It has been three years since Jimmy Lai took his Hong Kong-based media road show to Taiwan and started Taiwan Next weekly magazine - No 1 in terms of readership - and Apple Daily Taiwan. He also publishes a Hong Kong edition of Apple Daily.

Some observers insist his relocation to Taiwan was designed to be a launching pad for a tougher media attack on China, and others suggest his Taiwan move was solely motivated by Taiwan’s freer and more lucrative media market. After all, Taiwan has nearly 22 million readers, compared with Hong Kong’s seven million.

Lai Chi-ying, or Jimmy Lai, packed his bags and his family in Hong Kong, leaving on his corporate yacht (aptly named Free China) in the wake of dashed - but only for a while - dreams, lawsuits and enemies, but he took to Taiwan a resolute belief that Taipei offers more personal and press freedom.

As the editor-in-chief of Next Media, the self-educated refugee from Guangdong province wrote many vitriolic editorials railing against China’s stranglehold on personal liberties.

His publications are banned on the mainland but they are published in Hong Kong, where Beijing is somewhat more sensitive to the sensibilities of Hong Kong residents.

While in Hong Kong, Lai even took to the streets in Victoria Park in December 2002, along with tens of thousands of other protesters rallying against the government’s proposed anti-subversion law. He said the law was "like an invisible, tightening collar".

Taipei’s newsstands are running out of space for its 6,000 magazines vying for new readership, but Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily and Taiwan Next, a popular tabloid newsmagazine, stand out.

The expansion of Taiwan’s media has led to desperate commercial competition and no-holds-barred aggressiveness among the island’s viable media. Some 80 radio stations, 140 cable-television operators with 70 channels, 360 newspapers, and 235 domestic news agencies engage in ferocious daily competition for the attention of the public and advertisers. "Looking ahead, we shall continue to uphold our dedication to cost control in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. However, we shall not in sacrifice our content for the sake of cost-cutting. A rich content is our trademark and a competitive edge," claims Jimmy Lai. To be sure, investors in Next Media are concerned about the enormous expenses incurred by the Taiwan expansion. Analysts have said that Next Media Ltd invested more than US$15 million in Next magazine’s Taiwan edition, with the same focus on politics, economy, entertainment and lifestyles as its Hong Kong edition. Next Media Company Ltd, the parent company, was first established in Hong Kong in 1989, with the debut of Next magazine, a Chinese-language weekly general-interest magazine with the motto: "Don’t Put on Airs: Just Seek the Truth." It was only a matter of weeks after the launch that the slick four-colour magazine lambasted Beijing with its strident editorials. Lai personally branded Li Peng, China’s former premier, widely recognized as the key party official who ordered the Tiananmen massacre in June 1989, as "the son of a turtle egg with a zero IQ". References to turtles and their eggs are considered extremely offensive in China. Hong Kong Apple Daily has relentlessly attacked China for years, often in front-page articles calling Jiang Zemin, former Chinese President and until recently the nation’s commander-in-chief, as "one of the top enemies of the press".

As a result of Lai’s virulent anti-China rhetoric, all of his publications are banned in the People’s Republic of China, though not in Hong Kong. He also incurred the wrath of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, resulting in a loss of millions of dollars of advertising from property developers last spring.

"Even today, we are still banned as reporters from entering China to cover any story," Liu Kin-ming, managing editor of the Hong Kong Apple Daily opinion page, said in a recent Asia Times Online e-mail interview.

Arup Ghosh, Shireen Sethi quit Sahara Samay Rashtriya

INDRANI DasGupta, Jesse Randhawa, Nethra, Ishita, Sampada, Krishna, Himani, Rocky, Anuj, Angela, Aparna, Tina, Shonali   and several other famous names in modeling walked the ramp in all student-designed clothing at the Celebrations Gardens near the Shiva Murti lawns in Delhi with an audience of over 2000. Student designers had used both traditional and contemporary fabrics. Clothes were designed with affordability as a major consideration. Most of the clothes on the display were ready to wear types with vibrant colours to indicate the vibrant mood of the Indian Youth. The students seemed to be quite aware of the marketability part of their designs. The show had over 200 designs on display with music. Rythma Bhatia, Dean Fashion Technology, Rai University, added," we were able to feature all student-designed clothing because the college has so many excellent student designers. The students will get credit for the event, and it is also a good way for them to get material for their portfolios. This is a way for students to get hands-on experience they can’t learn from a book."

Arpit, designer of ‘Illusions’ range, said, "it’s a great opportunity given to us. Some of the top models have honoured us by wearing our designs and walking the ramp. It’s a dream-come-true". There were over 20 themes. Illusion, Unzipped, Tarang, Volcanic Glacier, The Mask and The Woman attracted maximum claps and cheering from the audience. Rahul, one of the young designers, said, "We have been preparing for the event since past six months. There were about 30 students working on it and they had formed different committees for public relations, the set, lights, designing and getting sponsorships."

Rajiv Tewari, Associate Director of Rai University, said," preparing for the fashion show with a small budget was a big challenge. The students had to work hard to get sponsors and compromise on a lot of things they wanted for their projects but then this is what they need to learn to succeed in a developing country like ours where resources could be a major constraint for a starter."