Features

As if smartphones were not hazardous enough, the selfie craze is reaching new extremes, new heights, literally. It is turning into a dangerous sport.

Who cares about the technical or the artistic quality? Who minds faces that are horribly distorted in pincushion effect because of the proximity of the phone’s lens? What matters is to be there and to show the world you were there; that you did it. It is by any measure the ultimate form of massive, popular, modern age photo taking.

If candid selfies featuring friends and family in “normal” places or situations will never harm anyone or nothing but the fine art of photography, some people look to boost their adrenaline output and to attract attention by taking selfies in rather unusual settings: preferably dangerous places and situations.

With just an extended arm or better, with a selfie stick (to avoid distortion), daredevils are climbing the highest buildings, like a TV tower in Estonia, or Cheops pyramid in Giza, Egypt, or they go diving with sharks, just for the thrill of taking extraordinary selfies there. It has become a worldwide phenomenon. Last year, German Andrej Ciesielski was arrested for several weeks after performing the trick at the peak of Cheops pyramid.

Some sit at the very edge of a vertiginous cliff, others walk a tightrope over a train railway. The possibilities and the challenges are many. Just don’t forget your smartphone.

Some countries have started implementing laws that forbid taking selfies in specific places. Several museums have already banned selfie taking; amongst them Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. Some put it nicely and try to promote more traditional forms of art by encouraging visitors to use a pencil and to practice hand drawing (on real paper, that is…) instead of taking selfies, while others bluntly instruct visitors not to take selfies at all.

Why the craze? After all, taking pictures in unusual places, in challenging situations is nothing new. There’s an incredible wealth of photos and movies taken by adventurers, moviemakers and researchers that are nothing short of extraordinary. There are TV channels that every day show exclusively incredible photography of everything, from landscape to wildlife and events; if only National Geographic, to name one of the most famous.

The difference is that these people do not take pictures of themselves and they use bulky, professional photo equipment. Selfies, on the other hand, are all about yourself — hence the word “self” — and are taken with the one digital tool that we all carry today, the universal, pocketable smartphone. It’s all about your ego — and portability, of course. It’s about showing that you did it alone, not that you asked someone to take a photo of you here or there; that would be so passé, so boring.

The way things are going, and seeing that the selfie craze is continuing unabated, I would not be surprised to see the makers of smartphones start to improve the front camera of the devices, the one you use to take selfies and that is also referred to as “secondary”, more than the back camera, the one that, in principle, is supposed to be the main camera. Who knows, the front camera may soon surpass the back camera in terms of quality and become the main, not the secondary camera. Technically speaking, it is perfectly doable.

All this because the digital industry’s magicians are able to squeeze megapixel cameras in a mobile phone handset weighing about 150 grams! Let’s see this summer what Apple and Samsung will do about that, when/if they release new models.

PARIS — Most off-label use of antidepressants is not backed by evidence that the drugs will work as intended, scientists said Wednesday.

Many medications approved for the treatment of depression are prescribed by doctors for other problems such as pain, insomnia or migraine headaches.

But only a small fraction of such “off-label” treatments have been tested for efficacy and side effects, researchers reported in the medical journal BMJ.

Giving adult medication to children, or in doses different from those tested in clinical trials and specified by drug makers, are also considered off-label uses.

The study found that about a third of antidepressants are prescribed for conditions other than depression. 

“This is probably the tip of the iceberg,” said lead author Jenna Wong, a researcher at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

“There is a lot of off-label use going on, but we don’t have good ways of tracking it,” especially when antidepressants are taken to treat other conditions, she told AFP. 

The use of antidepressants — both off-label and for depression — has increased sharply in many countries in recent decades.

In the United States, their use shot up almost fivefold from early 1990s to the 2005-2008 period, when 11 per cent of adults reported taking them in the previous month, according to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Women in the US were more than twice as likely as men to take antidepressants.

In Britain, their use increased by nearly 7 per cent between 2014 and 2015 — a sharper rise than any other class of drug.

In the study, Wong and colleagues tracked over 100,000 antidepressant prescriptions written by 174 doctors for 20,000 patients in Quebec, Canada between 2003 and 2015.

Overall, 29 per cent were given for conditions other than depression.

Scientific data supported only 16 per cent of these off-label treatments. 

For the remaining 84 per cent, there was either little or no evidence that the medications would work as intended.

In evaluating safety, most consumers focus on whether a drug has been approved by regulatory agencies such as the US Food and Drug Administration, said Wong. 

“But for physicians and scientists, the greater concern is whether a particular off-label use is scientifically-based or not.” 

The study shows that more research is urgently needed on the prevalence and impact of off-label meds, said Daniel Morales and Bruce Guthrie, both researchers at the Dundee Medical School in Scotland.

“Off-label prescribing matters because it is usually — but not always — associated with substantial uncertainty about the balance of benefit and harm,” they wrote in the BMJ.

It is no secret that Indian films are three hour-long musicals full of mellifluous songs. But with a rapid decline of good lyricists and music composers, sometimes those numbers can make our eardrums aquiver. 

When I was a teenager, going to watch a movie was a planned outing, which my maternal uncles organised, every time I visited them. The only problem was that they would start fixing the date on the day of my departure, in an obvious attempt to make me delay or cancel it. My leaving, that is. 

My relatives were an effervescent lot and celebrated everything with steaming cups of tea, especially when it rained, and a dewy petrichor spread around us. Hot fritters were the illicit add-ons, despite all of them being on a weight reduction diet. The joy they experienced from this was ineffable and was only superseded by a trip to the movies. 

And so, after enticing me suitably and postponing my return, we would flock to the cinemas. 

The moment the lights dimmed and a sonorous voice announced that we should switch off our cell phones; my uncles would push back the reclining seats to an almost supine position. Five minutes into the film, even before the nefarious villain cast his evil eye on the hero and heroine in sudden limerence, my uncles would start snoring.

The speed with which this happened left me stupefied. I looked around surreptitiously, hearing their nostrils bombinate, and as the sound increased, prayed that it would not be the cause of their defenestration. The luminescent screen, the iridescent light, the ethereal cinematography — nothing interrupted their deep slumber. 

Surprisingly, only when the actors burst into song and dance, would they wake up, rubbing their eyes, blinking through the phosphenes and exclaiming, “What happened? What happened?” 

They even looked around in confusion, like somnambulists, wondering how they got to where they were. It transpired every single time, during an epoch moment, in the middle of the picture. And then I had to patiently explain the plot to them while the smokers in the audience, who trooped outside the hall for the duration of the songs, would throw pitiful looks in my direction. 

However, these breaks were ephemeral because much before the film’s denouement, my snoring uncles disappeared into their favoured state of stupor and oblivion. I often wondered why they bothered to go to the cinema, instead of taking a nap in the solitude of their homes. 

Soon, I got an epiphany and realised that they could not help themselves because this was perhaps a genetic flaw. Like I was irresistibly drawn to old bookstores, where it did not matter if I bought those books or not, just being around them comforted me. 

In a similar manner, my uncles gravitated towards the ancient movie theatres because it de-stressed them, and simply being there, cured their insomnia, albeit for a short duration. They did not have to wait for a syzygy in order to fall asleep. 

Shortly I was so well trained that I supplied the storyline, even before they could prompt me to, and as soon as one of them woke up I would start narrating. 

“The secretary was the murderer,” I explained. 

“There was a murder?” asked the newly awakened uncle.

“Yes,” I nodded my head. 

“What happened? What happened?” exclaimed the other one. 

“And then her car rolled down the cliff,” I continued. 

“She also died? How?” they both chorused. 

“Pure serendipity,” I concluded. 

First launched in 2011 and revised for the 2015 model year, the Peugeot 508 is an elegant, economical, refined and practical mid-size to large saloon that effectively replaced both the French brand’s previous 607 flagship and mid-range 407 models. Reclaiming the “5” prefix designation that served its more distant predecessors so well, the 508 has also proved particularly popular with developing markets, as was the legendarily rugged 504 and 505 models of long past, with China alone accounting for 36 per cent of 508 sales. An altogether more sophisticated and classy European saloon, the 508 represents Peugeot’s more premium leanings within the mainstream mid-range automotive segment.

Elegant appeal

Reflecting its popularity in emerging markets, the revised 508 was simultaneously unveiled at the Chengdu and Moscow auto expos, before its European debut at the Paris motor show back in 2014. A tidier and toned up mid-life revision, the face-lifted 508 is an aesthetically more chiselled and streamlined car with improved infotainment, technology and driveline features. Debuting a new corporate face, the revised 508’s fascia is more upright with a more bulging and horizontal bonnet and chrome-ringed hexagonal grille now housing the brand’s lion emblem, in place of its former position atop the bonnet within a concave groove.

Freshened up and both more assertive and elegant, the face-lifted 508 features more ridged and pronounced sheet metal. Meanwhile, flanking the 508’s grille are new all-LED headlights, including an upper LED strip that neatly bridges the grille to the waistline, and lend creates a moodier and more browed appearance to the headlamp cluster. 

Its lower LED strips sit above deeper fog lights and extend to the lower side character lines. In addition to its more defined bumpers and more horizontal lighting elements, the revised 508’s rear looks fresher and features a more prominent built-in spoiler, while its predecessor’s horizontal upper chrome strip is ditched.

Refined and versatile

More than just an aesthetic facelift, the revised 508 features a new electronically controlled automatic gearbox as will be most popularly available in the Middle East, and enhanced engines, including the THP165 variant, as tested.

Retuned for more power, fuel economy and compliance with tough Euro 6 emissions standards, the revised 508 THP165’s direct injection turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine develops 163BHP at 6000rpm — up from 153HP — while its peak 177lb/ft torque output is unchanged and arrives as early as 1400rpm. Quick spooling and with little turbo lag off-the-line, the 508 pulls meaningfully from below 2000rpm and seems to noticeably get perkier by 2500rpm. 

Confidently flexible, the 508’s generous mid-range underwrites top-end power accumulation and allows for versatile overtaking and driving on inclines for a car of its size, weight and efficiency. Refined and quiet, the 508’s engine is coupled with a new electronically controlled 6-speed automatic gearbox with slick, smooth and concise shifts.

It also features a more responsive “sport” mode and fixed steering column mounted sequential paddle shifters for manual mode shifting. With its driveline revisions, the THP165 is able to accelerate from standstill to 100km/h in 8.9-seconds and can achieve a top speed of 210km/h, and yet returns frugal 5.6l/100km fuel consumption on the combined cycle.

Smooth and settled

Carrying over unchanged, the revised 508’s chassis and MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension provides confident and relaxed highway stability, poise and ride refinement, with its suspension and 215/55R17 tyres well balanced between providing the right ride comfort and body control qualities for its segment.

Driven through a broad range and variety of roads during its global launch in Mallorca, Spain, the 508 was manoeuvrable in town with reversing camera and parking sensors helping out in tight spots. Meanwhile, it rode comfortably supple over road texture imperfections and in most circumstances, only feeling firm or slightly stiff over the sharpest cracks or bumps.

In its element on motorways and sprawling country lanes, the 508 turns into tidily but when turning too fast or abrupt on narrow snaking roads, where there is a slight tendency for understeer. 

However, through corners, rear grip was reassuringly dedicated. Taking dips, crests and rougher textures in its stride, the 508 rides smoothly and feels settled on rebound, while its light steering is comfortably weighted, remains more intuitive feeling than many rivals. Road visibility was good overall, but through tighter corners, one tended to look around the thick nearside A-pillar, while a small retractable smoked screen HUD display presents information easily and prevents distraction.

Stylish accommodation

Well refined from noise, harshness and vibrations inside, the 508’s classy cabin has a distinctly European ambiance and features stylish user-friendly layouts, quality stitched leather upholstery and comfortably contoured yet supportively bolstered seats with lumbar support, and even an optional massaging function.

Cabin material, fit and textures are above the average in its class. Spacious in most directions inside, the 508’s seat and steering adjustability allows for an alert driving position, while non-sunroof models feature improved rear headroom, while console storage box is well-sized. Storage space includes a large 515-litre boot with split-folding rear seats to generously expand luggage room. 

Well-equipped, the 508 features manual side-rear and rear window screens, keyless entry and start, quad-zone climate control and automatic headlight dipping, tire inflation warning, and a blind spot warning system, depending on specification.

If less advanced but more fundamental, the 508 features all-round three-point seatbelts and rear Isofix childseat latches. Meanwhile, an enhanced and intuitive 7” touchscreen allows one access infotainment systems.

Featuring shortcuts, the new screen allows for a less clattered and more streamlined dash and console with fewer buttons than before, while the 508’s enhanced connectivity features include Peugeot Connect Apps.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 77 x 85.8mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection

0-100km/h: 8.9-seconds

80-120km/h: 5.8-seconds

Top speed: 210km/h

Power, BHP (HP) [kW]: 163 (165) [121] @6000rpm

Specific power: 102BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 115.6BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 177 (240) @1400rpm

Specific torque: 150.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 170.2Nm/tonne

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.6-liers/100km

CO2 emissions: 130g/km

Fuel capacity: 72-litres

Length: 4830mm

Width: 1828mm

Height: 1456mm

Wheelbase: 2817mm

Track, F/R: 1579/1552mm

Overhang, F/R: 1001/1012mm

Headroom, F/R: 897/857mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1430/1379mm

Luggage, min/max: 515-/958-litres

Unladen weight: 1410kg

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Brakes: Discs

Tyres: 215/55R17

Scientists should be allowed to alter a person’s DNA in ways that will be passed on to future generations, but only to prevent serious and strongly heritable diseases, according to a new report from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

However, tinkering with these genes in order to enhance or alter traits such as strength, intelligence or beauty should remain off-limits, the report authors concluded.

Changing the so-called germline — effectively, editing humanity’s future by altering genes in human reproductive cells — is illegal in the United States. It has largely been considered ethically off-limits here as well, at least while bioethicists and scientists pondered the unforeseen effects and unexamined moral dilemmas of using new gene-editing technologies.

However, scientists have moved forward aggressively to explore the feasibility of altering disease genes in other adult human cells with a revolutionary technique known as CRISPR-Cas9. It is widely believed that gene editing of this sort could treat patients with metabolic disorders, certain cancers and a range of other diseases that arise from genetic mutations — without altering the germline.

Last year, Chinese scientists launched a trial that uses CRISPR-Cas9 in a treatment for lung cancer. While the trial’s outcome is awaited with high anticipation, scientists outside China have expressed concern that ethical reservations in the United States and Europe will put them at a disadvantage.

CRISPR-Cas9 makes gene editing more straightforward, more precise and far more widespread. As such, the national academies’ report acknowledges that changing heritable DNA in eggs, sperm and early embryos is fast becoming “a realistic possibility that deserves serious consideration”.

The 22-member panel of scientists and bioethicists who produced the report completed a comprehensive review of the issues raised by that prospect.

Clinical trials involving germline editing should only be pursued to treat diseases that cannot be improved with “reasonable alternatives”, the committee said. In addition, they added, scientists should convincingly demonstrate they are targeting a gene that either causes or strongly predisposes a carrier to a serious disease or condition, and that they have weighed the likely risks and benefits of altering that gene.

These clinical trials should be conducted under public scrutiny that takes into account issues of societal fairness, personal dignity and scientific integrity, the panel said.

Finally, scientists should conduct long-term follow-up studies to discern how gene editing affects subsequent generations. Public debate and discussion about the technology should continue, the panel added.

“Genome editing research is very much an international endeavour, and all nations should ensure that any potential clinical applications reflect societal values and be subject to appropriate oversight and regulation,” said Massachusetts Institute of Technology cancer researcher Richard O. Hynes, who co-chaired the panel with University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist R. Alta Charo. “These overarching principles and the responsibilities that flow from them should be reflected in each nation’s scientific community and regulatory processes.”

Dr J. Patrick Whelan, an immunologist and bioethicist who was not on the panel, said the group “has asked the compelling questions”, sparking a conversation that must keep up with a rapid pace of scientific discovery in this field. He called the report’s release “a fantastic development”.

“What they’re saying is, let’s start the conversation, maintain ethical structures along the way and hopefully do this the right way,” said Whelan, who serves on the advisory board of the University of Southern California’s Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies.

The international panel included members from the US, China, France, Israel and Italy. Their report was underwritten in part by the Department of Defence’s Advanced Research Projects Agency and the US Food and Drug Administration.

One day, gardeners might not just hear the buzz of bees among their flowers, but the whirr of robots, too. Scientists in Japan say they have managed to turn an unassuming drone into a remote-controlled pollinator by attaching horsehairs coated with a special, sticky gel to its underbelly.

The system, described in the journal Chem, is nowhere near ready to be sent to agricultural fields, but it could help pave the way to developing automated pollination techniques at a time when bee colonies are suffering precipitous declines.

In flowering plants, sex often involves a threesome. Flowers looking to get the pollen from their male parts into another bloom’s female parts need an envoy to carry it from one to the other. Those third players are animals known as pollinators — a diverse group of critters that includes bees, butterflies, birds and bats, among others.

Animal pollinators are needed for the reproduction of 90 per cent of flowering plants and one third of human food crops, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Chief among those are bees — but many bee populations in the United States have been in steep decline in recent decades, likely due to a combination of factors, including agricultural chemicals, invasive species and climate change. Just last month, the rusty patched bumblebee became the first wild bee in the United States to be listed as an endangered species (although the Trump administration just put a halt on that designation).

Thus, the decline of bees is not just worrisome because it could disrupt ecosystems, but also because it could disrupt agriculture and the economy. People have been trying to come up with replacement techniques, the study authors say, but none of them are especially effective yet — and some might do more harm than good.

“One pollination technique requires the physical transfer of pollen with an artist’s brush or cotton swab from male to female flowers,” the authors wrote. “Unfortunately, this requires much time and effort. Another approach uses a spray machine, such as a gun barrel and pneumatic ejector. However, this machine pollination has a low pollination success rate because it is likely to cause severe denaturing of pollens and flower pistils as a result of strong mechanical contact as the pollens burst out of the machine.”

Scientists have thought about using drones, but scientists have not figured out how to make free-flying robot insects that can rely on their own power source without being attached to a wire.

“It’s very tough work,” said senior author Eijiro Miyako, a chemist at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Japan.

Miyako’s particular contribution to the field involves a gel, one he had considered a mistake 10 years before. The scientist had been attempting to make fluids that could be used to conduct electricity, and one attempt left him with a gel that was as sticky as hair wax. Clearly this would not do, and so Miyako stuck it in a storage cabinet in an uncapped bottle. When it was rediscovered a decade later, it looked exactly the same — the gel had not dried up or degraded at all.

“I was so surprised, because it still had a very high viscosity,” Miyako said.

The chemist noticed that when dropped, the gel absorbed an impressive amount of dust from the floor. Miyako realised this material could be very useful for picking up pollen grains. He took ants, slathered the ionic gel on some of them and let both the gelled and un-gelled insects wander through a box of tulips. Those ants with the gel were far more likely to end up with a dusting of pollen than those that were free of the sticky substance.

The next step was to see if this worked with mechanical movers, as well. He and his colleagues chose a four-propeller drone whose retail value was $100, and attached horsehairs to its smooth surface to mimic a bee’s fuzzy body. They coated those horsehairs in the gel, and then manoeuvred the drones over Japanese lilies, where they would pick up the pollen from one flower and then deposit the pollen at another bloom, thus fertilising it.

The scientists looked at the hairs under a scanning electron microscope and counted up the pollen grains attached to the surface. They found that the robots whose horsehairs had been coated with the gel had on the order of 10 times more pollen than those hairs that had not been coated with the gel.

“A certain amount of practice with remote control of the artificial pollinator is necessary,” the study authors noted.

Miyako does not think such drones would replace bees altogether, but could simply help bees with their pollinating duties.

“In combination is the best way,” he said.

There is a lot of work to be done before that is a reality, however. Small drones will need to become more manoeuvrable and energy efficient, as well as smarter, he said — with better GPS and artificial intelligence, programmed to travel in highly effective search-and-pollinate patterns.

To say that computer graphics matter is an understatement. They actually have become a critical part of any computer-based device, from smartphones all the way up to server machines, including smart TVs that in a way can also be considered today as computer-based hardware.

The demand for intensive, high quality graphics is unabated, covering all fields of application, from entertainment to medical imaging and everything in between. Image is everywhere. Regardless of the quality of the music, can you imagine a pop song to sell and be successful without a great video clip to go with it?

WhatsApp and similar applications are so popular because of their ability to channel photos. Smartphones are essentially judged by the size of their screen and the quality of the images they can display, be it still or moving images. As for YouTube and its planetary impact, it goes without saying…

Why does the consumer have to keep this in mind? Isn’t it enough just owning and using the devices?

The question matters a lot when it comes to buying a device, deciding on the amount and size of the memory it features, and whether it has a dedicated or an integrated graphics card, or adapter, or controller (different terms that mean the same thing).

You can cut corners on the various aspects and components of a computer-based machine, but not on graphics memory. Besides, we need more than just to display images; we often need to process them too. Did I say Photoshop?

Images use up, eat up, should I say, memory from your device — a lot of it. If your hardware does not have ample memory size, the part that will be taken for graphics will leave only a little to run applications, to retrieve data, to browse the web, to send emails, and so forth.

To address the question, the consumer has two options. The first is to get a machine with extra memory. If you think you need 4GB, get 8GB, if you think you need 8GB, get 12GB, etc... In short, make sure you have memory to spare. This will ensure that whatever the graphics part takes, there will always be enough left for the other “tasks” the machine is running.

A better solution, however, is to ensure you have a dedicated graphics card. This comes with memory that will be exclusively dedicated to images and will not affect the “main” memory or interfere in any way with it. There is an added advantage to this method. The type of memory that the graphics card would come with is also faster than the “main” memory and will perform much better.

There was a time when having a dedicated graphics card was a luxury, a feature that only hardcore gamers or graphic designers would use. It is not anymore the case. We all need good, dedicated graphics.

Such cards have become common staples and for JD40 to JD80, one can get a good graphics card, sporting 2GB or 4GB of dedicated memory. At the top of the range, prices can reach up to JD500, but few of us would really need such sophisticated, expensive hardware.

As for devices that come with built-in graphics controllers, and that leave you with few options to add hardware, just be sure to select equipment that has powerful graphics from the very start. This is the case for smartphones and tablets in particular. In general, buying a top-of-the-line iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phone will do the trick, sparing you the trouble to search and make tough decisions.

NEW YORK — In just two seasons, Indonesian Muslim designer Anniesa Hasibuan has made the hijab her trademark — and dazzled New York Fashion Week’s catwalk this week by styling it with flowing, iridescent gowns fit for a princess.

Like in her New York show last fall — which cemented her status as a rising star — all of the models who showcased Hasibuan’s autumn/winter 2017 collection sported lustrous grey hijabs that sculpted the facial features while carefully covering the hair.

Other than the hijab, the traditional head and neck covering many Muslim women wear, the 30-year-old designer’s clothes evoked nothing of the “modest Muslim” style that sometimes stirs controversy and exacerbates anti-Muslim sentiment in western countries.

On the contrary, Hasibuan’s collection features shimmering, on-trend pleats, silver and golden ruffles, and long trains adorned with pearls, glitter or embroidery that recalled royalty of the Middle Ages.

The models were not chosen at random — the young designer held casting calls specifically seeking first- and second-generation immigrants, seeking to show that “fashion is for everybody”.

“There is beauty in diversity and differences — something we should not be afraid of” she told AFP, speaking through an interpreter. 

“I believe being a fashion designer can bring a lot of changes — and beautiful changes, of course.”

Growing fame

She unveiled her second New York collection amid controversy over US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order on immigration, currently blocked by a US court, that bars refugees and migrants from seven Muslim-majority nations. The decree ignited mass protests and global condemnation.

Hasibuan, however, aims to keep her work, which is primarily geared towards Muslim women, “separate” from politics.

“I’m here bringing the beautiful voice of the Muslim women, the peace and the universal values that fashion can offer,” she said.

Her dream, she said, would be to dress Kate Middleton, whom the designer said is “like a queen”, adding that she admires the Duchess of Cambridge for “her elegance”. 

Hasibuan won worldwide praise for her fall collection in New York last September, the first to feature a hijab in every look. 

Since then she has opened new stores in her home country Indonesia as well as in Malaysia, Turkey and Abu Dhabi — proffering modern Islamic clothing dripping in glamour.

Chiara Sari, Indonesia’s vice consul in New York, donned a white hijab atop a black, velvet top and black pants to attend the show, pulling her contemporary look together with a statement necklace.

The hijab, Sari said, is Hasibuan’s “trademark, and I don’t think she will lose that”.

Since Trump’s contentious decree, Sari said she has spent significant time reassuring her fellow Indonesians in the United States, while also urging them to “avoid traveling abroad” to reduce the risk of not being able to re-enter.

For Sari, Hasibuan’s growing fame is a gift. “Hopefully that will increase familiarity with Islam in general, especially now when it is getting a lot of bad press,” she said. 

I don’t know about you, but I seem to find no way to trump down my news-watching these days. I have become addicted to the various American news channels and switch between them rather frequently. Following what the 45th President of the United States might do next keeps me glued to the television screen.

One of the first ways a new president is able to exercise political power, in America, is through unilateral executive orders. While legislative efforts take time, a swipe of the pen from the White House can often enact broad changes in government policy and practice. And President Donald Trump has wasted little time in swiping a pen, so to speak, and putting his exclusive scribbly signature onto the documents that define his directives.

The most controversial one was the blanket move that banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the next 90 days and suspended the admission of all refugees for 120 days. The implications of this travel ban reverberated worldwide, as chaos and confusion rippled through US airports and American law enforcement agencies tried to grasp Washington’s new policy.

Oblivious to the devastation it caused, Trump said the government was “totally prepared” for the ban. “You see it at the airports. You see it all over. It’s working out very nicely and we’re going to have a very, very strict ban,” he told reporters. I watched his facial expressions closely when he made this statement, looking for some sign of uncertainty. There was none. He actually believed what he was saying!

Soon, this executive order was halted by Seattle-based US District Court Judge James Robart, who issued a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s order nationwide after the states of Washington and Minnesota sued. Deriding the ruling, Trump took to the social networking site and tweeted: “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” But a federal appeals three-judge panel unanimously rejected his bid to reinstate the travel ban, suggesting that it showed no evidence that anyone from the seven nations — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen — had committed terrorist acts in the United States. Within minutes of the verdict, Mr Trump angrily vowed to fight it, presumably in an appeal to the Supreme Court. “See you in court, the security of our nation is at stake!” Trump wrote on Twitter in capital letters. 

Now, if such high drama is taking place in front of your very eyes, though via the idiot box I must confess, who can pull themselves away? 

Meanwhile, a story in the New York Times reported that “President Trump’s aides conferred in the dark because they could not figure out how to operate the light switches in the Cabinet room of the White House”. Ajit, a famous character-actor of Indian movies, usually played the role of a villain, and always told his assistant — who delivered the stolen diamonds or gold biscuits — to switch the lights of his car “on and off” as a secret code. The smuggler receiving the loot was to signal back, by switching the headlights of his vehicle “off and on”.

“Conferred in the dark? How?” I asked my husband. 

“They must have carried a lighter,” he answered. 

“Aha! Used coded messages?” I exclaimed. 

“Ajit style on-off, on-off, for yes,” I continued. 

“What?” he sounded confused. 

“And off-on, off-on, for no,” I concluded.

Perhaps the most defining model among Mercedes-Benz’ various model lines across the years, the E-Class sums up the brand’s luxurious yet unostentatious, sensibly practical yet established premium brand and elegant yet conservative appeal.

Possibly the most important of Mercedes models, the E-Class is probably the most popularly aspirational car in Jordan, and especially so in E200 guise, where it represents one of the safest investments in a premium car.

Launched last year, the latest incarnation is one of the most technologically advanced cars rolled out by the Stuttgart manufacturer.

Flowing and fluent

Designated the W213 according to Mercedes-Benz model codes, the latest E-Class is a curvier and more flowing design and succeeds the more overt, chunkier and edgier W212, circa 2009-2016. Styled according to Stuttgart’s currently prevailing Sensual Purity design ethos, the new executive segment E-Class sits between and bears a strong familial resemblance to the brand’s flagship S-Class and junior executive C-Class saloons.

With a snouty grille with pronounced frame and bonnet surfacing, bullet-like LED headlamp clusters, flowing ridge along its flank, arcing roofline and waistline trailing off to a tapered boot, the new E-Class strikes a distinctly elegant, smooth and fluent aesthetic.

Smooth and flowing, its design generates low aerodynamic drag for refinement and efficiency. Meanwhile, mixed material construction including greater use of high strength steel in the frame and lightweight aluminium for many body panels allows for a significant weight reduction of up to 100kg, depending on model, and which helps improve efficiency, performance, handling and comfort.

Slightly longer than its predecessor by 65mm, including 43mm at the wheelbase, the new E-Class, however, features a shorter front overhang, and is slightly narrower and lower. Driven in more assertive AMG Line styling specification, it features larger 48cm alloy wheels and bumper details.

Efficient and versatile

Powered by a turbocharged direct injection four-cylinder engine carried over from its predecessor — and employed in more powerful states of tune in E250 and E300 variants — the entry-level petrol E200 version develops 181BHP at 5500rpm and 221lb/ft torque 1200-4000rpm. Weighing in 1605kg and driven through Mercedes much improved new 9-speed automatic gearbox, the E200 accelerates through 0-100km/h in 7.7-seconds, tops out at 240km/h and returns frugal in-class 5.9l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency. 

Slick and smooth, its new 9-speed automatic is an improvement on the previous 7-speed, with better shift responses and a wider range of ratios for improved acceleration, on-the-move flexibility, refinement and fuel efficiency.

Smooth and refined but with a faint four-cylinder chatter at idle, the E200 is responsive off-the-line with little by way of turbo lag. Spooling up swiftly, it settles into it generous and broad peak torque rev range, on-the-move progress and flexibility is responsive and confident.

At its best when exploiting its versatile mid-range in town and on highway, the E200 is also happy to be revved hard and high into its rev range through snaking switchbacks or winding hill claims, which it dispatches with confident consistency, if not the same muscularity as 208BHP and 242BHP e250 and E300 versions of the same engine would.

Reassuring comfort

Highly stable and reassuring at speed as such that premium German executive saloon is expected to be, the E200 is smooth, refined and comfortable. Riding on multi-link suspension with adaptive Agility Control system to loosen its dampers for suppleness or to make them tauter for greater body control through corners, the E200 manages to mostly keep one unruffled and comfortable, despite its sticky optional low profile tyres. Aesthetically appealing and lending the E200 a more grounded, assertive and sporting flavour, it optional tyres would seem to be a preference for many customers. On rougher Jordanian they can feel slightly and occasionally feel firmer than idea for such a large comfortable car.

With quick and clinically precise steering that nevertheless retains good directional stability at speed, the E200 is eager and tidy into corners, with its optional 245/40R19 front tyres gripping well. With well-controlled weight shift through corners for a large and luxurious car, balanced and predictable chassis and handling, the E200’s relatively long wheelbase and wide low profile 275/35R19 rear tyres provide reassuring road-holding through corners when leaned on. 

However, and like other Mercedes saloons in recent years, suspension tuning seems to favour agile turn-in, while mechanical rear grip is looser at lower speeds, with permanently active electric stability control intervening sometimes subtly, and other times more noticeably to sort things out.

Advanced and luxurious

Smooth and settled, the E200 felt buttoned down on rebound, while comfort levels are generally high, one feels that more forgiving non-AMG Line wheels and tyres with a slimmer tread and taller provide would add fluency and suppleness over some of Jordan’s rougher road surfaces. Highly comfortable inside with terrific driving position adjustability and control layouts, the E-class also benefits from good visibility, tight turning circle and rear view monitor for agile manoeuvrability in tight confines, belying its large size. Seating and luggage room are accommodatingly generous in all directions, but based on anecdotal evidence, one felt that the previous E-Class, with its taller and less sloping roof provided better headroom.

A satisfyingly refined, comfortable, quiet spacious and indulgent car to drive, the new E-Class’ cabin is a more luxuriously appointed, aesthetically pleasing and elegant environment than its predecessors. Kitted in classy Avantegard spec with brown leather and wood trim as driven, the E200 features a horizontal emphasis with a wide centre console, four round centre air vents and a wide and cowled single instrument display and infotainment housing, able to accommodate two optional 12.3-inch screens. 

Specified with plenty of convenience, luxury and safety systems including steering mounted touch pad controllers and blind spot and braking assistance, the E-Class can also optionally be had with Mercedes’ most advanced semi-automated driver assistance systems.  

Such optional systems include Intelligent Pilot, which can negotiate bends on highways while maintaining distance from the car ahead, and Steering Pilot, which maintains lane discipline even in the absence of lane markings. Other systems include car-to-car communication, Evasive Steering assistance and numerous other features.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 92mm

Compression ratio: 9.8:1

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection

Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 5.35; 2nd 3.24; 3rd 2.25; 4th 1.64; 5th 1.21; 6th 1; 7th 0.86; 8th 0.72; 9th 0.6

Reverse/final drive ratios: 4.8/3.07

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 181 (184) [135] @5500rpm

Specific power: 90.9BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 112.7BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 221 (300) @1200-4000rpm

Specific torque: 150.6Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 186.9Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 7.7-seconds

Top speed: 240km/h

Fuel economy, urban/extra-urban/combined:

7.6-/4.9-/5.9-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 132g/km

Fuel capacity: 66-litres

Length: 4923mm

Width: 1852mm

Height: 1468mm

Wheelbase: 2939mm

Track: 1619mm

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.26

Headroom, F/R: 1051/971mm

Boot capacity: 540-litres

Unladen weight: 1605kg

Suspension: Multi-link

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.6-metres

Brakes: Ventilated discs

Tyres, F/R: 245/40R19/275/35R19 (optional)