Selasa, 11 Februari 2014

The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro

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The Star Online: Metro: Sunday Metro


CPF rates for older workers 'may go up'

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

Older Singaporean workers face the pleasant prospect of seeing a rise in their Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions.

The labour movement has called on the government to raise the CPF rates of those aged above 50 to 55 so that they are on par with younger workers.

But it need not be done "in one go", said labour chief Lim Swee Say, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

Union leaders, he said, are not pushing for the 3.5% gap to be closed "in one go, because we do understand it should be done progressively", he told reporters after an official visit to restaurant chain Eighteen Chefs.

The CPF rate of these older workers is 32.5% compared to 36% for younger workers.

It had been cut in 2003, along with other tweaks to the CPF scheme, when Singapore suffered a recession because of Sars.

But during Budget 2012, it was partially restored to the current level.

At the same time, the Government had promised to give this group the same CPF contributions as younger workers.

"However, we cannot make this major move in one step," Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is also the Finance Minister, had said then.

On Monday, Lim gave a broad hint that another step towards parity could be taken as early as next week, on Budget Day.

Tharman is scheduled to present the national Budget in Parliament on Feb 21 and Lim said these older workers hope to hear "some good news from the Finance Minister".

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) is also expected to make known this week its plans to push for CPF rates to be tweaked to help Singaporeans save for medical and other financial commitments in their old age. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

'Staycations' a popular choice this Valentine's

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

Instead of the usual wine-and-dine formula for Valentine's Day, more couples are opting for "staycations" instead this year.

Celeste Chan, a corporate marketing manager at Naumi Hotel in Seah Street, said: "Why stop at a dinner?

"A staycation can provide a totally different experience and getaway for couples."

For couples seeking a romantic getaway but cannot find time for an overseas trip, staycations are a practical alternative.

Ivan Lim, business development director of Link Hotel, agreed. "Staycations are more affordable than overseas trips and also spare people the hassle of travelling on flights or coaches which could be tiring."

As Valentine's Day falls on a Friday this year, Link Hotel, a boutique hotel in Tiong Bahru, has seen a 15% increase in weekend room bookings for two nights.

It helps that Valentine's Day this year falls on the same day as chap goh mei, also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day.

Wang Zhiling, marketing and communication manager of Wangz Hotel, foresees a higher occupancy level than last year.

"The convenience and ease of booking a staycation makes it a preferred choice for guests who do not have the time to plan ahead," said Tan Chew Yen, a public relations and marketing communications manager at the Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore.

Room bookings for Valentine's Day at the Ritz-Carlton are almost full, according to Tan.

Indeed, staycations have become bigger and better, with hotels trotting out Valentine's Day packages that do not stop at simply offering a room.

In addition to a one-night stay at a suite, The Ritz-Carlton's Valentine's Day package includes a romantic butler-drawn bath alongside champagne and strawberries.

For the first time, it is also organising Movies under the Stars, where hotel guests will enjoy classic romance films while sipping drinks with their Valentine under the moonlit sky.

Over at the Fullerton Hotel, their My Sweet Valentine package includes a four-course in-room dinner for the couple, Guided Heritage tours and shuttle services to the Orchard Road and City Hall shopping belts.

The exclusive Capella Resort's Be My Valentine: Moonlight Sonata package – it is only available for seven couples – comes with an in-villa spa treatment, a champagne breakfast and a photoshoot. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network

North, South Korea hold rare high-level talks

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:46 PM PST

SEOUL (AFP) - North and South Korean officials sat down for their highest level talks for years Wednesday, marking a potential upswing in cooperation ahead of a reunion for families divided by the Korean War.

The discussions in the border truce village of Panmunjom had no fixed agenda, but were to cover a range of "major" issues, including the planned February 20-25 reunion event, the South's Unification Ministry said.

The South's delegation was led by top National Security Council official Kim Kyou-Hyun, who said Seoul's focus was on ensuring the meeting of separated families goes ahead as scheduled.

The North side is likely to make another push for South Korea to cancel annual military exercises with the United States, which are scheduled to begin February 24.

Kim said he was entering the talks, which kicked off at 10:00am (0100 GMT), with "an open attitude to explore the chance of opening a new chapter on the Korean peninsula".

He did not mention whether North Korea's nuclear programme would be discussed.

It was the first such high-level sit-down between the two sides since 2007, and came a day before US Secretary of State John Kerry's arrival in Seoul for a brief visit focused on North Korea.

The North wants to resume talks with Seoul and Washington on nuclear matters, but both have insisted that Pyongyang must first make a tangible commitment to abandoning nuclear weapons.

According to Seoul, the Panmunjom meet was requested by Pyongyang, whose delegation was headed by Wong Ton-Yong - deputy head of a ruling party organisation that handles inter-Korean ties.

North Korea state media made no mention of the talks, which were held on the South side of the border village where the armistice ending the 1950-53 Korean conflict 60 years ago was signed.

Kim Yong-Hyun, a North Korean expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Pyongyang was keen to make a public display of its diplomatic credentials.

"It wants to demonstrate a willingness to improve ties with the South in order to obtain concessions from Seoul and others," said Kim, who warned it was premature to expect any major breakthrough.

The North is also likely to push for a resumption of regular South Korea tours to its Mount Kumgang resort.

The South suspended the tours after a tourist was shot and killed by North Korean soldiers in 2008, and Pyongyang is keen to see the return of what was a lucrative source of hard currency.

The success of the upcoming family reunion event would be key to Seoul considering starting up the tours again.

"If the first step goes well, it can move to the next level, expanding the scope of inter-Korean cooperation at a faster speed," the South's Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae said on Tuesday.

There are fears the North might cancel the reunion event in protest at South Korea and the United States pushing ahead with their joint military exercises.

Pyongyang views the drills as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly demanded Seoul call them off, warning at one point of an "unimaginable holocaust" if they went ahead.

Last year's exercises fuelled an unusually sharp and protracted surge in military tensions, with Pyongyang threatening a pre-emptive nuclear strike, and nuclear-capable US stealth bombers making dummy runs over the Korean peninsula.

Seoul and Washington have made it clear there is no question of this year's drills being cancelled, but US officials have indicated they will be toned down, with no aircraft carrier and no strategic bombers.

Because the Korean War ended with a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty, North and South Korea technically remain at war.

President Park Geun-Hye, who came to office a year ago, had promised greater engagement with Pyongyang and held out the possibility of a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

Substantive dialogue between the two sides mostly dried up under Park's presidential predecessor, Lee Myung-Bak, who took a tough line with Pyongyang.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz

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The Star eCentral: Movie Buzz


Chris Pratt on the way up

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

Chris Pratt is a leading actor in the making.

IT is not often that you hear a Hollywood hunk talking about his embarrassing problem with "boob sweat".

Then again, Chris Pratt, the 34-year-old actor best known for playing goofballs and sidekicks, is not your typical hunk, even as he positions himself to become one of Hollywood's newest leading men with a string of high-profile movie roles.

Still, he spends much of a recent press conference for The Lego Movie, his biggest project to date, cracking jokes about how thoroughly average he is and being a bit of a class clown – hence the unprompted confession about boob sweat. And this despite the fact that he gets more than his fair share of admiring glances when he walks in.

In the animated feature, Pratt is the voice of Emmet, a Lego construction-worker minifigurine who realises just how unremarkable he is when he is suddenly called on to save the world.

The actor, best known for his role on the Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated television comedy Parks And Recreation, is asked whether it is hard to play a character who is supposed to be utterly bland.

"Well, maybe for someone else, it would be difficult playing someone completely average. It was not much of a stretch for me," he says, deadpan. "There's this guy who's very average, very dim, but given the opportunity to do something extraordinary. I felt like they couldn't have cast a better person."

He points good-naturedly to directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. "I think when they were creating this guy, they were like, 'Who's kind of totally forgettable and the least likely person to be a hero', and went, 'What about Chris?'"

Miller quickly jumps in to say that "we picked Chris because he's super funny, charming, hilarious and warm".

Yet in his career, Pratt has not exactly stood out from the crowd thus far. He has had a series of supporting roles in films such as Her (2013) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012), as well as the television drama Everwood (2002-2006), in which he played variations on the same character - the dumb jock or lovable idiot.

But the actor - who is married to The House Bunny star Anna Faris, 37, and has a one-year-old son with her - is slowly breaking out of that mould with more dramatic roles, playing a washed-up baseball player in the 2011 sports drama Moneyball and a Navy Seal in the 2012 Osama-hunt thriller Zero Dark Thirty.

And he has landed a plum part in this year's upcoming Marvel superhero movie, Guardians Of The Galaxy, in which he gets top billing, ahead of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. He was also announced as the lead in 2015's Jurassic World, the long-awaited fourth instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise.

Still, while these seem to be teeing him up as the next chiselled action hero, Pratt says one of the things he enjoyed most about doing The Lego Movie is that he did not have to worry about how he looked on camera.

"You're allowed to shed all your vanity," says the actor, who lost weight and buffed up for his role as Star-Lord in Guardians Of The Galaxy. "You probably shouldn't care about how you look, but if you're making these big faces and sounds on camera, I'd be like, 'I think I'm overdoing it; reel it in.'"

Alone in a sound booth pretending to be a Lego action hero, Pratt could get as animated as he wanted. "You get to go as big as you want, you get to be drenched in sweat, and there's not somebody embarrassingly mopping all your sweat off.

"Because that's the first thing that will start ringing that bell of insecurity in me - I don't look right, my hair's messed up or I have, like, boob sweat."

Pratt has fellow cast members Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks and Morgan Freeman in stitches by this point, but presses on with even more lurid details.

"I have two 'smiles' of boob sweat on my T-shirt, and now someone has to give me a new T-shirt, and take a hairdryer to my boobs, and I have to do another scene.

"It's very embarrassing, you know, acting. So to not have anyone recording what you look like when you're making sounds is very helpful." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

> The Lego Movie is currently playing in cinemas nationwide.

'Grandmaster' leads race at Hong Kong Film Awards

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

The Grandmaster leads with 14 nominations, followed by Unbeatable and Rigor Mortis.

THE Hong Kong Film Awards will be a three-way fight among dapper pugilistic masters, buff mixed martial arts fighters and zombies.

In nominations announced on Wednesday, Wong Kar Wai's lush actioner The Grandmaster led with 14 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Wong, Best Actor for Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Best Actress for Zhang Ziyi and Best Supporting Actor for Zhang Jin, said Ming Pao Daily News.

Dante Lam's gritty boxing drama Unbeatable followed with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Lam and Best Actor for Nick Cheung. Close behind, Juno Mak's unexpected horror hit Rigor Mortis had nine nominations, but none for Best Film. However, Mak, a singer turned writer and director, was named for Best New Director.

Besides The Grandmaster and Unbeatable, the Best Film nominees were Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, Stephen Chow's epic return to his 1994 cult classic A Chinese Odyssey; The White Storm, Benny Chan's thriller about an anti-narcotics operation; and The Way We Dance, a little movie about street dance.

The Best Director nominees included Johnnie To for Drug War, a Hong Kong-China crime drama starring Louis Koo and Sun Honglei, and Derek Kwok for As The Light Goes Out, a firefighting drama starring Hu Jun and Nicholas Tse.

It has been a big year for action and, once again, Ip Man movies. Ip Man, the film starring Donnie Yen in the title role, had dominated the box office and the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.

This year, there are two actors playing Ip, Bruce Lee's teacher, in the Best Actor category: Leung in The Grandmaster and Anthony Wong in Ip Man - The Final Fight. They will fight for the prize with Cheung for Unbeatable, and Louis Koo and Lau Ching Wan for The White Storm.

Besides Zhang, the Best Actress nominees are Tang Wei for Finding Mr Right, Cherry Ngan for The Way We Dance, Sammi Cheng for The Blind Detective and Paw Hee Ching for Rigor Mortis.

The awards will be handed out on April 14. – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: World Updates

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The Star Online: World Updates


Barack and Francois in show of 'bonhomie' at White House

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 09:00 PM PST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There were no "freedom fries" or any other remembrances from strained Franco-American ties in the past. Instead, it was dry-aged beef and plenty of "bonhomie" as President Barack Obama gave a lavish welcome to French President Francois Hollande.

Obama went out of his way to welcome Hollande at the White House on Tuesday, saying a few words in passable French, teasing the Frenchman for his formality and toying with the notion that U.S. ties with France are as close as they are with old ally Britain.

"It is always a pleasure to host Francois," Obama said at a joint news conference after wishing reporters good afternoon in French.

At a G8 summit at Camp David two years ago, Obama noted with a smile, "I was trying to make the summit casual, and Francois in true French style showed up in a necktie. We tried to get him to take it off."

Hollande was equally effusive, referring to "Mr. President, dear Barack."

The chumminess was not unexpected coming from two leaders who tend to see issues from the same leftward view. Obama went so far as to say that the U.S.-French alliance dating back more than two centuries "has never been stronger."

Still, it was a noted difference from a decade ago when the Iraq war strained relations between the two countries, a time when "freedom fries" replaced French fries as a popular side dish in some American eateries.

"Let's just say that we've come a long way from 'freedom fries,'" said a senior Obama administration official.

Indeed, the menu for the state dinner featuring 350 guests in a heated tent on the White House South Lawn later on Tuesday included dry-aged rib eye beef and American wines.

During his toast before the meal, Hollande joked about the two countries' affection for each other.

"We love Americans, although we don't always say so. And you love the French, but you're sometimes too shy to say so," he quipped.

Obama lavished some praise on a favourite French import.

"Now, it is true that we Americans have grown to love all things French - the films, the food, the wine. Especially the wine," he said in his toast.

ALL ALONE AND VEEP MEETS VEEP

That Hollande showed up "tout seul," or all alone, was not talked about publicly.

Hollande, 59, split with long-time partner Valerie Trierweiler last month after he was photographed on a motor scooter outside the Paris apartment of actress Julie Gayet, 41.

Hollande's personal drama briefly caused some confusion at the White House. Would he bring Gayet to the Tuesday night state dinner? But all this was quickly moot when the French delegation list sent to the White House showed that Hollande would be stag.

His singleness seemed to affect Michelle Obama more than anyone else. Before the dinner the U.S. first lady, wearing a flowing blue dress, came down the grand stair case at the White House by herself, behind her husband and the French president, who walked together.

Business leaders, administration officials, and Hollywood stars were among the guests at the event, which was held in a lavish tent on the White House grounds.

Vice President Joe Biden was seated next to actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays a U.S. vice president in the HBO television series "Veep."

The real veep was overheard telling the TV show veep that he had requested that they be seated next to each other.

"Look who I'm sitting next to," Louis-Dreyfus told nearby reporters. "That's my favourite part of the dinner right there."

The fact that Hollande was granted the privilege of making the first state visit to the White House of Obama's second term was not lost on French reporters, who asked at the press conference whether this was a sign that France was supplanting traditional U.S. ally Britain.

Obama's answer represented a delicate diplomatic dance.

"I have two daughters," he said. "And they are both gorgeous and wonderful. And I would never choose between them. And that's how I feel about my outstanding European partners. All of them are wonderful in their own ways."

Hollande could not resist the urge to join this line of conversation when it was his turn to speak.

"Well, "I have four children," he said. "So that makes it even more difficult for me to make any choice at all. But we're not trying to be anyone's favourite."

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Eric Walsh)

North and South Korea seek better ties at rare high-level talks

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 08:15 PM PST

SEOUL (Reuters) - North and South Korea held their first high-level talks in seven years on their armed border on Wednesday, exploring ways to improve ties while the South and the United States geared up for large-scale military drills that have angered Pyongyang.

The meeting was set up with unusual speed and great secrecy at the North's suggestion last week, the latest example of conflicting signals coming from Pyongyang that included an abrupt cancellation of an invitation for a U.S. envoy to visit.

The North is likely to repeat its demand for the South and the United States to scrap the military drills, due to start later this month, but both sides have plenty of incentives to seek a deal that could break their long stalemate.

"For the North, if it comes back with an accomplishment in terms of improved South-North ties, it will mean a better atmosphere for Kim Jong Un to visit China and a justification to pursue high-level talks with the United States," said Cheong Seong-chang, an expert at the Sejong Institute outside Seoul.

Kim is believed to be seeking a visit to China, Pyongyang's greatest ally and main benefactor, to reinforce his legitimacy as leader. In his early 30s, Kim took power when his father died suddenly in 2010,

The South Korean delegation is led by President Park Geun-hye's deputy national security adviser. North Korea has sent the second-highest ranking official in the ruling Workers' Party department charged with ties with the South.

The two sides wrapped up a morning session but there was no word on what was discussed in the closed-door meeting at the Panmunjom truce village on the border.

The meeting comes a week before the two sides are scheduled to hold reunions of family members separated since the 1950-53 Korean War at the Mount Kumgang resort just inside the North, which is considered a major humanitarian event by the South.

However, the North has threatened to cancel the reunions, citing a sortie last week by a nuclear-capable U.S. B-52 bomber near the Korean peninsula.

The North has also called for the cancellation of the annual military drills by the South and the United States, calling them a rehearsal for war despite repeated assertions by Seoul and Washington that the drills are routine and defensive.

North Korea has cancelled an invitation for U.S. human rights envoy Robert King to visit Pyongyang to discuss the release of imprisoned U.S. missionary Kenneth Bae, which had been expected to come as early as this week.

South Korea halted all trade and most investment with the impoverished North Korea in May 2010 after the sinking of one of its warships, which it blamed on Pyongyang.

A joint factory project in the North's border city of Kaesong is the last remaining symbol of economic cooperation between the two Koreas.

(Reporting by Jack Kim and Ju-min Park; Editing by Paul Tait)

China names errant law enforcement officials for the first time

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:45 PM PST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has publicly identified for the first time police officers, judges and prosecutors who violate disciplinary rules in a bid to address widespread discontent over officials that undermine the rule of law, state media said.

The move comes as President Xi Jinping wages a war on corruption to win back public confidence in the face of a seemingly endless stream of embarrassing scandals.

A police officer in eastern Shandong province who drove a police vehicle after drinking and a judge in the central province of Hubei who "had an affair and maintained improper sexual relations with a female lawyer as well as received bribes" were among the first 10 people named by state news agency Xinhua late on Tuesday.

The Communist Party's Commission for Political and Legal Affairs Central Committee said that "all staff of the political and legal system ... must take a zero tolerance attitude toward disciplinary and legal violations", Xinhua reported.

Xinhua also cited the commission as saying that it would publicise typical cases throughout the year and welcomed supervision by the public.

"Law enforcement staff usually break the rules while they are fully aware that they have done wrong, and the negative impact of such cases on society is much greater," Zhou Hanhua, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying.

These cases damage the image of governments and law enforcement organs, posing a grave threat to justice, Zhou said.

The government is trying to reform the legal system, in which rule of law and independence of the police and judiciary are given mere lip service and courts answer to party authorities.

The government has sought to curtail everything from bribery and gift-giving to lavish banquets, aiming to assuage public anger over graft and extravagance by some officials.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star eCentral: Movie Reviews

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Chris Pratt on the way up

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

Chris Pratt is a leading actor in the making.

IT is not often that you hear a Hollywood hunk talking about his embarrassing problem with "boob sweat".

Then again, Chris Pratt, the 34-year-old actor best known for playing goofballs and sidekicks, is not your typical hunk, even as he positions himself to become one of Hollywood's newest leading men with a string of high-profile movie roles.

Still, he spends much of a recent press conference for The Lego Movie, his biggest project to date, cracking jokes about how thoroughly average he is and being a bit of a class clown – hence the unprompted confession about boob sweat. And this despite the fact that he gets more than his fair share of admiring glances when he walks in.

In the animated feature, Pratt is the voice of Emmet, a Lego construction-worker minifigurine who realises just how unremarkable he is when he is suddenly called on to save the world.

The actor, best known for his role on the Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated television comedy Parks And Recreation, is asked whether it is hard to play a character who is supposed to be utterly bland.

"Well, maybe for someone else, it would be difficult playing someone completely average. It was not much of a stretch for me," he says, deadpan. "There's this guy who's very average, very dim, but given the opportunity to do something extraordinary. I felt like they couldn't have cast a better person."

He points good-naturedly to directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. "I think when they were creating this guy, they were like, 'Who's kind of totally forgettable and the least likely person to be a hero', and went, 'What about Chris?'"

Miller quickly jumps in to say that "we picked Chris because he's super funny, charming, hilarious and warm".

Yet in his career, Pratt has not exactly stood out from the crowd thus far. He has had a series of supporting roles in films such as Her (2013) and The Five-Year Engagement (2012), as well as the television drama Everwood (2002-2006), in which he played variations on the same character - the dumb jock or lovable idiot.

But the actor - who is married to The House Bunny star Anna Faris, 37, and has a one-year-old son with her - is slowly breaking out of that mould with more dramatic roles, playing a washed-up baseball player in the 2011 sports drama Moneyball and a Navy Seal in the 2012 Osama-hunt thriller Zero Dark Thirty.

And he has landed a plum part in this year's upcoming Marvel superhero movie, Guardians Of The Galaxy, in which he gets top billing, ahead of Vin Diesel and Bradley Cooper. He was also announced as the lead in 2015's Jurassic World, the long-awaited fourth instalment of the Jurassic Park franchise.

Still, while these seem to be teeing him up as the next chiselled action hero, Pratt says one of the things he enjoyed most about doing The Lego Movie is that he did not have to worry about how he looked on camera.

"You're allowed to shed all your vanity," says the actor, who lost weight and buffed up for his role as Star-Lord in Guardians Of The Galaxy. "You probably shouldn't care about how you look, but if you're making these big faces and sounds on camera, I'd be like, 'I think I'm overdoing it; reel it in.'"

Alone in a sound booth pretending to be a Lego action hero, Pratt could get as animated as he wanted. "You get to go as big as you want, you get to be drenched in sweat, and there's not somebody embarrassingly mopping all your sweat off.

"Because that's the first thing that will start ringing that bell of insecurity in me - I don't look right, my hair's messed up or I have, like, boob sweat."

Pratt has fellow cast members Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks and Morgan Freeman in stitches by this point, but presses on with even more lurid details.

"I have two 'smiles' of boob sweat on my T-shirt, and now someone has to give me a new T-shirt, and take a hairdryer to my boobs, and I have to do another scene.

"It's very embarrassing, you know, acting. So to not have anyone recording what you look like when you're making sounds is very helpful." – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

> The Lego Movie is currently playing in cinemas nationwide.

'Grandmaster' leads race at Hong Kong Film Awards

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

The Grandmaster leads with 14 nominations, followed by Unbeatable and Rigor Mortis.

THE Hong Kong Film Awards will be a three-way fight among dapper pugilistic masters, buff mixed martial arts fighters and zombies.

In nominations announced on Wednesday, Wong Kar Wai's lush actioner The Grandmaster led with 14 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Wong, Best Actor for Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Best Actress for Zhang Ziyi and Best Supporting Actor for Zhang Jin, said Ming Pao Daily News.

Dante Lam's gritty boxing drama Unbeatable followed with 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Director for Lam and Best Actor for Nick Cheung. Close behind, Juno Mak's unexpected horror hit Rigor Mortis had nine nominations, but none for Best Film. However, Mak, a singer turned writer and director, was named for Best New Director.

Besides The Grandmaster and Unbeatable, the Best Film nominees were Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons, Stephen Chow's epic return to his 1994 cult classic A Chinese Odyssey; The White Storm, Benny Chan's thriller about an anti-narcotics operation; and The Way We Dance, a little movie about street dance.

The Best Director nominees included Johnnie To for Drug War, a Hong Kong-China crime drama starring Louis Koo and Sun Honglei, and Derek Kwok for As The Light Goes Out, a firefighting drama starring Hu Jun and Nicholas Tse.

It has been a big year for action and, once again, Ip Man movies. Ip Man, the film starring Donnie Yen in the title role, had dominated the box office and the 2009 Hong Kong Film Awards.

This year, there are two actors playing Ip, Bruce Lee's teacher, in the Best Actor category: Leung in The Grandmaster and Anthony Wong in Ip Man - The Final Fight. They will fight for the prize with Cheung for Unbeatable, and Louis Koo and Lau Ching Wan for The White Storm.

Besides Zhang, the Best Actress nominees are Tang Wei for Finding Mr Right, Cherry Ngan for The Way We Dance, Sammi Cheng for The Blind Detective and Paw Hee Ching for Rigor Mortis.

The awards will be handed out on April 14. – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio


Lena Dunham's book cover channels 1970s vibe

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 03:40 AM PST

Not That Kind Of Girl by the Girls creator and star will be out in October.

LENA Dunham, creator and star of cult TV hit Girls, will release her first book on Oct 7, she revealed on Monday, with a cover that harks back to the decade that taste forgot.

Dunham, 27, disclosed the publication date for Not That Kind Of Girl on her @lenadunham Twitter account, linking also to an Instagram photo of herself showing off the book's cover.

Bloggers immediately spotted a resemblance to the covers of Philip Roth novels, starting with Portnoy's Complaint in 1969 and, in the 1970s, Our Gang and My Life As A Man, and a reprint of Goodbye, Columbus from 1959.

Random House paid more than US$3.5mil (about RM10.5mil) in 2012 to secure the rights to Dunham's literary debut, a collection of essays subtitled "A young woman tells you what she's 'learned'", the New York Times reported at the time.

This young woman is going to tell readers 'what she's learned'. – AFP

Drawn in part on Dunham's personal experiences, Girls dwells on the lives and loves of twentysomething women in hipster Brooklyn, New York. Season three is now running on HBO, which has renewed the show for a fourth season. – AFP Relaxnews

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

The Star Online: Business

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The Star Online: Business


Astro teams up with GS Home to enter into home shopping business

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

PETALING JAYA: Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd has joined hands with South Korea's GS Home Shopping Inc to enter into the home shopping business, and will be launching the new service in the second half of the year.

In a statement, Astro said the collaboration was via Astro GS Shop Sdn Bhd, of which, 60% of the company would be held by its unit Astro Retail Ventures Sdn Bhd and the remaining 40% by GS Home Shopping.

Astro chief commercial officer Liew Swee Lin said the partnership would bring together Asia's two leading brands – Astro in consumer media entertainment, and GS Home Shopping in lifestyle home shopping.

"We are happy that our partnership with GS Home Shopping is set to deliver a best-in-class home shopping experience for the convenience and entertainment of all Malaysians, especially our growing 3.8 million customer base.

"In doing so, we will complement GS Home Shopping's know-how with our own capabilities both on and off-air including our talent, production and broadcasting facilities and customer service," she said.

In the same statement, GS Home Shopping senior vice-president Cho Sunggoo said the the company would put together all the business know-how that it had accumulated over the past 20 years in Korea and its global network in six countries outside of South Korea to build a successful business model of home shopping here in Malaysia.

Judge allows customers' lawsuit against MF Global's Corzine

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:09 PM PST

NEW YORK: A federal judge on Tuesday allowed a lawsuit to move forward that seeks to hold former MF Global Holdings Ltd Chief Executive Officer Jon Corzine and other executives responsible for the brokerage's collapse.

U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero said that it was reasonable to infer someone "did something wrong to set in motion such an extraordinary chain of events causing such extensive harm to so many people and interests."

But the judge also called the litigation "wasteful and rancorous" and chastised the parties for failing to come together to resolve the matter "in a just and efficient way."

The judge also chided lawyers for the customers for filing claims that "fly in the face of clear precedent." He dismissed parts of the lawsuit, including claims pending against accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In a statement, a Corzine spokesman said the former CEO is pleased the court dismissed some of the claims.

"We believe that discovery in the case will reveal that the remaining claims also are without merit, and that ultimately we will prevail on all counts," the spokesman said in the statement.

The ruling was the latest by the judge that refused to dismiss a lawsuit over the 2011 collapse of MF Global, which left about $1.6 billion of customer funds missing and was one of the 10 largest bankruptcies in U.S. history.

Last month, Marrero refused to dismiss a lawsuit by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission accusing Corzine and former Assistant Treasurer Edith O'Brien of illegally transferring money out of customer accounts to stem losses from big bets on European sovereign debt.

The judge similarly in November allowed investors in MF Global to move forward with a lawsuit against Corzine, other executives and several banks related to their alleged role in the futures brokerage's collapse.

The latest ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2011 by former customers of broker-dealer MF Global Inc accusing officials at the brokerage of violating the Commodity Exchange Act and New York state law.

The lawsuit also accused PwC of failing to adequately audit MF Global's internal controls over customer funds.

In his ruling, Marerro dismissed claims that Corzine and O'Brien engaged in direct violation of the Commodity Exchange Act but allowed the plaintiffs to pursue claims against the executives for aiding and abetting violations of the law.

He also dismissed some state law claims asserted in the lawsuit against the defendants. But Marrero declined to dismiss other claims against the executives including claims of breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, and tortuous interference with contract and business advantage.

The judge also dismissed the claims against PwC, saying the plaintiffs had failed to allege any direct "linking conduct" between the customers and the accounting firm.

Despite the narrowing of the lawsuit, Andrew Entwistle, a lawyer at the law firm Entwistle & Cappucci who is representing the customers, welcomed the decision.

"We are pleased that the customer-specific claims against the core bad actors here, including Mr. Corzine, have been upheld and we are reviewing the other aspects of the court's decision as Judge Marerro invited us to do," Entwistle said.

An attorney for O'Brien did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for PwC had no immediate comment.

The ruling comes after prior settlements in the litigation. Last year, JPMorgan Chase & Co agreed to a $546 million settlement to resolve claims by MF Global's trustee and customers in the class action.

Exchange operator CME Group Inc has meanwhile agreed to pay $14.5 million to resolve customer claims in the class action. A hearing for final approval of the settlement is scheduled for March 14.

The case is Deangelis v. Corzine, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-07866- Reuters

Asian shares rally for a fourth straight session on Wed in early trade

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 07:04 PM PST

TOKYO/SYDNEY: Asian shares rallied for a fourth straight session on Wednesday, as upbeat trade data from China and an optimistic economic outlook from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen whetted investors' appetite for risk.

Investors took heart from the strong performance on Wall Street and lifted MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan about 0.8 percent.

Chinese exports handily beat expectations in January, rising 10.6 percent from a year earlier, while imports jumped 10 percent, leaving the country with a trade surplus of $31.9 billion for the month.

"The trade figures were a bit of a surprise to the market," said Zhou Hao, an economist at ANZ in Shanghai. "The stronger-than-expected exports data also showed improvement in the global demand momentum."

Australia's main index added 0.7 percent and Japan's Nikkei stock average rose about 0.9 percent.

The buoyant mood offset the impact of a much weaker-than-expected report on Japanese machinery orders, which is a leading indicator of capital expenditure.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended Tuesday up 1.22 percent, while the S&P 500 gained 1.11 percent to post its best four-day performance in 13 months.

Stocks in Canada, Europe and emerging markets also rallied as Yellen was careful to rock no boats in her first testimony to Congress.

"Continuity in policy is the main message from Fed Chair Yellen's testimony," said John Peters, a senior economist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia in Sydney. "Equities did well in reaction to the Fed sticking with its relatively upbeat outlook on the economy."

"Crucially, the Fed hasn't downgraded its view on the U.S. recovery in light of recent data releases or volatility in markets," he added. "Further QE tapering is on the cards at upcoming FOMC meetings and U.S. yields should continue to rise."

The yields on 10-year Treasury notes pushed to two-week highs, rising to 2.724 percent from Tuesday's U.S. close of 2.717 percent.

Sentiment got a further lift from news that the U.S. House of Representatives had passed legislation increasing Washington's borrowing authority, removing the danger of default.

Stabilization in emerging markets also helped after the turmoil of January. The Turkish lira and the South African rand have been grinding steadily higher for the past two weeks.

The calmer mood was reflected in the VIX index of volatility, which dived 4.9 percent to 14.51, pulling sharply away from its recent peak at 21.48.

The Australian dollar benefited from the better-than-expected Chinese trade report, adding 0.2 percent to $0.9054 and also edging up against the yen to 92.86.

China is Australia's biggest export market.

The U.S. dollar was nearly flat on the day against its Japanese counterpart at 102.59, holding onto its gains made in the previous session after Yellen's remarks, while the euro was also steady, at $1.3632.

The single currency could be affected by a speech by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi later on Wednesday, while the Bank of England releases a report on inflation which should include an overhaul of forward guidance. {ID:nL3N0LG2GO]

In commodity markets, spot gold fell 0.4 percent to $1,285.49 an ounce, snapping a three-day winning streak and giving back some of its sharp overnight gains as stocks rallied. But it was still not far from a three-month high of $1,293.44 hit on Tuesday.

Brent crude rose about 0.1 percent to $108.75 a barrel, while U.S. crude gained 0.3 percent to $100.27, also bolstered by data from the American Petroleum Institute showing crude stocks fell by 2.5 million barrels at a key U.S. delivery hub, and by expectations of increased U.S. demand due to cold weather.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange rose 0.6 percent to $7,121.25 a ton, reversing losses from the previous session and moving away from a two-month low of $7,016 touched on February 4.- Reuters

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Taib to seek audience with Sarawak Governor

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

KUCHING: Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said he will seek an audience with Sarawak Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng on Saturday to convey his intention to step down as Chief Minister of Sarawak.

He said he needed to follow protocol in proceeding with his plan to step down from the post that he has held for the last 33 years.

"There is no hurry. I look forward to doing something useful for the country at a leisurely pace (after retiring as the chief minister)," he said after officiating the state-level Rela (People's Volunteer Corps) Day celebration here yesterday.

Seeking an audience with the Governor was among the "several more steps" he needed to take before he officially retired.

"I have to do things in proper sequence," said Taib, who is also Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu president and Sarawak Barisan Nasional chairman.

Earlier, Taib attended a close-door meeting with Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and several state leaders at Wisma Bapa Malaysia.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu; Parti Rakyat Sarawak president Tan Sri James Masing; Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak president Tan Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

A Home Ministry official yesterday said the meeting was merely a courtesy call on Taib. No press conference was held after the meeting.

Related stories:

More names emerge as possible successor

So, who will be the next CM?

Zambry: Anwar just wants to play the hero

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

KUALA LUMPUR: The reason for the forced by-election in Kajang was for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to "play the hero" to hide the internal problems faced by the state government in Selangor, said Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

"It is manufactured theatre to create a situation to deflect attention from their internal problems," he told reporters at the Perak Strategic Leadership retreat here yesterday.

Dr Zambry was asked to comment on the March 23 Kajang by-election following the resignation of incumbent Lee Chin Cheh on Jan 27 to make way for Anwar.

He said the internal problems faced by the Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor were similar to those faced by the Opposition pact when they formed the Perak state government after the 2008 general election.

He said that in Selangor, however, Pakatan had adopted a different strategy to draw attention away from its shortcomings.

"In Perak, they tried to get Barisan (Nasional)-elected representatives to join them to strengthen their weakened state government owing to internal problems.

"Now, they vacate the Kajang seat to make way for a by-election for Anwar to be the new political maestro," said Dr Zambry.

The Perak constitutional crisis concerned the legitimacy of the state government when the Pakatan administration collapsed after three of its legislators defected.

After a year-long court battle, the Federal Court confirmed in February 2010 that Barisan was the legitimate state government and Dr Zambry was the lawful Mentri Besar.

"Everyone says the (Perak) crisis was due to a power grab by Barisan, but it was the then Pakatan state government that initially enticed Barisan assemblymen to cross over.

"However, its plan backfired when three of its elected representatives left Pakatan instead," said Dr Zambry.

He alleged that Pakatan members, particularly Anwar, were once again trying to entice Barisan to their political ploy to hide their own internal problems in Selangor.

"He (Anwar) is playing the hero in his own theatre.

"I don't want to be part of their games and I am confident Barisan will also not become part of their games," added Dr Zambry.

Undercover MACC agent in Agriculture Ministry

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

PUTRAJAYA: An officer from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commis-sion (MACC) will be placed at the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry as an undercover agent to check corrupt practices.

Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the officer would be working on a full-time basis.

"While the officer will work just like any other staff of the ministry, we expect the officer to report directly to the MACC on any corrupt practices or abuse of power.

"The placement won't be made openly as that would defeat the purpose. The officer will be employed as a permanent staff and his identity will be known only by MACC, ministry's secretary-general and I," he told reporters yesterday after witnessing the signing of the Corporate Integrity Pledge (CIP) by Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga.

Also present was MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed.

Ismail Sabri said he sent the request for the officer to the MACC but stressed that the plan to have an anti-graft undercover agent should not be misconstrued that corruption was rampant in the ministry.

"We are being pro-active and doing whatever we can to check corrupt practices and abuse of power. Our next plan is for the ministry to sign the CIP," he said.

By taking the pledge, an institution would voluntarily commit to create an effective system to increase integrity through the practice of good management, including taking steps in preventing corruption.

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Maggie Q to star as pirate in miniseries

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 01:05 AM PST

Red Flag is about one of China's most powerful pirates in early 19th century.

MAGGIE Q (pic), the American actress born to a Vietnamese mother, will play feared Chinese pirate Ching Shih in a biopic set to air as a miniseries, according to Deadline.com.

Titled Red Flag, it is set in the early 1800s and centres on a beautiful young Chinese prostitute who goes on to master manipulation, becoming one of the country's most powerful pirates. With 1,500 ships and 100,000 men, she controlled the South China Sea.

While Maggie Q's previous major project, Nikita, ended in 2013, the actress will soon be seen in Divergent, adapting Veronica Roth's literary saga. The film, along the lines of The Hunger Games, will also star Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Kate Winslet. – AFP Relaxnews

Tsai Ming-liang: Then and now

Posted: 08 Feb 2014 08:00 AM PST

The elders of his family were noodle-sellers, and he spent most of his time with his grandparents who would take him to the cinemas regularly. He never imagined that one day he would become a world-renowned filmmaker.

Tsai is one of the featured directors in the book, Speaking In Images, by Michael Berry that compiles a series of interviews with contemporary Chinese filmmakers. It was this book that inspired Saw to make Past Present. He was in Melbourne, Australia in 2010 when he came across the book in a library.

"I went to a nearby park and started reading the interview that Berry did with Tsai," said Saw, "and I fell in love with the part where he talked about his childhood experience of going to cinemas twice every evening with his maternal grandparents.

"He was also elaborating on the 1960s, about the old stand-alone cinemas, the names of those cinemas and the films he watched back then. Reading this particular part of the interview made me think of the stories that my mother told me about those old cinemas in my hometown with names like Odeon, Cathay and Jubilee."

Saw then became curious about why Tsai made the films he made, "to explore the link between his past and the films he makes in the present."

"I often contemplate about how people turned out to be who they are, how the past affects someone, including the environment one grew up in, the people, culture and society one was surrounded by," Saw explained.

He then pooled together funds from local and foreign investors, and spent the next three years shooting and putting the film together, seeking out interviews with other famous directors such as Ang Lee and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival last year to good response. It was also screened at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. There are still other international festival engagements coming up. It also screened at the recent Tropfest Southeast Asia in Penang.

Tsai recalled the making of the documentary, of retracing his past and meeting old friends and neighbours.

"The experience was like going into a tunnel back to my past," he wrote in his e-mail. "What I saw was cruel. The 'scene' and those familiar buildings were now old and dilapidated and some had even disappeared.

"The people that I know are old now, some have already passed away. At one point, I turned to Tiong Guan and asked him, 'Why bring me back here to destroy my memories?'"

Said Saw: "I think (Tsai) is a private person but as the filming progressed, he gradually opened up and became more comfortable with us."

Tsai is clearly a creature of nostalgia, and he recalled a time when there were no computers, TVs, video games, refrigerators or even electric fans, and children, including him, used to play in a field near his house.

"At night, I would go to the cinema to watch films," he wrote. "My homework was done by my grandparents. Will there ever be better times than those?"

Unfortunately, Tsai has announced his retirement from filmmaking. His last film, Stray Dogs, won the Grand Jury Prize in Venice and he picked up the Best Director award at the recent Golden Horse ceremony. In Venice, he was reported as saying, "I hope (Stray Dogs) will be my last film."

Said Apichatpong during his recent visit to KL: "(Tsai) was a big influence on me and made me continue making films. So it's such a shock, and sad for me, when he said he would stop making films. Tsai makes you feel there is something larger outside of the frames of his films. This documentary is very important."

Said Saw: "As someone who loves cinema, I feel sad. I share Apichatpong's sentiment that it will be a big loss if he stops making films. But as Tsai's friend, I think it is not a bad thing if he retires, so that he can rest more, which is better for his health. I know how hard he works and making films is difficult."

Tsai says in the documentary that he originally planned to make only 10 films in his entire career, and he has already done so.

"At my age, there is nothing that is particularly important,' wrote Tsai in his e-mail.

"There is nothing that I must do. I would love to experience a life where there is nothing to do, not creating anything. I am envious of the trees in the jungle, they just stand there alive. I am also envious of wild birds, innocently flying in the air.

"Actually, I don't want to do anything. Life is short. I don't want to spend it doing things and working."

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Former Japanese Prime Minister meets 'comfort women'

Posted: 11 Feb 2014 02:39 AM PST

SEOUL: Tomiichi Murayama, the former Japanese prime minister known for his 1995 apology over wartime aggression, met Tuesday with three South Korean "comfort women" who served as sex slaves to Japanese troops.

"Please stay healthy," the 89-year-old ex-premier told the women as he clasped their hands at an exhibition of art works by comfort women being held in the South Korean parliament complex in Seoul.

One of the three women, Kang Ul-Chul, told Murayama through an interpreter that the Japanese government should apologise properly to the former sex slaves and provide compensation.

They also presented him with one of the artworks, titled "Flower destroyed unbloomed".

Murayama served as Japan's prime minister from 1994-96 and is best remembered for his 1995 speech in which he publicly apologised for Japanese atrocities during World War II.

Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula remains a hugely emotive issue in South Korea, which believes Japan has failed to live up to the spirit of the 1995 apology and not properly atoned for its past aggression.

Relations hit a new low in December when the current prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited a controversial war shrine which commemorates around 2.5 million Japanese war dead including several high-level war criminals.

Murayama arrived on Tuesday for a three-day visit at the invitation of an opposition party.

He reportedly requested a meeting with President Park Geun-Hye but was turned down on account of her "busy schedule".

Park has made it clear she will not hold a summit with Abe until the Japanese leader takes steps to address South Korea's historical grievances. -AFP

China and Taiwan hold historic talks

Posted: 10 Feb 2014 08:50 PM PST

NANJING, China: China and Taiwan on Tuesday held their first government-to-government talks since they split 65 years ago after a brutal civil war - a symbolic yet historic move between the former bitter rivals.

Taipei's Wang Yu-chi, who oversees the island's China policy, met his Beijing counterpart Zhang Zhijun in Nanjing on the first day of a four-day trip.

With sensitivities crucial, the room was neutrally decorated with no flags visible and nameplates on the table devoid of titles or affiliations.

The meeting was the fruit of years of slow efforts to improve political ties on the back of a burgeoning economic relationship.

"For us to simply sit at the same table, sit down to discuss issues, is already not an easy thing," Wang said in initial remarks, according to a statement.

"That we can sit here today, formally getting together, formally holding meetings, together exploring issues that people on both sides of the strait care about - this represents a new chapter for cross-strait relations, and is a day worth recording," he said, adding that he hoped Zhang could visit Taiwan "in the foreseeable future".

Nanjing, in eastern China, was the country's capital when it was ruled by Wang's Kuomintang, or Nationalist, party in the first half of the 20th century.

When they lost China's civil war - which cost millions of lives - to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949, two million supporters of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, officially known as the Republic of China.

The island and the mainland have been governed separately ever since, both claiming to be the true government of China and only re-establishing contact in the 1990s through quasi-official organisations.

But Beijing's Communist authorities still aim to reunite all of China under their rule, and view Taiwan as a rebel region awaiting reunification with the mainland - by force if necessary.

Over the decades Taipei has become increasingly isolated diplomatically, losing the Chinese seat at the UN in 1971 and seeing the number of countries recognising it steadily whittled away. But it is supplied militarily by the United States and has enjoyed a long economic boom.

No official agenda has been released for the talks - widely seen as a symbolic, confidence-building exercise - and Wang said earlier he would not sign any agreements.

Taiwan is likely to focus on reaping practical outcomes such as securing economic benefits or security assurances, while China has one eye on long-term integration of the island, analysts say.

Detente and differences

The political thaw comes after the two sides made cautious steps towards economic reconciliation in recent years.

As the heirs of a pan-Chinese government, Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party accepts the "One China" principle and is opposed to seeking independence for the island.

Since it returned to power on the island in elections in 2008, President Ma Ying-jeou has overseen a marked softening in Taiwan's tone towards its giant neighbour, restoring direct flights and other measures.

In June 2010 Taiwan and China signed the landmark Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, a pact widely characterised as the boldest step yet towards reconciliation.

Yet despite the much-touted detente, Taipei and Beijing have still shunned all official contact and negotiations have been carried out through proxies.

While these bodies - the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation representing Taiwan and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits for China - have achieved economic progress, they lack the power to broach deeper differences.

Analysts say only government-level officials can address the lingering sovereignty dispute that sees each side claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China.

Tuesday's meeting will be watched closely to see whether it can pave the way for talks between Ma and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping - although chances of that happening any time soon are slim.

"The current interaction across the Taiwan Strait is quite positive," said Jia Qingguo, a professor of international studies at Peking University.

Ties have "been developing very fast, but the potential of this relationship has not been fully tapped (by) both sides," he said.

"But people should not expect too much out of it. It will take time for the two sides to get really integrated."

The mood surrounding the talks soured in Taiwan after Beijing refused to issue credentials to the Taipei-based Apple Daily and the US government-funded Radio Free Asia at the weekend. -AFP

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