Shakira confirms romance with Spanish footballer Pique

BOGOTA - COLOMBIAN pop star Shakira on Tuesday confirmed her romantic relationship with Spanish footballer Gerard Pique through a message on her Twitter account.

'I present to you my sunshine ... Shak,' the 34-year-old singer wrote in the message accompanying a photo of the smiling pair.

Shakira and the 24-year-old Barcelona centre-back became the focus of intense media attention earlier this month when gossip magazines published photographs of the couple holding hands and kissing in Barcelona.

In January, Shakira announced the end of her 11-year relationship with Antonio de la Rua of Argentina.

Shakira's wildly popular Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) was the official song of the Fifa World Cup 2010 in South Africa, won by Spain. Pique, a member of the World Cup team, told a March 3 press conference at Barca's training centre that he prefers to just talk football.

Quizzed on his private life, he said: 'I'd like it if people only talked about me from a sporting perspective but I get the impression that, ultimately, it's inevitable.' -- AFP

Nigerian sentenced to death for drugs in Vietnam

HANOI - A NIGERIAN has been sentenced to death in Vietnam for transporting heroin, while his Vietnamese wife was jailed for life, a court official said on Wednesday.

Michael Ikenna Nduanya, 34, and his common-law spouse Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, 27, were convicted on Tuesday in Ho Chi Minh City, the official said, refusing to be named.

He said the couple were arrested in December 2009, but gave no further details.

The website of Tuoi Tre newspaper, citing the indictment, said Nduanya had asked his wife to collect about one kilogram of heroin from Cambodia. She was arrested at a Ho Chi Minh City bus depot after returning with the drugs, it said.

The report suggested the heroin originated in India and was ultimately destined for China.

Nduanya is the third person to be sentenced to death in Vietnam this year, according to state-controlled media reports tallied by AFP. There were 80 death sentences and four executions last year, according to the tally. Most death sentences in the communist country are issued for drug and murder cases. -- AFP

Dutch woman, 63, gives birth: New country record

THE HAGUE - A 63-YEAR-OLD Dutch woman gave birth to a daughter on Monday, becoming the oldest-ever new mother in the Netherlands, the hospital and news reports said.

'Baby Meagan was born at the Medical Centre Leeuwarden at 9.48am (0848 GMT, 4.48pm Singapore time) on March 21,' said a statement on the website of the hospital in the northern Dutch province of Friesland.

'Meagan is the daughter of Tineke Geessink, a 63-year-old woman from Harlingen.' The girl was born with the aid of Caesarian section, said the statement, adding: 'Both mother and daughter are fine'.

Dutch media reports said Ms Geessink was the oldest-ever Dutch woman to become a mother. 'It is a feeling that I have had for so long', to have a child, the woman told Dutch public radio, NOS.

'At some point there was something inside me saying: 'It is now or never', and I decided to try everything possible to see if it is still possible.' The NOS said the woman got pregnant through a foreign sperm donor as Dutch fertility doctors would not help her due to her age.

'There is no guarantee that if you have a child at a young age you will see your child grow up,' Ms Geessink, a single mother, told the radio. 'Of course, the risk with me is bigger. And whether the child will find it nice to have such an old mother ... I hope that she loves me so much that she will just be glad to have me.' -- AFP

S.Korea's Shanghai consulate hit by sex scandal

SEOUL - SOUTH KOREA'S government said on Wednesday it has launched an investigation into an alleged steamy sex-for-favours scandal that has rocked its consulate in Shanghai.

Media reports say three Korean diplomats based in China's biggest city were suspected of having affairs with the same Chinese woman, who allegedly used her influence over them in seeking visas for Chinese workers.

She was also said to have received confidential information such as mobile phone numbers for leading members of South Korea's ruling party and other high-profile figures. The case of what one paper described as the 'sexy Shanghai siren' hit the headlines this week.

'Acting on tip-offs, we investigated the incident and gave the results to government agencies concerned last month,' an official of the Prime Minister's Office told AFP.

The three agencies that sent the diplomats to Shanghai - the foreign, knowledge economy and justice ministries - are now conducting their own investigations, he said on condition of anonymity. Reports say the tip-off came from the Korean husband of the Chinese woman, who wrote to the Seoul government to complain about the diplomats' allegedly intimate relations with his wife.

He presented pictures of her taken with each of the diplomats, which have now been splashed across front pages in Seoul.The three - who were summoned back to Seoul - have denied they had affairs with the woman, who reportedly acted as a conduit to senior Chinese officials and arranged meetings with visitors from Seoul. -- AFP

Rio Carnival to culminate with sumptuous parades

The monster of all the blocos, the Bloco Bola Preta, filled the centre of Rio with a motley crowd of up to two million people wearing all manner of garb - or in many cases, little at all. -- PHOTO: AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO - BRAZIL'S famous Carnival kicks into high gear on Sunday as the city prepares to hold sumptuous multimillion-dollar parades amid what is billed as the Greatest Party on Earth.

A light rain did nothing to dampen the festive spirit on Saturday, serving more as a refreshing cool-down for bodies worked into a sweat as they danced and gyrated at the numerous 'blocos,' or street parties.

The monster of all the blocos, the Bloco Bola Preta, filled the centre of Rio with a motley crowd of up to two million people wearing all manner of garb - or in many cases, little at all.

'Everybody is mixing here. There's no class differences. None. Everybody is here with the same plan, to have fun,' said one young woman sporting Elton John-style oversized yellow sunglasses and a bouffant Afro wig.

Throughout the city, nearly 800,000 tourists, Brazilian and foreign, were taking part in the extravaganza alongside most of Rio's population of six million, turning the place into a bohemian sprawl buoyed by high-decibel samba music.

Although the focus was on Rio, which holds key parades on Sunday and Monday, the whole nation was letting loose for Carnival. -- AFP

Singapore’s transit beats Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Singapore’s traffic congestion was just as bad as Kuala Lumpur’s 40 years ago. However, the city-state’s transit situation has vastly improved, leaving its neighbour far behind.

Clear-cut transport policies helped to transform the island nation into a transit-friendly state, according to Association for the Improvement of Mass Transit chairman, Muhammad Zulkarnain Hamzah.

“Singapore was in the same position as KL 40 years ago. When Singapore split from Malaysia, it was actually suffering from pretty bad congestion,” he said.

Zulkarnain added that land was reserved for transit purposes, especially around Singapore’s HDB (Housing and Development Board) flats.

“They were built around the HDB flats. After that, everything just fell into place.”

“During that time, ample land was available,” Zulkarnain said, adding that the Singaporean government planned ahead.

Not meant for people

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s town planning, he said, was more car-centric than people-oriented.

“There is a considerable increase in private car ownership in Malaysia. As Malaysians become more affluent, they turned to cars,” Zulkarnain said.

“Because of that, the government built more roads, but they didn’t think about improving bus service at the same time.”

“There was no coordination or supporting infrastructure,” he added.

It also did not help that Malaysia lacked a truly central public transport authority, unlike Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA).

FMT previously reported that Malaysia never drafted a public transport masterplan since its Independence.

“Even if we did have a plan, I’m not sure if it would have been followed through 100%,” Zulkarnain said.

Better bus services

Zulkarnain also found it strange that the government was putting Singapore’s MRT on a pedestal, when most of the island’s public transport rested on its buses.

According to Singapore transit operator SBS Transit, the average daily ridership for buses clocked in at 2,499,764 in January 2011. Rail, on the other hand, was at 479,488.

The island nation’s second operator SMRT saw about 1.767 million ridership for rail during the same period. SMRT’s bus ridership came up to more than 921,000.

In sharp contrast, RapidKL’s average bus ridership is only 290,000 a day.

MRT viability

Zulkarnain also questioned the viability of the upcoming RM36 billion Mass Rail Transit (MRT) mega-project.

“If SPAD (Land Public Transport Commission) wants the MRT to be a viable form of public transport, then it needs to look at how MRT stations are developed,” the transit expert said.

“If the government cannot figure out how to integrate transit planning and public transport, then how is it going to get people to be accustomed to public transport?” he asked.

Zulkarnain also asked why the government was so eager to go ahead with the MRT, especially when it failed with the KTM Komuter.

“If the government cannot succeed with KTM Komuter, what makes it think that it can succeed with the MRT?” he asked.

“Why not optimise the KTM or improve on its infrastructure?”

Although pushed by the government as a solution to end KL traffic congestion once and for all, the MRT has come under fire from both the opposition and transit experts alike.

The lack of public consultation and aggressive pushing, and hefty price tag are some of the criticisms the MRT has faced in recent months.

The first phase of the MRT is expected to be completed by 2016. In tandem with this, the government announced its aim to increase transit usage to 25% by 2012.

Less than 20% of the Klang Valley residents use public transport; lower than many Asian countries.

80% of Seoul's elderly living alone are women

Korean woman

ALMOST eight out of 10 elderly people living alone in Seoul are women, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Tuesday.

The city conducted a census on senior citizens aged 65 or older who lived alone without family over the past three months, aimed at assessing their welfare needs.

According to the survey on 214,506 citizens registered as single family households in Seoul, 82,766 were found to live alone and 77 per cent of them were women.

While 66.1 per cent said they didn't have their own house, less than half of them, or 36,000, responded they had an income. The monthly income per person was 460,000 won (S$506), just one-third of the national average.

Almost 80 per cent of the respondents said they were suffering from more than one medical condition. As they were allowed to give multiple answers, the most common conditions included arthritis, hypertension and backache. -- KOREA HERALD/ANN

Hollywood actresses wear Taiwanese designer's jewellery to Oscars

Swank chose to accessorise her metallic and feathered Gucci gown with an Anna Hu 'Exotic Twin Orchid' hairpiece and Gardenia ring. -- PHOTO: AP

AT THE Oscars on Sunday, an event honouring the best movies which also serves as the most important celebrity fashion showcase of the year, famed American actresses Scarlett Johansson and Hilary Swank chose to wear the Haute Joaillerie from Taiwanese jewellery designer Anna Hu.

Ms Hu's precious pieces won the hearts of two-time Academy Award winning actress Swank and blonde bombshell Johansson.

Swank chose to accessorise her metallic and feathered Gucci gown with an Anna Hu 'Exotic Twin Orchid' hairpiece and Gardenia ring. The hairpiece, a one-of-kind creation, is a purple titanium metal construction studded with 200 briolette silver-gray and white diamonds. The 18k white-gold ring she wore was glittering with white diamonds.

The sexy Johansson, who wore a lacy, puce Dolce & Gabbana gown, completed her look with a pair of Anna Hu earrings and a ring decked in rubies, emeralds and diamonds that formed an Asian dragon-motif.

ABC news anchor Robin Roberts, who live broadcast the entire 2011 Academy Awards, was also a huge fan of Ms Hu's, flashing her haute baubles for the camera lens.

Notable celebrities who have worn Ms Hu's creations in the past are singer Madonna and actress Drew Barrymore. -- THE CHINA POST

China's middle class stampede for luxury handbags

HONG KONG - IT COULD be a queue for a pop concert, a top nightclub or even the opening night at the theatre. But the hundreds of people lined up in a Hong Kong street are actually waiting to bag a bit of luxury.

'We're looking for new handbags,' says student Celeste Law as she queues patiently alongside her friend Karina Luh outside the supermarket-sized branch of Chanel on Hong Kong's Canton Road.

The students, both 20, already sport impressive accessories - Celeste carries a Louis Vuitton monogrammed bag, while her friend's is from Chanel. Both work part-time and saved for over a year to buy their trophies.

'We want them because of the famous brand,' said Celeste. 'What can I say? People will focus on your bag. It's about feeling confident.' Even on a weekday morning, Canton Road is flooded with shoppers happy to pay a small fortune for a luxury tote, shoulder bag or evening clutch in its jumbo designer stores.

Many are from the Chinese mainland, and some even carry suitcases to get their purchases home. The market for such luxury has extended far beyond China's roughly 900,000 US dollar millionaires. The market is now being driven by China's burgeoning middle class, with the truly rich going ever further upmarket - happily spending tens of thousands of dollars on the right bag.

Handbag sales for Prada alone grew by over 80 per cent in China in 2010, Sebastian Suhl, chief operating officer at the Prada Group, told AFP, while those of the group's Miu Miu brand rocketed by over 500 per cent. 'We believe we have only begun to scratch the surface of China's potential,' Mr Suhl added. -- AFP

Shanghai commits to hosting Grand Prix

File photo of a practice session for the Chinese F1 Grand Prix. The Shanghai government has committed itself to hosting the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix for seven more years. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

THOUGH the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix has generally run at a loss, the Shanghai government has committed itself to hosting the event for seven more years.

'F1 gives a boost to many of the city's industries, including hotels, restaurants and car sales. It also raises Shanghai's international image by exposing the city through global media and gives Chinese enterprises an advertising platform to make themselves known on the international stage,' said Yang Yibin, marketing manager with Juss Events, one of the race's organisers.

'Taken all together, F1's overall benefit to the city is more than enough to offset the losses in operations,' Mr Yang said. The Shanghai government this month announced it had extended its deal to host the Chinese Grand Prix until 2017. The race was first held in Shanghai in 2004.

The popularity of the race has declined in recent years. Attendance at the race peaked in 2005, attracting 270,000 spectators, but dropped to 155,000 last year, which was a recovery from a low of 120,000 in 2009, according to figures released by Juss Events.

But Chen Yiping, deputy head of the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau, said during the organising committee's press conference on Feb 16 that the race had brought Shanghai more than 10 billion yuan (S$1.93 billion) in direct and indirect economic benefits over the past seven years. -- CHINA DAILY/ANN

13 million abortions a year in China

Couples in a Beijing hospital waiting outside an operating theatre where abortions are performed. In the past, older married women were the ones going for abortion. Now, it is young, unmarried women who are resorting to abortion. -- PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN

BEIJING - THE first time Ms Jenny Zhou had an abortion, she was only 20 and she remembered crying the whole time.

Her boyfriend did not accompany her. He was in the university dormitory, playing video games instead. They broke up eventually.

The second time Ms Zhou went for an abortion was in 2007. She was accompanied by her fiance, whom she married last year.

'Four years ago, he felt we could not afford to have a baby until we bought a big flat and a nice car,' said Ms Zhou, 28, now an IT manager in Beijing.

'I didn't mind. Abortion now is painless anyway - I was under anaesthetic. It's so easy, no wonder it's popular nowadays.'

Young women like Ms Zhou form the main group driving China's abortions, which number about 13 million annually or nearly a quarter of the world's total. Abortions in China peaked in the 1990s, with official figures saying 14 million were performed.

Man jailed for taking upskirt video in NUS lift

Ho Soo Kok, 30, pleaded guilty to insulting the modesty of the 30-year-old woman at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in Lower Kent Ridge Road on March 16, 2010. -- ST PHOTO : WONG KWAI CHOW

Singapore - A TECHNICIAN who filmed upskirt videos of a woman in a lift was on Tuesday, jailed for three weeks.

Ho Soo Kok, 30, pleaded guilty to insulting the modesty of the 30-year-old woman at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in Lower Kent Ridge Road on March 16, 2010.

The court heard that Ho got into the lift and stood behind the victim. As it was travelling to the second level, he took out his mobile phone, activated the video recording mode and put it towards her calf area with the intention to film her with an upskirt angle.

When the lift door opened on the third level, she felt a warm touch on her right leg. She turned around and saw Ho's mobile phone in between her legs.

She grabbed the phone and ran to the first level to seek help from a colleague. The victim went to the National University Hospital police post to get help.

Ho, who had his head bowed all the time, could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined.

Philippine military probes Facebook abuse video

MANILA - THE Philippine military said on Saturday they are investigating a purported torture video posted on Facebook that appears to show uniformed soldiers abusing defenceless prisoners.

Investigators are checking the identities of the uniformed men shown repeatedly hitting and kicking a group of at least three people in civilian clothes, said military spokesman Brigadier General Jose Mabanta.

'We are the first to be concerned about this. We have said we will not do these (abuses), then we see it right in our faces,' Gen Mabanta told AFP.

Officials also want to know when and where it happened, if indeed it actually happened, Gen Mabanta said.

The poor-quality footage shows the men lying on the ground of a coconut plantation. The captives' hands are tied behind their backs and hoods placed over their heads while men in military-style uniforms shout at and swear at them.

Colonel Domingo Tutaan, head of the military's human rights office, said the military would also try to find out what happened to the supposed victims. -- AFP

Mum uploads video of nude daughter to find a suitor

A DESPERATE Beijing mother who wants to find a boyfriend for her daughter has uploaded a video of the naked girl walking out of a shower while fielding questions on prospective boyfriends, reported Nanyang Siang Pau.

The 80-second footage begins with the mother speaking to the camera and declaring her intention of finding a boyfriend for her 26-year-old daughter.

The camera follows the mother towards the bathroom, where her daughter walks out in the nude.

When asked about her requirements for a boyfriend, the daughter replies:

'I'm all right, as long as (he) is nice to you (the mother) and nice to me. That's enough.''

The online community has speculated that the daughter in the footage is an actress named Ganlulu and the footage is genuine.


 

2 million couples divorce in China, more than marriages

A total of 1.96 million couples applied for divorce last year, and only 1.2 million tied the knot. -- PHOTO: AFP

BEIJING - NEARLY two million couples divorced in 2010 in China - far more than the number who got married in the world's most populous nation, state media reported.

A total of 1.96 million couples applied for divorce last year, and only 1.2 million tied the knot, the Legal Evening News quoted the civil affairs ministry as saying.

China's divorce rate has risen gradually at an average of 7.65 per cent a year since 2003 when the law regulating marriage was amended, simplifying both marriage and divorce procedures, said the report published late on Sunday.

Before, in many areas of China, couples who wanted to divorce had to get a written certificate from their workplaces or neighbourhood committees before the split could be finalised, it added.

Some lawmakers in China - shocked at the country's high divorce rate - have called for a return to those practices, but so far the amendment has remained untouched.

Also contributing to higher divorce rates is the fact that Chinese men and women have more money and are more independent, the report said. The south-western province of Sichuan had the highest divorce rate last year, which the report attributed partly to a high concentration of people working away from home, leading to couples being separated for long periods of time. -- AFP

Philippines nabs Japanese in fake marriage scam

Japanese national Yoshifumi Fujii sits inside the Bureau of Immigration Detention Center at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City. -- PHOTO: AFP

MANILA - PHILIPPINE authorities said on Tuesday they arrested a Japanese man wanted over a fake marriage scam after he walked into the immigration bureau to renew his own visa.

Immigration deputy chief Ronaldo Ledesma said Yoshifumi Fujii, 49, was promptly arrested after a surprise appearance at the bureau's Manila headquarters last week to renew his expired visa.

'We were already looking for him after authorities in Tokyo requested assistance, but he basically walked into his own detention,' Mr Ledesma told AFP. 'Japanese police and Interpol agents will arrive soon to bring him back to Japan and he will also be blacklisted from returning here.'

Fujii operated a crime syndicate preying on Filipino women willing to pay money for fake Japanese marriages, Mr Ledesma said.

'He charges them money and arranges the marriages with Japanese men. Once the woman arrives in Japan, she can now work and the man later leaves or divorces her,' he said. 'It also works both ways, because the Japanese man can now stay in the Philippines and put up businesses.'

Mr Ledesma said investigations by Japanese authorities discovered that Fujii had entered fake documents in the marriage registries at several towns in Japan's Aichi prefecture. Some of the couples were arrested in May last year, but Fujii fled to the Philippines before police could enforce an arrest warrant issued by a local court. -- AFP

China dungeon rapist sentenced to death

BEIJING - A MAN was sentenced to death for kidnapping and caging two girls in a dungeon and raping nine other women, said a verdict of the Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, on Sunday.

Zeng Qiangbao, a 40-year-old worker in a steel factory in Wuhan, was convicted of rape, illegally imprisoning, robbery and forcible seizure, according to the verdict.

The court heard that Zeng had caged two teenage girls in a dungeon for 590 days and 317 days as sex slaves until they were rescued by police on May 14 last year. He also raped another nine women from July 2007 to May 2010, the prosecutor said.

According to the prosecutor, on Sept 16, 2008, Zeng captured 16-year-old Hu and took her to a dungeon under his house and raped her. On July 2, 2009, Zeng kidnapped a 19-year-old girl surnamed Zhou and sexually assaulted her. The girl was also kept in the dungeon. The girls were repeatedly beaten and raped by Zeng, the prosecutor said.

The two were rescued on May 14, 2010, after a man surnamed Du visited his friend's electronics repair shop and found a note in a partially dismantled television. It read: 'Help. I've been held prisoner underground for more than a year.'

Along with the words was a hand-drawn map that showed where the girls were being kept, as well as the telephone number and address of Zhou's family. Du called the number and informed the father, who lived just 200m from where his daughter was being held. The father immediately called police and arrived at the scene a few hours later. -- CHINA DAILY/ANN

Indonesian singer jailed 3 1/2 years in sex-tape trial

Indonesian rock star Nazril Ariel (right) waits with his girlfriend Luna Maya, before his trial at Bandung court in West Java. -- PHOTO: AFP

BANDUNG (Indonesia) - AN INDONESIAN court on Monday jailed one of South-east Asia's biggest rock stars for more than three years after sex tapes of him with two television celebrities appeared online.

The trial for Nazril 'Ariel' Irham, lead singer of the band Peterpan, has made headlines and dominated chatter on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for more than three months.

Fans insist he did nothing wrong, making the tapes in the privacy of his own home. But Islamic hard-liners warn that his actions have contributed to the country's moral decline.

The 29-year-old pop star - who said the videos were stolen and posted online without his knowledge - is the first celebrity to be charged with violating the country's strict anti-pornography law that came into effect in 2008.

'I wanna be free,' Ariel told reporters, smiling as he puffed away on a cigarette before being escorted into a packed and electrically charged courtroom before the verdict. 'I didn't distribute those videos.'

Outside the district court in Bandung, about 120km south-east of the capital, Jakarta, hundreds of protesters chanted his name and demanded he be punished. -- AP

China's first Disney Store to open in 2012

SHANGHAI - WALT Disney Company said on Thursday it planned to open its first direct sales store in China by the middle of next year as it moves to cash in on the country's fast growing retail market.

The US entertainment giant said its strategy would be to secure locations in upscale shopping centres and department stores, where it will open Disney Stores similar to those in Europe and North America.

'The kids' branded retail market in China is growing and we are uniquely positioned to provide a family shopping environment,' Stanley Cheung, Disney's Greater China executive vice president and managing director, said in a statement.

'Our Disney Stores aim to deliver the best 30 minutes of a child's day,' he added. The company did not say how many stores it aimed to open in China.

Outside China, Disney said it was on track to add more than 25 new and remodelled stores this year and ultimately planned to refresh its more than 350 locations worldwide.

Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said in his annual report earlier this month that the city would push forward to start work on a Disney Park in the city, that is reportedly scheduled to open in 2014. -- AP

Mosque to be built in US city after appeal denied

LOS ANGELES - A CALIFORNIA city decided on Wednesday to allow Muslim families to build a mosque after months of angry debate over the plan that included protests, petitions and letter-writing campaigns.

The Temecula City Council voted 4-0 to approve the project after a nine-hour meeting, despite fears by opponents that the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley could bring extremist activity to the region about 128km south-east of Los Angeles.

Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, said some of the opposition was hateful.

'After this decision, we all need to work together to restore the fellowship of the citizens,' he said. 'We need to heal ourselves.' The controversy played out against similar outcries over ongoing plans for a US$100 (S$128 million Islamic centre two blocks from the site of the Sept 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York, and opposition to a new mosque in a Tennessee suburb.

Muslims in Murfreesboro have endured marches and a lawsuit, while those in another Tennessee town withdrew a mosque proposal in May after residents mounted a campaign against rezoning the property.

In Temecula, the Islamic centre was formed in 1998, and its members have been worshipping in a warehouse for a decade. The group plans a 7,620 sq m, two-storey mosque that will be built in two stages and feature two minarets topped with crescent moons. -- AP