Last catwalk

Last catwalk: Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen (center), celebrates with models Caroline Ribeiro (left) and Fernanda Tavares (right) at the end of the show from the Colcci Summer collection at Sao Paulo Fashion Week in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Wednesday. Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel who has lit up catwalks around the world for 20 years, is retiring from the runway. (AP/Andre Penner

Starbucks hopes 'Mini Frappuccino' tempts new customers

Starbucks hopes 'Mini Frappuccino' tempts new customers 

If a small Frappuccino seems like too much of an indulgence, Starbucks is now selling a more petite version of the sugary coffee drink.

The Seattle-based coffee chain says it will start selling a "Mini Frappuccino" starting Monday through July 6. The new size is just 10 ounces, compared with 12 ounces for the company's "tall" or small size.

Starbucks isn't the only chain trying to tempt people with more modest serving sizes. Sonic offers ice cream shakes in a "mini" size and recently ran a limited-time offer for mini hot dogs and mini fried chicken sandwiches. Coke has also been playing up its mini cans, which are 7.5 ounces, compared with 12 ounces for a regular can.

Katie Seawell, senior vice president of category brand management at Starbucks, said the Mini Frappuccino helped lift overall store sales in the select regions where it was tested last year. Without providing specifics, she said it attracted new customers and got existing customers to come back more frequently.

Seawell declined to say whether Starbucks plans to make the "mini" a permanent offering.

The calories in a Mini Frappuccino vary depending on the flavor.

For the regular coffee with no whipped cream, Starbucks says it'll have 120 calories and 24 grams of sugar. That's compared with 180 calories and 36 grams of sugar for a small (tall) and 240 calories and 50 grams of sugar for a medium (grande).

A large (venti) Frappuccino has 350 calories and 69 grams of sugar.

Starbucks says the "mini" should cost about 20 to 30 cents less than a small (*)

How fasting helps lose weight

How fasting helps lose weight

Nutritionist Marzuki Iskandar explained how fasting could help Muslims lose weight and detoxify their body during their holy month of Ramadhan which starts on Thursday.

"Muslims who want to go on a diet can do so during the Ramadhan month. This is because during the fasting month, we can't eat at random times. In other months, sometimes people are tempted to eat food that looks good, even though they don't need it," he told the Jakarta Post.

Marzuki added that Muslims could also use Ramadhan to detoxify their bodies as their digestion organs would rest for most of the time during the fasting month.

However, people who have digestion problems should be careful to eat enough food with complex carbohydrates, such as brown rice, to keep their stomach full during the day, he said.

During the fasting month, Muslims are obliged by their belief not to eat and drink from dawn until sunset. They are also told to restrain their desires such as lust and anger.(fsu/dmr)(thejakartapost)

The participants of the action Indosiar 2015

The participants of the action Indosiar 2015

the participants of the action was tense Indosiar that ultimately gets the highest sms mumuy his nyangka ga cute little longer, while the wise person that comes out rich fathers, a game like that will continue until the final get caught who comes out as the winner and will be dai Indonesia if I am the hope really that will come out of the mumuy if ga si robi people bogor and sijamilah yes it depends on the decision of a jury of his nentuin kaga mao pass what is important for the best

Raditya Dika bares his soul, sharing his personal take on Ramadhan

Raditya Dika bares his soul, sharing his personal take on Ramadhan 

Writer and filmmaker Raditya Dika has launched a new video series on Youtube titled "Surat untuk Ramadhan" (Letters for Ramadhan) as a personal project during the fasting month.

But be warned, it's not necessarily in the comedy genre like Raditya's most famous work, Malam Minggu Miko (Miko's Saturday Night), which is both a movie and a Youtube video series.

"The videos are my personal letters. I made them without any attempt to be humorous. Just me being truthful," Raditya told the Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He said that the videos talked about his thoughts, feelings and experiences relating to Ramadhan, including how the month led him to reunite with old friends and reminded him of a road where he used to play with firecrackers during his childhood.

The first video, which takes an essay-like form, was uploaded on Wednesday and is titled Apa Kabar? (How are you?). In it, he welcomes and discusses the arrival Ramadhan. On Thursday, it already had 36,138 views.

Raditya said that he planned to upload three videos a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and that he had finished filming the next two videos of the series.

He also hoped to inspire more people to follow his move.

"With these videos, I would like to inspire people to create their own version of “Letters for Ramadhan”; their own personal takes on it," he said.

Even though Raditya said that he had not yet planned all of the videos that he would create, he was sure about the theme for one of the final videos, at the end of the fasting month.

"I want to make one about the loneliness of Jakarta when all of the people leave the city for their hometowns, as I myself don't go to my hometown," he explained. (fsu/dmr)

How fasting helps lose weight

How fasting helps lose weight

Nutritionist Marzuki Iskandar explained how fasting could help Muslims lose weight and detoxify their body during their holy month of Ramadhan which starts on Thursday.

"Muslims who want to go on a diet can do so during the Ramadhan month. This is because during the fasting month, we can't eat at random times. In other months, sometimes people are tempted to eat food that looks good, even though they don't need it," he told the Jakarta Post.

Marzuki added that Muslims could also use Ramadhan to detoxify their bodies as their digestion organs would rest for most of the time during the fasting month.

However, people who have digestion problems should be careful to eat enough food with complex carbohydrates, such as brown rice, to keep their stomach full during the day, he said.

During the fasting month, Muslims are obliged by their belief not to eat and drink from dawn until sunset. They are also told to restrain their desires such as lust and anger.(fsu/dmr)

Starbucks hopes 'Mini Frappuccino' tempts new customers

Starbucks hopes 'Mini Frappuccino' tempts new customers 

If a small Frappuccino seems like too much of an indulgence, Starbucks is now selling a more petite version of the sugary coffee drink.

The Seattle-based coffee chain says it will start selling a "Mini Frappuccino" starting Monday through July 6. The new size is just 10 ounces, compared with 12 ounces for the company's "tall" or small size.

Starbucks isn't the only chain trying to tempt people with more modest serving sizes. Sonic offers ice cream shakes in a "mini" size and recently ran a limited-time offer for mini hot dogs and mini fried chicken sandwiches. Coke has also been playing up its mini cans, which are 7.5 ounces, compared with 12 ounces for a regular can.

Katie Seawell, senior vice president of category brand management at Starbucks, said the Mini Frappuccino helped lift overall store sales in the select regions where it was tested last year. Without providing specifics, she said it attracted new customers and got existing customers to come back more frequently.

Seawell declined to say whether Starbucks plans to make the "mini" a permanent offering.

The calories in a Mini Frappuccino vary depending on the flavor.

For the regular coffee with no whipped cream, Starbucks says it'll have 120 calories and 24 grams of sugar. That's compared with 180 calories and 36 grams of sugar for a small (tall) and 240 calories and 50 grams of sugar for a medium (grande).

A large (venti) Frappuccino has 350 calories and 69 grams of sugar.

Starbucks says the "mini" should cost about 20 to 30 cents less than a small (*)

“Plain packaging kills me”

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, Cigarette plain packaging is a threat for Indonesian kretek cigarette

By: Budidoyo, Secretary General of Indonesian Tobacco Farmers Association

What will a human with a healthy conscience do if his/her livelihood is threatened by policy that does not make sense at all? We FIGHT to protect it.

This was exactly what drove around 500 tobacco farmers to go out on the street and rallied in front of the French Embassy in Jakarta on 9 June 2015. We voiced out our opposition towards cigarette plain packaging policy that is planned by the French Government. This policy threatens Indonesian kretek cigarette industry where more than 2 million tobacco farmers depend their livelihoods on.

Our aspiration is very clear: first, we strongly oppose cigarette plain packaging policy, which discriminates against an industry is both economically important and hugely symbolic for Indonesia. Second, the Indonesian Government must do whatever it takes, including retaliation against alcoholic drinks, in order to protect the dignity of Indonesia as a sovereign country in fighting for the rights of its tobacco farmers against absurd policy.

To date, our country is the second largest producer-exporter of manufactured tobacco product in the world. Certainly, my fellow tobacco farmers and I are proud of this achievement. However, we believe cigarette plain packaging policy is a major threat that could weaken the competitiveness of Indonesian tobacco products and our position in the export market. The implementation of this policy will reduce the demand of tobacco leaves from Indonesian tobacco farmers who have been meeting the demand of domestic and export market.

As a country that takes pride in its grape agriculture, France should be able to understand how important tobacco farming is for Indonesia. Therefore, we hope that the French Government could act wiser before implementing such an excessive policy as cigarette plain packaging that threatens our livelihoods. We believe it is very important for us to continuously remind them of the Indonesian Government’s plan to implement similar policy on French wine and alcohol so that they can share our present concern.

This peaceful rally was not the first. In November 2014, hundreds of tobacco farmers had visited the Australian Embassy as the first country to implement the cigarette plain packaging policy back in 2012. At that time, we stated that there should be no other countries to implement such experimental policy with no scientific evidence, but unfortunately Ireland, UK, and now France has planned to implement it. This peaceful rally will not be our last if other countries are also considering cigarette plain packaging policy. Indonesian tobacco farmers are determined in carrying a common message: Plain Packaging Kills Us.

We, tobacco farmers, support the Government of Jokowi-JK to be strong and not afraid in responding to the policies of other countries that threaten the livelihood of Indonesians, such as cigarette plain packaging. It is time for Indonesian tobacco farmers to flex our muscle and exert all efforts to maintain the sustainability of our livelihood.