Latest news with #786
The Star
07-05-2025
- The Star
70-year-old man loses over RM180,000 to online investment scam
MUAR: A retiree claimed to have lost RM186,800 of his savings after being duped into joining an online investment scam. Muar OCPD Asst Comm Raiz Mukhliz Azman Aziz said the 70-year-old local man had, in December 2024, clicked on an advertisement on Facebook for the bogus investment scheme. He said the victim was added to a WhatsApp Business Group and was briefed on the so-called investment procedures. 'He was promised 200% profit from the amount invested within three months,'' ACP Raiz Mukhlliz said in a statement on Wednesday (May 7). Attracted to the offer, the unsuspecting victim made 14 transactions amounting to RM186,800 into five different bank accounts between Jan 25 to April 25, 2025. ACP Raiz Mukhliz said the victim had checked a link to the website given to him and found that he had made a profit of RM446,786. 'However, he was instructed to bank in RM22,339.34 for wanting to withdraw the RM446,786,'' he said. ACP Raiz Mukhliz added that the victim became suspicious after failing to contact the person who had introduced the investment scheme to him. The case is being investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating. ACP Raiz Muhkliz reminded the public to be alert and careful, especially in matters involving financial transactions, when dealing with unknown persons. The public can also go to Semak Mule, CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-26101559 or 03-26101599 or go to Facebook @jsjkpdrm and @cybercrimealertrmp Scam victims are advised to call the National Scam Response Centre at 997 to report their case.
The Hindu
30-04-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
A total of 786 Pakistanis exit India; 1,465 Indians return home from Pakistan after visa cancellation
As many as 786 Pakistani nationals, including 55 diplomats, their dependents and support staff, besides eight Indians with Pakistani visa, have left India through the Attari-Wagah border crossing in the last six days following a Government Order in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, officials said on Wednesday (April 29, 2025.) A total of 1,465 Indians, including 25 diplomats and officials, besides 151 Pakistani citizens with long-term Indian visas have crossed over to India from Pakistan through the International Border crossing located in Punjab since April 24. The 'Leave India' notice to the Pakistani nationals was issued by the government after 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The deadline for exiting India for those holding SAARC visas was April 26. For those carrying medical visas, the deadline was April 29. The deadline for 12 other categories of visas was April 27. These were visas on arrival and visas for business, film, journalist, transit, conference, mountaineering, student, visitor, group tourist, pilgrim and group pilgrims. Three Defence/Military, Naval and Air Advisors in the Pakistani High Commission in New Delhi were declared Persona Non Grata on April 23 and they were given one week to leave India. Five support staff of these defence attaches were also asked to leave India. India has also withdrawn its defence attached from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. However, those having long-term, diplomatic or official visas were exempted from the 'Leave-India' order. The officials told PTI that altogether 94 Pakistani nationals, including 10 diplomats, left India through the Attari-Wagah border crossing point on April 29; 145 Pakistanis, including 36 diplomats, their dependents and support staff, left on April 28; a total of 237 Pakistanis, including nine diplomats and officials, left India on April 27; 81 left on April 26; 191 on April 25 and 28 on April 24. 'Eight Indian nationals with Pakistani visa have also left India through the International Border crossing point on April 29,' the sources said. 'Similarly, altogether 469 Indians, including 11 diplomats and officials, returned from Pakistan through the same route on April 29; 146 Indians returned on April 28; 116 Indians, including one diplomat, on April 27; 342 Indians, including 13 diplomats and officials, came back on April 26; 287 Indians crossed over from Pakistan on April 25 and 105 Indians returned on April 24,' the officials said. A total of 22 Pakistani nationals with long-term Indian visas came to the country through the Attari-Wagah border on April 29 and 129 more Pakistanis with the same category of the visas entered India on April 28. Officials said some of the Pakistanis might have left India through airports too, pointing out that since India does not have direct air connectivity with Pakistan, they might have left for a third country. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on April 25 called up the Chief Ministers of all States and asked them to ensure that no Pakistani stays in India beyond the deadline set for leaving the country. 537 Pakistanis leave via Attari; no order to extend deadline, say officials After Mr. Shah's telephonic conversations with the Chief Ministers, Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan also held a video conference with the Chief Secretaries and asked them to ensure that all Pakistani nationals whose visas were revoked must leave India by the deadline fixed. The already strained relations between India and Pakistan nosedived further after the horrific Pahalgam terror attack, with New Delhi announcing a raft of measures, including the cancellation of visas, against Islamabad, which hit back with a string of tit-for-tat measures.
Chicago Tribune
22-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
From nail polish to meat, Barrington couple offers products and services in a Muslim-friendly manner
Buying nail polish or ordering frozen meat for delivery can seem pretty routine. But one Chicagoland couple is working to make such products and services more readily available and accessible to America's growing Muslim population. Iqra Isphahani, 30, and her husband, Ibrahim Ali, 33, own 786 Cosmetics and Boxed Halal. The couple, who live in Barrington, started the businesses after identifying needs within the Muslim community that they wanted to help meet. 'There's such a huge Muslim community in Illinois,' Isphahani said. 'We're surrounded by this community and we see the struggle to find the products they need.' Isphahani said she has noticed an upward trend in halal products on store shelves in recent years. For example, she found that certain nutrition supplements she was getting for her two sons also had halal certification. 'People are starting to see the value in halal products and what that means, and they're caring more about making products available to the Muslim community, which is a big part of the U.S. and deserves products that they can use comfortably without any worry of it messing with their spiritual side of life,' Isphahani said. Fundamentally, halal means something permissible for Muslims. More commonly used when talking about food, halal is used nowadays to describe all kinds of products and acts allowed in Islam. 786 Cosmetics started in 2017 with the goal of tackling nail polish, a 'pretty tricky topic for the Muslim world,' Isphahani said.. Muslims are required to make wudu before saying their five daily prayers. Wudu is a way of cleansing oneself before praying, and nail polish can be seen as a barrier to the nails during the process, she said, because water can't pass through the polish to cleanse the nail. In comes 786, which offers halal-certified, wudu-safe nail polishes that were formulated and lab-tested to make sure they are water-permeable, or that water could pass through. The nail polishes went through many iterations to uphold the wudu requirement without sacrificing on quality and clean ingredients, Isphahani said. 'We're creating something for a community that is often overlooked in the beauty space, and we're bringing awareness to the need for halal products overall,' she said. Each nail polish is tested individually, she said, and the certification process is extensive but worth it to ensure the product can be trusted. Isphahani added that transparency is important to their brand, and more information about the products and their certifications is available online. Isphahani said 786 has gotten a lot of positive feedback from the Muslim community, which is 'the best part' of the journey. 'They were really excited that they finally got an opportunity to be able to wear nail polish or be able to wear nail polish without feeling guilty about it,' she said. All of 786's nail polishes are named after places around the world, like different shades of pink named Hyderabad, Beirut, Jaipur, Nizwa and Tokyo, or neutrals like Abu Dhabi and Giza. With nearly 70,000 followers on Instagram, 13,000 on Facebook and over 7,000 on TikTok, social media comment sections offer a glimpse at the positive feedback the brand gets. Plenty of heart-centric emojis stamp many of the posts, along with users asking for nail polish shade names and announcing their favorites. Under one Instagram post, a user wrote that the shade 'Tyre has my heart,' while another commented, 'will Bahrain be coming back in stock?' The nail polishes are vegan, cruelty-free and all made in the U.S., Isphahani said, making them also appealing to non-Muslims amid a shift to cleaner, greener products. The company's warehouse is in Schaumburg, where all orders are filled, packaged and shipped. The team is made up of about five people, Isphahani said, and 786 is 'very much small business vibes,' with even family members helping out during busy sales seasons like Ramadan, which begins next week. While not in a store of its own, the team has worked with some retailers. 786 previously had a limited release with Bath and Body Works and also was sold at Macy's and Isphahani said. Also, 786 franchises in Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates are promoting the product and getting nail polishes into mall kiosks and local salons, Isphahani said. 786 Cosmetics ships worldwide. 786 also sells some nail tools, like a manicure set, and sold out of the halal biotin gummies, which were plant-based and halal-certified. Down the line, Isphahani said, she would like to expand 786 with more halal-certified beauty products, whether in makeup or skin care. Other goals are to work with more retailers to expand the in-store presence as well as creating more color options, she said. The name 786 is a cultural homage to Muslims, Isphahani said, as the numbers are often used as a symbol for bismillah, a word that roughly translates to 'in the name of God' in Arabic. Isphahani graduated from DePaul University in 2016 with a degree in economics and worked in the payments industry. She was working full-time when she and her husband created 786, then she transitioned to working on 786 full-time in 2021. The couple previously started another business in 2019, Boxed Halal, a subscription-based halal meat delivery service that makes halal meat shopping more accessible. Ali said the idea was inspired by them learning that a relative of Isphahani's in the Las Vegas area would travel over an hour to get halal meat. After doing some research online, Ali said, he wanted to pursue a convenient alternative to halal meat shopping and got to work on Boxed Halal. In Islam, halal meat comes from an animal that was hand-slaughtered instead of machine-cut in a way that aims to ensure the animal does not suffer and is treated humanely. Not only did their meat need to be halal, it also needed to be high-quality, Ali said. 'We both grew up eating halal and understood the importance of it,' he said. 'It's also about understanding where the meat is coming from, how the animals are treated. It's really important and we want it to be available for everybody. It shouldn't be a hassle.' After finding the right suppliers, Ali said, he created a website and started getting orders 'right away.' The business continued to grow and hit a boom, particularly early in the COVID-19 pandemic when many were stuck at home ordering in. Eventually, the small team had to outsource to a warehouse in Wheeling for inventory, order fulfillment and shipping. The team's responsibilities still include taking orders from vendors, marketing and customer service. Ali said Boxed Halal will soon launch with Publix, a grocery chain in some southern states, and has a current partnership selling through Costco's website. Boxed Halal ships all over the U.S., Ali said, using an insulated liner and dry ice in the box so that orders can be guaranteed fresh. The meat options are 'almost everything that you'd get at a butcher shop,' from steaks, Wagyu beef and burgers to different cuts of chicken and goat meat sourced from New York, New Zealand and Australia, Ali said. The meat, all hand-slaughtered and free from antibiotics and hormones, comes to customers frozen and vacuum-sealed. In fact, Ali said, Boxed Halal's biggest markets 'surprisingly' are in New York and New Jersey, where the Muslim communities are vast and halal grocery is plentiful, 'but delivery culture is very big out there.' Sara Ali, no relation to Ibrahim Ali, is a content creator from New York who partners with Boxed Halal to develop recipes with the halal meat. She said 'the day to day gets so busy that you're not always going to have the time to go to the butcher shop,' which is why she finds Boxed Halal to be a welcomed option. 'Also, the really popular halal stores here, they are always busy, so you're not going to be in and out,' she said. 'It's going to take a long time, and sometimes they sell out, so you never know what you're actually going to get.' Boxed Halal is a guaranteed option, she said, where customers pick exactly what they want. She said she likes using Boxed Halal because of the 'high-quality meat' and the variety. 'I think their transparency also sets them apart, just because a lot of times it is hard to find out where exactly your meat is sourced from, and I love that they have that information on their website,' Sara Ali said. A couple of her favorite recipes she has developed so far are the loaded beef shawarma fries using a 'really nice piece of steak' and air fryer chicken skewers with a garlic butter sauce. Both recipes, she added, can be made in 30 minutes or less. Boxed Halal has over 20,000 followers on Instagram, over 7,000 on Facebook and a couple hundred TikTok followers. Several people have taken to social media to post videos of them using and reviewing the meat, with comments underneath a Wagyu beef burger post talking about the Boxed Halal product cooking up 'so juicy' and 'flavorful.' One user captioned her review of the beef jerky on TikTok thanking Boxed Halal for 'great quality halal meats,' adding that she hadn't had jerky since converting to Islam 10 years ago, 'so this was really nice to be able to eat jerky.' Ali said he hopes to keep growing Boxed Halal's subscriber base and retail presence and is open to other opportunities to make products and services Muslim-friendly in the future. He has always had this entrepreneurial spirit, he said, having started to 'sell stuff online to make extra money' at a young age. 'If there's something else that comes across, we'd definitely like to pursue it,' Ali said. 'I love doing stuff like that. It's really fulfilling. It feels great knowing that people are using your service and they liked it, and they're leaving positive reviews.'
Emirates Woman
21-02-2025
- Emirates Woman
7 otherworldly resorts within a short flight of Dubai that don't feel real
Life by Alice Holtham-Pargin 1 min ago If you're thinking about jetting off for a mini-break, you don't have to go to far-flung destinations for a hotel stay with endless wow-factor. In fact, right on the doorstep of the UAE there are some seriously awe-inspiring resorts just waiting to be discovered. And no – these aren't AI images: Just 7 dreamy resorts ideal for short-haul trips from the UAE. Six Senses Zighy Bay, Oman This unique resort nestled in a private bay in the Musandam peninsula in Oman is the perfect escape for retreating somewhere worlds away from city life. Rooted in Six Senses' wellness-driven DNA, the resort is laid out like a traditional Omani village, laced with luxury touches. Think villas with private pools, a spa that serves as a healing wellness sanctuary inspired by local traditions, and experiences that range from private dining by the sea or atop or a mountain to paragliding or scuba diving. Room rates from AED3,786. Shebara, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia View this post on Instagram A post shared by Shebara (@shebara) One of the world's most exciting tourism destinations lies just three hours via direct flight from Dubai. In Saudi Arabia's Red Sea, a growing-number of luxury island and desert resorts are becoming total Instagram fodder, with their dazzling villas, gourmet dining options, and focus on sustainable luxury tourism. The crowning jewel is Shebara, a futuristically-designed resort where guests stay in spaceship-like villas on the beachfront or over shimmering azure waters. Bucket list experiences include snorkeling, dolphin spotting, and rejuvenating wellness experiences at the beautiful spa. Room rates from Dhs9,105. Our Habitas Ras Abrouq, Qatar View this post on Instagram A post shared by OUR HABITAS (@our_habitas) From humble beginnings as a community-driven event in Tulum, Mexico, Habitas has paved the way for a new genre of experiential hotel rooted in connection and community. The brand's expansion across the Middle East first saw the introduction of a duo of Saudi hotels, and now you can also find the boho-luxe hospitality brand in Qatar, an hour flight and then an hour drive from Dubai. Here in a remote part of the desert, Our Habitas Ras Abrouq weaves local creativity and soul into a resort of gorgeous villas with private pools, a stretching swimming pool and farm-to-table dining. Room rates from AED2,328. Memories Aicha Wadi Rum, Jordan View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ranita (@travelwith_rani) From historic Petra to incredible diving in Aqaba and the foodie capital of Amman, Jordan is a great destination for a long weekend from Dubai. Located just three hours away from the UAE, if you're looking to live like you've travelled to another planet, the flame-hued Wadi Rum in Jordan's south is where to go. Also known as 'the valley of the moon' this dramatic desert landscape spans 280 square miles, and is home to a handful of luxury camps that make you feel like you're living on Mars. Check-in to Memories Aicha for dome tents with panoramic views in a secluded valley, where experiences include jeep tours, Bedouin-inspired dinners, and horse riding. Room rates from AED1,295. Jai Mahal Palace, Jaipur While it might be located in the heart of bustling Jaipur, a three-hour, short-haul flight from Dubai, this former aristocratic palace turned five-star hotel is set in 18 acres of landscaped gardens, so you still feel worlds away from the city. Adorned in feminine shades of cream and pink, it's a pretty backdrop for a regal stay that allows you to explore the rich cultural and culinary scenes of Jaipur. The hotel itself, part of Taj Hotels, features an inviting outdoor pool, garden pursuits and dining that ranges from grand afternoon teas to romantic private dinners. While on the doorstep, guests can discover the breathtaking architecture of local forts, palaces and the historic bazaar's. Room rates from AED5,525. Banyan Tree AlUla, Saudi Arabia The historic AlUla desert is a destination of diverse natural heritage, packed with fascinating historical and archeological sites. For Centuries it's served as historic and important meeting point, and now just a three-hour flight from Dubai, it's more accessible than ever for fans of history, culture and luxury hospitality. Stay at Banyan Tree AlUla for Bedouin-inspired luxury, where you can take a dip in the rock pool carved between the mountains, enjoy wellness treatments inspired by timeless local practices, and journey off-site for helicopter tours, jeep drives, art-led tours, and fascinating heritage walks led by expert guides. Room rates from AED 2,645. Alila Jabal Akhdar, Oman For those looking to embrace the great outdoors, the mountainous backdrop of Alila Jabal Akhdar is the luxe retreat your travel lust list needs. Perched 2,000 meters above sea level and accessible via a 2-hour drive from Muscat (a 40-minute flight form Dubai) this sensational mountain retreat pairs five-star luxury with jaw-dropping nature. Fans of exhilarating experiences can look forward to rock climbing or scenic hikes, while those looking to drop-and-flop can enjoy a jaw-dropping pool and pampering wellness experiences. Room rates from Dhs2,865. Feynan Ecolodge, Jordan A first-of-its-kind boutique eco-lodge, this hidden retreat is found at the bottom of Wadi Dana on Jordan's west coast. What it lacks in accessibility (it's found a 20-minute drive from the nearest road) it makes up for in off-grid wow-factor, with 26 individually-designed guest rooms, a restaurant serving local Arabic flavours, and a panoramic rooftop terrace that gazes over the stretching desert. You can spend days exploring the vast local scenery with hikes and mountain biking, or immerse in the local culture with cooking classes, stargazing, or spending days with residents to learn more about the fascinating way of life for locals. Room rates from AED780. @feynanecolodge Lead image: Banyan Tree, @ Our Habitas
