Malala steals show at star-packed Glamour awards

November 13, 2013

MalalaAwardsNew York, Nov 12: Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yusufzai stole the show at a star-studded awards night here as she was honoured in the presence of flamboyant pop icon Lady Gaga and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The Glamour Women of the Year Awards 2013 were presented to Gaga, Malala and nine other women who have through their works and life been an inspiration to people across the globe.

Malala, 16, was honoured for her "unstoppable drive to change the world" with 'The Girls' Hero' award which included a gift to help The Malala Fund.

Malala Fund helps girls around the world to get the education they deserve. The money raised would go to projects she is most passionate about.

The Fund recently made its first grant, supporting the education of 40 girls in the Swat Valley, an achievement that thrilled Malala who wants to expand to other regions and countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

"We love you, Malala!" people shouted from a balcony in Carnegie Hall, where the annual event was held.

The young Pakistani activist, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in October last year for campaigning for girls' education in Swat Valley in Pakistan, drew the loudest cheers as she went on stage to receive her award.

Accepting her award, she said the pen is much mightier than the gun. "I believe the gun has no power because a gun can only kill," she said.

"But a pen can give life," said Malala who has become a global icon for right to education.

"Nothing can happen when half the population is in the Stone Age," Malala said.

"I believe that when women are educated, then you will see this world change. One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world," she said.

Pop icon Lady Gaga showered praises on the young Pakistani girl, saying the young activist deserves more than anyone else to be on the cover of Glamour magazine.

"If I could forfeit my Glamour cover I would give it to Malala," she said.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to renowned singer-songwriter Barbra Streisand who said it was her voice that allowed her to speak out and "have my opinions heard".

As she accepted her award, Streisand, 71, said it is time the US has a woman as the country's President, referring to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who was present at the award show.

"There's never been a woman president," Streisand said, "but I hope that will change very soon...hint, hint! And we really need her now."

Clinton appeared on stage to present the "Couple of the Year" award to former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, who have has founded a gun safety organisation, Americans for Responsible Solutions after Giffords was shot in 2011 while she was meeting constituents in a supermarket parking lot.

Giffords has since been recovering but suffers from speech impairment.

"It's been a hard, long time but I'm getting better," she said told the crowd, "I am doing speech therapy, physical therapy, and yoga too. I'm still fighting to make the world a better place, and you can, too," she said.

In another emotional moment during the star-studded awards night, first-grade teacher at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Kaitlin Roig-DeBellis spoke about the tragic day in 2012 when a gunman shot and injured several kindergarten students.

Roig-DeBellis saved her pupils by making them hide in a small bathroom. "I have lived my life so as not to let that day define myself or my students," said Roig-DeBellis.

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May 30,2020

California, May 30: Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Saturday shared a gorgeous sunkissed selfie sporting cherry lips and beaded dangler earrings.

The multi-talented star who owns a production house put out a morning selfie on Instagram wherein she is seen sporting a white collared top, flaunting her cherry red lips and dangler earrings as she embraces her peach glow in the sheer sunlight, while her shiny curls bounce the sunshine.

Along with the picture, the 'The Sky Is Pink' actor wrote, "A cherry lip and sunshine...maybe even a earring...I'm feeling adventurous."

On sharing the gorgeous selfie, the Chopra received heaps of praises from fans and celebrity followers, and the post reached more than 1.9 lakh likes including one for Sussanne Khan.

Model Masaba Gupta also chimed in the comment section and adored the beauty of the 'Baywatch' star writing, "Stunning" with a heart emoticon.

Currently, the actor is quarantined in her California house along with singer and husband Nick Jonas and has been quite active on social media.

Earlier, Priyanka recalled her parents' service in the Indian Army as America observed Memorial Day, and the 37-year-old actor dug out an old picture of her parents in uniform and posted it on Instagram.

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July 3,2020

Mumbai, Jun 3: Investigators will subject the cloth allegedly used by actor Sushant Singh Rajput to hang himself to "tensile strength" analysis to determine whether it can bear the weight similar to that of the filmstar, as part of probe into his death, an official said on Friday.

Rajput (34) was found hanging at his suburban Bandra residence on June 14.

According to the investigators, the actor ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling using a green coloured night gown made of cotton.

No suicide note was found from the spot, the police had said then.

Besides viscera from the actors body, the police also sent the gown for chemical and forensic analysis at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in suburban Kalina, he said.

It will take at least three more days to get final forensic report, the official said.

To ascertain the exact cause of death, forensic experts will check pattern of ligature marks around the actors neck and also determine the strength of the gown with the help of "tensile strength" analysis, he said.

The tensile strength test will technically establish whether the cloth can bear around 80kg, the weight of the actor, he said.

The test will help determine if there was any foul play, the official said.

Tensile strength is maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched.

Viscera analysis will help in checking whether there were any traces of chemical, poisonous or narcotics substance in his body, the official said.

"Usually, it takes eight to ten working days to get s report from the FSL in regular cases. But since this case is sensitive, experts are taking more precautions to avoid any kind of error in their analysis," the official said.

The forensic report of the actors mobile phone is also awaited, he said.

Recently, the police received the final post-mortem report of the actor from Cooper Hospital, which mentioned the cause of the death as asphyxia due to hanging"

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January 24,2020

Paris, Jan 24: Rahul Mishra and Imane Ayissi made history on Thursday by becoming the first Indian and black African designers to show their clothes on the elite Paris haute couture catwalk.

Only a little more than a dozen of the world's most prestigious luxury labels -- including Dior, Chanel and Givenchy -- have a right to call their clothes haute couture.

All the clothes must be handmade -- and go on to sell for tens of thousands of euros (dollars) to some of the richest and most famous women in the world.

Mishra, an advocate of ethical "slow fashion" who blames mechanisation for much of the world's ills, said "it felt amazing and very surreal to be the first Indian to be chosen." "They see a great future for us -- which will make us push ourselves even harder," the 40-year-old told AFP after his debut show was cheered by fashionistas.

Both Mishra and Cameroon-born Ayissi, 51, are champions of traditional fabrics and techniques from their homelands and are famous for their classy lines.

Ayissi said his selection was "immense" both for Africa and himself.

"I am so proud that I can show my work and showcase real African fabrics and African heritage," he told AFP backstage as celebrities, including the chic head of Unesco, Audrey Azoulay, congratulated him.

Mishra broke through on the Paris ready-to-wear scene after winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2014, the top award that also launched the careers of such greats as Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.

The purity of his often white creations with their detailed but understated embroidery has won him many fans, including Vogue's legendary critic Suzy Menkes.

The doyenne of fashion's front row called him an Indian "national treasure".

But this time, Mishra turned up the colour palette somewhat with dresses that subtly evoked the jungle paradises and pristine underwater world off the Maldives he worries that one day we might lose.

Appalled by the smoke and pollution that meant he had to keep his four-year-old daughter indoors in Delhi for nearly 20 days in November, Mishra said he imagined a "pure virginal and untamed planet... with ecosystems crafted out of embroidered flora and fauna".

"I am very emotional about it. Sometimes it makes me cry. All our children should be growing up in a better world," he added.

"When I take Aarna (his daughter) to the foothills of the Himalayas and the sky turns blue, she is so happy.

"Once, when she saw the River Ganges, she said: 'Can you please clean it for us so can go for a swim?'"

Mishra said he was reducing the quantity of clothes he was producing while at the same time increasing their quality, with humming birds, koalas and other animals hidden in the hundreds of hand worked embroidered leaves and flowers of his "jungle dresses".

The designer has won ethical and sustainability awards for his work supporting local crafts people in rural India.

"My objective is to create jobs which help people in their own villages," Mishra said.

"If villages are stronger, you will have a stronger country, a stronger nation, and a stronger world," he added.

Ayissi takes a similar stand, refusing to use wax prints popular in West Africa which he dismisses as "colonial".

Dutch mills flooded Africa with cotton printed with colourful patterns borrowed from Indonesian batik in the 19th century, and still dominate the market.

"When we talk about African fashion, it's always wax, which is a real pity," he told AFP, "because it's killing our own African heritage."

Ayissi, a former dancer who worked with singers such as Sting and Seal, told AFP he wanted to open up "a new path for Africa" and find an "alternative way of doing luxury fashion".

He has gone back to using prestigious local materials, like the strip fabric kente woven by the Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast, which was originally worn only by nobles.

The son of an undefeated African boxing champ and a former Miss Cameroon, he also uses appliqued techniques from Benin and Ghana.

Haute couture shows only take place in Paris and the criteria to enter and remain in fashion's elite club are strictly enforced by French law.

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