Khamis, 19 September 2013

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

Mall ceiling collapse injures three
People’s Park Complex is the next rip-off central
‘Church leaders did nothing wrong’

Mall ceiling collapse injures three

Posted:

THREE people were injured last night after a portion of a first floor ceiling collapsed in the Jem shopping mall.

A burst water pipe was believed to have been behind the incident, which occurred just after 10pm in the Jurong East centre.

IT engineer Jackson Khoo, 30, was on the first floor at the time.

"I was walking and heard a loud sound coming from behind me," he said.

"When I turned around, the ceiling just fell to the floor and water gushed out."

Khoo said maintenance officers rushed to stop water from escaping, though some had seeped into shops.

He added that there were few shoppers in the mall as it had just passed the 10pm closing time.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force received a call for assistance at 10.14pm.

Three people were taken to National University Hospital with minor injuries.

Last month, thousands of shoppers at Jem had to be evacuated after a car caught fire in the basement carpark.

Earlier in the same week, three employees manning the ready-to-eat counter at the mall's NTUC FairPrice Xtra store suffered minor burns when a deep fryer caught fire.

The mall opened in June, but only after its opening date was postponed for four days due to a lack of necessary fire permits.

The mall was cordoned off for safety checks last night. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

People’s Park Complex is the next rip-off central

Posted:

PEOPLE'S Park Complex is fast becoming the next mall that is associated with errant retailers ripping off consumers.

The number of complaints made against retailers in the mall has jumped from 11 in 2006 to 41 last year.

This year's number is set to surpass that of last year, with the Consumers Association of Singapore logging 40 complaints from January to August.

Errant retailers reel in unsuspecting consumers by displaying ultra-low prices for mobile phones.

These customers hand over their cash or credit cards, but are then told that they have to fork out more for warranties or to unlock the phones.

The retailers refuse to hand over the phones until the amount is paid.

In contrast, complaints against shops at two other malls – Lucky Plaza and Sim Lim Square – where tenants are long associated with such scams, look set to fall this year. This trend could be linked to the rising scams at People's Park Complex.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said there was a "merry-go-round" of rogue retailers moving between the three malls.

"Errant business owners are new tenants and formerly from other troublesome malls," said Seah. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

‘Church leaders did nothing wrong’

Posted:

City Harvest Church leaders had done nothing wrong in being discreet about funding Ho Yeow Sun's career and auditors had found nothing amiss as well, a court heard.

In fact, it was "common" for churches to discreetly fund evangelism projects with a "secular face" in countries that disapprove of open gospel preaching, the defence for six church leaders said yesterday.

That said, all of the church's allegedly illegal financial transactions had been vetted by accounting firm Baker Tilly TFW, which raised no concerns.

The firm signed off on the church's 2007 and 2008 financial statements when some of the transactions took place, the defence noted.

Baker Tilly would also have been extra "careful and conservative" in its audits at the time because it had been recently sued by another client for negligence, they added. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Jennifer Garner gets a strip club drama
'Elementary' is run of the mill
Mad Men's last season to air in two parts

Jennifer Garner gets a strip club drama

Posted:

Mrs Affleck is the executive producer of a new hour-long television show.

Jennifer Garner and Fox are hitting the strip clubs together. Fox has given a pilot order to the drama The Whole Shebang, which Garner is executive producing along with Jason Micallef (Butter), who wrote the pilot.

The project has been given a put-pilot commitment by the network.

The one-hour drama revolves around a newly single soccer mum who inherits a rundown male strip club and unexpectedly finds herself at the centre of a dysfunctional, makeshift family that helps her take charge of her life.

Garner's Vandalia Films is producing the project in association with Warner Bros Television, with whom Garner has an overall deal. — Reuters

'Elementary' is run of the mill

Posted:

Another version of Sherlock Holmes comes on the air. But even with talented actors and bold changes, why can't Elementary hold our attention? We go sleuthing for answers.

No one likes a know-it-all ... well, unless that know-it-all is Sherlock Holmes. It stands to reason why this fictional character, created by Arthur Conan Doyle, is ever popular. It's almost like a magic trick how he uses his honed observation ability to arrive at a clever deduction.

Out of Doyle's books, in recent times, the character has appeared in the form of Robert Downey Jr in the Guy Ritchie-directed films and Benedict Cumberbatch in the top-rated BBC series, Sherlock. Even Hugh Laurie's Dr Gregory House in House MD bears a lot of resemblance to Holmes, although – obviously – House solves cases pertaining to medical mysteries instead of crime.

So, the latest Sherlock Holmes played by Jonny Lee Miller in the series Elementary, comes to this game somewhat late.

To set him apart from the other Holmes, Elementary incorporated a few changes. Though still British, Miller's Holmes resides in New York, and – here's the most drastic difference – his trusty sidekick Watson is now a woman (portrayed by Lucy Liu).

Dr Joan Watson is introduced to Holmes as his sober companion. Watson is hired by Holmes' father to keep an eye on the eccentric man to make sure he doesn't go back to being a drug addict, which had landed him in a rehabilitation centre.

(It is a clever nod to the book since drugs is one of Holmes' vices. There is even a clever reference to Holmes' musical instrument of choice in Elementary.)

In the series, Holmes is employed by the New York Police Department as a consultant on homicide cases. This conveniently lets Holmes assume the role of a brilliant detective and, by extension, Watson is present at the crime scenes as well.

As Watson previously worked as a surgeon before changing profession, she assists Holmes when it comes to medical aspect of a the crime.

Jonny Lee Miller is Sherlock Holmes in Elementary.

The gender switch is indeed a brave move, and why not? The camaraderie established in the books should reflect the modern times, and since women and men stand on equal grounds these days, it makes sense.

Liu's Watson is both book smart and streetwise, and Elementary is all the better thanks to the banter and arguments between Holmes and Watson (as they should be).

As the series progresses, Watson becomes less an outsider and more a necessary presence in Holmes' life and work. The push-pull dynamic between the two is interesting to watch as she is both appalled and in awe at some of the things Holmes says and does.

One thing that hasn't changed about the Watson character is that Joan Watson is just as broken emotionally, but sans the limp.

Thankfully, the producers of Elementary have already established that Holmes and Watson will not be romantically involved. That would just be sacrilegious despite the (sexual) tension that does exist between the two in Elementary.

Although these are interesting amendments and Miller is absolutely brilliant in his portrayal of Holmes – as crisp as the February air and brimming with energy like New York City – the series is nothing more than a procedural, just cleverly disguised to be something else.

Holmes' unconventional sleuthing work is just not enough to keep viewers interested, especially when the cases are no different from the many cop shows available on TV now.

Midway through the series, the writers try to engage the viewers by introducing two important characters – Holmes' arch nemesis, and the only woman he has ever loved. But these tactics only last momentarily, and once again, the series fall back onto the routine procedural.

Seriously though, with talented actors, a rich original source and the bold changes, Elementary could and should be better.

Hopefully, the show will buck up in the second season because Sherlock Holmes is definitely more than just this.

Elementary airs every Wednesday at 9pm on RTL CBS Entertainment HD (HyppTV Ch 616).

Mad Men's last season to air in two parts

Posted:

Fans shouldn't worry so much, though, as these episodes will only air in 2014 and 2015.

Don Draper is going to take his time saying goodbye: Mad Men is splitting its final season into two seven-episode instalments airing in 2014 and 2015.

The AMC show is going out the same way as Breaking Bad, which split its final season between last year and this one, the network said. The move means AMC will get to keep its first big show on the air a little longer as it looks for replacements for Breaking Bad and Mad Men.

On Monday it announced it was creating a spinoff of The Walking Dead, to go with a previously announced Breaking Bad spinoff. The split may also increase AMC's long-term Emmy haul.

If Mad Men had ended its run next year, it's final season would have had to go up against the final episodes of Breaking Bad. This change means Emmy voters won't have to choose between the final episodes of two of television's most-praised shows, since Mad Men will be eligible again in 2015.

The first seven episodes will air in spring 2014 under the banner The Beginning. The final seven – The End Of An Era – will air in spring 2015.

"This approach has worked well for many programmes across multiple networks and, most recently for us with Breaking Bad, which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second half premiere than had watched any previous episode," said Charlie Collier, AMC president.

"We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase. In an era where high-end content is savored and analysed, and catch-up time is used well to drive back to live events, we believe this is the best way to release the now 14 episodes than remain of this iconic series."

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner said, "We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience.

"The writers, cast and other artists welcome this unique manner of ending this unique experience." — Reuters

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

Leonardo DiCaprio to play Woodrow Wilson
Aaron Eckhart is an exorcist in new film
Hiding in plain sight

Leonardo DiCaprio to play Woodrow Wilson

Posted:

The Inception star is set to play the 28th United States president in a new biopic.

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in and produce a biopic of US President Woodrow Wilson, based on the new biography by A. Scott Berg, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

DiCaprio, 39, will produce the Warner Bros movie through his Appian Way banner along with Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Berg.

Putnam Adult published Wilson to strong reviews last week. The critical acclaim was no surprise, given that author Berg won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1998 biography of Charles Lindbergh.

Wilson was voted president in 1912 after running as a third-party candidate with a progressive agenda. He was re-elected in 1916 and pushed for a peace treaty following World War I.

After suffering a stroke, his wife Edith handled many presidential duties during his final year in the Oval Office.

DiCaprio has had a thing for historical biopics, playing J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar and Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, the latter of which earned him one of his three Oscar nominations. — Reuters

Aaron Eckhart is an exorcist in new film

Posted:

The horror movie Incarnate, directed by Brad Peyton, will start production next month.

The horror genre continues to prove its allure to serious actors, as Aaron Eckhart is set to star in the exorcism-themed movie Incarnate for Jason Blum's Blumhouse banner, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

Brad Peyton (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island) is directing from a script by Ronnie Christensen. Production starts next month.

Eckhart will play an unconventional exorcist with the ability to tap into the subconscious of the possessed. The plot: The exorcist meets his match when a nine-year old boy is possessed by a demon from his past.

Blumhouse and IM Global will co-finance the film. Blum (Paranormal Activity) will produce for Blumhouse, which is co-financing the movie with IM Global. Couper Samuelson will executive produce with Michael Seitzman and Trevor Engelson. Blumhouse International will handle foreign sales, and while there is no US distributor in place, Blumhouse has a first-look deal with Universal.

Given the studio's success with Blumhouse's micro-budget home invasion thriller The Purge, Universal is expected to take on the release. Eckhart, who recently starred in the action movies Olympus Has Fallen and Erased, next stars in I, Frankenstein. He received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Jason Reitman's comedy Thank You For Smoking. — Reuters

Hiding in plain sight

Posted:

The press-shy Robert De Niro opens up, a bit, about his latest project, Malavita.

In the dark comedy Malavita, Robert De Niro plays Giovanni Manzoni, a former Mafioso who ratted out his cronies in exchange for immunity and new identity (Fred Blake) via the witness protection programme.

Living in France with his wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) and two kids (Dianna Agron and John D'Leo), where they are under the protective watch of US government agent (Tommy Lee Jones), Fred tries to stick to a straight and narrow path. But old habits die hard, and the gangsters he betrayed are eager to dole out some payback.

De Niro is no stranger to comedy, having achieved some of his biggest success (Analyze This, Meet The Fockers) in the third act of his career by lampooning his familiar screen image.

But in Malavita, the actor seems unusually engaged, treating the role of a guy who is trying to reinvent himself as a writer but can't help but break a plumber's leg in seven places when he senses he's being ripped off.

Despite his great fame and success, the notoriously press-shy actor has never been an eloquent interview subject – something he proved again recently during a brief chat via telephone from New York to promote Malavita.

The character of Giovanni plays to so many of your strengths, the part feels like it was written for you.

It was based on a novel called Malavita by Tonino Benacquista. (Director) Luc Besson (The Professional, The Fifth Element) told me that he had this book, la la la, that I should read it. Then there was a screenplay. Luc was only going to produce it; he didn't want to direct it. But as we were trying to figure out who could do it, we realised it had to be him. It was his vision from the beginning, really. It was a relief to me. I wasn't sure another director would get it as well as he did.

You've often said in interviews that as an actor, you try to draw on real-life experiences to a character you're playing. But in this movie, you seemed to be drawing on characters you previously played in films. It looks like you're having fun.

Exactly. You're right.

There's a moment where the film goes meta and breaks the fourth wall. The scene could have fizzled, but instead it's fantastic, and Besson pushes it further than expected.

That was a lot of fun. Luc was very specific about what he wanted from that scene. It is something so funny and crazy, we were just 'Let's do it and see what happens'.

Tommy Lee Jones is a notoriously serious guy. But I have to imagine there were moments on the set when he's glaring at you and you're doing some crazy things that made him break character and laugh.

I can't remember. Maybe in the scene in the cinematheque. Tommy is terrific in this. I'm glad we have him in the film.

I loved how Michelle Pfeiffer was used in this movie. There is a menace to her beauty that not a lot of filmmakers have been able to use well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. We had a very good time. I wished we had more scenes together. This was the first time we've ever actually worked together, even though I've known her for a long time.

Even though this is essentially a French production, it is steeped in the tradition of Hollywood gangster movies and pitch-black humour. But there's still a different feel to it. It doesn't necessarily feel like an American movie.

I think that's part of what Luc brought to it, how he felt about it. He's French, but I'm sure he liked Goodfellas and many American movies. He's also a writer, so I assume that's one of the reasons he connected with my character. He was able to work with all of that and make it personal. – The Miami Herald/McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

Malavita opens in cinemas nationwide Thursday.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

Leonardo DiCaprio to play Woodrow Wilson

Posted:

The Inception star is set to play the 28th United States president in a new biopic.

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in and produce a biopic of US President Woodrow Wilson, based on the new biography by A. Scott Berg, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

DiCaprio, 39, will produce the Warner Bros movie through his Appian Way banner along with Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Berg.

Putnam Adult published Wilson to strong reviews last week. The critical acclaim was no surprise, given that author Berg won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1998 biography of Charles Lindbergh.

Wilson was voted president in 1912 after running as a third-party candidate with a progressive agenda. He was re-elected in 1916 and pushed for a peace treaty following World War I.

After suffering a stroke, his wife Edith handled many presidential duties during his final year in the Oval Office.

Hiding in plain sight

Posted:

The press-shy Robert De Niro opens up, a bit, about his latest project, Malavita.

De Niro is no stranger to comedy, having achieved some of his biggest success (Analyze This, Meet The Fockers) in the third act of his career by lampooning his familiar screen image.

The character of Giovanni plays to so many of your strengths, the part feels like it was written for you.

Exactly. You're right.

There's a moment where the film goes meta and breaks the fourth wall. The scene could have fizzled, but instead it's fantastic, and Besson pushes it further than expected.

That was a lot of fun. Luc was very specific about what he wanted from that scene. It is something so funny and crazy, we were just 'Let's do it and see what happens'.

I can't remember. Maybe in the scene in the cinematheque. Tommy is terrific in this. I'm glad we have him in the film.

I loved how Michelle Pfeiffer was used in this movie. There is a menace to her beauty that not a lot of filmmakers have been able to use well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. We had a very good time. I wished we had more scenes together. This was the first time we've ever actually worked together, even though I've known her for a long time.

Malavita opens in cinemas nationwide Thursday.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates

Venezuela says U.S. bans Maduro from flying over Puerto Rico
Analysis - Obama may extend his hand to Iran's Rouhani at U.N.
Heavy rain lashes northwest Mexico as storm misery spreads

Venezuela says U.S. bans Maduro from flying over Puerto Rico

Posted:

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Thursday the United States banned President Nicolas Maduro's jet from flying through U.S. airspace over Puerto Rico en route to a state visit to China in what Caracas called an act of aggression.

There was no immediate comment from the United States, and it was unclear why Maduro's flight would be rejected. He is due in Beijing this weekend for talks. China is a major lender to his government, and Chinese firms are heavily involved in the OPEC nation's oil industry.

Foreign Minister Elias Jaua said a flight plan filed by Venezuela that would have routed the president's plane over Puerto Rico had been rejected by U.S. authorities.

"We denounce it as yet more U.S. aggression," Jaua said. "We reserve the right to take whatever measures we have to if the U.S. government and its aviation authorities don't rectify this new assault on Venezuela's sovereignty."

Jaua told reporters that Washington had no right to deny airspace to any presidential plane. He said the government was studying other routes and the move would not stop Maduro from visiting China.

The U.S. Embassy in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maduro has often clashed with Washington since winning an election in April that was triggered by the death from cancer of his mentor, the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

"What's going on in the United States? Why are they so nervous? Why so much despair?" he asked on state TV during a meeting with his party's candidates for local elections.

"Denying a head of state permission to fly through airspace that they colonized, like in Puerto Rico, is a grave mistake."

His trip to China would go ahead regardless, Maduro said, to applause from the crowd. "They can't stop us!"

U.N. VISA DISPUTE

Venezuela's president later accused the United States of not wanting to issue a visa for General Wilmer Barrientos, his minister in the office of the presidency, to attend meetings of the U.N. General Assembly next week in New York.

"They want to put conditions, if we decide to go to New York ... They don't want to give a visa to my minister," he said. "Do we want to go as tourists? We're going to the United Nations. You're obligated to give visas to all the delegation."

In July, Venezuela said it was ending efforts to improve ties with Washington after the Obama administration's nominee for envoy to the United Nations vowed to oppose what she called a crackdown on civil society in the "repressive" country.

The latest diplomatic spat is reminiscent of this year's incident when Bolivia said France, Spain, Italy and Portugal denied their airspace to President Evo Morales' jet, apparently on suspicion the aircraft might have been carrying fugitive U.S. intelligence agency contractor Edward Snowden out of Russia.

Days after that, Venezuela's Maduro became the world's first leader to offer asylum to Snowden, who is wanted by Washington for disclosing details of secret surveillance programs.

At a news conference in Bolivia late on Thursday, Morales expressed solidarity with his Venezuelan counterpart.

He also suggested that the 33 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, consider kicking out their U.S. ambassadors in response to the action against Maduro.

"As a CELAC member we ask for a summit to address seriously the arrogance of the United States. At this meeting the Bolivian government will suggest the immediate withdrawal of the U.S. ambassadors," Morales told reporters in Santa Cruz.

Bolivia's president also suggested the leaders of the leftist Latin American and Caribbean ALBA bloc - once led by Chavez - should not attend the U.N. General Assembly meetings.

Analysis - Obama may extend his hand to Iran's Rouhani at U.N.

Posted:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Next week's U.N. General Assembly meetings will offer U.S. President Barack Obama a chance to extend a hand, both literally and figuratively, to new Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The White House said on Thursday a meeting was possible, the first between U.S. and Iranian presidents since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"It's possible, but it has always been possible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "The extended hand has been there from the moment the president was sworn in.

It looks more likely to be a handshake and brief exchange of pleasantries - probably in the U.N. building - rather than a formal meeting where the leaders could talk at greater length

With conciliatory overtures and gestures emanating from Iran's ruling echelon at a surprising pace in recent days, the White House is looking for the right balance in forming a response.

Obama eventually wants to encourage Iran to make concessions in talks over its nuclear program. But if he embraces Tehran too warmly before it takes concrete actions, he would risk criticism that he is fumbling another foreign policy issue after struggling to handle crises over Syria and Egypt.

SIGNS OF WARMING

Iran's rhetoric has softened markedly since Rouhani took office in August. Recent gestures include a promise never to develop nuclear weapons, tweeted greetings on the Jewish New Year and the release of prominent political prisoner and rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh.

On Thursday, Rouhani published an opinion piece in the Washington Post urging other leaders "to respond genuinely to my government's efforts to engage in constructive dialogue."

For its part, the White House said this week Obama had written Rouhani to convey the message "that the U.S. is ready to resolve the nuclear issue in a way that allows Iran to demonstrate that its nuclear program is for exclusively peaceful purposes."

A U.S. official said the White House hoped to engineer a handshake in the U.N. building between the two leaders, but by no means a full meeting, and a second official also bet on a handshake, while saying there were currently no such plans.

Regardless of whether Obama and Rouhani shake hands, the more serious issue is whether both countries are ready to get into a direct bilateral discussion.

The United States suspects Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons, something it sees as a threat to Israel and to oil-producing U.S. allies in the Gulf. Iran denies that, saying its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.

A decade of negotiations between Iran and the West has yet to resolve the dispute and the United States has said it would not take any option off the table - code for a possible military strike - in dealing with Iran's nuclear program.

Speeches by Obama and Rouhani, who address the United Nations next Tuesday, will attract scrutiny for signs of a thaw. Another closely watched address will be that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who views a potential Iranian bomb as an existential threat to Israel and is wary of Iran's new tone.

Rouhani may extend what many analysts regard as a charm offensive by distancing himself from remarks by his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was widely vilified in the West for doubting the Holocaust and questioning Israel's right to exist.

Obama's speech must strike a balance, analysts said, between showing a readiness to engage Iran - a message he conveyed in his first week as president in 2009 by saying he would extend a hand if they would "unclench their fist" - and stressing that talks could not be endless and Iran must curb to its nuclear program.

In so doing, Obama needs to keep the door open to talks while protecting himself from attacks from conservatives who may regard his willingness to talk as weakness, particularly after his recent decision not to bomb Syria.

Elliott Abrams, who served under former Republican President George W. Bush and is now at the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said Obama was right to test whether Iran was willing to negotiate but should avoid an encounter with Rouhani himself.

Saying the two are not equals because Rouhani serves under Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Abrams said: "Such a meeting is likely to be read in Tehran as showing how anxious Obama is for a deal. It ought to be avoided."

Abrams also said Obama had undercut his leverage with Iran by striking a diplomatic deal with Russia to try to eliminate Syrian nuclear weapons rather than launching a military strike that he appeared poised to order in late August.

"What happened with regards to Syria (suggests) that the Americans don't want any kind of military engagement, so all options are not on the table with regards to Iran," he said, saying that might make Israel more likely to strike Iran if the Jewish state thinks Washington is not engaged.

LOWER-LEVEL CONTACTS?

While there has been speculation of talks between the two presidents or between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif during the U.N. meetings, current and former U.S. officials said lower-level contact might make more sense.

"That's often the way they start because you're not really sure what you're dealing with," said a third U.S. official. "You can survive a lower-level meeting that doesn't work, but you can't survive a higher-level that doesn't work."

The United States has several potential candidates to lead the talks, including Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs, who currently leads U.S. nuclear negotiations with Iran, and Bill Burns, deputy secretary of state, who is a past negotiator with Iran and a Middle East expert.

"The level and the negotiator will not be difficult to arrange ... the formal trappings, they'll figure out," said Dennis Ross, a former senior White House official under Obama now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank.

"If the decision has been made to do it, you cut through that. If they are still fencing around trying to determine how to do it, then that is an indication that there isn't quite the readiness there otherwise would appear to negotiate," he added.

Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said a genuine rapprochement between Iran and the United States was unlikely but that an Obama-Rouhani handshake "could open a path toward detente."

"As long as Ayatollah Khamenei remains supreme leader of Iran, this is the best group of interlocutors that the U.S. will ever have to work with in Tehran, particularly Foreign Minister Zarif," Sadjadpour said.

He argued that Rouhani and his foreign minister might succeed in impressing other Western nations with their more conciliatory tone and that could, over time, make it harder for the United States to sustain economic sanctions on Iran.

"I think the double-edged sword Rouhani and Zarif present to the United States and Israel is that Iran is now easier to engage, but more difficult to isolate," he added.

(Additional reporting by Marcus George and Yeganeh Torbati in Dubai; Editing by Alistair Bell, Frank McGurty and Peter Cooney)

Heavy rain lashes northwest Mexico as storm misery spreads

Posted:

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - More rain lashed Mexico's northwest coast on Thursday, prompting evacuations and adding to flash floods that have created chaos across the country and killed at least 97 people.

Storms have inundated vast areas of Mexico since the weekend, wrecking roads, destroying bridges and triggering landslides that buried homes and their occupants.

In the Pacific resort of Acapulco, roads became raging torrents, stranding some 40,000 tourists. Dozens of people from a nearby village are missing after a deadly mudslide.

Emergency services said heavy rains were battering the northwestern state of Sinaloa and hundreds of people had been evacuated from coastal communities.

President Enrique Pena Nieto announced he was cancelling a trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week to focus on leading the relief efforts in Mexico.

"The rainfall in the last few days has been the most intense registered in history over an extended area in Mexico," Pena Nieto told reporters in Guerrero, Acapulco's home state.

The rain has eased in some areas, but more may be coming.

The U.S. National Hurricane Centre said an area of low pressure over the oil-producing southern Gulf of Mexico had a 50 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone over the next 48 hours and could dump heavy rains on already flooded areas.

The risk of more downpours comes after tropical storms Ingrid and Manuel converged on Mexico from the Gulf and the Pacific over the weekend, triggering the flash floods.

Ingrid dissipated, but Manuel eventually became a hurricane before being downgraded again to a tropical storm, then a depression. Manuel is expected to dissipate in the mountains of western Mexico later on Thursday, the NHC said.

More than 1 million people have been affected across the country, and 50,000 have been evacuated from their homes.

"It's raining really heavily. I saw lots of fallen trees on my way to work," said Cristian Nunez, 26, a hotel receptionist in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, which Manuel hit on Thursday. "Many employees didn't make it in ... we're basically alone."

Winds blew off the roofs of houses and 11 rivers in the mountainous state broke their banks. Residents waded through muddy, chest-high waters in some areas.

Further south in flooded Acapulco, which has been hit by looting, the beach resort was still reeling. Thousands of people remained trapped in the city, awaiting evacuation as airlines and the armed forces worked to get them home.

MUD BURIES HOUSES

National emergency services reported that 97 deaths had been confirmed across Mexico. Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong later said he did not want to give a fresh update on the tally while rescue efforts continued.

Osorio Chong said 68 people were still missing after a mudslide in a remote village in Atoyac de Alvarez, a municipality northwest of Acapulco.

The government says 288 people have been rescued from the site, and about 20 bodies have been found there so far.

Hotels in the northern Pacific state of Baja California Sur, home to the beach resorts of Los Cabos, which are popular with U.S. tourists, reported rain and wind on Wednesday, but nothing like the conditions seen in Acapulco.

The storm damage follows a sharp slowdown in the Mexican economy last month, which prompted the government to cut its growth forecast for this year to 1.8 percent.

The Finance Ministry said it has some 12 billion pesos ($945 million) in emergency relief funds, but footing the bill is an unwelcome burden on public finances at a time when Mexico had already proposed running a budget deficit to boost the economy.

Gabriel Casillas, head of economic analysis at Banorte, said the storms could shave between 0.1 and 0.3 percentage points off gross domestic product in the third quarter if economic activity is interrupted for 10 days in 16 badly affected states.

"We haven't seen two such aggressive weather phenomena hitting at the same time in recent years," he said. "We just don't yet know how long economic activity will be knocked out."

He said he expected the additional impact to an already weak economy, coming on top of concerns about the health of the U.S. economy voiced by the Federal Reserve this week, would push the central bank to cut its benchmark rate again in October.

By Thursday evening, all Mexico's main oil export hubs along the Gulf were open, and only one port was closed to large ships.

State oil monopoly Pemex said it was sending 126,000 barrels of fuel by sea to help bring relief to Guerrero.

Earlier, Pemex said it had dispatched technicians to fix a ruptured 12-inch (30 cm) oil pipeline from the Gulf port of Madero inland to Cadereyta, which connects two refineries.

The pipeline was damaged when the Pablillo River burst its banks due to heavy rains. ($1 = 12.7035 Mexican pesos)

(With reporting by Miguel Gutierrez, Gabriel Stargardter and David Alire Garcia; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Kieran Murray, Jim Loney and Stacey Joyce)

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

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The Star Online: Entertainment: Movies

Leonardo DiCaprio to play Woodrow Wilson

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The Inception star is set to play the 28th United States president in a new biopic.

Leonardo DiCaprio is set to star in and produce a biopic of US President Woodrow Wilson, based on the new biography by A. Scott Berg, an individual familiar with the project has told TheWrap.

DiCaprio, 39, will produce the Warner Bros movie through his Appian Way banner along with Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Berg.

Putnam Adult published Wilson to strong reviews last week. The critical acclaim was no surprise, given that author Berg won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1998 biography of Charles Lindbergh.

Wilson was voted president in 1912 after running as a third-party candidate with a progressive agenda. He was re-elected in 1916 and pushed for a peace treaty following World War I.

After suffering a stroke, his wife Edith handled many presidential duties during his final year in the Oval Office.

Hiding in plain sight

Posted:

The press-shy Robert De Niro opens up, a bit, about his latest project, Malavita.

De Niro is no stranger to comedy, having achieved some of his biggest success (Analyze This, Meet The Fockers) in the third act of his career by lampooning his familiar screen image.

The character of Giovanni plays to so many of your strengths, the part feels like it was written for you.

Exactly. You're right.

There's a moment where the film goes meta and breaks the fourth wall. The scene could have fizzled, but instead it's fantastic, and Besson pushes it further than expected.

That was a lot of fun. Luc was very specific about what he wanted from that scene. It is something so funny and crazy, we were just 'Let's do it and see what happens'.

I can't remember. Maybe in the scene in the cinematheque. Tommy is terrific in this. I'm glad we have him in the film.

I loved how Michelle Pfeiffer was used in this movie. There is a menace to her beauty that not a lot of filmmakers have been able to use well.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. We had a very good time. I wished we had more scenes together. This was the first time we've ever actually worked together, even though I've known her for a long time.

Malavita opens in cinemas nationwide Thursday.

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The Star Online: Nation

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The Star Online: Nation

Aide: Anwar all puffed up because of an allergy
Orchard owner dies after being attacked at home
First task - Obama's visit

Aide: Anwar all puffed up because of an allergy

Posted:

PETALING JAYA: Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's face was all "puffed up" at a recent event in Penang, raising many an eyelid. Was it some kind of surgery?

No, says an aide, it's an allergic reaction to medication. The aide said Anwar did not undergo any surgery as claimed in some news reports.

An online news portal had reported that Anwar appeared unwell at the event as his eyes and cheeks were puffy and he had what appeared to be stitch marks below his ears.

"There were no stitch marks. He was just allergic to some medicine but he is getting better now," said the aide.

Yesterday, Anwar was in jovial mood when he attended an application hearing at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya.

However, he wore sunglasses to cover what appeared to be a slight swelling on the upper part of his right cheek.

On another matter, the aide confirmed that Anwar would meet Pope Francis in Rome at the end of this month in high-level dialogue between Muslims, Christians and those of other faiths.

Orchard owner dies after being attacked at home

Posted:

BALIK PULAU: A technician who visited his parents in Jalan Tun Sardon here had the shock of his life when he found his father lying in a pool of blood on the floor of their home.

Chin Len Wong, 83, who had head injuries, died half an hour later while his wife Chang Yook Kee, 71, was rushed to the Balik Pulau Hospital with a fractured arm.

Their son Hooi Min, 48, who lives in Bukit Mertajam, said he had gone to the house at about 9am yesterday to bring breakfast for his parents.

"My parents have lived in the house for over 50 years and my father single-handedly managed a 2.8ha orchard," he said.

The single-storey house is located in the middle of Chin's orchard about 300m from the foot of a hill.

"I was shocked when I entered the house and saw my parents lying on the bedroom floor.

"My father was breathing faintly and I kept telling him not to fall asleep," Hooi Min said at the scene.

He added that his two brothers and sister visited their parents daily.

"My younger brother visited them on Tuesday and he told me both my parents were fine," he said.

The police recovered a piece of wood believed to have been used in the attack of the duo.

Cash and jewellery were also missing from the house.

Balik Pulau OCPD Supt Mohd Hatta Mohd Zain said that more than one person was involved in the attack that might have taken place between 3am and 4am.

"The robbers entered the house from the side door as a piece of glass of the shutter window was missing and a person could have easily extended a hand to unlock the door," he said.

He said there were several theft cases in the area and police were zeroing in on foreign workers.

"We do not rule out that this might be the work of the same people," he said.

First task - Obama's visit

Posted:

KUALA LUMPUR: United States Ambassador-designate to Malaysia Joseph Y. Yun has arrived and is down to some very serious business – preparing for President Barack Obama's much-anticipated visit here.

Describing it as an exciting time for him to begin his latest diplomatic adventure, the Korean-American career diplomat says he is looking forward to the great challenge.

"The last time the President of the US visited Malaysia was about 46 years ago, so this is a historic visit," he told reporters in his maiden press briefing at the US Embassy here.

Yun was nominated to be the US Ambassador to Malaysia by Obama on July 23, 2013 and was confirmed by the full Senate on Aug 1.

He was most recently the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Yun's overseas postings include that to South Korea, Thailand, France, Indonesia and Hong Kong.

President Obama will be visiting Malaysia for the Fourth Global Entrepreneurs Summit on Oct 11.

Married to Dr Melanie Billings-Yun who was also present at the press meet, Yun said the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPPA) Agreement would be another focus for him here.

He said the TPPA would help create job opportunities and enhance the economic well-being of Malaysia.

"The TPPA involves 12 partners, and according to a study it is said that Vietnam and Malaysia are two of the nations which will benefit the most from it.

"We are looking to achieve a high standard agreement where the TPPA will be the blueprint for trade and investment," he added.

Yun said Malaysia was geographically potent and a diplomatic entity to the United States as it played a huge role in Asean and United Nation's peace-keeping missions.

"Malaysia, just like the US, has a multiracial, multiethnic society and I hope we will be able to maintain a strong relationship while working for the betterment of both nations," he added.

Yun, who has a son, holds degrees from both the London School of Economics and University of Wales.

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The Star Online: Metro: Central

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Japanese sports teacher beats boy in YouTube video

Posted:

TOKYO (AFP) - A video emerged Wednesday showing a volleyball coach repeatedly slapping a schoolboy -- just days after Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics -- in the latest example of brutality to tarnish Japanese sport.

Separately, world judo champion Shohei Ono was slapped with a three-month ban for physically abusing junior members of his university judo squad.

A short clip posted on YouTube and other video-sharing sites showed the teacher at a senior high school in central Japan smacking the student's face at least 13 times in 16 seconds. It was authenticated by the school.

The episode was captured on a mobile phone by another student during a practice game near Gifu city. By Wednesday evening it had garnered some 1.6 million viewings on YouTube.

"Don't joke around, kid! Do you understand? You're stupid," the teacher yells in the video as he repeatedly slaps the student's face.

According to the school, the teacher has admitted the physical abuse of the second-grader, saying: "I wanted to shake him up, but I went about it the wrong way".

Students in Japan are 16 or 17 years old in second grade of high school.

Toshitaka Shiozawa, assistant principal of Hamamatsu Nittai Senior High School, told AFP the 41-year-old teacher had also beaten another student on the same day. He declined to reveal the teacher's name.

The volleyball coach slapped the student's face at least 13 times in 16 seconds

Neither student suffered any lasting injuries in the attacks, Shiozawa said, adding the school was considering disciplining the teacher as "we regard the act as corporal punishment".

The school held an emergency meeting with parents of students on the volleyball team Tuesday evening, at which the teacher and the school principal apologised, Shiozawa added.

In May last year, the same teacher also slapped a student's face, causing a nosebleed, but the school did not take any punitive measures "because the student did not complain", he said.

In a separate case in western Japan, nearly 70 junior high school students were left with injuries on their feet after being ordered by their teachers to run barefoot, local media said.

The students were forced to run up to 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) over ground heated up by strong sunshine because they were late for an exercise at a sport festival at a junior high school in Kobe, news reports said.

Immediate confirmation of the reports was not available.

Japan banned corporal punishment in schools after World War II, but it remains far from uncommon, particularly in sports education, despite a number of high-profile cases.

In December, a teenager killed himself following repeated physical abuse from his high-school basketball coach in Osaka, western Japan.

Also on Wednesday, the All Japan Judo Federation hit Ono with a three-month suspension which will keep him out of all international and domestic competitions for the remainder of the year.

Ono won the men's 73-kilo title at last month's world championships in Rio.

Japan's judo community was rocked in January when it emerged the coach of the national women's team was found to have beaten athletes, sometimes using a bamboo sword, calling his charges "ugly" and telling them to "die" in the run-up to the London Olympics.

The latest incident came a week after Japan was awarded the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games, and followed an announcement that the government was to create a sports agency to boost elite athletes' performance.

Mieko Ae, professor and sports psychologist at Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education, said many coaches in Japan believe physical abuse can improve students' performance.

"In order to get rid of sports abuse, we have to change this way of thinking and if necessary, we should consider introducing measures on those who break the rules," Ae said.

"Extreme sports bullying is not discipline, it's a crime. It's time to remove all violence from sports."

The video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlpNLR_IbdQ

Internal panic within City Harvest

Posted:

The Ren Ci scandal sparked an internal panic within the City Harvest Church, with church leaders frantically trying to ensure that their own investments in church-linked companies were aboveboard, a court heard.

This happened in 2008, about a year after the church had invested S$13mil (RM33.5mil) in Xtron Productions, a music production firm that was managing City Harvest co-founder Ho Yeow Sun's singing career at the time.

Several of the six church leaders accused of misusing church funds had in fact reached out to auditor Foong Daw Ching and prepared documents about the church's transactions for him to review.

This was shown through telephone logs and text messages which were produced by the church leaders' defence team yesterday.

The defence also strongly suggested that Foong had in fact read and discussed one particular document with the accused.

This set out the church's relationship to Xtron and other companies, as well as the legal risks that the financial transactions could entail.

Foong, who had earlier insisted that he did not recall seeing this document, admitted: "I would have read it and there must have been some discussion."

Defence lawyers have been trying to prove that Foong gave the accused detailed advice about various allegedly suspect transactions, and that church leaders had followed his advice.

City Harvest founder Kong Hee, who is Ho's husband, and five of his deputies are on trial for alleged misuse of S$50mil (RM128mil) in church funds. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

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The Star Online: Lifestyle: Arts & Fashion

Fun from start to finish at Hairspray

Posted:

Big girls don't cry, they dance in this feel-good musical.

Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre's Plenary Hall was transported back to the 1960s on Tuesday night when Tracy Turnblad, with her beehive do, shook and shimmied her way into the hearts of the audience at the opening night of Hairspray The Broadway Musical.

Featuring feet-tapping songs such as The Nicest Kids In Town, It Takes Two, Welcome To The '60s and the show-stopping You Can't Stop The Beat, the musical was entertaining from start to finish.

Hairspray is set in 1962 Baltimore in the United States, a place and time where racial segregation is rife. Tracy Turnblad is your normal teenager – she loves fashion and watching TV, especially the local teenage dance programme, The Corny Collins Show.

All she wants is to appear on the show but she has been told that she's, well, too big – her girth as well as her hair – for TV. However, when she was spotted by host Corny Collins dancing a provocative new move (Peyton Place After Midnight), Tracy is offered a spot on the show.

She becomes an overnight sensation and then uses her new-found fame to end racial segregation, on TV at least, so that her black friends can dance on The Corny Collins Show which only features white teens.

Seaweed (second from left) shows Tracy the dance move to Peyton Place After Midnight. GLENN GUAN/The Star

Seaweed (second from left) shows Tracy (far right) the dance move to Peyton Place After Midnight. — THE STAR/Glenn Guan

Actress Katharine Moraz is a delight as Tracy, the big girl with big hair with a bigger passion for dancing. It can't be easy singing and dancing for Moraz who appears in most of the scenes in the musical. But she nailed it. (My only contention with this version of Tracy is that her hair was not big enough. Did our humid weather deflate Tracy's do?)

A round of applause to the supporting cast who stayed solid throughout the show. And considering the company was assembled and rehearsed for not more than two months, the actors' dedication have paid off.

It goes without saying that Damian Williams commanded the stage with his booming voice as Tracy's mum Edna. Meanwhile, Bronte Barbe stole the spotlight every time she was on stage as Tracy's best friend – the God-fearing but rebellious Penny Pingleton.

However, it was Irene Myrtle Forrester who showcased the best vocals of the night singing the cheeky number Big, Blonde And Beautiful as well as the stirring ballad I Know Where I've Been.

It is easy to see why Hairspray, when opened in 2002 on Broadway, won a Tony award for Best Musical (it also won Best Musical at Britain's Laurence Olivier Awards when it started its run in 2008).

It's a feel-good show with colourful costumes, fancy dance moves and music that is easy on the ears.

And you just can't beat a winning formula like that.

The mean Amber Von Tussle (centre) dedicates a song - Cooties - to her arch nemesis Tracy. GLENN GUAN/The Star

The mean Amber Von Tussle (centre) dedicates a song – Cooties – to her arch nemesis Tracy. — THE STAR/Glenn Guan

>> Read our complete review of Hairspray The Broadway Musical in Star2 tomorrow. Hairspray is staged at the Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre until Sept 22. It is presented by Yvents! with The Star as the media partner and HSBC as the official credit card. HSBC credit card holders enjoy exclusive discounts on tickets. Tickets are priced at RM190, RM290, RM390, RM490 and RM590 (excluding a RM3 ticketing fee) and available from TicketsPeople. Call 03-2287 2727 or visit ticketspeople.com for details.

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More than hair in Hairspray

Positively uplifting playing Tracy Turnblad

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Khamis, 19 September 2013