinian faction in Gaza are incompatible, and that a ceasefire is needed.
There are those "who claim victory is impossible. I utterly reject this. Israel under my leadership will not compromise on less than total victory over Hamas," Netanyahu said in the televised press conference.
With the prime minister's political survival at stake, he is also facing demands to stick to the tough line from his far-right coalition partners, some of whom have threatened to bring down the government if he wavers.
Nearly four months into the war, however, Israel's top Hamas leadership targets are still thought to be hiding deep within their extensive network of tunnels beneath Gaza.
A poll by Hebrew University researchers from Jan. 14 shows nearly half those surveyed said the top priority was freeing the hostages, as fears grow for their survival nearly four months after the cross-border rampage into southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed some 1,200 people.
More than 100 of the 253 hostages that were seized on that day were freed during a week-long November truce, but none have left alive since.
The rising urgency has now been voiced clearly in public for the first time by a member of the war cabinet. A flurry of diplomatic activity with mediators from Doha, Cairo and Washington also indicates a renewed focus on ceasefire negotiations behind the scenes.
"I think it is necessary to say boldly that it is impossible to bring the hostages back alive in the near future without a deal," Gadi Eizenkot, the minister who went public with his concerns on the day Netanyahu spoke, said in his pre-taped interview with Channel 12's current affairs show "Uvda".
WAR STRATEGY
Israel's war strategy is being set by a triumvirate of Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Benny Gantz, the centrist opposition politician who leads Eizenkot's party and who joined the emergency government shortly after the bloody attack.
The three have a vote on the war, while Eizenkot and a close Netanyahu ally, Ron Dermer, are observers in the war cabinet.
Statements released by the three around the 100-day mark of the attack displayed slight differences in the approach to the conflict, with Gantz also saying that the recovery of the hostages must take precedence over other military aims.
His office declined to elaborate further due to the "sensitivity" of the situation.
Gallant said only military pressure would achieve Israel's twin aims, but he also called for the cabinet to set diplomatic goals and discuss plans for post-war Gaza. Political indecision on a post-war plan, he added, could harm military progress.
Israel's military on Monday suffered the highest toll of its Gaza offensive with 24 fatalities, including 21 in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) attack and explosion in central Gaza, and three elsewhere.
In the latest weekly Hebrew University survey, of 1,373 adults from Israel's Jewish majority, 42% said a deal should be struck to release hostages even at the cost of releasing Palestinians jailed for lethal militant attacks. Seventeen percent said a deal could include a slowdown in the Israeli military response. Combined, the support of 59% for the two measures is up from the 39% who backed them on Oct. 9.
Nimrod Nir, a researcher involved in the polling, said the public was increasingly seeing it as a zero-sum game: "either we release the hostages, meaning that we need to finish at least the heavy part of the (Gaza) operation. Or we continue to fight, though it will cost us the hostages."
Relatives of hostages on Saturday set up camp outside Netanyahu's home, adding to weekend rallies demanding more be done to free hostages. This weekend, demonstrators at the rally also called for an early election and on Monday hostage relatives stormed a parliamentary committee session in Jerusalem.
TRICKY TIGHTROPE
Already walking a tricky diplomatic tightrope between Washington and his hard-right coalition government, Netanyahu will likely be challenged further when the more intense fighting phase starts to end.
Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, has said Israel's Arab and Muslim neighbours could be prepared to more fully integrate Israel in the region, but they would also need to see a commitment to a pathway to a Palestinian state.
But top-level Israeli discussions on who runs Gaza after the war have been repeatedly deferred amid political infighting.
An official briefed on the matter said the war cabinet had originally scheduled a session but, under pressure from Netanyahu's far-right coalition partners, who had been excluded, shifted it to be discussed in a wider security cabinet.
Now, the official said, the various post-war visions are so divergent as to make convening another such discussion "problematic". Netanyahu's finance minister, ruling coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich, has said Palestinians should move out of Gaza, in comments condemned by Washington. Smotrich said on Saturday that the White House should quit pushing for Palestinian statehood.
Far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has ramped up his rhetoric in recent weeks against the war cabinet. In a letter to Netanyahu last week he said it was going soft on Hamas in Gaza and warned he would not be a rubber stamp for policies to which he objects, hinting that his Jewish Power party could quit the coalition, a move that could trigger an early election.
He told reporters at the Knesset on Monday that if the war ended prematurely: "there'll be no government."
A poll published in early January showed only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to stay in office after the war ends, underlining how the collapse in his support seen after the Hamas attack has not recovered.
Despite this weak support, Gideon Rahat, a political science professor at the Israel Democracy Institute, said Netanyahu was showing signs of campaigning for an election.
"He is trying to frame himself as the person who will stop the creation of a Palestinian state," Rahat said.
Netanyahu's office did not respond to a request for comment about his future electoral plans. He has publicly denied making any kind of political moves, saying his only focus was on winning the war.
Netanyahu released a statement on Sunday, saying he had previously withstood "great international and internal pressures" to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state which would have posed "an existential danger to Israel".
He stopped short of totally ruling out a Palestinian state, but said Israel must always retain full security control over all the territory west of Jordan - a stance that he would always insist on "as long as I am prime minister".
"If someone has a different position, let them show leadership and state their position honestly to the citizens of Israel," he said. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-faces-doubts-over-goals-strategy-and-post-war-plans
| 2024-01-24T12:41:56Z
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MOSCOW -A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 military transport plane crashed near the Ukrainian border on Wednesday, and state news agency RIA quoted the defence ministry as saying it was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war to be exchanged for Russian captives.
The plane was carrying 74 people, including six crew and three guards when it crashed, RIA cited the defence ministry as saying. There was no immediate information on the cause.
Andrei Kartapolov, a lawmaker in Russia's parliament and a retired general, said during a parliamentary session that the plane had been shot down by three missiles. He did not say what the source of his information was.
Reuters could not immediately verify details of who was on board, but Russia and Ukraine regularly swap prisoners of war. Ukraine's defence ministry and air force did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Video posted on the Telegram messenger app by Baza, a channel linked to Russian security services, and verified by Reuters, showed a large aircraft falling towards the ground near the village of Yablonovo in the Belgorod region and exploding in a vast fireball.
Local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said that an unspecified "incident" had occurred in the region's Korochansky district, northeast of Belgorod city, and that he was going to inspect the site. He said investigators and emergency workers were already on the scene.
The Il-76 is a military transport aircraft designed to airlift troops, cargo, military equipment and weapons. It usually has a crew of five, and can carry up to 90 passengers.
The Kremlin said in response to a reporter's question that it was looking into the situation.
Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, has come under frequent attack from Ukraine in recent months, including a December missile strike which killed 25 people. REUTERS
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https://www.straitstimes.com/world/russian-plane-crashes-with-ukrainian-pows-on-board-ria-cites-defence-ministry
| 2024-01-24T12:42:06Z
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