BERLIN:

Paul the octopus, who shot to fame during this year’s football World Cup in South Africa for his flawless record in predicting game outcomes, has died in his aquarium in Germany.

“The management and the staff at the Oberhausen Sea Life Centre were devastated to discover that oracle octopus Paul, who achieved global renown during the recent World Cup, had passed away overnight,” said the aquarium in a statement.

“Paul amazed the world by correctly predicting the winners of all Germany’s World Cup clashes, and then of the final,” said Sea Life manager Stefan Porwoll. “His success made him almost a bigger story than the World Cup itself. We had all naturally grown very fond of him and he will be sorely missed,” said Porwoll.

Paul beat the odds during the World Cup by correctly forecasting all eight games he was asked to predict, including Spain’s 1-0 win over the Netherlands in the final. The fans need not despair too much at his death, though, as the aquarium has already been grooming a successor, to be named Paul like his mentor. Paul’s body is now in cold storage while the aquarium decides “how best to mark his passing”.

“We may decide to give Paul his own small burial plot within our grounds and erect a modest permanent shrine,” said Porwoll. “While this may seem a curious thing to do for a sea creature, Paul achieved such popularity during his short life that it may be deemed the most appropriate course of action.”

Dr. Maleeha Lodhi is among the most accomplished female professionals in the Muslim world, with extensive experience in diplomacy, media, and teaching. Her diplomatic experience spans eleven years, representing Pakistan as Ambassador in the US and Britain. She is the recipient of the President’s award of Hilal-e-Imtiaz for Public Service in Pakistan. Lodhi has also received an Honorary Fellowship from the London School of Economics in 2004 and an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters from London’s Metropolitan University in 2005.

She served as a member of the UN Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Affairs from 2001 to 2005. In 1994, Lodhi was selected by Time magazine as one of a hundred people in the world – the only one from Pakistan – who will help to shape the 21st century. She has addressed top Think Tanks and other foreign policy forums across the world, drawing on her diplomatic skills and media background.

Lodhi has been the editor of Pakistan’s leading English daily, The News and among the country’s top political commentators. Lodhi taught Politics and Political Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science for five years – from 1980-1985.

Lodhi is the author of two books: Pakistan’s Encounter with Democracy and The External Challenge both collections of her essays on contemporary issues.

The discussion involves all the topics that would have occurred in the last week and may include political issues, social issues, inflation, economy, international issues, showbiz and even religion. Their discussion deals with big and serious issues albeit through simple questions and by employing a layman’s everyday conversation. Mr. Hassan Nisar’s witty and intellectual insights on the current political and social scenario are the highlight of the show.The idea of this program originated from Mr. Hassan Nisar’s column “Choraha”. This program is a representation of Lahori culture where men of a mohalla get together in the evening, sit on a Choraha and discuss issues which are prevalent to their interests. In true spirit of Lahori mohalla culture, the men indulge in jugatbazi, an integral part of even their most serious conversations. Program includes actual Choraha where Mr. Hassan Nisar sits with 3 characters and chit chat on all issues making it interesting with a tinge of wit.

Ata ul Haq Qasmi is one of the leading and most popular columnist of Pakistan who has been writing Urdu columns for more than last 45 years in the leading newspapers with the name of “Rozan-e-Dewar Sey”. The most distinguished character of Qasmi’s column is his satire on social inequalities of the society and his anti dictatorship stance which he boldly takes in his columns. He has a unique style of writing incomparable to any other columnist because of his humorous way which holds the reader till the last line of his column which is his punch line. Qasmi was also elevated to the position of Ambassador of Pakistan in Norway and Thailand during 1997 to 1999. He is also a very famous drama writer and poet. His books of columns include “Column Tamam”, “Shar Goshiyan”, “Hansna Rona Mana Hay”, “Mazeed Ganjey Farishtey” and many more while his TV Drama Serials include the most popular “Khwaja and Son”, “Shab Daig”, “Sheeda Talli” etc. His travelogues are also very popular and one of the best is “Shoq-e-Awargi”. Qasmi has also received the Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz (highest civil awards) from President of Pakistan in addition to many other awards over his literary contributions. Mushtaq Ahmad Yousfi has termed Qasmi as the best columnist of Pakistan while Altaf Gohar has termed him as the most wittiest columnist of Pakistan.

Irfan Siddiqui is the Urdu columnist, known to be the great supporter of former prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif. He started writing his columns on Nawaiwaqt. In July 2008, Irfan Siddiqui left Nawaiwaqt and joined Jang. He has been found criticizing Pervez Musharraf and his regime in Pakistan, very bluntly. He was also unhappy with the late Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan Peoples Party, and wrote the same in the columns. He is currently serving the Jang group of newspapers.

Aamir Liaquat Hussain(Urdu: عامر لیاقت حسین) is a well known politician and broadcaster from Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Aamir Liaquat Hussain is also former State Minister for Religious Affairs, and an anchor of popular TV programme Aalim Online on Geo TV. On August 06, 2010, he officially joined ARY Digital Network as Executive of ARY’s Religious TV channel QTV (ARY) Aamir Liaquat Hussain was born on July 5, 1971 at Karachi.Aamir Liaquat Hussain contested 2002 general election under the supervision of Pervez Musharraf, and the platform of his affiliated party Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Javed Chaudhry ( Urdu:جاوید چوہدری) is a newspaper columnist in Pakistan. His series of columns have been published in four volumes in Urdu language. His most notable column ZERO POINT has great influence upon people of Pakistan especially Youth and Muslims of Pakistan. He writes for the Urdu newspaper Daily Express four time a week, covering topics ranging from social issues to politics.Javed Chaudhry was born in Lalamusa , district of Gujrat, Pakistan. He received his degree in journalism from The Islamia University Bahawalpur. He has Four children and currently resides in Shahzad Town, Islamabad.He started his career in journalism in 1989. He worked at Daily Nawa-i-Waqt, Daily Pakistan, Daily Ummat and Daily Khabrain before joining Daily Jang in 1997.In January 2008, Javed Chaudhry joined Express News (Pakistan) as an anchorperson of a political Talk show “Kal Tak”, in which he analyses current affairs of Pakistan with guests from various think tanks and political parties.