Latest news with #GeorgeLee
Irish Daily Mirror
26-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Daily Mirror
RTE star feared he'd be paralysed for life as he opens up about rare diagnosis
RTE star George Lee has revealed he thought he would end up paralysed for life after he was diagnosed with a rare spinal condition. The Environmental Correspondent said he feared the worst when in 2022 he was left in a wheelchair after doctors diagnosed him with Cauda Equina Syndrome. CES is where the nerve roots at the base of the spinal cord are compressed or damaged, leading to various neurological symptoms, including severe back pain, pain radiating down the legs (sciatica), numbness around the anus, and most importantly, loss of bowel and bladder control. Immediate medical intervention is crucial to prevent permanent damage, including paralysis. George told the RTE Guide: 'I was in a wheelchair for those couple of days, thinking, this is going to be my life from now on," he said, following the diagnosis. "It was the strangest thing ever.' The 62-year-old said he thought he'd never recover from the illness. "I did read at the time of my illness that many people don't get out very well, so lucky, lucky me. 'But you go on a journey when something like that happens. First, you think 'Will I recover?' 'Second, you think 'What will it be like if I don't recover?' Will someone be changing my nappies for the rest of my life? I believe if the timing was different and the RTÉ redundancy package was available then as it is now, I'd have taken it. But my priorities have shifted again." George also opened up about missing the late Charlie Bird. The pair first met in the late 1990s in the wake of the National Irish Bank story, a major investigation by George and Charliee, who died in March 2024. "I think about Charlie very often," said George. "It all happened so quickly for him, so terribly sad and showing how transient health and life is. I do miss him."
New York Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
George Lee, Trailblazing Chinese Ballet Dancer, Dies at 90
George Lee, a Chinese-born ballet dancer who was likely the first Asian to perform at New York City Ballet when he danced in George Balanchine's original production of Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker' in 1954, died on April 19 in Las Vegas. He was 90. Jennifer Lin, who directed a short documentary about Mr. Lee called 'Ten Times Better' (2024), confirmed his death, in a group home while under hospice care. He had no immediate survivors. Mr. Lee, who immigrated to the United States in 1951, was studying at the School of American Ballet, City Ballet's affiliated school, when Mr. Balanchine asked him to demonstrate his talent. Mr. Lee, then known as George Li — he changed the spelling of his surname in 1959, when he was naturalized — had been trained by Russian teachers in Shanghai. He responded to Mr. Balanchine, who was raised in Russia, in the choreographer's native language. 'He said, 'What can you do good? Show me what you can do good,' so I show him something,' Mr. Lee told The New York Times in 2024. 'I did things like splits and double turns, down and up, turn again like a ball, and that's it. He picked up some things and put them together.' During a dress rehearsal, when a makeup artist covered him in yellowface, Mr. Balanchine intervened. 'He is Asian enough!' Mr. Lee recalled Mr. Balanchine saying. 'Why do you make him more?' The elements of Mr. Lee's costume as the character Tea — the Fu Manchu mustache, queue ponytail and rice paddy hat that have routinely been used in the role — are now widely considered racist stereotypes, but Mr. Lee said he didn't mind. 'Dancing is dancing,' he told The Times. Mr. Lee appeared in Act II, when Marie and her prince visit the Land of Sweets. After being wheeled out in a box by two women, he performed and then returned to the box. John Martin, in his review for The New York Times, wrote that Mr. Lee 'jumps wonderfully and exhibits some equally wonderful extensions in the Chinese dance.' In The Brooklyn Eagle, Paul Affelder praised his 'almost unbelievable elevations in the dance of tea.' Mr. Lee was not asked to join City Ballet; at 5-foot-5, he was told that he was too short. He graduated from the Manhattan School of Aviation Trades (now Aviation High School), in Queens, and then attended Indiana Technical College (now Indiana Tech), in Fort Wayne. He toured occasionally with a ballet troupe run by the great Russian dancer Andre Eglevsky. But it wasn't steady work, so he looked to Broadway. In 1958, he auditioned for the original Rodgers and Hammerstein musical 'Flower Drum Song,' a story about Chinese assimilation in San Francisco. He danced the Bluebird pas de deux from 'Sleeping Beauty,' performing it for Gene Kelly, the musical's director. After, Mr. Kelly told him: 'George, I know you like to do ballet. Why don't you learn something new?' Mr. Lee said he went home to discuss the offer with his mother, Stanislawa Lee, a Polish-born former ballerina, who responded: 'Maybe you should go ahead and try it. We've got to make a living.' He stayed with the show through its run of 600 performances, and continued with it on tour. He would appear twice more on Broadway (in the musicals 'Baker Street' and 'Darling of the Day,' in the 1960s), but the rest of his career featured little ballet. He found regular work in summer stock theater and danced in a cabaret show, 'Carol Channing With Her 10 Stout-Hearted Men'; in a touring arena show, 'Disney on Parade'; and in a Las Vegas revue, 'Alcazar de Paris,' at the Desert Inn, his final act in show business. 'Whether he was in ballet or not, he used his ballet training,' Phil Chan, a choreographer and a founder of Final Bow for Yellowface, an initiative dedicated to ending offensive depictions of Asians in ballet, said in an interview. 'If you look at clips of 'Flower Drum Song,' he's doing great ballet technique.' In his mid-40s, Mr. Lee pivoted to a new career — dealing blackjack in Las Vegas — and receded into dance history. George Li was born on Feb. 18, 1935, in Hong Kong. His father, Alexander Li, was a circus acrobat who taught him how to do handstands; his mother was his first dance teacher. When Japan occupied Hong Kong in 1941, the family fled to Shanghai, and then his father went to western China to find work. In Shanghai, a city with a vibrant population of émigrés, George took dance lessons from Russian teachers; at 7, he began performing polkas and Russian dances in nightclubs to help his mother get by. Sometimes he was paid in rice. In 1945, George's father died in a truck accident while trying to return to Shanghai. Four years later, George and his mother, fearing the Communist takeover of Shanghai, evacuated to the Philippines, where they spent two years in a refugee camp. Before they left the Philippines, George's mother warned him about what would be required if he wanted a future in dance. In an oral history interview for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, in 2024, he recalled her saying, 'Look here, George, you are Asian, part of you, and we're going to America, and there will be all white people, so you better be 10 times better.' Their immigration to the United States was sponsored by a friend of the family who also introduced George to the School of American Ballet. When he later stopped dancing, his career was largely forgotten by the public. In 2022, Ms. Lin, the filmmaker, was looking at old photos at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, when she spotted a publicity shot of Mr. Lee from 'The Nutcracker.' Knowing how rare it was to see dancers of color perform at City Ballet, she wondered who this pioneering Asian was. 'I just became obsessed with finding George,' she said in an interview. 'I started tracking him and found an obituary for his mother, which said that she was survived by a son, George, living in Las Vegas.' Ms. Lin, a former reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, called five George Lees in Las Vegas. When she finally located the former dancer, she said, Mr. Lee asked her, 'Why are you looking for me? I'm nobody.' It took about a year for her to complete 'Ten Times Better,' which showed Mr. Lee at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino, where he dealt blackjack for 40 years, and at a reunion in Los Angeles of 'Flower Drum Song' performers, including Patrick Adiarte, who died last month. (The half-hour documentary is available on PBS's American Masters Shorts website.) Graham Lustig, the artistic director of Oakland Ballet, said in an interview that he had been unaware of Mr. Lee's dance career until he saw the documentary: 'It's like he was the ultimate undercover ballet dancer.' On May 4, Oakland Ballet performed the world premiere of its 'Angel Island Project,' seven dances by Asian American and Pacific Islander choreographers, set to music by Huang Ruo, about the harrowing experiences of Chinese detainees at the Angel Island Immigration Station in San Francisco Bay in the early 20th century. The company dedicated the performance to Mr. Lee. As Mr. Lustig said, 'It seemed like the most fitting way to recognize George — an immigrant who pursued a dancing dream.'
Associated Press
21-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Proofpoint: 88% of Top Organisations in Asia Pacific Still Put Their Customers and Stakeholders at Risk of Email Fraud as Businesses Face Record-High Email Attacks
Protective measures against email fraud remain widely insufficient among leading Asia Pacific companies. Australia's high adoption rate of proper email authentication (71%) among its top companies sets the standard for the Asia Pacific region Around 50% of leading Singapore and India's businesses have implemented the recommended level of email authentication Concerningly, less than 20% of the largest organisations in Japan, South Korea, China and Thailand are actively protecting their customers against phishing SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 21 February 2025 - Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today released new research on a worrying gap among top organisations across the Asia Pacific with only 12% having implemented the recommended and most stringent level of email authentication. In 2024, phishing attacks surged significantly, increasing nearly 60% year-over-year. This dramatic increase underscores the critical need for proper implementation of email authentication, which prevents cyber criminals from spoofing organisations' identities thus reducing the risk of email fraud. These findings are based on an analysis of the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), a widely-adopted email validation protocol records of Asia Pacific companies listed on the Forbes Global 2000. DMARC protects domain names from being misused by malicious actors by authenticating the sender's identity before an email reaches its intended destination. This authentication system detects and prevents domain spoofing, a common phishing technique. DMARC has three levels of protection – monitor, quarantine, and reject, with reject being the most secure for preventing suspicious emails from reaching users' inboxes. 'Email remains the most common and critical threat vector across industries. It's encouraging that many leading companies in Asia Pacific have taken proactive steps to protect their customers from email fraud,' said George Lee, Senior Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Proofpoint. 'However, the rising frequency, sophistication, and cost of cyberattacks make it especially concerning that many remain highly vulnerable, exposing them to significant risks from malicious email-based threats such as phishing. Prioritising robust cybersecurity measures is essential to safeguard against these threats and protect customers' valuable data.' Proofpoint's research shows that DMARC adoption in the Asia Pacific region is mostly lower compared to the US and UK, placing organisations and their customers at risk. While Australia leads in email authentication DMARC enforcement, Japan, South Korea and Thailand lag, leaving businesses exposed to escalating email fraud, including business email compromise (BEC) and phishing. Key findings of Proofpoint's DMARC analysis across key Asia Pacific markets include: Major Providers and Compliance Mandates Push for DMARC Adoption Major email providers are making moves to force companies to catch up and use email authentication. Some highly-publicised examples include the October 2023 announcements from Google, Yahoo and Apple around mandatory email authentication requirements (including DMARC) for bulk senders sending emails to Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud accounts. This aims to significantly reduce spam and fraudulent emails hitting their customers' inboxes. In addition, organisations that store consumer payment information must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) or risk paying hefty fines for violations. The latest PCI DSS (v4.0.1) will require companies to use DMARC to protect credit card data by March 31, 2025. Proofpoint recommends that organisations follow these best practices: Implement DMARC: Protect your domain from impersonation by implementing DMARC and enforcing it at the reject level. Seek expert assistance if needed to avoid blocking legitimate emails. Educate employees: Train staff on how to identify and avoid potentially fraudulent or suspicious emails, such as those impersonating colleagues, suppliers, or customers. Strengthen passwords: Establish and enforce best practices for password management, including requiring strong passwords, regular changes, and never re-using passwords across multiple accounts. This analysis was conducted in December 2024 using data from companies listed on Forbes Global 2000. To learn more about DMARC, visit: Hashtag: #Proofpoint The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Proofpoint, Inc. Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organisations' greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber attacks. Leading organisations of all sizes, including 85 percent of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at
Zawya
21-02-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Proofpoint: 88% of Top Organisations in Asia Pacific Still Put Their Customers and Stakeholders at Risk of Email Fraud as Businesses Face Record-High Email Attacks
Protective measures against email fraud remain widely insufficient among leading Asia Pacific companies. Australia's high adoption rate of proper email authentication (71%) among its top companies sets the standard for the Asia Pacific region Around 50% of leading Singapore and India's businesses have implemented the recommended level of email authentication Concerningly, less than 20% of the largest organisations in Japan, South Korea, China and Thailand are actively protecting their customers against phishing SINGAPORE - Media OutReach Newswire - 21 February 2025 - Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today released new research on a worrying gap among top organisations across the Asia Pacific with only 12% having implemented the recommended and most stringent level of email authentication. In 2024, phishing attacks surged significantly, increasing nearly 60% year-over-year. This dramatic increase underscores the critical need for proper implementation of email authentication, which prevents cyber criminals from spoofing organisations' identities thus reducing the risk of email fraud. These findings are based on an analysis of the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting and Conformance (DMARC), a widely-adopted email validation protocol records of Asia Pacific companies listed on the Forbes Global 2000. DMARC protects domain names from being misused by malicious actors by authenticating the sender's identity before an email reaches its intended destination. This authentication system detects and prevents domain spoofing, a common phishing technique. DMARC has three levels of protection – monitor, quarantine, and reject, with reject being the most secure for preventing suspicious emails from reaching users' inboxes. "Email remains the most common and critical threat vector across industries. It's encouraging that many leading companies in Asia Pacific have taken proactive steps to protect their customers from email fraud,' said George Lee, Senior Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan at Proofpoint. 'However, the rising frequency, sophistication, and cost of cyberattacks make it especially concerning that many remain highly vulnerable, exposing them to significant risks from malicious email-based threats such as phishing. Prioritising robust cybersecurity measures is essential to safeguard against these threats and protect customers' valuable data.' Proofpoint's research shows that DMARC adoption in the Asia Pacific region is mostly lower compared to the US and UK, placing organisations and their customers at risk. While Australia leads in email authentication DMARC enforcement, Japan, South Korea and Thailand lag, leaving businesses exposed to escalating email fraud, including business email compromise (BEC) and phishing. Key findings of Proofpoint's DMARC analysis across key Asia Pacific markets include: Australia: 71% of the top Australian companies have implemented DMARC at the recommended levels (reject). All the top Australian companies being studied have a DMARC record. Singapore: 46.2% of companies analysed have DMARC set to reject. Yet 23.1% do not have any DMARC record and are wide open to email fraud and domain spoofing attacks. India: 50% of the top Indian organisations implemented the highest level of DMARC (reject), with 30.9% utilising quarantine and 11.8% having no DMARC record at all. Japan: Only 7.4% of top Japanese companies have a DMARC policy of reject in place. 65.6% of companies are at the monitor level, gathering data but offering no active protection South Korea: Only 1.8% have implemented DMARC at the quarantine level with none at the reject level, and 51.8% having no DMARC record at all. Thailand: 17.6% have a reject policy in place to block unqualified emails, while 17.6% of companies implemented quarantine and 52.9% at the monitor level still. China: Only 4.2% of top Chinese companies have the strictest level of DMARC in place. A startling 71.8% do not use any DMARC protection at all. Major Providers and Compliance Mandates Push for DMARC Adoption Major email providers are making moves to force companies to catch up and use email authentication. Some highly-publicised examples include the October 2023 announcements from Google, Yahoo and Apple around mandatory email authentication requirements (including DMARC) for bulk senders sending emails to Gmail, Yahoo and iCloud accounts. This aims to significantly reduce spam and fraudulent emails hitting their customers' inboxes. In addition, organisations that store consumer payment information must comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) or risk paying hefty fines for violations. The latest PCI DSS (v4.0.1) will require companies to use DMARC to protect credit card data by March 31, 2025. Proofpoint recommends that organisations follow these best practices: Implement DMARC: Protect your domain from impersonation by implementing DMARC and enforcing it at the reject level. Seek expert assistance if needed to avoid blocking legitimate emails. Educate employees: Train staff on how to identify and avoid potentially fraudulent or suspicious emails, such as those impersonating colleagues, suppliers, or customers. Strengthen passwords: Establish and enforce best practices for password management, including requiring strong passwords, regular changes, and never re-using passwords across multiple accounts. This analysis was conducted in December 2024 using data from companies listed on Forbes Global 2000. To learn more about DMARC, visit: Hashtag: #Proofpoint The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About Proofpoint, Inc. Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organisations' greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyber attacks. Leading organisations of all sizes, including 85 percent of the Fortune 100, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at Connect with Proofpoint: X | LinkedIn | Facebook | YouTube Proofpoint, Inc.
