This isn’t a modern ruse to attract more visitors in the bleak midwinter. It’s a tradition which dates right back to 1900. It’s thanks to a rich English bachelor called Henry Vaughan who built up a huge collection of Turner watercolours, then left them to these galleries when he died in 1899.

Born in 1809, the son of an affluent industrialist, Vaughan was the sort of aesthete you read about in Victorian novels.

With a private income and no need to work, he devoted his life to collecting art. Then as now, watercolours were very sensitive to sunlight, so Vaughan stipulated that his beloved pictures should only be shown in January when the sun was weakest.

Dublin and Edinburgh still obey his stern command (the other thing he insisted on was that admission to this exhibition should be free).

For 11 months every year, Dublin’s Turners are hidden in an antique cabinet, which Vaughan had specially made to store his precious paintings. The National Gallery’s curator, Anne Hodge, brings out a selection for me to see.

Vaughan gave 31 Turners to the National Gallery here in Dublin (still part of the United Kingdom back then, along with the rest of Ireland). The gallery has since acquired five more ("each of those shows much more sign of damage because they tended to be hung in people’s homes," says Anne).

Edinburgh’s Scottish National Gallery has 38 of Vaughan’s Turners, but Dublin has the best picture of Scotland’s capital - a stormy panorama seen from Arthur’s Seat, dark clouds looming over Auld Reekie.

Born in 1775, Turner was a generation older than Vaughan. The two men met in the 1840s when Turner was at the summit of his fame.

After Turner died, in 1851, Vaughan carried on buying up Turner’s paintings, collecting watercolours from every stage of his career. "He was interested in how artists worked, how artists created things," says Anne.

The first picture Anne shows me is an intricate depiction of beech trees on a windy day. It was painted in 1797, when Turner was still in his early twenties. Its pin-sharp detail is typical of his youthful style.

The next one she shows me is an Alpine landscape, painted 45 years later. It’s intensely impressionistic, 30 years ahead of Monet.

"You can see why Turner was inspirational to the French Impressionists," Anne tells me. "He’s developed from a traditional way of working into something really radical."

These two paintings sum up Turner’s journey from figuration to abstraction - that great leap from classicism into modernism which made him Britain’s greatest artist. "He was doing something new and different," says Anne. "He didn’t really care what people thought – he just did it."

The Vaughan Bequest contains countless treats, painted as far afield as Lucerne and Luxembourg. "Look how rough and ready it is!" says Anne, as we gaze in wonder at a dynamic mountain scene. "He’s a brilliant colourist."

Success gave Turner the means to travel, and his journeys are recorded here: up the Rhine and down the Danube, from Ostend to Venice and back again. However it’s his British seascapes which really arrest the eye.

There’s nothing wishy-washy about them. They’re fierce and gutsy - full of drama. Turner does more with a few splashes on a small piece of paper than most artists manage in oils on the biggest canvas. It’s thrilling to see these masterpieces preserved in Vaughan’s original frames.

"He chose works that were in very good condition, that showed no sign of fading," says Anne, as she carefully removes Turner’s masterworks from this custom-built cabinet.

"When this collection came to the gallery in 1900, everyone was astonished. It was all written up in the papers."

Although he travelled all over Europe, Turner never set foot in Ireland. Yet he’s always been famous here, just as famous as he is in England. Over a century later, this annual show is still one of the highlights of Dublin’s cultural calendar. It’s the gallery’s most popular show, with over 50,000 visitors every year.

But the last word should go to Walter Armstrong, who was Director of Dublin’s National Gallery when Vaughan made his bequest.

"In making his collection, he took the greatest care to confine himself to drawings in which he could see no fading," wrote Armstrong, of Vaughan, in 1902. "Once his, they were religiously protected from the sun."

It’s thanks to Vaughan’s tender loving care that these priceless watercolours still shine so brightly. "A century hence, Turner as a colourist will only survive in things which once formed part of the Vaughan collection," warned Armstrong, "unless those drawings which are still uninjured are put out of reach while there is still time."

J.M.W. Turner at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin, and Turner in January 2017 at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh are both on display from 1 to 31 January 2017.

A version of this article was originally published by BBC News UK on 1 January 2016.

FILE - In this Sept. 4, 2012 file photo, first lady Michelle Obama, dressed in a Tracy Reese pink silk jaquard dress, walks on the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Reese, who hails from Detroit, is clearly one of the first lady’s favored designers as Obama has been photographed in her clothes between 20 and 30 times. Jae C. Hong, File AP Photo

NEW YORK 

The morning after Michelle Obama's big speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2012, in which she argued passionately for a second term for her husband, designer Tracy Reese's phone was ringing. And ringing.

Mrs. Obama's powerfully delivered speech had attracted much attention — but these phone calls were about her dress. A shimmering sleeveless sheath in rose and silvery gray, it was pretty universally considered a fashion slam dunk. And customers wanted it.

There was only one problem, Reese recalls: "We didn't have inventory — we had made that dress custom." And so the label went into production. "And people waited," Reese says. "You know, so many people admire Mrs. Obama and they want to dress like her. We sold quite a few of those dresses." She estimates the number at over 2,000.

Reese, who hails from Detroit, is one of the first lady's favored designers — Mrs. Obama has been photographed in her clothes some 20 to 30 times. But unlike some past first ladies who favored one or two big-name designers, Mrs. Obama has spread her fashion choices among a huge stable of them — often promoting lesser-known names, and taking care to promote American designers at such high-profile events as inaugurations, conventions and state dinners.

Which is why so many designers and industry watchers will miss her when she steps away from her post after eight fashion-conscious years, and why they consider her one of the most influential first ladies in fashion, perhaps even more so than Jacqueline Kennedy, because of her broad appeal.

"Michelle Obama embraced everyone," says Andre Leon Talley, a fashion editor at Vogue magazine. "She embraced black designers, Asian designers, European designers. ... She was very democratic in her choice of clothes."

And that includes wearing fashion that ordinary women could potentially afford — like cardigans from the retailer J. Crew.

"She's made an effort to wear accessible fashion," Reese says. "I think Jackie (Kennedy) was a great role model but she wore a lot of couture, and things that most Americans could not afford." Mrs. Obama, she says, has worn both high-end and moderately priced fashion.

Reese, who is African-American, is particularly proud that one of her designs — a black dress printed with bright red flowers — is on display at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The first lady wore it to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.

Mrs. Obama set the stage for her broad-based fashion choices with her first inauguration. Previous first ladies had often gone with established luxury designers like Oscar de la Renta. Mrs. Obama wore a two-piece lemongrass-hued ensemble by Cuban-American designer Isabel Toledo for day, and a one-shouldered white gown by New York-based, Taiwanese-Canadian designer Jason Wu at night.

For her husband's second inauguration, she wore a sleek coat and dress by American designer Thom Browne, known for his eclectic talents, and in the evening Jason Wu again.

"It was an honor to have the opportunity to dress Mrs. Obama," Browne said in an email message. "She is such a stylish individual because of her confidence and intelligence."

For Browne, Toledo, Reese and others, it was never clear until the moment Mrs. Obama actually appeared whether she would be wearing their designs.

"We would get calls periodically from her team," says Reese. "But we never knew exactly what things were for and when she would be wearing them. And I think that that's just necessary, because you don't know when plans will change."

However it unfolded, it certainly could change a designer's career. "We've been brought to the attention of millions more people than we ever would have reached," Reese says.

David Yermack, a professor of corporate finance at New York University, studied the financial impact of Mrs. Obama's fashion choices in her first year as first lady. He says he found an immediate spike in stock prices of companies whose apparel she wore (he only examined publicly traded companies).

"There was a very strong and immediate reaction in the stock prices of the design firms and also the retailers," Yermack says. For major appearances, this could run into the tens of millions of dollars: "That's happened many times with her."

And the public, Yermack says, remembers what Mrs. Obama wears.

"Do you remember what Pat Nixon or Laura Bush wore? She has the ability to hold the interest of the consumer in a way that almost no one else does. I've looked far and wide — Kate Middleton, Carla Bruni. Nobody begins to approach Mrs. Obama on this."

Yermack thinks what's different about Mrs. Obama is that first ladies "have traditionally tried to be nondescript in the way they dressed — they didn't want to overshadow their spouses ... or be seen as spending a lot on clothing. But she had no inhibitions in that sense.

"She really had an impact on how professional women dressed, and how you could have fun with fashion, in a way that you couldn't imagine Rosalynn Carter or Barbara Bush ever doing," he says. "It's a very short list of first ladies who are going to leave that kind of legacy."

Source by: The news & observer

KARACHI (News92World): During a raid in the wee hours of Monday, Police arrested a dacoit in Irfaat Town. According to the police, arrested dacoit attempted to rob a house four days ago along with his accomplices, but were unable to succeed and ran away as the family resisted, said SSP Gulberg. Police were able to catch the dacoit with the help of CCTV footage.

(Source by: Geo Tv)

KARACHI (News92World): Firefighters were able to douse the fire which broke out early morning on Monday in a wood warehouse located in Old Haji Camp. According to fire brigade officials, Fire broke out early morning and a water bowser and four fire tenders were used to douse the fire that had taken over four warehouses.

A nearby building was evacuated over fears of damage due to the fire. The locals of the area had complained that the fire tenders were out of water, and demanded that more fire trucks should be sent for the rescue operation.

(Source by: Geo Tv)

KARACHI (News92World): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) worker Fazal Zai was injured in a firing incident at Nursery area of Shahrah-e-Faisal in the wee hours of Monday.

According to PTI officials, Fazal Zai was shot three times out of which one bullet went through his head. The shooters have not yet been identified.  PTI Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh went to Tipu Sultan Police Station to lodge FIR

He also said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a peace loving political party and yet out workers are being targeted.

Clauses of murder and terrorism have been included in the FIR.

Umar Cheema :- ISLAMABAD: Another year passes without witnessing the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) legislation. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government that promised the world’s best law on transparency has practically backed out of it.

An RTI draft law cleared by the cabinet this year is good for nothing. It will promote the culture of secrecy instead of eliminating it. The passing of this year is rather at a pessimistic note. Transparency initiatives taken in 2014 have been reversed in 2016.

The 2015 had expired amid the promises of enacting the RTI law prepared in 2014 by the Senate Standing Committee on Information. International experts had reviewed this draft and declared it the best legislation in the world only if adopted.

The government dilly-dallied on it by flirting with different ideas to improve it further. The information minister and secretary information held out assurances at different forums that the Senate committee-approved draft would be cleared from the cabinet. Each time they would promise to have done that “in the next cabinet meeting”.

Pakistan thus entered 2016 hoping to see translating dreams into reality. However, the developments followed left no room for optimism. Instead of improving the draft already finalised by the Senate committee and declared the best by the international experts, a cabinet committee was assigned to review it. 

The best law was eventually converted into the worst by this committee and subsequently approved by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the cabinet.

The information being promised through this draft law is already public and anything beyond that has been left on the discretion of bureaucracy to decide how to block ‘in public interest’.

Copy of the draft seen by ‘The News’ indicates that radical alterations have been made in the draft law that was unanimously finalised by the Senate Standing Committee on Information.

The modified version, now approved by the cabinet, has striking resemblance with the good-for-nothing RTI legislation that has been in practice since 2002 when promulgated by Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Experts on the RTI legislations who examined this bill have ranked it among the weakest laws of the world. The Canada-based CLD has g iven it 97 marks, out of 150, in comparison with the Senate Committee’s draft that scored 147 marks from the same organisation.

The Center for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), an Islamabad-based organisation working on RTI, has offered only 86 marks to this cabinet-approved bill and gave a detailed analysis of its shortcomings. Its score for the Senate bill was 145, out of 150.

One of the key measures to check the effectiveness of the RTI law is the measure taken to ensure maximum disclosure of public information.

The government-approved draft has no clearly and narrowly drawn list of the exempted information. Instead, there are three different lists containing categories of information as is in the case of the existing law, making it hard to let the requesters get information by any mean.

The laws in the KP and Punjab, considered fine pieces of legislation, have narrowly defined the exempted information whereas this law drafted for implementation at the federal level has gone to an extent of separately defining ‘public record’ in Section 6, and ‘exclusion of record’ in Section 7 that goes on describing that ‘any other record which the federal government may, in public interest exclude from the purview of this Act, will also be refused.

There are many instances where the requesters have been refused information under the existing law in the name of ‘public interest'.

This is in addition to the lists given in the draft bill of ‘records that can be shared and records that can’t be shared and then certain types of information, if contained in these records, will not be shared.

On the other hand, the draft earlier approved by the Senate committee contained only one clearly and narrowly drawn list of information exempt from disclosure and declared the rest of the information to be made public. The intended objective was to ensure maximum disclosure, a purpose defeated by the government-approved law.

The newly-drafted law doesn’t offer any right to the requester to inspect documents being granted lest he is provided the unwanted details. The Senate committee law had protected the requester’s right to inspect.

Another measure that judges the efficacy of an RTI law is the enforcement mechanism. The draft law though promises an information commission with powers of civil judge to enforce its directives; it is vague about the composition of commission. It says that commissioners would be picked from legal fraternity, civil society activists with knowledge of RTI and bureaucracy.

However, there is no provision to declare whether there will be one from each section of society or all three can be picked from one place, raising suspicions that bureaucrats will be given the task to block information instead of ensuring its provision.

—Originally published in The News (source by: Geo TV)

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to make necessary amendments to certain laws to keep members of proscribed organisations away from contesting elections, a first apparent sign of state acting decisively to bar extremists from electoral politics.

Key decision came weeks after a legislator from Jhang made his way to the provincial assembly despite the fact that his name was in the fourth schedule of 'The Anti Terrorism Act, 1997' — a legal tool that allows the government to catalogue all those suspected in terror activities.

“We have proposed amendments to two acts — ['The ATA, 1997' & 'The People Representations Act, 1976'] — to bar 4th schedulers from contesting elections,” revealed a senior official of Ministry of Interior who’s coordinating with the National Counterterrorism Terrorism Authority (NACTA) on this important issue. 

The proposed amendments came from the country’s top counterterrorism body —Nacta — which expressed deep concerns over the active role of proscribed organisations in electoral politics in certain parts of the country, officials said.

If the government successfully gets these earlier mentioned laws amended then around 8,400 members of proscribed organisations whose names are listed to the fourth schedule under 'The ATA, 1997' would not able to contest any kind of polls, they said on Sunday.

Before taking this decision, the federal government initiated a widespread monetary crackdown on the fourth schedulers allegedly involved in terror financing as part of implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism.

Under the laws it’s mandatory for the Nacta to propose the necessary legislation to fight extremists and terrorism in the country, Interior Ministry officials told Geo News/The News on Sunday. 

At present, there is no bar on the 4th schedulers to contest polls and even names of some legislators in previous Parliament were listed to schedule IV, they explained. “We’ve proposed amendments to various sections of 'The ATA, 1997' and 'The People Representation Act, 1976',” a senior official said.

Seeking anonymity, he further revealed that Minister for Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali would give final approval for these amendments before we can send the proposed drafts to the Ministry of Law and Justice for the final touch. 

Nacta officials also told Geo TV that they started working on amendments after receiving serious reaction from certain quarters on by-elections held in PP-78 Jhang, where the Election Commission of Pakistan and a superior court allowed Masroor Jhangvi of proscribed Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan/Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat to contest elections.

The Nacta's law wing is working on these amendments, particularly on chapter IX of 'The People Representation Act, 1976' which deals with disqualifications of candidates intending to contest elections either for a Provincial Assembly, National Assembly or the Senate of Pakistan. 

Clause (g) of this act is being considered for amendments like “a person propagating any opinion, or acting in any manner, prejudicial to the Ideology of Pakistan, or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan [whose name was put on 4th schedule under 'The ATA, 1997'], or morality, or the maintenance of public order—which defames or brings into ridicule the judiciary or the Armed Forces of Pakistan---.”

The Nacta also wanted amendments to various sections of 'The ATA, 1997', Section 11 in particular, like “a person commits an offence if he invites support for a prescribed organisation — to support a prescribed organisation — or to be addressed by a person who belongs or professes to belong to a prescribed organisation — a person commit an offence if he addresses a meeting, or delivers a sermon to a religious gathering, by any means whether verbal, written, electronic, digital or otherwise, and the purpose of his address or sermon, is to encourage support for a prescribed organisation or to further its activates.”

The Nacta officials would be consulting the ECP as well for their input on this issue soon after Chaudhry Nisar Ali approves the drafts, officials added. This necessary process could take three to four months, they added.

 —Originally published in The News and source by: Geo Tv

Islamabad (News92world): Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa arrived in Quetta on Monday morning, where he will be the chief guest at Baloch Recruits passing out parade, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

COAS General Qamar Bajwa will also address officers at Quetta garrison later, ISPR said.

(Source by: Geotv)

Buses are again poised to start evacuations from a rebel-held enclave in the Syrian city of Aleppo under a renewed but fragile deal.

Fighters and civilians had been due to leave on Wednesday, but a ceasefire collapsed. Rebels say a new truce came into effect on Thursday morning.

One convoy of ambulances tried to leave but was shot at, rebel sources said.

Government forces took nearly all remaining rebel-held parts of Aleppo this week after a four-year battle.

Latest updates from Aleppo

Syrian state TV said "4,000 rebels and their families would be evacuated from eastern districts on Thursday", adding that "all the procedures for their evacuation are ready".

A media unit run by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia Muslim movement backing the Syrian government, said there had been "big complications" but that "intensive contacts between the responsible parties... led to re-consolidating a ceasefire to exit armed fighters from eastern districts in the next few hours".

Soldiers from Russia - Syria's ally - would lead the rebels out, escorting them along a corridor towards Idlib city on buses and ambulances, with surveillance drones monitoring the situation, a statement from the Russian Centre for the Reconciliation of Opposing Sides in Syria, part of Russia's ministry of defence, said.