Tiger Woods’ wife buys Swedish island estate

STOCKHOLM: Scandal-hit golfer Tiger Woods’ wife Elin Nordegren has bought a vast beachfront estate on an island near Stockholm that can only be reached by boat, a residents’ association said on Sunday.

‘Elin Nordegren bought a house on the island, it’s true. She’s the owner since December 1,’ Sten-Aake Johansson, head of Faaglaro island’s residents association, told AFP.

There are around 140 properties on Faaglaro, which is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the Swedish capital.

‘The property consists of several houses, it’s a renovated farm, on the water with a beach,’ Johansson said.

According to the Swedish Aftonbladet daily the 24,000-square-metre property with swimming pool was sold for 16 million crowns (1.5 million euros, 2.2 million dollars).

Johansson could not confirm the selling price or say whether billionaire golfer Woods himself was involved in the transaction.

Faaglaro, part of the archipelago of thousands of islands that lies between Stockholm and the Baltic, is reached by boat from the port of Vaxholm, where former model Nordegren grew up.

Woods announced Friday he was taking a hiatus from professional golf and admitted he had cheated on Nordegren after reports that 10 women had claimed to have had sexual relationships with the 14-time major champion.

World number one Woods, who has a son and daughter with Elin, said he wanted to work on being a better husband, father and person.

Women such as a show club hostess, pancake restaurant waitress, porn star and cocktail waitress have alleged affairs with Woods, whose squeaky-clean image was shattered.

‘I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness,’ Woods said. —AFP

Pakistan’s fashion world on international catwalk

LONDON: Pakistan’s fashion industry is thriving well and making inroads in international haute couture as its rich heritage of embroidery and fabrics is a source of attraction for high street fashion in the European markets.

Speaking at the ‘Pakistan Now’ series of cultural events at Asia House, noted Pakistani designer Hassan Sheheryar Yasin told the gathering that the biggest satisfaction that he draws from his work is seeing ‘Made in Pakistan’ labels on the high class fashion apparels being displayed and sold in international markets.

He asserted that with a rich heritage of embroidery and fabrics inherited from the Mughals as well as folk culture, Pakistan certainly hold treasures for the international market which so far remain hidden and unexplored to a large extent.

Drawing upon his own successful experience, Sheheryar stressed on enhancing marketing efforts and adapting to international markets by tuning to the taste and choices of the particular region.

Counting Queen Rania of Jordan and the Royal princesses of Bahrain and Dubai as among his important customers, Sheheryar r said he has 17 outlets in UAE that sell his designer clothes. He also has agreements with renowned fashion houses like Versace and Armani for supplying specially designed fabrics for their designs.

Sheheryar, a graduate of Pakistan School of Fashion Design, stated that taking inspirations from his mother he tends to be inclined towards empowering women and that it is women who occupy top managerial as well as creative positions in his organisation, who are contributing immensely towards the promotion of Pakistani fashion apparels.

On the occasion, three sets of his bridal collections were displayed by elegantly styled models. The patterns were inspired by Multani, Mughal, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern motives and colour combinations. –APP

Chanel cleared in French counterfeit case

PARIS: A French court on Friday threw out accusations against Chanel of stealing a design from a knitwear supplier but ordered the fashion house to pay damages to the firm for illegally breaking a contract.

The case pitting World Tricot, a small firm that manufactures high-end knits, against Chanel was seen as test of the rights enjoyed by skilled artisans toiling in the luxury industry.

World Tricot founder Carmel Colle was seeking 2.5 million euros from Chanel for alleged counterfeit after she spotted in a shop window a Chanel vest with a crochet design that she claims is hers.

The simple cable design with black edging had been previously submitted to Chanel's studio and rejected, Colle claims.

The Paris commercial tribunal ruled that Chanel had not stolen the design although it did order it to pay 400,000 euros in damages to World Tricot for breaking the contract.

World Tricot founder Carmen Colle described the ruling as a 'first victory for manufacturers' after the court granted damages and said she would appeal the decision.

Chanel's lawyer Gerard Delile said 'I don't know if this is a victory for us, but it's a defeat for World Tricot.'

'We are very satisfied with this decision. It recognizes Chanel's role in creation and distinguishes it from the manufacturers technical know-how,' said Bruno Pavlovsky, president of Chanel's fashion division.

Chanel had filed a counter-suit against World Tricot, accusing them of trashing the brand with customers.

In that case, the court ordered the firm to pay a symbolic one-euro fine and 100,000 euros in damages to Chanel.

A former community organiser, Colle founded her company with help from charity foundations that supported her project to hire jobless women from an economically-depressed region of eastern France.

Soon she found herself in business with such top names in haute couture as Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix and Givenchy, providing high-quality workmanship.

The contract with Chanel however was a crowning moment for Colle and the fashion house became her main customer.

After she spotted the design in a Chanel shop in Tokyo in 2005, she complained to the fashion house directly.

Chanel soon after began drastically cutting down orders to World Tricot and finally broke away from the firm altogether. -AFP

‘Avatar’ receives rave initial reviews

LOS ANGELES: Director James Cameron’s long-awaited ‘Avatar’ wowed critics at its London premiere on Thursday, with some early reviewers calling it ‘jaw-dropping,’ ‘mind-blowing’ and a game-changer in Hollywood for its digital effects.

The 3D epic adventure by the director of 1997 blockbuster ‘Titanic’ is one of the most expensive films ever at a cost of about $400 million to make and market. It begins its worldwide launch next week, hitting US theaters on Dec. 18.

If initial reviews and Twitter buzz are any indication, it may be money well spent for film studio 20th Century Fox.

‘James Cameron has proven his point: He is king of the world,’ raved showbiz newspaper The Hollywood Reporter.

‘As commander-in-chief of an army of visual-effects technicians, creature designers, motion-capture mavens, stunt performers, dancers, actors and music and sound magicians, he brings science-fiction movies into the 21st century with the jaw-dropping wonder that is ‘Avatar,’ it said.

Britain’s biggest-selling tabloid, The Sun, called it ‘the most dazzling film of the decade. ... The final battle scene is 20 minutes long and absolutely mind-blowing.’

‘Avatar’ shows the forest-dwelling Na’vi fighting for survival against a colonial mining operation bent on stripping their planet. A crippled ex-Marine is chosen to make contact with the mysterious people as a remotely controlled avatar.

Empire magazine gave the movie five stars out of five, calling it a ‘hugely rewarding experience’ whose new technology ‘will give directors ... one heck of a sandbox to play in.’

Twitter lit up with comments from journalists leaving the tightly guarded premiere.

‘James Cameron is a freakin’ genius! I can’t say much but wow, I loved it,’ wrote Alex Billington of the movie website FirstShowing.net.

The London Guardian’s Mark Brown wrote on Thursday that ‘Avatar’ was ‘really much, much better than expected, (it) looked amazing and the story was gripping — if cheesy in many places.’

‘The terrible film that some had been anticipating had not materialized. It was good,’ Brown wrote. —Reuters

Australia accused of censorship of N Korean art

SYDNEY: Australia was accused of censorship Tuesday after it denied visas to North Korean artists invited to a rare international exhibition of their work, saying their studio is a propaganda tool of their country’s communist government.

The co-curator of the exhibition said the works were non-political, and that letting them be displayed while banning their creators from entering the country so they could talk about them did not make sense.

Five artists from the Mansudae Art Studio were invited to the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in the eastern city of Brisbane to talk about their paintings and drawings that are part of the exhibition, which includes work from more than 100 artists from 25 countries in the region.

North Korea remains one of the most isolated countries in the world, with the average citizen prohibited from accessing the Internet as well as outside phone networks, radio and TV.

In recent years, cultural and sporting events have provided the best opportunity for ‘soft diplomacy.’ The New York Philharmonic performed in Pyongyang in 2008, while North Korean athletes, from gymnasts to football players, have served as international ambassadors.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith rejected the artists’ applications for an exception to the government’s visa ban on North Korea, part of targeted sanctions in response to the country’s efforts to build nuclear weapons.

Smith said in a statement that issuing visas for Mansudae studio artists would have sent the wrong message.

‘The studio reportedly produces almost all of the official artworks in North Korea, including works that clearly constitute propaganda aimed at glorifying and supporting the North Korean regime,’ the statement said.

Some of Mansudae’s approximately 1,000 artists devote their time completely to painting portraits of Kim Il Sung, the late founder of the Stalinist state who handed power to his son and who is the subject of a government-fuelled personality cult.

Nick Bonner, a Beijing-based British businessman and art dealer who helped curate the exhibition, said all art studios in North Korea — like most other things in the hardline state — were government organizations, but that did not mean every work was political.

One large mosaic depicting a scene in a steel mill is from the socialist realism that is often associated with the country, Bonner said. The rest, including portraits and landscapes in ink or oil paint, were the artists’ individual works.

‘There’s no way on earth that any of the pieces we commissioned for the inks and oils can in any way resemble propaganda,’ Bonner told The Associated Press. ‘It’s fine art we are talking about.’

The artists were extremely disappointed in Australia’s decision, after spending weeks getting North Korean authorities to approve passports, Bonner said.

‘For an artist to produce a body of work and not be able to speak about it, that is censorship,’ Bonner said.

Australia, one of the United States’ closest allies in the Asia-Pacific region, has diplomatic ties with North Korea, but they are prickly. Canberra froze relations in 2002 and imposed limited sanctions and the visa ban in 2006 in response to the North’s attempts to go nuclear. North Korea closed its embassy in Canberra last year, citing financial reasons.

Art mart: Capturing human suffering

Along with the days of autumn blues and murmuring whispers of fall, the exhibition of paintings titled ‘Reflection’ by the Karachi-based artist Azeemullah Baber at Jharoka Art Gallery, Islamabad, captures the mood of the season with a vivid portrayal of human suffering.

In his first solo exhibition in Islamabad, the artist has made an effort to give a universal picture of human sufferings, anxiety and feelings of people living in a society of uncertainty, pain and agony.

Baber has used oil on paper as his medium for painting compositions based on circles, which symbolises moon. Tree’s stairs, broken railway tracks, or bridges, buildings, boats, which is present in almost all of his paintings. Inside the moon he has shown male and female couples, and in some just female figures showing a feeling of loneliness, as if they want to live their lives in the moon. Also expressing his environmental concerns, Baber has shown trees in his paintings as a symbol of oxygen. The boats and broken railway tracks show a mood of journey. The artist, very technically, composed all his symbols in a way that tells a diverse story altogether.

Colours play a very important role in his paintings. He has used oil on paper in a way that shows acrylic like picture. The blending of blues, with purple and the merging of light and dark tones makes the paintings more interesting. A total of 24 paintings are put on display. The artist states, 'I have used all of these symbols to open a new visual window for the viewers and show the universe through my own point of view.'

Ghulam Rasul leaves for heavens

ISLAMABAD: Famous landscape painter Ghulam Rasul died of cardiac arrest at 11:30am on Thursday. He was 67.

He felt chest pain on Tuesday and went to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) for a check-up, where he was hospitalised after the doctors found that 80 per cent of his artery was clogged. However, he could not recover and passed away.

He was believed to be keeping good health and often jogged, went around the countryside and open spaces in search of quaint colours to add that extra gush to his painting.

He was well-known for his GR signature embossed on each painting which made him one of the most admired and celebrated landscape painters of the country.

His sudden death has shocked the community of artists and art lovers.

Director General Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) Tauqir Nasir in a condolence message to GR’s wife, Rubina, expressed his sorrow on the death of the eminent artist and friend of the organisation which he headed till 2002.

He said his death was a national loss. ‘GR was like an art academy in his person and always quick to share his unique painting skill with the next generation for which he also founded Studio-542.’

GR’s colleagues in the PNCA were full of praise for him. The visual arts director Musarrat Naheed Imam said GR’s death was a loss to art.

GR became famous for painting mustard scenes. As a painter he looked inward at his home for inspiration and learnt that from his trip to the United States.

Way back while he was still in Lahore and had not yet become famous as GR, accomplished writer, the late Safdar Mir, predicted that one day Ghulam Rasul would achieve fame in the world of art.

At the Punjab University, GR was trained as a painter under Khalid Iqbal and Prof Anna Molka Ahmad. Later, he worked with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17, Paris.

Sindh celebrates first ever ‘Sindhi Topi Day

HYDERABAD: The people of Sindh celebrated a unique cultural day - the ‘Sindhi Topi Day’ – on Sunday for the first time in the history of the province.

The Sindhi Topi is regarded as one of the most essential parts of the Sindhi culture and is usually offered to guests, along with a traditional Sindhi Ajrak, as a token of respect.

The call for the Sindhi Topi Day received an enthusiastic response everywhere as tens of thousands of people of all languages sporting Sindhi Topis and Ajraks took to the streets to express their sentiments and love with the Sindhi culture.

The Sindhi Topi Day has been observed following calls from a Sindhi television channel and the PPP in response to uncalled for remarks about the Sindhi Topi by an anchorperson of a private television channel.

The call mobilized people of all languages who started purchasing Sindhi Topis all over Sindh. Such enthusiasm from the masses has made history as people purchased the Sindhi Topi in large numbers on premium prices resulting in stock-outs of the cap in the market.

The day gave the look of a mass celebration as people were found dancing on the famous song by Ahmed Mughal called ‘Sindhi Topi ain Ajrak Wara jian,’ since the morning.

Large rallies were organised in various cities including Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Larkana.

A big rally of Pakistan Peoples Party, jointly led by Members PPP Federal Council Kazi Asad Abid and Pervez Ansari, Sindh Minister for Fisheries and President PPP Hyderabad District Zahid Bhurgari, Amanullah Sial and others was taken out from Qasimabad, Hyderabad, which passed through various roads and culminated in front of the Hyderabad Press Club.

Another motorcade rally of the Awami National Party (ANP), taken out under the leadership of Asadullah Mehsud culminated in front of the Hyderabad Press Club where the participants of the rally expressed their affections with traditional Sindhi culture.

A ceremony was also arranged at the office of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Hyderabad Zone, where Sindhi Topis and Ajraks were presented to journalists.

Other parties and social welfare organizations including Jeay Sindh National Party, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Mehran Falahi Sangat and Marvi Association also brought out rallies showing their affection with the Sindhi Topi.

Hand-woven Sindhi Topis are a product of hard labour and made in almost every district of the province. However, the Sindhi Topi produced in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Sanghar and other districts of the Mirpurkhas division are rated better and fetch a better price

ABCL, Amitabh Bachchan’s production house has been the source of plenty of woes for the legendary actor. The production house had been in the dock after it released such non-starters as Aks and Major Saab and backed a Miss World beauty pageant.

The recent release of 'Paa', may be about to change all that. Made on a shoestring budget (by Bollywood standards) of Rs. 15 crore (Rs. 150 million ) and relying mainly on word of mouth for marketing, this film is about an unconventional topic. The star of the film is Amitabh 67 who plays a 13-year-old child called Auro who suffers from Progeria, a genetic disorder that causes him to age rapidly. According to the Mumbai Mirror, the film recovered its money in the first three days.

'The film would have earned much higher but the opening of the film was lukewarm because of the subject. However, the movie picked by Saturday evening onwards and had almost 95 per cent occupancy,' said Ashish Saxena, COO, Big Cinemas.

This was mainly because of the buzz created by Amitabh Bachchan’s acting and the fact that his real-life son Abhishek was cast as his father in the film.

Playing Auro was not easy. The elder Bachchan, had to wear over eight pieces of specially crafted clay pieces for the role. Amitabh talked about the experience while speaking to Entertainment Daily 'I was quite pampered on the sets. Actually they (unit members) were more worried about the makeup as it was very tedious. I used to have a lot of problem in breathing, eating and used to feel itchy - but everyone was extremely courteous.

'I couldn’t eat properly, couldn’t speak and liquid supplies were given to me using straws. Everyone was quite nice to me and pampered me,' he said.

The film has also done relatively well in small towns around India where tastes veer more towards the conventional and the feelgood that has come to signify Bollywood.