Readers wanted to know where to get earthenware pots, so I searched around for a potter. That’s how I found Amina Ibrahim, the CEO of ClaybyMee. Out of curiosity, I asked what led her into pottery, and she said, “I love traditional craft.” She also reiterated all the benefits of earthenware pots that we had earlier discussed. I must confess, she makes very beautiful earthenware pots! I’ll be talking about skin tags shortly, but before that, let me share something with you. The Yoruba delicacy called moinmoin  and I are no longer on speaking terms! On two different occasions, I ate it and ended up with diarrhoea, accompanied by unbearable stomach upset. Ordinarily, anything made with beans gives stomach upset, but this new reaction to moinmoin is totally strange. For now, I don’t want to try it a third time; I’ve decided to listen to my body. Even if a food has the seal of the World Health Organisation as a superfood, if it causes you any discomfort, please avoid it. Recently, I was on Facebook and saw someone helping another person remove skin tags using a thread. That triggered an urge in me to sensitise people to the dangers of forcefully removing skin tags. Understanding skin tags Skin tags, also known as acrochordons, are soft, noncancerous growths that usually form within the folds of the skin, such as the neck, armpits, breasts, groin area, and eyelids. These growths are made of loose collagen fibres lodged within thicker areas of the skin. They are vascular, meaning they have a blood supply. Some also have nerve endings. So, cutting them off yourself, especially with scissors, is a very bad idea. It can lead to uncontrolled bleeding and increases the risk of infection. Causes of skin tags? There are several underlying factors that contribute to the development of skin tags. Safe skin tag removal methods Surgical removal of skin tags is a common outpatient procedure. After numbing the area with a local anaesthetic, a doctor may choose from the following methods: A board-certified dermatologist, Dr Kemunto Mokaya, warns that while cutting off a skin tag with a sharp blade or nail clippers might seem convenient, it can be painful and dangerous, especially for those on blood thinners or with bleeding disorders. A dermatologist and host of The Skin Real podcast, Mary Alice Mina, explains, “Skin tags are benign growths that love areas with lots of friction, like the neck, under the breasts, groin, and armpits. We don’t fully understand why some people get more than others, but they’re fairly universal as we age.” A Silicon Valley-based dermatologist, Dr Faranak Kamangar, adds, “Some people are genetically predisposed. Obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, and pregnancy all increase the likelihood of developing skin tags.” A study titled “Association of skin tag with metabolic syndrome and its components: A case–control study from Eastern India”, by Tapaswini Tripathy et al., recommends that patients with skin tags undergo thorough evaluations for blood sugar levels, lipid profiles, and blood pressure. It also encourages lifestyle changes to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications. Another study, “The correlation between body mass index and skin tag occurrence” by Nelva K. Jusuf, concludes that people with high BMI are more likely to develop skin tags. Tea tree oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, and banana peels are popular DIY remedies. While some people swear by them, scientific research on their effectiveness is limited. That’s not to say they don’t work, but if you choose to try home remedies, opt for safe ones and be very patient. It takes time for them to work. Whatever you do, don’t cut skin tags yourself. Some people might think I prefer herbal to orthodox medicine. But what I advocate is balance; a bridge between both, without elevating one above the other. Like a man trying to foster peace between two wives, I won’t assign the role of herbal medicine to orthodox medicine or vice versa. Each has its place and time. When it comes to skin tag removal, however, I advise that you see a doctor. Medical removal is faster, safer, and far more reliable than endlessly waiting on a home remedy to work. Our skin often tries to communicate with us. In the case of skin tags, your body might be signalling elevated blood sugar levels or excess weight. It could even be warning you of more.

CEO of MD Entertainment wants to elevate the quality of free-to-air services after purchase of loss-making NET.TV. Jakarta, Indonesia – Manoj Punjabi, Indonesia’s most commercially successful film producer, has won numerous awards over the course of a career spanning more than two decades. But the billionaire founder and CEO of MD Entertainment does not hesitate when asked to choose his most treasured accolade. “It is the one I won for Best Box Office Film at the Indonesian Box Office Movie Awards in 2016 because it was chosen by the viewers,” Punjabi told Al Jazeera in an interview at MD Entertainment’s headquarters in Jakarta. “Even if I won an Oscar, it wouldn’t be the same because that is chosen by a jury and not by audiences.” As the producer behind the highest-grossing Indonesian film of all time, KKN di Desa Penari, Punjabi is keenly aware that results count above all else in the entertainment business. At the same time, the 52-year-old producer has developed a reputation for not shying away from taking risks. Last year, Punjabi, the scion of a prominent Indian-Indonesian family with a long history of involvement in television and film, made what could be seen as the surprising decision to acquire an 80 percent stake in Indonesia’s NET.TV for some $100m. By Punjabi’s own admission, the free-to-air television channel, which has a market share of less than 1.5 percent, had been “bleeding money” for years, racking up losses of about $250m over the previous decade. Still, he saw an opportunity in TV in a world where entertainment options are increasingly dominated by paid-for streaming services such as Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime. “First of all, Indonesians like watching for free. Paid TV does not work as well as other platforms, and it is very segmented,” Punjabi said. “With free-to-air, everyone has access.” Punjabi said economic and logistical factors in Indonesia, an archipelago of some 17,000 islands, have helped free-to-air TV to remain popular in the Southeast Asian country despite the rise of streaming services. “In other countries, like India, you have a flats system with many people living in one building, so paid TV becomes very cheap. Over here, it is very scattered. With the infrastructure we have, free TV is very practical and easy. You just need an antenna, so it is more affordable and easily accessible,” he said. “I thought free-to-air was a sunset market and platform, but in 2020, during COVID, I realised that free-to-air still exists and people are watching it. It is not a dying business, but a sunset business that has been stuck.” James Guild, an assistant professor at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia, or Indonesian International Islamic University (UIII), agreed that there is considerable potential for free-to-air TV to expand. “There are a lot of places in Indonesia where people lack access to good wi-fi or cannot afford the monthly subscription for a streaming service like Vidio, or can only afford limited data plans and are unable to stream a lot of content,” Guild told Al Jazeera. “Old-fashioned television is also still good business, [and] there is certainly still money to be made selling advertising on free-to-air television stations in Indonesia,” Guild said. In 2022, Punjabi made history when he produced KKN di Desa Penari, which eclipsed Titanic to become the highest-grossing film ever shown in Indonesian cinemas. To date, he has also produced seven of Indonesia’s 20 highest-grossing movies and has been widely credited with reviving interest in the genre of Indonesian horror. Punjabi’s family started their entertainment business in Indonesia in the 1980s. He recalls rushing home from school every day so he could watch the raw, unedited footage of the films his family were producing. Punjabi’s grandfather emigrated to Indonesia following the partition of British India in 1947. Like his father, he was born and raised in Indonesia. “I’m Hindu, but I’m a proud Indonesian with an Indian background,” he said. But in the late 1980s, when Punjabi was 17, everything came crashing down. There was “a family crisis”,  Punjabi said, which resulted in his parents selling their home and “adjusting their lifestyle”. “I think my ambition came from that. I never wanted to be like that again. Because you have a certain standard, and then you go down. It hurts and you feel it,” he said. After brief stints working at a pulp and paper factory and a garment factory, Punjabi founded MD Entertainment in 2002. In 2024, he was ranked 34th on Forbes’ list of Indonesia’s 50 richest people, with an estimated net worth of more than $1.5bn. “When you are on that list, you feel a kind of pressure, but in a good way,” Punjabi said. “To be at that stage, you are thankful, but you have to be more tough, and that is tiring. So that list makes me feel pressured in that way, it makes me motivated to do better, and I hope it doesn’t stop here.” Asked about his legacy, Punjabi said he hopes that MD Entertainment will still be around in a century and will branch out beyond Indonesia. “How I am going to do it is still in the pipeline, but there is something iconic that I want to offer audiences, not just in Indonesia or Southeast Asia,” he said. When it comes to sources of inspiration, Punjabi listed Titanic, Slumdog Millionaire, My Beautiful Life, The Dark Knight, and Casino Royale among his favourite films. “I’m obsessed with James Bond and Die Hard. I am an action freak, and those are the movies that I kept watching. I’ve watched the James Bond movies 50 to 70 times, particularly You Only Live Twice and Octopussy from the 1960s. Casino Royale blew my mind,” he said. As for NET.TV., now called MD TV, Punjabi has ambitious plans to raise the quality of free-to-air TV, which has historically not had the best reputation. “I want to change the game in terms of how we tell stories, be it movies, soap operas or series,” he said. Punjabi said free-to-air television in Indonesia has often suffered from poor lighting, sets and locations, cliched narratives, and heavy-handed product placement. “I want to change the look and the storytelling. People think the quality is going down, but with my concept, I hope it will bring in audiences,” he said. “That is my challenge, and I choose to accept it.” Follow Al Jazeera English:...

Allies of US President Donald Trump voice opposition to a bipartisan proposal that would expand a law that punishes boycotting Israel. Washington, DC – A bill in the United States Congress that aims to further penalise the boycotting of countries friendly to the US is facing opposition from allies of President Donald Trump over free speech concerns, putting its passage in jeopardy. According to Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vote in the House of Representatives on the proposal, previously scheduled for Monday, has been cancelled. Although Trump’s Republican Party has been leading legislative efforts to crack down on boycotts of Israel, over the past days, several conservatives close to the US president voiced opposition to the bill, dubbed the International Governmental Organization (IGO) Anti-Boycott Act. “It is my job to defend American’s [sic] rights to buy or boycott whomever they choose without the government harshly fining them or imprisoning them,” Greene said in a social media post on Monday. “But what I don’t understand is why we are voting on a bill on behalf of other countries and not the President’s executive orders that are FOR OUR COUNTRY???” Charlie Kirk, a prominent right-wing activist and commentator, also said that the bill should not pass. “In America you are allowed to hold differing views. You are allowed to disagree and protest,” Kirk wrote on X on Sunday. “We’ve allowed far too many people who hate America move here from abroad, but the right to speak freely is the birthright of all Americans.” Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser and influential right-wing media personality, backed the comments of Kirk and Greene, writing on the social media platform Gettr, “Fact check: True” and “Agreed” in response to their statements, respectively. The proposed legislation was introduced by pro-Israel hawks in the US Congress, Republican Mike Lawler and Democrat Josh Gottheimer, in January, and has been co-sponsored by 22 other lawmakers from both major parties. The bill would expand a 2018 law that bans coercive boycotts imposed by foreign governments to include international governmental organisations (IGOs). The original legislation prohibits boycotting a country friendly to the US based on an “agreement with, a requirement of, or a request from or on behalf” of another nation. It imposes penalties of up to $1m and 20 years in prison for violations. Expanding the legislation to include IGOs risks penalising individuals and companies in the US that boycott firms listed by the United Nations as doing business in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. While the bill itself does not explicitly mention Israel, its drafters have said that it targets the UN and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement, which calls for economic pressure on the Israeli government to end its abuses against Palestinians. “This change targets harmful and inherently anti-Semitic BDS efforts at IGOs, such as the UN, by extending protections already in place for boycotts instigated by foreign countries,” Lawler’s office said in January. States and the federal government have been passing anti-BDS laws for years, raising the alarm about the violation of free speech rights, which are guaranteed by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Numerous legal cases have challenged these laws, and some judges have ruled that they are unconstitutional, while others have upheld them. Rights groups and Palestinian rights advocates have argued that anti-boycott laws aim to shut down the debate about Israel and criminalise peaceful resistance against its violations of international law. Over the years, leading UN agencies and rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have accused Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including imposing apartheid on Palestinians. But supporters of anti-BDS laws say the measures are designed to combat discrimination against Israel and regulate trade, not speech. Such laws have mainly faced opposition from progressive Democrats, but the IGO Anti-Boycott Act has generated anger from right-wing politicians, too. “Americans have the right to boycott, and penalizing this risks free speech. I reject and vehemently condemn antisemitism but I cannot violate the first amendment,” Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, wrote on X. I agree with @RepMTG .
I’ll be voting No on this bill as well. https://t.co/YOPga59Xyc — Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) May 4, 2025 The right-wing rejection of the Lawler-Gottheimer bill comes as the Trump administration continues with its push to target criticism of and protests against Israel, especially on college campuses. Since Trump took office, the US government has revoked the visas of hundreds of students for activism against Israel’s war on Gaza. Several students, including legal permanent residents, have been jailed over allegations of anti-Semitism and “spreading Hamas propaganda”. Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University, has been detained since March, and the only known allegation against her is co-authoring an op-ed calling on her college to honour the student senate’s call for divesting from Israeli companies. Trump has also frozen and threatened to freeze federal funding for several universities, including Harvard, over pro-Palestine protests. Follow Al Jazeera English:...

When was the last time you found yourself counting down the days for an Indian show to return, rewatching each episode countless times until the makers finally graced you with the next season? For me, that excitement has struck five times! Yes, you heard me correctly! When Bandish Bandits first premiered in 2020, I, like many others, fell in love with this charming musical drama and have been eagerly waiting for its return ever since. Thankfully, the makers surprised us with Bandish Bandits Season 2 before the much-anticipated release of GTA 6! Initially, classical music wasn’t my forte, but Bandish Bandits stirred something within me. Thanks to the creative vision of Anand Tiwari, I found myself inspired to practice my chords, often in solitude. Admittedly, I didn’t become a virtuoso, but the show ignited my passion for music. After finishing Season 2 of Bandish Bandits on Prime Video, I can proudly declare that the creators have truly elevated the series to new heights! Let’s dive into the heart of the story, focusing on the relationship between Tamanna and Radhe, embodied by the talented Shreya Choudhary and Ritwik Bhowmik. Their chemistry is electric as both characters embark on transformative journeys. In Season 1, we were enchanted by the emergence of their romance; however, this time, the stakes have dramatically escalated. Not only do they face challenges in love, but their musical paths are fraught with lessons and growth. Did Shreya and Ritwik impress me? A resounding yes! The duo continues to surpass expectations, delivering a performance filled with palpable chemistry, tension, and emotional resonance that feels increasingly authentic with each episode. A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) The cast also features exceptional actors like Sheeba Chadha (Mohini), Rajesh Tailang (Rajendra), and Atul Kulkarni (Digvijay Rathore). This season, the “Gharana” drama—rooted in tradition—intensifies in a way that kept me on the edge of my seat. I could feel the undercurrents of tension and hidden motives in every scene, thanks to the powerful performances of these three. While Radhe and Tamanna navigate their complex love lives, these characters weave additional layers of rich drama and intrigue into Tiwari’s already captivating narrative. Season 2 introduces several enticing new characters that I can’t wait to discuss! Banglore boy Rohan Gurbaxani shines brightly in this ensemble, showcasing his incredible talent a boy who plays a key role in the unfolding drama surrounding Radhe and Tamanna. His portrayal is a blend of finesse and skill, making it clear that he is an actor to watch. Additionally, the brilliant Divya Dutta makes her mark in the musical realm, commanding her screen time with grace as Nandina. Despite her first foray into this genre, she appears entirely at home, effortlessly captivating viewers with her presence. A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) Another highlight is the duo of Paresh Pahuja and Yashaswini Dayama, who breathe life into their characters, Mahi and Saumya, each adding depth and nuance to the story’s fabric. Their journeys, marked by personal struggles and emotional turmoil, enhance the authenticity of the narrative, drawing us deeper into their world. This review wouldn’t be complete without acknowledging the returning talents of Kunaal Roy Kapur, Rahul Kumar, and Meghna Malik, who each contribute their unique flair to the storytelling, reinforcing the show’s rich tapestry. Finally, let’s talk about the visionary behind it all, Anand Tiwari. His ambitious vision for Season 2 is unmistakable, as he expertly navigates complex storylines, masterfully intertwining characters and their motivations throughout the season. By the conclusion, what began as a puzzle gradually comes together, leaving viewers satisfied and eager for more. Tiwari’s adept storytelling is complemented by exceptional music; paired with talented actors and skilled musicians, Season 2 of Bandish Bandits emerges as a true triumph. I must also highlight the stunning vocalists who contributed to this musical masterpiece—each singer has outdone themselves, resulting in an album that is nothing short of breath-taking. A post shared by Instagram (@instagram) Now, were there aspects that could have been improved? Certainly. For instance, I would have preferred Tamanna to exhibit a bit more decisiveness. Yet, I can empathize with her internal struggles. I also found myself feeling sympathy for Radhe. Will the Rathore gharana drama simmer down, or will it reach even greater heights? The answer remains a tantalizing mystery until the hopeful arrival of Season 3. While I’m not privy to its fate, I sincerely wish for its continuation. Season 2 retains a strong essence; the makers adeptly provide a justification early on, yet the shadows of past events linger, creating a haunting atmosphere. As a devoted fan of the show, I did experience a slight sense of disappointment amid the exciting developments; however, the creators have done an admirable job continuing the storytelling while introducing new characters who quickly become favourites. verall, Season 2 of Bandish Bandits delivers an experience that shouldn’t be missed! Should you watch it? Absolutely! And if you miss out, you will certainly be left yearning for what could have been! I’m giving this season a solid 4 stars.
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