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Two Chinese nationals dead in blast near Pakistan’s Karachi airport

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Two Chinese nationals dead in blast near Pakistan's Karachi airport

Two Chinese nationals have been killed after an explosion near Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan.

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said “many Pakistani personnel were killed and injured” in the blast, which happened around 23:00 local time (17:00 GMT). The overall death toll is as yet unclear.

The embassy added that the explosion targeted a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a power project in the country’s Sindh province.

The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) – which has in recent years carried out attacks on Chinese nationals involved in projects – has claimed responsibility for the attack.

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In a statement released on Monday, the militant group said it had “targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors” arriving from Karachi airport.

The Chinese embassy said that the engineers were part of the Chinese-funded enterprise Port Qasim Power Generation Co Ltd, which aims to build two coal power plants at Port Qasim, near Karachi.

The plant is part of the China-Pakistan economic corridor, which is also funding a number of infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, which has a rich supply of natural resources, including gas and minerals.

The BLA along with other ethnic Baloch groups has fought a long-running insurgency for a separate homeland.

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It has regularly targeted Chinese nationals in the region, claiming ethnic Baloch residents were not receiving their share of wealth extracted from foreign investors.

There has also been heightened security in Pakistan as it prepares to host the leaders’ summit of the Shangai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

The blast was reportedly heard in various areas around the city, with footage from local media showing thick smoke and cars set alight.

Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar said that the explosion was likely to be have been caused by a suspected improvised explosive device (IED).

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A police surgeon, Dr Summaiya told Dawn news: “Ten injured persons, including one in critical condition, have been brought the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College (JPMC).”

She added the injured included a police constable and a woman.

A statement posted on X from Sindh’s Interior Minister’s office said that a “tanker truck” had exploded on Airport Road and said the minister was in contact with the Malir Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) regarding the incident.

“We need to ascertain the facts,” the statement said.

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What’s behind streamers’ hunger for live sport?

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What’s behind streamers’ hunger for live sport?

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In July this year, the NBA announced a blockbuster new media rights deal worth $76bn over 11 years. As part of that deal, Amazon will pay the NBA $1.8bn per year to screen a selection of live games in the US and internationally. It’s just another example of the way streaming platforms are pushing into live sport globally. Amazon has other deals to show the UEFA Champions League, the NFL, and the French Open tennis tournament.

Apple TV+ carries Major League Baseball matches in the US, and has global rights to Major League Soccer. Last year YouTube began showing NFL matches through a seven-year contract worth $14bn. And earlier this year Netflix announced it would be screening live WWE wrestling for $500mn a year from 2025.

Until recently, streamers had often avoided live sports, largely due to the high costs of rights and technical challenges involved. But the technology has improved to the point where former sticking points, such as picture quality and time lag, are now acceptable to many fans. And while expensive, live sports are a powerful way of targeting multiple demographic segments and driving new subscriptions. Ad revenues are also becoming an increasingly important component of streamers’ income. And few things can attract advertisers like live sporting events.

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For the sports leagues, streamers have a global reach that is particularly attractive. Netflix alone has more than 270mn subscribers worldwide. But traditional broadcasters are fighting back.

Earlier this year, Fox, Disney, and Warner Bros announced the launch of a new streaming platform, Venu Sports. Although the venture is tied up in the legal challenge, alleging it is anticompetitive. Those three companies own 55 per cent of US sports rights. Meanwhile, in the UK, Sky Sports launched a new streaming service this summer to run alongside its traditional broadcast platform.

Another challenge for streamers is that their interest in sports rights has helped drive up prices. For example, between 2019 and 2024, the value of the US sports rights market grew by 54 per cent, compared to an overall TV industry revenue growth of just 15 per cent. While streamers’ spending on sports rights has soared recently, that explosive growth may ease off in the coming years, not least because many of the major sports rights deals still have years to run before renewal. But despite that, we may have reached a tipping point in the way viewers consume live sports.

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The Papers: 'Gray ousted' and 'Israel remembers'

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The Papers: 'Gray ousted' and 'Israel remembers'

Sue Gray’s exit and Israel’s memorial for the 7 October attack headline several of Monday’s papers.

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Trinidad and Tobago adopts India’s UPI, revolutionizing digital payments

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Trinidad and Tobago adopts India’s UPI, revolutionizing digital payments

Trinidad and Tobago has become the first Caribbean nation to adopt a real-time payments platform similar to India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

Continue reading Trinidad and Tobago adopts India’s UPI, revolutionizing digital payments at Business Traveller.

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The symmetry and light of Edward Durell Stone’s Celanese House

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The symmetry and light of Edward Durell Stone’s Celanese House

By Anthony Paletta

New Canaan, Connecticut, features several of the best-known modern houses in the US. There’s Philip Johnson’s Glass House, as well as designs from the rest of the Harvard Five who made their names here in the 1940s. Of the same era, Edward Durell Stone’s Celanese House is now for sale.

This four-bedroom house has an unusual past. It was built as a display home amid a brief mid-century phase when companies would commission houses as a way of showcasing their products. Some, such as Charles M Goodman’s Care-free Homes designed for Alcoa, were intended to be replicated, with each one incorporating up to 7,500lb of Alcoa aluminium. Others were standalone showhomes, such as the Celanese House.

Originally a show home, the Celanese House has been meticulously refurbished

The company Celanese (a portmanteau of cellulose and ease) produced synthetic fabrics but also branched out into wallpaper, linoleum, carpets, paint and furniture, all of which were used liberally throughout the house. They hired Edward Durell Stone for the project, co-architect of MoMA in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the US Embassy in New Delhi.

Stone’s approach set him apart from the Modernist architects of his day. While he embraced International Style Modernism in the 1930s, he ultimately felt that Modernism was too austere for American sensibilities. His son and fellow architect Hicks Stone explains: “My father was a progenitor of a trend in architecture called New Formalism. New Formalist buildings were typically symmetrical and monumental, and the work made references to classical architecture. It was this rejection of austere Modernism that made him commercially successful.”

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Ornamental lattice screens help preserve privacy, while allowing light in to the building

Stone’s classically-influenced projects made trademark use of ornamental screens and brise-soleil, most prominently at the embassy in New Delhi but also at the Celanese House. The lattice surrounds offer both privacy and light, while 12 pyramidal skylights provide light to the interior. Floating panels beneath (once filled with hanging plants) ensure illumination without glare.

The soft light was a selling point for Joel Disend who bought the house in 2008. “The panels diffuse the light coming from the skylights so it never gets in your eyes,” he says. Disend conducted a lengthy search for a modern home after his retirement.  When he found the Celanese House he asked architect Nicholas Karytinos who had renovated his prior property if he would be willing to undertake the refurbishment without affecting the property’s original design.

Edward Durell Stone rejected austere Modernism in favour of classical references

Many of the Celanese details — which Stone did not care for — were already gone. A linoleum floor was replaced with oak. Sliding glass internal doors, no longer necessary to keep the house warm, were removed. A covered passageway, only occasionally needed in Connecticut’s climate, was subsumed into a new kitchen.

The renovation sought to respect the clean geometry of the interior. “The kitchen had no skylight and it was quite dark so we cut one into the roof,” Disend explained. They chose not to add another pyramid to avoid affecting the symmetry of the roofline. Meanwhile the existing pyramid shingles were in poor shape and were replaced.

The original exterior landscaping has now been sensitively updated as part of the refurb

The exterior was a blank canvas. “There was no landscaping and it needed something,” said Disend, who hired a historically-minded firm to work on the house. Stephen Lederach of Arnold Associates — a company that had worked with Stone previously — planted a meadow around the existing trees and created a formal entrance with eight symmetrical Linden trees.

Hicks Stone described Disend’s renovation as “immaculate”, adding that it “extends the Modernist vocabulary with skilful details, more so than the original home, which was fundamentally a speculative house meant to showcase a manufacturer’s product line”. A historic space, sensitively updated for the modern day.

The Celanese House is on sale for $4.7mn through Melissa Rwambuya of William Raveis Real Estate. 

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Photography: Edward Durell Stone’s Celanese House © Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Maida Babson Adams Garden Photography Collection. Molly Adams, photographer; William Raveis Real Estate, New Canaan

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Top Brit climber who went missing on 23,000ft mountain with her American pal breaks silence after rescue from snowstorm

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Top Brit climber who went missing on 23,000ft mountain with her American pal breaks silence after rescue from snowstorm

A TOP British climber revealed how she feared she was going to die after getting stuck in a snowstorm 23,000ft up a mountain.

Fay Manners, 37, went missing in northern India alongside her American pal Michelle Dvorak, 31, earlier this week.

Brit Fay Manners has revealed how she thought she was going to die after going missing up a mountain in India

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Brit Fay Manners has revealed how she thought she was going to die after going missing up a mountain in India
American Michelle Dvorak went missing alongside Fay

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American Michelle Dvorak went missing alongside FayCredit: Facebook
Fay and Michelle took this picture when they were safely back at the French rescuers base camp

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Fay and Michelle took this picture when they were safely back at the French rescuers base campCredit: Pixel800

The women spent 55 hours and two nights in the horror conditions praying to be rescued after getting trapped up the Chaukhamba III mountain.

A terrifying snowstorm battered the region on Thursday as the pair attempted to become the first people to summit the Himalayan mountain.

Fay and Michelle’s bags – containing essentials like food, their tent and climbing equipment – vanished down a ravine as the weather took a turn.

Leaving them with only a sleeping bag each and very little supplies.

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Rescue teams were deployed with the women saying they could see and hear the helicopters on several occasions despite it not being able to spot them.

They were only found on Saturday when a team of French mountaineers stumbled across them and alerted the authorities.

Fay told The Telegraph the pair being found was a “small miracle”.

The professional climber revealed that she thought she was going to freeze, starve or fall to her death as the hours ticked by.

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With her and Michelle at one point being forced to attempt to cross the steep glaciers without their equipment.

The ladies knew such a perilous trek was likely to have disastrous results due to the lack of protective safety gear.

Watch as hiker slips & falls down mountain as camera captures miracle escape

Fay first realised they were in serious danger six days into the climb when they were 2,300ft below the summit as a sudden rockfall left one of their climbing ropes severed.

The rope was helping to haul up their rucksack as it tumbled down the mountain, never to be seen again.

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Inside was the pair’s tent and stove as well as bundles of warm clothes and climbing equipment like ice axes and crampons.

Losing those items left both women fearing they may fall, starve or freeze to death up the mountain.

Fay said: “I watched the bag tumble down the mountain and I immediately knew the consequence of what was to come.”

After realising the severity of their situation the women decided to stay put on a ledge so they were at least safe for a few days.

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Fay had sent a frantic message with Michelle back to the base camp saying they were in trouble as the pair hoped to be rescued.

Fay was worried that she would either freeze, starve or fall to her death after 55 hours stranded

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Fay was worried that she would either freeze, starve or fall to her death after 55 hours strandedCredit: Instagram
Michelle is a teaching assistant in Washington when she isn't scaling up mountains

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Michelle is a teaching assistant in Washington when she isn’t scaling up mountainsCredit: Instagram

A desperate search was launched with choppers scouring the snow-capped mountainous region for any sign of the experienced climbers.

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But on Friday the search had to be suspended due to the arctic weather conditions and the high altitude, a source told The Sun.

Overnight the two slept in a double sleeping bag as they huddled together to get as much warmth as possible between them.

Fay recalled by the second night: “I felt hypothermic, constantly shaking and with the lack of food my body was running out of energy to keep warm.

“Saturday morning came, we both barely survived the night.

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“The helicopter flew past again but couldn’t see us. We were destroyed and we were losing faith.”

The two brave climbers began to make their way back down the mountain fearing they had no other option.

Fay described the conditions as “brutal” on Saturday.

But when all hope seemed lost, a trio of French climbers who planned on scaling the very same route miraculously found the woman.

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Palin Clovis, Jacques Olivier Chevallier and Vivien Berlaud gave up on their own climbing ambitions when they heard about Fay and Michelle as they started to help look for the ladies.

Fay said: “As we were abseiling down on Saturday we could see a team of climbers coming up the mountain towards us.

“When we reached them, they said they were there to help us and I cried with relief knowing we might survive.

“They supported us to get across the steep glacier that would have been impossible without our equipment, crampons and ice axes.

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“They gave us their tent and sleeping bags, gave us water and food and finally told the helicopter where to come and collect us.”

On Sunday morning at around 7am local time the two women were picked up by an Indian air force chopper on the Panpatia Bank Glacier and airlifted to the town of Joshimath.

Col Madan Gurung, who helped with the rescue operation, said the women were “exhausted” when he first saw them but “perfectly fine”.

At 7am local time on Sunday (2.30am BST), an Indian air force helicopter landed at 5,300 metres above sea level on the Panpatia Bank Glacier and airlifted Ms Manners and Ms Dvorak to safety in Joshimath, a town 21 miles to the south-east.

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Col Madan Gurung, who co-ordinated the rescue operation for the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), said the women were found to be “exhausted” but in otherwise “perfectly fine” health.

Fay, from Bedford, is an pro alpinist who looks to “inspire women to pursue their interest” in mountaineering.

She moved from the UK to the Alps to follow her passion in the outdoor sport.

Her impressive climbing history includes making the first female ascent on the Phantom Direct route on the south face of the Grand Jorasses, according to her website.

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She is now set to spend some time in New Delhi where she hopes to eat, relax and sleep as much as possible.

Despite the scary experience up the mountain Fay says she will continue to scale more in the future after some time off.

Michelle is also a very experienced climber and is a teaching assistant at the University of Washington, according to her Facebook.

Fay says despite the terrifying climb she will be back on the mountains soon

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Fay says despite the terrifying climb she will be back on the mountains soonCredit: Facebook/fay.manners

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Rio Tinto makes approach to acquire Arcadium Lithium

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Rio Tinto makes approach to acquire Arcadium Lithium

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