CAIRO: Model sisters Gigi and Bella Hadid seem to be having fun at the US-based music festival Coachella. Their social media posts show them spending time with friends, taking in the shows and devouring delicious food.
Gigi shared a shot of her younger sister Bella with legendary rapper Snoop Dogg on her Instagram story, during a brunch party hosted by American denim brand Levi’s on Saturday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Bella filmed her sister, who decided to skip healthy eating, devouring two burgers in just three minutes.
“This is her second quarter pounder in under three minutes and I’m not going to say she won’t eat another one,” Bella wrote on Instagram.
Japan’s foreign minister praises Djibouti’s work on maritime security
Updated 5 min 14 sec ago
Arab News Japan
TOKYO: Japanese foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya met with Dileita Mohamed Dileita, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Djibouti, on Friday and praised the “deepening of cooperation between the two countries in the field of maritime security.”
Iwaya stated that Djibouti, located at the southern end of the Red Sea and an important sea lane linking Europe and Asia, is a strategically important partner in the quest for a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).”
Referring to the good relations between the two countries and his own special attachment toward Japan, President Dileita expressed his appreciation and gratitude for Japan’s development cooperation in various fields and for the Self-Defense Force facility in Djibouti, noting the strategic importance of his country.
The two sides exchanged views on issues that included the regional situation in Africa and in East Asia and agreed to further strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in regional and international arena, with a view to TICAD 9 in August and Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.
Bangladesh’s Yunus meets key party leader in London
Tarique Rahman, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party
Yunus’s government warned last month that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made
Updated 4 min ago
AFP
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus met in London on Friday with the leader of the South Asian nation’s key party that many expect to be the frontrunner in elections next year.
Tarique Rahman, 59, the son of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, is the acting chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), which is widely seen as likely to sweep elections that Yunus said will be held in April.
The exact date of the elections remains a sticking point but they will be the first in the nation of around 170 million people since a student-led revolt ousted former premier Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted 15-year rule.
Yunus and Rahman were shown smiling and shaking hands in the meeting in London, according to photographs released by the government press team, although relations between the caretaker government and the BNP have been rocky.
Yunus’s government warned last month that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made, saying that holding elections by mid-2026 would give them time to overhaul democratic institutions.
Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses and her government was accused of politicizing courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections.
Under pressure from political parties, including the BNP, Yunus said this month that polls will be held in April.
However, the BNP has continued to push for an earlier date.
The BNP said on Friday it wanted to hold the elections before Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, begins around February 17.
Khalilur Rahman, a senior member of Yunus’ cabinet, said it was possible that the “election will be held earlier provided significant progresses in reforms and trials are made.”
Key BNP leader Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury said they “hope we can reach a consensus on the reforms soon.”
Yunus, 84, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has said he will not continue the caretaker role he took up at the behest of student protesters after Hasina fled by helicopter to India.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan receives less than half of the five million blood donations it needs each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, highlighting critical gaps in the country’s health care system as it vowed to promote voluntary donations.
About 1.9 million of Pakistan’s 2.3 million annual blood donations come from family or replacement donors, while only 18 percent are voluntary and unpaid, according to official data cited by the WHO.
This reliance often delays treatment and poses risks for patients with chronic conditions such as thalassemia, hemophilia and cancer, who require regular transfusions.
“Medical centers in Pakistan need over 5 million blood donations annually and will require 5.6 million by 2030 but they are currently receiving only approximately 2.3 million donations per year,” the WHO said in a statement released on World Blood Donor Day.
The WHO and Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences held a blood donation drive in which around 150 volunteers participated under the theme “Give blood, give hope – together we save lives.”
As per the WHO, voluntary blood donations are considered the safest and most sustainable as such donors are less likely to transmit infectious diseases, it added. WHO’s representative in Pakistan, Dr. Dapeng Luo, highlighted that each blood donation could save up to three lives.
“Every patient who needs blood should be able to receive it,” he said. “WHO will continue to work with Pakistan to strengthen a blood service that promotes voluntary donations and gives patients access to safe blood and blood products in sufficient quantity.”
Pakistan’s health ministry and the WHO urged the public to donate blood voluntarily to help address a shortage that is straining hospitals’ ability to save lives.
Pakistan’s Director General of Health, Shabana Saleem, welcomed the technical support from the WHO, saying it would lead to improved screening and testing.
“Giving blood is giving life, and together we can do this,” she said. “We are in the phase of revitalizing the Regional Blood Transfusion Center.”
The WHO concluded that it was supporting Pakistan in strengthening blood banks and promoting standardized screening methods to ensure safe and sufficient blood supplies for all.
Palestinian child arrives in Saudi Arabia for treatment under King Salman’s directives
Updated 31 min 44 sec ago
Arab News
RIYADH: Palestinian Mohammed Khaled Hijazi, 7, arrived in the Kingdom on Thursday with his parents to receive medical care and was immediately transferred to the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh.
The supervisor general at the Saudi aid agency KSrelief, Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, thanked King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the humanitarian initiative to treat the Palestinian boy in the Kingdom.
Al-Rabeeah said that Hijazi lost his right eye while his left eye was severely damaged by an explosion while he was playing with friends near their house, which was completely destroyed, in the Jabalia camp, north of Gaza, last month.
The supervisor general prayed for the boy’s speedy recovery and for the Palestinian people to be relieved of their suffering.
He clarified that this initiative is a continuation of the relief and humanitarian efforts provided by the Kingdom to the Palestinian people in times of crisis and adversity, particularly the most vulnerable categories, such as children, who innocently pay the price of conflicts.
Al-Rabeeah also saidthat the initiative is part of the humanitarian approach adopted by the Kingdom toward needy peoples through KSrelief, which does not discriminate based on gender, race, or religion, and is fundamentally rooted in noble human principles of compassion and human solidarity.
The Palestinian boy’s parents expressed their appreciation and gratitude to the Kingdom for treating their son, affirming that this brotherly gesture is not unusual from the Kingdom’s leadership, which has always been known for its honorable stance in support of the Palestinian people.
KARACHI: Pakistani films that released on the Eid Al-Adha last week attracted the highest Eid box office collections in five years, the sales and marketing head of the country’s largest cinema chain said on Friday.
Pakistani romantic comedy ‘Love Guru,’ starring acting powerhouses Humayun Saeed and Mahira Khan released in cinemas worldwide on Eid-ul-Adha. The other prominent Pakistani movie that released in theaters across the world was “Deemak,” a horror movie with A-list actors Faysal Qureshi, Sonya Hussyn and Samina Peerzada starring in lead roles.
As per official figures released by Love Guru, the Pakistani film collected Rs 12.8 crores [$457,143] in Pakistan during the first three days of Eid Al-Adha, making it the biggest ever Eid weekend opener in the country.
“If we look at Eid [film] business since Covid, we did the biggest business this year [on Eid],” Adnan Ali Khan, the sales and marketing head of Cinepax Cinemas, told Arab News. “Meaning highest in five years.”
He said this does not include The Legend of Maula Jatt film, which enjoyed record-breaking box office business but was not released on Eid.
This undated photo shows people gather outside cinema hall in Karachi. (Photo courtesy: Azadar Kazmi)
“Love Guru got 50 percent of the shows and that is why it generated huge numbers,” Khan explained, adding that Deemak was the second-best performing film on Eid while Hollywood flick “From the World of John Wick: Ballerina” secured the third-highest collections.
The film’s official team announced that its international box office collections for the opening weekend surged to Rs15.4 crores [$546,000]. This means the film raked in a total of Rs28.2 crores [$999,186] in the first three days of the release.
After the first five days of their release, Love Guru’s team said it collected Rs19.10 crores [$676,500] locally while Deemak distributor Nadeem Mandviwalla said the horror flick generated around Rs4 crores [$142,000] at the box office.
Mandviwalla said the film is expected to secure over Rs7 crores [$248,000] in box office collections by the end of this week.
“It is a very encouraging figure for Deemak,” Mandviwalla said.
However, there have been speculations around the authenticity of these figures, particularly at the local box office. There hasn’t been an official detailed division of box office collections in cinemas across Pakistan.
Pakistani film critic Kamran Jawaid, however, brushed aside claims that Love Guru’s box office collections were fabricated.
‘ONLY FOR THE DELUDED’
“When the audience comes out of cinemas in droves at seven in the morning— and that too from multiple shows— then countering claims about fabricated figures is only for the deluded,” Jawaid told Arab News.
He said the high footfall in cinemas across the country puts to rest the opinion that attendances at cinemas are too low due to expensive ticket prices or that audiences no longer harbor interest in Pakistani movie.
“One just has to make movies that people are willing to shell money out on, whether it is Mission: Impossible: The Final Reckoning, which also ran shows till morning two weeks before Eid, or Love Guru,” Jawaid said.
The Pakistani film critic broke down the numbers based on the number of screens and seating capacity of Pakistani cinemas.
This undated photo shows people gather outside cinema hall in Karachi. (Photo courtesy: Azadar Kazmi)
“Although not big, counting all 91 screens, Pakistan’s total seating capacity is a little above 21,000, which equates to 21 million in ticket sales per show/slot, with an average ticket price of a thousand,” he said.
“An average of four shows per day leads to 84 million in gross income. Depending on the number of screens a film like Love Guru gets — which is roughly between 30-40 percent of the country — per-day estimates range between 25 to 33 million in gross receipts,” Jawaid explained.
“Given that the tickets are selling hot, one cannot refute the legitimacy of the quoted figures.”
Khan said the movies garnered the highest numbers at its cinemas in Packages Mall in Lahore, followed by Jinnah Park in Rawalpindi.
“We are running late night shows every day,” Khan said, adding that the coming weekend was also expected to feature “packed” theaters as the cinemas have bookings in advance.
“We need four Pakistani movies like Love Guru every year,” he said. “However, Deemak has started gaining momentum now alongside Love Guru.”
Jawaid, however, looked toward the future of Pakistani cinema.
“Pakistan’s cinema needs one Love Guru a month to revive audience’s interest,” he said.
