GORILLA Glue girl Tessica Brown found lumps in her breasts just weeks after an operation to remove the adhesive from her hair.

Brown’s doctor found the lumps while doing a pre-surgery prep for breast augmentation earlier this week, according to her manager.

Brown, known online as Gorilla Glue girl, rose to fame after a posting a TikTok video asking for help after she used the sticky adhesive to set her hair .

The viral video led to Brown getting a celebrity management team, a merchandise line and even a sketch on Saturday Night Live .

Her manager, Gina Rodriguez, told TMZ that Brown’s doctor, Dr Michael Obeng, discovered the lumps while they were doing a prep for a “mommy makeover,” which would include a breast lift and implants.

Dr Obeng also performed a free operation on Brown to get the Gorilla Glue out of her hair.

During the pre-surgery procedure, the doctor discovered a lump in each breast and quickly sent Brown to have the lumps removed.

Her manager said they are now being tested for cancer.

Brown said that she believes the whole Gorilla Glue ordeal led her to the moment when the lumps were discovered and could be removed before any disease progressed.

After the Gorilla Glue incident, Brown set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for wigs and to deal with the strong adhesive that was stuck to her head. It has since raised more than $23,000.

Last week, social media users began accusing Brown of fraud and using the viral video to gain fame and trick people into donating to her cause.

Her GoFundMe page was locked and the company said it was under investigation.

After Brown underwent a free operation by Dr Obeng to remove the Gorilla Glue from her hair, she pledged to give the donations she raised to charity.

But she claims the funds have since been frozen – telling the New York Post , “They won’t even release it to me because that many people have called and said it was a fraudulent account.

“Every time you look at it it says it’s under investigation.”

The Louisiana native claims jealous online critics have disputed her intentions to distribute the funds, resulting in her GoFundMe access being blocked.

It comes after she hit back at social media users trolling her and suggesting she faked her predicament to win clout on TikTok.

“I’m like, we can donate to Dr Obeng… and the rest of that I’m going to donate it to three families in St. Bernard Parish,” Brown explained to the Post.

She planned to “show my appreciation for his foundation and also I can help the next person,” by donating $20,000 to Dr Obeng’s “Restore Worldwide” foundation.

The Ghanian doctor travels to developing countries to perform procedures patients do not have access to.

Brown planned to bung the rest of the cash to help struggling families in her local parish, but complained: “No matter what I do it’s a problem.”

BANGKOK: When South Korea’s Democratic Party, under the leadership of President Moon Jae-in, romped to a comprehensive victory in national elections last month, it signalled overwhelming confidence in the incumbent government during a period of crisis.

In effect, it also endorsed Moon’s newly launched climate change policy, which he has dubbed South Korea’s Green New Deal, echoing language used in Europe and the United States for a transformative agenda to shift away from damaging fossil fuels.

It puts the country, which is currently the seventh biggest carbon polluter in the world, on a crash course with a painful, controversial but necessary overhaul of its energy systems.

The action plan that the government announced in March – including a large-scale investment in renewable energy, the phasing out of coal operations and financing, a new carbon tax and a target of zero net emissions by 2050 – is at odds with much of the existing infrastructure and policies.

Achieving these goals for South Korea will be a more challenging task than in many other nations trying to make similar changes to their power production, according to leading regional energy expert, Melissa Brown.

“Generally speaking at a diplomatic level, you have a very comfortable embrace of green themes, green topics and the trappings of deep environmentalism. (But) the reality of the ground normally doesn’t match. It’s been a point of contention in Korea,” said Brown, the director of Energy Finance Studies, Asia at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

“When we talk about the Green New Deal and trying to redirect Korea, it can seem a stunningly ambitious exercise.”

South Korea relies on coal for about 44 per cent of its power needs presently. The non-nuclear renewable sector, including wind and solar is underdeveloped and accounted for less than 2 per cent of production in 2018.

Its present targets under the Paris Agreement are for a 37 per cent reduction in business-as-usual emissions by 2030. It is a pledge considered “highly insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker, an independent consortium that tracks government action on climate.

In addition, the country was the third-highest polluter in the world per capita in 2016, the fourth largest importer of coal and the third biggest public investor in overseas coal plants, including in Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam where a Greenpeace report found alarming rates of emissions, which would be illegal in South Korea itself.

READ: UN chief praises South Korea’s simultaneous fight against COVID-19, climate change

Despite phasing out and fast-tracking the drawdown of some older coal power plants, new operations are still set to come online in years to come.

Brown says South Korea’s powerful state enterprises, notably the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), which dominate the domestic energy sector, have failed to take heed of shifting global energy markets and the hastening economic demise of fossil fuel commodities.

“They weren’t looking for change, and as change completely restructured global power markets, now they’re really caught out. They didn’t read the books, they didn’t pay attention and it’s not simply a Korean problem,” she said.

“If you don’t understand or you’re somehow blinded to the realities that are taking place as a result of massive and exciting technology changes because they don’t fit your model, you’re not serving the interests of the Korean people. That’s what they’re coming bang up against.

She added: “Korea has very significant and expensive legacy assets. They will need to be positioned for transition. And I don’t minimise that challenge. Essentially what they’ve done is doubled down on fossil fuel lock-in on new power generating capacity that will not be economic in 10 years time, if not earlier. That is an unconscionable mistake.”

RELIANCE ON COAL NOT NECESSARILY CHEAPER IN LONG RUN

A recent report by Carbon Tracker, an independent financial think tank, highlighted the economic dangers of South Korea’s continued commitment to coal, finding that it had the highest stranded asset risk in the world – infrastructure at risk of being unprofitable or decommissioned early due to market structures.

The report explained that by 2027, it would be cheaper to build new solar production in South Korea than operate its existing coal plants.

Another study by the same group highlighted fears that the South Korean government was set to play a game of “whack-a-mole” by simply shifting coal production into liquefied natural gas instead.

“The coal replacement plan should not shift attention towards a long-term commitment to gas. This would simply imply a substitution from one type of stranded asset risk to another,” said Valeria Ehrenheim, a junior gas analyst for Carbon Tracker.

“Short-term profitability of gas investments must not hinder the development of least-cost and low carbon emission technologies. We see a huge obstacle in the form of existing fossilised power market regulation, which is implicitly working against this clean energy development,” she added.

HIGH PUBLIC EXPECTATIONS FOR CLIMATE ACTION

The political ramifications for the current administration appear to be stark in the event of poorly judged policy development on climate change. In polling of the South Korean people last year, 86 per cent said they believed that climate change was a major threat to their country.

“Asia is not a region where you have climate denialism. People not only think the weather is different but they think things are different in ways that are bad,” Brown said. “When people go to vote they’re expressing a view on a better future and they now want that to be a cleaner and greener future.”

There will be fewer excuses this time for the Moon administration not to take meaningful, reformative action. Despite lingering economic woes from the COVID-19 crisis, the government’s path to push forward with its agenda is clear after a record turnout of voters delivered it a rare majority in parliament.

“It was a huge message. During this turmoil, we choose you but you have to show something. They cannot blame the opposition party or political gridlock any longer,” said  Sang-young Rhyu, a professor of political economy at the Graduate School of International Studies, Yonsei University.

“The ruling party now possesses an asset allowing them to do whatever they want. The public mass though is so unpredictable and capricious. And there are high expectations,” he said.

While there may be more room to move on a progressive agenda – the electoral victory was the widest by any party under the current democratic constitution – there is also still a lack of a clear roadmap to deliver the Green New Deal.

READ: Commentary – Japan’s new resource strategy to tackle climate change is risky

Prof Rhyu says the dynamic nature of Korean politics means there is no job security for the president, despite his strong mandate.

“If he really has an environmental philosophy, then he just needs to take some measures. We have to move. Not one step has been taken yet. Words don’t matter,” he said.

While he believes President Moon has campaigned strongly on climate issues, he argues that, generally, the policy positions are converging rather than widening between the government and the conservative opposition. It means walking a delicate path with much at stake.

For instance, critics have taken aim at the government for offering emergency bailout funds for industrial power plant operator Doosan Heavy Industries during the pandemic, despite many of its financial problems stemming from well before the crisis.

“The room for maneuvering for the president is not so wide. The Korean economy is very sensitive and vulnerable. It relies heavily on the conglomerates. And it’s socially very divided. For President Moon to meet the high expectations, it’s not easy,” he said.

In the meantime, South Korea is starting to feel the impacts of climate change more prevalently. Heatwaves are on the increase, air pollution has worsened and energy use remains nearly double the global average, partly due to systemic inefficiencies.

Having a strong target to mitigate those problems is an important start, Brown says, as it sends a powerful message to industry and markets, and eventually the technology will be available to deliver sweeping efficiencies.

“It seems a bit absurd if you look at these targets but they are always a statement of ambition and there’s a diplomatic process of raising the ambition,” she said.

“The important thing for Korea at this stage is figuring out what they’re going to stop doing and that’s actually where they’re having such a hard time right now.”

We’ve spent nearly the whole of this year being told to stay indoors, avoid crowds and keep ourselves occupied at home. It’s almost like the powers that be have given us a cosmic excuse – nay, mandate – to stay in bed and binge watch our favourite streamed shows.

So, if you found yourself Netflix-ing more than ever this year, you’re not alone. I, for one, actually renewed my Netflix subscription during the “circuit breaker”, after cancelling it a couple of years ago.

The folks at Netflix just released some interesting information about what we in Singapore, as well as the rest of Asia, have been watching this year. And clearly, we’ve been watching a lot more of, well, everything.

Fascinatingly, anime turned out to be a major trend throughout Asia. All countries in Asia, Netflix revealed, watched twice as much anime as they did in 2019 – except for India, which watched a whopping four times more anime this year than last.

In Singapore, anime-viewing in 2020 was more than 140 per cent of what it was last year. And the most-watched anime title was Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution.

Incidentally, the same Pokemon show was also the top anime title in Malaysia and India.

Singaporeans also loved My Neighbor Totoro, which was among the top 10 most popular anime titles here. The well-loved 1988 classic came to Netflix only this year.

Other top anime titles were Transformers: War for Cybertron, A Whisker Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Drama viewing in Singapore went up, too – by nearly 70 per cent, Netflix shared. And the most popular drama title in Singapore? It was Enola Holmes, the mystery show starring Millie Bobby Brown that followed the adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ little sister, based on the young adult fiction book by Nancy Springer.

The Queen’s Gambit was also popular, as were Lucifer and The Devil All The Time.

K-drama viewing in particular also soared, rising by 200 per cent from last year as Netflix intensifies its presence in South Korea. It may or may not surprise you to learn that the top Korean drama among Singapore viewers was The King: Eternal Monarch, the fantasy romance that saw Lee Min-ho making his acting comeback as a displaced emperor in modern-day Seoul.

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay, however, was the most enduring K-drama title of 2020 on Netflix Singapore, staying in the Top 10 for 103 days.

Other popular K-dramas were The World Of The Married, Mystic Pop-up Bar, Was It Love?, Record Of Youth, Extracurricular, Itaewon Class and Hi Bye, Mama!

What else did we in Singapore spend our time watching? Well, Emily In Paris was Netflix’s top comedy title, while scary zombie movie fans made #Alive the top horror title and K-pop fans propelled BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky to most-watched documentary.

Now, how many of you couch spuds are currently streaming something in the background as you read this?

During the “circuit breaker”, Sanity Coffee Bar made and delivered nearly 2000 cups of coffee to healthcare workers , bringing comfort and lifting spirits in a time of uncertainty.

But thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the cafe’s own fate now hangs in the balance.

Located in a quiet corner on the second floor of the Esplanade Mall, Sanity sees only about 50 to 60 per cent of the customers it used to. With performances and events curtailed, foot traffic in the area has reduced drastically.

This means that owner Chen Diya doesn’t know what will happen when this month is up.

But the cafe is much more than just a business to 35-year-old Diya, a singer and one half of Mandopop girl band The Freshman.

The Project Superstar 2007 winner opened its doors about a year and a half ago without knowing anything about the F&B industry, but simply believing in the restorative power of coffee.

In 2016, when she embarked on a two-and-a-half-year world tour opening for Jacky Cheung, she’d look for a cafe to escape to in each country she was in, she recounted. That me-time activity became essential for her wellbeing.

“Coffee is an excuse for myself to spend some time to recalibrate my values and how I feel; and to dump all the thoughts I have into a notebook,” she said. During that time, “coffee kept me sane. Or rather, the act of going out to find coffee kept me sane”.

So, when the opportunity came to start her own cafe, a small voice inside her told her to seize it, she recalled. And the cafe’s name came easily: Sanity, the substance she found in every cup of coffee.

She’d had experience with coffee before, when she worked as a barista at Oriole in 2011. “That was after The Freshman’s first album was released, and I was very lost,” she said. “We thought another door would open, but it didn’t. And I was broke. And I was wondering what to do next. Do I go and find a ‘proper job’, according to my mother? Or do I continue to try? Even then, how do I continue singing?”

As a child, she had many ambitions: “Waitress, NTUC cashier and immigration officer, so that I can chop your passport”, she quipped.

Finding herself in hospitality, she was inspired by the idea that a cafe could become a community hangout – the kind of environment she observed at establishments like Nylon Coffee Roasters.

And because drinking coffee at a cafe was her “sanity”, “when I started this place, I (decided to) really try and defend this bit of coffee very fiercely,” she said.

That means it’s perfectly fine with her if guests want to order one drink and spend eight hours sitting at the counter.

“I really want that kind of space, because that’s the kind of space that I wish I had. Like, if I’m at Starbucks, and I see people chasing students away, I always feel very bad. I feel like I want to buy them another drink so that they can pay for their ‘rent’. Because to me, coffee, and the time you spend with a coffee cup, is quite sacred.”

For instance, “JJ Lin came for coffee, and it actually really blessed me to see him sitting at a counter quietly; to have that space. He’s an international superstar. (Here) he’s just JJ – he’s just a guy who likes coffee, and wants to scroll stuff on his phone like anyone else.”

Running the cafe isn’t without enormous challenges. In addition to spending her days serving customers, Diya also does the marketing, menu development, copywriting and even the heavy lifting – transporting bucketfuls of beans and the like – all by herself.

“It’s been difficult but also very enriching. I think we’ve really built a community of people here. Coffee is always the conversation,” she said.

The cafe’s signature drink, Dark Matter, was born out of one of these conversations. At dinner at Restaurant Labyrinth, located right opposite the cafe , Diya encountered a dessert comprising dark chocolate and dark soy sauce.

Chef LG Han gave her a taste of the soy sauce, made by premium local brewer Kwong Woh Hin, and she immediately knew it would blend perfectly in a milky coffee. The result is a fragrantly delicious coffee with deep caramel notes, served in a cup rimmed with brown sugar crystals.

Being located at the Esplanade, on the doorstep of its theatres and concert halls, is also an important part of the cafe’s identity.

“There are a lot of very passionate, very amazing individuals who do a lot for the arts scene. And sometimes it feels like if I can’t do something for the arts scene, at least I can do something for the people who do something for the arts scene. And coffee is the best way to do that.”

That’s why she’d be sad if Sanity had to close its doors here. “I’m very aware of how dispensable we are; how many coffee places there are out there. But I get very blessed by this space. I think I get blessed by conversations that happen over the counter. And I get very blessed when I see people who are passionate come in here and share their stories… It makes me feel very alive.” And, she added, “It just feels like home”.

Making coffee and making music aren’t that much different, she mused. “Music is part of life. It’s a medium. Coffee is also a medium. Because of music, we get to reach out to people, have conversations and share something we might not be able to share otherwise. And we get to make someone’s day, or keep someone going for the moment, whatever moment they’re going through. I think coffee is similar.”

She added, “I think sometimes, whatever we’re doing, we just want to be able to make a small difference. It’s not a noble thing. You also get very blessed in return”.

Bringing coffee to healthcare workers during the circuit breaker, for instance, was an exercise that made her “realise how many nice people there are out there”. People who learned about the cafe’s initiative started to offer donations to cover the cost of the coffee.

“They would say, ‘Can I contribute?’ And then they would stuff S$300 in cash in our faces. And we’d be like, ‘That’s too much. Do you know how many cups of coffee this is?’

“In total, I think we received about S$4,000. So, what started out as something I wanted to do as a cafe ended up being fully covered by the kindness of our regulars.”

And so, “Even if, at the end of the day, we don’t survive, the last couple of months wouldn’t have been for nothing. We would have good memories,” she said. “That’s the sort of spirit I’m trying to carry on with right now.

“The thing about business is that you never know. Sometimes, you’re just holding out for something to happen. And I think it feels a bit like that now – like holding out for something to happen.”

Sanity Coffee Bar is at 8 Raffles Avenue, #02-19 Esplanade Mall.

REUTERS: Juan Pablo Montoya will join Arrow McLaren for next year’s Indianapolis 500, the team said on Wednesday, as the Colombian chases a third win at the Brickyard.

One of only three drivers to win races in Formula One, IndyCar and NASCAR, the 45-year-old Montoya becomes the third member of a team that also includes full-time drivers Mexican Patricio O’Ward and Swede Felix Rosenqvist.

“I’m very excited to be joining Arrow McLaren SP for the Indianapolis 500,” Montoya said in a statement. “I have some great history with McLaren from my F1 days and I’m looking forward to making some more at next year’s Indianapolis 500.”

The partnership is a reunion of sorts for Montoya who finished his F1 career with McLaren Mercedes with whom he claimed three of his seven career wins.

Montoya made his F1 debut with Williams in 2001 and won four times with that team, including the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix.

The Colombian won his first Indianapolis 500 as a rookie in 2000 and his second 15 years later.

After his return from F1, Montoya focused on NASCAR and competed for nine seasons, winning two races.

Montoya has recently raced in the IMSA SportsCar series, helping Team Penske to the 2019 championship.

“I’m delighted for Juan to rejoin the McLaren family and return to the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP,” said Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing.

“He is an intensely competitive, highly versatile driver, with deep experience at the top level of motorsport and a big following.

“Having him with us at the 500 next year will be great for the team and IndyCar fans everywhere.”

Montoya last raced the Indy 500 in 2017 when he finished sixth.

Next year’s race is scheduled for May 30.

(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto, Editing by Ed Osmond)