In collaboration with Satya Paul brand, Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan presented her first designs at Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai on March 20.
Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan debuted as a designer, and presented her best designs on the Lakme Fashion Week ramp.
Gauri Khan’s Bollywood buddies Karan Johar, Malaika Arora Khan, Zarine Khan, Elli Avram and many more came to support her at the fashion show.
Amongst others were Mandira Bedi, Kunal Kohli, photographer and a good friend Dabboo Ratnani with his wife were also present at the fashion show.
Gauri Khan grabbed all the attention by presenting “A Tropical Wonder” collection of floral prints that revealed the line of holiday wear. She showcased her style icon under Satya Paul brand on the occasion of the designer’s 30 years in fashion industry.
Gauri Khan’s “A Tropical Wonder” included outfits to be worn as casual and holiday wear. Matching her theme for the fashion show, Gauri Khan included printed floral sari, lounging on the beach the kaftan tie-up, sheer shirts sporting mesh inserts and tunics in her collection.
Gauri Khan showed all the confidence while walking the ramp. It was a perfect end to Day 3 of Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2015 with Gauri Khan’s A Tropical Wonder Collection for Satya Paul brand.

New Delhi: The I&B Ministry has issued an advisory to all TV channels not to broadcast live anti- terrorist operations to avoid any adverse impact on rescue exercise.

The advisory came in the wake of some TV channels covering live anti-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district on March 20.

The Ministry asked the TV channels not to focus on location, strength, movement, strategy and other related operations being followed by security forces engaging with the terrorists.

It advised all TV channels to safeguard innocent lives and ensure that no operations linked information reaches the terrorists and their handlers.

“In the interest of national security, live coverage of counter-terrorism operations by security forces should not be telecast,” the advisory said.

“The media coverage may be restricted to periodic briefing by an earmarked official till the operation concludes,” it said.

When contacted, I&B Secretary Bimal Julka said, “Keeping in view the sensitivities of the matter, we would seek cooperation from all the broadcasters.”

The I&B Ministry’s advisory comes at a time when the Home Ministry has already expressed its view that rules should be amended so that live coverage of security operations is disallowed.

PTI

New Delhi: Condemning the recent terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Sunday said that it is a conspiracy to derail the peace process in the state

Sayeed further that Pakistan must control terrorism if it wants peace and reconciliation.

Hoping that peace would return to Jammu and Kashmir soon, he said, “People of Jammu and Kashmir have given a mandate. My suggestion is to introduce a resolution to condemn such attacks.

“The peace that was witnessed by the state after 2003, similar peace will return to Jammu and Kashmir, same peace will be restored and the forces which are doing this (such attacks) that we should send a message from the House …Pakistan is also a victim and their Prime Minister says he cannot do anything to control this,” he said.

“We have a strong will, a strong resolve to control to fight terrorism, if they want peace then they have to control them,” he said.

He said during the tenure of former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf “peace prevailed” on both sides of the border and Line of Control.

The Chief Minister again termed the terrorists from across the border as “non-state actors” and asked, “Who were the people who attacked churches in Karachi, who launched attacks in Peshawar, who is Lakhvi.”

The Assembly Session of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly today witnessed an uproar over the attacks by militants in the state.

The functioning of the House was disrupted after Bharatiya Janata Party leaders raised anti-Pakistan slogans in the Assembly.

National Conference (NC) leaders led by former CM Omar Abdullah staged a walkout from the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly after their adjournment motion condemning twin terror attacks in Jammu was rejected.

Two attacks by the militants have taken place in the last two days in Jammu and Kashmir.

Security forces gunned down two guerrillas during an attack on Army camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba district yesterday.

On Friday, guerrillas had attacked the Rajbagh police station in Kathua district. Six people including two terrorists, two paramilitary troopers, a policeman and a civilian were killed.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh will be visiting is scheduled to visit Wagah border later toda

Churpi Becomes Hit As Dog Chew Abroad – Sales Close to US$ 5.6 Million in 2014

A chewy cheese made by generations of yak herders in Nepal has become an unexpected hit overseas — as a dog treat — bringing entrepreneurs and Himalayan farmers a windfall.

Known as “Chhurpi”, the dried cheese made from churned yak’s milk and cow’s milk has long been a popular snack domestically.
But businessman Sujan Shrestha said he had “a lightbulb moment” after an American friend bought the cheese for his pooch before returning home from the Himalayan country.

“We were actually offended at first (that)…he was giving Churpi to his dog,” Shrestha said.

Then they saw the business opportunities.

Shrestha, a former handicrafts salesman, and two friends decided to test the water in 2007, setting up a stall at a farmers’ market in Washington DC and selling the cheese exclusively for dogs. They sold out within half an hour.

Since then, business has nearly doubled year-on-year.

The company, known as Himalayan Dog Chew, is now a frontrunner among a handful of firms which market Chhurpi in the US, Britain, Canada and Japan.

It exported over 200 tonnes of Chhurpi from Nepal in 2014, with sales in North America and Japan totalling USD9 million.

Industry-wide, Shrestha and rival firms like Yeti Dog Chew say the US market alone accounts for annual sales of at least USD 10 million.

Nepal exported around 300 tonnes of dog chew in 2013 in total, with suppliers struggling to keep up with demand, according to a report by Kathmandu-based non-profit, Institution for Suitable Actions For Prosperity.

Shrestha also decided to establish a production plant in Seattle, where 60 workers use machines to try to replicate the laborious techniques of Himalayan farmers.

The traditional process — unchanged for centuries — sees yak herders churn and strain the milk by hand, before wrapping the semi-solid residue in a cloth and hanging it up to dry and ferment.

For farmers like Mingma Sherpa from Nepal’s Everest region, surging demand for his cheese has meant about USD1,500 a year in extra income — a bonanza in a country where one quarter of the population lives on less than USD 1.25 a day.

“It is strange to think that our Chhurpi is eaten by dogs. But it is so good… they must like it too,” Sherpa, 30, told AFP.

The government has rejected the bids of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) and Balco, amid speculation of cartelisation during the auction of coal blocks held recently.

The government was re-examining the bids for nine recently auctioned coal blocks, including those where Jindal Steel & Power (JSPL) and Balco emerged top bidders.

“Government takes decision on bids for 9 coal blocks,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said in a late night tweet.
Jindal Power had emerged as successful bidder for Gare IV/2, Gare Palma IV/3 and Tara Coal blocks while Bharat Aluminium Company(Balco) had emerged as successful bidder for Gare Palma IV/1 coal block.

However, bids for five blocks have been accepted, Mr. Swarup tweeted.

Mr. Swarup had earlier insisted that the government wasn’t looking at cartelisation aspect at the moment.

There had been reports that some bidders could have indulged in cartelisation to keep the prices low for the concerned mines.

“In the schedule II, we were looking at four mines and in schedule III we are looking at five mines…Prima facie we found that it requires a re-examination, so it has been re-examined that is about all,” Mr. Swarup had earlier said.

The bids of four coal blocks of the schedule II mines (producing) which were being re-examined were Gare Palma IV 2, Gare Palma IV 3, Gare Palma IV-1 and Marki Mangli III.

BS Ispat had bagged Marki Mangli III mine.

The coal blocks which did not figure in the list of successful bidders of schedule III mines (ready to produce) were Brinda and Sasai mine (one bid was invited for both the mines), Meral mine, Dumri mine, Tara mine and Mandla South mine.

While insisting that the government “has not looked at any such thing as cartelisation or anything of such sort”, the secretary had said: “I have used the word ‘outliers’ There is a pattern and if somebody falls outside that pattern that needs a examination.”

“Whether it is a cartelisation or not it not something which I can say as of now. We are certainly not examining these aspects. We are examining if there is an outlier the reason for it and then we will take a call”, he had said.

So far, a total of 33 coal blocks have been auctioned in two tranches. While in the first lot 19 coal mines were auctioned, in the second lot 14 coal blocks went under the hammer.

As a goodwill gesture, Pakistan on Saturday released 57 Indian fishing boats that were in its custody.

In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) said the decision to release the vessels was taken in May last year.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited India at that time to attend the oath-ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

An eight-member Indian delegation visited Karachi from March 9 to finalise modalities for the repatriation of boats with officials of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), the statement said.

“While the PMSA had kept the boats in good condition, it extended full support to the visiting team in making the boats seaworthy after minor repairs. Subsequently, the boats were towed to the maritime boundary today, where these were physically taken over by the Indian side,” it said.

Indian fishermen and boats are often apprehended by PMSA authorities when they violate Pakistan territorial waters.

Usually the boats are not in seaworthy condition and are not returned.

However, following instructions from the Prime Minister to return these boats, special efforts were undertaken by the PMSA to ensure that the boats are returned to their owners, the statement added.

Pakistan and India frequently arrest rival fishermen for violating the sea waters.

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis says nothing can justify the use of the death penalty and there is no “right” way to humanely kill another person.

Francis outlined the Catholic church’s opposition to capital punishment in a letter to the International Commission against the Death Penalty, a group of former government officials, jurists and others who had an audience with him at the Vatican Friday.

The pope wrote that the principle of legitimate personal defense isn’t adequate justification to execute someone. “When the death penalty is applied, it is not for a current act of aggression, but rather for an act committed in the past.”

“Nowadays the death penalty is inadmissible, no matter how serious the crime committed,” Francis declared. He was building on church teaching, including pronouncements during St. John Paul II’s papacy, that modern prison systems make executions unnecessary.

Capital punishment “does not render justice to the victims, but rather fosters vengeance,” Francis added.

“For the rule of law, the death penalty represents a failure, as it obliges the state to kill in the name of justice,” Francis told the anti-death penalty advocates.

While he didn’t mention the United States by name, Francis cited debates about which method should be used to carry out executions. “There is discussion in some quarters about the method of killing, as if it were possible to find ways of ‘getting it right,'” the pope said.

“But there is no humane way of killing another person,” Francis concluded.

In previous comments, Francis denounced life imprisonment as unjustifiable punishment. In his remarks Friday, he called life terms a “sort of covert death penalty,” since it “deprives detainees not only of their freedom, but also of hope.”

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