Method

In a small pot, dissolve sugar in water and bring to boil then simmer until it becomes syrup. Stir in lemon juice and set aside to cool.

To prepare the filling:

Combine all ingredients for the filling in a blender; beat until well combined and set aside.

To prepare the baklawa:

Grease a 40cm x 30cm oven tray, place 1 sheet of filo pastry, brush with butter and repeat the same with 5 more sheets.

Carefully spoon the filling all over the pastry.

Place 1 sheet of filo pastry to cover the filling, brush with butter and sprinkle with a little of almond mixture.

Top with another sheet. Sprinkle with little almond mixture and repeat method with the remaining sheets.

Brush the surface with melted butter, then cut parallel lines through pastry and filling to get diamond shaped pieces.

Bake in a 185°C preheated hot oven for 25-30 minutes or until it becomes golden color.

Pour the cool syrup over the baklawa as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar or 400 g
• 1 cup water or 250 ml
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• For the baklawa:
• 15 sheets filo pastry, thawed if frozen
• ¾ cup butter or 150 g, melted
• ¼ cup caster sugar or 50 g
• 1 cup ground almonds or 100 g, mixed with the caster sugar
• For the filling:
• 2½ cups pistachio nuts or 375 g
• 1 tablespoon blossom water
• 2 tablespoons rose water
• 1 tin Nestle Sweetened Condensed Milk or 397 g
• 3 slices toast bread, crust removed

After the shocking diagnosis at the Watford General Hospital, her parents, Ruchit and Annu Patel campaigned tirelessly to find a match. They have encouraged people to make a donation to blood cancer charities.

The Harrow Council was the one to come forward to organise the latest awareness drive with DKMS. Kaiya’s father Ruchit spoke about the major problem in finding a doner as the people of an ethnically Asian background tend to have 30 % or lower chance of finding a match. Whereas the changes are higher for Caucasians.

Her father said: “I was devastated, it’s heart-breaking, a huge punch in the gut.”
“The strength of our little girl is inspiring, and our friends and family have been a great source of strength. I don’t wish this on anyone.”

There is a side of hope for little Kaiya as more than 350 people registered at the Harrow Civic Centre offering swab samples for Kaiya Patel.

Sreeparna Roy who is the DKMS donor recruitment manager, said: “The search goes on. We need to keep on looking for local matches and add to our register.

“It’s a very simple process – potential donors need to give us three cheek swab samples – the process is painless and takes just a few minutes.

“Donors go onto the database and, if they are a match for someone, then they can save a life.”
The next Harrow swab test drop-in for Kaiya will be conducted at Orley Farm School.

Weeks later when the newlywed was shopping in Jalandhar with his wife, he had a sack thrown over his head and was forcibly taken away into a van by plain-clothed officers on 4th November 2017.

Indian police accused him of being linked to the murder of Ravinder Gosain, a member of the RSS (rashtriya swayamasevak sangh) Indian right wing party, who was shot dead in October 2017. He has also been accused of “influencing the youth through social media.” Despite being detained for over 200 days, there have been no formal charges brought against Jagtar, and he denies the allegations.

His family maintain that he was a peaceful activist and not a militant; he contributed articles online highlighting the human rights violations committed against Sikhs at the hands of the Indian state.

His brother, Gurpreet, said: “It is not a crime to read and comment on human rights abuses. Many people comment and write about abuses which take place around the world, as a solicitor in the UK, I make submissions against human rights issues around the world, does this make me a criminal. It was alleged the crimes were all resolved on November 2017 however to date he has not been formally charged. He has been subject to torture, denied an independent medical examination and his right to a fair trial has been jeopardised by the Indian Authorities.”

A handwritten letter from Jagtar was released by his family earlier this year detailing the torture that he has experienced at the hands of the Indian police. Jagtar wrote: “The torture took place intermittently, numerous times each day. Electric shocks were administered by placing crocodile clips on my ear lobes, nipples and private parts.”
He continues, “My legs were pulled apart 4-5 times each time I was questioned, and this took place numerous times each day. After my legs were pulled apart, my legs would be pumped to give me temporary relief in order to ask me questions, which was followed by my legs being pulled again. The electric shocks would also be given at this time.”
Jagtar also alleged in the letter that he was forced to record false statements scripted by the police, as well being forced to sign blank papers and documents that he was not allowed to read.

The Indian government also refused to allow British consular staff from meeting Jagtar in private.
The family of Jagtar and campaigners have said the treatment of torture that Jagtar has suffered “invalidates” the allegations against him by the Indian authority.

The British government has also been unable to make any serious breakthroughs with the Indian government. In April this year when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the UK, Downing Street confirmed that Prime Minister Theresa May raised the issue of Jagtar’s detention when the two leaders met.

More recently, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson finally agreed to meet with Jagtar’s MP, Martin Docherty-Hughes, to discuss the allegations of torture and mistreatment that Jagtar has undergone.
A spokesperson from the Sikh Federation UK commented, “We believe these public revelations demand that the UK government take the extreme action they promised MPs, or it will show they are too weak to protect an innocent British national from torture and death threats.”

The case of Jagtar Singh Johal has also reached the attention of human rights officials at the United Nations, UN experts stated in January: “While we don’t want to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations, grave concern is expressed at the alleged torture and ill-treatment of Jagtar Singh Johal in police custody.”

Rupert Skilbeck, director of human rights organisation Redress, stated recently “It is imperative that India immediately launches a full investigation and address the concerns raised by UN special rapporteurs. As the details of Jagtar’s treatment in prison emerge, it must be made clear that any evidence obtained through torture cannot be used in a court process against him.”

According to the researchers, the more negatively an individual reacts to a situation the more he/she may be at risk of developing heart disease.

The team wanted to find out whether daily stress and heart rate variability — a measure of autonomic regulation of the heart — are linked.

A potential pathway that links stress to future heart disease is a dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system — a case of a person’s normally self-regulated nervous system getting off track.

“Higher heart rate variability is better for health as it reflects the capacity to respond to challenges,” said Nancy L Sin from Pennsylvania State University.

“People with lower heart rate variability have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death,” Ms Sin added in the paper published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Depression and major stressful events are known to be harmful for health, but less attention has been paid to the health consequences of frustrations and hassles in everyday life.

The team analysed the data collected from 909 participants between the ages of 35 and 85, including daily telephone interviews over eight consecutive days and the results from an electro-cardiogram.

During daily phone interviews, participants were asked to report the stressful events as well as negative emotions they had experienced that day.

The researchers found that participants who reported a lot of stressful events in their lives were not necessarily those who had lower heart rate variability.

No matter how many or how few stressful events a person faces, it was those who perceived the events as more stressful or who experienced a greater spike in negative emotions had lower heart rate variability — meaning these people may be at a higher risk for heart disease, the authors noted.

Shatkora is a citrus fruit that is commonly cooked within Bangladesh. You can find it in large Asian grocers. (If you can’t find them, try lemons instead.)

Preparation time

Less than 30 mins

Cooking time

No cooking required

Serves

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 chickens, jointed into pieces

For the pickle

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 5 garliccloves, crushed
• 4cm/1½in piece fresh root ginger, minced
• ½ onion, finely chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 cardamompods, seeds only
• ½ shatkora (available in Asian grocery stores), halved lengthways and thinly sliced
• 1 large cinnamonstick
• ¼ tsp ground turmeric
• ¼ tsp chilli powder
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp curry powder

For the marinade

• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• 200ml/7fl oz plain yoghurt
• 1 shatkora, juice only

To serve

• shatkora wedges
• chapatis, warmed

Method

1. For the pickle, heat the oil. Mix the garlic, ginger and onion together to form a paste. Add the paste to the pan. Add enough water to loosen a little and cook for a few minutes. Add the bay leaves and cardamom.
2. Add the shatkora to the pan. Add a cinnamon stick, then the turmeric, chilli powder, cumin and curry powder. Cook on a low heat for 15 minutes. This is an instant pickle, so won’t keep for longer than three days in the fridge.
3. For the marinade, mix together the ingredients and rub the paste into the chicken, working it in thoroughly to cover all the flesh and skin. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at leat 4 hours, or overnight.
4. To cook the chicken, preheat the grill to high. Grill the chicken for 10–12 minutes on each side, or until cooked through. If needed, squeeze more shatkora juice onto the chicken during cooking.
5. Serve the chicken with the shatkora pickle, wedges and chapatis.

Any boys that perform well will be offered a one-year placement at Chelsea’s Foundation Development Centres while girls who impress will be invited to trial at the Girls Regional Talent Centre.

A familiar face was there to support the programme. Zesh Rehman, the first British Asian to play in the Premier League. Rehman, who has previously played for Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and Bradford has frequently been involved with Asian Star, has admitted the surprise at the success of the programme.

“I must admit when I first got involved in 2009 I doubted we would still be looking forward to the competition in 2018!” said the defender.

“There have been lots of other similar initiatives which have fizzled out, but credit to Chelsea and everyone involved as Asian Star is only getting bigger and better with each year. This year girls are a part of the day, and that is great news. Staying healthy and exercising is so important and the girls and boys attending will benefit from the day and hopefully stay involved in football. It is a big step in the right direction, and something parents and children can embrace.”

Former Chelsea striker Tore Andre Flo was also at the event and said “It is a fantastic event run by the Chelsea Foundation and most importantly a great opportunity for these young children. There are lots of different nationalities in the Premier League and England in general, but not many from the Asian community. We hope events like this will start to change that process.”

Meet Beatfreeks: the Birmingham based creative enterprise making socio-cultural waves in the right direction by giving young Brummies a platform to make the world a better place.

Self-described as “A collective using creativity for good” – their aim is to provide, for the young creatives and entrepreneurs of Birmingham, channels with which to harness their creativity, express themselves and inspire positive change.

The Beatfreeks Collective is a non-profit umbrella of three companies: Free Radical, Young Giant and Doink.

Free Radical is a platform which encourages activism and social commentary through poetry, music and performance arts. Previously known as Beatfreeks Arts, this is where the collective originally started in February 2013 as a tiny poetry slam session consisting of a few creative young minds gathered in the Urban Coffee Company cafe in Birmingham. Now, Free Radicals are performing in Birmingham’s Town Hall in front of an audience as large as 600.

Young Giant focuses on building “Institutions of the Future” – engaging young people and their talents in an entrepreneurial way by connecting them with big brands to provide fresh and innovative ideas, expressing what young people want and bridging together the old and new to change the face of consumerism.

Last year, the organisation won £500,000 in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, after working alongside them on a project to test out various ways to make Heritage more inclusive for young people between 11-25.

Doink gets its name from a play on words: Do and Think. It’s about humanising data using more creative methods than the traditional pie charts and line graphs. One such Doink project, aptly named “SocieTea” used tea and biscuits to visually demonstrate diversity across cultures to the public.

Beatfreeks founder, Anisa Haghdadi, showed promise as a budding entrepreneur at only 15 years of age when she launched an initiative aiming to promote confidence in young people through street dance.  She went on to study Business and Management at Aston University and started Beatfreeks as a fresh graduate.

Now at 28, Anisa has been awarded several impressive accolades for her social enterprises, including the 2014 British Empire for Service to Education and Young People. She was also recognised by The Observer and NESTA as one of 50 “New Radicals” inspiring positive change in the UK and won a Sky Academy Arts Scholarship in 2015, acknowledging her as a future cultural leader in the UK.

There is a world of opportunity that can be accessed right here in Birmingham, with Beatfreeks holding the door open for young Brummies.

So, if you are a young creative person looking for an opportunity to get your voice, skills and talents out there, check out the Beatfreeks website www.beatfreeks.com/join and hit “Join Now” for information about events, workshops, advice, open office and more.

Muslim are required to fast from dawn to dusk during the holy month. However, China’s ruling communist party are believed to be atheist, and for many years they have restricted the practice in Xinjiang, home to the Muslim Uighur minority.

Officials in the region’s Bole County were told: “During Ramadan do not engage in fasting, vigils or other religious activities.”

For the past couple of years, authorities have attempted to ban fasting among Uighur Muslims. However, the authorities received criticism from right groups.

The Uighur rights group have said that China’s restrictions on Islam in Xinjiang have added to ethnic tensions in the region, where clashes have killed hundreds in recent years.

China has said that they face a “terrorist threat” in Xinjiang, with officials “religious extremism” for the growing violence.

“China’s goal in prohibiting fasting is to forcibly move Uighurs away from their Muslim culture during Ramadan,” said Dilxat Rexit, a spokesman for the exiled World Uyghur Congress.

“Policies that prohibit religious fasting is a provocation and will only lead to instability and conflict.”

The education bureau of Tarbaghatay city, known as Tacheng in Chinese, have said that schools students have been ordered to not fast during Ramadan, to not enter mosques and to not attend religious activities.

Similar orders were posted on the websites of other Xinjiang education bureaus and schools.

Officials in the regions Qiemo County met with local religious leaders to inform them that there will be an inspection during Ramadan in order to maintain social stability.

One village in Yili, near the border with Kazakhstan had said mosques must check the identification cards to anyone who comes to pray during Ramadan.

The Bole county government have said that Mehmet Talip, a 90-year-old Uighur Communist Party member had promised to avoid fasting and vowed to “not enter a mosque in order to consciously resist religious and superstitious ideas.”

Around 100,000 visitors flocked to the NEC to celebrate BodyPower’s Las Vegas themed 10^th anniversary! The show continues to diversify and develop, with a record number of females entering the show, due to a strong focus on lifestyle fitness with many leading athletes in attendance. Paige Hathaway, Michelle Lewin, Jen Selter and Hannah Eden were just some of the female names who attracted the crowds!

As the show develops the traditional markets remain as strong as ever, providing visitors with a broad range of competitions and all things health and fitness. From leading brands to a collection of world-class educators, BodyPower really is the go to event in the industry!

The popularity of competitions showed no sign of slowing for 2018 and the likes of BodyPower Games and Kettlebell Championships amongst many others had a record number of competitors. Terry Hollands hosted the Strongman competition in unforgettable fashion and welcomed buzzing spectators into BodyPower’s very own circus tent, while competitors showcased the elite in strength and power. 2018 World’s Strongest Man and Game of Thrones star, Hafthor ‘The Mountain’ Bjornsson attracted hundreds and left fans blown away with his presence. In addition to competitions and seminars, BodyPower brought demonstrations, workshops and Q&A sessions with the leading stars in fitness. Exhibitors didn’t disappoint and a range of healthy nutrition brands were in attendance, from the likes of HECK Foods, Kettlebell Kitchen, Eatright and Musclefood, they all projected the BodyPower atmosphere to the masses and provided an unforgettable experience for visitors.

With a strong focus on offering the ultimate customer experience for all, BodyPower saw widened aisles, better queuing systems and opportunities to see everything all in one day!

Nick Orton, Founder and CEO of BodyPower commented, “Our 10-year anniversary didn’t disappoint, athletes, exhibitors and amazing competitions all under one roof. BodyPower always has and continues to bring the fitness family together, we must work as one to ensure each and every visitor has a fantastic, unforgettable experience. We lift the nation and we will continue to do so.

Plans are already underway for an exciting 2018 and 2019, including BodyPower on the Beach and the unmissable BodyPower Weekender in Edinburgh. BodyPower Expo 2019 will be all change and experience will be the word on everyone’s lips, this is the future for BodyPower and the expo is changing as you know it!”

With a new format and exciting changes planned, BodyPower 2019 is not to be missed. All are invited to witness the evolution of BodyPower at the NEC, Birmingham on the 10^th - 12^th May 2019.

Information regarding tickets for BodyPower 2019 will be released over the coming months. For more information on BodyPower please visit www.bodypower.com.