ISLAMABAD: Forget Hollywood, forget Bollywood — one of the first films to hit Saudi screens when cinemas reopen next year will be from Pakistan.
Parchi is an ensemble action/thriller-comedy starring Hareem Farooq, Ali Rehman Khan and Shafqat Cheema.
“We feel honored and proud that we are among the first, it’s pretty exciting and it is quite an achievement,” Farooq, also a co-producer of the movie, told Arab News.
“We always aim to do something new and expand our reach, not just stick to Pakistan.”
Pakistan is noted for outstanding drama and television plays, but film has lacked investment, storylines, direction and quality content. Now, however, the movie business is enjoying a revival.
The impact of going international is not lost on Farooq. “I think it’s proof that Pakistani cinema has international appeal, it shows that we are on the right track and that we do have a great future.”
In addition to commercial success, films are changing some of the conversation about Pakistan. “We always want to put Pakistan on the global map in a good light, that is what we work for,” Farooq said.
“Cinema is a platform that can change mindsets — it’s huge and plays a mighty role in our image projection abroad. All the world sees is extremism and terrorism, they don’t get to see what Pakistan is really about.
“We are as crazy and as normal as everywhere else.”
The soundtrack from Parchi has been well received, and the first single, Billo Hai, already has more than a million views on YouTube. The movie itself will be released on Jan. 5 in Pakistan and the UAE, and Jan.12 in the US. Cinemas in Saudi Arabia will reopen early next year after a 35-year ban.
Arab News has emailed the Saudi Ministry of Culture and Information for a confirmation about the film but no response has been received by the time of printing.
Lights, camera, action: Pakistani stars head for Saudi cinemas
Lights, camera, action: Pakistani stars head for Saudi cinemas
Pakistan PM says policy rate reduction to enhance business activities, boost employment
- Pakistan’s central bank slashed key policy rate by 250 basis points to 15 percent on Monday
- With fourth straight reduction since June, Islamabad aims to revive sluggish economy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has welcomed the central bank’s decision to cut the policy rate by 250 basis points, saying the move would help boost the country’s business activities and enhance employment opportunities, state-run media reported on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s central bank slashed its key policy rate by 250 basis points to 15 percent on Monday for a fourth straight reduction since June. The development takes place as Islamabad attempts to revive a sluggish, fragile $350 billion economy as inflation eases.
Monday’s move follows cuts of 150 bps in June, 100 bps in July, and 200 in September that have taken the rate from an all-time high of 22 percent, set in June 2023 and left unchanged for a year. It takes the total cuts to 700 bps in under five months.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif says the reduction in policy rate will enhance business activities, exports and employment opportunities in the country,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
Sharif was chairing a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) parliamentary party on Monday when he touched upon the central bank’s move. The premier noted that inflation has reduced from an alarming 38 percent in May 2023 to 7 percent at present.
The Pakistani premier informed members of the PML-N parliamentary party about his visit to Saudi Arabia and Qatar last week, saying that “a new chapter” has been added to the Pakistan-Saudi investment partnership.
“The Saudi leadership assured all kinds of support for the stability and development of Pakistan’s economy,” Sharif said according to the state broadcaster.
The Pakistani prime minister also informed the lawmakers about his visit to Qatar, saying that the Qatari leadership also assured an increase in investment for Pakistan. He said talks were held between both sides on giving “a practical shape” to projects worth $3 billion in Pakistan.
“He said Qatar will invest in various sectors including aviation, hoteling, information technology and energy sectors in Pakistan,” the state broadcaster said. “Shehbaz Sharif said the government is taking steps on a priority basis to facilitate investment and increase foreign investment in Pakistan.”
Israel issues 7,000 new draft orders for ultra-Orthodox members
JERUSALEM: Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued 7,000 additional army draft orders Monday for individuals from the country’s ultra-Orthodox community, historically exempted from mandatory service until a June Supreme Court decision.
Gallant approved the Israeli army’s “recommendation to issue an additional 7,000 orders for screening and evaluation processes for ultra-Orthodox draft-eligible individuals in the upcoming phase, which is expected to begin in the coming days,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
The order comes after a first round of 3,000 draft orders were sent out in July, sparking protests from the ultra-Orthodox community.
Monday’s orders come at a time when Israel is struggling to bolster troop numbers as it fights a multi-front war, with ground forces deployed to fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“The defense minister concluded that the war and the challenges we face underscore the (Israeli army’s) need for additional soldiers. This is a tangible operational need that requires broad national mobilization from all parts of society,” the ministry said.
In Israel, military service is mandatory for Jewish men for 32 months, and for 24 months for Jewish women.
The ultra-Orthodox account for 14 percent of Israel’s Jewish population, according to the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI), representing about 1.3 million people.
About 66,000 of those of conscription age are exempted, according to the army.
Under a rule adopted at Israel’s creation in 1948, when it applied to only 400 people, the ultra-Orthodox have historically been exempted from military service if they dedicate themselves to the study of sacred Jewish texts.
In June, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the draft of yeshiva (seminary) students after deciding the government could not keep up the exemption “without an adequate legal framework.”
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to Gaza health ministry figures which the United Nations considers to be reliable.
Since late September, Israel has broadened the focus of its war to Lebanon, where it intensified air strikes and later sent in ground troops, following nearly a year of tit-for-tat cross-border fire with Hezbollah.
Palestinians build new lives in Cairo’s ‘Little Gaza’
CAIRO: Palestinian Bassem Abu Aoun serves Gaza-style turkey shawarma at his restaurant in an eastern Cairo neighborhood, where a growing number of businesses opened by those fleeing war have many dubbing the area “Little Gaza.”
“It was a big gamble,” said the 56-year-old about opening his restaurant, Hay Al-Rimal, named after his neighborhood in Gaza City, now devastated by Israeli bombardment.
“I could live for a year on the money I had, or open a business and leave the rest to fate,” he said.
So less than four months after fleeing with his family to neighboring Egypt from the besieged Palestinian territory, he opened his eatery in Cairo’s Nasr City neighborhood.
The establishment is one of the many cafes, falafel joints, shawarma spots and sweets shops being started by newly arriving Palestinian entrepreneurs in the area — despite only being granted temporary stays by Egypt.
These spaces have become a refuge for the traumatized Gazan community in Cairo, offering a livelihood to business owners, many of whom lost everything in the war.
“Even if the war stops now in Gaza, it would take me at least two or three years to get my life back on track,” Abu Aoun said.
“Everything has been wiped out there,” he continued.
His patrons are mainly fellow Palestinians, chatting in their distinct Gazan dialect as they devour sandwiches that remind them of home.
On a wall next to his shop was a mural of intertwining Egyptian and Palestinian flags.
“I have a responsibility to my family and children who are in university,” said the restaurateur, whose two eateries in Gaza have now been completely destroyed.
Abu Aoun and his family are among more than 120,000 Palestinians who arrived in Egypt between November last year and May, according to Palestinian officials in Egypt.
They crossed through the Rafah border crossing, Gaza’s only exit point to the outside world until Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side in early May and closed it ever since.
Although Egypt insists it won’t do Israel’s bidding by allowing permanent refugee camps on its territory, it had allowed in medical evacuees, dual passport holders and others who managed to escape.
Many drained their life savings to escape, paying thousands of dollars a head to the private Egyptian travel agency Hala, the only company coordinating Gaza evacuations.
War broke out in Gaza on October 7, 2023, after Hamas’s surprise attack resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed 43,374 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the UN considers reliable.
Gazan-style desserts
Opening the restaurant was not an easy decision for Abu Aoun, but he says he’s glad he did it.
“I’ll open a second branch and expand,” he said with a smile, while watching a family from Central Asia being served a traditional Gazan salad.
Nearby is Kazem, a branch of a decades-old, much-loved Gaza establishment serving iced dessert drinks.
Its Palestinian owner, Kanaan Kazem, opened the branch in September after settling in Cairo.
The shop offers ice cream on top of a drink sprinkled with pistachios, a Gazan-style treat known as “bouza w barad,” which has become a fast favorite among the Egyptian patrons filling the shop.
“There’s a certain fear and hesitation about opening a business in a place where people don’t know you,” said Kazem, 66.
But “if we’re destined never to return, we must adapt to this new reality and start a new life,” he said, standing alongside his sons.
Kazem hopes to return to Gaza, but his son Nader, who manages the shop, has decided to stay in Egypt.
“There are more opportunities, safety and stability here, and it’s a large market,” said Nader, a father of two.
Gazan patron Bashar Mohammed, 25, takes comfort in the flourishing Palestinian businesses.
“Little Gaza reminds me of Gaza’s spirit and beauty and makes me feel like I’m really in Gaza,” he said.
After more than a year of war, Gaza has become uninhabitable due to extensive destruction and damage to infrastructure, according to the United Nations.
“It’d be hard to go back to Gaza. There’s no life left there,” he said, taking a deep breath.
“I have to build a new life here.”
Michael Jordan, fellow team owners head to federal court for hearing in antitrust fight against NASCAR
- The two teams say NASCAR gave all Cup Series teams a last-minute, take-it-or-leave-it offer in September that both 23XI and Front Row refused to sign
- In a brief comment outside court, Jordan said he didn’t think the legal battle would detract from 23XI’s effort to win the championship with Reddick
CHARLOTTE, N.C.: Retired NBA great Michael Jordan and his fellow owners of two NASCAR teams went to federal court Monday for a hearing in their antitrust fight against the stock car series over what they say is an unfair business model.
23XI Racing, which is owned by Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurant entrepreneur Bob Jenkins, sued NASCAR and chairman Jim France in October after months of tense negotiations over NASCAR’s charter system, which is essentially a franchise model that includes revenue sharing.
The two teams say NASCAR gave all Cup Series teams a last-minute, take-it-or-leave-it offer in September that both 23XI and Front Row refused to sign. The owners contend the charter system limits competition by unfairly binding teams to the series, its tracks and its suppliers, and they called the France family and NASCAR “monopolistic bullies.”
The two teams are represented by Jeffrey Kessler, the top antitrust lawyer in the country, who argued repeatedly they are only asking for a temporary injunction that allows them to compete without the clause that would prevent their ongoing lawsuit.
He said NASCAR has since rescinded the charter agreements offered to 23XI and FRM in September.
“We do not challenge the entire charter agreement. We want a return to status quo,” Kessler said. “We are not seeking a seven-to-14-year argument. Let us operate under the terms they offered for the duration of the (court) case and race under the charter terms for the duration of the case.”
Kessler said NASCAR is fighting the injunction because NASCAR does not believe it has a winnable case.
The fight is playing out as NASCAR heads into its championship weekend, with the title-deciding race set for Sunday in Phoenix with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick among the four drivers who can win.
After a hearing that lasted nearly two hours, US District Judge Frank D. Whitney said he’d have a decision on 23XI and FRM’s request for a preliminary injunction to be recognized in 2025 as chartered teams by Friday — when cars hit the track in Phoenix to begin preparations for the title-deciding race.
Jordan listened to Kessler’s arguments from the front row of the gallery, and he leaned forward intently for the entirety of NASCAR’s case before the court.
In a brief comment outside court, Jordan said he didn’t think the legal battle would detract from 23XI’s effort to win the championship with Reddick.
“No, I’ve been in situations of disparity. I think the race team is going to focus on what they have to do this weekend, which I expect them to do,” Jordan said. “I think Jeffrey did an unbelievable job today, and I think I put all my cards on the table. I’m looking forward to winning a championship this weekend.”
At issue before the court is 23XI and FRM’s request to be released from a clause in NASCAR’s agreement that prohibits teams from suing the sanctioning body. Both teams have said they will operate as “open” teams in 2025 if they don’t receive the injunction, but even that agreement prevents them from suing NASCAR.
Also, an “open” team is not guaranteed a spot in the weekly 40-car field, does not receive the same amount of revenue as chartered teams, and its drivers and sponsors potentially could leave because they are associated with unprotected chartered teams.
The charter system began in 2016 and has now twice been extended, with the deals signed by 13 organizations set to run from 2025 through 2031.
Christopher Yates, of Latham & Watkins LLP, represented NASCAR and France. He said the teams have plenty of options outside of NASCAR.
“Mr. Jordan had a choice: They could invest in NASCAR, IndyCar, buy another NBA team,” Yates said, “but they chose to invest in NASCAR.”
Yates also disputed the notion that the 13 teams who signed the charter agreements 48 hours before the playoffs began in September did so under coercion, but he used slides that cherry-picked quotes that left out the parts where owners admitted to reporters that NASCAR threatened to kill the entire charter process if it did not receive signed agreements within a very short time period.
“We’re talking about Roger Penske, Rick Hendrick and Joe Gibbs — people who do not get pushed around,” Yates said.
Kessler called Yates’ synopsis a “complete distortion” of the facts.
Kessler also argued that the terms of the new charters potentially could put the two teams out of business, and cause Reddick to leave 23XI even if he wins the championship Sunday.
“We have a potential champion who would be free to leave and we’d never get him back,” Kessler said. “This could put these teams out of business. You can’t go to a stock car team and ask them to become a Formula 1 team.”
Whitney last week denied an expedited discovery request from 23XI and Front Row for NASCAR to produce documents prior to Monday’s preliminary injunction hearing.
“While the proposed discovery requests may help plaintiffs show a likelihood of success on the merits, they are not sufficiently narrowly tailored,” Whitney wrote.
Jordan, Hamlin and Curtis Polk of 23XI were joined by Jenkins and Front Row President Jerry Freeze for the hearing, which is crucial to how next season will proceed for the two teams.
The teams argue that NASCAR would not be harmed by the injunction because the series had planned to have 36 chartered teams and allowing them to compete as chartered teams while pursuing the lawsuit was maintaining the status quo.
NASCAR now says it plans to run 32 chartered teams and eight open cars (instead of four) in its 40-car field each week. Front Row and 23XI currently have two charters apiece that they did not sign, and both have deals with Stewart-Haas Racing to buy one charter each.
Those deals have not closed and NASCAR has indicated it won’t recognize the sales. NASCAR is alleging it is only honoring the 32 charter agreements that were signed in September.
NASCAR contends the two teams don’t meet the requirements for an injunction because they can still compete as open teams and that any damages that they suffer if they prevail in the case can be covered monetarily.
India foreign minister says vandalism of Hindu temples deeply concerning
- Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies
SYDNEY: India foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Tuesday the vandalism of a Hindu temple in Canada on Monday was deeply concerning.
“What happened yesterday at the Hindu temple in Canada was obviously deeply concerning,” he told reporters in the Australian capital Canberra while on an official visit.
The incident happened weeks after Ottawa expelled six Indian diplomats, linking them to the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023 in Canada. Canada has accused the Indian government of conducting a broad campaign against South Asian dissidents in Canada, which New Delhi denies.
The incident has increased tensions between Canada and India, and between Sikh separatists and Indian diplomats.
Two Hindu temples were also vandalized in Canberra last month, which Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said was upsetting for members of the Indian community.
“People across Australia have a right to be safe and respected, people also have a right to peaceful protest, people have a right to express their views peacefully,” she told reporters.
“We draw a line between that and violence, incitement of hatred or vandalism,” she added.
Wong said Australia had expressed its views to India about Canada’s allegations over the targeting of Sikh separatists, and Canberra respected Canada’s judicial process. Jaishankar said it was unacceptable that Indian diplomats had been placed under surveillance by Canada.
“Canada has developed a pattern of making allegations without providing specifics,” he said.
