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Waqas Dar

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Blog Entries posted by Waqas Dar

  1. Waqas Dar
    Asian stocks fell on Thursday and the dollar was stuck near six-month lows against a basket of currencies as uncertainty mounted over US President Donald Trump's future following reports that he tried to interfere with a federal investigation.
    MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 0.4 percent.
    Japan's Nikkei shed 1.5 percent, Australian shares lost 1.2 percent and South Korea's KOSPI declined 0.5 percent.
    Equities in Asia took cues from Wall Street, where the Dow and S&P 500 both sank about 1.8 percent overnight following reports that Trump tried to influence a federal probe.
    The allegations have not only thrown doubt over the future of the pro-growth policies that Trump promised, but they have raised the possibility he could end up leaving the presidency.
    A small but growing number of Trump's fellow Republicans called on Wednesday for an independent probe of possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia, and one even mentioned impeachment.
    The region's shares showed little reaction to news that former FBI chief Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election, although the S&P mini futures were a shade higher while the dollar bounced modestly against the safe-haven yen.
    The greenback was up 0.25 percent at 111.080 yen after hitting a three-week low of 110.530. It was still down a significant 2 percent on the week.
    "The appointment appears to be an attempt at tackling the problem early. While it is a bit of good news, further investigations are needed and it still remains to be seen what those could reveal. As such, the markets are still faced with uncertainty," said Yoshinori Shigemi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management in Tokyo.
    In political developments elsewhere, trouble mounted for Brazilian President Michel Temer, who was recorded discussing payments to silence testimony by a potential witness in the country's biggest-ever graft probe.
    An exchange-traded fund of Brazilian equities was down more than 8 percent in Tokyo, where it is traded.
    In currencies, the euro extended its overnight surge to touch $1.1174, its highest since November before pulling back slightly to $1.1154.
    "There are two implications from the latest developments in Washington, first being the possibility of congressional procedures reaching an impasse and second is the potential of Trump being forced out," said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief forex strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo.
    "But judging by how steeply the dollar has fallen, participants may have already priced in much of the negative news regarding Trump. The dollar could even benefit with the market thinking of post-Trump scenarios."
    The dollar index against a basket of major currencies was down 0.1 percent at 97.518, not far from a six-month trough of 99.333 reached the previous day.
    The US currency was hurt as Treasury yields declined significantly with allegations against Trump lowering economic stimulus hopes.
    The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield was at 2.234 percent after going as low as 2.209 percent overnight, its lowest since April 21.
    With Treasury yields falling, the gap between US and German government debt yields reached its narrowest in more than six months on Wednesday, as a tumultuous week in Washington contrasted with a sense of improved political stability in Europe. 
    In commodities, oil prices dipped after settling at a two-week high overnight. An ongoing effort by OPEC to cut production has partially propped up oil but prices remain under pressure from still plentiful supplies.
    Brent crude slipped 0.25 percent to $52.08 a barrel.
    Gold hovered near a two-week high thanks to the weaker dollar and the risk aversion gripping the broader markets.
    Spot gold hit $1,263.02 an ounce, its highest since May 1.


  2. Waqas Dar
    Britain's Liberal Democrat Party, trailing significantly behind Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives and the opposition Labour party, vowed on Wednesday to hold a second referendum on a final Brexit deal if it wins next month's election.
    Launching his party's proposals for the June 8 election, Liberal Democratic leader Tim Farron said they would give Britons a say on the divorce deal struck with the European Union after two years of talks, saying a bad agreement would wreck Britain's future.
    "You should have your say on the Brexit deal in a referendum," Farron said. "And if you don't like the deal you should be able to reject it and choose to remain in Europe."
    May has vowed to press ahead with Brexit, saying she was prepared to take Britain out of the EU even if no deal with the bloc could be struck, while Labour's leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the issue has been settled.
    Read more: Tony Blair announces return to British politics to fight Brexit
    The Liberal Democrats are hopeful that their pro-EU stance will attract support from the 48 percent of Britons who backed remaining in the bloc in last year's referendum, although opinion polls suggest the message has not won over many people from the two major parties who opposed Brexit.
    Surveys put support for the Liberal Democrats on about 10 percent, some way behind May's Conservative Party which polls indicate is attracting support from more than 45 percent of Britons with Labour on about 30 percent.
    Liberal Democrats support nationally has collapsed since the 2010 election when the party won 23 percent of the vote, propelling it into a coalition government with former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.
    Read more: UK super-rich got richer despite Brexit: rich list
    But five years later voters abandoned the party as it bore the brunt of public anger over unpopular austerity measures and the Liberal Democrats lost all but eight of the 57 seats they held in the 650-seat parliament.
    Among the other major policies advocated by the Liberal Democrats are an extra 1 pence on income tax rates to raise 6 billion pounds ($7.8 billion) to spend on the state-run National Health Service and a plan for a 100 billion pound infrastructure investment to help build 300,000 homes a year and improve road and rail links.


  3. Waqas Dar
    A westerly wave is affecting northern areas and likely to persist during next 24 hours, the Pakistan Meteorological Department forecasted.
    Hot and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country on Thursday.
    However, rain and thunderstorm with gusty winds are expected at a few places in Kashmir and its adjoining hilly areas.
    Past weather
    Dust, thunderstorm, and rain with gusty winds occurred at scattered places in Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, D.G khan, Multan divisions, upper FATA, Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan while at isolated places in Quetta and Larkana divisions.
    Rainfall in the last 24 Hours (mm)                              
    KP: Malamjabba 29, Kohat 20, Cherat 17, Parachinar 03, Dir, Mirkhani 02, Peshawar, Kakul, Saidu Sharif , Balakot 01, Punjab: Joharabad 24, NoorpurThal 13, Sahiwal, Sargodha 07, Okara, Mianwali 05, Jhang, D.G khan 04, Bahawalpur, Layyah 03, Murree, Sialkot, Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar 01. Kashmir: Rawalakot 04, Garidupatta 01, GB: Bagrote 07, Gilgit 05, Chillas, Gupis 03, Bunji 01, Balochistan: Barkhan 02. Sindh: Moenjodaro 02.
    Yesterday's highest temperatures                            
    Dadu, Turbat 45°C, Sukkar, Padidan, Chhor, Larkana 44°C, Sh. Benazirabad, Rohri, Moenjodaro, Mithi, Hyderabad, Sibbi, Jacobabad, R.Y. Khan 43°C.
      


  4. Waqas Dar
    The US Justice Department, in the face of rising pressure from Capitol Hill, named former chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Robert Mueller on Wednesday as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election and possible collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow.
    The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into an uproar following Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey. Democrats and some of the president's fellow Republicans had demanded an independent probe of whether Russia tried to sway the outcome of November's election in favour of Trump and against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
    In a statement after the Justice Department announcement, Trump said he looked forward to a quick resolution of the matter.
    "As I have stated many times, a thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity," he said.
    Mueller, in a statement tweeted by CBS News, said: “I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.”
    Trump, who said in a speech earlier on Wednesday that no politician in history "has been treated worse or more unfairly," has long bristled at the notion that Russia played any role in his November election victory.
    But the Russia issue has clouded his early months in office. Moscow has denied US intelligence agencies' conclusion it meddled in the campaign.
    Pressure on the White House intensified after Trump fired Comey, who had been leading a federal probe into the matter, and allegations that Trump had asked Comey to end the FBI investigation into ties between Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and Russia. That raised questions about whether the president improperly attempted to interfere with a federal investigation.
    The issue spilled over onto Wall Street on Wednesday where the S&P 500 and the Dow had their biggest one-day declines since September as investor hopes for tax cuts and other pro-business policies faded amid the political tumult. The Justice Department announcement came after the market close.
    "My decision (to appoint a special counsel) is not the finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted. I have made no such determination," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a statement announcing the special counsel.
    "I determined that a special counsel is necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome," he said.
    On hearing of Mueller's appointment from White House Counsel Don McGahn, Trump assembled his senior aides in the Oval Office and gave them a pep talk, casting the probe as an opportunity to refocus on his agenda, a senior White House official said. Learning the news less than a half hour before it was publicly announced, Trump dictated the statement that was soon released.
    Congressional probes continue
    Lawmakers on Capitol Hill generally welcomed the Justice Department action and praised Mueller for his integrity, but House and Senate Republican leaders said they would go on with their own investigations of the Russia matter.
    “A special counsel is very much needed in this situation and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein has done the right thing," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
    Republican House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said he was confident Mueller "will conduct a thorough and fair investigation."
    A discordant note was sounded by Republican Representative Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, who praised Mueller's credentials, but said: “I don’t think they should have appointed someone.”
    “I have not seen any evidence of actual collusion. Where is the actual crime that they think they need a special prosecutor to prosecute,” Chaffetz told Fox News.
    Mueller, 72, was decorated as a Marine Corps officer during the Vietnam War. A former federal prosecutor, he is known for his tough, no-nonsense managerial style. Appointed by Republican President George W Bush, he became FBI director one week before the September 11, 2001, attacks.
    In 2011, he was asked by Democratic President Barack Obama to stay on for two more years. He was replaced by Comey in 2013.
    Mueller was credited with transforming the FBI, putting more resources into counterterrorism investigations and improving its cooperation with other US government agencies.
    Although Mueller will serve at the pleasure of Rosenstein, the job comes with independence and autonomy.
    Some past independent investigations have stretched for years. For example, Kenneth Starr, who investigated former President Bill Clinton, probed allegations surrounding his past real estate deals but later expanded the inquiry into Clinton's relations with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, leading to an impeachment of Clinton by the House.
    The White House on Wednesday was conducting interviews of candidates to replace Comey as head of the FBI.
    A senior administration official said former Democratic vice presidential candidate and Senator Joe Lieberman, one of those interviewed by Trump, was among the leading candidates.
    Trump's spokesman, Sean Spicer, said others being interviewed were acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating and former senior FBI official Richard McFeely.
     


  5. Waqas Dar
    BANGALORE: Kolkata Knight Riders face Mumbai Indians for a shot at a final berth in the Indian Premier League after Gautam Gambhir powered his team to a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad early Thursday.
    Rain reduced the second innings of the eliminator match to six overs, with KKR given a 48-run target under the Duckworth-Lewis method.
    Gambhir remained unbeaten with a top-score of 32, leading his team to a seven-wicket victory with four balls to spare.
    Australian Nathan Coulter-Nile won man of the match award for three wickets earlier on Wednesday in an inspired bowling performance against the Sunrisers.
    Nile and other KKR bowlers, particularly Sunil Narine and Umesh Yadav, restricted Hyderabad to 128-7 in their 20 overs on a seemingly slow track.
    Hyderabad skipper David Warner top-scored with 37 runs but all Hyderabad batsmen struggled to get quick runs against KKR´s measured performance on the field.
    Showers interrupted even before KKR could begin their reply, shortening the second innings which only started past midnight, early Thursday.
    Sunrisers´ began their bowling performance on a high, with Indian seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar taking two wickets, including a run out, in the very first over of KKR´s reply.
    Kolkata also lost Robin Uthappa in the next over before Gambhir, one of the most consistent performers this IPL season, took charge of the team´s run chase.
    KKR face Mumbai on Friday for a chance to play Rising Pune Supergiant.
    Since its debut in 2008 the shorter-format league has evolved into India´s most popular sporting event, filling stadiums and attracting TV audiences well beyond that enjoyed by Test and one-day competitions in the cricket-mad country.


  6. Waqas Dar
    Veteran film and tv actress, Reema Lagoo, mainly known for playing moms to Bollywood's biggest stars, has died due to cardiac arrest.
    According to Indian media, a family source, reports that the actress died early Thursday.
    The actress had been admitted to the Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai.
    Reema was famous for playing moms in both movies and television.  She also made a name for herself in TV shows like Tu Tu Main Main and Shrimaan Shrimati. She was last seen in Naamkaran.

    Her most popular movies include Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Hum Saath-Saath Hain, Maine Pyar Kiya and Kal Ho Naa Ho.


    Over the course of her career, she played the mother’s role opposite some of the biggest stars in the industry like Salman Khan (Maine Pyar Kiya), Akshay Kumar (Jai Kishan), Sridevi (Gumrah), Madhuri Dixit (Hum Aapke Hain Koun..!) and Shah Rukh Khan (Kal Ho Naa Ho).
    The actress was 59.


  7. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: Police killed one suspect, arrested at least nine, while ten others were detained during operations in the metropolis.
    The police shot dead an assailant during exchange of fire in the area of Baghdadi of Lyari.
    According to police, the suspect belonged to Ghaffar Zikri group.
    During operations in various areas of Karachi, including Jamshed Quarter, Baloch Para and Jahangir Road; nine suspects were arrested, while the police took ten other suspects in custody for further interrogation.


  8. Waqas Dar
    Like a horde of undead, "Resident Evil" has shuffled relentlessly forward over six films, taking a fleshy $1.2 billion chunk from movie-goers to become the biggest ever cinematic video game tie-in.
    Unlike the eviscerated victims of the franchise's bloodthirsty genetically modified flesh-eaters, however, the creators of "Resident Evil" are going out on their own terms.
    Director Paul W.S. Anderson has said the DVD and Blu-ray of "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter," released this week, will be the last offering from a series that has been savaged by critics but adored by its loyal devotees.
    When the idea for the first film, "Resident Evil," germinated from a marathon gaming session at the turn of the millennium, the world wasn't exactly crying out for another video game turned into a movie.
    "It was a movie that was made against the odds. It was made outside of the studio system with no American involvement," Anderson, 53, told AFP.
    "At our very first test screening, if we hadn't scored really very high, the movie was going to go straight to DVD and there would have been no franchise."
    At that stage, around a dozen game adaptations had already been tried, starting with "Super Mario Bros." in 1993.
    A few -- the first two "Pokemon" films, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" and Anderson's own "Mortal Kombat" -- did very respectable business at the box office but all were panned by critics.
    Ground Zero

    Japanese developer Capcom's blood-spattered "Resident Evil" had grown into a global phenomenon however and Anderson felt it could buck the trend.
    The 52-year-old British writer-director cut himself off from the world to immerse himself in the game, emerging bleary-eyed two weeks later with an idea for a movie.
    "I felt it was way ahead of the curve. It was talking about things that people weren't paying any attention to, this idea of corporate malfeasance and the fact that your government probably wasn't looking after your best interests," he said.
    The movie, based loosely on the first two video games follows a special ops unit as it fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
    Anderson shot almost the entire movie in Berlin but was mid-air on the way to filming the final scene in Canada on September 11, 2001 when two planes slammed into the World Trade Center in New York.
    "I was one of the last flights out of New York to Toronto, and we ended up just closing down the shoot and doing it a month later, because it became a no-fly zone," said Anderson, who produced all six chapters, directing the first and the final three.
    "Originally the movie was called 'Resident Evil: Ground Zero.' We obviously had to change that."
    "Resident Evil" (2002) was an immediate hit, more than tripling its $33 million budget, and the trend throughout its sequels has been an upward trajectory towards the $312 million box office receipts of "The Final Chapter."
    The series is unusual in the world of blockbuster franchises in that it has been carried over 15 years by a single female lead, Milla Jovovich, who made her name in "The Fifth Element" (1997), briefly marrying its French director Luc Besson
    Respect

    Mutual respect blossomed into love for Anderson and Jovovich, 41. The pair married in 2009 -- between "Extinction" and "Afterlife" -- and have two daughters, the eldest of whom made her film debut in "The Final Chapter."
    "When I first came to Hollywood to make 'Mortal Kombat' back in the day, there was this rule that female-led action movies don't work and American studios didn't want to make them," Anderson said.
    Despite its brave casting, critics were not kind to the series -- Time Out's review of "Resident Evil" as a "derivative, tedious mess" wasn't an outlier -- but the first movie in particular has since grown a passionate fanbase and more generous reviews.
    "There are so many movies that receive critical pannings and then become classics. It's really nice to be in that bunch, to be honest," said Jeremy Bolt, the producer for most of Anderson's movies, including all six "Resident Evil" films.
    The home entertainment release was marked Tuesday with a special screening in Hollywood of the original "Resident Evil," arranged by superfan Kory Davis, who is better known as film fan and Twitter personality @moviedude18.
    "The games were really good at first and then they kind of lost their way but I feel like the movies stayed consistent," he said.
    Next up for Anderson is "Monster Hunter," another Capcom video game adaptation which is actually outselling "Resident Evil."
    "I'm staying in my wheelhouse, not making any romantic comedies in a hurry," he joked.


  9. Waqas Dar
    Japan has posted its longest economic expansion in over a decade, government data showed Thursday, chalking up a win for Tokyo's growth bid even though the battle to conquer deflation is still far from won.
    The world's number three economy grew 0.5 percent in the first three months of 2017, its fifth straight winning quarter, up from a 0.3 percent rise in the last quarter of 2016, the Cabinet Office said.
    Japan's prospects have been improving on the back of strong exports, with investments linked to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics also giving growth a boost. The labour market is tight and business confidence is high.
    But consumer spending remains tepid and efforts to lift inflation have largely fallen flat despite years of monetary easing by the central bank. Individual spending accounts for more than a half of Japan's GDP.
    Private consumption picked up a modest 0.4 percent in the first quarter from the preceding three months' zero growth.
    The latest reading nonetheless means Japan's economy has had its best string of gains since 2006, during the tenure of popular former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.
    The figures are good news for the current prime minister Shinzo Abe -- whose brief and underwhelming first term as Japan's premier came directly after Koizumi.
    A string of short-term leaders followed before Abe swept back to power in late 2012 on a pledge to reignite Japan's once-booming economy with a plan dubbed Abenomics.
    The scheme -- a mix of huge monetary easing, government spending and reforms to the economy -- stoked a stock market rally and fattened corporate profits.
    The Bank of Japan (BoJ), aiming to create two-percent inflation as a key part the growth bid, now expects to reach that goal by 2019 -- four years later than planned.
    Still, the central bank and International Monetary Fund both recently lifted their projections for growth.
    Wages stagnating

    A weak yen has helped prop up the economy as it makes Japanese exports more competitive and inflates profits when overseas income is repatriated.
    An improving global outlook with strong demand for Japanese smartphone parts, memory chips and construction machinery has also been a tailwind, analysts said.
    "With growing external demand set to continue, we believe there will be the need for many companies to replace machinery and equipment," Katsunori Kitakura, lead strategist at asset manager Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group.
    "The crucial question is how far capital expenditure will be increased in the meantime," he said in a commentary released ahead of the GDP data.
    Cash-rich firms have also been stingy with pay hikes, which hurts spending and acts like an anchor on the economy.
    In March, some of Japan's top companies, including Toyota and Hitachi, announced their lowest wage hikes in years.
    "Wages are still stagnating, despite sharp falls in unemployment," research house Capital Economics said in a commentary.
    "This seems to be because aggressive monetary easing has failed to lift expectations of future price rises among households and firms.
    "Unless this changes, the chances of inflation settling at two percent or higher are slim," it added.
    Despite healthy profits, many Japanese firms remain cautious about the world economy, partly due to worries that US President Donald Trump's protectionist leanings could hurt exports.
    Japan has been struggling to conquer years of deflation and slow growth that followed the bursting of an equity and property market bubble in the nineties.
    Falling prices can discourage spending by consumers, who might postpone purchases until prices drop more or they might save money instead.
    That puts pressure on businesses, creating a cycle in which firms then cut back on expanding production, hiring new workers or boosting wages.


  10. Waqas Dar
    Scientists on Wednesday unveiled two methods for coaxing stem cells into blood cells, a long-sought goal that could lead to new treatments for blood disease, including leukaemia.
    In separate experiments reported in Nature -- one with mice, the other transplanting human stem cells into mouse bone marrow -- researchers demonstrated techniques with the potential to produce all types of blood cells.
    "This step opens up an opportunity to take cells from patients with genetic blood disorders, use gene editing to correct their genetic defect, and make functional blood cells," said Ryohichi Sugimura, a doctor at Boston Children's Hospital and lead author of one of the studies.
    If proven safe, the proof-of-concept methods could also lead to a "limitless supply of blood" by using cells from universal donors, he added.
    Human embryonic stem cells -- generic cells which, as the embryo develops, gradually differentiate -- were first isolated in 1998.
    A decade later, scientists figured out how to generate another type of all-purpose cell from human skin, known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS. These were successfully used to make neurons and heart cells.
    But the goal of creating blood-forming stem cells in the lab remained out-of-reach.
    Sugimura and colleagues devised a three-step process to achieve that breakthrough.
    They began by inducing both embryonic stems cells and iPS to morph into a form of embryonic tissue that -- in a natural process -- gives rise to blood stem cells. This had been done before.
    In the second crucial step, they experimented with dozens of proteins known to control gene expression, especially during the formative process of embryo growth.
    Protein cocktail

    They found that five of these so-called transcription factors, working together, yielded the elusive blood stem cells -- the starter kit for white and red blood cells, platelets, macrophages and all the other cell types of which blood is composed.
    Finally, they transplanted these human blood stem cells into the bone marrow of live mice.
    Within a few weeks, several kinds of human blood cells had formed, and were circulating in the rodents.
    "We are now able to model human blood function in so-called 'humanised mice'," said George Daley, head of a research lab at Boston Children's Hospital and the main architect of the experiment.
    "We're tantalisingly close to generating bona fide human blood cells in a dish," he added in a statement.
    In the second study, a team led by Shahin Rafii at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City used adult mouse cells as their starting material, and then guided them through several steps -- including exposure to some of the same gene-activating proteins -- to create mature blood stem cells in a petri dish.
    Taken together, the two experiments "represent a milestone" in stem cell development, said Carolina Guibentif and Berthold Gottgens, researchers at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute in England who did not participate in the work.
    "The ability to manufacture HSCs" -- haematopoietic, or blood, stem cells -- "in the laboratory holds enormous promise for cell therapy, drug screening and studies of leukaemia development," they wrote in a commentary, also published by Nature.
    A key concern, they noted, was the possible risk associated with using transcription factors that may themselves be linked to the early stages of leukaemia.
    How these cocktails of catalysing proteins are inserted into developing tissue is of particular concern.
    But new techniques of ultra-precise gene-editing, they added, could soon render such potential problems obsolete.


  11. Waqas Dar
    Teenage star Kylian Mbappe helped Monaco secure their first Ligue 1 title in 17 years with his 15th goal of the season in Wednesday's 2-0 victory at home to Saint-Etienne.
    The 18-year-old raced clear of the visiting defence to nervelessly roll in the opening goal after 19 minutes at the Stade Louis II as Paris Saint-Germain's four-year reign as French champions came to an end.
    Valere Germain added a second with the final kick of the match.
    "We can finally say we are champions. I'm very proud of this team, of these players. It's a dream for me, I'm very happy," Monaco captain Radamel Falcao told Canal+.
    Leonardo Jardim's side were effectively guaranteed the title after Sunday's 4-0 win over Lille due to their vastly superior goal difference and needed just a point to secure an eighth league crown.
    Monaco's 11th straight victory bumped them up to 92 points, six ahead of PSG, and they can match the capital club's single-season record of 30 wins in Saturday's final game at Rennes.
    "We've been able to hold on all the way against teams like Paris and Nice who kept up with the pace until the end," said Mbappe.
    "Unfortunately for them but luckily for us, we're the ones leaving with the trophy."
    Not since Claude Puel guided a squad featuring Fabien Barthez, David Trezeguet and Willy Sagnol to the 1999-2000 title had Monaco been crowned kings of France.
    Saint-Etienne held Monaco to a 1-1 draw in October, but Christophe Galtier's side arrived in the principality low on confidence after their 5-0 thrashing by PSG and decimated by injury.
    Uncompromising

    Mbappe's meteoric rise this season has seen him torment some of Europe's leading clubs and it was hardly surprising the teenager made the crucial breakthrough after a cautious start.
    Stephane Ruffier palmed away a Mbappe snapshot with the first real chance, but there was little he could do moments later when the striker latched onto Radamel Falcao's threaded pass and calmly rounded the Saint-Etienne goalkeeper before slotting home.
    Monaco were far from their free-flowing best which had seen them become just the fifth team to rack up over 100 goals in a French season, with Danijel Subasic forced to save from a Florentin Pogba header.
    However Falcao came close to providing Monaco with added breathing space when his powerful header from a corner was superbly kept out by Ruffier.
    Saint-Etienne youngster Arnaud Nordin charged through the left-hand side of the Monaco defence after setting off from inside his own half, but his final effort lacked the pace to trouble Subasic.
    Jordan Veretout then skipped beyond Subasic following Henri Saivet's through ball, but Poland international Kamil Glik recovered in time to deny the on-loan Aston Villa midfielder.
    Germain, who was with the club in 2011 when Monaco were languishing at the foot of the second divison, should have sealed the victory on 74 minutes when Mbappe slid the ball across only for him to shin wide with Ruffier well out of the picture.
    But he made amends deep into stoppage time as Thomas Lemar sprang a counter-attack that left Germain with the simplest of tap-ins to complete a memorable evening.
    "We've had a superb season both individually and collectively. I think we fully deserve it," said Germain.
    "This year we've been uncompromising. You have to congratulate the whole group and especially everyone in the ground who was magnificent tonight."


  12. Waqas Dar
    Real Madrid moved to within one point of winning La Liga as Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice to beat Celta Vigo 4-1 on Wednesday.
    The European champions lead Barcelona by three points at the top of the table and now need to just avoid defeat at Malaga on Sunday to secure their first league title in five years.
    "We will go there to win the game," insisted Ronaldo. "We are Real Madrid, we are the best and we want to be champions."
    Once again Ronaldo made the difference as he took his tally to 13 goals in his last eight games with early strikes in each half.
    Iago Aspas was then controversially sent-off when he saw a second yellow card for diving, but Celta halved the arrears through John Guidetti's deflected effort.
    However, Karim Benzema and Toni Kroos rounded off the scoring to keep Madrid on course for a La Liga and Champions League double.
    "We played with incredible attitude and personality," said Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.
    Ronaldo was starting his first La Liga game away from home for nearly two months as in contrast to recent weeks, Zidane didn't rotate his starting XI.
    The Frenchman went with the same side that withstood an Atletico Madrid revival to book their place in the Champions League final a week ago.
    And he was rewarded early on as Marcelo fed Isco and after he was dispossessed on the edge of the area, Ronaldo smashed the loose ball high into the net.
    "He has managed things very well," Ronaldo added on Zidane.
    "I feel good. Everything is decided in the final weeks of the season and I am doing well. I am scoring goals and helping the team."
    Celta have now lost eight of their last nine La Liga games having concentrated on their run to the Europa League semi-finals that was ended by Manchester United last week.
    However, they eliminated Madrid from the Copa del Rey earlier this season and put the European champions to the test once more.
    Daniel Wass stung the palms of Keylor Navas with a fiercely struck free-kick before Aspas fired just wide twice in quick succession.
    And Celta also had a penalty appeal waived away before the break when Raphael Varane handled inside his own area.
    "We scored early and then had 20 difficult minutes," added Zidane.
    "In the second-half we controlled the game more because the first-half it was end-to-end which isn't our game."
    Having soaked up that pressure, a deadly Real counter-attack doubled their advantage just three minutes into the second period.
    Isco was again the provider as he surged through the midfield before feeding Ronaldo to finish off the inside of the post.
    More controversy ensued moments later when referee Juan Martinez Munera showed Aspas a second yellow card for diving when he appeared to have been tripped by Sergio Ramos inside the area.
    Despite their numerical disadvantage, Celta did manage to pull a goal back when Guidetti's effort deflected past the helpless Navas off Ramos.
    However, the visitors went straight up the other end and Marcelo's low cross was tapped home by Karim Benzema to restore Real's two-goal cushion.
    Ronaldo should have completed yet another hat-trick when he somehow managed to fire wide with the goal gaping before he was replaced with six minutes remaining.
    Even without him, though, Madrid continued to stream forward and Kroos rounded off the scoring with a cool turn and finish two minutes from time.
     
     


  13. Waqas Dar
    Dani Alves and Leonardo Bonucci struck one apiece as treble-chasing Juventus secured a record third successive Italian Cup with a 2-0 victory over Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday.
    Juventus, who won a league and Cup double the past two seasons, can clinch a record sixth consecutive Serie A title -- and a record third double -- with victory at home to Crotone on Sunday.
    Massimiliano Allegri's men also face Real Madrid in the Champions League final in Cardiff on June -- and on this showing the Spanish giants will have cause for concern.
    Days after seeing their title celebrations put on hold at the Stadio Olimpico following a 3-1 defeat to Lazio's city rivals Roma, Juventus were back their formidable best.
    And Allegri said he expects more of the same on Sunday.
    "This win has given us a boost for Sunday. We absolutely have to wrap up the championship," said Allegri.
    "The lads delivered a great technical and defensive performance that has more than made up for last week against Roma."
    Bonucci said: "Sunday is another final for us. We have to secure our second objective of the season, then we'll all start looking to Cardiff."
    Lazio, whose last trophy came from their 2013 Cup triumph, had hoped to emulate Roma by sending Juventus back to Turin with their tails between their legs.
    But despite a battling display by Simone Inzaghi's men, Lazio spurned their few chances, and were outplayed by the slick, passing play inspired by Argentinian playmaker Paulo Dybala.
    Inzaghi refused to fault his players, saying: "There's some bitterness, but we came up against a top Juve side.
    "I'm sorry we haven't given joy to the fans and the players, but we have to look positively at our season.
    "We've qualified for the Europa League with three games to spare and, apart from that, reaching the final is the best thing we've done this season."
    The sizeable Lazio support were given hope in the opening minutes when Keita Balde saw his shot from a tight angle, which evaded 'keeper Norberto Neto, come off the post.
    The scare was enough to jolt Juve into life.
    Acrobatic save

    Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain, who went on to spurn several chances to add to Juve's tally, controlled well outside the area and unleashed a volley that Thomas Strakosha did well to block.
    Strakosha pulled off an acrobatic save out the bag to stop Paulo Dybala's long-range effort, the first of many in a performance that underlined the 22-year-old Albanian's talents.
    On the quarter-hour, Lazio piled on the pressure, but when Balde's cross into the area went awry it sent Juventus on a quick counter that left the capital side exposed.
    Strakosha palmed Dybala's ferocious strike to safety, and when it fell to Higuain three yards out he kept the Argentina striker's effort out with his legs.
    When Lazio were caught deep in Juve territory soon after, it exacted a heavier toll.
    Dybala struck the corner, Alex Sandro flicked on towards the near post and Bonucci had an easy job tapping past Strakosha from close range.
    Minutes before the interval, play was waved on when Thomas Rincon was left injured in midfield, and it almost paid off for Lazio when Ciro Immobile sent a header inches past Neto's upright.
    Juve resumed in similar fashion, a combination of vertical passes between Dybala and Higuain sending Mario Mandzukic through until the big Croatian came down under a challenge from Wallace.
    Inzaghi tinkered when he replaced Angolan defender Bastos with Brazilian forward Felipe Anderson, who only seconds later forced a great parry from Neto following an angled snap shot.
    Anderson was involved again when Lazio edged even closer, collecting Dusan Basta's smart ball to cross for Immobile at the back post.
    The striker rode on Chiellini's back to get his head to the ball, which came off the defender and was somehow kept out by an alert Neto.
    Juve should have had more, but Dutch defender Stefan De Vrij did well to stop Dybala and Higuain spurned two great chances late on to get his name on the
    scoresheet.


  14. Waqas Dar
    French President Emmanuel Macron appointed his first cabinet on Wednesday mixing Socialists, centrists and rightwingers with newcomers to politics as he pressed ahead with plans to create a broad governing coalition.
    The new cabinet of 22 people meets campaign pledges of being smaller than its predecessors and having gender parity, with European lawmaker Sylvie Goulard landing the prestigious defence portfolio.
    She will take over from veteran Socialist Jean-Yves Le Drian who will move over to foreign affairs, while rightwinger Bruno Le Maire was appointed economy minister.
    Other key figures instrumental in Macron's sensational victory in this month's election were given senior roles, with the Socialist mayor of Lyon, Gerard Collomb, named as interior minister while centrist ally Francois Bayrou becomes justice minister.
    Macron and his centre-right prime minister Edouard Philippe faced a tricky balancing act in choosing their first government, with 39-year-old Macron needing to keep his allies happy while opening up positions to Philippe's rightwing Republicans party.
    France's youngest ever president wants to create a new centrist force in French politics -- at the expense of the traditional Socialist and Republicans parties -- which will be put to the test in parliamentary elections next month.
    Without a parliamentary majority, he will find it hard to push through his ambitious plans to loosen France's strict labour laws, boost entrepreneurship and reduce class sizes in tough neighbourhoods.
    Sewing up the middle ground

    His appointment of Le Maire as economy minister and fellow Republicans MP Gerald Darmanin as public accounts minister was seen as an attempt to neuter his right-wing opponents, still reeling from their defeat in the presidential vote.
    Republicans secretary general, Bernard Accoyer, said Le Maire and Darmanin had been excluded from the party for accepting Macron's outstretched hand and accused Macron of trying to "sew up the democratic debate" by poaching from his rivals.
    In the opposite camp, the Socialists have shown greater readiness to work with Macron, who quit the departing Socialist government to run for president.
    But Le Drian was one of only two outgoing ministers to be kept on, reflecting Macron's desire for a fresh approach.
    Besides seasoned politicians, his team features several new faces drawn from the sports, arts and NGO worlds.
    Olympic fencing champion Laura Flessel was named sports minister, star environmentalist Nicolas Hulot -- who had spurned multiple offers of cabinet roles from previous presidents -- accepted the ecology brief and crusading publisher Francoise Nyssen took charge of culture.
    The health, education and transport portfolios also went to newcomers, all of them experts in their field.
    The far-right National Front dismissed the changes as window-dressing, accusing Macron of "recycling" politicians from the mainstream left and right.
    The announcement of the line-up was delayed by 24 hours on Tuesday, with the presidency saying it needed more time to carry out more extensive screening of candidates.
    Macron has promised a new law introducing higher ethical standards for lawmakers as one of his first pieces of legislation and was keen to avoid possible embarrassments, aides said.
    EU priority

    In his busy first week, Macron met EU Council President Donald Tusk in Paris late Wednesday as he tackles his top foreign priority of reforming the European Union.
    Macron said he was "counting on President Tusk and his leadership to take the work of reforming (the EU) further," adding: "Europe needs your energy and your imagination."
    Tusk was one of the first prominent European voices to congratulate Macron on his May 7 presidential election runoff victory over far-right and anti-EU politician Marine Le Pen.
    Macron, who ran a staunchly pro-European campaign, kept with tradition by visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday in his first trip abroad after taking office.
    The pair now at the centre of the European project vowed to give it new impetus, saying they were ready to change treaties if necessary.
    Macron has urged a deepening of the EU to fight off a recent surge of populism on the continent.


  15. Waqas Dar
    KARACHI: An explosion damaged the Sui gas pipeline near Madinatul Hikmat area of Manghopir in the wee hours of Thursday.
    According to Sui Gas officials, the explosion caused damage to the 16-inch diameter gas pipeline.
    Due to the incident, gas supply to Manghopir, Banaras, and nearby areas has been disrupted, said authorities.
    According to the bomb disposal squad, around 500-600 grams of local explosive content of was used  in the incident.


  16. Waqas Dar
    Venezuela's government said Wednesday it was sending troops to a western region rocked by violence during anti-government protests, as the United Nations Security Council prepared to discuss the crisis.
    The death of a 15-year-old boy meanwhile brought the death toll from weeks of protests to 43 -- a dark milestone that matched the number killed in the last comparable wave of unrest, in 2014.
    Looting and attacks against security installations erupted overnight in the state of Tachira, which borders Colombia, authorities said. The state prosecution service said on Twitter the boy was killed "during a demonstration" there.
    "I have ordered the transfer of 2,000 guards and 600 special operations troops" to Tachira, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said on state television channel VTV.
    Authorities said in a report on Wednesday that in Tachira some 20 shops, restaurants and a school were looted, two police stations set on fire and a military outpost attacked with firebombs over the previous night.
    One military commander was hurt, it said.
    Fernanda Carvalho, 53, told AFP virtually all the food was stolen from her bakery in San Cristobal.
    "It felt like my world was falling in. There go years of work and investment," she said.
    Deadly clashes

    Clashes have erupted across the country during protests in anger at Maduro's handling of an economic and political crisis.
    The unrest has left 43 people dead since April 1, prosecutors say. Two of those people died in Tachira on Monday.
    Protesters blame Maduro for an economic crisis that has caused shortages of food and medicine. They are demanding early elections and accuse him of trying to cling to power.
    Maduro has accused the opposition of plotting a coup against him with US backing.
    "We cannot call these demonstrations. These are subversive actions... which are now verging on armed insurgency," said Padrino, who as well as defense minister is also commander of the armed forces.
    He accused the opposition of trying to start a civil war and wanting "to turn Venezuela into another Syria."
    "We will not let the homeland fall into chaos," he said.
    'Humanitarian crisis'

    The UN Security Council was due to discuss the unrest in Venezuela on Wednesday, at the request of the United States.
    "In Venezuela, we are on the verge of humanitarian crisis," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement ahead of the meeting.
    "For the sake of the Venezuelan people, and the security of the region, we must work together to ensure Maduro ends this violence and oppression and restores democracy to the people."
    Migrants expected

    Brazil is making contingency plans for a possible influx of Venezuelan migrants, Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann told reporters Wednesday.
    But he said that "as a gesture of good will" Brazil would send back its ambassador to Venezuela. The envoy was withdrawn last year in a political row.
    "We cannot lose any opportunity to help mediate" in Venezuela's current crisis, Jungmann said.
    Street protests

    The government and the opposition have accused each other of sending armed groups to sow violence in the protests.
    Police have fired tear gas and protesters have hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails in near-daily clashes.
    Analysts say street protests are one of the few means the opposition has left to pressure Maduro.
    Doctors and nurses in white overalls demonstrated in Caracas on Wednesday to denounce a crisis that has left hospitals desperately undersupplied.
    "We don't want weapons! We want medicine!" they yelled.
    Maduro fired health minister Antonieta Caporale last week after her ministry released figures showing infant deaths soared 30 percent last year.
    Opposition groups planned two further rallies later on Wednesday evening.


  17. Waqas Dar
    Southampton and a makeshift Manchester United fought out a goalless draw in a tepid Premier League clash on Wednesday in a repeat of the League Cup final.
    The result did neither side any favours as Southampton, beaten by United 3-2 in the showpiece event at Wembley in February, have now won just one of their last eight games in all competitions while United stretched their winless league run to five games.
    The visitors were on the back foot for much of the contest as manager Jose Mourinho again fielded a makeshift side to spare many of his regular starters for next Wednesday's Europa League final against Ajax Amsterdam in Stockholm.
    Their goalkeeper Sergio Romero shone as he saved a barrage of difficult shots, including an early Manolo Gabbiadini penalty and a ferocious Dusan Tadic free kick in the second half as the Saints failed to score at home in a fourth successive game.


  18. Waqas Dar
    Google challenges Apple's Siri by opening digital assistant to iPhone
    Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it would make its digital assistant available on Apple Inc’s iPhone, making a play for the higher end of the smartphone market and challenging Apple's Siri feature on its own devices.
    The announcement heralds a step by Google, whose Android system runs on the majority of the world's smartphones, to get a foothold on Apple's phones, which have smaller market share but are used by people who tend to spend more on technology.
    It comes as Google, Apple and Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) are competing to establish the dominant voice-powered digital assistant, which many in the industry believe will supplant keyboards and touch screens as a primary way that users interact with technology.
    Speaking at an annual developer conference in Mountain View, California, Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai touted the company's progress with the Google Assistant, which allows users to complete various tasks through voice commands.
    "Humans are interacting with computing in more natural and immersive ways," he said. "We’ve been using voice as an input across many of our products. We’ve had significant breakthroughs."
    The Assistant debuted last year on Google’s own hardware, and the company has gradually extended the tool to devices from other manufacturers running on its Android operating system.
    Google, which gets most of its revenue from its dominant search engine, also released a host of new features for Google Home, a speaker released last year. Users will soon be able to make phone calls using the device, and the HBO Now streaming service, owned by Time Warner Inc, will be integrated as well.
    In addition, the company announced that it will offer physical photo albums through its photo app.


  19. Waqas Dar
    A documentary is in the works about Chelsea Manning, the transgender army private jailed for one of the largest leaks of classified documents in US history, the filmmakers announced Wednesday.
    London-based Pulse Films made the announcement at the opening of the Cannes film festival, on the day of Manning's planned release from a maximum-security military prison.
    The film, "XY Chelsea", by director Tim Travers Hawkins and co-produced by Oscar winner Laura Poitras, will start filming with Manning later Wednesday "as she walks free and begins to tell her story", Pulse said in a statement.
    "Chelsea Manning's story is one of the major events of our time, covering a wide range of themes from transgender rights to surveillance to the very nature of core democratic principles," Pulse's head of documentary films Julia Nottingham said.
    In July 2010, Manning -- then a male soldier known as Bradley -- was arrested over the release of a huge trove of more than 700,000 classified military and diplomatic documents via WikiLeaks.
    On Wednesday, Manning will leave the prison barracks at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas thanks to a commutation of her sentence by president Barack Obama before he left office.
    Manning, who served as an intelligence official in Iraq, would otherwise have remained behind bars until 2045, after serving a 35-year sentence.
    "It was by far the longest sentence given to any whistleblower in US history," Pulse said, saying the film would depict "the journey of her fight for survival and dignity, and her transition from prisoner to a free woman."
    The film's team will present footage to potential buyers at the Cannes film festival, which runs until May 28.


  20. Waqas Dar
    LAHORE: A girl, who was almost killed after being stabbed 23 times by her classmate in Lahore, has appealed the society to raise voice in her support and the judiciary to grant justice by re-examining her case.
    Khadija Siddiqui, a law graduate, was stabbed by her classmate, Shah Hussain, on Lahore's Davis Road, on May 3, 2016. The suspect fled the scene, but was captured on a mobile cam by an eye witness.
    A few days later, Khadija identified her perpetrator and got him booked on charges of attempted murder. Ironically, Khadija's younger sister, whom she had gone to pick from school, was also there when she came under the brutal attack and witnessed the entire episode.
    She was somehow saved by her driver, who tied to take control of the attacker, forcing him to flee from the scene.
    The episode was witnessed by hundreds of people in front of a hotel on Davis Road.
    After the registration of a case, the accused, Shah Hussain, requested a sessions court for bail before arrest, which was turned down. Hussain, whose father happens to be a renowned lawyer, was aided by a number of other lawyers to flee from court premises after his request was turned down.
    In September 2016, Hussain's lawyer once again challenged the sessions court verdict in the Lahore High Court, but the high court maintained the earlier verdict.
    Three days later the accused surrendered himself to police and was sent to prison. He remained behind the bars for nearly two months and was subsequently released on December 1, 2016, after the sessions court granted him bail.
    Khadija filed an appeal against the court's decision, but it was dismissed.
    The girl on Wednesday appeared on Geo News' program 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath'.
    Asked as to why did Hussain attacked her, given that they had been friends in the past, the girl said: "We were friends, but I distanced myself from him due to his violent behaviour at times. Hussain would hack my accounts, call my father over petty issues and coerce me. Onl he can answer what made him attack me in such brutal manner."
    Khadija had and Hussain had no communication for nearly a year, before the latter attacker her. Asked did she anticipate any repercussions, she replied "No! It was all of a sudden and abrupt."
    "You attempting to kill someone and that too in front of her younger sister, but there is no accountability for you in the society," she speaks painfully of the accused being out on bail.
    Questioned is it due to the flaws in the system or lawyers' pressure that her perpetrator got out, the law student says, "This is 'Wukla Gardi'. I have seen lawyers swarming courtrooms, pressurising my lawyer. It also scares the judges at times.
    "There are loopholes, but not as much to cause such prolonged delays. It is because that the powerful keeps pressurising, blackmailing the victim party."
    Did father of the accused pressurise or approach you? Asked anchorperson, Shahzeb Khanzada.
    Khadija replied, "Yes, he approached us. He told me 'You can't win this case. How far can you take it?"
    "But I am standing my ground for I let go, then this would more such avenues will be opened," she said, adding that the accused father also requested her to forgive his son. "I told his father that I would have forgiven his son had I found him unlike the accused."
    When inquired how does she see herself and the accused appearing in their exam on May 19 under the same roof, Khadija said: "This is terrorising for me. It traumatises me making me think as to how would I attempt the paper."
    Questioned what does she want now, the victim girl said the police investigations clearly suggest the accused committed the crime. "I appeal people with daughters and sister to support me. I appeal the judiciary to listen to my voice, reopen the case and review the decision to grant bail to the accused."


  21. Waqas Dar
    RAWALPINDI: Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to maintain a ceasefire till a consensus is reached during a one-star border flag meeting between representatives of both countries at the Friendship Gate Chaman, ISPR said on Wednesday.
    The Pakistani delegation was led by DIG FC Balochistan and the Afghan delegation was represented by former Brigadier Afghan Border Police. During the meeting Afghan delegation asked the Pakistani troops, deployed within its international border at Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman, to move out from the area before conducting census survey.
    However, the Pakistani delegation maintained that the troops were deployed along the international border on Pakistan side and shall remain there.


  22. Waqas Dar
    RAWALPINDI: One-star border flag meeting was held between representatives of Pakistan and Afghanistan at the Friendship Gate Chaman today, informed ISPR.
    The Pakistani delegation was led by DIG FC Balochistan and the Afghan delegation was represented by former Brigadier Afghan Border Police. During the meeting Afghan delegation asked the Pakistani troops, deployed within its international border at Killi Jahangir and Killi Luqman, to move out from the area before conducting census survey.
    However, the Pakistani delegation maintained that the troops were deployed along the international border on Pakistan side and shall remain there. Both sides agreed to maintain ceasefire till a consensus is reached.


  23. Waqas Dar
    Donald Trump gave vent to frustrations over his mounting political problems Wednesday, declaring that no president in US history had been treated "more unfairly."
    During a commencement address at the US Coast Guard Academy, Trump urged graduating cadets to follow his example and "fight, fight, fight. Never, ever, give up. Things will work out just fine."
    "Look at the way I've been treated lately. Especially by the media. No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly. You can't let them get you down," he said.
    The outburst came amid intensifying pressure on the president in the wake of his firing of James Comey as director of the FBI last week, in the midst of a probe into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russian attempts to tilt the US election in his favor.
    The Senate Intelligence Commitee announced Wednesday that they have asked Comey to testify.
    The New York Times, citing sources close to Comey, reported on Tuesday that Trump asked the FBI director in an Oval Office meeting to drop its probe of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
    A day earlier, the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that Trump had shared highly classified intelligence with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov regarding an Islamic State group terror threat.


  24. Waqas Dar
    DUBAI: Designers, buyers and influencers have descended on Dubai for Arab Fashion Week, a five-day event dedicated to ready couture and resort wear for women, men and those who refuse a label.
    The show opened Tuesday night with Jordanian-Canadian sensation Rad Hourani, known for his unisex designs, Palestinian-American Jenanne Filat and her menswear lineup straight out of Arkansas, and runway darlings Marchesa.

    Hourani sent his models down the catwalk in geometric, binary-transcending designs "based on style preference rather than gender," with men, women and gender non-conforming models in layers of dark boiled wool and poplin, and all in pastel slip-on shoes.
    Filat, of the US-based menswear line Barakat Bespoke, meanwhile decked her all-men lineup in suits, metallic lipstick, and no shoes.
    The week will also showcase designers specialising in abayas, a traditional robe-like dress that is gaining popularity among major labels as they move into regional markets. The International Dwarf Fashion Show will also host a show by American Wardrobe featuring models living with dwarfism.
    ´Design is for everyone´
    While listed as an international fashion week alongside Paris and Milan, the twice-yearly Arab Fashion Week offers exclusively see-now-buy-now collections and pre-collections -- an issue that has been met with some contention by traditional gatekeepers in the world of high fashion.
    "Design is for everyone," explained Hourani, an invited member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, France´s exclusive trade association for haute couture.
    Hourani, the first unisex designer to join the association, was handpicked in 2010 by Vogue´s Anna Wintour and the late Franca Sozzani to showcase his work in Milan. Along with Burberry, he has been a vocal champion of expanding the traditional system, and timeline, of ordering designs strictly as they appear on the runway months in advance.

    True to his aesthetic, his Dubai show was conceptually complex but structurally clean: square necklines, skirts layered over pants, and matte black shades in sharp contrast against uncoiffed hair and a soundtrack featuring the iconic songs of Lebanese diva Fairuz.
    "I don´t aim to make men feminine, or women masculine," Hourani told AFP after his show.
    "It´s... to infuse the two anatomies and create one pure unisex neutral pattern. I think it´s important to understand what neutrality is, what unisex is about."
    ´Bold and unapologetic´
    On the other end of the spectrum is Marchesa.
    The brand´s trademark fairytale pre-fall collection was an instant hit with the Arab Fashion Week crowd, some of whom put on their Marchesa best for the occasion. Many were still snapping selfies on the catwalk moments after the lights dimmed and music started.
    With three-dimensional floral appliques, layers of tulle, long beaded fringe and intricate embroidery in blush, blue and metallics, Marchesa´s collection of gowns was met with nods and excited whispers.
    Her four-year-old refusing to leave his mother backstage, Marchesa co-founder and designer Georgina Chapman made last-minute adjustments to her lineup with her son Dash on her hip.
    "We´ve always had a strong clientele base here and I think it´s because the Middle Eastern woman, the Arab woman, appreciates fashion," Chapman told AFP.
    "She´s not afraid of trying something ... She´s bold, and she´s glamorous, and she´s feminine, and she´s unapologetic about that."
    And it´s not just the women who are bold in their sartorial choices.
    Barakat Bespoke, a family business out of Little Rock, Arkansas, showcased a selection of suits, cuffed pants and cotton tees on a group of male models from around the world, and of different ages.
    "This is the first time we´ve done anything international," said designer Filat, as her gold-lipped, braided-haired models stopped to hug her backstage.
    "We have to design things a little differently for the Middle East, but it´s a little more fun," she said.
    "We can do things a bit more outside the box than what we do traditionally, since... we design for the (US) south, generally, which is very conservative."
    And with the Muslim fashion industry booming, spending on modest wear -- which includes both traditionally feminine and gender-shunning designs -- is expected to top $480 billion annually by 2019.
    "There´s more strictness in the Middle East, but I also see here so many women who are free, who are evolving," said Hourani.
    "People understand my clothes -- women and men. It doesn´t feel at all that I´m in the wrong place."


  25. Waqas Dar
    Fort Leavenworth, United States: Chelsea Manning, the transgender army private jailed for one of the largest leaks of classified documents in US history, was released from a maximum-security prison in Kansas Wednesday after seven years behind bars.
    With little fanfare, Manning, 29, walked out of Fort Leavenworth´s military jail at 2 am to start a new life, after former president Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence just days before leaving office.
    "After another anxious four months of waiting, the day has finally arrived. I am looking forward to so much!" said Manning in a statement released by her legal team.
    She posted a picture on Twitter of her black-and-white Converse baseball shoes with the caption "First steps of freedom!!" followed by a smiley-face emoticon.
    "Whatever is ahead of me, is far more important than the past," said Manning, whose original release date was set for 2045. "I´m figuring things out right now -- which is exciting, awkward, fun, and all new for me."
    Manning twice attempted suicide in jail, the second time in an isolation cell where she had been sent as punishment for the first attempt.
    Manning was arrested in July 2010 over the release of a huge trove of more than 700,000 classified military and diplomatic documents via WikiLeaks.
    Lauded as a hero by freedom of speech advocates and as a traitor by others, including President Donald Trump, Manning is expected to head to Maryland, where she lived with an aunt before joining the army as a young man.
    ´Question marks´
    The former military intelligence analyst struggled with gender identity issues while in the service, and eventually began her transition while locked up in the all-male prison in Kansas.
    "It´s going to be a profound change for her," Evan Greer, a friend of Manning, told AFP.
    "She has been incarcerated for more than seven years and held in conditions that the United Nations considers to be torture. She´s been through a tremendous amount."
    "Understandably she has a lot of question marks about what her life is going to be like next, but it´s also her first chance in her adult life that she is really going to be able to define that for herself," Greer said, noting that Manning joined the army at a very young age.
    "She is a very driven person and I know she intends to continue what she has always done, which is advocating for others and using her voice to try to make the world a better place so I´d expect that we will be hearing from her before too long," said Greer. She said Manning´s exact location would be kept under wraps for her own security and privacy.
    Maintaining that privacy could prove difficult, however. Now an internationally known figure, both adored and reviled, Manning is even the subject of a planned documentary called "XY Chelsea" to be co-produced by Oscar winner Laura Poitras, who worked with fellow intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.
    "Chelsea Manning´s story is one of the major events of our time," the film-makers said as they announced the project at the opening of the Cannes film festival, the same day that Manning was released.
    The documents leaked by Manning ranged from embarrassing diplomatic cables that revealed how US envoys really felt about friends and foes alike, to videos showing a US air strike in Afghanistan in 2009 that left more than 100 civilians dead and footage of a US helicopter attack in Iraq that killed two Reuters journalists.
    Manning supporters said they feared she would not have survived the long jail sentence. Aside from suicide attempts, she had also been put in solitary for a hunger strike in protest at her treatment as a transgender woman in a men´s prison.
    "I firmly believe that the fact she is walking out of prison today not only secured her freedom but also very likely saved her life," said Greer.
    Manning, a native of Oklahoma, had a difficult childhood, seeing her parents divorce and being mocked as effeminate as a young boy named Bradley.


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