9 stunning Easter centrepieces

1. SCENTED POSY

Gather together old-fashioned roses and evergreen foliage, then add a few sprigs of herbs. Here, 'Peony Pink', 'Cream Piaget' and 'Caffe Latte' roses are mixed with rosemary, mint and evergreen viburnum. Order a ready-made bouquet – or simply gather some blooms together in your hand for an informal display – and pop into a vintage-style enamel jug.

Tip: Recut stems every few days and refresh the water if it gets murky.

2. CREATE AN INSTANT EASTER TREE

Use a couple of large twigs and put a few willow branches into a vase with a narrow neck, then hang eggs, baubles and birds from the branches.

Tip: Leave gaps between decorations to allow individual pieces space to shine.

3. KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOUR

Mix and match your vases and blooms for an eclectic and flexible centrepiece. This one works a treat with a brightly coloured tablecloth and tableware.

Tip: Strip leaves below the water level to help prevent decay.

4. FLOATING FLOWERS

The easiest centrepiece ever: simply group a few high-sided plates together, fill with water and dot a few flowerheads in each. This is a good way to display blooms that have broken off their stems, too. Add a few leaves and water droplets on the petals and foliage for visual interest.

Tip: Spray blooms with a mist of water to resemble beads of dew.

5. SHOW STOPPER

There is nothing more inviting than dining by candlelight – personalise a hanging chandelier with a few sprigs of ivy and echo the shape by filling a candle holder ring with an abundant flower display.

Tip: Replace the ivy from time to time to keep it looking fresh.

6. LESS IS MORE

Short of flowers or space? Opt for narrow-neck vases with statement flowers such as anemones.

Tip: Cut stems on the diagonal to allow the maximum intake of water.

7. BOLD DISPLAY

Create a talking point with a multi-coloured bouquet of roses – we chose the lovely David Austin roses 'Kate' and 'Darcey', then added fronds of a small-leaved eucalyptus. Dot votives around to create a warm glow.

 

8. SIMPLY LOVELY

Go for displays of different heights for an informal and striking display. Keep the colour theme simple and use a mix of real and artificial blooms. Tumblers are excellent makeshift vases and can be grouped very effectively.

 

9. LIGHT AND SHADE

Here is a 'wow' centrepiece to impress family and friends! A mixture of the palest, pastel and vibrant shades of yellow have been arranged to create an ombre (shadow) effect down the centre of the table. The trick is to cluster blooms tightly together, and to do three small displays on plastic trays filled with florist's foam soaked in water. Go for cream and pale yellow flowers in the first tray, then move on to stronger hues for the middle one. The last one should be bold and bright, shouting spring!

 

 Tip: Keep florist's foam well watered so blooms have plenty to drink. The foam will dry out pretty quickly in warm conditions.

Apple to launch a new iPhone with A9 processor

Apple is set to launch a new iPhone and an iPad with the A9 and A9X processor according to a Bloomberg BusinessWeek profile of Johny Srouji, who head's the development of Apple's semi-conductors. This piece of information comes on the backdrop of multiple reports which have suggested that Apple will host an event in mid-March to unveil a new smaller iPhone and the successor to the iPad Air 2

"In March, Apple intends to announce an updated iPad and smaller screen iPhone featuring the latest A9x and A9 chips, according to a person familiar with the plans, who wasn't authorized to comment publicly," read the Bloomberg report.

The smaller iPhone has been widely reported to be called the iPhone 5s

which is slated to have a design that's similar that of the iPhone 5s which was launched in 2013, but with tweaks that make it more durable and comfortable to use. The phone is said to retain the 4-inch screen, but could get a huge camera update in the form of the 8-megapixel shooter found on the back of the iPhone 6 and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. Theoretically, on paper at least this should lend the phone superior hardware specs than that of the iPhone 6.

The iPad Air 3is likely to feature a design that's similar to the iPad Pro and could get its 4 speaker system in addition to the new A9x processor. Teardowns of the iPad Pro revealed that it also had 4GB RAM, but that's something unknown for the iPad Air 3. The iPad Air 3, however, is also set to get its own smart keyboard.

The report also interestingly revealed that the iPad Pro was originally slated to be launched in 2014 alongside the iPhone 6, but as the A8x processor got delayed, the product was only launched in 2015 with the A9x processor.

Apple is expected to host an event at its own Cupertino campus, which means that it will be a small and relatively low-key event by its standards. The iPhone 5se is also supposedly going to be available within a few days of the launch event. This also means that the phone could come quite early to India, though as of now there's no information.

3 tricks to save data and money on Android phone

Consider this: You recharge your phone on 1st of month for Rs. 100. You get 1 GB internet for a month, which you feel is sufficient for you as you do not do all that much with your phone other than WhatsApp and Facebook. One day, you wake up to see that the internet has stopped working in your phone and you can't even make  a call as you don't  have even a penny left  in your main balance.

Reason? Even though you use just Facebook and WhatsApp, Android phone can consume a lot of data in the background. While switching off your mobile data in the night is a great idea, there are some other smarter ways to save data on your Android phone.

1. Update apps on Wi-Fi
On Android, apps have this habit of updating themselves whenever they can and whenever they find a working internet connection. That can consume a lot of data. Avoid it. And how do you do that? Force apps to update only when you are connected to a Wi-Fi network. Go to your Play Store > Settings >  General > Auto update apps > Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.

2. Media auto download on WhatsApp etc

Tons of videos and images land up in our WhatsApp chat box every day. Now if you download all of these on a mobile data, the end result is that soon you will find your data limit exhausted. So make sure your automatic download of videos and images is disabled in the WhatsApp.

Here's how you do it. Go to settings in WhatsApp > Chats and calls > Media auto-download > disable auto-download under all three options: When using mobile data, when connected on WiFi and when roaming. This will, however, force you to download a video or image when you want to see it. But that is better than automatically downloading tens of goofy and useless videos that your long-lost classmates share in the school group. It also saves data on the phone.

In fact, the same media auto download option can be disabled in number of apps, including Twitter and Facebook. If you are concerned about the excessive data use, go to settings of these apps and disable the auto download.

3. Use Data Saver In Browser
Do you know your very own Google Chrome has the power to minimize your data usage? Yes, this widely used web browser can do a lot than just opening websites for you. You can open websites and save data.. To use the data saver in Chrome, go to Chrome Settings > Data Saver >  Turn it on. With this mode Google's servers reduce the amount of data that is downloaded when you visit any webpage. However, this feature is only available on Android. Sorry iOS users!

Chrome is not the only browser that can do this. Opera Mini users can enable the video compression option in their settings and that also helps cut down data usage to a small extent.

Samsung likely to launch Galaxy S6, S6 Edge in India on Monday

Samsung India will be hosting an event on Monday for the launch of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. The device was officially showcased at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this month.

IndiaToday.in has learnt that Samsung will launch the two devices in India on Monday, but the product will not be available before April 10. This is in lines with the global announcement, which clearly states that the roll out for the devices will happen on April 10.

Retailers also claim that pre-orders for the phone will go live in the last week of March, though it could happen earlier.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge has received a positive response. In South Korea, Samsung's home market, the device has already received 20 million pre-orders.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are expected to compete with phones like the LG G-Flex 2, which was announced yesterday in India. The G-Flex 2 will launch later in the month forRs.55,000. The Galaxy S6, however, could be slightly more expensive. Even in the UK pre-orders for the device stand at Euro 700 for the 32GB model, which converts to around Rs.47,000, but if one takes into account taxes and duties, the price of the phone could end up at around Rs.55,000 or a little more.

The Edge variant will be more expensive. Like the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge we could be talking about a premium of around Rs.6,000-Rs.10,000. In the UK, pre-orders suggest a starting price of 850 Euros, which is roughly Rs.57,000, so again the price could go well beyond the Rs.60,000 mark.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are considered to be Samsung's most well design phones. The devices mark a design renaissance of sorts for the Korean company, which is often criticised for the monotonous design of its products.

Both the devices pack, a speedy 64-bit Exynos 7 octa-core processor manufactured using a new 14nm FinFET process, 2GB of DDR4 RAM and variants ranging from 32GB to 128GB of storage. On the back, the phones have a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation and dynamic focusing capabilities. On the front, Samsung has stacked a 5-megapixel sensor.

The screens are notable as Samsung has added 5-inch Super AMOLED panels with 2K resolutions. However, on the Edge, the screen is curved and slops outwards from both the sides.

Samsung is also talking up new fast charging battery technologies, a new biometric scanner, and a new cashless payment system called Samsung Pay. Software wise too, Samsung claims that the device has a cleaner user interface that's faster based on the underpinnings of Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Notably, Samsung has also preloaded Microsoft's apps - OneDrive, Skype, and OneNote on the device, in addition to the standard suit of Google's cloud services.

The Galaxy S6 is a crucial device for the South Korean company as it grapples with depleting sales of its smartphone division, which is a major money spinner for the company.

Xiaomi starts selling products through its India website

Xiaomi has finally started selling its products through its Indian website. However, the popular handsets from the Chinese company are still not on sale through the official website but accessories like earphones and phone-covers are available directly on the website.

Xiaomi has been selling its handsets exclusively through Flipkart, the biggest online retailer in India. If Xiaomi continues to expand the product list on its official website there will be no need for the company to pay any kind of commission to a third party retailer.

Currently, the website is only selling a total of five accessories which include two earphones and two phone-cases and its powerbanks. The website is already showing the Mi In-ear headphones Basic as out of stock. The rest of the accessories are available as of now and can be ordered through the manufacturer's website.

Interestingly, the Mi Power Bank, which has been out of stock on Flipkart for quite a while now, is available on the Mi India website.

In China Xiaomi conducts the flash sales on its own website but for now there is no confirmation regarding the Indian counterpart if it will conduct any flash sale as of now.

Delhi-Lahore bus service restricted

For the first time since the Pak-India Dosti bus service was launched between New Delhi and Lahore, Pakistan has restricted its entry here and Nankana Sahib cities, citing increased "terror threats".

The Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation has said the Pak-India Dosti bus service will now on be operated only up to Wagah Border, reported PTI.

"The PTDC has shifted the entire bus operation at its sub-office at Wagah. Passengers leaving for New Delhi and Amritsar from here will now have to catch the bus at Wagah.

 

Similarly, those arriving here from across the border by the service will disembark at Wagah too," an official of PTDC said.

He said the decision has been taken in the wake of growing terror threats.

After the Taliban militants killed 150 people mostly children at an army-run school in Peshawar on December 16, the Nawaz Sharif government is not taking chances with regard to security matters.

Earlier, police used to escort the buses from Wagah to Lahore's Gulberg and Nankana Sahib terminals. Similarly, the police used to provide escort to the Dosti buses from Gulberg and Nankana Sahib to Wagah.

"Although it will cause hassle for the passengers of the both sides but we have taken the steps for their security," the official said, adding the government might consider restoring the old terminals (Gulberg and Nankana Sahib) after reviwing the law and order situation.

The bus service between the two countries was started March 16, 1999 primarily to enhance people-to-people contact.

Sunanda Pushkar case: Murderer was smart

Doctors of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Tuesday said that it would not be easy to find out the absolute cause of Sunanda Pushkar's death. The AIIMS doctors, who conducted the autopsy of former Union minister Shashi Tharoor's wife, however, maintained that she had died of poisoning.

"Our duty was to give an opinion to the police, and we have already done it. Whatever I had said earlier were my findings, not my stand. Our report doesn't mention death is homicidal in nature. It is due to poisoning. Now it is for the police to probe further," said Dr. Sudhir Gupta, one of the doctors in the forensic science department of AIIMS, who conducted Sunanda's post-mortem.

Asked whether it is a murder or suicide, Gupta said it was the job of the police to find out. Gupta had earlier alleged that two former Cabinet ministers pressured him to show Sunanda's death as natural. On Tuesday, however, he chose to keep quiet. Doctors at the premier institute said it would take some more time to conclude the case.  Sunanda Pushkar death: Stunned it's now a murder case, says Shashi Tharoor

"This is a sensitive and highprofile case. The murderer (if proved) would have planned it in a smart way so that it would be tough to identify the exact poison. She couldn't have been killed with any normal poison. There have been several cases in which the exact poison, used to kill somebody, was identified even 10 years after the crime was committed," said a doctor who was part of the medical panel that examined Sunanda's case.

"So far, we have given three reports to the police. The police have shown a lax attitude towards the case. It will be very difficult to find out the poison because there are several limitations and restrictions in laboratory facilities in India. By the time the police take a stance on taking the viscera samples to some other country for investigation, the intensity of certain poisons may also diminish with time. That is why it is always said that such cases should be investigated as soon as possible," the doctor said.

Doctors have said the samples would require "quantitative estimation". In India, quantitative estimation is done only for alcohol.

"Homicidal poisoning is a rare entity. The murderer would have certainly chosen a different idea to kill her. This matter still needs meticulous investigation. When we visited the crime scene last time, we found some urine spots on the bed cover and sent them for investigation. Even the urine sample showed poison, which proved that it was metabolised through her body," the doctor said.

"The police will need to find a motive and then catch the murderer. Some medicines were also found from the crime scene. Interestingly, any medicine can prove fatal, if consumed in high quantities," he said. Delhi Police Commissioner B. S. Bassi said the Delhi Police, which is investigating the case, would have to send the samples abroad (see accompanying story) since the quantification of poisons could not be done in India.

"In order to do so, the Delhi Police had to register a case; thereby we have done the needful. We have registered a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code," Bassi added.