India warmed up for the Asia Cup final against Bangladesh with a crushing nine-wicket win over minnows United Arab Emirates in Dhaka on Thursday, their last league match in the competition.
A disciplined Indian attack restricted the UAE to a meagre 81-9 before they reached 82-1 in just 10.1 overs to complete the rout, their fourth victory in as many matches in the tournament.
Opener Rohit Sharma made the highest 39 runs with 28 balls, hitting seven fours and six, while Yuvraj Singh made good use of his promotion in one-down position with an unbeaten 25.
“The wickets here have been challenging, not the easiest,” said man of the match Rohit. “I am glad we have put up a performance like that.
“Initially, you have to see the conditions. Once you get a hang of it, you can probably play your shots,” he added.
Rohit put on 43 runs in the opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan before he was caught by Mohammad Naveed of Qadeer Ahmed in third man area, in what turned out to be the UAE’s only success in the game.
Dhawan, who scored just three runs in his previous two matches in the tournament, carefully protected his wicket to remain 16 not out.
“I wanted that innings,” he said after the match. “I have spent some time in the middle. It was important to get the feel of the wicket for the final.”
Shaiman Anwar was the UAE’s top scorer, making 43 runs before he was the last man dismissed.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar claimed 2-8 playing his first match in the series, while all of the other bowlers used by India skipper MS Dhoni were rewarded with a wicket.
India rested Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ashish Nehra ahead of the March 6 final and brought in uncapped Pawan Negi, Harbhajan Singh and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
UAE captain Amjad Javed said they were looking for a total of around 120 runs.
“We were playing the favourites of the tournament and it was difficult for us,” he said.
“When you face top quality bowlers, it is difficult. They have got experience and they will come back hard.”
The league phase of the tournament will end with Pakistan facing Sri Lanka on Friday.
A Dutch dairy cooperative is set to buy out a Pakistani food giant with an investment of around $460 million, in what would amount to the largest private sector takeover by a foreign firm in the country’s history.
FrieslandCampina International Holding BV intends to acquire a 51 percent stake of Engro Foods Limited, one of the largest listed companies at the benchmark Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), a notification on the course’s website said Thursday.
The deal would bring in a minimum investment of $460 million based on the Pakistani firm’s present stock value.
“Yes, it is the largest ever deal in the private sector,” analyst Faisal Shaji, head of research at Standard Capital Securities, said.
Shahji added the deal would be closely watched by international investors eyeing the emerging South Asian economy.
“Pakistan is already in the radar range of the world corporate sector and this deal further lifts its image outside,” he said.
If finalised the Dutch takeover would boost Pakistan’s foreign direct investment statistics.
FDI was down by 57 percent to $336 million in Pakistan for the first seven months of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period in the last financial year ending June 2015.
Pakistan expects its economy to grow by 4.5 percent for the 2015-16 financial year due to lower oil prices, planned improvements in the energy supply, investment related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), buoyant construction activity, and acceleration of credit growth.
On the day an astronaut returned to Earth after 340 days in space, Paris fashion took another small step for mankind. Behold, the self-heating overcoat. The French label Courreges announced the dawn of the “new era” Wednesday, “an era when the garment will come alive”.
“Who has never dreamt of being warm in the winter?” its designers Sebastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant declared. “This transition is possible if technology responds to our primary needs — well being and comfort.”
Three of its chic full-length autumn-winter wool coats have been fitted with a slimline heating system, much like the ones which warm up cars seats on winter mornings.
“By simply applying pressure” on a button, “you give the coat life”, they said.
The brand, one of the pioneers of futuristic 1960s style under its visionary founder Andre Courreges, vowed that this was only the beginning of its voyage into hi-tech clothing.
Co-president Frederic Torloting said as yet the move was “symbolic” but they had ambitions to go much further.
“Technology has been a very tricky subject for fashion. It is often seen as antithetical, that hi-tech and isn’t glamorous,” he said. “But that’s wrong. It can be made glamorous!”
On sale straight away
The black, pink and black and white chequerboard coats are certainly a step up in style from the self-heating coats and gloves already on the market, which tends to be aimed at the outdoor and adventure market.
Haute couture has been slow to embrace such gadgetry, but with clothing connectivity a major focus of research for tech companies, Courreges is convinced it is the future.
“This is only our first step — we are going to do a lot of the other things in this area,” Torloting said.
The label also broke new ground by announcing that it was breaking ranks with the Paris fashion establishment and offering a part of its autumn-winter collection straight for sale on its website.
Twenty pieces were to go online Wednesday evening with the label following US designer Rebecca Minkoff, who offered 70 percent of her collection for immediate sale after her show in New York last month.
Another Paris label, Paco Rabanne, is reportedly ready to follow suit.
The row over a move to “buy now, see now” has pitted New York which wants shows staged “in season” so the public can buy the clothes on the catwalk straight away, with Paris and Milan which prefers the present system of “delayed gratification”.
With catwalk shows staged four to six month before the clothes go on sale, young designers are freer to take risks and test the water to see which pieces go down best, they argue.
But Torloting, a former advertising executive, said the system “frustrated” the public and vowed to have an “even bigger part of the next collection in the shops the day after the show.
“Frankly, there are not really any seasons anymore. Collections are a mix of pieces… because there is not the same weather everywhere,” he added.
The other highlight of the day was Dries Van Noten’s wonderfully sensuous take on Edwardian aristocratic decadence, with pearl-encrusted fur jackets and silky leopard print trousers and suits you almost imagine the cross-dressing writer Rita Sackville West in as she returned at dawn from a party.
The Belgium designer said he was inspired by the passion between the Italian heiress Luisa Casati, who famously said “I want to be a living work of art”, and the writer Gabriele d’Annunzio.
Anne Sofie Madsen meanwhile attempted the ambitious feat of trying to conjure up the spirit of Elvis Presley’s stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon, in her show “Heaven or Las Vegas”.
Mustafa Kamal is back with a bang! With his blasting (quite literally) press conference being watched all over the country, Twitter is exploding with Kamal’s memes. Brandsynario has compiled a list of few funny ones we came across.
Former Karachi mayor and political leader Syed Mustafa Kamal arrived today in Karachi after two years. Kamal was accompanied by senior leader and former Rabita Committee deputy convener Anees Qaimkhani.
Simone Moro stood atop Pakistan‘s “Killer Mountain” last week and observed the curve of the Earth — a view which had never been seen by anyone in winter until the climber and his team conquered Nanga Parbat.
The expedition had taken three months and came more than six decades after the mountain was first summited, but 10 minutes was all Moro could allow himself to enjoy his achievement.
“Now you have to come back… But you are so completely exhausted,” the Italian mountaineer explained in an exclusive interview with AFP, saying he was afraid of losing concentration on the long, dangerous descent.
From the peak, 8,125 metres (26,660 feet) above sea level, the mountains of northern Pakistan and India stretched out before him — including three more of the 14 eight-thousanders.
These are the only mountains on the planet with “death zones” — above 8,000 metres, where it is believed that the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere is too low to sustain human life.
The pyramid of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain and now the only eight-thousander unsummited in winter, was in the distance.
“I saw the horizon — the line of the horizon — I saw that the line was curved,” Moro said.
“When you see these things… you understand how small and at the same time how big you could be.”
Nanga Parbat, with one of the highest death rates in the world, earned its grisly nickname after more than 30 climbers died trying to conquer it before the first successful summit in 1953.
Climbing it in winter’s treacherous conditions would remain a feat unattained until Moro and his team — Alex Txikon of Spain and Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara — made their historic summit on February 26.
One member of their team, Tamara Lunger from Italy, was forced to abandon her attempt just 170 metres from the peak.
She could see Sadpara waving at her from the summit, she said, but she knew she had pushed her body to its limit. “My muscles felt very bad… I was vomiting the whole day and everything I ate or drank came out again.”
Hesitating, she asked herself if she was sad — but the choice was clear. “I said okay, if you go to the top now you will not go home… and I turned around and went down.”
Nanga Parbat’s fearsome Rupal face, rising more than 4,000 metres from base to top, presents one of the most difficult — and tantalising — challenges in climbing.
Moro said the team, which climbed without oxygen, had little time to acclimatise themselves, spending just one night at 6,200 metres before making the push towards the summit.
“When you want to go the altitude of jumbo flight without oxygen you need to acclimatised,” he said, admitting that a “big question mark” hung over their expedition as they began the final climb.
Gusts buffeted them at 45 kilometres (28 miles) an hour, and with the wind chill temperatures plummeted to 50 degrees below zero, he said, admitting that due to frostbite he still cannot feel his toes.
“We were shaking all day,” he said. It took more than eight hours to cover the final two kilometres, then another four and a half to come down to the camp.
Moro had already tried — and failed — to scale Nanga Parbat, which means “Naked Mountain” in Urdu, three times before, estimating that he has spent around a year of his life at base camp.
This year, he says, everything aligned: a window of good weather opened, they had the right team and were in good shape — and, he says, they were lucky.
Pakistani ‘utopia’
Three of the world’s most spectacular mountain ranges converge in northernPakistan‘s Gilgit-Baltistan region: the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the Himalayas, anchored at their western end by Nanga Parbat.
The tourism industry there hit a record low when militants stormed Nanga Parbat base camp in 2013. Ten foreign tourists and their local guide were shot dead in the attack claimed by the Pakistani Taliban.
Moro, who made his second attempt at the mountain the following year, dismissed any security fears, saying the threat of militancy in Pakistan is not worse than in the United States, Britain or Italy.
“This is a utopia… There are thousands and thousands of unclimbed peaks, untouched mountains,” he said, adding that he hopes a cultural shift will come.
Meanwhile, he said, he dreams of continuing his climbing adventures.
“The time of exploration is not finished… What I did is vertical exploration, it could be stupid I know because it is not useful.”
But the spirit could inspire people in other fields also, he said, such as a young medical student exploring new ways to cure cancer.
“This kind of exploration will change the history of the world.”
Users of WhatsApp will finally be allowed to share their documents over chats. The latest document sharing feature is now available on WhatsApp easily accessible on Google Play and the App Store.
WhatsApp users with the version 2.12.14 on iOS and 2.12.453 on Android will now see the latest ‘Document’ feature under attachments, which permits them to attach and then share documents.
As of now, the feature is limited to only the PDF files even though we are expecting more options related to document sharing in the future.
Users will now see a new ‘Document’ section under attachments, which allows them to attach and share documents (WhatsApp)
It is also important to mention that a user will only be able to share a document if both the receiver too has updates to the latest version of WhatsApp that are available on the app stores.
Meanwhile, WhatsApp in iOS will also score a several new updates which now provide the photo and video sharing ability from cloud storage apps like Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.
The upgrade will also allow its users to select from a range of different colors for their specific chat background.
Google on Thursday said that it is working with UNICEF to map the spread of Zika and pitching in a million dollars to support the group’s efforts on the ground.
A volunteer team of Google engineers, designers and data scientists is helping UNICEF build a computer platform to analyze data from sources such as weather and travel patterns to predict potential outbreaks, the director of the Internet giant’s charitable arm said in a blog post.
“Ultimately, the goal of this open source platform is to identify the risk of Zika transmission for different regions and help UNICEF, governments and NGO’s decide how and where to focus their time and resources,” said Google.org director Jacquelline Fuller.
A child at the Maternity and Children’s hospital in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
“This set of tools is being prototyped for the Zika response, but will also be applicable to future emergencies.”
The million-dollar grant to UNICEF was intended to go toward cutting mosquito populations; developing diagnostics and vaccines; awareness, and prevention, according to Fuller.
Google also launched a campaign to match employee donations, with a goal of providing an additional $500,000 for UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization efforts to fight Zika.
Google ramped the amount of Zika-related health information, and the number of languages in which they are provided, at its search engine and backed YouTube videos aimed at raising awareness, Fuller said.
The rapidly spreading Zika virus, which has affected more than 20 Latin American countries, is suspected to be the cause of a sudden increase in cases of neonatal microcephaly, a severe deformation of the brain and skull among newborns.
Brazil has been hardest hit.
Countries throughout the region have launched operations to eliminate pools of stagnant water where the mosquitoes, which also spread dengue and chikungunya viruses, can breed.
Cuba has detected the first case of Zika in a Venezuelan doctor who came to the island for postgraduate studies, the health ministry said Wednesday.
The 28-year-old woman, who arrived in Cuba on February 21, is hospitalized at the Pedro Kouri Tropical Medicine Institute in the capital Havana.
UPDATE: Mustafa Kamal & Anees Qaimkhani have announced that they are setting the foundation for a new organization or political party for Pakistan. The organization party is currently unnamed.
Former Karachi mayor and political leader Syed Mustafa Kamal arrived today in Karachi after two years. Kamal was accompanied by senior leader and former Rabita Committee deputy convener Anees Qaimkhani. The two are addressing a press conference in the metropolis at 3:00pm today.
“This is my first press conference since I left MQM,” Kamal said while addressing the media at his DHA residence in Karachi.
The purpose of the press conference is threefold:
Firstly, to explain why Kamal left MQM and the Senate. Secondly, why he is here now. Thirdly, what will he do next.
Lets wait and watch what unfolds at this press conference. Meanwhile, let’s have a look at some Tweets from Twitterverse:
French cosmetics giant L’Oreal revealed Wednesday that Donald Trump had asked them to make a perfume in his name about a decade ago, but the beauty company said no.
However, it was nothing personal against the divisive US billionaire and presidential hopeful, said L’Oreal chairman Jean-Paul Agon.
“Trump wanted us to make a perfume for him, but we didn’t,” Agon said.
L’Oreal preferred to focus on perfumes under the licence of prestigious fashion brands such as Giorgo Armani, Ralph Lauren or Yves Saint Laurent, he explained.
In the end Trump, who has complained bitterly about American jobs being shipped overseas, hired US beauty care company Estee Lauder which in 2004 produced “Donald Trump, The Fragrance”.
Other Trump perfumes followed such as “Success” in 2012 and “Empire” in 2015.
Last year American department story Macy’s dropped Trump-branded merchandise after he made controversial comments about Mexican immigrants.
The real estate mogul is looking more likely than ever to become the Republican candidate in US presidential elections in November after winning seven of 11 states on Super Tuesday.
Yamaha Motor Pakistan created a massive buzz with the official launch of Yamaha YBR-125 last year. This year, the Japanese brand has taken the thrill of bike-riding to a whole new level with Pakistan’s ultimate Rockstar, Ali Zafar!
The auto brand has taken out an exclusive TVC featuring Ali Zafar as the youth icon who personifies everything Yamaha YBR 125 stands for – style, thrill and excitement.
Watch the TVC here:
The 360 degree campaign, conceptualized and executed by Synergy Group and Dentsu Aegis Network was rolled out on all media touchpoints today.
Gliding swiftly through twisted valleys and highway roads, Ali Zafar looks every bit the Rockstar that he is. The brilliant cinematic shots are complimented by an exclusive version of his superhit single ‘Rockstar’.
Earlier this week, the multi-talented actor shared a teaser post on his Facebook hinting towards a Rockstar campaign for Yamaha YBR-125.
CREDITS
Production House: The Crew Films
Creative Agency: Synergy Dentsu
Director/D.O.P: Mark Lapwood
Assistant Director: Imran Sarfaraz
Post Production: Sharp Images
Music: Ali Zafar
Talent: Citrus Talent
Creative Director: Sumaira Mirza
The auto brand also shared a teaser glimpse of its campaign featuring ‘The Ultimate Rockstar’ who is all set to turn bike-riding into a whole new experience.
Check out the post shared by the brand on its Facebook page:
Google on Wednesday said it is testing ways to let people use digital wallets without having to even take smartphones out of their pockets. The Internet colossus is dabbling with ways to make its Android Pay system for smartphones hands-free, with verification by facial recognition, Google product manager Pali Bhat said in a blog post.
“Imagine if you could rush through a drive-thru without reaching for your wallet, or pick up a hot dog at the ballpark without fumbling to pass coins or your credit card to the cashier,” Bhat said.
“This prompted us to build a pilot app called Hands Free that we’re now in the early stages of testing.”
Hands Free became available for smartphones powered by Apple or Android software and was being rolled out at a small number of Silicon Valley area eateries, including McDonald’s and Papa John’s, according to Google.
The digital wallet uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections alone with location sensing capabilities in smartphones to detect when someone is near a store enabled with Hands Free payment technology.
“When you’re ready to pay, you can simply tell the cashier, ‘I’ll pay with Google,'” Bhat said.
“The cashier will ask for your initials and use the picture you added to your Hands Free profile to confirm your identity.”
At some locations, Google is experimented with using cameras in stores to recognize people with Hands Free digital wallets so they could pay without even pausing.
Since Android pay was launched in September, an average of 1.5 million accounts have been registered monthly in the United States and the number of locations accepting it has topped two million, according to Google.
“We’re busy working to bring the convenience of Android Pay to more countries and a growing list of stores and apps,” Bhat said.
Google’s mobile wallet competes with Apple Pay and others as people’s reliance on smartphones expands to using handsets to make payments in real-world shops.
We are very well familiar with stars like SRK, Gauri Khan, Govinda, Kajol, Ajay Devgan, Sunny Leone, Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan who have appeared in pan masala TV ads, despite knowing that pan masala is harmful to health. In regard to this, Delhi government personally emailed the actors explaining the harmful effects of this product.
Failing to recieve any response from them, Delhi government has now approached the wives of these Bollywood actors urging them to encourage their husbands not to endorse pan masala products.
On the other hand, Arbaaz Khan claimed that he has not received any such email from the government. Moreover, he said that the government should not have sent this letter to my wife, brother or father.
“I have certain commitments and I have been merely following them. There is no harm in following what the government has asked us to do and when it is time for my contract to be renewed, I will keep this in mind,” said Arbaaz Khan.
Meanwhile, Dr SK Arora, additional director (health) disclosed that they had already posted letters to six celebrities earlier and requested them to stop endorsing the pan masala product, as it is harmful to health.
He further revealed that they have only received an answer from Sunny Leone, who noted that she was not aware that supari causes cancer and from now on she won’t sign any new contracts for supari.
On the claims of Arbaaz Khan, Dr SK Arora said that when they didn’t receive any response from the celebrities, then they approached their families including wives.
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy‘s second Oscar win didn’t go well with a lot of fellow countrymen. Pakistan’s veteran director, Syed Noor even blamed her for copying the script and title of his 2011 movie The Price of Honour.
Replying to these allegations, Chinoy cleared the controversy by tweeting an answer to a question posed by a follower on Twitter.
@sharmeenochinoy how far the news of 'stealing the idea with the same name too' from a Pakistani movie for 2nd #Oscars documentary r true?
Syed Noor’s movie, The Price of Honour revolves around the story of a girl who fight status quo to seek her rights whereas Chinoy’s Oscar-winning documentary, A Girl In The River: The Price Of Forgivenessis based on an 18-year-old girl who was shot and thrown in the name of honour as she had fallen in love with someone.
UPDATE: Bangladesh’s lower-order batsmen kept their cool under pressure to beatPakistan by five wickets in Dhaka on Wednesday, securing them a place in the Asia Cup final. Soumya Sarkar was Bangladesh’s highest scorer with 48 runs, helping his team to 131-5 in 19.1 overs after they restricted Pakistan to 129-7 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
The hosts will play their second Asia Cup final against India on March 6. Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah Riyad struck medium pacer Anwar Ali for a boundary to complete the thrilling victory and stay unbeaten on 22. The winning boundary triggered wild celebrations in the dressing room and in the boisterous gallery, where Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was among those watching.
Pakistan has managed to set up 130 runs target for Bangladesh that seems to be a fighting total. Shoaib Malik(41) and Sarfraz Ahmad (58*) saved the team from complete damage as once it was 28-4 on the score board.
Pakistani top order batting disappointed again as after first six overs, the team has lost three wickets and added just 20 runs on the board. Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat and the decision went in opponents’ favor because Bangladeshi bowlers provided the start just what they needed. Khurram Manzoor, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez has been sent back to the pavilion early. We will have to wait and see that if Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik rescue their side again or not in the must win game.
Pakistan will face off Bangladesh today (Wednesday) in the 8th match of Asia Cup 2016 at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, Bangladesh. The match will be starting at 19.00 (local time) and 18.30 (PST).
The match will be a do-or-die situation for Pakistan. If Bangladesh scores in today’s match, they will definitely have a clear path towards Sunday’s final if they can score the third win of the tournament.
Bangladesh is not the minnows of cricket anymore as it has been proved by them recently. The hosts surely are threatening Pakistan in their stride to achieve Sunday’s Asian Cup 2016 final against India.
Afridi surely is under pressure to deliver as his position has been questioned by the great Javed Miandad himself.
Losing against India, Pakistan has only been victorious against UAE in the past Asia Cup matches. Mohammad Amir has shown true magic with his bowling but much of today’s success will depend on the top order batting where Umar Akmal and Shoaib Malik will have to work their magic.
The left arm pacer in Bangladesh side, Mustafir Rahman will surely be missed in today’s match; he took 2 or 20 in his debut match against Pakistan. However, Bangladesh surely has enough bowling firepower to exploit Mirpur conditions.
With the hard-hitter Tamim Iqbal working his magic, Bangladesh has stunned defending champions Sri Lanka and are a win away from entering the Asia Cup final. The hosts truly could not have asked for a better moral boost; if the Bangladesh batsmen can defend Pakistan’s telling pace attack than half of the job will be done.
According to the points table, India is at the number 1 position with six points, followed by Bangladesh that has won two games at the event.
Pakistan and Sri Lanka each have 2 points with one won match each. UAE did not win any game at the event.
Pakistan Squad:
Shahid Afridi (c) Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik , Umar Akmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed (Vice-Captain/WK) Babar Azam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali,Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Khurram Manzoor, Rumman Rais.
Bangladesh Squad:
Mashrafe Mortaza (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Imrul Kayes, Mohammad Mithun, Mahmudullah, Mushfiqur Rahim, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Al-Amin Hossain, Taskin Ahmed, Arafat Sunny, Abu Hider, Nurul Hasan
While half of the Bollywood is busy fighting divorce and break up battles, Preity Zinta has reportedly tied the knot with her long-time boyfriend, Gene Goodenough in Los Angeles on February 28, 2016.
Zinta, who ruled the box office in the early 20s has been denying the rumours but the Indian media says otherwise. She was recently clicked with her boyfriend while holidaying along with her close friends. The wedding was apparently a very private affair with only the bride and groom’s immediate family and close friends present.
A source from the venue revealed; “It was a traditional Hindu ceremony with a pandit conducting all the rituals, including pheras, and took place in an outdoor mandap with the glittering LA skyline as the backdrop. Preity’s mother oversaw the entire arrangement”.
A leaked shot of the beautiful venue where the wedding ceremony took place was posted by the event designer, an LA-based artist DJ Amara.
Here is a leaked shot of Zinta with her rumoured husband.
But the Veer Zara actress plans to have a big fat Indian wedding once she is back from LA. According to Indian media, “Since Preity has worked with the biggest names in the film industry and continues to remain close friends with several of them, she plans to host a big celebration in Mumbai where we can expect some of the biggest names to attend.”
Priety Zinta will be introducing her husband to the film industry at a big fat Indian ceremony. Actors like Salman Khan, Sohail and Arbaaz Khan as well as Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Bobby Deol, Abhishek Bahan are all on the guest list.
Meanwhile, some of the Bollywood celebs took to Twitter, showering her with love for a happily married life.
Deep inside the dry, biscuit-colored mountains surrounding Pakistan‘s southwestern city of Quetta lies an unexpected treasure: a honeycomb of tunnels bursting with cases of Korans, hidden safe from desecration.
The hill known as Jabal-e-Noor, or “Mountain of Light”, has been visited by hundreds of thousands of people since two brothers turned it into a shrine for Islam’s holy book, some copies of which are up to 600 years old, officials who run it say.
“We have buried at least five million sacks of old Korans,” says Jabal-e-Noor administrator Haji Muzaffar Ali.
But the mountain’s labyrinth of tunnels is steadily nearing capacity. Hundreds of sacks packed with copies of the holy book now lie exposed on the hillside as administrators struggle to create space for them.
The problem is especially thorny in Pakistan, where any disrespect to the Koran can inflame accusations of blasphemy, punishable by death — whether by the state or at the hands of a vigilante mob.
Islam’s holy text is believed by Muslims to be the word of God spoken through the Prophet Mohammad directly to mankind. For that reason the words themselves are held sacred, meaning Muslims must dispose of their old Korans with great respect.
Religious scholars approve of two ways: by wrapping the book carefully in a cloth and burying it in the ground, as at Jabal-e-Noor, or placing it in flowing water so the ink is washed away from the pages.
A general view above tunnels where ancient copies of the Quran are preserved in Jabl-e-Noor in the outskirts of Quetta January 14, 2016.
But the man behind the mountain, affluent 77-year-old businessman Abdul Sammad Lehri, has an idea that, if realized, would prove both risky and revolutionary: building one of Pakistan‘s first-ever Koran-recycling plants.
The move could turn Lehri’s shrine into a target.
In neighboring Afghanistan in 2011, around 1,000 angry demonstrators partially destroyed a paper mill that had been accused of recycling the Koran into toilet paper.
While in Pakistan an angry mob torched a factory in Punjab province in November 2015 after one of its employees was accused of burning pages from the Koran in the boiler.
God’s word, recycled
But, perhaps surprisingly, scholars in Pakistan say it could work.
“The scholars… approve recycling of Korans and if a recycling plant is reusing the pages of Korans, there is no harm,” says Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema (religious scholars) Council.
So long as the words are removed, and the solution used to remove it disposed off in accordance with Islamic teachings, leading scholar Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rehman says, “then you can use those pages to reproduce or manufacture cardboards or anything”.
Existing plants in Pakistan do not recycle Korans because of the restrictions involved, Irfan Qadir, secretary of the Punjab Quran Board, which monitors the collection and disposal of pages of Koranic verse, tells AFP — such as only Muslims being allowed to take part in the work.
A Pakistani volunteer unloads a sack containing old copies of the Quran from a van at Jabl-e-Noor after collecting them from different places in the outskirts of Quetta January 14, 2016.
“However,” he adds, “we have authorized a private foundation to recycle torn out pages of the Koran on very limited scale.”
The foundation, he says, puts water and the pages of the Koran in a barrel together, where the words are washed away.
After, “the water goes in a well dug in the ground and they use the pulp to make a very soft cardboard.”
The board has proposed a recycling plant for Korans, he says, but no action has yet been taken by the government.
At Jabal-e-Noor, named after the mountain in Saudi Arabia where the Prophet is said to have received the first verses of the Koran, the idea exists only in the minds of Lehri and his team for now.
Visitors to the mountain can leave donations but pay no fee to enter, and Lehri says they need the funds. “We want to install the plant and dig out more tunnels, but have no resources,” he explains.
Place of wishes
Lehri’s passion for protecting the words of the Koran began in 1956, he tells AFP during an interview at his home in Quetta, surrounded by medicines and newspapers.
He spotted a newspaper with a large picture of the Kabba lying on the floor of a friend’s car, he says. Picking it up, he vowed to make it his mission to forever safeguard holy images and words.
In 1992, he says, he and his brother Abdul Rashid were running a stone-crushing business on a property leased in the hills outside Quetta.
But they were only using a small portion of the space leased. So, he says, “I decided to bury them (the pages) inside this mountain”.
A Pakistani Muslim devotee visits a tunnel where ancient copies of the Quran are preserved in Jabl-e-Noor in the outskirts of Quetta January 14, 2016.
As the flow of pilgrims to Jabal-e-Noor increased, many began leaving messages scribbled on the walls of the tunnels — graffitied prayers, most seeking love, for God to grant.
“Oh God, may I get a marriage of my choice,” pleads one, while others are more specific: “God, please break Amina’s engagement and rid her of Hamza”.
Those who run the mountain are now also praying for a miracle. “I’ve asked some (rupee) billionaire friends to help” fund the recycling plant, Lehri tells AFP.
“They initially agreed — but now they are not responding,” he says.
The Pakistan Fashion Design Council [PFDC] has introduced their 9th season and 14th fashion week- the Pakistan Sunsilk Fashion Week 2016. PSFW2016 comprises eight weeks of prêt-à-porter and five of bridal fashion events showcasing an entire show lineup, schedule, and corporate sponsors.
The PFDC endeavors to present high street, luxury/prét, and lawn/voile trends for 2016, mainly focusing on fashion for the Pakistan’s upcoming long hot summer months.
PSFW 2016 Schedule
Continuing with the structured approach to fashion showcases, the PFDC team builds on their commitment to 3 distinct platforms within PSFW with separate and dedicated showcases by Luxury/Prêt designers, High-Street brands and Textile houses. Indeed #PSFW16 will feature some of the season’s most anticipated designer brands and high-street labels and will also serve as a launching platform for S/S’16 season’s lawn collections.
Participating Designers with Luxury/Prêt Collections showcasing at PSFW 2016:
Ali Xeeshan Theatre Studio
Deepak Perwani
Feeha Jamshed
HSY, Karma Pink
Khaadi Khaas
MAHGUL
Maria B
MUSE
Nomi Ansari
Nickie Nina
Saira Shakira
Sana Safinaz
Sania Maskatiya
Sublime by Sara
The House of Kamiar Rokni
Zara Shahjahan
Zonia Anwaar
The Bank Alfalah Rising Talent Showcase will also be introducing: Ghulam Dastgir, Hira Ali, Saiqa Raheem and Unza Khalid this year.
In addition to the Luxury Prêt showcases, the PFDC has also expanded on popular demand their High-Street show platform shows featuring two days of afternoon shows.
Hang Ten
Denizen
Umar Iftikhar
DSS
MBM
HSY Limited for Kashf Foundation
Shirin Hassan
Sobia Nazir
Al-Karam
Khas
Warda Prints
Ittehad Textile Mills
Harmony by Hang Ten
Gul Ahmed
The High-Street show will be highlighting contemporary and affordable ready-to-wear apparel. In addition to the afternoon high street showcases, the evening of day 4 [13th March] will also include a dedicated series of lawn shows featuring Al-Karam, Khas, Warda Prints, Ittehad Textile Mills, Harmony by Hang Ten and Gul Ahmed.
We know that stressful experiences are bad for health, but it is your reaction to stress — not how often you’re stressed — that is more important to heart health, says a new US study.
To study the effect of stress on heart health, researchers from Penn State University and Columbia University wanted to research further into the effect of daily stress on heart rate variability — the variation in intervals between heartbeats, which is linked to cardiovascular disease.
Heart rate variability is important, explains Nancy L. Sin from Penn State, because “higher heart rate variability is better for health as it reflects the capacity to respond to challenges. People with lower heart rate variability have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death.”
For their research, the team collected data from 909 participants aged 35 to 85 who had taken part in a national study. Participants were questioned on their stressful experiences via daily telephone interviews over an eight day period, and had their heart’s activity measured using an electrocardiogram.
During the interviews, the participants reported on the stressful experiences they had encountered that day, and rated each experience as having been “not at all stressful,” “not very stressful,” “somewhat stressful” or “very stressful.”
They also reported on any negative feelings they had experienced during the day.
The interviews showed that participants experienced on average at least one stressful experience on nearly half of the interview days (42 percent), with these stressful experiences generally rated as having been “somewhat” stressful.
From these reports, the team saw that it wasn’t necessarily those who reported a high number of stressful events in their lifetimes that had the lower heart rate variability.
It was actually those who perceived the events as being stressful — no matter how many they experienced — who had more negative emotions and showed a lower heart rate variability, therefore putting them at a higher risk of heart disease.
“These results tell us that a person’s perceptions and emotional reactions to stressful events are more important than exposure to stress per se,” says Sin.
“This adds to the evidence that minor hassles might pile up to influence health. We hope these findings will help inform the development of interventions to improve well-being in daily life and to promote better health.”
A joint Polish and Finnish study has found that women are more attracted to dark, brooding men and that this unconscious preference could be related to reproductive success.
The research focused on women’s attraction to narcissistic, Machiavellian and psychopathic men by analyzing their attraction to facial features associated with these personality traits.
The team was interested in three traits in particular, known as the “Dark Triad.” These are narcissism, characterized by egotism, pride and a lack of empathy; Machiavellianism, likened to a disregard for morality, manipulation of others and self-interest; and psychopathy, characterized by callousness, remorselessness, impulsiveness and antisocial behavior.
The researchers asked 2,370 adult women to look at photos of two men’s faces side by side, with one face having more or less of these three key features than the other. They were then asked to pick which of the faces they found most attractive.
The results showed that most of the participants were attracted to men with strong features associated with psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism, while a smaller minority was not.
The team, led by Dr Minna Lyons, then investigated why women seemed more attracted to men who looked dominant, aggressive and dishonest.
Looking the women’s personal lives, they linked a preference for narcissistic men to reproductive success, as women attracted to narcissistic men’s faces gave birth to more children.
“We predicted that women’s preference for narcissism could be most strongly related to their reproductive success. In line with this, we found that women with preference for high narcissistic men’s faces gave birth to more offspring …. Moreover, women with strong preference for Machiavellian male faces reported fewer offspring than their same-aged peers with weak preference,” said Dr Lyons.
Preference for psychopathic men’s faces was found to be unrelated to women’s current number of children.
The Audi Q2 is the fourth and smallest addition to Audi’s growing SUV range and one that is as focused on urban performance and maneuverability as it is on climbing mountains or fording streams.
It is also designed specifically to attract younger, affluent consumers to its brand and so the car breaks, with the Q range’s existing styling conventions, adding visual touches that are more reminiscent of the company’s Quattro and RS ranges of performance vehicles.
Yet thanks to very clever packaging, it offers the same sort of interior space for passengers and their luggage more normally associated with a compact estate car.
Although based on the A3, it has more headroom and legroom and the truck offers 405 liters of storage. The rear seats can also be dropped for even greater practicality or for those that want to carry bikes, skis or other energetic lifestyle accessories. This is also why the trunk’s opening is so wide and unhindered.
German car companies can come in for a fair amount of justified criticism for the number of features that are options rather than standard equipment, and in the case of the Q2, there is a host of items that require a box to be checked. However, it’s because Audi understands this car will appeal to a potentially large demographic.
Therefore permanent Quattro all-wheel drive is optional, as is the company’s fabulous paddle shift gearbox (it’s standard on cars with larger engines).
It’s also why there is a choice of suspension set-ups that are biased towards inner-city driving, sporty progression, or all round, all-terrain performance.
And of course, being an Audi, it will be offered with a huge list of active driver aids including emergency autonomous braking, lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control, and traffic jam assist for coping with stop-start congestion.
As for engines, there will be an initial choice of six efficient gas and diesel engines ranging from 1- to 2-liters in capacity but they will soon be joined by much more potent powerplants when the company adds the S and eventually RS models to the lineup.
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