Chingay for all amid sea of lights and colours

Nine hundred dancers showed off skirts made of plastic "We Love SG" flowers at the opening of this year's Chingay on Friday night, transforming Marina Bay into a sea of lights and colours.

The 800,000 flowers were made by 500,000 residents and households using recycled plastic bags, an effort started nearly a year ago by Chingay's main organiser, the People's Association.

Spectators were wowed by the performances of some 11,000 people, the largest contingent yet for the parade, which dates back to 1973.

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British TV shows student picture of 'Jihadi John' in baseball cap

British television broadcast the first picture of Mohammed Emwazi as a student on Friday, showing the man identified as the Islamic State "Jihadi John" killer with a moustache and goatee beard wearing a large baseball cap.

Sky News broadcast a photograph of the 26-year-old wearing a black cap with a logo that resembled the P from the Pittsburgh Pirates US Major League Baseball team, which it said was stored by the University of Westminster where he studied.

British media had previously only published a picture of Kuwaiti-born Emwazi as a smiling schoolboy.

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One billion young at risk of hearing loss from loud music: WHO

More than one billion young people risk damaging their hearing through listening to loud music, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Friday.

The WHO estimates that around half of those between the ages of 12 and 35 in middle- and high-income countries are at risk due to unsafe levels of sound on personal audio devices or smartphones.

Another 40 per cent are at risk from damaging audio levels at concert venues and night clubs.

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Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy dead at 83: US media

Actor Leonard Nimoy, who won fans worldwide for his generations-spanning role as the pointy-eared half-human half-Vulcan Mr Spock in the Star Trek television and film franchise, died Friday at age 83.

Nimoy, who suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, died at his home in Los Angeles.

His granddaughter Dani announced the death on his Twitter account, and tributes quickly poured in from castmates, other actors, fans and the science community.

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Daft Punk finally unmasked - in sculpture'

When sculptor Xavier Veilhan persuaded Daft Punk to come to his studio, the artist, in the words of one of the duo's songs, got lucky. The ever-masked electronic musicians took off their trademark helmets.

The result is a sculpture that shows Daft Punk standing casually and gazing into the distance, their faces now obstructed only by sunglasses.

Bandmates Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter are seen with hands slipped into their pockets in just-smaller-than-life figures made of wavy-toned birch plywood.

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