Jeremy Chan, Jesseca Liu tie the knot in intimate ceremony

It's official: Jeremy Chan and Jesseca Liu have tied the knot in a hush hush ceremony in Jesseca's hometown of Langkawi today.
Held a day before Jeremy's birthday (July 17), the pair only had 15 tables of guests made up of their closest friends and family. There were six bridesmaids and groomsmen for the big day.
Jesseca wore a total of three gowns today, with two of them being specially designed white gowns from Galia Lahay, The Proposal, and the third a qipao by local designer LaiChan.

According to a press release shared with the media, the bride walked down the aisle accompanied by her dad, as the groom sang Jacky Cheung's 'Ai Shi Yong Hen'.

"Baby, July 16 is a day I'll remember for the rest of my life. During the past three years with you, you've taught me: acceptance, toleration and height are not problems. Thank you," said Jeremy in his wedding vows.

"I promise to kiss you before I leave the house and kiss you before bedtime. PS: I'll kiss you even if I don't brush my teeth," he continued. "If I can only love you for four days, make that spring, summer, autumn and winter. If I can only love you for three days, make that yesterday, today and tomorrow. If I can only love you for two days, that will be in good and bad times. If I can only love you for a day, make that every living day. I love you, my dearest wife."

In her vows to Jeremy, Jesseca said: "Ever since you got together with me, you've heard the worst things - thankfully you have a big heart and took it all in stride. You often tell me that I'm your best friend on earth, your best buddy, your best sister, your best travel and shopping kaki, I'm also your wife now.

"I will use the rest of my lifetime to learn how to be a good wife. Thank you for your determination and for not giving up, which gave me a chance to be your wife."
The wedding venue was designed with a monochromatic theme, with a lush photo area surrounded by fairylights, flowers and plants adorning the area. Like their romance, the couple hoped that the guests would be able to feel the down-to-earth yet romantic vibe from the decor.

The newlyweds' pet cats Tigger and Crusso made a special appearance at the wedding too, as cardboard cutouts and props for the photobooth.

In a joint statement, the pair shared that they first got closer on the set of xinmsn web drama Who Killed the Lead, and dated in secret for two years before going public.
"We didn't know that having a wedding would be so hectic, but we thank everyone as all this will become precious memories to us."

Rui En runs into trouble again – this time with her neighbours

2016 Star Awards’ All Time Favourite Artiste, Rui En, has been flagged by her elderly neighbours for being inconsiderate of others. Speaking to Lianhe Zaobao, the neighbours recounted how the actor threw their telephone twice in rage.

The incident happened on 20 April at about 6pm when Rui En appeared at the neighbours door and asked for a power bank because her phone was dead. As the elderly couple did not have a power bank, they invited her to their house to use their landline.

Rui En flew into a rage when the numbers she dialled did not get through and threw the phone in anger twice. She finally managed to put a call through to her maid. The neighbour told the Chinese daily that the actor appeared impatient and agitated throughout the calls, and even ordered the elderly neighbour’s wife to go upstairs to retrieve some items for her. She also did not thank them afterwards.
After news of her rudeness broke, the actor apologised to her elderly neighbours with a gift basket. The neighbours accepted her apology but not her gift basket. They told the newspaper that they hoped the popular artiste would be more aware of her words and actions, and not vent herself when she has the goodwill of others.

When contacted by Lianhe Wanbao, Rui En’s manager said that this was a private dispute between neighbours which has been settled.

This is not the first time Rui En has been in the public eye for all the wrong reasons. Her accident with a a motorbike was much talked about in April last her. Rui En knocked over a stationary motorbike at a carpark in Clementi, and when confronted by the rider she retorted, ‘do you know who I am?’

Rui En subsequently issued a public apology for the accident and explained it as a “judgmental error” and “careless driving”. She further admitted that she should have handled the situation “with more tact”.

In December last year, a netizen shared a video of an unsafe driver along Orchard Road. The netizen said that he was approaching a cross junction and slowed his vehicle to about 30km/h, when the black BMW suddenly jumped his lane and overtook his vehicle.

 

 

Rui En later acknowledged that the car was hers and that she drove in that manner when she found out that she was on the wrong lane.

Man caught on video taking upskirt video of commuter on Circle Line MRT

A Facebook group with 78,000 members targeted at Malaysians in Singapore has put up a two-minute video on July 15, 2017, showing a man on the Circle Line MRT train taking what appears to be an upskirt video of a fellow commuter.

The man was dressed in a pink t-shirt, black shorts and sports shoes, and looked to be in his 20s.
He can be clearly seen fidgeting with what looked like his mobile phone before placing it on his bag, which he lowered to his calf level.

The train was moving from MacPherson to Paya Lebar station at that time, according to the train announcement:

A video showing a young man taking what seems to be an upskirt video of a woman on a Circle Line MRT cabin has been circulating on Facebook.
The tall Chinese man, dressed in a pink t-shirt and black shorts, appears to be in his 20s. He can be seen twiddling with his phone before placing it on his bag and lowering it to his calf level.

According to an announcement that can be heard during the video, the train was moving from MacPherson to Paya Lebar station at the time of recording.

Earlier this month, a 44-year-old was arrested and remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation after her was caught on camera molesting a woman on an MRT.

The man, who was filmed surreptitiously stroking an unsuspecting fellow passenger’s thigh, was arrested by police officers from Hougang Neighbourhood Police Centre and charged for Outrage of Modesty.

Man in Uttar Pradesh shoots wife for not preparing dinner

A man in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, shot his wife dead because she refused to serve him dinner last Saturday night, reported the Times of India.

The 55-year-old victim, Sunaina, was rushed to the Sarvodaya Hospital in Kavi Nagar with a gunshot wound to her head.  However, doctors at the hospital declared her dead on arrival.

Rinku, 32, the couple's eldest son told Times of India that his 60-year-old father Ashok Kumar returned home drunk and asked his wife for dinner at around 11pm. A quarrel broke out when his mother refused to serve dinner immediately.

"Infuriated over the delay, my father whipped out a gun and threatened her. I, my wife and my younger brother tried to intervene," Rinku said.

"But he opened fire and the bullet hit my mother on her head. She collapsed on the spot."
Police told Times of India that the accused was taken into custody and later arrested. "He has confessed to the crime," said local police, who added that the gun used is illegal and that they were trying to ascertain the source of it.

BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says such violence is not unique to India - it occurs around the world - but what sets it apart in India from many other countries is the culture of silence and approval that often surrounds it.

"Honour killings" are also commonplace in India, where young couples are punished for "bringing shame" to the family. Honour killings saw a spike last year to 284 cases from just 28 in 2014, according to Al Jazeera. This is an alarming 800 per cent rise. The highest number of killings happen to occur in Uttar Pradesh.
akosasi@sph.com.sg

Return Of The Condor Heroes actress Susanna Au Yeung dies from lung cancer

The actress who played lead female protaganist Huang Rong in Hong Kong TV drama The Return Of The Condor Heroes (1983), Susanna Au Yeung Pui San, died from lung cancer on Sunday (July 9).
She was 63 years old.

Au Yeung was diagnosed with lung cancer in April, after showing signs of a stroke while on holiday with her actor husband Samuel Kwok Fung, 65. She went through several rounds of brain surgery there.

According to reports, doctors discovered she had been suffering from lung cancer during her third operation. She was subsequently flown back to Hong Kong for treatment.

Kwok told Apple Daily on Sunday that "there was no medication that could cure her" and that he was "devastated".
Au Yeung is known for a number of hit Hong Kong TV dramas in the 70s. She starred in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1979) alongside Chow Yun Fat and The Passenger (1979).

She is best known as Huang Rong in The Return Of The Condor Heroes, featuring Bryan Leung Ka Yan as Guo Jing, and Andy Lau as Yang Guo.

Kwok and Au Yeung have been married for 40 years since 1977 after they acted together in Hong Kong TV drama Awakenings (1975).

Au Yeung quit acting in 1993 to become and acupuncturist and qigong master.
The couple have no children.

80s Hong Kong TV icon Susanna Au Yeung dies at 63

klim@sph.com.sg

Justin Bieber to perform in Singapore on Oct 7

SINGAPORE - Bieber fans in Singapore, 2017 is about to get a whole lot better.
Canadian pop sensation Justin Bieber will be performing on Oct 7 at the National Stadium as part of his newly announced Asia Purpose World Tour, where he will tour countries such as Japan and the Philippines.

The concert will include highlights of Bieber's album Purpose, which includes hit singles such as What Do You Mean, Sorry and Love Yourself.

The 23-year-old last performed in Singapore at the Formula 1 Grand Prix closing concert in 2013, where 12,000 fans turned up at the Padang for his three-hour long concert.

Ticket sales to Purpose World Tour starts on July 22, 10am and are priced from $148 to $298. VIP packages are priced at $708, $958 and $1,898.

Priority sales for American Express card members opens on July 19 to 20. Bieber fan members on digital hub BKSTG can purchase tickets for the show on July 17, 10am, before the general public.
Tickets are sold at www.sportshubtix.sg, Singapore Indoor Stadium Box Office and all SingPost outlets islandwide.

a1admin@sph.com.sg

Singapore actress Rebecca Lim denies claims she's retiring

Hundreds of local actress Rebecca Lim's fans and the media fell for a publicity stunt of hers for an endorsement deal.

Contrary to what an Instagram post of hers implied, she is not retiring from show business.
The 29-year-old star clarified in a conference call at about 8.20pm on Friday night (Feb 12) that her Instagram post earlier that day was part of a collaboration with insurance company NTUC Income.
But she fell short of apologising for the misleading post on her Instagram account on which she has posted many of her personal photographs.

She said: "I feel sorry for any misunderstanding that is being caused. Unfortunately, there are many people who have misinterpreted or misunderstood... I don't think I'm making use of the media. I'm just trying to maximise my reach as a celebrity."

She then posted a video on Facebook on Friday night clarifying that the Instagram post was a publicity stunt to remind "young professionals to plan for the future".
The Straits Times tried in vain to contact her and her manager on Friday to clarify the post. Her manager sent in a text message: "Thank you for your concern about Rebecca. She will have answers to your questions soon. We seek your kind understanding."

Lim herself replied, also by text message: "Will update you as soon as I can :)"
She did not respond when asked specifically if the Instagram post was a publicity stunt.
The actress claimed during the conference call that she was too busy filming to respond.
Fans reacted strongly to the post, which went up on Friday morning.

Photo: Screengrab from Instagram / Rebecca Lim

She wrote in a caption that: "Hi everyone. I've decided to do something that will change my life. I have been thinking about it for a while now as I know it has to be done.
"Yes, I am retiring. I know you may have questions for me and I will answer them real soon. Meanwhile, be happy for me."

The caption has since been removed. The post gathered more than 11,800 likes and more than 550 comments, mostly from fans who believed her.

Netizen guoquanwong said: "Few have such a blessing to make this choice early in life. Do cherish it. Enjoy your next phase of life and thank you Rebecca! Indeed we will be happy for you!
But some were sceptical. Netizen sandralim_2005 asked: "Are u sure you're gonna do this?"
There were also those who thought she won the lottery, was getting married, or was pregnant.
After reading the online speculation, Lim and the other parties decided to hold the conference call.
Lim said: "(After reading the speculation), I started feeling a bit sorry. And I felt it was my responsibility to clear the air immediately."

Lifestyle magazine 8 Days posted on Instagram on Friday night to say that the actress was only "advocating the mindset of early financial planning".

Representatives from NTUC Income and Mediacorp were also present during the conference call. They said there will be a press conference on Monday morning (Feb 15) to clarify the situation.
ChannelNewsAsia (CNA), which is part of Mediacorp, had published an online article on Lim's "retirement". But this article had been taken down before the conference call.

Sources told The Straits Times that CNA was told to pull down the story. However, Mediacorp's representative said no news outlet was informed of the stunt until the conference call.
This is not the first publicity stunt involving an insurance company.

In 2011, a campaign by one such company involved a "couple" where the man was abruptly "killed" and hence needed insurance. The stunt was slammed by fans, saying it was in bad taste.
When asked, Lim said she was not aware of this previous case.

A version of this story was originally published in The Straits Times on February 12, 2016. For more stories like this, head to www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle.

Asia's sexiest DJ Angie Vu Ha reveals what it's really like to be in jail

For almost 10 months, she was known as inmate 86359053 at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, surrounded by 80 other female inmates.

It’s not a situation you’d expect Asia’s sexiest DJ and a former Playboy model to be in.
But it happened to Vietnamese model and DJ, Angie Vu Ha, 33, who was jailed over child kidnapping charges involving her then-nine-year old daughter. After she was released from prison last month, Vu dived straight back into work and was in Singapore over the Formula 1 weekend to spin at FashionTV Club’s Pitstop Party.

Most people know Vu as Asia’s sexiest supermodel DJ who has posed for Playboy and FHM magazines. But as a former prison inmate? It is not something the talented DJ is shy about, though, when The New Paper met her on Saturday night.

ARRESTED

Vu was arrested last November at John F. Kennedy International Airport for trying to take her daughter from New York, when she was there for a visit, to Vietnam. The girl, now 10, lives with her father, a French national, in Paris. The girl’s father and Vu had met in 2005. In late August, Vu was handed over to French police and was officially released two hours after arriving there.
Vu told New York Daily News in April that prison life was “torture” without her clothes and heels and it was “horrible” with the lack of sunlight. When TNP asked her about it, she said that it was meant as a “joke”. Said Vu: “Prison taught me to appreciate everything (outside).

“Even a simple glass cup makes me happy, because everything inside (prison), such as the knives and forks, were made of plastic. Even in the workout room, the dumb-bells were all plastic.”

She said the first couple of months were the toughest because every time she went to a court hearing, she thought she would be released. Vu said: “I had friends who came to court and they brought me makeup and clothes. I thought I was going home.” Vu said the toughest part was not the living conditions or the clothes she had to wear, because she had grown up in Vietnam, a developing country.

She said: “It was more about the bigger things for me, like worrying about my daughter’s safety. I’m not the kind of mother who has to see their daughter immediately. I was more concerned about the end game and trying to get her back.” Most of her time behind bars was spent on yoga and cardio exercises, and reading.

Vu said she was well-loved by fellow inmates and the correctional officers, and was even asked to sign autographs. On her 33rd birthday, on June 1, a fellow inmate threw her a birthday party. She added: “My fans also subscribed to Vogue and Cosmopolitan magazines for me.”

Her time in jail has not hurt her career and she is still getting international gigs and offers.
“It’s always sexual stuff... A French company even offered me a few million dollars to be in a porn movie.”
This story was originally published on The New Paper.