Jumaat, 5 Julai 2013

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz


In awe of Jet Li

Posted:

Filmmaker is impressed with action star's comedic chops.

Making a movie with Jet Li was an unforgettable and exciting experience for Badges Of Fury director Wong Tsz Ming and co-star Michelle Chen.

During a phone interview recently, Wong and Chen couldn't stop talking about Li's antics on the set of the movie.

The action comedy revolves around a pair of bumbling police officers tasked to investigate three mysterious homicide cases.

In the movie, Li, 50, plays veteran law enforcer Huang Fei Hong, who may appear to be a scatter-brain but is in fact a martial arts expert. The other cop is muddle-headed young detective Wang Bu Er, played by Chinese actor Wen Zhang, 28, who was last seen in Stephen Chow's 2013 lunar new year flick Journey To The West.

Taiwan's sweetheart Chen, 30, plays Huang's tough-talking superior Angela. Chen admitted that she faced many challenges making the movie because she had never done an action comedy before.

"I was new at comedy, so pacing and timing were of great concern to me. In addition to that, I had to do wire work for the first time. I discovered that it was really tough to act while being suspended in mid-air," revealed the pretty actress who shot to fame in the Taiwanese smash hit You Are The Apple Of My Eye.

With Li's reputation as an action hero, Chen expected him to be a serious person. However, Li surprised everyone on the set with his effervescence. "Jet Li was so much fun to work with. I was really surprised at how lively and playful he could actually be. He would tell lots of jokes and make us laugh everyday. He really made an effort to ensure a light-hearted mood on the set as we were making a comedy after all," said Chen.

Even director Wong was taken by surprise at how Li tackled the comic parts with ease. "I was really amazed that Jet Li does comedy so well. He was a riot in the movie. I do hope to work with him again as I'm sure there are other sides of him I've never seen before," said the filmmaker, who got his break shooting television series on Chinese kung fu heroes like Wong Fei Hung and Fong Sai Yuk.

For Chen, her most memorable moment on the set of Badges Of Fury was when Li came to her rescue when she couldn't recite some lines during a scene.

"The script was quite a mouthful and there were some lines that really bothered me. I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I felt that they didn't do justice to the character I was playing," she recalled.

Luckily for her, Li was quick to notice her anxiety and dealt with it immediately. "He asked me about it and I voiced my concerns. To my surprise, he told me not to worry about it as he would say those lines himself. Now, I know why he is such a respected mentor in the industry," said the actress, who recently released her first album titled Me, Myself, And I.

Now that he has made an action comedy, Wong hopes to tackle another genre for his next project. "I'm thinking of black comedy or a suspense thriller. And, I look forward to inviting Li for another project together," he mused.

Badges Of Fury also boasts action choreography by Corey Yuen and showcases fighting scenes with action stars like Jacky Wu Jing and Collin Chou.

The movie features a bevy of heartthrobs from Hong Kong and China making cameo appearances namely Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam, Stephen Fung, Michael Tse, and Alex Fong, Huang Xiao Ming, Tian Liang and Tong Da Wei.

Badges Of Fury is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews


In awe of Jet Li

Posted:

Filmmaker is impressed with action star's comedic chops.

Making a movie with Jet Li was an unforgettable and exciting experience for Badges Of Fury director Wong Tsz Ming and co-star Michelle Chen.

During a phone interview recently, Wong and Chen couldn't stop talking about Li's antics on the set of the movie.

The action comedy revolves around a pair of bumbling police officers tasked to investigate three mysterious homicide cases.

In the movie, Li, 50, plays veteran law enforcer Huang Fei Hong, who may appear to be a scatter-brain but is in fact a martial arts expert. The other cop is muddle-headed young detective Wang Bu Er, played by Chinese actor Wen Zhang, 28, who was last seen in Stephen Chow's 2013 lunar new year flick Journey To The West.

Taiwan's sweetheart Chen, 30, plays Huang's tough-talking superior Angela. Chen admitted that she faced many challenges making the movie because she had never done an action comedy before.

"I was new at comedy, so pacing and timing were of great concern to me. In addition to that, I had to do wire work for the first time. I discovered that it was really tough to act while being suspended in mid-air," revealed the pretty actress who shot to fame in the Taiwanese smash hit You Are The Apple Of My Eye.

With Li's reputation as an action hero, Chen expected him to be a serious person. However, Li surprised everyone on the set with his effervescence. "Jet Li was so much fun to work with. I was really surprised at how lively and playful he could actually be. He would tell lots of jokes and make us laugh everyday. He really made an effort to ensure a light-hearted mood on the set as we were making a comedy after all," said Chen.

Even director Wong was taken by surprise at how Li tackled the comic parts with ease. "I was really amazed that Jet Li does comedy so well. He was a riot in the movie. I do hope to work with him again as I'm sure there are other sides of him I've never seen before," said the filmmaker, who got his break shooting television series on Chinese kung fu heroes like Wong Fei Hung and Fong Sai Yuk.

For Chen, her most memorable moment on the set of Badges Of Fury was when Li came to her rescue when she couldn't recite some lines during a scene.

"The script was quite a mouthful and there were some lines that really bothered me. I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I felt that they didn't do justice to the character I was playing," she recalled.

Luckily for her, Li was quick to notice her anxiety and dealt with it immediately. "He asked me about it and I voiced my concerns. To my surprise, he told me not to worry about it as he would say those lines himself. Now, I know why he is such a respected mentor in the industry," said the actress, who recently released her first album titled Me, Myself, And I.

Now that he has made an action comedy, Wong hopes to tackle another genre for his next project. "I'm thinking of black comedy or a suspense thriller. And, I look forward to inviting Li for another project together," he mused.

Badges Of Fury also boasts action choreography by Corey Yuen and showcases fighting scenes with action stars like Jacky Wu Jing and Collin Chou.

The movie features a bevy of heartthrobs from Hong Kong and China making cameo appearances namely Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam, Stephen Fung, Michael Tse, and Alex Fong, Huang Xiao Ming, Tian Liang and Tong Da Wei.

Badges Of Fury is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


Venezuela offers asylum to U.S. fugitive Snowden

Posted:

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro offered asylum to former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden on Friday in defiance of Washington, which is demanding his arrest for divulging details of secret U.S. spy programs.

"In the name of America's dignity ... I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden," Maduro told a military parade marking Venezuela's independence day.

"He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world."

The 30-year-old former National Security Agency contractor is believed to be holed up in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport.

Russian officials have kept Snowden at arm's length since he landed from Hong Kong on June 23, saying the transit area where passengers stay between flights is neutral territory and he will be on Russian soil only if he goes through passport control.

It was not immediately clear how Snowden would react to Maduro's offer, nor reach Venezuela if he accepted.

There are no direct commercial flights between Moscow and Caracas, and the usual route involves changing planes in Havana. It is not clear if the Cuban authorities would let him transit.

Given the dramatic grounding in Vienna of the Bolivian president's plane this week over suspicions that Snowden was onboard, using European airspace could prove problematic.

One alternative flight plan would involve an aircraft taking off from Moscow, refuelling in Vladivostok, and then continuing east over the Pacific to South America.

Russia has shown signs of growing impatience over Snowden's stay in Moscow. Its deputy foreign minister said on Thursday that Snowden had not sought asylum in that country and needed to choose a place to go.

Moscow has made clear that the longer he stays, the greater the risk of the diplomatic standoff over his fate causing lasting damage to relations with Washington.

The White House declined to comment on Maduro's offer.

Raising the possibility of at least one other option, Nicaragua said it had received an asylum request from Snowden and could agree to it "if circumstances permit".

WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organisation, said on Friday that Snowden had asked six more nations for asylum, bringing to about 20 the number of countries he has appealed to for protection from U.S. espionage charges.

WikiLeaks said on Twitter it would not reveal which six new countries Snowden had applied to for asylum, due to "attempted U.S. interference".

Maduro said Venezuela was ready to offer him sanctuary, and that the details Snowden had revealed of U.S. spy programs had exposed the nefarious schemes of the U.S. "empire."

"Who is the guilty one? A young man ... who denounces war plans, or the U.S. government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate President Bashar al-Assad?" he asked, to applause and cheers from ranks of military officers at the parade.

"Who is the terrorist? Who is the global delinquent?"

'COLONIES OF THE UNITED STATES'

Since narrowly winning a presidential election in April that followed the death of his mentor, Hugo Chavez, from cancer, Maduro has often lambasted the United States - even accusing the Pentagon and former U.S. officials of plotting to kill him.

But the former bus driver and union leader has at times also struck a much more conciliatory note, saying he is ready for better relations with Washington, based on mutual respect.

Already one of Snowden's most vocal supporters on the world stage, Maduro has sharpened his rhetoric in recent days.

It peaked after Bolivia said France, Portugal, Italy and Spain banned a plane carrying its president, Evo Morales, from using their airspace because of suspicions Snowden was aboard.

Latin America's most vocal leftist leaders denounced that as a disgrace and a serious breach of protocol, and Maduro said the CIA, the U.S. spy agency, was behind it all.

Snowden had revealed that the United States was spying on its European allies, Maduro said on Friday, and yet European leaders still caved under U.S. pressure to ground Morales' jet.

"The European people have seen the cowardice and the weakness of their governments, which now look like colonies of the United States," the Venezuelan president said.

Venezuela's opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, accused Maduro of making a fuss about Snowden to distract voters from a dismal economic picture at home, and a host of other problems including one of the highest murder rates in the world.

"Nicolas, you can't use asylum to cover up that you stole the election. That doesn't give you legitimacy, nor make the people forget," Capriles said on Twitter.

Speaking in Managua, President Daniel Ortega said he would gladly give Snowden asylum in Nicaragua "if circumstances permit". He did not say what those circumstances might be.

Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Americas, has benefited greatly from financial support from Venezuela, and Ortega was a staunch ally of Chavez.

A bid by Snowden for Icelandic citizenship hit an impasse on Friday when the country's parliament voted not to debate the issue before its summer recess.

(Additional reporting by Ivan Castro in Managua, Robert Robertsson in Reykjavik, and Roberta Rampton in Washington; Editing by Sandra Maler)

El Salvador gang truce wobbles as violent murders mount

Posted:

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - El Salvador has seen a burst of violence, with 103 homicides this week, the government said on Friday, as a year-long truce between the country's violent gangs appeared to be crumbling.

The uptick in murders in the Central American nation echoes killing rates before the March 2012 truce between the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang and rival Barrio 18.

"We said last year that the truce was fragile and that it could fracture in any moment. Time has proven us right," Miguel Fortin, Director of the Supreme Court's Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) told local media.

The truce, which is backed by the Catholic Church and the Organization of American States (OAS), aimed to reducing homicide rates of 66 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2011, according to the United Nations, making El Salvador the world's most violent nation.

The unprecedented truce helped bring murders down to an average of five per day from 12 before the agreement. But killings have been rising since late May, with murders averaging 16 per day in early July.

(Reporting by Nelson Renteria, Writing by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Philip Barbara)

White House: no comment on Venezuela's asylum offer to Snowden

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday declined comment on an offer of asylum for former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, referring questions on the matter to the U.S. Justice Department.

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business


EPF's purchase of Quill mall raises questions

Posted:

THE conditional purchase by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to buy Quill City Mall from the Quill group has generated a number of questions.

The RM1.2bil deal goes beyond these two parties and must be viewed from several perspectives, from the real estate point of view, EPF contributors and the guardians of the fund, and Quill. For Quill group, it comes across as a corporate exercise.

The deal has generated some questions. Is Quill cashing out? Is this an opportunity for EPF to add another gem to its real estate portfolio? Put another way, is Quill wise to let go of a gem, not to mention a great location? Will Malaysians be better off for it, being EPF contributors?

Private sector workers and the public sector pension employees of about 13.69 million contribute to the EPF as of March 31, 2013. How these monies are invested concern them. Thus far, EPF, the sixth largest pension fund in the world, with RM536.55bil in investments assets, has managed its funds well. As of March 31 this year, about RM15.05bil (or 2.8%) of this are in real estate, of which about RM7bil (or £1.5bil) is invested in London assets. The bulk of its investments are in equities, Malaysian securities and other assets.

StarBizWeek spoke to five property consultants and a practitioner, beside that initial interview with Quill group executive director Datuk Michael Ong.

By any measure, Quill City Mall is indeed a good asset. No two ways about that. On that point, all of them are in agreement. It is located in the heart of the city and the mall is part of a larger integrated development of slightly over seven acres. The other components is an office block which will be built at a more opportune time as there is a huge supply of Grade A office space in the Klang Valley today. A block of serviced apartments will be built together with the mall, with pricing beginning from about RM1mil. The mall will occupy 4 acres, of 60% of the footprint.

Quill's competition

Sogo departmental store, located in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman is fully occupied, consultants say. EPF owns that, but it is not a mall. EPF also owns Giant chain of hypermarkets and are co-owners in Paradigm Mall in Kelana Jaya.

"Sogo reflects the rise of the Malay consumer. Throughout the country, there is a certain degree of the rise of the Malay consumer. That is a factor in retail that cannot be overlooked," says a consultant who declined to be named.

Sogo lies at one end, and Pavilion and the Suria KLCC at the other end. The closest mall to Quill City Mall, or Vision City Mall, is Maju Junction, whose owner is Tan Sri Abu Sahid Mohamed, who owns the MEX Highway. Although Maju Junction is less than 500 metres away from Sogo, somehow, Maju Junction is "struggling to get tenants."

Pavilion is doing incredibly well. Suria KLCC has the masses, because of the MRT station and is a tourist attraction.

The site of the Quill City Mall has been abandoned for many years. If not for the fire and brimstone this past week, that site with the dark green hoarding could well remained "abandoned and unknown".

That seven acres is very significant. First, it is not easy to come up with that land size in the city and the Quill group is fortunate to have landed it. Secondly, the shape of that piece of land allows the mall to have, at 300m, the longest street frontage on Jalan Sultan Ismail, one of the main streets of the city. Its access to the public rail transport will only improve.

CB Richard Ellis (Malaysia) group executive director Paul Khong and Henry Butcher Retail managing director Tan Hai Hsin say the site is the main gateway to Kampung Baru, an area of more than 200 acres, and may well be the city's greatest and most forefront redevelopment project.

"Quill will obviously bring positive vibes to the whole area. It will rejuvenate commercial activities there. Retail should do well given the dense population and numerous offices there," says Khong.

The success of Quill City Mall will spearhead redevelopments from within Kampung Baru, Jalan Dang Wangi and Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman, Khong and Tan say.

But the success of a mall is not just location, although that is an important factor. "The mantra Location! Location! Location! should be Management! Location! Management!," says a consultant who declined to be quoted.

"It is the astute management that makes a mall among other things and Quill has no experience in managing or operating one," he says.

The Quill group started out as an architecture and interior designing team which subsequently went into building and managing offices. It has a TESCO building in Penang and a bit of retail space in Plaza Mont'Kiara. This will be its first mall.

EPF has stressed that it has not paid anything for the mall, although the deal has been formalised with the signing of the sell and purchase agreement, subject to certain conditions.

The purchase is "still conditional upon physical completion of the mall according to the specifications agreed within three years ...and a minimum 70% occupancy at an agreed sustainable minimum commercial yield over the long-term," an earlier statement from EPF says.

Also, the final value of the investment will only be determined in the period after the mall begins operations, and is subject to the investment reaching pre-agreed revenue and profit targets over a period of several years.

Instilling confidence

Says a practitioner: "Quill must instill confidence among tenants. Giving up the mall may be sending wrong signals." An average-sized food and beverage outlet operating in a mall will need to invest about RM500,000 to fit out 1,000 sq ft, the bulk going towards the kitchen.

"Landlords today are paying for the fit-out. British retailer H&M costs the landlord RM2mil in fit-out. That's how competitive it is today and more malls are coming up," the practitioner says.

On the positive side, the entrance of EPF can be viewed as a good thing; tenants cannot have a better long-term landlord than EPF who would want to ensure that the place is well-managed.

"But EPF will need a layer of expertise to run and to understand the nature of the asset," says a source.

Although Quill has managed its offices well, a mall is a different animal. "If Quill is confident that the mall will do well, they should keep the asset and go through the first round of tenancy, which is three plus three years, in order to unlock the value of the asset. They can then inject the mall into a real estate investment trust (Reit). After all, Quill is a Reit fund," a source suggests.

Kuala Lumpur's average grade A office rental ranges between RM7.50 and RM8 per sq ft, so malls, as a sub-segment of the property market, is currently offering the highest rental on a per sq ft basis.

Quill needs to show tenants that it is committed, although EPF, as a landlord, has its positives.

On a bigger picture, Quill City Mall will have a lot of competition as there are already many malls in the city.

The Sunway group is building Velocity mall in Jalan Cheras/Jalan Cochrane area, Kuala Lumpur. It is currently refurbishing Putra Sunway (formerlay The Mall), opposite Putra World Trade Centre. It has Giza in Kota Damansara, Carnival in Butterworth, Penang, and Pyramid in Petaling Jaya.

Says the practitioner: "Tenants with the Sunway group may continue to work with them in Velocity and Putra Sunway, who will also be looking for tenants."

Quill Mall will be in direct competition with landmark malls in the city - some of Malaysia's best - like KLCC Suria, KL Pavilion with the new Harrods next door, Sungai Wang Plaza and the other neighbouring malls all along Jalan Bukit Bintang and more.

Says CBRE's Paul Khong: "Quill must get the retail concept right, niche and identify its target market carefully. The tenant mix here must be accurately determined."

Setia City Mall in Shah Alam (under the S P Setia group) engaged Lend Lease, a leading and international property and infrastructure group, to handle the marketing and leasing.

"That Quill site comes with a legacy. When you want to revive the site, the first thing that is needed is investment in the make-up, the facade. And the awareness programme must be extended and prolong because you need to attract tenants," says a source.

"It must spruce up the facade to let the public and potential tenants know that something exciting is around the corner."

Where ever its location, its legacy or owner, a mall has to begin right. Publika in the Segambut area struggled several years, and Pavilion had a difficult two years in the beginning.

Factors like the physical building and design, layout, how the mall is positioned, tenant mix, direction of the mall and legacy issues are only some issues any owners and operators will have to consider.

Bumi Armada inks RM568mil agreement

Posted:

PETALING JAYA: Bumi Armada Bhd has entered into a RM567.7mil supplementary agreement to its existing contract with OOO LUKOIL-Nizhnevolzhskneft for works in Russia.

The company said in a statement that the agreement entered via unit Bumi Armada Caspian LLC was for the engineering, procurement, installation and pre-commissioning (EPIC) work in the Filanovsky and Korchagin field in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea.

It said the contract would increase the group's transport and installation order backlog to over RM2bil (US$629.4mil).

"Lukoil is a repeat customer, who is a major player in the Caspian region and the fourth-largest privately owned oil and gas company in the world by proven oil reserves. We are buoyed by this supplementary agreement, which underscores their confidence in our ability to deliver, and the good working relationship we have developed.

"This further consolidates our position as an EPIC provider in this region," said chief executive officer and executive director Hassan Basma.

The company said the works would be carried out using Bumi Armada's derrick pipelay barge, the Armada Installer, and that the project would see the majority of the construction work being carried out and completed in 2015.

QE fuelling IPO appetite in Malaysia

Posted:

SOMETHING is up in the Malaysian capital market.

While global markets have been bearish in the last six weeks, the Malaysian market appears to be shockingly indifferent towards the woes of the world. Who cares if the bond party in the US is crashing or that Europe continues to be plagued with debt concerns.

The liquidity festival monikered "Quantitative Easing" championed by Fed chairman Ben Bernanke some five years ago, have been fuelling initial public offering (IPO) appetite in Malaysia.

What's obvious now is that there is a tonne of latent liquidity looking for homes in Malaysian IPOs.

This was made extremely obvious in the case of upcoming listing Sona Petroleum Bhd, which is likely to be the third special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) to make its debut on Bursa Malaysia this month.

Sources have revealed that Sona's shares were more than five times oversubscribed. Now that is a lot of money, considering Sona was looking to raise RM550mil. There were some RM3bil of liquidity looking to park their money with Sona.

That's pretty extraordinary considering that this RM3bil is coming from high net worth individuals. You see, institutional funds and most investment houses do not have the mandate to invest in SPACs.

So who are all these people putting their money in these IPOs and why the great interest in Sona?

"Its all liquidity, Its got less to do with economics and fundamentals. Its really a case of too much money and cash driving equity markets," quips one head of dealing.

Areca Capital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Danny Wong says that traditionally, there has always been big interest in IPOs.

"IPOs which have successfully created a story, for example Johor's Iskandar Waterfront Holdings Bhd, will attract interest," he says.

Danny Wong.

Wong says that Sona and Ranhill are in oil and gas, a favoured sector

Another fund manager says appetite for Sona was mainly driven by speculative interest.

"Look at how well the previous SPACs did. Hibiscus Petroleum Bhd and Cliq Energy Bhd have delivered returns of of 300% and 140%. People have seen that and are looking for that kind of success to be repeated. So they are all piling money into Sona," says the fund manager.

He adds that these high net- worth individuals putting their money in these IPOs weren't in the tycoon leagues.

"They put in RM5mil to RM10mil. There are well to do people around looking to exercise their money. These people have made their money from properties, so now they are looking to roll those profits in the IPOs. Furthermore, many banks provide financing for IPOs, and this is a huge factor in the big take up rates for IPOs," says the fund manager.

HwangDBS head of Equity Capital Market Sherilyn Foong says that the Malaysian equities market is still very predominantly local, with both local institutional funds dominating and retail investors consisting mainly local retailers.

"This is unlike markets like Hong Kong which see much greater global participation in both institutional and retail segments. Liquidity sloshing about is always good for equity markets, in my humble opinion. Recent local factors dampening traditional favourite asset classes like property and gold have contributed to this sloshing liquidity effect on our local stock market. You can clearly see a renewed risk appetite and vigour for equities," she says.

Another upcoming IPO is long haul discount airline AirAsia X, which is raising RM988mil, making it the largest float of this year for now.

Its public retail offering of 150 million shares was oversubscribed by 3.83 times. This deal is also anchored by domestic long-only funds. At an IPO price of RM1.25, this gives it a forecast 2014 PE of around 7.5 times.

The offer comprises of 790 million shares at the base size, of which 75% were primary. There is a greenshoe of 119 million shares available, which could bring the total deal size to RM1.14bil.

"There is definitely is a lot of equity appetite. Many of these high net worth investors are looking to maximise their gains and what better way than in big IPOs. Big IPOs provide huge liquidity and allows investors to take meaningful positions without having difficulty to eventually exit," says Wong.

Foong adds that there is a certain novelty factor to new issues.

"Ideally, investment bankers should price their primary issues with some upside for investors to take from the table," she says.

Wong adds that Sona and Ranhill were in the oil and gas sector, which was a favoured sector in Malaysia.

"Oil and gas is a key contributor to Malaysia's gross domestic product and is also a key component in Bursa's index. So IPOs related to these sectors will surely attract interest," says Wong.

Foong says that the sexier sectors like oil and gas, utilities and lately property would attract investor interest. On the other hand, information technology companies would continue its bearishness sentiment among investors.

Wong foresees upcoming IPOs such as Iskandar Waterfront Holdings and Westports to garner similar amounts of interest due to their size and sector.

IWH is the master developer of Iskandar Malaysia, a big city with 1,600 ha of prime waterfront land in the southern tip of Johor. IWH is developing its land into a waterfront city fronting Singapore in a development that is likely to take between 30 and 50 years to be fully completed.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies


In awe of Jet Li

Posted:

Filmmaker is impressed with action star's comedic chops.

Making a movie with Jet Li was an unforgettable and exciting experience for Badges Of Fury director Wong Tsz Ming and co-star Michelle Chen.

During a phone interview recently, Wong and Chen couldn't stop talking about Li's antics on the set of the movie.

The action comedy revolves around a pair of bumbling police officers tasked to investigate three mysterious homicide cases.

In the movie, Li, 50, plays veteran law enforcer Huang Fei Hong, who may appear to be a scatter-brain but is in fact a martial arts expert. The other cop is muddle-headed young detective Wang Bu Er, played by Chinese actor Wen Zhang, 28, who was last seen in Stephen Chow's 2013 lunar new year flick Journey To The West.

Taiwan's sweetheart Chen, 30, plays Huang's tough-talking superior Angela. Chen admitted that she faced many challenges making the movie because she had never done an action comedy before.

"I was new at comedy, so pacing and timing were of great concern to me. In addition to that, I had to do wire work for the first time. I discovered that it was really tough to act while being suspended in mid-air," revealed the pretty actress who shot to fame in the Taiwanese smash hit You Are The Apple Of My Eye.

With Li's reputation as an action hero, Chen expected him to be a serious person. However, Li surprised everyone on the set with his effervescence. "Jet Li was so much fun to work with. I was really surprised at how lively and playful he could actually be. He would tell lots of jokes and make us laugh everyday. He really made an effort to ensure a light-hearted mood on the set as we were making a comedy after all," said Chen.

Even director Wong was taken by surprise at how Li tackled the comic parts with ease. "I was really amazed that Jet Li does comedy so well. He was a riot in the movie. I do hope to work with him again as I'm sure there are other sides of him I've never seen before," said the filmmaker, who got his break shooting television series on Chinese kung fu heroes like Wong Fei Hung and Fong Sai Yuk.

For Chen, her most memorable moment on the set of Badges Of Fury was when Li came to her rescue when she couldn't recite some lines during a scene.

"The script was quite a mouthful and there were some lines that really bothered me. I couldn't bring myself to say the words. I felt that they didn't do justice to the character I was playing," she recalled.

Luckily for her, Li was quick to notice her anxiety and dealt with it immediately. "He asked me about it and I voiced my concerns. To my surprise, he told me not to worry about it as he would say those lines himself. Now, I know why he is such a respected mentor in the industry," said the actress, who recently released her first album titled Me, Myself, And I.

Now that he has made an action comedy, Wong hopes to tackle another genre for his next project. "I'm thinking of black comedy or a suspense thriller. And, I look forward to inviting Li for another project together," he mused.

Badges Of Fury also boasts action choreography by Corey Yuen and showcases fighting scenes with action stars like Jacky Wu Jing and Collin Chou.

The movie features a bevy of heartthrobs from Hong Kong and China making cameo appearances namely Kevin Cheng, Raymond Lam, Stephen Fung, Michael Tse, and Alex Fong, Huang Xiao Ming, Tian Liang and Tong Da Wei.

Badges Of Fury is now showing in cinemas nationwide.

Accidental success

Posted:

Lance Reddick talks about working his way up to White House Down.

THOUGH he always felt something was pushing him towards acting, Lance Reddick ignored it. His dad was an attorney, and Reddick was on his way to becoming a classical music composer. Then something went awry.

"I always knew I had a thing when it came to acting but never took it seriously. I just thought people who wanted to be actors were silly," he says in the sunny patio restaurant of a hotel in Pasadena, California.

It may have been silly, but Reddick has managed to parlay that tom-foolery into a full blown career with memorable performances in TV shows like Oz, Fringe, Lost and The Wire and his new movie, White House Down.

For a guy who was too shy to even consider performing, he somehow beat the odds. He studied music composition at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, the piano his instrument. "Because my parents wanted to give me what they didn't have, I grew up around a bunch of affluent white kids," says Reddick.

"So everybody's parents were lawyers and doctors, bankers and architects. I didn't really get it. Now I do." He developed his first taste for music at an Episcopal elementary school when he started singing with the choir. "A lot of black people grow up singing gospel music. I grew up singing Gregorian chants and 16th century motets," he grins.

Still, he left Eastman before he graduated. "I realised I was in denial and I really wanted to be a rock star," he says.

"So, I got married straight out of school, moved to Boston because my wife at the time was from there. Two years later my daughter was born. And I found myself working three jobs, seven days a week."

He still wasn't sure what he wanted to do. But an excruciating back injury changed all that. "I was lifting a big bundle of newspapers, but it wasn't the lifting itself, it was the exhaustion. I'd come from a double shift of waiting tables to a double shift of delivering newspapers and I delivered the Wall Street Journal in downtown Boston ... I just cranked it up for about 24 hours, and I was just exhausted and something went," he says.

"At the time I was used to working on adrenaline and I worked out every day – even with all I had going on. So when I was in pain or exhausted I just ignored it and kept going."

Two weeks later he awoke unable to get out of bed. Fourteen days of bed rest forced him to re-evaluate his life.

"It sounds crazy but I thought, 'Well, I know the recording studio I'm working with is taking me for a ride. It's time for me to admit that to myself. So let me start from scratch. I can sing and I can act. So let me try to act ...' I went on a couple of musical theatre auditions and realised that wasn't me, so I started going on straight auditions and getting cast and getting cast and getting cast."

Though at one time he was co-starring in three shows at once, it wasn't always so easy. Married with a daughter, 24, and a son, 19, he and his first wife split in 1997. (He has since remarried).

"She made three times the money I did," he recalls. "God rest her soul, she passed away a couple years ago, but she was a brilliant artist, really talented. We didn't make it, but she was a great lady," he sighs.

"Six months after she left, I got The Siege and I was ducking the landlord. And I had the kids every other week, so I was borrowing money to buy groceries. I got The Siege, then I got I Dreamed Of Africa, then went to the Guthrie and got to play Marc Antony (in Julius Caesar.) I came back home to New York and didn't work for six months. For somebody who's always doing a side job or has a trust fund or savings, it's one thing. But I didn't ... The only reason I didn't quit was I didn't have any alternatives. What was I going to do, wait tables? The only way to get out of the situation I was in was to make it." – McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

White House Down, starring Channing Tatum and Lance Reddick, opens in cinemas nationwide today. Read Star2's interview with Tatum this Sunday.

Bling it on

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Emma Watson is keen to step away from her past at Hogwarts – but not to jump on to the celebrity rollercoaster.

IF the Harry Potter franchise was one of the most overwhelming cinematic phenomena of recent history, the films' plucky Hermione, Emma Watson, shows no sign of being swamped by her past.

The actor's latest foray beyond Hogwarts sees her as part of a young ensemble cast for Sofia Coppola's latest work, The Bling Ring, which opened the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard section back in May.

Speaking before the premiere, Watson said: "Harry Potter feels like such a long time ago; so much has happened in the last three or four years, but obviously it's still very present, it's still being played in people's living rooms. I'm not trying to run away from it ... but it's that I've had such an amazing three or four years having a chance to transform into new roles and work with new creative people."

Watson, who also took a role in 2011's My Week With Marilyn and will appear in Darren Aronofsky's biblical epic Noah, added that she had relished the chance to work in a freer fashion: "I am used to really having to stick to my lines because people know them by heart, so it was lovely just to be able to ad lib or improvise."

Coppola's film is based on the true story of a group of suburban Los Angeles teenagers, some from privileged backgrounds, who stole luxury goods from the houses of the rich and famous out of a desire to possess their wardrobes and lifestyles.

Watson researched her role, she said, by watching reality TV shows such as Keeping Up With The Kardashians and The Hills. She said: "It wasn't so much about the stealing, it was more that they wanted to pretend for two hours that they were Paris Hilton. That they were living that lifestyle for real."

Among their most prominent targets was Hilton – whose front door key they found under her doormat. Between October 2008 and November 2009, the group stole more than US$3mil (RM9.4mil) worth of items, including "a stash of Rolexes" from British actor Orlando Bloom, according to an account by one of the real "bling ring", Nick Prugo. The teenagers used Google Maps to identify escape and entry points and social media to know when the celebrities were away from home. They also boasted of their new possessions on Facebook.

The real Hilton makes a brief appearance in a film that piles on the ironies: her home was used as a location, so we see her jewels and designer clothing; the Louis XIV-style armchairs heaped with cushions screenprinted with her face; and her "nightclub room" complete with its own poledancing pole.

Having a film made about their exploits might be regarded as the final victory for the real-life "bling ring" – but according to Coppola, that was far from her intention. "I changed the names of the characters because I didn't want to make them more famous," she said, adding that it was "not a documentary" and she was "not too concerned with the reactions" of the people on whom the story is based.

Coppola was born into celebrity as the daughter of Francis Ford Coppola; Watson had it thrust upon her as a child. But Watson distinguished herself from the celebrities touched on in the film. "There are celebrities that create a brand and create a business and a whole job, a whole life, out of other people's interest in their lives, and then there are celebrities or people who have a craft or a trade," she said.

"As long as people understand the difference, then it's okay," she said.

Coppola added that what had drawn her to the story was that "it could not have happened 10 years ago" and depended on the rise of social media and a celebrity-news cycle.

"There's so much information, and a lack of privacy: these kids knew so much about the people that they felt they (really) knew them. They knew what they were having for breakfast." – Guardian News & Media

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Muhyiddin: Cabinet to withdraw controversial Bill allowing unilateral conversion of child

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PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet has decided to withdraw the Administration of the Religion of Islam (Federal Territories) Bill 2013 until the approval of all stakeholders is received, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Muhyiddin said the Cabinet made the decision to withdraw the Bill during its meeting Friday following concerns from various quarters including from within Barisan Nasional.

All consequential amendments from the Bill would also be withdrawn, he said in a statement.

The Bill was tabled for the first reading in Parliament on June 26.

Over in BATU PAHAT, MCA Young Professionals Bureau chief Datuk Chua Tee Yong said the Cabinet's decision not to table the Bill shows that the government respects the rights of all races.

"We thank the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Cabinet in ensuring that the bill is not tabled.

"This shows that the government respect the rights of all races and will not implement new regulations that will harm the unity of the country," he said when contacted.

Chua said it was a decision that all parties welcomed.

"Going forward, we hope new Bills that may be contentious should involve public engagement to show that the Government is transparent and willing to listen to feedback from all groups before making a decision," he added.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel also welcomed the withdrawal of the Bill.

In a statement he said it was a fair move, taking into consideration everyone's sensitivities.

Child conversion: What the Federal Court previously decided

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PUTRAJAYA: The Federal Court had ruled in a 2007 landmark judgment that any one parent had the right to convert a child.

The apex court ruled in the case of secretary R. Subashini that the conversion of the elder son to Islam by the husband, albeit under the Selangor Enactment, did not violate the Federal Constitution.

Federal Court judge Justice Nik Hashim Nik Ab Rahman had said the word "parent" in Article 12(4) of the Constitution, which states that the religion of a person under the age of 18 years shall be decided by his parent or guardian, means a single parent.

The court had also ruled that the dispute between Subashini and her Muslim-convert husband T. Saravanan over the dissolution of their marriage and child custody would continue to be under the jurisdiction of the civil court.

In the 2-1-majority judgment in December 2007, the three judges agreed on this point with the third judge dissenting on all other issues raised.

Justice Nik Hashim held that a non-Muslim's marriage would not be automatically dissolved upon one person's conversion to Islam.

By contracting the civil marriage, the husband and wife are bound by the 1976 Act (Law Reform [Marriage and Divorce] Act) marriage in respect to divorce and custody of the children of the marriage, and thus, the civil court continues to have jurisdiction over him, he said.

In his judgment, Justice Nik Hashim said by embracing Islam, Saravanan and his eldest son were subject to Muslim personal and religious laws and could seek remedies in the Syariah High Court.

Justice Nik Hashim, who sat together with Federal Court judges Justices Abdul Aziz Mohamad and Azmel Maamor, said: "To my mind, the dissolution order of the civil marriage by the Syariah High Court by virtue of conversion would have no legal effect in the (civil) High Court other than as evidence of the fact of the dissolution of the marriage under the Islamic law in accordance with Hukum Syarak.

"Thus, the non-Muslim marriage between the husband and wife remains intact and continues to subsist until the High Court dissolves it pursuant to apetition for divorce by the unconverted spouse under Section 51(1) of the1976 Act."

He said there was no impediment for the converted husband to appear in the divorce proceedings in the civil High Court.

The wife, being a non-Muslim, has no locus in the syariah court, he said.

Justices Nik Hashim and Azmel, who threw out Subashini's appeal, said the divorce petition filed at the High Court by Subashini was premature and invalid as it was filed two months and 18 days after the husband's conversion to Islam.

In September 2006, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed Subashini's application to stop Saravanan from resolving their marital problems in the Syariah Court.

Subashini, 35, and Saravanan, 38, have two children - Dharvin Joshua, 10,and Sharvin,8.

Justice Abdul Aziz, had given a 112-pages dissenting judgment, among others allowed Subashini's appeal for an injunction to stop the conversion of her second son.

Justice Abdul Aziz, however, agreed that a converted party could change the religion of the child unilaterally but the other party's objections must be heard.

Clashes break out in Cairo, three reportedly killed

Posted:

CAIRO: Clashes have broken out at Nasr City, about 5km from Tahrir Square near where Muslim Brotherhood supporters are demonstrating, with three reported killed.

At 3.30pm Egyptian time (9.30pm Malaysian time), Muslim Brotherhood supporters were seen being rushed to emergency camps with fresh gunshot wounds.

According to locals, the demonstrators were wounded when they got too close to a nearby military installation.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported an army spokesman saying that Egyptian troops did not open fire on supporters of ousted President Mohamed Mursi.

Security sources said three demonstrators were shot dead by security forces in a protest near where Mursi is being held.

The spokesman said soldiers were using only blank rounds and teargas. It was unclear whether security forces other than the army were present.

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Out Of The Easy

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SET in 1950 New Orleans, this is the story of 17-year-old Josie Moraine, who is the daughter of a prostitute.

Not the "filthy, streetwalking kind", as we discover in the second sentence of the book, but the kind who works for a madam in a respectable (as far as that term can apply to the world's oldest profession) brothel.

And not the kind who should be a parent either. After all, what mother beats her 10-year-old daughter and is "happier without her around"? Or maintains a romantic relationship with a cruel Mafia hitman, who bears a deadly grudge against her daughter for throwing hot coffee at him after he caused her to be hospitalised from a drunken beating?

Although Josie's life is inevitably influenced by her mother and her occupation, she is not defined by it. She may love her mother with a loyalty that is undeserved and heart-breaking, but by the tender age of seven, Josie is already independent, knowing how to cook, clean and make martinis, while feeding her intelligence with books and school.

This is also the age she and her mother, Louise, move to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where Louise seeks out employment at the brothel of famous madam Willie Woodley.

Willie, and those who work for her, become Josie's de facto family, along with bookshop owner Charlie Marlowe and his son Patrick. At 10, when the beatings start, Josie begins hiding and sleeping in the bookshop owned by Charlie. One night, she discovers that the office she has been sneakily sleeping in has been fixed up as an apartment for her, and in exchange for the lodging, she begins working at the bookshop.

The story proper begins with Josie at the age of 17, who, despite her brains and high academic scores, only dreams of saving up enough money to get out of New Orleans. But a series of events unfolds that conspire to dare her to dream of attending the elite female Smith College in Massachusetts, and then to thwart that seemingly out-of-reach dream.

Her mother's hitman boyfriend, Cincinnatti, comes back to town, still bearing a grudge two years after the hot coffee incident. At the same time, Josie fantasises that a nice gentleman called Forrest L. Hearne Jr, who comes into the bookstore for poetry books, might be her unknown long-lost father. So when he dies suddenly at a club the next day, she becomes unusually interested in the case.

Then, there is also the problem of boys; more specifically, familiar, comfortable Patrick Marlowe, and good-looking, quiet Jesse Thierry. Although these events may sound quite random, the story actually ties them all together quite well. Author Ruta Sepetys is an excellent storyteller, with an interesting and different hero in Josie.

One of the things I like best about her narrative is that she allows us to see how Josie's life and relationships are through the story itself, rather than just telling us outright.

Josie is made to face some hard truths, make some difficult decisions, and also realise how much she is cared for, despite her fierce independence and self-reliance.

The only thing I didn't really like was the ending. It's not the sort of ending that portends a sequel, but the sort that just seems to trail off quietly, rather than end satisfyingly.

Despite that, I would definitely recommend this book for those who want to read about a different sort of plucky, independent teenage heroine.

Sirens

Posted:

A WOMAN in the 1920s "knows that it is her ... twentieth-century birthright to emerge from a creature of instinct into a full-fledged individual who is capable of molding her own life. And in this respect she holds that she is becoming man's equal," Dorothy Dunbar Bromley wrote in 1927 in Harpers magazine, describing the "Feminist – New Style".

Quotes such as these that precede several of the chapters in Sirens set the scene for not only the story but also the main characters in it.

The era of jazz clubs and flapper girls marked a time of upheaval. The men who returned from the horrors of World War I were very different from who they had been when they left; Prohibition (when the manufacture and sale of alcohol was banned in many American states) and the gangsters it gave rise to ruled the day; and, as the quote illustrates, this was also when feminism began to rise.

While Sirens is very much about girls embracing their new-found independence and daring to live their dreams, the novel is written in the alternating voices of Josephine "Jo" Winter and Louise "Lou" O'Keefe to show two very different girls and the widely divergent paths they take towards similar goals.

Jo is the more introspective character; sent away from home by her overprotective father, she dreams of living her own life and having her own career. Lou is the classic gangster's moll who escapes her poverty-stricken life when she finds favour with New York's most notorious gangster, Danny Connor; while she expresses love for him, her real motivation is to make sure she doesn't lose her new and glamorous lifestyle – and like her gangster boyfriend, she will not let anything or anyone stand in her way. Sirens' main plot focuses on Jo and her relationship with her supposedly dead brother Teddy. 

Before his disappearance, Teddy confided in Jo that he was in some sort of trouble and had to go off the grid for a while. Trusted with this secret that, if let slip, could threaten not just Teddy's life but also the lives of everyone in her family, Jo is clearly carrying a burden too heavy for her young shoulders.

The circumstances that lead to Teddy's predicament are revealed very slowly – so much so that at times the story dragged a little and I really wanted the author to get to the point. As interesting as the story was, I just wanted to find out how it would end. Since Jo speaks in the present voice and Lou in retrospect, you already know from the get-go that at least one of them is going to survive; the real mystery is whether or not the other one will.

Sirens is quite complex in the sense that there are many secondary characters and they all have an important part to play in each other's lives, and they all have their role in the final outcome. Unfortunately, while I enjoyed the insights into Jo and Teddy's relationship, Jo's attempts to flee Danny and his thugs, while crucial to the story, extends for longer than necessary.

One of the main gripes I have about young adult fiction is that many female characters still seem to fall into the pattern of waiting to be rescued, always playing the damsel in distress. Credit should be given to Janet Fox for coming up with a truly strong female lead, one who is determined not to let her life be dictated by anyone else. And setting her story in the 1920s gives that notion even more weight.

Dead Ever After

Posted:

HAVING been a devoted fan of Sookie Stackhouse and her supernatural adventures for almost 10 years, I picked up the final book in the series with a little bit of nostalgia, and a whole lot of trepidation. Nostalgia because there were so many characters in the series that I have grown to love and will miss, and trepidation because I wasn't sure I was going to like how Harris ended her wildly popular series.

I desperately wanted it to be great. Maybe not epic, because the quality of her later books had been deteriorating slowly, but I was hoping that since this was the last book, there would be a kind of closure for me, as the reader. In this I was not disappointed.

While I wouldn't call the book epic in any form, I felt that I got that closure I was looking for, and even better, it came tied up in a nice big bow.

In the book, Arlene Fowler (Sookie's former friend), is bailed out of jail by persons unknown, and approaches Merlotte's for a job, not realising that Sookie is now part owner. Given the way their relationship ended (Arlene, her boyfriend and friends had planned to kill Sookie), Sookie finds it relatively easy to turn Arlene down.

But then Arlene is found murdered, and Sookie is arrested for the crime. She makes bail, however, since the evidence against her is not strong, and investigates Arlene's killing. What she discovers shocks her to her very core, and infinitely changes her life.

The thing about the book that really gripped me is Sookie herself. She has come a long way from the person she was in Dead Until Dark, yet she still retains that practical nature that is one of her cornerstone characteristics.

Throughout the course of the series, she has found first love, been broken-hearted, raped, tortured and manipulated by those closest to her, and has had to kill to survive. And while she did not come out unscathed from these experiences, Dead Ever After finds her looking forward to Jason's upcoming wedding, enjoying the company of Tara and her twins, and just laying in the sun.

For Sookie, it's the relatively ordinary experiences in her life that she enjoys and appreciates, because she knows that the good comes less often than the not-so-good.

She is a survivor who is still trying to be the best version of herself, the way her grandmother taught her, regardless of the fact that the somewhat naive and innocent lens that she used to view the world with had more or less disappeared. This is undoubtedly the best thing about the book, and the series as a whole.

I also appreciated the growth of Sookie's relationship with the many characters – Andy, Sam, Pam, Tara, Niall, Dermot, the town of Bon Temps and her brother Jason. The last two is much more significant because we all know that Sookie was considered the town freak due to her telepathic ability.

Yet, in the course of the series, it is clear that the town not only begins to accept her, but also realises that she is one of their own, and therefore an affront to her is an affront to the town. Her brother Jason starts off as an immature, selfish, ladies' man, yet by the end of the series, he has also grown and matured and this has had a positive effect on his relationship with his sister.

The way Harris writes her relationships is one of the best things about the series. She captures the pain, the joy and even the pettiness with an honesty that is sometimes so stark that the words leap off the pages.

Harris has been on the receiving end of many negative responses for ending this series, and the way she ended it. After all, the series has spawned the wildly successful television series True Blood, and is definitely a cash cow for Harris. So ending it was not a lucrative decision, but Harris did it anyway.

It takes a good writer to be able to write a series that captivates the world. It takes a brave one to realise and recognise publicly that it is time to say goodbye. Harris is one of those authors who has consistently ended her series when she felt the time was right. She did this with her Harper Connelly series, Aurora Teagarden series and the Lily Bard series. So it should come as no surprise that she would eventually end Sookie's adventures as well.

Dead Ever After has a good balance of light and dark, and shows the pinnacle of Sookie's mental and emotional growth that has been happening throughout the series.

While the book itself was far from perfect (there were certain sections that I felt were there as a convenient way for Harris to cut loose ends), I still enjoyed reading it. Because in the end, the book isn't about Bon Temps, or the supernatural. It isn't about the romance, although there's plenty about that. It's about a half-fairy, telepathic blond barmaid.

Don't read this book to find out who she ends up with, or how the series ends. Instead, read it for Sookie.

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Youth fest mixes choir and wushu with beatbox and hip-hop

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ROCK bands, hip-hop dance groups and the Chinese martial art of wushu are all on the agenda at the revamped Singapore Youth Festival Celebrations this year.

The annual event will still feature traditional art forms like choir and drama performances, but the Ministry of Education has followed up with plans it announced last year to introduce more alternative areas.

Jay Huang, 17, a Secondary 2 student from Manjusri Secondary School, did not think he would be selected to perform beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion.

"Not everyone considers it an art, but now I'm more motivated to excel in it," he said.

The five-day event, now in its 47th year, began on Tuesday and will see about 5,000 students from 167 schools performing.

Among them will be Regent Secondary School's concert band, Qifa Primary's Malay dance troupe and a hip-hop routine by students from Juying Primary.

Performances will be held until Saturday at the Esplanade, Ngee Ann City, Suntec City and three National Library Board libraries.

In previous years, performers came mainly from seven categories – arts and crafts, band, Chinese orchestra, choir, dance, drama and instrumental ensembles.

To perform at the festival, schools had to take part in the annual inter-school arts assessment held between April and May, or be invited.

But this year, the ministry also invited schools to submit entries via YouTube for the first time.

A total of 180 were selected.

The assessment's award structure has also been streamlined to just three levels: distinction, accomplishment and commendation.

To get the highest award – a distinction – schools need to score only 75% from the judges.

Previously they needed to get 80% for gold, and 85% for gold with honours.

This previous system had drawn criticism for fuelling unhealthy competition and causing stress to festival participants. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Global firms want changes to Net licensing regulations

Posted:

FIVE major Internet and technology companies have expressed concern over new government licensing rules for online news sites, calling them "unwarranted and excessive".

They also warned that the new licensing framework could affect Singapore's business-friendly image and hamper innovation.

The companies – Facebook, Goo­gle, eBay, Yahoo and cloud computing firm Salesforce – also urged the Government to ease up on the rules.

The five are members of the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an industry association they had formed to represent their interests in Internet policy issues in the region.

Earlier this year, the five were among hundreds of companies, groups and individuals that objected to government legislation in the United States.

They said its Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, which aimed to address copyright infringement, would clamp down on free speech, innovation and the development of the Internet.

In Singapore, the new licensing regime affects only one of them: Yahoo. Its website Yahoo Singapore is among 10 sites that must have an individual licence.

Under the new framework, which kicked off on June 1, an individual licence is a must for websites with more than 50,000 Singapore visitors a month.

The licence entails putting up a US$50,000 (RM159,000) performance bond. Also, if or when told by the Government to take down prohibited content, the websites must comply in 24 hours.

Said the AIC: "This new regulation could unintentionally hamper Singapore's ability to continue to drive innovation, develop key industries in the technology space and attract investment.

The AIC made two requests.

One is for the regulation to include a statement that the websites will not be liable for content posted by users. To proactively police content is an "untenable position", the AIC said, noting that online platforms have "incentives" to address misuse of their services.

The second is for websites to be given a "reasonable timeframe" to comply, instead of up to 24 hours. The AIC said 24 hours was particularly difficult for international companies, which have to negotiate across time zones.

It also took issue with the US$50,000 bond, saying it would be a "financial risk" to start-ups. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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