Saudi Arabia launches Milaf Cola, world’s first date-based soft drink
Saudi Arabia recently launched a rather unusual cola, crafted not from corn syrup or cane sugar but from the nation’s most prized fruit—dates.
Named Milaf Cola, the drink was developed by Thurath Al-Madina, a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, and launched at the Riyadh Date Festival by the company’s CEO, Bander Al-Qahtani, and the Saudi agriculture minister Abdulrahman Al-Fadley.
The cola’s star ingredient are premium dates which are packed with fiber, antioxidants, and essential minerals such as magnesium and potassium, and are revered in the Middle East for their health benefits.
Milaf Cola claims it contains no added sugar and is able to harness the superfood’s health benefits, positioning itself as a healthier alternative to conventional sodas without compromising on flavour.
The cola’s launch is in keeping with a broader initiative to champion sustainable, locally sourced products that aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a programme aimed at achieving the goal of increased diversification economically, socially and culturally.
The company says Milaf Cola adheres to all international food safety standards, and is environmentally sustainable since it is made with locally sourced dates.
According to media reports, festival attendees were eager to sample the new alternative to traditional sugary sodas and praised its flavour, describing it as both familiar and refreshingly different.
“It’s like drinking sunshine, if sunshine tasted like dates and happiness,” one festival attendee said.
Thurath Al-Madina has announced plans to expand the new beverage line and to introduce the drinks in regional and international markets, hoping to redefine global perceptions of dates from a traditional snack to a trendy, versatile ingredient.
“Milaf Cola is just the beginning. We are working on a variety of products that will revolutionize how dates are consumed globally,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying by Munsif Daily.
Pakistan court issues new arrest warrant for Imran Khan’s wife
A Pakistani court has issued an arrest warrant for Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, in a corruption case, local media reported.
Mr Khan and Ms Bibi are accused of selling state-owned gifts worth over 140m Pakistani rupees (£386,300) that the jailed leader received during his tenure as prime minister.
Ary News reported on Thursday that judge Shahrukh Arjumand issued a bailable arrest warrant for Ms Bibi. The hearing was held in Adiala Jail, where Ms Bibi was not present. Her request for exemption from personal appearance had been rejected.
The warrant followed the rejection of Mr Khan and Ms Bibi’s petitions for acquittal in the same case on 14 November.
It also came after police charged Mr Khan and Ms Bibi, along with several other people, under anti-terror laws for inciting violence during protests demanding the former prime minister’s release from prison later last month.
Ms Bibi led a march on Islamabad but fled during a police raid that dispersed thousands of demonstrators. The protests resulted in several deaths, including of four security personnel, and the arrest of nearly 1,000 people.
Authorities accused Mr Khan’s supporters of attempting to take over the capital and carrying weapons, while Mr Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party denounced the cases as being politically motivated.
Ms Bibi was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court in the same graft case in October. She had paid surety bonds of £2,773 for her release. Her lawyer had argued that the allegations were baseless given that she was a homemaker and claimed the case was politically motivated.
The Federal Investigation Agency challenged Ms Bibi’s bail before the Supreme Court arguing that it violated court guidelines as it was granted in the Islamabad High Court judge’s chamber.
Ms Bibi and her husband had been arrested in a separate Toshakhana case by the National Accountability Bureau in July, just hours after their acquittal in a previous case under family law related to their marriage. They had been sentenced to seven years in prison earlier this year in connection with that case.
Mr Khan and Ms Bibi face multiple cases and the former prime minister is barred from political activity following his conviction in a corruption case earlier this year.
His supporters and critics of Pakistan’s ruling establishment have said the cases against them are part of a politically motivated crackdown.
Workers missing after railroad construction site collapses in China
Rescuers are searching for 13 workers who went missing after a construction site collapsed in south China on Wednesday.
According to a statement from the emergency management bureau, the incident happened around 11pm local time at a construction site along the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway in Bao’an district in southern China.
The railway will connect Shenzhen, a technology hub, with Jiangmen, both located in Guangdong province near Hong Kong.
Nearby residents have been evacuated from their homes and roads leading up to the construction site were closed as rescuers continued their search for the 13 missing men.
An investigation into the cause is underway, local authorities said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Construction on the railway section linking Shenzhen and Jiangmen in southern China’s Guangdong province began in 2022.
Industrial accidents are common in China due to weak regulations and poor safety standards. Recent incidents include a mining accident in Sichuan in which eight people lost their lives in August, a gas explosion in Hebei in March in which seven lost their lives and a residential fire in Nanjing in February in which 15 people were killed.
In April 2022, a commercial building collapsed in Changsha killing over 50 people and injuring nine. In October this year, 15 people were sentenced for their roles in the accident. A structural testing firm was fined, and employees were jailed for falsifying safety documents.
Last year in July, a gymnasium roof collapsed at a middle school in Qiqihar killing 11 people, mostly young female volleyball players, and injuring four others.
The collapse was allegedly caused by construction workers storing heavy perlite bags on the roof, which absorbed rainwater, making them heavier, the authorities said at the time. The accident prompted Chinese leader Xi Jinping to call for a nationwide workplace safety campaign.
India’s Chandler Bing opens up on ‘cruel’ memes about Friends role
An Indian actor, who played Chandler Bing in his country’s version of the hit sitcom, Friends, has responded to a cruel meme about him which went viral.
The international phenomenon that was Friends, which starred Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Courtney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and Matthew Perry, was adored by millions and is widely considered to be one of the best sitcoms ever.
However, few people are likely aware that India attempted to make their own version of the show. Hello Friends ran for 26 episodes and aired between September 1999 and February 2000.
All of the characters were virtually the same as the US version, except the names had been changed and many storylines and locations, such as the coffee shop and Monica’s apartment, were similar too.
In an op-ed in The Guardian, Cyrus Broacha, who played the show’s version of Chandler, who also happened to be called Cyrus, opened up about his experience on the show and how viral fame impacted him.
Broacha admits that he “hadn’t seen the original” show when he was cast in the series but when he eventually watched it realised that director, Ajit Pal Mangat, had cast him “because I’m the loudest and won’t stop talking.”
Broacha adds that the show had cultural issues such as Chandler not being allowed to smoke and Ross’s wife being unable to leave him for another woman. “I think we lost in translation the irreverence, the cheekiness of the show,” says the 53-year-old.
The show remained relatively obscure until it was rediscovered in 2020 and became a viral meme in India, with people mocking the show for being a poor imitation of the original.
“It was cruel although, for me, most of it was quite funny,” says Broacha. “But then I started getting called up by the Indian media, asking why we did the show and what was its aim. You rarely talk about something that doesn’t work in detail. It’s almost like you’d failed your exams.”
It comes after Friends creator, Adam Chase, revealed to The Guardian in September that the cast was unhappy with the decision to pair off Joey and Rachel in the later seasons.
“The cast was very much against it,” Chase said. “It felt very incestuous to them.”
The pairing proved not only divisive among the cast but with fans as well, as many felt it was “wrong.”
“The Joey/Rachel thing I know is controversial,” Friends co-creator David Crane told RadioTimes in 2019. “I love it. I love it because it’s wrong – and we knew going in: this is wrong. And that happens in life. There is the relationship that shouldn’t be. Even though you love someone, that’s not who you’re going to be with.
Boris Johnson cuts short Australian book tour to return to UK
Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has cancelled a Melbourne event on his Australian book tour due to unforeseen circumstances, his publicist said.
The cancellation means he will return to the UK earlier than scheduled.
The Melbourne event, part of the promotion for his memoirUnleashed, was set to follow a Sydney programme on Friday.
“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr Johnson has to travel back to the UK a day earlier than planned, therefore, regrettably, the Melbourne event has had to be cancelled,” Australian publicist Max Markson said in a statement.
“We wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused, and wish to articulate that all Melbourne tickets are transferable to Sydney, or fully refundable.”
Mr Johnson, 60, had been scheduled to speak at a dinner at Melbourne’s Sofitel hotel on Saturday.
In a video message recently, Mr Johnson said: “I am hugely excited to be travelling to Australia in just a few weeks where I will be having conversations to promote my new book.”
Mr Markson denied that a low demand for tickets was the reason for the cancellation of the event.
The top-tier tickets reportedly cover a three-course meal and a meet-and-greet with Mr Johnson.
The Independent has contacted Mr Markson for further comment about the event’s cancellation.
Mr Johnson led the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022 and served as the UK prime minister during the tumultuous period of Brexit and the Covid pandemic. He stepped down in 2022 amid the “Partygate” scandal, which centred on gatherings at Downing Street that violated strict public health restrictions.
The memoir covers his political career, details the challenges of his premiership and “his role in Brexit” and delves into “all the big decisions and his reasons for taking them”. It also talks about “how he nearly died from Covid”.
The overview of the book says: “As a journalist, he was famed as a blurter of unsayable truths, and he has drawn again on this quality for the book. About people, policies, mistakes and triumphs. This is it – the reality as he saw it: unvarnished, unlocked, unleashed.”
Amazon, which released the book in October, is marketing it as “the political memoir of the century” quoting a review in Daily Mail.
Mr Johnson began his career in journalism, writing for The Times, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. In 1987, he was dismissed from The Times for fabricating a quote.
He served as the mayor of London between 2008 and 2016 and as foreign secretary from 2016 to 2018 under Theresa May.
Tokyo to introduce four-day work week for government staff
Tokyo is proposing a four-day work week for government employees as part of broader efforts to address Japan’s low birth rate.
The proposal, aimed at improving work-life balance, will allow civil servants to work fewer days while still meeting their monthly hour requirements, the city’s governor Yuriko Koike said.
Flexible working hours will also be offered to parents of young children.
“Lagging behind in women’s empowerment is Japan’s longstanding issue, and overcoming the status quo and making society more diverse and prosperous is key for our bright future,” Ms Koike said on Thursday. “We will start with thorough support for work-life balance by introducing a more flexible working hour system, such as three holidays per week.”
The governor said she plans to offer employees of the Tokyo Metropolitan government the option to work a shorter, four-day week starting April next year. Her administration intends to present a draft proposal for flexible working hours to the city assembly in 2025.
“We’ll keep reviewing our work styles flexibly so that nobody has to give up their careers due to life events such as childbirth and child care,” Ms Koike said on 3 December.
As Japan’s population continues to decline and labour shortages grow more severe, Ms Koike said her administration is seeking to strengthen support for families and improve social welfare benefits.
Japan is grappling with a demographic crisis as its population ages and the birth rate remains stubbornly low, a situation that the new prime minister Shigeru Ishiba has referred to as a “quiet emergency”.
He has pledged to implement policies to support families, including measures like flexible working hours.
Ms Koike also plans to launch a project aimed at boosting women’s participation called “Women in Action”, one component of which is the introduction of a partial vacation system for parents of children in first to third grades of elementary school.
According to the governor’s plan, government staff, excluding shift workers, can take up to three days off per week but they will still be required to complete 155 hours per month, Sachi Ikegami, Tokyo Metropolitan government official responsible for personnel affairs, said.
In October, Miyagi prefecture announced plans to extend its four-day work week option to all employees by 2026, according to The Japan Times.
The policy, currently available to those with childcare or caregiving responsibilities, allows a three-day weekend with supervisor approval.
Other regions, including Ibaraki, Chiba and Kuji, are adopting similar initiatives, the paper reported, to support work-life balance, childcare, caregiving and workforce retention.
“By realising a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” a Japanese website said of the campaign known as “hatarakikata kaikaku”, which means “innovating how we work”.
The concept of a shorter work week in Japan, where the government reports at least 54 deaths annually due to overwork, goes back to 2021.
Mainichi reported in August this year, citing data from the ministry of health, labour and welfare, that about 8 per cent of companies in the country allow employees to take three or more days off per week, while 7 per cent give workers the legally mandated one-day off.
A Gallup survey measuring employee engagement ranked Japan as having one of the lowest levels of worker engagement. Only about 6 per cent of Japanese respondents reported feeling engaged at work, compared to the global average of 23 per cent.
Man left stuck in well as villagers mistake cries for ghostly sounds
A Chinese man was trapped in an abandoned well for three days because his cries were mistaken for ghostly sounds, Thai media reported.
The bizarre incident took place near the Thailand–Myanmar border last month when villagers heard strange cries coming from a nearby forest, reported the Universal Daily News in Thailand.
Police in Mae Sot, Tak province, said they dispatched rescue personnel to the forest and when they called out, they heard a voice responding.
After locating the source of the voice, the crew found a Chinese man at the bottom of a 12-metre-deep well. They launched a rescue operation and took him out. He had sustained a fractured left wrist, a cerebral concussion, and bruises on his body, the report said.
The man identified himself as Liu Chuanyi, 22, and reported that he had been trapped inside the well for three days and nights without food or water. He was taken to hospital for medical attention.
Mr Liu said he shouted for help for a brief period once every hour to conserve energy.
People living in villages near the forest said that they heard strange cries and mistook them for hauntings. They stopped going outside after dark and did not look into investigating the noise, the villagers added.
Authorities said the young man appeared to have accidentally fallen into the well while trying to find his way out of the forest.
The incident garnered wide attention on Chinese social media after it was reported in the country.
“A Chinese man shouting for help in the middle of nowhere? Of course, the locals can’t understand the language and might think it was a wizard uttering spells,” one user said.
“Kudos to his strength and stamina. Struggling for three days and nights but still yelling; this guy is truly impressive!” another said.
Cathay Pacific apologises over inflight show with Tiananmen scene
Cathay Pacific has apologised for airing an episode of the American series Family Guy that features a scene depicting Tiananmen Square, following a complaint that it could violate Hong Kong’s national security laws.
The scene, which references the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, shows the character Peter Griffin standing beside a protester in front of Chinese tanks, mirroring the iconic “Tank Man” image.
The airline quickly removed the episode from its inflight entertainment and promised to improve oversight of its content after a complaint was made by a social media user.
“We emphasise that the programme’s content does not represent Cathay Pacific’s standpoint and have immediately arranged to have the programme removed as soon as possible,” a spokesman for the carrier told South China Morning Post.
The Tiananmen Square massacre is a highly sensitive subject in China and Hong Kong where references to it are strictly censored. “Tank Man” was an unknown person pictured standing in front of a line of tanks during the 1989 Beijing crackdown.
The episode in question, titled Death Has a Shadow, has a scene where the character Peter Griffin is shown standing next to a man in Tiananmen Square as tanks approach.
Hong Kong’s flagship carrier said that it had regularly given instructions to its third-party service provider responsible for selecting inflight entertainment content to ensure it met company standards.
It also said the incident was promptly communicated to the provider, highlighting its seriousness.
Cathay Pacific said it urged the provider to conduct a thorough investigation.
The Independent has reached out to Cathay Pacific for a comment.
For thirty years, Hong Kong held an annual vigil to mourn the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, often drawing hundreds of thousands.
However, after the 2019 pro-democracy protests, Hong Kong and Chinese authorities implemented a harsh crackdown on dissent under new national security laws.
Since 2020, those organising or attending Tiananmen vigils have faced prosecution, though officials claim that private commemorations are still allowed.
On 23 December 2021, workers at the University of Hong Kong removed the “Pillar of Shame”, a sculpture commemorating the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. The removal took place in the early hours of the morning, with barriers put up to conceal their actions. The statue had been installed in 1997 and was the last public reminder in Hong Kong of the crackdown.