The pollution free benefits of cooking in dasi style

No one likes to be stuck in a sweltering kitchen on a hot sunny day. When the weather is gorgeous, summer evenings should be spent outside, not slaving away over air-polluting kitchen appliances. A recent study from California has brought to light just how toxic kitchen appliances can be. Gas powered ovens were found to put a lot of dangerous chemicals into the air without homeowners being aware of it. Though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cracks down on industrial pollution, they don’t have an effective way to monitor pollution levels in the home environment, meaning that the levels of toxins that build up in well-used kitchens can reach staggeringly unsafe levels without families having a clue. Think of it this way, if your house was a public space, the EPA might be knocking on your door. Without proper ventilation, gas ranges can produce air pollution levels that far exceed what is considered safe for people to breath in. The scientists behind this study were so disturbed by their research findings that they believe it should become a public health priority to educate the public about the air pollution dangers of cooking over gas stoves. Don’t be a victim of your own home’s pollution. There are steps you can take right now to reduce your exposure to toxic indoor chemicals. One fantastic option is to occasionally move your cooking process to the backyard. Making your food outside can be an enjoyable, low-cost way to cook that’s as fun to do as the results are to eat. Best of all, these four techniques require no fuel source besides the sun and a little bit of firewood. So step outside that sweaty kitchen, enjoy the outdoors, and have some fun experimenting with different ways to make dinner.

Preserve nutrients with a solar dehydrator

The freezer works when you have electricity, but how could you hope to preserve your garden produce if the power goes out? Dehydrating food is an age-old process that prevents bacteria from spoiling your food while retaining nutrients, all without relying on added salts and sugars. Don’t think of solar drying as merely a hobby; it can revolutionize the way you approach your food. Electric counter top dehydrators are noisy, energy-sucking devices, so consider using a solar dehydrator instead! There are lots of variations in design, but a basic model uses plywood and is essentially made of two parts: a heat collector and dehydrator box. Food is thinly sliced and positioned on screen trays so that warm air can hit each piece from every angle. Sunlight passes through the clear glass top of the dehydrator box and the heat gets trapped inside, working to dry the food pieces inside it. Some dehydrators also contain an absorber plate that indirectly heats the food while removing excess moisture from the system. For best success, make sure to dehydrate food when it is at peak ripeness in order to get maximum flavor and nutrients out of it. You can expect a moisture-rich food like tomatoes to take two days to dry in a system like this. There are a few things that are important to keep in mind when planning to use a solar dehydrator. First, remember that multiple sunny days in a row are usually necessary for getting your food completely dry. Food might spoil in the dehydrator box if the sun goes away for too long. Also, keep in mind that recipes taste different when prepared with dehydrated food. They won’t taste worse, they’ll just have a different texture and consistence. Cooking time will also go up because it takes a while for dehydrated food to regain moisture. But, if you can work around these obstacles, you will find that solar dehydrators are an innovative, dead easy way to get yourself some cooking time outside of the kitchen.

Bake crusty breads and wood-fired pizza in an earth oven

Don’t let the initial process of building your own earth oven scare you away; this amazing cooking method will provide you with the caramelized bread crusts and the wood-fired pizza of your dreams. Building an oven is easier than it seems, and with proper care, your oven will last for years to come. The best resource I’ve found for building your own oven is this book by Kiko Denzer. It’s filled with foolproof tips and beautiful inspiration for your own unique oven design.Using your oven is simple as well. Build a fire with small pieces of wood in the opening of the oven, four to six hours before you plan to bake. The key to getting an earth oven up to temperature is to burn several small loads of wood quickly. Once your oven gets to the point that you can’t put your hand against the side for more than a few seconds, it’s hot enough to use for breads and pizza. Pull out the remnants of the fire and use a wet brush to quickly scrub trace embers and ash out from the opening. Let the oven settle for a few minutes before putting in your bread or pizza. Then, use a peel to slide your bread or pizza right onto the floor of the oven. Shut the door and listen to that sizzle! Food cooks much faster than in a regular oven, so expect your pizza to be browned to perfection in less than ten minutes. Remember that earth ovens hold their temperature for a long time, so you can easily cook multiple dishes in one heating session. Be sure to order your cooking by temperature, starting with high temperature foods like pizza, then moving to breads, a casserole, cookies, and even homemade yogurt at the end. Don’t waste that heat!

Harvest the sun with a solar oven

Providing it’s a sunny day, using a solar oven is one of the easiest forms of cooking possible. Running on sunshine, nature’s most plentiful renewable resource, foods cooked in your solar cooker will have a sun-kissed taste that will make any meal more exciting. Box-style solar ovens (by far the most popular type) have the amazing ability to be set up, oriented towards the sun and then left alone for hours, at no risk to the food inside. Box ovens can be made by hand or bought online to guarantee years of use. These ovens consist of an insulated box with four reflective panels on the sides that bounce sunbeams off each other and then channel them down into the box. They can be adjusted throughout the day to maximize sunlight, but in most cases your oven won’t need to be moved much for your food to cook properly. Solar ovens can be used to cook a wide variety of foods: breads, cookies and casseroles are all fair game. A well-insulated oven can easily get up to 325-350 degrees (Fahrenheit) on a hot day, though in most cases 250 is plenty hot enough to cook your food. The one thing a box oven can’t do is saute, but a parabolic solar oven operates at a higher temperature and is able to. There is no reason to worry about overcooking because solar ovens retain moisture and cook in a “crock pot” way.

Go old-school with some dutch oven campfire cooking

Dating back to the Netherlands in the 1700s, Dutch ovens were a crucial piece of cookware during the settlement of America. Valued for their durability and ability to cook an entire meal at once, Dutch ovens quickly became a valuable commodity among mountain men and Native Americans. Lewis and Clark would have been lost on their adventures without their trusty oven, and rumor has it that George Washington relied on dutch ovens to feed his troops during the Revolutionary War.

You can become part of history by experimenting with cooking over a campfire with a cast iron Dutch oven yourself. Cast iron is the preferred material for these ovens because it distributes heat evenly and cooks food quickly. Food will retain heat longer in cast iron and can easily be cooked to moist and tender perfection. Another benefit is that cast iron adds trace amounts of iron to your food, supplementing your diet with this necessary metal.

Using a Dutch oven couldn’t be easier. Simply bank a campfire into a bed of coals and place the oven, filled with food, directly in the middle. Alternatively, you can put it on a grilling rack or even suspend it above the fire using stakes. To speed up the cooking process, you can put charcoal briquettes on top of the lid for an all-over heating effect. Most foods that would cook well in a crock pot can be made in a Dutch oven, but these recipes can provide you with additional inspiration.

conclusion 

Cooking dinner doesn’t have to happen between four walls and a roof. Take the initiative to step outside and you might find that your most innovative and delicious recipes will be created under the inspiration of the open air. Once you’ve tasted home-fired pizza from your earth oven or eaten a savory stew straight from a Dutch oven, you might find that your regular kitchen no longer holds the same appeal. Be bold. Go outside. A whole world of fossil-fuel-free culinary experimentation awaits you.

Indian Dalit schoolboy says beaten because of good grades

Indian police have detained two schoolboys accused of repeatedly beating a low-caste classmate for getting good grades, an officer said Wednesday, with a video of the attacks going viral.The 16-year-old from India's lowest Dalit caste released a letter to a national television network pleading for the violence to stop, after the video of him being punched and kicked in a classroom made headline news.The beatings, which the boy says took place every day for two years, are the latest incidents of violence against Dalits, who lie at the bottom of India's deeply entrenched social hierarchy system.Police said they took action after studying the video, taken by another boy and uploaded, which shows the Dalit being punched, kicked and slapped at a government-run school in the eastern state of Bihar.“He was being tortured for quite some time,” Babban Baitha, the investigating police officer, told AFP by phone from Muzaffarpur district.“We went through the video which was recorded at the behest of the attackers themselves, and sent them to remand,” Baitha said, pending the conclusion of his investigation.Dalits, formerly known as “untouchables”, were historically denied a school education and instead performed dirty and menial jobs from a young age.“You see, I am a Dalit and so doing well in the examinations or academics, which brings me praise at home, earns me humiliation and abuse in my classroom,” the boy said in his letter to the NDTV network.“You tell me, how should I cope and prepare?” he said of his final school exams due next year.The video comes after Dalit protests erupted in July over the public flogging of a group of Dalits wrongly accused of killing a cow -- beasts which are considered sacred in India. A video of that incident in the western state of Gujarat also went viral and prompted enraged Dalits to call for an end to outlawed but still practised caste discrimination.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday repeated his call for a halt to attacks on Dalits, saying at a public rally that “my head hangs in shame” every time he hears of one.

pakistani dramas and stereotypes roles

Pakistani dramas are often found lazily creating characters that sell you the stereotypes that are easiest to accept. They say audiences are maturing. Thanks to information explosion, audiences know what the marketing moguls are playing at. The pretty girl telling you to cook in only a certain kind of banaspati. The handsome man smiling at you to tell you that you will be just as handsome and just as successful only and only if you buy the deodorant he is trying to sell you. The perfect happy family eating this brand of cookies and the perfect happy girl and boy eating that brand of ice cream. They’re all trying to sell you something and they know the images that will help them sell it. The same formula is applied to dramas. Pakistani dramas are often found lazily creating characters that sell you the stereotypes that are easiest to accept. The girl who is a home breaker is wearing jeans and smokey eyes. Her hair is flying and she’s talking in English. She’s wearing red nail polish and high heels. She’s dangerous. She's evil.

Then there is the girl who is wearing a shalwar qameez. Who often quotes things like “baron ka kahna maan’na chahiye” (we should listen to our elders) and other pearls of wisdom that seem to come out straight from a magazine for sixth graders. She’s never wearing dark lipstick or God forbid her hair is ever ruffled out of place. Her favorite clothes are shalwar qameezes and her pastimes include helping her mom out in the kitchen.

While some of these cliches may be true - it has gone on too far and too long where writers have consistently found these stereotypes as the pivots upon which their stories move. Must it always be the girl who went to a foreign university, who can string two sentences of English together, who turns into the monster? Must the middle-class girl always be the victim? And why are either of these women so limited in their intelligence? Why can’t they sort their problems out like adults or at least like equals? Or is financial equivalence or ability to use cosmetics paramount to common sense?

I’ve recently seen the play Sanam that panders to such a stereotype yet again. While the performances and the direction of the play seem to be pretty good, judging on their own merit, but if you see how, by and large, drama teams repeatedly play up the goody-two-shoes and villainize the snarky, outspoken girl, it starts to get really annoying, really fast.

Human personalities aren’t this black and white. But thanks to some of these depictions they tend to become this/that for viewers. In Sanam, the girl who is prone to fits of anger and is clearly paranoid and has a faint connection with what’s going on in real life is shown as rich and ‘spoilt’. Whereas the girl who is sane and soft-spoken, is middle-classy and ‘grounded’. Not only is this problematic when it comes to depiction of mental health, it is also harmful to say that women who are privileged are automatically insane. Or that women who are from the middle class couldn’t possibly be capable of manipulation.

It is my sincere hope that playwrights can change this direction in the future. Because Pakistani dramas have an enormous impact in the society. Not only locally, but our dramas are watched by global audiences. Let’s show them that Pakistani writers are not lazy - but in fact capable of portraying complexity and depth of characters without resorting to repeated stereotypes that have really been done to death.

Dubai unveils tallest LEGO replica of world's tallest building

At 2,716 feet, the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, U.A.E is the world's tallest building. It towers over many of the world's most famous landmarks and is nearly 1,000 feet taller than One World Trade Center-- the tallest building in the U.S. But what's a tourist to do who has a major fear of heights but wants to experience the Burj Khalifa in all its glory?

Head over LEGOLAND Dubai to catch a glimpse of the world's tallest replica structure of-- what else-- the Burj Khalifa.At 17 meters (almost 56 feet tall), the mini Burj clocks in at over a 1,000 pounds and took 5,000 hours to build, reports the Khaleej Times. It also utilizes 439,000 LEGO bricks. 

 Located in the middle of LEGOLAND Dubai, the Burj Khalifa model is one of many attractions that will officially be unveiled to visitors when the park opens Oct. 31. At the newest LEGOLAND outpost, visitors can construct their own LEGO structures, visit six “cities” and walk among some other replicas of real locations and historical sites. 

FoxNews.com reached out to Guinness to verify whether this new tower is smashing any records. A spokeswoman confirmed that the committee is aware of the impressive feat but no official title has been designated as of yet.

In 2015, Lego Italia built a structure in Milan that measured a soaring 35.05 meters (114 feet 11 inches) andrequired approximately 550,000 LEGO bricks to complete. That holds the current world record for tallest LEGO structure-- but it's not a replica of a real building and is no longer standing.

UK Bioethics Group Issues Genome Editing Report

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The Nuffield Council on Bioethics has issued a 130-page report on "moral and societal questions" raised by genome-editing technology, and its existing and proposed applications.

"Although most uses [of genome editing] so far have been in research, the potential applications seem to be almost unlimited, given that the techniques are applicable to all organisms, from bacteria to plants, animals, and human beings," Andy Greenfield of the UK Medical Research Council's Harwell Institute, who chaired the report's working group, said in a statement. Included in the report were thoughts on how genome editing technology might affect human health, food, and the natural environment. The report also considered how the technology may be used by industry, the military, and amateur science organizations, and looked at broader issues such as how societies interact with scientific ideas and technologies.The report is also the first phase of a program launched in 2015 by the Nuffield Council — an independent organization funded by the Nuffield Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, and the UK's Medical Research Council — as a response to the CRISPR genome editing revolution. "There is concern that genome-editing science and innovation are moving ahead of public understanding and policy," the report stated, adding that the program's second phase will "explore the possible role that genome editing may and should have" in certain areas.

The report identified flashpoint issues such as human enhancement and genetically modified foods, as well as less contentious ones such as the use of genetically modified animals in research. For human health, the report outlined potential issues in biomedical research, treating and avoiding disease, and genetic enhancement. In addition to asking whether new genome editing technologies might challenge the idea of GMO regulation, the report also pointed to animal welfare and economic issues. Regarding the effect of genome editing on the wildlife and nature, the report considered the prospect of manipulating infectious disease vectors, ecological imbalance, and species extinction.

The report emphasized at several points that genome editing is challenging the role of science and technology in society, from several perspectives.

"When we think about how genome editing should be used, it is important to also think about how it should be governed. Given the public interest in the use of genome editing, an approach will need to be found that acknowledges that people arrive at these questions with different values, priorities and expectations," the report said. "It is especially as a technology converging with semiconductor and genome sequencing technologies, and other technologies that are also rapidly descending in cost and increasing in power, that genome editing holds genuinely transformative potential."The report even delved into how genome editing is changing the internal mechanisms of the scientific enterprise. "Speed of diffusion may cause technology to become prematurely locked in, before the implications have been explored and evaluated adequately, or before related systems needed to optimize it are able to catch up," the council wrote.

The report further noted that several researchers said it was difficult to publish papers and obtain funding in certain fields without using genome editing in their work. "This suggests a potential, at least, for genome editing to crowd out other research, or change the deployment of research resources such as laboratories and staff, or even change the aims of research to those that are more amenable to genome editing," the report said.

The council concluded with a "triage" of the issues and a timetable for further reports delving deeper into particular uses of genome editing. The report also noted that editing of wild animal species to prevent disease transmission and xenotransplantation and humanized animals are areas that may deserve special attention in the near term. 

Home Office urged to make prescription drug a class C substance

A prescription drug being abused by teenagers in NI should be made a class C drug, health officials have said. Pregablin, also known by the brand name Lyrica, is an anti-epileptic drug also used to relieve chronic pain. Last year, pregablin was prescribed more in Northern Ireland than anywhere else in the UK. The drug has been linked to the deaths of two teenagers earlier this year. It was one of a cocktail of drugs used by Aaron Strong, 19, and Aaron Fox, 16.With Lyrica, I see people running about like zombies' An ex-drug user, who lost his teenage friend to suicide after a battle with drugs, has told BBC News NI that abuse of Lyrica is "wrecking lives".The Belfast teenager, who spoke anonymously, said he first took the drug when he was 16 and that it is freely available in his community.It is illegal to have class C drugs without a prescription and illegal to supply or sell them to others. The Advisory Council for the Misuse of Drugs made the recommendation in a letter to ministers, including the then home secretary Theresa May, in January. The letter cited warnings from the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) who highlighted "significant misuse and abuse" of the drug. Pregablin is known as "bud" or "Budweisers" by recreational users because it is makes them feel the same high as if they were drunk.Life on Lyrica: Geoff Savage, drug counsellor

I am a prescribed user of Lyrica.

There's a stigma around drugs prescribed by professionals. That they're safe and not harmful. Prescribed drugs can sometimes be more serious if they're not taken properly. Being someone who takes it, I know the dangers with it. I once overdosed by accident. I was out of my head.Joe Brogan, the HSCB's head of pharmacy, said the problem "appears to be a growing issue".In 2012, Mr Brogan wrote to GPs and pharmacists telling them to be aware of the "potential misuse of the drug". It is understood that some doctors have written to patients who have been prescribed Lyrica to say they may need to review the dosage. "We've been raising it with general practitioners and prescribers in primary care to be mindful of repeat prescriptions of the drug," said Mr Brogan. "It can be a challenge for prescribers to understand if the patient is getting sufficient treatment as it's often used for a chronic pain issue." Pregablin can be ordered online. It is understood it has been coming into Northern Ireland in fairly constant levels for a number of years, along with other prescription drugs including diazepam and temazepam. Packages of the drug ordered by customers in Northern Ireland are intercepted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the UK Border Agency at airports in England every week.

Analysis: Vincent Kearney, BBC News NI home affairs correspondent

The organised crime branch of the PSNI is notified about every seizure of the drug and decides what action, if any, is to be taken. If the quantity of drugs intercepted is considered insignificant the police may decide not to take investigative action, but intelligence about the specified delivery address is recorded for possible future use.

The drugs are then destroyed.

If the quantity of drugs is large, or it is believed a seizure could be linked to an ongoing operation by the serious organised crime branch, or connected to an individual regarded as a significant criminal figure, the drugs are retained for possible use as evidence in a future court case.If they are used in this way, they are destroyed when the court case is completed.Stephen Andrews, a community worker in north Belfast, said the drug is a "serious problem". "I first came across Lyrica about a year ago," he said. "Myself and a colleague were called out by a residents to a young person who was banging his head off a brick wall repeatedly. "He was covered in blood and wired out of his head. We took him to hospital and later found out he was on this drug. "It's a strange drug. It might make you take your clothes off because you are too warm, it makes you feel like you have super strength. You feel no pain."Mr Andrews said he believes the drug badly affects the mental health of users and can lead to depression and suicide in users.

"Kids are always looking for the next high. Our fear is that people have been taking it for a period of time and we're not aware of it yet. These people will get in a very bad way." Alex Bunting. from Addiction NI, said the drug was finding its way onto the streets after being prescribed. "It seems to be a drug that's highly prescribed and a drug that's open to abuse. "We are seeing a developing use in communities. There is no doubt it is being used by a lot of people for legitimate treatment but there are also people seeking it out for its effects.

"A black market exists for it."

Experts call for 'drastic improvements' in lung cancer care in Wales

The UK Lung Cancer Coalition is calling on the Welsh Government to drastically improve lung cancer care in Wales. The coalition wants governments, commissioners and the health care community to work together to raise five-year survival rates to 25% by 2025. They say that they would prevent nearly 600 Welsh deaths within five years of diagnosis.Historically, only one in 15 (6.6 per cent) of people with lung cancer in Wales are alive five years after diagnosis.Despite concerted efforts by the Welsh Government and Public Health Wales to tackle inequalities and improve outcomes, five-year survival rates in Wales still lag behind our European counterparts and compare very poorly with other major common cancer types.

DR IAN WILLIAMSON, ASSISTANT MEDICAL DIRECTOR FOR CANCER SERVICES ANEURIN BEVAN UNIVERSITY HEALTH BOARD

Lung cancer is the biggest cancer killer in Wales accounting for nearly 2,000 deaths each year, over a fifth of all cancer deaths.

Wales has one of the worst lung cancer five-year survival rates in Europe.

Overall cancer survival rates in Wales continue to improve and one year survival for lung cancer has also risen. However, we are not complacent and are already taking forward many of the recommendations in this report. This includes improving lung cancer resection rates, supporting GPs to review cases of lung cancer in order to provide better care, and delivering a national awareness campaign on lung cancer symptoms.

– WELSH GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON

trafficked Chinese children forced to beg in Malaysia

The Chinese consulate in Malaysia said on Oct.18 that it has been working to end thetransnational human trafficking recently reported on by Malaysian media. According tolocal media reports, the criminals first cripple and disfigure the trafficked children, andthen force them to beg at popular Malaysian tourism sites after years of captivity.This is precisely what happened to 33-year old Xiu Yuan, who said he was abducted andthen crippled as a child. According to Xiu, only beggars who earn the trust of the criminalgang leader are permitted to go out and beg in foreign countries, and there are manypeople controlled by the gang back in China. The leader takes 60 percent of everyone'sdaily income.On Oct.18, the Chinese consulate in Malaysia confirmed the reports by local media andsaid it has been investigating the case. A consulate employee told Beijing Youth Daily thatChinese child beggars have long been an issue in Malaysia, though the consulate has takenmeasures against the phenomenon. While some criminal gangs have been dismantled,new ones are constantly emerging. The case will be dealt with primarily by local police, and the Chinese consulate will spareno efforts to help trafficked children, the employee added.

UK inflation at 1% as price of clothes and fuel rises

Rising prices for clothes, hotel rooms and petrol have led to the highest rate of inflation in nearly two years, official figures show. Inflation rose to 1.0% in September, up from 0.6% in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Clothing saw its biggest price rise since 2010 and fuel, which was falling a year ago, was also more expensive.However, the ONS said there was "no explicit evidence" t he weaker pound was the reason for higher prices.

Who wins from inflation?

Benefits hit
September's inflation figure has traditionally been crucial because it decided what rate benefits would increase by in the following year. However, with the government having frozen many benefits and tax credits until 2020, many families will no longer see them keep up with rising prices. More than 11 million households will, on average, be £360 a year worse off if inflation rises to 2.8% in the next few years, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). For families on lower incomes who receive more in benefits, the hit will be bigger - on average a reduction of £470 a year, the IFS said.
'Price pressures' Rising prices will "undoubtedly be tough on those with low incomes," said Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown. "It's also not good news for savers who are losing money in real terms," . The jump in Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation from 0.6% to 1.0% in September was the biggest month-on-month increase since June 2014. The 1% rate is the highest since November 2014. However, ONS head of inflation Mike Prestwood said it was "low by historic standards". Economists have predicted the cost of household items will rise further, particularly when the fall in the pound makes food and clothing from abroad more expensive.
Sterling has dropped nearly 20% against the dollar since the Brexit vote, including a 5% fall this month after Prime Minister Theresa May set a timeline for the UK's withdrawal from the EU.The return of higher levels of inflation is likely to be one of the defining issues for Theresa May's government.
The reason for that is simple.
Once the figure for inflation rises above the figure for wage growth - at present running at just over 2% - then incomes start falling in real terms. That is politically uncomfortable for any government, particularly one that has staked its reputation on making the economy work "for everyone". Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: "Even before the pound has sunk to new lows in October, it is notable that price pressures were building up down the supply chain." The recent row between Tesco and Unilever over the price of Marmite and other foods was "a taste of things to come", he said. Kathleen Brooks, research director at City Index, said that with the fall in the pound: "Oil imports are getting more expensive, clothing imports are also costing more, and the weak pound is boosting the tourism industry, which appears to already be fuelling a rise in hotel prices."
Others said these pressures left the UK on course to exceed the Bank of England's target of a 2% inflation rate. Chris Williamson from forecasters IHS Markit said the Bank's target could be "breached within months, though much depends on the exchange rate and the extent to which costs continue to rise".The CBI business lobby group agreed, saying: "It's still too soon for sterling's recent depreciation to affect today's inflation figures, however we do expect it to push up prices through the course of next year, which will hit the pound in people's pockets."
Maternity and paternity pay, as well as some disability benefits, are set to rise, though, as they are some of the few remaining benefits linked to the September inflation figure.
The basic state pension is also likely to be raised by 2.5% from next April, taking it over £122 a week.
Since 2010, the government's "triple-lock" policy has meant state pensions rise by the inflation rate, average earnings or 2.5% - whichever is highest. CPI inflation measures the price of a "shopping basket" of more than 700 items, from the cost of women's leggings to a multipack of fizzy drinks.
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, rose to 2.0% in September from 1.8% in August.

' Project to Empower 20 Women in Chitral

Women empowerment is the key driver of change in any society, and it is precisely why the Hashoo Foundation is putting so much emphasis on equitable access to quality trainings for women, particularly for those living in rural poverty where sustaining a decent living is difficult. Plan Bee' was initiated by the Hashoo Foundation in 2007 to empower women through honey bee farming. The Foundation conducts the training, provides beehives, and production kits  and organizes the women in Honey Business Groups to start up a small scale business in the remote areas of Gilgit-Baltistan, Mansehra, Chitral, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).Hashoo Foundation has successfully trained over 1,116 women, distributed 3,615 beehives and 1,116 production kits, and produced and marketed 90,000 Kg (198,000 Lb) of honey.  In order to complete the value chain, the Foundation also links the beekeepers to local and national markets to maximize their profit. This is then invested on their children’s health, nutrition, and education.  A percent of this profit is invested back into their businesses for scaling-up and expansion. Some of the Honey Business Groups organized by the Foundation have developed their own honey brands and are operating as separate business entities selling the honey directly to the market. The rest of the honey is purchased by Hashoo Foundation in bulk, then processed and packaged under its own brand known as ‘Mountain Honey’, before being marketed and distributed to selected outlets across Pakistan, catering mostly to five star hotels. Hashoo Foundation’s involvement in strengthening the entire value chain cycle from production to distribution has allowed women beekeepers and their families to improve their quality of life. The program has served as a sustainable social-business model which uses a multi-sector approach and encourages women to become independent. Women that participated in the project are holding key leadership positions within the local Honey Bee Associations. They now feel more socially integrated in an otherwise male-dominated enterprise. Hashoo Foundation’s successful Women Empowerment through Honey Bee Farming 'Plan Bee' project has been recognized for its sustainability by local and international organizations: BBC World Challenge 2008 Global Competition Award Winner and featured by BBC World News in 2009. Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Featured Commitment

Plan Bee earned the Hashoo Foundation USA the Jefferson Youth Service Challenge Award for providing students in Houston with the opportunity to engage in sustainable economic as a tool to empower communities and alleviate poverty in Houston and Pakistan.