TODAY’s brief, Friday, Feb 27
Dancers from PA talent group showing the costume for the Chingay parade happening on Feb 27 and 28, 2015. Photo: Ernest Chua.
Two-day Chingay parade to start tonight
The year’s Chingay parade, the biggest ever, will be held tonight and tomorrow at the Pit Building Area beside the Singapore Flyer. There will be more than 11,000 performers, including 1,000 from 14 countries and regions. For example, performers from Rwanda will be taking part for the first time, bringing two dances that warriors of ancient times perform to celebrate victory and wealth, as well as a drum performance that dates back 300 years.
Attention shifts to British national who is now an Islamic State icon
With the unveiling of ‘Jihadi John’ as British national Mohammed Emwazi, attention will shift to the motivations of the man who serves as an icon of the Islamic State’s successful recruitment strategy that has attracted numerous young foreign fighters. After the disclosure that British counterterrorist officers had been aware of Emwazi and had in fact detained, fingerprinted and searched his belongings in 2010 before he travelled to Syria, questions will again be asked of how effective the government’s counterterrorism measures are.
All eyes on Prince William’s trip to Japan and China
Prince William is in Japan and China this week to promote UK relations with both countries. The Japan leg may contain some controversy as Prince William is expected to travel to Fukushima but drive straight past a village where some of the 80,000 people driven out of their homes in the exclusion zone around the power plant are still living as refugees. It would also be interesting to see how he fares in China where he needs to repair relations damaged by his father the Prince of Wales, who described Chinese officials as “appalling old waxworks” almost a decade ago.
Oklahoma City Thunder looking for a win against the Suns
The Oklahoma City Thunder will seek to extend their rich vein of form against the Phoenix Suns at the US Airways Center in Arizona on Thursday (this morning, Singapore time). Oklahoma have won nine of their last 10 games, averaging 111.7 points, to climb rapidly up the NBA’s Western Conference standings and boost their chances of making the playoffs. But a lot will depend on the form of All Star Russell Westbrook, who had 20 points in their win over Indiana on Tuesday.
Weather forecast
Showers are expected mainly over the western part of Singapore in the late afternoon. The temperature is expected to range between 24°C and 33°C.
