Entertainment

A timepiece set to appeal to Muslims

Swiss timepiece designer Aramedes has launched a unique watch to appeal to Muslims, the company announced. The Mecca Collection incorporates functions that support Muslims in observing the key practices of their religion.

In order to practice the Islamic faith, one must know the direction to Mecca (Qibla), the daily prayer times (Salah), and the fasting times during Ramadan (Sawm).

“We were fascinated by the idea that a watch could accomplish these tasks,” says Pascal Stübi, Co-Founder & Chief Idea Officer (CIO). “The only question was how to do it.”

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Due to the complex calculations required and the real-time adjustments of the indications, it is impossible to create these functions in a traditional mechanical movement.

To solve this problem, the Aramedes team designed and developed a high-tech electronic component that is integrated into the watch case along with the mechanical movement. The associated software calculates the location of the wearer via mobile radio triangulation, and the watch displays the information on sub-dials.

The watch owner uses the Mastertimer phone app to initialize and calibrate the watch, connecting it via Bluetooth by using the pusher at 2 o’clock on the watch case. Once calibrated, the watch and its module work independently of the app and phone.

When the owner changes location significantly relative to Mecca, a notification appears on their phone asking the user if they’d like to update the location on the watch. Synchronization is as simple as opening the app.

Aramex co-founder Tom Morf explained that the inspiration for the watch came from a series of debates over lunch with his co-founder where they would always talk about the direction timepiece design was taking.

“Our discussion turned to the great achievements the Islamic world had over the course of history in mathematics, astronomy and many more things, and we spoke about the daily practice of prayer five times a day in the direction of Mecca, and their fasting once a year during the holy month of Ramadan,” he said.

“This was where it all started and where we became inspired to dig further. We wanted to know, is there anything like that that already exists in a premium luxury watch (there wasn’t), and how combining these three elements could be technically solved with great challenges,” he explained.

Given the basis of the teachings of Islam a timepiece that encompasses all the themes of the religion seems obvious, yet never happened until the launch of the Mecca Collection.

“I think because religion is a topic which can be quite sensitive, but we treated this with utmost respect and worked closely with Muslim contacts of ours,” Morf said.

In keeping with the Aramedes philosophy of simple and functional design, the watch box is crafted in Switzerland from entirely sustainable materials. It is fitted with a near-field communication (NFC) chip. The owner places their smartphone over the chip and is taken to a link to download and install the Aramedes Mastertimer App. Authenticity is assured by a micro-embossed seal, produced by a machine that is also used to create security features on Swiss banknotes.

With echoes of 1960s and ’70s style, the designs feature convex box-shaped sapphire crystals, and steel cases with curved lugs and a mix of brushed and polished finishes. Classical fine watchmaking details include sunray-brushed dials and applied hour markers.

The Aramedes Mecca Collection comprises four models, all in stainless steel cases, but platinum is available on request. The watch prices range from $6,000 to $163,000.

In addition to the Mecca Collection, Aramedes have the Zürich Collection in its portfolio that can appeal to non-Muslims. “We’ve seen a great response to this purely mechanical collection, and we also want to work on other subjects too, and we’re glad that we have the technology now to do so.”

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Explaining the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s merger

The combination of the PGA Tour and rival LIV circuit is an intriguing merger, putting an end to a long-term rivalry between Saudi Arabia’s LIV and the nonprofit PGA Tour.

WHAT IS THE DEAL PRICE?

The two golf tournament organizers agreed to the merger without pinning down financial terms, in a bid to end a long-running legal dispute. LIV had filed an antitrust lawsuit in the United States seeking punitive damages against the PGA Tour for its “tortious interference” with contracts with golfers. PGA Tour had countersued, making similar claims.

PGA Tour and LIV have now signed a framework agreement that calls for investment banks M Klein & Co. and Allen & Co. to carry out a valuation analysis of the assets of LIV and PGA Tour, respectively. It is not clear how the two sides would proceed if disagreements arise over the valuations.

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WHO WILL OWN THE COMBINED COMPANY?

A new company will be created that will be majority-owned by the existing PGA Tour, which is a nonprofit. The new company, however, will operate for profit and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which currently owns more than 90% of LIV, will take a large minority stake in the combined entity. The exact stake that PIF will assume in the new company will depend on how much it will invest — an amount expected to be in the billions of dollars. PGA Tour and PIF will negotiate how much money the new company should start off with.

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Blind mystic who predicted ISIS, COVID-19 says nuclear disaster impending in 2023

The famous mystic Baba Vanga, who reportedly predicted the 9/11 attacks, the existence of ISIS and COVID-19, has reportedly foreseen a nuclear disaster by the end of 2023.

Also known as the Nostradamus of the Balkans, the blind woman died in 1996. Before her passing, she has predicted various world events, some of which have come true, including the Fukushima nuclear spill, according to a New York Post report.

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The latest prediction claimed by her followers foresees a “devastating nuclear disaster” that would cause “toxic clouds to settle over Asia.”

In addition, Vanga also reportedly predicted “a powerful solar storm that will rock the climate in 2023” and a “biological weapon will be used by a superpower in 2023, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths,” according to the same report.

Some have supposedly interpreted her words to mean that a solar tsunami is imminent, which could result in major technology failure. Usually, minor storms of this kind occur frequently without a problem.

Vanga also predicted that natural pregnancies would be banned and babies would be grown in labs in 2023. She reportedly claimed that world leaders would choose who is born, and parents would be able to customize their offspring’s traits and appearance.

Vangeliya Pandeva Gushterova reportedly lost her eyesight during a dust storm at the age of 12 in Romania. Her followers claim that she received her powers during this time.

As for her 9/11 terrorist attack predictions, her exact words, as the New York Post recounted, were: “The American brethren will fall after being attacked by the steel birds.”

“The wolves will be howling in a bush, and innocent blood will be gushing.”

While many of Vanga’s predictions came true based on inference of the claim, some predictions, such as a nuclear war between 2010 and 2014 and the end of Europe in 2016, when Brexit took place, did not come true.

There were also claims that the 45th US President, Donald Trump, would face a crisis that would “bring the country down.”

Some unverified predictions include the presidency of Barack Obama, the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and the death of Princess Diana.

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Innovative solution: Nigerian fourth-grader’s education funded by recycling waste

Nigerian fourth-grader Fawas Adeosun often used to get sent home from school through the gritty streets of Lagos because his mother, Fatimoh, had not paid his fees, until he enrolled in a different school offering a novel solution.

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Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, arranges used plastic bottles into a sack in her home in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

My Dream Stead school, in the sprawling, impoverished Ajegunle neighborhood where the Adeosuns live, is one of 40 low-cost schools in Nigeria’s commercial capital that accept recyclable waste as payment.

A recyclable waste collector weighs a sack of plastic containers submitted by Fatimoh Adeosun, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

For the past four years, a local environmental organization called African Cleanup Initiative has been collecting bottles, cans, drink cartons and plastic containers brought into the schools by parents and selling them to recyclers.

Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, carries sacks of plastic waste for submission in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

The proceeds of the sales pay for teacher salaries, children’s uniforms, books and pens, among other expenses.

The scheme aims to reduce the number of children out of school as well as the amount of trash on the streets of Lagos, said Alexander Akhigbe, founder of the environmental group.

Students attend classes at My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Tuition fees at My Dream Stead stand at $130 per year and the school is expanding into a second apartment block to accommodate its 120 students. Only seven children were enrolled when it opened in 2019.

Fatimoh Adeosun, 48, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, sorts plastic waste for submission, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Some mornings, Fatimoh and Fawas walk to the school together with bulging sacks of trash over their shoulders. The waste is weighed on school premises and its sales value added to Fawas’ account.

“Sometimes if he wants to buy sportswear, the school will tell me the amount I need to bring,” said Fatimoh, a 48-year-old hairdresser who cares for six children on her own.

Providing for Fawas, the youngest, has been particularly difficult since she was forced to vacate the room she used as a salon in 2018.

“When I discovered that they could collect the plastics from me to keep my child in school, it made my burden lighter,” she said as she scoured bins on the streets for recyclables on her way back from the school.

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