Entertainment – LiveNews.co.nz

Auditions for the next James Bond are finally underway

MIL OSI — Mon, 18 May 2026 08:25:36 +0000

Auditions have finally begun for the next instalment in the blockbuster movie franchise, according to a statement from Amazon MGM Studios.

The production company issued a short statement with early details of plans for the new movie, including the announcement that the search for a new leading man — or perhaps even woman — has begun.

“The search for the next James Bond is underway,” said the statement published online, adding that the “casting process has just begun”.

Noting that it won’t be sharing specific details while the auditions are being held, the company went on to say “we’re excited to share more news with 007 fans as soon as the time is right”

Speculation about who will don the tuxedo of Hollywood’s most famous spy has been mounting for years, with the likes of A-listers Idris Elba, Henry Cavill and Cillian Murphy floated as potential successors to Daniel Craig, whose last outing in the role was in 2021’s No Time to Die.

Others who are hotly tipped to be in the running are British actors Callum Turner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Harris Dickinson, and Australian star Jacob Elordi.

Last year it was announced that creative control of the series — based Ian Fleming’s novels — was being handed off from longtime producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to Amazon MGM Studios.

The first person to play 007 was Sean Connery with Dr. No back in 1962 and six further films.

Others who have taken the wheel of the famed Aston Martin are George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and, most recently, Craig, who also starred in Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015).

And while the new film may have neither a name nor a star just yet, some details have been released, including that it will be directed by Oscar-nominated Denis Villeneuve.

The French-Canadian filmmaker, best known for his work on Blade Runner 2049, Arrival and the Dune movies, will work with executive producer Tanya Lapointe and producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman. The script is being written by Steven Knight, whose credits include Peaky Blinders, Eastern Promises and Dirty Pretty Things.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/18/auditions-for-the-next-james-bond-are-finally-underway/

Jury ‘must be sure’ Hayden Tasker had murderous intent when killing police officer Lyn Fleming, trial told

MIL OSI — Mon, 18 May 2026 03:39:27 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Hayden Donald Jason Tasker. The Press / Iain McGregor

High Court jurors have been told they need to be sure the man who killed a Nelson police officer had murderous intent when he drove at her to find him guilty of murder.

Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming and Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay were on foot patrol in Buxton Square in the early hours of New Year’s Day last year when they were hit by a car driven by Hayden Tasker.

Tasker, 33, was on trial in Christchurch for murdering Fleming and seriously injuring Ramsay. The jury retired to consider its verdict shortly before 12.30pm on Monday.

Tasker’s defence argued he was drunk and depressed and crashed into the officers in a failed attempt to take his own life.

The Crown argued Tasker was motivated by anger towards the police and intentionally used his car as a weapon to mow them down.

In summing up, Justice Cameron Mander told the jury to put emotion aside in reaching a verdict.

“Feelings of sympathy for the deceased and her family are inevitably aroused but you must simply put such feelings to one side,” he said.

“Similarly you need to put aside feelings of prejudice or shock that may have been engendered in you from in some respects being eyewitnesses to Senior Sergeant Fleming’s death as a result of viewing the CCTV and other video footage.

“Any negative feelings or for that matter sympathetic feelings you may have for Mr Tasker’s living situation or the way he was living his life at the time similarly need to be put to one side.”

Over two weeks the jury heard from more than 40 witnesses including members of the public and police officers who were in the central Nelson car park at the time of the crash.

Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming. Supplied / NZ Police

Mander told jurors they needed to be sure Tasker had murderous intent when he hit Fleming with his car.

“It is not disputed that Senior Sergeant Fleming’s death resulted from Mr Tasker driving his vehicle in a dangerous manner,” he said.

The Crown and the defence gave their closing arguments on Friday.

A ‘grandiose fantasy’

Crown prosecutor Jackson Webber told the jury Fleming was “senselessly and needlessly” killed when Tasker deliberately used his Honda Odyssey as a weapon, accelerating as hard as he could towards the officers at an estimated speed of 45km/h, shortly after 2am.

“Hayden Tasker sitting in his car, drinking wine saw the two police officers. He watched them. He was angry at the police and he made a series of conscious decisions. To start his car, to leave his headlights off, to pull out of that parking space and manoeuvre his car around to the south, then to the west to accelerate, to drive straight into Lynn Fleming and Adam Ramsay,” he said.

Hayden Tasker in court. The Press / Iain McGregor

Webber said the pair had done nothing to provoke or antagonise Tasker, apart from the fact that they were police officers in uniform.

“They were on duty, doing their job, keeping others safe and ironically, one of the risks that they had been considering that night was the risk of a vehicle intrusion attack,” he said.

Webber said Tasker’s actions did not fit the claim that he did not intend to hurt or kill the officers but wanted to take his own life.

“[He] didn’t stop, he didn’t jump out to see what had happened or to check on the people he had just hit,” he said.

Tasker’s behaviour during and after the collisions was inconsistent with a suicide attempt, he said.

“It was going to be glorious, like a movie. It was a rather grandiose fantasy that he might talk about, but had no real intention of ever carrying out,” he said.

‘Despicable’ behaviour doesn’t make Tasker a murderer – Defence

Defence lawyer Marcus Zintl said the crash was a “terrible, terrible, terrible tragedy” that “should not have happened”.

Defence lawyer Marcus Zintl. (File photo) The Press / Iain McGregor

Tasker had already admitted three charges of dangerous driving.

Zintil said Tasker was driven by a desire to end his own life in a police chase rather than intending to kill or hurt police.

“He was suicidal, he was on medication for depression, he was living in his car,” Zintl told the jury.

“He was alone, he had no close family support and virtually no actual friends.”

Zintl said Tasker’s father died when he was 16. His long-time girlfriend had recently dumped him, he was unemployed, on a benefit and had nothing going for him.

“He wanted to end the painful, pointlessness and pitifulness of his life that he was experiencing at that time, which is why he wanted to end up himself in a police chase,” he said.

Zintl said Tasker “drank himself silly” with a bottle-and-a-half of red wine, he was three-and-a-half times over the breath alcohol limit and filled his car with petrol before arriving in the car park that night.

The first collision, when Tasker drove into Fleming and Ramsay, happened six seconds after he started his car.

The second collision, when he rammed the white police patrol car, was around 26 seconds later in what Zintl said was a moment of madness, desperation, stupidity and empty-headedness.

The court was earlier played footage of Tasker’s first police interview around 11 hours after the crash.

Zintl said Tasker’s state of mind could be ascertained from his admission to police in that interview.

“I didn’t think of the consequences. I was in a bad headspace but that doesn’t give me an excuse,” Tasker said.

The jury saw how he broke down in tears and vomited during that interview after learning Fleming had died.

Tasker said it “should have been me that died that day”.

“I never thought I’d kill anyone… didn’t really think it through,” he said in the interview.

Zintl told the jury Tasker’s actions were “despicable, deplorable and dreadful” but that did not make him guilty of murder.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Silver scrollers: What is screen time like for seniors?

MIL OSI — Sun, 17 May 2026 23:33:55 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

In 1985, the internet was two, Motorola’s 1kg cellular phone known as the “brick” was appearing in workplaces across the world and Nintendo had just launched its first Super Mario Brothers game about a tribe of Mushroom People.

Kingsley Field, then a 40-year-old reporter in the Waikato Times’ newsroom, remembers lugging the “brick” around on assignments. There was only one in the newsroom, because they cost an arm and a leg (around $NZ10,000-$NZ12,000 in today’s money.) The battery lasted about 30 minutes. “It was heavy and cumbersome,” he remembers. “But a huge improvement on the two-way radios in the cars that preceded it.”

Today, Field, 81, a Te Awamutu-based author, always has his mobile phone in his back pocket. He uses it for texts, occasional photos, weather checks and “keeping my book open while I’m reading in bed”. Ever the reporter, he appreciates the value of having a phone close at hand.

Kingsley Field.

Supplied

.

While stereotypes still exist about ‘oldies’ being technophobic – and some choose not to engage with digital devices through fear, cost or lack of access to devices – research shows the majority of seniors are active online. A 2020 Victoria University survey of New Zealanders’ internet use reported 90 percent of people aged 65-74 used the internet. That fell to 75 percent in the 75-84 age group and 50 percent among over 85s. UK and US figures are similar.

Another study by InternetNZ showed a third of New Zealanders aged over 70 spent more than four hours a day online, predominantly to monitor emails, read news articles and pay bills. More than half were active on Facebook.

The benefits of being connected are well documented. They include improved mental health, reduced isolation and greater independence. A British study determined older people who use smart phones “have a slower rate of cognitive decline”. But some seniors still report concern about safety and a reduction in face-to-face contact.

We asked some seniors about their online habits.

“The iPad is beside me on the bed. It’s the last thing I look at before I go to sleep and the first thing in the morning.”

Adrienne Osman 74, Auckland

Adrienne Osman.

Supplied

I was married at 18 and we travelled overseas for several years. I had the first of my three children when I was 25 and became a fulltime mother until my husband and I bought an engineering business. I had to use a computer to do wages and administration, but I was very daunted by it.

Later I bought a laptop for my private use and I became much more confident.

It wasn’t until after we sold the business that I became more interested. I bought an iPad which is so much more personal. It was a great way to keep in touch with my younger daughter when she did her OE. When my oldest daughter travelled, we wrote letters or called on a landline.

Now I have three iPads, an iPhone a smart TV, plus Alexa. I always have my mobile with me and if it pings, the nosiness in me means I have to check it. I use the Health app to keep track of my steps.

What other apps do I have? You name it, I’ve got it. I do online banking, supermarket orders. I use my iPad or phone to book entertainment, order library books and shop online. I play games like online jigsaw and Words with Friends (internationally).

I’m on Instagram and have 21 followers. Don’t ask me how because I never post anything. I just like to watch others.

My younger daughter lives in Australia. I keep in touch with her and other family, including grandchildren, through Messenger. That’s the greatest thing ever. I have 100 friends on Facebook. I’m not interested in dating online.

I live alone now and the iPad is always beside me on the bed. It’s the last thing I look at before I go to sleep and the first thing in In the morning,

I would spend at least four or five hours online every day, possibly more.

I sometimes I help others in the village if they are having problems with their devices. Some are frightened to try anything. I say, ‘I was like that too, once.’ If I need help to work something out, I work it out myself.

I’m very aware of scams and I always check email addresses to see if they are legitimate. I’d like to think I’m too savvy to be scammed.

I’ve never used AI or Chat GPT. Sometimes I feel I have enough problems dealing with the real world.

“My priorities are health, wellbeing and creativity. Time spent on digital devices doesn’t contribute to these.”

Dorothy 79, Hamilton

Dorothy rarely uses a cellphone.

Supplied

I’m originally Canadian but I came to New Zealand in 1970. I met my late husband here.

I have a Masters in Sociology and a Diploma in Counselling. I worked in the university administration for about 19 years where I had the benefit of an excellent computer support team.

But my job was demanding and stressful; the computing work was intense and focused. When I retired in 2008, I was very unwell. I’d had vertigo for four years and I had to learn how to breathe properly. I made a choice not to have a computer in my home.

Cost is another factor. Digital devices and data are expensive and I budget carefully to live within my means.

I go to the library once a week or so to check and send emails or scan something or search for information. I have a landline and a basic flip Nokia phone to text, but it is mainly turned off.

I actively avoid having an online presence.

My priorities are health, wellbeing and creativity. Time spent on digital devices doesn’t contribute to these.

When I come into my house, I have that ‘phew’ feeling. It is very calming. I’m never bored. I listen to RNZ and music. I read. I write a haiku every day, I write songs, notate music on my piano, dance, do yoga and walk.

It can be difficult without technology. So many services are now online. I do phone banking. I do my tax returns on a written form. With other services, I will phone a number to speak to a real person, but you can end up being pointed to a website.

Friends are very tolerant. I don’t tell everyone about my choice. Some may think I’m frail or fearful of technology. I’m not. I’m also not a luddite. I don’t try to persuade others to my way of thinking or campaign against technology. I know its value.

I describe myself as a ‘digital resist-nik’.

I have felt shamed on some occasions. People say, ‘how do you keep up with things? Aren’t you being left behind?’ I’ve been called ‘Dorothy Dinosaur’ in a joking way.

I may change my mind at some later date. Right now, I’m pleased I made this choice. Smart technology seems like a hectic presence. I don’t want that in my life.

“My generation is by nature more trusting, but you have to be wary, which is sad.”

Meemee Phipps, 81, Cambridge

Meemee Phipps

Mary Anne Gill, Good Local Media

I was born in Malaysia, but I went to school in Singapore and studied art and design in England. I wanted to be a lawyer, but my father didn’t think it was appropriate for a girl.

I came to New Zealand in 1966 and met my first husband who was a New Zealander studying geology. We later lived in Japan for five years. My second husband was also a New Zealander. We had two children, a daughter who now lives in Japan and a son who lives in Auckland.

I was a late starter with technology. In the mid-1980s, when I was completing a double major in Chinese and Japanese at the University of Auckland, I bought a small business that supplied supermarkets with herbs, spices and herbal drinks. But I didn’t use a computer while I was married.

In 1988, I bought one for my son, who was 12, to play games on. I bought my first smart phone in 1998.

I have travelled a lot and lived in different countries. When I returned from Italy in 2005, I trained as an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher to work in China. They provided us with computers.

Now I have a desktop computer, a laptop, a smart TV I can talk to and a smart phone.

Over the past few years, I have written a trilogy of novels based on Chinese history. The internet is a wonderful resource. When I was writing, I would spend six hours a day on my computer – less now. I have so many interests – art, music, spinning, plus activities at the retirement village where I live. I play the violin in the Trust Waikato Symphony Orchestra.

I use my phone for photos, messages, banking, paying bills and occasionally shopping. I’m not so confident about Temu. A younger friend is going to order some things for me – including a vegetable scraper and a gadget to make meatballs. I love to cook.

I’m on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t post anything, but I love the recipes, the AI illustrations of Donald Trump and the pictures of cute animals.

I use YouTube to learn how to do things like inserting a double zip in a jacket, pruning a fig tree or making naan bread.

Disinformation scares me. I was scammed recently in a fake Post Office email. Fortunately, I didn’t pay anything. My generation is by nature more trusting, but you have to be wary, which is sad. I haven’t activated ChatGPT. It doesn’t have a moral compass.

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Are hot baths or saunas better for you?

MIL OSI — Sun, 17 May 2026 08:29:08 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

A humble hot bath may do more for your health than a session in the sauna, according to new research.

Hot water immersion triggered stronger cardiovascular and immune responses than both traditional and infrared saunas, found the University of Oregon study, suggesting a simple soak offers surprisingly powerful health benefits.

“Hot tubs may be more useful for eliciting beneficial adaptations,” Lead author Dr Jessica Atencio told Sunday Morning.

Shared sauna sessions are becoming popular as a way to relax with mates.

Supplied / Samantha Bluemel

?” class=”@container/queue-media relative w-full h-full bg-surface-muted”>

Are hot tubs or saunas better?

Sunday Morning

The study, published in the American Journal of Physiology, compared three forms of passive heat therapy: hot water immersion, traditional dry saunas and far infrared saunas.

Twenty healthy adults took part, undergoing sessions in 40.5C hot water, an 80C traditional sauna, and a far infrared sauna heated between 45C and 65C. Researchers monitored changes in body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure and immune responses.

Hot water immersion produced the strongest physiological response, Atencio said.

“Hot tubs may be more useful for eliciting beneficial adaptations. We’re suggesting that hot tubs may be the best, most robust modality for health.”

Researchers found hot water immersion was the only heating method to trigger a measurable immune response. Participants also recorded the biggest increases in core body temperature and cardiac output.

Atencio said the benefits came from how the body responds to heat.
“When we get hot, our blood vessels dilate so that we can redirect blood flow from our core to our periphery,” she said.
“That stimulates the nitric oxide release. It promotes healthy blood vessels.”

Why baths beat saunas

Atencio said water transferred heat through the body much more effectively than hot air.

“You can’t sweat as effectively. So, you can’t actually release that heat as effectively as you would if your skin was exposed to air,” she said.

“The conduction of water is, I think, 24 times that of air.”

This meant those in the hot water sessions during the study heated up faster and stayed hotter longer than those in either sauna group.

By comparison, the infrared sauna produced “very minimal changes in core temperature”, despite being marketed as a deeper form of heat therapy.

Researchers cautioned passive heat therapy was not risk-free.

Supplied/Unsplashed

‘Exercise in a bath’

Researchers say one of the most interesting findings is that passive heat therapy may mimic some of the body’s responses to exercise.
“Like exercise, hot water or heating can elicit an inflammatory response,” Atencio said.

“And what’s good about that is an inflammatory response is met with an anti-inflammatory response.”

“A lot of chronic diseases are associated with chronic inflammation.”
She stressed heat therapy was not a replacement for physical activity, but could complement it, especially for those unable to exercise regularly because of illness, injury or age.

How hot for how long?

A study led by researchers at the University of Oregon found hot water immersion triggered stronger cardiovascular and immune responses than both traditional and infrared saunas, suggesting a simple soak offers surprisingly powerful health benefits.

Supplied/Unsplashed

The study used water heated to 40.5C for 45 minutes – conditions Atencio described as “quite stressful and quite long”.

But she said shorter sessions could still help.

“I think if you can get in the hot tub for 30 minutes … when you’re feeling like you’re sweating, really you feel like your heart rate’s increasing, your body’s trying to work against a stressor.”

For people without hot tubs, she said ordinary baths could still provide benefits, although they cooled more quickly.

“Even if it’s 10 to 15 minutes every day, there can still be some… beneficial adaptations that occur.”

Not for everyone

Researchers cautioned that passive heat therapy was not risk-free.

Atencio said people with serious cardiovascular conditions should speak to a doctor before trying prolonged hot water immersion.

“If you start to feel lightheaded or woozy of any sort, definitely get out of the heat,” she said. “Definitely make sure you’re drinking water while you’re there.”

She said the findings were promising, but the science around heat therapy was still developing.

Still, for New Zealanders reaching for the hot tap this winter, the research offers another reason to stay in the bath a little longer.

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

‘When you think you’re going to die, you fall in love with the world all over again’

MIL OSI — Sun, 17 May 2026 08:29:03 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Kate Bowler was a 35-year-old academic with a young family when stage 4 colon cancer suddenly “exiled her into the land of the sick”.

“I was like, how can I be both feeling utterly broken and yet feel kind of carried by this thing that turns out to be joy?”, she tells Saturday Morning.

The Duke University professor delves into how we can discover “the one weird delight that lights up just you” in her podcast Everything Happens and the new book Joyful Anyway.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

.172413793103″>

Our “toxically positive” culture doesn’t allow people to ride the roller coaster of real life, Bowler says, and be honest about its difficulties.

We’ve ended up with a “social fragility” in which being honest often feels like you’re breaking things.

“If you’re at a party, and someone says, ‘How are you?’ and then you sweet dummy, tell them, the second you say it, you can see a look on their face, you immediately start to regret it.”

After her cancer diagnosis in 2015, Bowler found it helpful when people kept it light by saying something that didn’t demand her to “suddenly become a professional updater”.

It was especially meaningful when they started the conversation with a moment of acknowledgement, she says, saying something like, “I’m so sorry, this is happening to you”.

“It was something about the ‘to you’ because when it is you, you can’t believe it. You cannot believe that it will come to your door.”

Bloomsbury

Bowler says she’s a different person than she was before cancer, and believes the experience carved out a space that she now knows she needs joy to fill.

While happiness feels like luck, she says, joy is a “big, enlivening feeling” that touches our dopamine and reward systems.

“It also engages our stress system, which helps explain why, while we can’t be happy and sad at the same time, we can weirdly be joyful and sad, which I think is a very neat trick.”

Growing up Mennonite, the Christmas gift for everyone in Bowler’s family was the same pair of standard-issue socks.

In being so specific and individual, joy is something like the opposite.

“It’s your one weird delight that lights up just you. For me, it’s absurd because I’m a ridiculous person.”

Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) was one of the most influential figures in modern Western philosophy.

Creative Commons

To make a more joyful life, Bowler recommends three useful pieces of advice by German philosopher Immanuel Kant:

1. Find something to do

There’s a strange alchemy between joy and service, Bowler says, and also an accidental narcissism to pain.

“When we’re in our own suffering and our own story, we really start to believe that we’re the only one this could possibly happen to … our lives feel very small and sad.

“There’s something about service, when you’re pouring your energy into someone else, it breaks through into someone else’s story and someone else’s life and circumstance. It should be that when we give, we have less, because that’s math. But it somehow creates moreness.”

2. Find someone to love

“There’s this web of love and obligation that we’re all in, which gives us homework, it gives us an assignment. I think we will find more and more joy, the more we’re woven into other people’s lives.”

3. Find something to hope for

“That to me says that joy is an answer to despair. It says, is your life worth not just living, but loving? Joy is asking you to say yes.”

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

What intimacy looks like with a disability

MIL OSI — Sun, 17 May 2026 08:28:55 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

It’s a stormy February night in Adelaide, and Jacqueline Tedmanson is at the hospital with her partner Jackson, waiting to meet their first baby.

Despite having a disability, Jacqueline isn’t nervous about the birth. She’s just excited to be having a child, and the couple only hope the child “is funny” rather than “healthy”.

As a queer disabled person, burlesque gives Jacqueline Tedmanson, aka Diana Divine, a rare space to be sexy and powerful, without feeling infantilised or fetishised.

“I kind of have a lot of understanding of how tough the world can be, but also how nice it can be with community and with people who really love and support you,” – Jacqueline Tedmanson.

Compass / Morgan Timms

.235668789809″>

Jacqueline has Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), an incurable and frequently painful condition that causes joints to be overly flexible and prone to dislocation.

EDS is genetic, and Jacqueline knows that her son could have inherited it. But she’s not worried about it because she knows how to help him manage the condition.

“There are people I know who, it barely affects them … And then there are people like me who are relying on mobility aids daily,” Jacqueline says.

“I think, if at least, if he has this genetic disability, I am going to be able to support him because I’ve been through it myself.”

Like most people with EDS, Jacqueline was diagnosed in adulthood after years of living with chronic pain and injury.

She says she will be aware if her son shows signs of the condition and will be able to advocate for him where her own parents couldn’t.

“I’m really excited to be a parent and to kind of help navigate the world with a little person” – Jacqueline Tedmanson.

Compass / Johanis Lyons-Reid

Comedian Madeleine Stewart explores these stories of disability, love, sex and parenting with Compass ABC TV. She talks to the disabled community across Australia to find out what the big deal is with disabled sex.

“I think we need to remind people that … disabled folk … not only can we fall in love and have sex, but we can also have children,” Madeleine says.

When Debra Keenahan found out she was pregnant, she was hoping the baby would share her disability.

Debra has achondroplasia, also known as Dwarfism.

Dwarfism is a genetic condition that occurs in about 1 in 40,000 children, and most are born to average height parents.

Having Dwarfism herself and knowing that the father was of average height, Debra knew it was likely her child would also have achondroplasia.

“I just had it in my head it would be easier to parent a child that was my own gender … And it would be easier to, if the child was short-statured,” Debra says.

“Of course, if she’d have been a boy, I would have been perfectly happy. [But] in my family, all my nephews are massive.

“And I thought, could you imagine me, a single parent, four-foot-one, trying to parent an obnoxious six-foot teenager?”

Debra Keenahan (right) met her husband, Robert Brindley, at a photo shoot in 2014.

Compass / Morgan Timms

Debra felt relieved when she found that her daughter, Sarah, had achondroplasia too.

Raising the child as a single parent had its challenges, but Debra never felt she was less equipped to handle it because of her disability.

She recalls some criticism from others when she would let Sarah struggle with navigating climbing furniture because she knew it was something her daughter would have to learn to do.

Jacqueline hasn’t been criticised for her choice to have a child, but when people see her with her son while using a walker, they make assumptions about their relationship.

“Often Jackson will be carrying [the baby] if I’m using a walker, and I do sometimes feel like I am assumed to not be the parent, I’m just kind of with him and his son, maybe not even in a romantic way.”

The systemic barriers no-one wants to talk about

People with disabilities make up about 17 percent of the New Zealand population.

Despite the numbers, having safe sex or raising a family are more difficult for people with disabilities than for the able-bodied and neurotypical population.

People with disabilities are often victims of sexual assault and domestic violence, and on occasion, forced sterilisation is used to prevent childbirth.

For some people with disabilities, their only option for intimate contact is to engage sex workers, but it’s an expensive option, used by few.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

Kyle Montgomery found the sudden lack of intimacy was one of the hardest parts of living with an acquired disability.

Seven years ago, Kyle’s neck was broken in a wrestling match with a friend, and it left him paralysed below the chest.

Kyle has had to get used to most of his contact coming from support workers and learn to navigate his own body again.

“That is definitely a weird area when it comes to support workers, because you’re very close and intimate with people,” Kyle says.

“I am naked all the time in the mornings, obviously. So, things like massage and stretching, I’m nude.

“They’re helping me go to the toilet, showering me, washing my body, things like that … So there is a lot of intimate touch.

“I don’t think it’s very uncommon for people who have support workers and maybe not dating, and they’re alone to feel an attraction to their support worker.”

This is what sex therapist Patrick Rory-John calls “calcification” of sexuality.

“What can happen with people with disability is through the calcification of sexuality and its repression … it becomes an impulse because it’s a need that’s not being met,” Patrick said.

“When a person with disability is experiencing touch during basic hygiene and care, they can misconstrue that touch as being sensual or sexual, and what is a desire becomes a compulsion.”

Rediscovering intimacy after an acquired disability

A lack of intimacy inspired Kyle to start dating again, but he was nervous about how the first experience would work, so his friend encouraged him to start with sex workers.

“Erections started happening, and I was like, ‘Oh, it still works. Cool,” Kyle says.

“I didn’t really feel like I had the confidence to go dating and have a sex life because I don’t obviously know about my body.

“I really didn’t want to navigate those conversations with someone that’s inexperienced and could be very insensitive, where I thought, this is a professional job.”

He spent a year in hospital, coming off a ventilator and getting the use of his arms back, but Kyle says discussions of having a sex life afterwards were very clinical.

“I ended up speaking to a lot of doctors about it, but they just told me about drugs and devices that I could use.

“It wasn’t just about sex, which it should have been, and sexual health … It was so clinical.”

Kyle is now in a monogamous relationship, and they are considering going permanent and starting a family.

Kyle is concerned about trying for children because his disability means they will likely need to use IVF, which is not only expensive but also another clinical experience.

From accessible sex toys to intimate touch, comedian and disability advocate Madeleine Stewart demystifies disability and desire.

Disabled, intimate and starting families — the stories we don’t tell

Madeleine felt it was important to tell these stories of parenting after the NDIS change of legislation prevented access to sex workers and sexual aids.

“People with disability should be given room and support to explore their sexuality. It can be a really positive experience,” Madeleine says.

“And we can also be amazing partners and parents as well.”

Jacqueline is looking forward to raising a child and helping him learn about the world.

“I’m really excited to be a parent and to kind of help navigate the world with a little person,” she says.

“I do think, being queer and disabled, I kind of have a lot of understanding of how tough the world can be, but also how nice it can be with community and with people who really love and support you.”

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Big screens, small towns, booming audiences.

MIL OSI — Sat, 16 May 2026 00:39:01 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Tamasin Prince’s story of how she came to own the Starlight Cinema in Taupō is like a typical three-act movie structure.

Act I: Setup

When Prince was a child, her father cleaned the cinema, which opened in 1960. The 40-year-old spent hours watching films while her dad vacuumed dropped popcorn.

”I just grew up feeling like movies were my comfort kind of thing.”

The original location of Starlight in Taupō .

supplied

.

She eventually moved to America to pursue a professional golfing career, met her husband Charlie and had three children. She returned to New Zealand in 2020. During Covid, the couple scratched their heads about what to do professionally. Why not buy the cinema, Prince thought. And so they did in 2022.

Act II: Tension

The old cinema building was condemned because of earthquake risk two years after they took over the business. Leaving the building behind was a bitter moment for Prince.

Act III: Resolution

They found a former veterinary clinic with high ceilings that was perfect for a cinema. Starlight opened in its new location in March. Most of the sessions across the three cinema rooms are sold out.

“I tell everyone, ‘You’ve got to book. You’ve got to book. You can’t just roll up.’”

The opening of the new location of the Starlight Cinema.

supplied

Dark clouds have swirled around the cinema industry for years. First, it was the wide adoption of TV and movie streaming services in the 2010s. Covid put a few more nails in the coffin of cinema, as did the apparent isolation of young people into their phones. But someone is yet to inform dozens of independently owned cinemas in rural and regional New Zealand that business is bad. Many are thriving.

This story started out as a tip from actor Sam Neill when he mentioned to RNZ that rural cinema is having a revival. Ant Timpson, a film programmer and director, agrees. He is seeing a wave of new owners taking a risk with fresh ideas across the country.

Inside the Geraldine Cinema with its vintage couches.

supplied

“It feels like we’re slowly crawling back to a really good place and that it’s not like, you know, it’s not all home runs, but it’s a lot healthier than it was a while ago.”

There’s the Wall and Basement Cinema in Rotorua with a unique business model that combines rock climbing and film. The NBS Theatre in Westport is helped along by community working bees and indoor sports as well as film screenings. On an island that is a 40-minute boat ride from Auckland, Waiheke Cinema patrons sit on a collection of vintage sofas and enjoy French film festivals.

Inside one of Starlight’s new screening rooms.

Geraldine Gawith Photography & W

The cinemas that are doing well, rural or otherwise, tend to be independently owned, where the owner-operator is using creativity with offerings that go beyond film, says Timpson. This includes food and drink themed to the movie that is showing. There’s also that personal interaction with customers when the owner is also the person selling you a ticket and handing out popcorn, he says.

The cinema industry was also desperate not to lose that younger audience, and chatter about seeing films the old way on social media had helped, says Timpson, whose brother owns the Hollywood, a heritage-listed cinema in Auckland. They’re interested in rescreening cult classics as well as the new films, he added.

Here’s how three other regional and rural cinemas are making it work:

Isaac Jones, 40, doesn’t remember the films he saw at Geraldine Cinema when he was a teenager. However, he does remember critiquing what the cinema could improve. So, he finds it ironic that he can now make those changes as the new owner of the business. A cinema has operated almost continuously for 100 years in Geraldine’s town hall.

Jones took over the business last year with the plan to mix it up with live music, DJ sets and seminars. He is in talks to bring a local cafe and record store into the building.

“If it doesn’t work out the way I’d like it for what I was putting into that, I would be happy enough to satisfy my curiosity rather than it being ‘what if? ” says Jones.

Isaac Jones DJing a set at the Geraldine Cinema.

supplied

Within an hour of the previous operator handing over the keys, Jones had a line out the door for a screening of Tina, the acclaimed local film about a high school choir conductor. The Bats, a cult indie rock band, played at the cinema August with fans coming from around the country. It is open Saturday and Sunday each week, with committed regulars and tourists filling the vintage couch seating.

“I’m now considering that cinema as a bit of a hobby business, or secondary income,” says Jones.

Inside Apollo Lincoln, a 15-seat cinema.

supplied

In Lincoln, a quaint but growing town on the Canterbury plains, you will find a rustic brewpub called the Laboratory. In the Laboratory, you will find Apollo, a 15-seat boutique cinema.

The cinema was added to the business in 2019. It took some convincing for film distributors to greenlight screenings of the biggest and latest releases in such a small space, wrote current owner Leigh Drewitt, in an email to RNZ. The film and the pub had a strong bounce back after Covid, he added.

The Laboratory is a brew pub that has a 15-seat cinema called Apollo Lincoln.

supplied

“The cinema has grown in popularity every year since its inception, proving that cinema is a much desired form of entertainment, socialising and connection amongst the community.”

The small size means it has been popular for private events, including children’s birthday parties, according to Drewitt, calling the venue “a vibrant and quirky community hub”.

Cineverse in Hastings.

supplied

The cinema in Hastings was a big part of Prabhi Dugh’s childhood, so when the struggling business came up for sale, he bought it last year,

“I figured I could help revive it”

It reopened in August after a renovation, and momentum has been strong with blockbusters such as Marvel’s Fantastic Four: The First Steps and Avatar, as well as Bollywood showings selling out sessions. Momentum has continued with this year’s surprise success of Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling, among other big movies.

There are cheap Tuesdays for those who join the Cineverse VIP club with $14 tickets. There are special senior mornings with coffee and scone deals. Private events make use of the Art Deco building’s grand foyer. The cafe brings in more people with toasted sandwiches, salt and pepper squid and breakfast sandwiches, which can be eaten in the cafe or in the cinema.

“You can have all these things without having to watch a movie, which is why I think it’s done a lot better because it’s not just a movie hub.”

Prabhi Dugh, the owner of Cineverse in Hastings.

supplied

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Knowledge Exchange 2026 – Artistic Intelligence: Shaping Human Achievement

MIL OSI — Fri, 15 May 2026 11:33:31 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

When AI Meets Artistic Intelligence — Cross-City, Cross-Disciplinary Creative Education in Action

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 15 May 2026 – As artificial intelligence (AI) sweeps across the globe, how should humanity redefine the core competencies needed to shape the future? Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and organised by AFTEC, Knowledge Exchange 2026—Artistic Intelligence: Shaping Human Achievement opens today for two days at Hong Kong’s newest cultural landmark—the East Kowloon Cultural Centre—marking the venue’s first major international arts education event. As a flagship annual initiative of the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project, the forum has attracted nearly 260 educators, artists and stakeholders to explore how creative teaching and learning can inspire learning, spark creativity and nurture talent, laying the foundation for a better future.

Bringing Together Education and Cultural Leaders to Build a Cross-Disciplinary Creative Network

The opening ceremony was officiated by Ms Winnie Yip, Head of Charities (Culture & Sports Cluster; Community Engagement), The Hong Kong Jockey Club.

In her opening speech, Ms Winnie Yip, Head of Charities (Culture & Sports Cluster; Community Engagement), The Hong Kong Jockey Club, said: “The Club has been supporting the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project since 2021. The results have been truly encouraging. The programme has strengthened participating students’ understanding of and care for others, while deepening their interest in arts and interdisciplinary learning. With the second phase now underway, we look forward to further supporting the growth and transformation of students and teachers.”

The opening ceremony also featured Prelude in Light, Sound & Video, a multimedia work created by students of the School of Theatre and Entertainment Arts at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), setting the stage for the forum and showcasing the creative potential of the younger generation.

Ms Lynn Yau, Chief Executive Officer of AFTEC and Project Director of the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project, said: “In an era dominated by artificial intelligence, we need to redefine the unique value of humanity more than ever. AFTEC has always been committed to training teachers and creative practitioners, nurturing the ‘5Cs’ core competencies—Creativity, Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration, and Contribution—through systematic teaching strategies. By integrating creative learning into school curricula, we nurture a new generation equipped with resilience and problem-solving skills, while actively building a cross-disciplinary learning network. We are deeply grateful for the vision and support of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust and the participation of our partners from various sectors, allowing us to collaboratively shape human achievement through Artistic Intelligence and mould the future with creativity.”

Redefining AI — Nurturing Irreplaceable “first-class humans”

The highlight of the forum’s first day was the first cross-city dialogue, a keynote entitled Creative Cities, Creative Mindsets: Bath, Hong Kong, New Delhi. Ms Kate Cross MBE, Director of The Egg at Theatre Royal Bath, United Kingdom; Ms Jigyasa Labroo, CEO and Co-founder of Slam Out Loud, New Delhi, India; Professor Anna CY Chan, Director of The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts; and Ms Lynn Yau, Chief Executive Officer of AFTEC, delivered the keynote together. The four creative visionaries highlighted that Artistic Intelligence is an indispensable competency for humanity in the age of AI, and shared how global frameworks can be adapted to local practice across the three cities’ distinctive educational and cultural ecosystems to cultivate young people’s imagination, empathy and meaning-making — core competencies for navigating an ever-changing future.

Ms Kate Cross introduced the School Without Walls programme, a groundbreaking initiative that immerses students in cultural venues for seven weeks, significantly enhancing their writing, emotional expression, and self-directed learning abilities. Ms Jigyasa Labroo shared Slam Out Loud’s work, which, through over 100 hours of arts-based social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum, has successfully boosted the confidence, curiosity, and emotional regulation of 700,000 children across two Indian states. Professor Anna CY Chan, from the macro perspective of higher education and talent cultivation, emphasised the bridging role of Artistic Intelligence between professional arts training and primary/secondary creative education. Ms Lynn Yau showcased how the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project transforms artists into “Teaching Artists,” shifting schools’ vision from “Arts Provisioned” towards being “Arts Empowered,” enabling Hong Kong students to demonstrate stronger vitality in cross-disciplinary learning.

The session also featured internationally acclaimed arts educator Professor Anne Bamford OBE, FCGI, Director of the International Research Agency; Professor Anne Mette Hjort, Director of The Research Centre for Creative Arts and Public Value, The Education University of Hong Kong; Mr Victor Kwok, Deputy Research Director of Our Hong Kong Foundation and Committee Member of the All-China Youth Federation; and Ms Heidi Lee, Executive Director of Hong Kong Ballet, as respondents. They offered diverse perspectives from policy research, cultural promotion and professional development, exploring how the arts and creativity can nurture outstanding talent of the future through structured and sustainable educational approaches in Hong Kong.

Collaborative Workshops—From Theory to Practice

The forum also featured collaborative workshops, where participants experienced first-hand how educational visions can be translated into practical teaching plans in an interactive setting.

In today’s (15 May) sessions, Creative Classroom LIVE!, led by teaching teams from Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School and Tuen Mun Government Primary School, brought authentic teaching plans to life in the theatre, allowing participants to experience the transformative power of creativity in local schools’ setting. Professor Anne Bamford OBE, FCGI, Director of the International Research Agency, facilitated the session The How Factor Lab: Designing Arts-rich Learning that Lasts?, discussing how the arts can be incorporated into education through sustainable policy and teaching strategies to establish a long-term and stable creative ecosystem in schools and communities.

Day Two Highlights — The Many Dimensions of Artistic Intelligence

On the second day of the forum (16 May), discussions will build upon the first day’s highlights and continue to delve deeper into the theme of Artistic Intelligence. In the keynote The Real AI: Artistic Intelligence and the Future of Human Potential, Professor Anne Bamford OBE, FCGI, Director of the International Research Agency, will discuss how the integrated development of personal cognitive, creative, social and digital capabilities can unlock human potential and shape a new generation equipped with innovation and adaptability, calling on education systems, cultural institutions and communities to collaborate in ensuring that young people maintain their unique edge in the age of AI.

Two collaborative workshops will also take place. School Without Walls: Changing Sites of Learning, led by Ms Kate Cross MBE, Director of The Egg at Theatre Royal Bath, United Kingdom, will demonstrate how learning spaces can be extended beyond school campuses to curate meaningful and personalised arts education experiences through the School Without Walls programme. What if We All Had a Voice? The Possibilities of the Arts in Social-Emotional Learning, led by Ms Jigyasa Labroo, CEO and Co-founder of Slam Out Loud, New Delhi, India, will share how locally rooted curriculum resources that address social issues can be developed to empower children to use creativity to tackle life and societal challenges and to weave their dreams.

Mutual Growth—Frontline Teachers and Artists Share Their Journeys and Learning

The forum also invited schools and creative practitioners from the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project to share their practical experiences. In the panel discussion From Traditional to Creative Teaching, Vice Principal Kiley Tse of Ho Lap Primary School (Sponsored by Sik Sik Yuen), Ms Katherine Ip of Hong Kong and Macau Lutheran Church Primary School, and Ms Jourdan Wong of Cheung Sha Wan Catholic Primary School will share insights and explore the far-reaching impact of creative teaching and learning on teachers’ personal growth, students, the learning environment, and the overall creative learning culture of schools.

Another panel discussion, From Introspective Artists to Communicative Teaching Artists, features creative practitioners Ms Grace Cheng; Mr Reds Cheung of Laichankee; Ms Cally Yip of Passoverdance; and Ms Priscilla Lai, Lead Creative Practitioner of the AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project. Their sharing proves that the Project’s collaborative model not only benefits schools—teachers’ and creative practitioners’ artistic practices are also nourished through the teaching process, fostering mutual growth and grooming the community of practice of teaching artists in Hong Kong.

Creative Learning Arts Awards — Celebrating Local Education Transformation

To showcase the Project’s impact over the years, the forum will host the Creative Learning Arts Awards ceremony, recognising outstanding schools, teachers and creative practitioners, and celebrating the remarkable progress of the local education community in advancing creative thinking and whole-person development.

For more information, please visit:

AFTEC Jockey Club Creative Futures Project: https://creativefutures.aftec.hk/home-en/

Knowledge Exchange 2026—Artistic Intelligence: Shaping Human Achievement: https://creativefutures.aftec.hk/knowledge-exchange/ke2026/

Hashtag: #AFTEC

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Come to Beijing Chaoyang for an Adventurous Encounter with Trendy Toys and Intangible Cultural Heritage

MIL OSI — Fri, 15 May 2026 11:03:43 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

BEIJING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 15 May 2026 – From May 15 to 24, 2026, Beijing Chaoyang Park will host a unique cultural event — the first China New Cultural and Creative Market & Trendy Toy Carnival.

The first China New Cultural and Creative Market

This is not a traditional exhibition, but an urban carnival that seamlessly blends popular IPs, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) crafts, immersive performances, and top-tier cultural and creative products from across China. The fair brings together high-quality creative cultural products, time-honored ICH brands, and trendy toy labels. Covering a total area of approximately 66,000 square meters, it features both indoor and outdoor zones. Centered around two main themes — “New Oriental Aesthetics” and “The Rise of Guochao (Chinese trendy culture)” — the event showcases over 10,000 creative products.

In the “Rise of Guochao” zone, leading Chinese trendy toy brands present immersive installations. 52TOYS brings the “Panda Roll Playful Panda Forest,” where dozens of lifelike, giant panda sculptures are scattered among the trees, creating perfect photo opportunities. Pop Mart hosts a special exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of its hit IP “MOLLY,” featuring a giant castle inflatable and vending machines for blind boxes. Also making its offline debut as a themed zone, “The Emoji Clinic,” the globally recognized emoji brand launches several exclusive items not yet available in stores.

The ICH section is equally impressive. Ten nationally recognized master artisans showcase their representative works at the “Oriental Showcase,” presenting ten traditional crafts, including filigree inlay, Hepu horn carving, polished lacquerware, Longquan celadon, and Shui ethnic group’s horsetail embroidery. Traditional ICH techniques are creatively combined with trendy toy designs — Peking silk figurines, cloisonné, and Beijing embroidery are integrated into modern doll clothing and accessories, giving birth to a unique Oriental trend aesthetic. Additionally, over 40 other ICH items — such as jade carving, cloisonné, Beijing embroidery, Miao embroidery, and carved lacquer — allow visitors to observe master artisans at work up close and participate in hands-on activities like seal carving, tie-dyeing, and clay sculpting.

Throughout the event, five major venues in Chaoyang Park will host over 100 performances, spanning street dance, traditional Chinese music, symphony, opera, and parades. The Shell Theater will present an ACG symphony concert and a symphony of Hong Kong film golden melodies. At the East Square of Chaoyang Planning Art Museum, the “New Oriental Aesthetics” pop-up stage will feature continuous performances of Jingxi Taiping Drum dance and classical umbrella dance. The East Square of Weibo IN will focus on trendy crossover acts, with breakdance battles and jazz quartets taking turns on stage.

And when night falls, even more intriguing adventures begin. A mecha parade weaves through the crowds — you might brush past Black Myth: Wukong and a troupe of mascots. On the Fangzhou Lake, lantern-lit flower boats set sail, their slow journey accompanied by ancient music and shimmering water, creating a moving Oriental painting. From daytime blind-box surprises to nighttime lantern-lit garden strolls, the park offers unexpected delights at every turn.

No tickets are required — just a sense of curiosity. Bring your camera, gather your friends, come to Beijing Chaoyang Park, become a “power player,” and join this immersive carnival of trendy toys and intangible cultural heritage.

Hashtag: #Chaoyang

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Customer Service Excellence Award 2025 Concluded Successfully MTR Crowned Grand Champion Among Over 100 Winners

MIL OSI — Fri, 15 May 2026 11:03:39 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 15 May 2026 – The Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence (HKACE) hosted the HKACE Customer Service Excellence Award Presentation Ceremony cum 26th Anniversary Celebration Luncheon last week at The Regent Hotel Hong Kong. Over 100 awards were presented to recognize outstanding customer service practitioners, with MTR Corporation named the Grand Award Champion as the highlight of the occasion.

A group photo features Hon Algernon Yau, JP, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (9th from right, front row); Derek Choi, Chairman of HKACE (10th from right, front row); Hon Shiu Ka Fai, BBS, JP, CPPCC National Committee Member and Member of the Legislative Council (8th from right, front row); Hon Perry Yiu, MH, JP, Member of the Legislative Council (7th from left, back row); together with HKACE Founding Members, Executive Committee members and guests.

Held under the theme “High Tech, High Touch – AI Empowers a New Era in Customer Service”, the event attracted more than 450 guests. The Honourable Algernon Yau, JP, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, graced the occasion as the Guest of Honour. The award presentation ceremony was also privileged to have The Hon Shiu Ka Fai, BBS, JP, Member of the National Committee of the CPPCC and Member of the Legislative Council; The Hon Perry Yiu, MH, JP, Member of the Legislative Council; together with representatives of professional associations who served as award presenters. Members of the award judging panels and customer service industry leaders also joined the celebration to recognize the outstanding achievements of the award winners.

Hon Algernon Yau: Government Injected HK$200 Million into BUD Fund to Support AI-driven Digital Transformation

In his opening address, The Honourable Algernon Yau, JP, noted that artificial intelligence was driving customer service into a new era, shifting from human-led operations to a model that integrates data analytics and intelligent systems. Mr Yau stressed that as technology advances, human warmth becomes increasingly precious. He emphasized that true excellence in customer service is built on a customer-centric foundation, requiring service professionals to integrate technology with empathy, sincere communication and personalized attention to achieve a balance of efficiency and human warmth.

“2026 marks the start of the planning and layout for the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan, which prioritizes high-quality development, innovation-driven growth and the deep integration of the digital economy. Hong Kong is proactively aligning itself with the country’s development strategy, contributing its unique strengths to meet national needs. The services sector, in particular, must upgrade and transform. To help, the Hong Kong SAR Government has put HK$200 million into the Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund), offering targeted support for AI adoption and helping businesses transform digitally.” Mr Yau stated.

Derek Choi: 40% Surge in Applications Reflected High Competitiveness and Recognition of the Awards

Mr Derek Choi, Chairman of HKACE, said “the Customer Service Excellence Award 2025 received 220 applications – a significant 40% increase from the previous year – reflecting the industry’s growing emphasis on service quality. A total of 102 awards were presented, making the competition exceptionally fierce.”

“Participants had to be nominated by the member companies and submit a written proposal in the first round to be shortlisted among the five finalists for a panel interview,” Mr Choi explained. “An independent judging panel, composed of industry elites and academics, then determined the gold, silver, bronze, and merit award winners. This rigorous assessment process upheld the award programme’s standing.” Mr Choi also extended his heartfelt gratitude to all judging panel members, noting that their selfless dedication and strong support had contributed significantly to the credibility of the awards programme.

A total of 102 awards were presented at the event amidst fierce competition. Derek Choi, Chairman of HKACE, together with honourable guests, HKACE executive committee members, and all awardees, posed for a group photo to commemorate this significant moment.

Customer Service Excellence Award 2025 Winners Unveiled: MTR Crowned Grand Champion

The Customer Service Excellence Award 2025 featured three main categories – Individual Awards, Team Awards and Programme Awards – alongside the Grand Award. MTR Corporation scooped a total of 15 awards, standing out among a strong field of competitors to be named Grand Champion. HKT Limited and The Hong Kong Jockey Club also secured the 1st Runner-up and 2nd Runner-up of the Grand Award respectively.

Other gold award winners included AIA International Limited, BMW (Hong Kong) Limited, Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited, Cathay Pacific Airways, CLP Power Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong Fire Services Department, Hongkong Post, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited.

Appendix 1: List of Winners of the HKACE Customer Service Excellent Award 2025

Grand Award
Champion	MTR Corporation
1st Runner-up	HKT Limited
2nd Runner-up	The Hong Kong Jockey Club
Individual Award – Contact Centre Service Award
Gold	Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited	Tse Mei Yee, Shirley
Silver	HKT Limited	Li Miu Hei, Annie
Bronze	AIA International Limited	Luk Kwong Lam
Merit	HKT Limited	Yeung Shuk Yi, Joe
Merit	The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd.	Wan Ka Hing, Tingo
Individual Award – Counter Service Award
Gold	BMW Concessionaires (HK)Ltd	Lai Ka Yui, Brian
Silver	CLP Power Hong Kong Limited	Lau Tik Fung, Oscar
Bronze	Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited	Ng Ka Ling, Aimee
Merit	China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited	Yeung Fong Chun, Frank
Merit	Sino Group – Citywalk 2 Management Company Limited
Individual Award – Field & Special Service Award
Gold	Hongkong Post	Hung Tsz Yin
Silver	Ngong Ping 360 Limited	Yip Ka Man, Carmen
Bronze	Shell Hong Kong Limited	Xia Min
Merit	Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited	Luk Ka Chun, Paul
Merit	Cathay	Ardis Yeung
Individual Award – Frontline Service Award
Gold	Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia) Limited	Kwan Shing Yan, Kelvin
Silver	Goodwell Property Management Limited	Wong Pui Ching, Rebecca
Bronze	MTR Corporation	Law Pak Hin, Hinson
Merit	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	Cheung Tsz Ching
Merit	Aviation Security Company Limited	Cheng Bing Lam
Individual Award – Internal Support Service Award
Gold	HKT Limited	Zheng Minsui
Silver	BOC Group Life Assurance Co. Ltd.	Ma Wing Sze, Sissy
Bronze	Cathay	Bianca Tang
Merit	AIA International Limited	Lyu Chen Yu
Merit	Airport Authority Hong Kong	Agnes Wong

Individual Award – Customer Service Training Award
Gold	HKT Limited	Law Kar Yan, Kannis
Silver	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	Brian Leung
Bronze	Cathay	Jennifer Lui
Merit	MTR Corporation	Chiu Tsz Ho, Ivan
Merit	H Properties Management (HK) Co. Ltd.	Yip Ching Ching, Janee
Individual Award – Customer Service Supervisor / Team Manager
Gold	Cathay	Michelle To
Silver	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	Miriam Hang
Bronze	MTR Corporation	Matthew Cheung
Merit	Ocean Park Corporation	Li Chi Kit, Henry
Merit	HKT Limited	Wong Lai Man, Ulysses
Individual Award – Top 5 Young Stars of the Year
	Cathay	Tedd Wong
	The Hong Kong and China Gas Co. Ltd.	Sham Fung Wa
	Hong Kong Tourism Board	Michelle Tam
	CLP Power Hong Kong Limited	Ng Oi Mei, Amy
	Ngong Ping 360 Limited	Yau Cheuk Ting, Anna
Team Award – Contact Centre Service Award
Gold	Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited	Digital Hub
Silver	China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited	Customer Contact Centre
Bronze	MTR Corporation	High Speed Rail Service Hotline
Merit	Cathay	Virtual Relationship Manager
Merit	HKT Limited	1O1O Outbound Contact Centre
Team Award – Counter Service Award
Gold	CLP Power Hong Kong Limited	Smart Energy@Tai Po
Silver	Bank of Communications (Hong Kong) Limited	Tai Po Branch
Bronze	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	Kowloon Bay, Telford Off-Course Betting Branch
Merit	MTR Corporation	ELEMENTS Concierge Service
Merit	Airport Authority Hong Kong	Customer Service Team & Terminal Duty Team

Team Award – Field & Special Service Award
Gold		Cathay			HKIA Rescue Team
Silver		The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd.			KMB Field Operations Support Team
Bronze		CLP Power Hong Kong Limited			CLP Green Studio Multi-Purpose Vehicle
Merit		Ngong Ping 360 Limited			Attractions & Entertainment Team
Merit		Airport Authority Hong Kong			Service Team of Airport Home Baggage Check-in
Team Award – Frontline Service Award
Gold		Cathay			Cabin Crew Team
Silver		The Hong Kong Jockey Club			Tuen Mun Town Plaza Off-Course Betting Branch
Bronze		HKT Limited			“Here to Serve” Team
Merit		MTR Corporation			East Rail Line Interfacing Team
Merit		Airport Authority Hong Kong			HKIA VIP Lounge and Government VIP Lounge Team
Team Award – Internal Support Service Award
Gold		AIA International Limited			Premier Agency Enquiry Team
Silver		MTR Corporation			Operations Data Studio
Bronze		HKT Limited			Operations Transformation Team
Merit		AXA China Region Insurance Company Limited			Customer Strategy and Insights Team
Merit		The Hong Kong Jockey Club			Retail – Racecourse Work Group
Team Award – Customer Service Training Award
Gold		HKT Limited			Consumer Business Group Training Team
Silver		AIA International Limited			Service Training and Knowledge Team
Bronze		MTR Corporation			MTR Learning & Training
Merit		Hong Kong Tourism Board			Visitor Services and Human Resources
Merit		ABC Pathways School			Training & Development
Programme Award – Customer Retention Award
Gold	MTR Corporation			Elderly Care Programme
Silver	CLP Power Hong Kong Limited			Power Connect
Bronze	HKT Limited			HKT Commercial SME Customer Retention Programme
Merit	The Hong Kong Jockey Club			Experience Diversity, Connect with CARE
Merit	Cathay			Cathay Million Miles Programme
Programme Award – Digital Transformation Award
Gold			MTR Corporation	MTR Smart Mobility: Digital Transformation for Travel Concession Schemes
Silver			CLP Power Hong Kong Limited	Digital Transformation for Hong Kong ‘s Largest Residential Peak Demand Management
Bronze			Airport Authority Hong Kong	Smart Passenger Security Screening System at Hong Kong International Airport
Merit			China Mobile Hong Kong Company Limited	AI+Service
Merit			Ngong Ping 360 Limited	“Delight Guests Always” – NP360 AI Assistant
Programme Award – Outstanding Customer Service Award
Gold			MTR Corporation	Kai Tak and Sung Wong Toi Stations Customer Experience Enhancement
Silver			Hong Kong Fire Services Department	“Old Friends” Home Visit Scheme
Bronze			Ngong Ping 360 Limited	Shining You Customer Service Program- Creating Muslim Friendly Attractions in Hong Kong
Merit			CLP Power Hong Kong Limited	CLP Community Watch & Care Service Pilot Programme
Merit			H Properties Management (HK) Co. Ltd.	Happy DNA: Happier Places, Happier People

Programme Award – People Development Award
Gold	Hong Kong Fire Services Department	Greater Bay Area Joint Emergency Response and Rescue Exercise “Liancheng – 2025”
Silver	Airport Authority Hong Kong	The Operation Officer Skill-based Salary Progression Scheme
Bronze	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	Racing Towards Excellence: Retail Succession Programme
Merit	MTR Corporation	Buddy Scheme for Newly Recruit Station Officer
Merit	Aviation Security Company Limited	Structured Customer Service Development Programme
Programme Award – Service Innovation Award
Gold	MTR Corporation	MTR Smart Mobility: Intelligent Crowd Diversion System for Kai Tak Sports Park
Silver	H Properties Management (HK) Co. Ltd.	Happy Moment
Bronze	BOC Group Life Assurance Co. Ltd.	5+1 Senses @ Service Centre
Merit	The Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (1933) Ltd.	Pet Bus Tour
Merit	HKT Limited	Transforming Service Experience – Wise
Programme Award – Employee Engagement Award
Gold	AIA International Limited	“Inside Out”
Silver	The Hong Kong Jockey Club	“HAPPI-D” Programme
Bronze	Ocean Park Corporation	Village Adventure
Merit	MTR Corporation	Know Our Customer Programme

This press release is issued by Passion PR Limited on behalf of the Hong Kong Association for Customer Service Excellence.

Hashtag: #HongKongAssociationForServiceExcellence #HKACE

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

James Ehnes has more awards than any classical musician ever

MIL OSI — Thu, 14 May 2026 23:28:39 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Brandon, a place in Manitoba Canada, is so proud of world-renowned violinist James Ehnes, it’s naming a street after him.

“It’s pretty surreal. Of course, I mean, my old high school buddies and I have been making a lot of jokes about it naturally. But in seriousness, it’s a tremendous honour”, Ehnes told RNZ’s Sunday Morning.

The street is right across from the university where his father taught trumpet and the local auditorium where his mother was the chair of the board for years.

This video is hosted on Youtube.

.”

Ehnes is in New Zealand to perform Mozart’s Fourth Violin Concerto at a series of venues around the country.

It was always the violin for Ehnes, who started playing at four and now has more awards than any classical musician in history.

James Ehnes sawing away at the 1985 World Suzuki Conference in Edmonton, Canada.

James Ehnes

“I had this this great plan that I would be a professional baseball player in the summer, and I would be a professional violinist in the winter.

“So, I like telling people that I’m only 50 percent failure in my life.”

Ehnes plays a 1715 Marsick Stradivarius violin.

Violinist James Ehnes

Ben Ealovega

“There was only one Rembrandt. There was only one Van Gogh. There was only one Titian or Leonardo.

“And we have a little bit of that with Stradivarius, that what he was attempting to do was very specific. And his instruments have a range of tonal palette, I guess I’d say, that is very special.”

He’s played on many Stradivarius violins, including the famous ‘Baron Knoop’ which sold for over NZ$40m, it was a golden age of instrument making, he says.

“It’s when you start playing entire pieces of music where you realise that there’s just an entire world to explore on some instruments, whereas on other instruments, they might sound nice, but kind of all the same. And that gets just a little bit less interesting in terms of musical storytelling. “

Car fanatic Ehnes likens it to Formula 1.

“What I do with my violin is really, really specialised. And in terms of F1 stuff, I always tell people, you know, you don’t take an F1 car to the grocery store. That’s not what it’s for. And there are very few people that can really bring the most out of it.

“You brought me ten race cars, I would be the same driver in all of them, which is to say not capable.”

James Ehnes is currently touring NZ.

Benjamin Ealovega 2012

Given that you “can’t just buy a new one” he transports his Strad around the world with great care.

“When you’re talking about an instrument that’s 300 years old, you realise that it’s not really yours. You’re just sort of the caretaker for the next generation of people that will have the opportunity to use it.

“My case is advertised by the company that you can supposedly drive a car over it. I’ve never tried that. I don’t plan on trying it, but it does give me a little bit of confidence. And yeah, so I try to keep it out of harm’s way.”

Unfortunately that wasn’t the case for his classic 1979 Ferrari 308 GTS.

“There was a fire in my garage and I sadly no longer have one.

“So, if anyone wants to find me another one, I’d be very eager to replace it. But yeah, at least my violin was not in the garage. So all OK.”

Sign up for RNZ’s Life newsletter

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Shakira, Madonna and BTS to headline 2026 World Cup Final halftime show

MIL OSI — Thu, 14 May 2026 22:44:29 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

The 2026 World Cup kicks off on 11 June in Mexico City, with matches to be played in multiple locations across the US, Canada and Mexico.

The World Cup Final is expected to draw millions of viewers worldwide, on top of its attendees.

The halftime show, curated by Coldplay’s Chris Martin, will be produced by the non-profit Global Citizen and benefit the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund, FIFA announced in an Instagram post on Thursday.

The FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund is “a landmark initiative working to raise $100 USD million to expand access to quality education and football for children around the world,” FIFA wrote in the announcement.

“Throughout the tournament, USD 1 from every ticket sold to FIFA World Cup 2026 matches will be donated to the Fund.”

In an announcement video posted to social media, Martin was joined by characters from Sesame Street and the Muppets, with a cameo from BTS.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino teased the inaugural performance at a World Cup event in March 2025.

“This will be a historic moment for the FIFA World Cup and a show befitting the biggest sporting event in the world,” Infantino said at the time.

The official rules of soccer, outlined by the International Football Association Board, state that halftime breaks should not exceed 15 minutes, and it’s unclear whether this will be changed to accommodate the performance, such as with halftime shows at the Super Bowl.

That performance will also feature Alejandro Fernández, Belinda, Danny Ocean, Lila Downs, Los Ángeles Azules, Maná and Tyla.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Are you ruled by numbers? Why, how and what we count matters

MIL OSI — Thu, 14 May 2026 21:44:20 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

We count what’s easy, but not what really matters, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen says.

The gap between what institutions measure and more meaningful metrics is something he frequently encounters.

“I constantly have to metrify learning outcomes and report to higher ups in distant state legislatures about how well we are doing educating our students, in this case, in philosophy and critical reasoning,” he told RNZ’s Afternoons.

C. Thi Nguyen.

?” class=”@container/queue-media relative w-full h-full bg-surface-muted”>

Feature Interview: Is your life dictated by numbers?

Afternoons

But none of the metrics available to him capture any nuanced information, he says, such as student improvements in critical reasoning or reflectiveness.

This is a design feature, he says.

“Metrics are powerful, and they’re powerful because they’re thin. It’s not an accident.”

Nguyen is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Utah and his latest book is The Score: How to Stop Playing Someone Else’s Game.

Something historian and scientist Theodore Porter wrote in his book Trust in Numbers about metrics “blew his mind”, he says.

“He said that there’s a systematic blind spot inside institutional metrics that’s essential to the way that they function.”

Porter points out there’s a difference between quantitative and qualitative reasoning. Qualitative reasoning, explaining with words, is “open-ended dynamic and sensitive”, he says.

“But it typically travels badly between contexts because it requires a lot of shared background knowledge to understand.”

Quantitative knowledge in institutions has been designed to get around that, he says, using a “context invariant kernel”.

This is something everyone understands in the same way, he says, such as a grading systems in education.

“In the US, we use the four-point scale. We all agree that A means excellent, B means pretty good, and C means mediocre. And given that we’ve standardised those meanings, now we can communicate, now we can collect data at mass scale, now we can aggregate, now the information can travel.

“But the way it’s been made to travel, and aggregate is precisely because we’ve stripped out every bit of nuance.”

Metrics are effective up to a point, he says.

“I’m not arguing that metrics don’t actually capture something real. It’s that often they fixate our attention on something that’s easier to measure.

“And often that easier to measure thing is a decent proxy.”

For example, counting steps is a “middling proxy for activity”, Nguyen says.

“But here’s some things it doesn’t capture. It doesn’t capture the complexity of the skill. It doesn’t capture an experience and absorption.”

For example, a more complex and immersive activity like rock climbing would register fewer steps on a wearable device than normal daily activities, he says.

The things that are easy to count are the things that everyone can count together, he says.

“Steps are things that everyone counts in pretty much the same way. Friendship quality, skill growth, like the joy of absorption in movement. These are not things that everyone counts on the same way.”

Invisible scoring systems shape our lives without us realising, he says, university rankings are an example of this.

“A lot of my students don’t think of them as a scoring system because they just think of them as objective representations of real-world value.

“They’re like, this is the way it is, but someone made a choice about what counted and what didn’t.”

And something similar is going on with intelligence testing.

“Our current intelligence tests highly weight logical and mathematical ability, but they don’t rate empathy or emotional sensitivity or artistic creativity.

“That’s a system that someone made a decision about what was more valuable or not and then fed it into the background structure of a numerical system.”

Much of Nguyen’s work has been on games and gaming and he believes they can teach us much.

“Sometimes I think playing real games might help because they teach us that we have choice, right?”

Thinking of external ranking systems as game-like gives us more perspective, he says.

“Scoring systems that you have some degree of choice over as opposed to just objective givens about what you’re supposed to do, I think is by itself really powerful.”

Sign up for RNZ’s Life newsletter

Coverage

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Turn Your Savings into a Front-Row Experience: HL Bank Singapore Offers Exclusive Passes to AsiaTop Music Festival 2026

MIL OSI — Thu, 14 May 2026 13:49:28 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

The premier music festival will play host to 16 K-pop, regional and Malaysian stars including, in performance order: Day 1 – NexT1DE, Aina Abdul, Belle Sisoski, Win Metawin, NMIXX, WINNER, DAESUNG, KUN. Day 2 – Uriah See, Firdhaus, Butterbear, 82MAJOR, STAYC, CRAVITY, TWS, CxM

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 May 2026 – Your next major K-pop experience is just a savings goal away as HL Bank Singapore (“HLB Singapore”) bridges the gap between financial wellness and the front row. In an exclusive collaboration designed for the ultimate music enthusiast, the bank is offering fans the chance to secure a pair of sought-after AsiaTop Music Festival 2026 tickets, valued at up to RM1,098 (approx. S$355), simply by growing their wealth.

HL Bank Singapore is giving music fans the chance to redeem exclusive passes to the AsiaTop Music Festival 2026, featuring top Asian acts, through its iSavings Reward Campaign.

This unique initiative stems from the regional synergy between Hong Leong Bank (“HLB”) and Tencent Music Entertainment Group (JOOX and QQ Music). By aligning with Visit Malaysia Year and Visit Selangor Year 2026, HLB is transforming the traditional banking experience into a gateway for premium entertainment. Scheduled for 30 and 31 May 2026 at the iconic Sepang International Circuit, the festival promises a high-octane weekend featuring an elite lineup of Asian superstars, including the largest K-pop showcase in the ASEAN region.

Securing a spot at the heart of the action has been streamlined through the iSavings Reward Campaign, running from 9 May 2026 to 18 May 2026. To participate, fans first decide on their preferred festival experience, selecting either a pair of Standard Passes with a S$5,000 deposit or the high-energy, nearer-to-the-stars Rockzone Passes with a S$8,282 deposit for their chosen day.

Once a tier is selected, customers can register by depositing the qualifying funds into an iSavings account via FAST or Links transfer. To validate their entry, customers must include the specific Comment Code, such as PALLIR1 for Day 1 Rockzone, within the funds transfer description. The qualifying balance must be maintained within the account for a six-month (182 days) earmarked period.

With only 88 pairs of tickets available for this exclusive campaign, the stakes are high. Allocation is limited to 22 pairs per day for each ticket category and will be awarded strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. Fans are encouraged to act quickly to ensure their savings work as hard as they do while securing a premier seat at the musical event of the year.

For full terms & conditions, and further details, please visit: www.hlbank.com.sg/AsiaTop2026

Hashtag: #HLBankSingapore

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Veritickets pioneers international live event ticketing on Tmall Global ahead of 618 shopping festival

MIL OSI — Thu, 14 May 2026 11:18:40 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 May 2026 – Veritickets, a global event ticketing platform, has become the first brand to sell overseas concert and sports tickets on Tmall Global, China’s largest cross-border e-commerce platform, following its recent debut on the site.

Screenshot of Veritickets’ storefront on Tmall Global.

The move established a new category for international live entertainment ticketing within China’s import e-commerce market, with Tmall Global positioning Veritickets as a specialist overseas brand addressing an underserved market.

Ahead of Tmall Global’s annual 618 shopping festival, Veritickets will offer tickets to all 104 FIFA World Cup matches, alongside global tour tickets for leading Chinese-language artists including Jay Chou, Stefanie Sun, and Mayday. The platform will also feature K-pop tours across Asia, enabling fans to secure seats for performances by groups such as EXO, BTS, and i-dle.

The move comes as outbound demand for live entertainment continues to rise among Chinese consumers, driven by a packed calendar of international sporting events, including the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League and Premier League, as well as a broader recovery in concerts across the Asia-Pacific region.

Veritickets aims to address longstanding difficulties in cross-border ticket purchasing. Consumers buying overseas event tickets have typically faced challenges ranging from language barriers and complex payment processes to uncertainty over ticket authenticity and availability. The platform was designed to resolve these issues for international buyers.

The platform commits to issuing confirmed, in-stock tickets in as fast as 12 hours and provides multilingual interfaces and multi-currency payment options. It also offers a “100% verified tickets” guarantee backed by a consumer-protection policy that provides a full refund, plus additional compensation of up to the ticket price, if tickets are not delivered.

Tickets are available through the Veritickets website or mobile app. The platform accepts major international credit cards, including Visa, Mastercard and JCB, and is also an officially certified partner of Alipay, China’s leading digital payments and services platform.

To enhance transparency and reduce search friction, Veritickets aggregates official and vetted ticket inventory into a single interface, allowing users to compare offerings with real-time availability and pricing. An all-in pricing model is used to limit hidden charges and last-minute price adjustments.

Event recommendations are tailored using a preference-based engine, while dedicated customer support and real-time transaction verification form part of the platform’s service and supervision standards.

Initially focused on Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia, Veritickets plans to strengthen its footprint across the Asia-Pacific region, with phased expansion into additional international markets.

The platform is currently recruiting internationally qualified ticketing agents, requiring valid operating licenses, strong credit records and proven professional service capabilities. All agents must comply with stringent requirements, including real‑time ticket updates, instant transaction validation and round-the-clock customer support, ensuring a consistent and reliable experience for buyers worldwide.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

Education – National hui returns to birthplace of cultural safety in nursing education

LiveNews Publisher — Thu, 14 May 2026 11:08:37 +0000

Source: Ara Institute of Canterbury

180 delegates gather at Ara Institute of Canterbury for Hui ā Tau mō Ngā Ākonga Neehi Māori (National Māori Student Nurses Hui)

Ara Institute of Canterbury is proud to co-host this year’s Te Kaunihera o Ngā Neehi Māori Hui ā Tau mō Ngā Ākonga Neehi Māori, welcoming around 180 Māori nursing ākonga (students), kaiako (lecturers) and sector leaders together for four days of wānanga (discussions), connection and professional growth.

Ara Associate Director of Māori Success, Tate Tiatia, said hosting the hui was both a privilege and a return to the place where kawa whakaruruhau (cultural safety) began.

“This gathering returns to where Dr Irihapeti Ramsden first developed the foundations of cultural safety in nursing education. Her legacy continues to guide how we teach, how we care for people and how we support Māori ākonga into the profession. To host the hui back in Ōtautahi is deeply significant,” she said.

Te Rōpū Kawa Whakaruruhau chair, Irihapeti Bullmore, said the hui reinforced the importance of culturally grounded learning and practice.

“Our ākonga thrive when their identity and whakapapa (genealogy)are recognised as a source of strengths. This hui reflects that. It also reminds us that culturally safe healthcare is not optional. It is essential for whānau who rely on our health system,” she said.

This year’s hui (gathering) also coincides with the first intake of Ara’s refreshed Bachelor of Nursing (Puahou Tapuhi o Aotearoa). Developed at Ara and shaped by expertise from across the motu (country), the programme strengthens commitments to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and expands indigenised content. The curriculum will be implemented by other institutes, including Western Institute of Technology at Taranaki (WITT), from next year.

Dean of Faculty – Health, Science and Sustainability, Dr Michael Shone, said the new curriculum reflects a future-focused approach to Māori nursing education.

“This curriculum reflects the future of nursing in Aotearoa. Clinical capability matters, but so does understanding identity, whānau and culture. Our graduates need both,” he said.

The hui’s theme, Ka Rito te Tī, Sustaining Care from Within, is about grounding hauora (health) in identity and connection. Ara conference lead and kaiako, Jade Hancy, said the kaupapa (topic) focuses on strengthening who students are as Māori and supporting each other to stand strong in the profession.

“This hui creates space for renewal. It is a place where Māori nurses and ākonga can reconnect with purpose, with culture and with each other,” she said. “It’s also a chance to be visible and to encourage more Māori to join us in this profession. Our health system needs more Māori nurses because Māori are over represented in poor health outcomes. Change will not happen unless more of us are part of the workforce supporting our own communities.”

Ara second-year nursing student Josh Lang, who will MC the event, said last year’s hui in Taranaki had a lasting impact on him.

“It was inspiring. Being surrounded by mātauranga (knowledge) gave me a sense of belonging and showed me what Māori leadership in nursing looks like. To welcome everyone to Ara this year, to our place, is really exciting.”

Supported by the Ara Foundation, the hui features keynote speakers including Dr Suzanne Pitama and Tania Huria, workshops in hauora Māori, leadership development, taonga pūoro (Māori musical instruments, often used to support healing) and activities across Ara’s City and Manawa campuses.

Tate Tiatia said Ara was honoured to stand alongside Te Kaunihera o Ngā Neehi Māori and the organising komiti (committee).

“Our ākonga return from these hui invigorated and inspired,” she said. “They come back with stronger connections to each other, to their culture and to the profession they are entering. We’re proud to support a kaupapa that helps grow the next generation of Māori health leaders.”

MIL OSI

‘Unique’ 360-degree film festival hits Wellington

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 22:23:41 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington’s planetarium will trade galaxies for films as it hosts the only 360-degree film festival, a first for the city.

Originating from the Melbourne Planetarium which has been running the festival for six years, this year Space Place will screen Best Of The Fest with eight award-winning or highly commended films from Australia’s Dome Under Film Festival (DUFF).

The festival’s line-up goes beyond space films – it also includes movies like Everest: Opera in the Planetarium, based on the ill-fated 1996 Mount Everest expedition, told through opera and The Rift, featuring a fusion of contemporary dance, cinematic imagery and immersive sound set in the landscapes of Zimbabwe.

Experience Wellington public programmes manager, Naiomi Murgatroyd, said they jumped on the chance to host the festival, on from 14-16 May.

“The films for DUFF have been created especially for screening in planetariums in 360 degree view, which is totally unique.”

Film buff, Harriet Robinson, was eager to see Secrets from a Forest, a film which explored the deep connection between nature, craft and music.

“The violin involved in that is so iconic. I’m really excited to see that combination in action,” she said.

Fellow film enthusiast Flavia Wilson was looking forward to watching Space Explorers: The ISS Experience, a film about three astronauts preparing to depart the Space Station after a six-month stay.

“To see the real world astronauts in their own environment, it’s going to be really fascinating,” Wilson said.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Review: Deftones have fans running up the walls of Spark Arena

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 21:58:30 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Sacramento rockers, Deftones, turned up the tinnitus at Spark Arena, on Wednesday night.

It’s the most people I’ve ever seen crammed into that venue and by the end of the show it seemed like the floor was running up the walls with nearly everyone on their feet.

It’s a loyal fanbase that has had to wait a long time since the band’s last show at 2014’s Big Day Out in Western Springs. That said, they were scheduled to play Trusts Arena in March, 2020. No prizes for guessing what happened there.

Fans were thrilled to have Deftones return to New Zealand

Tom Grut

. They started things off by seducing their long-waiting Kiwi fans with a cover of the ‘Cars’ Drive’. I never thought I’d like a version better than the original, but it’s not the first time I’m wrong about something.

It was a gentle launching point for the night which took an immediate adrenaline hit when they cranked into 2012’s ‘Swerve City’.

Through the first four songs they traversed multiple albums and decades. But it was far from a walk down memory lane or a best-of.

Deftones prove they still have what it takes to rock out 30 years later.

Tom Grut

They sprinkled in more than a few deeper cuts along with some of their newer songs from their Private Music album that came out late last year.

And while the songs have a slightly darker tone to them they never disrupted the flow, instead melding in with the band’s older material.

The music thrummed with an energy that made it feel like it could’ve come out yesterday. And looking at the crowd you could probably be mistaken for thinking that it did. There were a lot of very young faces. The band has clearly been drawing in new fans in recent years.

A post-gig chat with a couple of oldheads while walking out confirmed that I wasn’t seeing things. They were all surprised by how many fans could very well have been conceived to 2006’s ‘Cherry Waves’. One punter told us he’d seen Deftones twice at a couple of Big Day Out festivals and now he was watching them with his son and nephew.

Deftones perform at Auckland’s Spark Arena on May 13, 2026.

Tom Grut

And after a little research (post-show yarns with gig-goers on the walk back to the car) I found out that the group has found a whole new generation through TikTok where their music has gained new life.

It doesn’t hurt that frontman Chino Moreno still seems as smooth as ever. Even when he took a tumble mid-song while cavorting across the stage, I wasn’t quite sure if it was all part of the act or not.

The show continued to ebb and flow with some softer songs like ‘Entombed’ and ‘Beauty School’ and the euphoric ‘Cherry Waves’ sprinkled in among much heavier numbers like ‘Rocket Skates’.

‘Digital Bath’ was the first song where all the phones came out. But it was when the opening chords of ‘Change (In the House of Flies)’ rang out that the whole arena lit up. It was the second song of their I ever remember hearing, and the one that I played on repeat.

The band has had a revival to a whole new generation of ears through TikTok.

Tom Grut

Moreno belted, crooned and screamed against the backdrop of a glowing and slowly rising sun – only one of the many intricate backdrops through the night.

Even without the music, the vignettes lighting up the screen behind the band were spectacular and engrossing enough to warrant their own art installation. The bloke next to me taking a few drags on a curious smelling cigarette really seemed to be loving them.

Moreno took a few brief interludes to thank the crowd. But he’s clearly a man who lets the music do the talking.

He gave everyone a minute or two to catch their breath before the band launched into an encore of ‘Cherry Waves’, heart-pumping ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ and closed out with a blistering ‘7 Words’.

Then the house lights flashed on and broke the spell.

Let’s hope it’s not another decade and change before they’re back.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

NZ-born composer Mark Smythe dies suddenly on hiking trip at 53

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 19:58:33 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Mark Smythe, a New Zealand-born composer based in Los Angeles, has died during a hiking trip over the weekend.

His sister Kate Ward-Smythe said in a post on social media, that he collapsed and passed away suddenly whilst hiking with friends on Mount Wilson in LA, on Saturday.

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

Smythe was a composer of film and concert music, and his score for the Australian horror filmThe Reef: Stalked was nominated for both the SCL Awards in the US and the World Soundtrack Awards in Belgium.

He was also the department head for composing for visual media at the Los Angeles College of Music.

Kate Ward-Smythe said in her post that she’s grateful to her brother’s friends who tried to hard to resuscitate him, alongside first-responders.

“Mark was a strong larger than life connector in LA, as a professor, composer, musician, and loyal friend. He was also fiercely talented, and an absolute cheerleader for music performance and recording across multiple genres.

“He was only just getting started and had so much more to give .. We are heartbroken and trying to process this tragedy, as are all Mark’s friends and family,” she said.

Smythe’s obituary said a private cremation and ceremony will be held in LA then there will be a celebration of Mark’s life and music held in Nelson.

It said he would be “forever remembered in the hearts and minds of all whose lives he blessed with his beautiful music and generous presence”.

Smythe is remembered by his family in New Zealand including his father Brian Smythe; mother Ginny Ward; sisters Pepe Becker and Kate Ward- Smythe; Brian’s wife Liz; Ginny’s partner Paul; nephews Daniel, Thomas and Nick Becker; niece Ella Ward- Smythe; and extended family as well as friends.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Short story collection wins New Zealand’s biggest book prize

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 18:13:42 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Wellington essayist Ingrid Horrocks has won the major prize at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her fiction debut, All Her Lives.

The collection, which follows nine different women across nine different life stages, has won the $65,000 Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize, announced at a ceremony in Auckland on Wednesday night.

Horrocks’ book took the prize ahead of The Book of Guilt, by internationally acclaimed author Catherine Chidgey, Hoods Landing by food writer, blogger and novelist Laura Vincent, and How to Paint a Nude by biographer, visual artist, environmental activist and novelist Sam Mahon.

The cover of All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks.

Supplied

.086330935252″>

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

Chidgey has won the award twice before – the only author to have done so – for The Wish Child in 2017 and The Axeman’s Carnival in 2023.

Catherine Chidgey with her Ockham New Zealand Book Award-winning novel, The Axeman’s Carnival.

Marcel Tromp

Fiction judge Craig Cliff described Horrocks’ first foray into fiction as “emotionally intelligent and historically alert”.

“Across nine elegant, probing stories that range from the late eighteenth century to the unsettled present, from rural Wairarapa to icy Norwegian ports and rave culture Berlin, All Her Lives explores the shifting expectations and constraints of womanhood,” Cliff said in a statement.

Hastings poet and performer Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) won the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her debut collection Black Sugarcane.

“Each poem pulses with clarity, restraint, and quiet power, revealing the extraordinary within the ordinary,” poetry judge, Daren Kamali said.

Christchurch writer Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) won the General Non-Fiction award for This Compulsion in Us.

Christchurch writer Tina Makereti.

Lisa Gardiner

The memoir about whakapapa, identity and growing up Pākehā was described by judges as “honest, revealing and stimulating work”.

Wellington historian Elizabeth Cox won the BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction for Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street – a book about the capital city, its neighbourhoods and people at the turn of the 20th century.

The winners of the poetry, non-fiction and illustrated non-fiction categories each received $12,000.

Tā Pou Temara (Ngāi Tūhoe) KNZM, professor and tohunga of Māori language and thought, received Māori language award Te Mūrau o te Tuhi for Te Āhua o Ngā Kupu Whakaari a Te Kooti, an analysis of the prophetic sayings of Te Kooti.

Wellington professor and author Damien Wilkins won the major prize last year for his novel Delirious, described by judges as “intimate, funny, honest” and “unforgettable”.

Wellington professor and author Damien Wilkins, left, and the cover of his novel ‘Delirious’.

Supplied / Ebony Lamb Photography

Wilkins first won the fiction award in 1994 with The Miserables. He was a runner-up in 2001 for Nineteen Windows Under Ash and again in 2007 for The Fainter.

Four Best First Book Awards, each worth $3000, were also presented at the awards to Auckland author John Prins, for short story collection Pastoral Care; Auckland poet Sophie van Waardenberg for Poetry for No Good; professor of botany Philip Garnock-Jones for He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers and former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern for her memoir, A Different Kind of Power.

Arden told Newsroom last week that she wouldn’t be attending the awards ceremony. She has an engagement in Australia, where she now lives, for another of her books. Her sister, Louise attended the awards and Ardern’s office said any prize money would be donated.

2026 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards shortlisted titles

Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction

All Her Lives by Ingrid Horrocks (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Hoods Landing by Laura Vincent (Ngāti Māhanga, Ngāpuhi) (Āporo Press)

How to Paint a Nude by Sam Mahon (Ugly Hill Press)

The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry

Black Sugarcane by Nafanua Purcell Kersel (Satupa‘itea, Faleālupo, Aleipata, Tuaefu) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

No Good by Sophie van Waardenberg (Auckland University Press)

Sick Power Trip by Erik Kennedy (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

Terrier, Worrier: A Poem in Five Parts by Anna Jackson (Auckland University Press)

BookHub Award for Illustrated Non-Fiction

Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire by Charlotte Macdonald (Bridget Williams Books)

He Puāwai: A Natural History of New Zealand Flowers by Philip Garnock-Jones (Auckland University Press)

Mark Adams: A Survey – He Kohinga Whakaahua by Sarah Farrar (Massey University Press and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki)

Mr Ward’s Map: Victorian Wellington Street by Street by Elizabeth Cox (Massey University Press)

General Non-Fiction Award

A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, Penguin Random House)

Northbound: Four Seasons of Solitude on Te Araroa by Naomi Arnold (HarperCollins Aotearoa New Zealand)

The Hollows Boys: A Story of Three Brothers & the Fiordland Deer Recovery Era by Peta Carey (Potton & Burton)

This Compulsion in Us by Tina Makereti (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Rangatahi-Matakore, Pākehā) (Te Herenga Waka University Press)

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

‘Everywhere the Pacific Ocean touches, they love them some Katchafire’

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:13:27 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

After twenty years in the business, Katchafire have made many friends in the music industry. The New Zealand band have called on some of their contacts for their latest project, Revival: The Guest Edition.

It’s the second time the band have revisited their platinum-selling debut released in 2003. Revival 2.0 was remixed by reggae legend Phillip McFarlane, and re-released back in January.

“We rubbed shoulders with all of these bands that were once our idols, we can now call them family, and we can call on them to do projects like this,” founding member Logan Bell told RNZ’s Music 101.

Caleb Spark

.086330935252″>

Sign up for Life, a weekly lifestyle and entertainment newsletter curated by RNZ’s Life editors and delivered to your inbox every Saturday.

Members of that family include Third World, Steel Pulse, Big Mountain, Mike Love, Laughton Kora and Ali Campbell who have all collaborated on songs from the album.

Bands like Jamaican stalwarts Third World and British band Steel Pulse were important early influences on Katchafire, Bell says.

“Third World is part of the project they re-recorded ‘Colour Me Life’ it’s not part of 2.0 yet it’s going to be content that’s going to be released further down the track.

“But those two were pretty much some of my hugest inspirations in songwriting.”

The first single from Revival: The Guest Edition is ‘Seriously’ featuring UB40’s Ali Campbell.

“I said to his tour manager, ‘bro, it’d be an honour if the bro wanted to do this’. It’s just an honour rubbing shoulders with those guys and they’re a huge inspiration to the way we move in the industry.

“You know, those guys have been in doing it for 35, 40 years plus and still going strong.”

Katchafire themselves are no slouch when it comes to reggae longevity – with six albums under their belt they are still selling out tours around the world.

“We’re pretty blessed. Many moons ago, we planted seeds in a lot of these places that we had no idea we were big in and it seems everywhere the Pacific Ocean touches, they love them some Katchafire.”

It’s not something Bell and the band takes for granted.

“I don’t know how we’ve done it… I guess our first fans from the early days had kids and it’s somehow impressed on that generation and keeps going. So, we must be doing something right. I’ll take it.”

Although the band has been revisiting their musical past, new music is in the pipeline, and Bell says studio time has been booked.

“At some point, we just thought we’ll stop stagger-releasing singles and we’ll just wait till we’ve got a good chunk of the album finished and maybe just go back to old schools and release an album – how we used to do it”.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Esperanza Partners with One Cool Stage to Open New Financing Frontiers for Hong Kong’s Cultural Assets Esperanza

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 09:03:39 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

Hong Kong theatre IP “The Big Big Day” anchors the next phase of fan participation and entertainment asset tokenization, with qualifying projects potential exceeding HK$2 billion in scale

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 13 May 2026 – Esperanza Fintech (Securities) Limited (“Esperanza” or the “Company“) is pleased to announce that a tokenized fund managed by the Company has participated in co-presenting The Big Big Day (《大龍鳳》), a Hong Kong theatre IP project produced by One Cool Stage Limited (“One Cool Stage“), a subsidiary of One Cool Group Limited. A cooperation arrangement to this effect has been signed by both parties. The collaboration marks a further extension of Esperanza’s regulated fintech solutions — building on its earlier tokenized live-entertainment offerings — into Hong Kong theatre, cultural IP, and fan-engagement scenarios, as the Company continues to explore the commercial value and applications of cultural and entertainment assets under new financing models.

One Cool Group Limited is one of Hong Kong’s most recognizable integrated film and entertainment enterprises, with operations spanning film, television, production, post-production, artist management, and related entertainment services. The partnership with One Cool Stage not only reflects Esperanza’s continued expansion of tokenization use cases for cultural and entertainment assets, but also showcases the broader development potential of high-quality Hong Kong content and IP under new financing frameworks.

As a Hong Kong-based fintech and real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform serving the Asia-Pacific market, Esperanza is committed to operating within a regulated framework to connect quality assets, professional investors, content owners, project operators, and fan communities — building more transparent, participative, and scalable financial infrastructure for cultural and entertainment projects.

Mr. Ronald Leung, Group Chief Executive Officer and Chief Legal Officer of Esperanza, said:

“The Big Big Day project is more than a single theatre collaboration — it represents another important milestone in Esperanza’s work to bring tokenized capital solutions to Hong Kong’s cultural and entertainment assets. Hong Kong has long stood at the intersection of Asian culture, creativity, and capital. We see this city as the ideal starting point for combining high-quality local content with next-generation fintech infrastructure, and for forging deeper value linkages among content owners, project parties, fan communities, and professional investors. As part of this project, Esperanza will also take the lead in launching tokenized experience applications in Hong Kong, enabling supporters to participate in ticket redemption, exclusive merchandise offerings, and cultural entertainment experiences through relevant tokenized arrangements. This will further extend the interaction between stage productions and audiences beyond the performance itself. Through compliant tokenization solutions, Esperanza will continue to support more projects of cultural significance and market potential in establishing financing connections that are more flexible, more transparent, and more participatory.”

Ms. Ella Wong, Chief Financial Officer of One Cool Group Limited, said:

“We are delighted to begin this collaboration with Esperanza. In today’s diversified entertainment ecosystem, innovation in financial structuring is critical to advancing the creative industries. Through this partnership, we look forward to leveraging professional fintech infrastructure and solutions to open up more flexible commercial possibilities for Hong Kong’s cultural and entertainment assets.”

This collaboration also reflects Esperanza’s continued strategic build-out in entertainment and cultural assets. The Company is actively sourcing additional projects with tokenization potential and commercial scalability — across film, live entertainment, theatre IP, licensing businesses, AI-driven immersive entertainment, multimedia applications, experiential venues, and other categories underpinned by real-asset foundations and commercial cash flow potential.

As Asia-Pacific’s content industries, fan-engagement models, AI technologies, and immersive entertainment ecosystems continue to evolve rapidly, Esperanza expects growing market demand for mature, compliant financial platforms capable of helping high-quality cultural and entertainment projects expand their access to capital, community engagement, and commercialization capabilities. The Company is currently evaluating and progressing multiple related opportunities, with a potential project pipeline expected to exceed HK$2 billion in scale across entertainment and culture, IP licensing, real estate, multimedia, AI immersive entertainment, and other real-world asset applications.

Esperanza emphasizes that the Company will continue to anchor its work in compliance, transparency, and sustainability — guiding cultural and entertainment assets from traditional project financing and single-consumption models toward more institutionalized, digitalized, and participatory new financing markets, and creating new growth opportunities for Hong Kong and the wider Asia-Pacific creative industries.

Hashtag: #Esperanza

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

IMBA and FOMO Pay to offer universal accessibility to arts and payments

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 05:03:40 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 13 May 2026 – IMBA Theatre, Singapore’s first-ever attraction at Gardens by the Bay dedicated to art, storytelling and immersive experiences, has partnered with FOMO Pay to deliver a seamless, inclusive payment experience for its diverse local and international audiences. This partnership underscores a shared commitment to universal accessibility: while IMBA brings world-class arts and culture to a global audience, FOMO Pay provides the seamless payment infrastructure to make those experiences inclusive for all.

A Stage for Every Story

Located within Singapore’s iconic Gardens by the Bay and just steps from Marina Bay Sands, IMBA Theatre is a cultural space where education, entertainment and culture exist in one space. Every show is designed not only to immerse and engage, but to spark curiosity and leave visitors with something new to think about.

Michael Lee, CEO, IMBA, said, “At IMBA, we are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of how technology and big ideas intersect to make culture accessible to people of all walks of life. By integrating FOMO Pay’s world-class digital payment solutions at our venue, we are ensuring that our visitors can engage with our exhibits through a seamless, contactless, and future-ready payment ecosystem.”

The 80,000 sq ft space includes two purpose-built black box theatres with cutting-edge technology, a dedicated gallery for exhibitions, a retail merchandise store, a wellness dining concept, and an immersive cultural zone by Prudential Singapore. Officially launched on 21 April 2026, IMBA Theatre currently houses the world’s first tri-format presentation featuring works by celebrated Colombian artist Maestro Fernando Botero, jointly presented with the Fernando Botero Foundation; and Lightroom’s David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away), currently the only place in Southeast Asia where audiences can experience the show. Beyond international productions, IMBA actively nurtures Singapore’s local arts talents, giving homegrown artists and creators a platform alongside world-renowned works.

Built for Everyone Who Walks Through the Door

As the only immersive theatre of its scale in Southeast Asia, IMBA welcomes a diverse and international audience. Serving them means making every part of the visitor journey seamless, including how they pay.

FOMO Pay’s FOMO AI Soundbox is Singapore’s first compact payment and merchant intelligence device, consolidating cards, PayNow, e-wallets, and stablecoins into a single terminal. Instant audio confirmations keep queues moving efficiently, even during peak visit periods. Built with an integrated microphone and an AI-powered merchant intelligence layer in development, the device also enables IMBA’s team to surface operational insights in real time, supporting faster, smarter decision-making across rotating shows and exhibitions.

“Art and culture have the power to connect people across languages, backgrounds, and borders, and the experiences built around them should reflect that,” said Louis Liu, Founder and CEO of FOMO Pay. “Our partnership with IMBA reflects what FOMO Pay is built to do, and that is to make payments simple, so visitors can focus fully on the experience itself.”

Two Brands, One Vision

The partnership between IMBA and FOMO Pay brings together two organisations with a shared belief that great experiences should be open to everyone. While IMBA works to make arts and culture accessible to all, FOMO Pay ensures the payment experience is equally inclusive, familiar to visitors regardless of where they come from. As IMBA continues to grow its regional footprint, FOMO Pay is proud to support that journey.

https://www.fomopay.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/fomo-pay/
https://x.com/FOMOPayOfficial

Hashtag: #DigitalPayment #DigitalBanking #DigitalAsset #FinTech #AgenticPayments #AI

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.

The Others Way festival won’t be coming back

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 01:58:27 +0000

Source: Radio New Zealand

Independent music festival The Others Way won’t be returning this year, with no plans to ever come back.

“We know how sad this will make a lot of people, and none sadder than us,” organisers Banished Music said in a statement posted to social media on Wednesday morning.

The annual festival has been held on Karangahape Road, in central Auckland, since 2015. The November 2025 party was its last.

The call to can it comes after years of mounting financial pressure, industry costs and an increasingly unstable live music and funding landscape, Banished wrote.

“The magnificent joy received from delivering The Others Way is outweighed by the sheer financial strain and emotional toll it takes on us to deliver,” said Banished, who took over the festival in 2023.

“Rising costs across every aspect of the entertainment industry, combined with ongoing uncertainty in the sponsorship and funding landscape, and people just doing it too tough out there to commit to buying gig tickets have created significant pressure.”

They said they’d explored every avenue available to try and raise funds, but could no longer operate sustainably.

“We haven’t been able to secure the secret formula to deliver the festival in a way that meets both our standards and our financial obligations,” they wrote.

“As well as that, over time the debt that we have accumulated on this project can no longer responsibly be carried forward.”

The Others Way festival was founded by former Laneway Festival promoter, Ben Howe in 2015. What began as a small street festival ten years ago, manifested over the decade to becoming a sold-out, 3000 people street party, boasting a bill of 40 names across nine venues on the strip.

Last year, in its tenth and final year, festival director Reuben Bonner took on the “mighty challenge” of closing down K’ Rd. The event was headlined by US singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten.

“It’s kind of K’ Road’s event, and it always has been, so the community really gets behind it,” Bonner told RNZ’s Nine to Noon last year.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Samsung Electronics Introduces 2026 AI TVs, Redefining Home Entertainment with Smarter Experiences

MIL OSI — Wed, 13 May 2026 00:03:47 +0000

Source: Media Outreach

Samsung 2026 TV line-up features Micro RGB, OLED, The Frame, Neo QLED, Mini LED and Crystal UHD models, brings smarter, personalised viewing experience with Vision AI Companion

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 13 May 2026 – Samsung Electronics Singapore today announced its 2026 TV line-up with expanded AI-powered features across more TV models. Designed to transform home entertainment experience, the 2026 Samsung TV line-up features smarter picture, sound and personalised experiences from its premium models – Micro RGB, OLED and Neo QLED – as well as Mini LED and Crystal UHD TVs and its Lifestyle TVs, The Frame.

This year, Samsung is expanding Vision AI Companion features across its TV line up, bringing AI-powered viewing experience to more categories and screen sizes to fit any consumer needs[1].

“As home entertainment evolves, consumers are looking beyond exceptional picture quality and sound. They seek a TV experience that resonates with their lifestyle and seamlessly integrates into their daily routines,” said Patrick Khor, Head of Visual Display at Samsung Electronics Singapore. “With the expansion of Vision AI Companion across our AI TV line-up, Samsung is delivering a more intuitive and personalised experience, tailored to diverse interests such as entertainment, sports, gaming, and art. This redefines the Samsung TV as a smarter and more adaptive companion for our everyday life in Singapore.”

Vision AI Companion Brings Smarter, More Immersive Viewing Experiences

Vision AI Companion (VAC) brings together Samsung’s AI features for TVs, integrating Bixby, Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot, to make the TV experience more intelligent and personalised. Designed to serve as an entertainment companion, VAC can help guide users on what to watch, what to eat and what to listen to, extending the role of the TV beyond viewing alone.

The AI TV line-up also brings AI-enhanced entertainment features to movies, sports and gaming content:

AI Upscaling Pro: uses AI to analyse and enhance low-resolution content in real time, delivering greater detail, depth and contrast, while Colour Booster Pro analyses and categorises scenes to provide more vivid, lifelike colour.
AI Football Mode Pro: Automatically analyses match scenes in real time to optimise picture and sound for smoother ball movement, vivid colour and more immersive stadium audio.
AI Sound Controller Pro: analyses dialogue, background music and sound effects in real time, letting users adjust elements such as commentary and crowd noise for a more immersive experience.

Micro RGB: Defining the Future of Premium Picture Quality

Micro RGB (R95H and R85H models) expands Samsung’s premium TV experience across a wider range of screen sizes, bringing highly precise colour, brightness and immersive AI-powered viewing to more consumers.

Available in sizes from 55″ to 115″, Micro RGB is built on Samsung’s proprietary Micro RGB Technology, which uses individually controlled red, green and blue micro LEDs to deliver cinema-class brightness, contrast, and true-to-life colour.

Additionally, Glare Free technology minimises light reflection in bright environments, allowing users to enjoy their viewing experience across a range of lighting conditions anytime.

Micro RGB also brings Vision AI Companion (VAC) and other AI-optimised features to Samsung’s premium large-screen category, adding more intelligent and personalised viewing experiences. Micro RGB AI Engine Pro fine-tunes colour, motion and depth for optimal image quality. Each scene delivers an immersive experience with Micro RGB Precision Colour 100, ensuring fuller and more lifelike colour expression, with support for 100% colour coverage of BT.2020, an international standard set by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)[2].

Micro RGB Colour Booster Pro and Micro RGB HDR Pro leverage Samsung’s AI technology to further refine picture quality by optimising colour and contrast scene by scene, helping deliver more vibrant visuals across a wide range of brightness levels.

Reinforcing Samsung’s focus on premium viewing comfort, the R95H has also received both the Safety for Eyes and Circadian Rhythm Display (CRD) certifications from Verband Deutscher Elektrotechniker (VDE), a leading global testing institute based in Germany.

OLED: Improved Immersion across Gaming and Football

Samsung’s 2026 OLED TVs (S95H, S90H and S85H models) continue to elevate the gaming and football viewing experience, offering deep blacks, rich colour, immersive performance and refined design across a wider range of viewing preferences. Glare Free technology is available on S95H and S90H for true blacks and rich colours, even in bright rooms.

On the flagship S95H, which will be launched towards the end of 2026 in Singapore, Samsung added premium features designed to elevate both entertainment and art. Pantone Validated ArtfulColor helps preserve the authenticity of original artwork with faithful colour and exceptional detail, while Art Store extends Samsung’s art experiences to its OLED model range. FloatLayer Design also gives the display a lighter, more refined presence that blends in more naturally with the home environment.

For gamers, Samsung OLED’s Ultimate Gaming Pack helps keep fast motion crisp and responsive. It brings together Motion Xcelerator 165Hz, support for key VRR platforms such as AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and NVIDIA G-SYNC Compatible, and quick-access gaming tools for smoother, more intuitive play.

For sports fans, the S95H and S90H feature AI Football Mode Pro, while the S85H features AI Football Mode, to optimise picture and sound in real time for a more immersive game match experience at home.

Neo QLED: Enhanced Picture Quality with More Connected Experiences

Samsung’s Neo QLED (QN70H model) brings together enhanced AI picture quality and more connected viewing experiences, available in sizes from 55″ to 85″. Each model delivers the brightness, contrast and smart optimisation expected from a true QLED experience.

Certified by TÜV Rheinland as a Real QLED TV, Samsung Neo QLED uses a blue light backlight and a genuine quantum dot sheet to maintain a stable colour spectrum and consistent picture performance. Real QLED with 100% Colour Volume keeps colour accurate and stable with clear detail on every scene, even at high brightness levels. Quantum Mini LED sets the standard for contrast and enables ultra-precise light control, delivering depth and clarity scene after scene.

The viewing experience is now more seamless with VAC, which displays helpful information on-request without disrupting on-screen content. In addition to VAC adding seamless searches – enquiring how to clear a particularly difficult stage in a video game or looking up a favourite football player – to the viewing experience, Samsung is expanding AI-powered picture and motion optimisation across the Neo QLED line-up. These enhancements include 4K Upscaling and gaming performance of up to 144Hz[3] powered by the NQ4 AI Processor.

Mini LED: Rich Viewing Experiences Now Available in a Larger Screen

Samsung Mini LED (M90H, M75H, M1EH models) brings a brighter, richer viewing experience to more viewers. More precise light control and Pure Spectrum Colour give images greater depth and clarity, as well as contrast that feels more defined from one scene to the next.

The Samsung Mini LED range features an extensive selection of screen sizes, accommodating all rooms and homes. The range includes sizes from 43″ to an exclusive 100″ screen in the M90H model.

Consumers can also experience superior Mini LED picture quality with AI-powered features for sports, gaming and everyday entertainment with Mini LED 4K Processor[4] which powers picture optimisation and upscaling. Mini LED HDR[5] and Motion Xcelerator brings a dynamic viewing experience that keeps fast-paced content smooth and clear. And with Dynamic Sound Pack, the Mini LED line-up features Adaptive Sound that optimises sound based on real-time scene[6] for an immersive viewing experience.

The Frame and Music Studio: Elevating Design-Forward Spaces

Samsung’s lifestyle TV and sound line-up combine design and technology to offer a personalised experience for modern homes in Singapore.

The timeless The Frame line-up minimises distractions and allows art that matches your room, mood or occasion to take centre stage. Accessible through the Samsung Art Store, it now features over 5,000 curated artworks through official partnerships from prestigious global galleries – Louvre, MoMA, as well as art from National Gallery Singapore.

Featuring Pantone Validated ArtfulColor and Glare Free technology, The Frame Pro (LS03HW) offers Neo QLED picture quality to deliver rich contrast, true-to-life, paper-like colour expression and clearer detail, even in bright rooms. With a slim 24.9mm design depth and Wireless One Connect, The Frame Pro offers a clean setup with minimal in-wall work needed to achieve a cable-free aesthetic.

Meanwhile, The Frame (LS03HE) features a built-in design that enables easy in-wall wiring while preserving The Frame’s iconic flush-to-wall look. Available in a new 98″ size, The Frame offers a gallery-scale canvas ideal for displaying large-format artwork.

For sound devices with audio as expressive as its design for the modern home, Samsung has introduced the Music Studio Series designed by renowned designer Erwan Bouroullec. The new home audio range builds on Samsung’s long-standing leadership in premium home audio, including its 12-year run as the world’s No. 1 soundbar brand[7].

The new Music Studio 7 follows the recent launch of the Music Studio 5. The Music Studio 7delivers an immersive 3.1.1-channel audio experience designed for richer, more expressive listening. Key features include:

Hi-Resolution Audio and Dolby Atmos^®: more detailed and immersive sound playback, while its super tweeter extends frequency response up to 35kHz for enhanced musical detail.
Expanded Q-Symphony: lets users connect up to five compatible sound devices[8] with a Samsung TV to build a more immersive audio-visual experience at home.
Built to pair naturally with big-screen TVs: two Music Studio 7 units placed on either side of a larger display can create a more balanced interior look while widening the stereo soundstage.

Built for flexibility, Music Studio can also wirelessly connect to various devices via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth anywhere at home. With Spotify Tap integration, users can double tap their phone to a Music Studio speaker to launch a playlist of recommended songs, with another double tap calling up a fresh playlist without needing to launch the app[9]. Users can wirelessly connect up to 10 Music Studio speakers through Group Play to create new listening opportunities and soundstages[10].

The Music Studio 7 features Bouroullec’s signature Dot Design and is available in two colourways – black or white.

Q-Series Soundbars: Elevating Home Theatre Setups to New Heights

For the ultimate cinematic experience, Samsung Q-Series soundbars deliver powerful, detailed surround sound across all content types. This year’s line-up includes the HW-Q990H, HW-Q930H, HW-QS90H HW-Q800HandHW-Q600H.

The flagship HW-Q990H is Samsung’s most immersive soundbar yet, with true 11.1.4 channel sound that surrounds listeners from every angle[11]. Wireless Dolby Atmos[12]helps listeners hear every distinct beat and pulse – just like they would in a theatre. Dolby Atmos is also supported with an HDMI cable.

Its compact dual active subwoofer with AI Dynamic Bass Control[13] uses AI-based algorithms for dramatic, powerful bass with minimised distortion, while retaining a space-efficient, compact form factor. SpaceFit Sound Pro ensures ideal sound for the space, using a built-in microphone to analyse the room and automatically adjust sound settings, while Adaptive Sound recognises the type of content on screen and optimise audio for clearer voices and more detailed content.

A new feature to the 2026 Q-Series Soundbar line-up[14] is Sound Elevation, which ensures a more natural and comfortable listening experience by directing sound towards the image on the TV screen. This way, dialogue will sound like it’s coming from where the characters are positioned on-screen, versus where the soundbar is placed below the TV. Auto Volume also avoids sudden volume jumps when switching channels, content and streaming services.

As the first all-in-one Samsung soundbar, the HW-QS90H blends premium performance with aesthetic versatility. It delivers deep bass with four built-in woofers, removing the need for a separate subwoofer. With gyro sensor that recognises its position to optimise sound accordingly, the soundbar can be placed on a TV stand or mounted on a wall.

It’s the ideal solution for those who want a clean, customisable aesthetic without compromising on room-filling 7.1.2 channel sound. The HW-QS90H also features next-generation AI tuning, including SpaceFit Sound Pro, Active Voice Amplifier Pro, Adaptive Sound, AI Dynamic Bass Control, Sound Elevation and Auto Volume.

Across soundbars and Music Studio speakers, the new Samsung Sound app[15] puts you in control of every detail. It lets you manage sound, group speakers, and more, all from one simple interface.

Enhanced Entertainment and Personalisation on Samsung TV, Secured by Samsung Knox

Enjoy more with Samsung TV Plus, providing users with instant access to thousands of entertainment content without additional sign-ups or payment. Samsung TV Plus is available exclusively on Samsung TVs, Galaxy devices, Samsung Smart Monitors, and Family Hub refrigerators, with no subscription required.

Samsung is also expanding connectivity across its 2026 TV line-up with support for Google Cast [16]. Available on select models, users can stream content directly from compatible smartphones and tablets to the TV, adding more flexibility to the viewing experience.

Google Photos [17] memories will also be available on selected 2026 Samsung TVs, giving users a new way to relive their favourite moments on the big screen[18]. This experience surfaces curated photo memories through Samsung Daily+, the Now Brief on-screen widget and the Google Photos app, available first and exclusively for six months. Additional Google Photos features will roll out on Samsung TVs later in 2026.

SmartThings integration on Samsung TVs brings the entertainment powerhouse to the connected ecosystem at home. With the SmartThings app, users can control compatible home devices[19], including Samsung TV and sound devices from their phone. Plus, AI Energy Mode can also intelligently adjust TV brightness to help manage energy consumption[20].

At the centre of all these display innovations is the most powerful Tizen OS yet. Users can enjoy seven years of Tizen OS upgrades[21], ensuring that TVs continue to evolve long after they have entered the home.

Samsung Knox Security[22] helps keep connected devices safe, with active monitoring blocking harmful apps or sites, along with keeping sensitive data such as passwords secure.

Local Pricing and Launch Offers

The 2026 Samsung TV and audio line-up is now available for purchase in Singapore via Samsung Online Store, Samsung Shop App, Samsung Official Store on Lazada, Shopee and TikTok Shop, as well as selected Consumer Electronics and IT stores (Audio House, Best Denki, Courts, Gain City, Harvey Norman, Mega Discount Store, Parisilk).

The line-up and corresponding promos are as follows:

TV Type	Series	Size	RRP	Launch Offer
Micro RGB	R95H	85″	$12,999	Complimentary QS700F soundbar worth $899
	R95H	75″	$10,999	Complimentary QS700F soundbar worth $899
	R95H	65″	$5,399
	R85H	85″	$7,599	Complimentary QS700F soundbar worth $899
	R85H	75″	$5,999	Complimentary QS700F soundbar worth $899
	R85H	65″	$3,599
	R85H	55″	$2,799
OLED	S90H	83″	$9,999
	S90H	77″	$7,399
	S90H	65″	$3,999
	S90H	55″	$3,099
	S90H	48″	$2,399
	S85H	83″	$7,599
	S85H	77″	$5,999
	S85H	65″	$3,599
	S85H	55″	$2,799
	S85H	48″	$2,099
Neo QLED	QN70H	85″	$4,499
		75″	$3,499
		65″	$2,599
		55″	$1,999
Mini LED	M90H	100″	$4,599
	M75H	85″	$2,699	$100 e-voucher
	M75H	75″	$1,899	$100 e-voucher
	M75H	65″	$1,299
	M75H	55″	$1,049
	M75H	50″	$849
	M75H	43″	$799
	M1EH*	85″	$2,699	Complimentary Music Studio 5 worth $349
	M1EH*	75″	$1,899	Complimentary Music Studio 5 worth $349
	M1EH*	65″	$1,299
	M1EH*	55″	$1,049
	M1EH*	50″	$849
	M1EH*	43″	$799
The Frame Pro	LS03HW	85″	$7,299
		75″	$5,299
		65″	$3,599
		55″	$2,699
The Frame	LS03HE	98″	$8,299	Complimentary S801D soundbar worth $799
	LS03HE*	75″	$4,799	Complimentary Music Studio 5 worth $349
	LS03HE*	65″	$3,299
	LS03HE*	55″	$2,399
	LS03HE*	43″	$1,899
Crystal UHD	U8000H	85″	$2,199
		75″	$1,399
		65″	$949
		55″	$699
		50″	$599
		43″	$549
The Movingstyle	LSM7F*	27″	$1,699	Complimentary Music Studio 5 worth $349

*Available exclusively online via Samsung Online Store, Samsung Shop App, Samsung Official Store on Lazada, Shopee and TikTok Shop.

Category	Model	Colour	Audio Channels	RRP	Launch Offer
WiFi Speaker	Music Studio 7	Black, White	3.1.1	$699	$88 off
WiFi Speaker	Music Studio 5*	Black, White	2.0	$349
Q-Series Soundbar	HW-Q990H	Black	11.1.4	$1,899
	HW-Q930H	Black	9.1.4	$1,499
	HW-QS90H	Black	7.1.2	$1,299
	HW-Q800H	Black	5.1.2	$1,099
	HW-Q600H	Black	3.1.2	$599

*Available exclusively online via Samsung Online Store, Samsung Shop App, Samsung Official Store on Lazada, Shopee and TikTok Shop.

For more information about Samsung’s 2026 Vision AI TV and audio line-up, please visit www.samsung.com.

[1] Series and model counts are based on the global launch line-up and may vary by region.

[2] VDE’s verification evaluates products based on the test criteria established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for UHD (4K) colour standards, BT2020, and certifies Micro RGB Colour 100%.

[3] Available on selected Neo QLED models only.

[4] Viewing experience may vary according to types of content and format. Upscaling may not apply to PC connection and Game Mode.

[5] The range of Mini LED HDR luminance is based on internal testing standards and subject to change according to viewing conditions or specifications.

[6] Experience may vary depending on the content.

[7] According to Future Source, Samsung captured 21.5% of global soundbar revenue and 19.7% of unit volume in 2025, continuing a leadership streak that began in 2014.

[8] Q-Symphony requires a compatible 2022-2026 Samsung TV (BU8000 and above for 2022 models, CU7000 and above for 2023 models, DU7000 and above for 2024 models, U8000F and above for 2025 models, U8000H and above for 2025 models, and 2022-2026 models of The Frame, The Frame Pro). Connects up to 5 when all devices are Y26 models and up to 3 when Y23~Y25 sound devices are included.

[9] Initial set-up through the Spotify mobile app and initial connection to Music Studio Speaker through Spotify Connect Casting is required. Compatible mobile device and speaker must be connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Requires Instant Music Play to be enabled in the Samsung SmartThings or Samsung Sound App.

[10] Sound quality will vary depending on environmental characteristics (including ceiling) and source content. Feature accessible through the SmartThings app. Requires a mobile device running on Android 9.0 or above or iOS 15.0 or above (subject to change on software update) with the SmartThings app installed. SmartThings is compatible with selected devices. Please see samsung.com/sg/smartthings/. Each device must be connected to Wi-Fi or other wireless network. Content services are subject to change without notice.

[11] Utilises AI-based algorithm.

[12] Wireless Dolby Atmos® transmission via Wi-Fi, works with 2022-2026 Samsung TVs. Dolby Atmos source content required.

[13] Utilises AI-based algorithm.

[14] Refers to HW-Q990H, HQ-Q930H, HW-QS90H, HW-Q800H and HW-Q600H models

[15] Requires a Wi-Fi connection. Available for download on iOS via the Apple App Store and on Android via the Google Play Store.

[16] Google Cast is trademarks of Google LLC.

[17] Google Photos is trademarks of Google LLC

[18] Features and availability may vary by model and region.

[19] Available technology, functions and features may vary by country, service provider, network environment or product, and are subject to change without notice. Requires a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other wireless network connection and login to Samsung account. Connected devices are sold separately. UI is subject to change without prior notice.

[20] Products shipped in Eco Mode have some AI Energy Mode functions enabled by default, so energy consumption levels when AI Energy Mode is turned on may appear lower compared to Standard Mode. AI Energy Mode does not work with Game Mode. Energy consumption may vary depending on content being displayed and surrounding brightness levels.

[21] Content and services may vary by region and are subject to change without notice. Agreement to Smart Hub Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy is required before use. Some content and services require registration and subscription. Requires Samsung account. Tizen OS upgrades will be supported for up to 7 years starting from 2026, for products released in the year 2026. Please note that the upgrade does not cover hardware-related performance, features or durability.

[22] Samsung Knox Security applies to Samsung TVs powered by Tizen®, launched since 2015.Latest software update is required.

Hashtag: #Samsung #SamsungElectronics

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

– Published and distributed with permission of Media-Outreach.com.