Epaper 06 august 2013

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013 HYDERABAD

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

THE WAY OF THE WANDERERS

32 PAGES

WEATHER: CLOUDY WITH SPOTTY SHOWERS; 27°C

`3

France tops the UN list of mostvisited countries. Here are the other top six nations.

PG 16&17

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

REPORT ON P6

UNIVERSAL EDUCATION PG 7

PAK TROOPS KILL 5 INDIAN SOLDIERS IN J&K

In a daring cross-LoC raid late Monday night, Pakistani soldiers attacked an Indian Army post in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district and killed five soldiers.

HUNDREDS DIE IN INDIA FOR LACK OF ORGANS While in western countries around 70-80 per cent of people pledge their organs, in India only about 0.01 per cent do so.

PG 19

T

DREAM TO COME TRUE? PG 4

APSRTC GOES SLOW ON OU APSRTC’s cautious approach on connectivity with OU campus reflects the general underlying fear and confusion about Telangana state.

Meanwhile, girl students have sought a Ladies special to important destinations in the City.

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

city events

WORLD OF COLOURS

Workshop on drawing and water colour, oil and acrylic painting for housewives.

Where: Inspire Painting Institute When: Ongoing; Contact: 8977772524

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

24°C

20°C

24°C

31°C

Cloudy with showers likely.

Clear with cloudy periods

A mix of cloud and sun

A mix of cloud and sun

New Delhi Mumbai Max 30 Max 29 Min 25 Min 25 Cloudy

Thunderstorms likely

Chennai Max 36 Min 28

Bangalore Max 26 Min 19

Cloudy with showers likely

Cloudy with chances of thunderstorms.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES When: Ongoing, 6.30pm Contact: (040) 6625 0000

SHOWS

Tea flavours Try the tea flavours of Budlabeta, Hapjan and Khobong Sessa. A portion of the proceeds will be contributed to WWF India's one-horned Rhino Conservation project in Assam.

Where: Oxford Bookstore, The Park, 22 Rajbhavan Road When: Ongoing Contact: 8790432354

Movie night Lisbon Story, German movie will be screened.

Where: Goethe Zentrum, Banjara Hills When: August 8, 6 pm Contact: Goethe-Zentrum Hyderabad, at 2335-0443 Reel abilities Kinnudiya Belakalli, a Kannada Play will be staged.

Where: Ravindra Bharathi, Saifabad When: August 10, 6 pm Contact: Srinivas, at 93911-11622 Live performance One Nite Stand - Tribute to Coldplay will be performing live.

Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Banjara Hills When: August 8, 2013 Contact: 88864 80007

GAS BOOKING IVRS NO HP 9666023456 Indane 9848824365 BSNL Complaints HMWS & SB Complaints

198 155313

POLICE CONTROL ROOM Hyderabad 27852435 Traffic Control Room 27852482 DCP Traffic 23234065, 23243499F Pollution Control Board 23887500

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

Where: Dakshin, ITC Kakatiya, Begumpet When: August 30 Contact: 789301 3000

Play pursuits Bade Bhai Sahab, a play by The Recycle Bin will be staged.

Where: DST Auditorium, Gachibowli When: August 6, 8.30 pm Contact: 2313-3216

Ramzan special Relish the season special iftar delicacies.

Where: Viva, Taj Vivanta When: Till Aug 7, 5.30-11.30 pm

Photo exhibition Jal Anand: Shahi Snan, Maha Kumbha Mela 2013 by Jean Pierre Muller, Cord Meier-Klodt & Lalit Verma.

Where: State Gallery of Art,Kavuri Hills,Madhapur.

When: Till August 14 Contact: Goethe Zentrum on Facebook

Plaza When: Aug 3 onwards, 11.30 am onwards Contact: 6733 1133

An age of innocence An exhibition by Jaya Javeri depicting playfulness, fantasy, nature and childhood memories will be held.

Where: Ginger Lily, Radisson Blu

Flavours to savour Unique flavours of Pondicherry.

Commissioner & Spl Officer

Helpline

ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section

QUITE A MOUTHFUL: A girl poses with a bunch of grapes at an event that was held at Marigold Hotel on the occasion of Friendship Day. SRINIVAS SETTY

23262266 24166666R ENC 23225267 Engineering 23220418 MCH Tankbund 23225397 Emergency MCH Circle I&II 24525842 MCH Circle III 24736912 MCH Circle IV 23326975 MCH Circle V 23326976 MCH Circle VI MCH Complaints 1100 Head Office 23225397 IVRS CUM MANUAL ENQUIRY PHONE NUMBERS (TRAIN & RESERVATION) RAILWAYS Rail Nilayam 27833169, 27824216 Railway Information 131 Reservations 135 Recorded Information 1345 Enquiry (IVRS) 1331, 1332, 1333

DINING

WATER SUPPLY Complaint Cell Sewerage Complaint Hyd. Water Supply HOSPITAL General Hospital, Sec-bad Niloufer Hospital, Red Hills NIMS, Director, Punjagutta Osmania General Hospital Railway Hospital, Lalaguda Apollo, Jubilee Hills Care Hospital, Banjara Hills Care Hospital, Nampally Care Hospital, Musheerabad Care Hospital, Sec-bad Kamineni Hospital, LB Nagar

155313 23307328 23313163

27505566 23314095 23390933 24600146 27001134 23607777 30418888 30417777 30419000 30416666 39879999

BLOOD BANKS Blood Bank,Narayanguda Chiranjeevi Blood Bank Blood Bank Mediton Goal Red Cross, Vidyanagar ADRM Blood Bank Mythri Charitable Trust NTR Memorial Trust Care Banjara Hills

Where: Deccan Pavilion, ITC Kakatiya When: Till Aug 7, 7.30pm Parantha festival Haldi at Novotel Airport is hosting a parantha festival titled Parantha Overload. The parantha festival on till August 15, offers a variety of paranthas in both vegetarian and non-vegetarian combinations.

Where: Novotel Airport, Shamshabad

27567892 23559555 23226624 27633087 27035588 27550238 30799999 30418296 30417445

AMBULANCES Apollo 23548888, 23607777 Kamineni 24022222 Medwin 23202902, 23204616 Smile Line Dental Hospital 23747979 Red Cross 27627973 Niloufer Hospital 23314095 Gandhi 23320332 AIRLINES

WORKSHOPS Outdoor photography An outdoor photography workshop for adults and teens will be held by Indira Penubolu.

Where: Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad When: August 10, 11, 3.30 pm to 6 pm Contact: 9030013344, 9246844650, 9949076582 Theatre festival The seventh edition of the multi-lingual theatre festival — Abhinaya National Theatre Festival will be held from August 16 to August 19.

Where: Ravindra Bharathi, Saifabad When: August 16 onwards 6.30pm onwards Contact: (040) 2323 1245

Airport Director 27903785, 27906001 For Air India Flight Information Toll free (from any network) for IC Flights 18001801407 And for All Flights: 1800227722 Air India has revised its flight timings.

For more information call (Toll free) 18001801407, 1800227722 from BSNL/MTNL 04023430334 from other lines and mobile Website; www.airindia.in TOURISM OFFICES AP Tourism, Hyd 23262152/53/54 Sec-bad 27893100 Dept of Tourism 23453110 India Tourism 23261360 AP Tourism information Centre (24x7) 23450444, 23455999 UK VISA OFFICE VFS India Pvt Ltd Building, 8-2-542/A, Sunil Chamber, Road No. 7

Beside Meridian School, Banjara Hills34. Working hours are from 8 AM to 1 PM And 2 PM to 3PM. MUSEUMS Salar Jung Museum AP State Museum Nizams Museum

24523211 232431300/7641 24521029

Readers’ views

We invite you to write to us comments, suggestions, viewpoint or just about anything to feedback@postnoon.com or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500 033 or even by way of a call on 4067 2222

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

news

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

WILL KCR KEEP HIS WORD OF MAKING A DALIT T-CM? 21% 79%

YES (A)

TODAY’S QUESTION

ARE FOREIGN COACHES AN ANSWER TO OUR HOCKEY FLOP SHOW? A)

YES

B)

NO

NO (B)

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

Case against packers HYDERABAD: A City businessman has alleged a packers and movers firm of cheating for not delivering his goods after taking money.

Sai Ram Chaudhary is a resident of Yousufguda. He runs a furniture shop in partnership with one K. Chaudhary of Srinagar colony. Their shop is situated in Bowenpally.

A City businessman has alleged a packers and movers firm of cheating for not delivering his goods after taking money.

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Recently they shifted their business to Haryana and wanted their goods delivered. They approached the packers and movers and paid `30,000, said the complainants. But the goods were never delivered.

When accosted, the manager by name Balaji got angry and abused the two. Police have registered a case.

POLITICS

Passenger conned at S’bad railway station Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Conning has different colours. In the latest incident, a youth from Bihar who was on his way home on leave was cheated of all his savings and bags at the Secunderabad railway station by two conmen.

Raj Kumar, hailing from Bihar, is an accountant with a firm in Tandur Mandal. He was on a 15 day leave and had on his person some `27,000 a bit of gold and some parcels for his parents

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and relatives. As he was standing in queue before the railway counter, a person approached him and said he was a Bihari and would like to help Raj without wasting time in queue. He said he knows a TT who will give the ticket. Trusting him, Raj Kumar broke out of the queue and came along with the new-found friend. The friend brought in

another who was introduced as TTE. Raj Kumar handed over money for ticket and waited.

After a while, the friend let Raj to go for tea nearby and he went for tea and when came back found the man disappeared with bags. In the bag was Rs.25000 cash and other valuables. Railway police have registered a case.

Escaped python kills 2 children in Canada MONTREAL: An escaped python killed two children in their sleep in eastern Canada, police said Monday.

The two young boys, aged five and seven, were sleeping at a friend's apartment late Sunday in the small town of Campbellton when they were surprised by the snake.

It had escaped from a pet store that specialized in exotic animals located on the floor below the apartment.

"The preliminary investigation has led police to believe that a large exotic snake had escaped its enclosure at the store sometime overnight, and got into the ventilation system, then into the upstairs apartment," police said in a statement.

"It's believed the two boys were strangled by the snake."

A New Brunswick police spokesman declined to give further details on the size of the

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snake or whether signs of strangulation were apparent on the boys.

Authorities late Monday said they were still waiting for the results of the autopsies — to be carried out Tuesday — to determine the cause of death.

But reptile experts expressed skepticism over the incident, saying it would be extremely rare for a constrictor to attack two young boys.

"It's difficult to believe," said David Rogrigue, director of Montreal's Ecomuseum Zoo. This type of accident would be "an isolated case and very, very extraordinary, and very improbable," he said.

These snakes typically bite to defend themselves and use strangulation solely for their prey.

AFP

CITY BRIEFS TRS fears it may lose cadre to Congress

Seemandhra ministers feel the heat

Dattatreya against joint capital status

Seemandhra employees on strike

Seemandhra leaders shift base to Delhi

HYDERABAD: The whisperednews that many TRS leaders were holding talks with the Congress to jump the fence has jolted the TRS leadership. It is said at least eight party MLAs are preparing to join the Congress. This may lead to an avalanche later, it is feared. Earlier, its leader Vijayashanti was suspended for getting too close to the Congress.

HYDERABAD: Leaders frm Seemandhra continue to face popular ire. The Minorities Welfare Minister Syed Ahmadullah faced a bitter experience in Kadapa district yesterday with Samaikyandhra agitators throwing footwears at him.

Women raided the house of Union minister Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and threatened with dire consequences.

HYDERABAD: BJP leader Bandaru Dattatreya has said his party was against the proposal of joint capital status to Hyderabad.

Dattatreya said the UPA was forced to concede separate Telangana demand only because the BJP supported its creation. He said Telangana will get Constitutional status only when the bill passed.

HYDERABAD: Demanding that the Centre withdraw its announcement on formation of the Telangana State, the Seemandhra employees, under the aegis of AP NGOs Association, staged dharna before the C Block in the Secretariat on Monday. The Seemandhra employees demanded that the Centre take opinion of all concerned.

HYDERABAD: Leaders representing Loksabha from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions have shifted their base to the national capital in view of the ongoing monsoon session. While the MPs from ruling Congress held meetings to chalk out a plan, their counterparts from TDP held a dharna infront of the main entrance of the Parliament.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE Nothing less than T

L

ast year we had reported that TRS Supremo KCR had made it clear that there was no other alternative to a separate Telangana. Now that his wish is on its way to attain fulfilment, the leader is creating further hurdles by makes incendiary statements like asking Seemandhra employees to leave.

Quite a turn of events.

AUGUST 6, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

$1.3 mn

is the amount Lloyds of London offered for any information leading to the recovery of jewels stolen from a Cannes Hotel last month. The loot was worth an estimated 103 million euros.

Delhi police are under the direct control of the Central government. This is the main reason for the deterioration of law and order situation there.

K Kavita Telangana Jagruthi president See page 5

THINGS WE 5LEARNT TODAY The column that teaches everyone something new about the way the world functions.

1

Python strikes, kills two children in their sleep The reptile escaped from a pet store that specialised in exotic animals. The store was below the children’s apartment.

2

Remembering Hiroshima on its 68th anniversary.

Ageing survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates observed a moment of silence at 8.15 am, the time of the detonation of the bomb on August 6, 1945.

3

Western part of the Himalayas affected by dust.

Dust enhances water vapour and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere resulting in the warming up of the troposphere.

4

Dam creates divisions, not restricted to water alone.

The hydroelectric project at Xayaburi has sharply divided four Mekong nations — Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand.

5

How fake food in Japan is wooing the tourists.

Tourists can choose what they want to eat in the form of intricately-made plastic replicas.

CIVIC

Look before you cross APSRTC’s cautious approach on connectivity with OU campus reflects the general underlying fear and confusion about Telangana state.

Meanwhile, girl students have sought a ladies special to important destinations in the City.

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Though the APSTRC’s decision to begin plying buses once again came as a relief for the university students, the Transport Corporation still seems to dither over providing full connectivity to the campus.

The APSRTC has resumed services after nearly two years.

As the euphoria died, reality emerged. According to students buses are still not frequent.

Frequency of buses to areas like ECIL and Afzalgunj route has in fact decreased. “Earlier more than 50 buses would ply on those routes but the number has been halved,” said T Ganesh a PG student.

According to sources, though the APSRTC had agreed to restart the bus services to the campus, the bitter experience of the agitation where buses were burnt, still rankles with them.

The transport corporation management is waiting for a clear decision about Seemandhra and Telangana, since they fear that even a slight change could mean tension on the campus.

Transport officials are, however, diplomatic. When contact-

reach various University affiliated colleges.

“Students studying in colleges like Koti Women’s College and PG College Secunderabad find it very difficult to reach their colleges on time as there is no direct bus. Also the frequency of the connecting buses via campus is very low. So we’ve requested the Transport Corporation to provide special ladies buses that will be a great help for the gil students at the campus hostel,” said P Satya a student leader.

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ed the Transport Corporation officials denied such apprehensions. “Demand for a few new routes via OU has increased. So the expectations are high. This is the reason that commuters feel

they have fewer buses. We have once again started the services and are happy with the positive response from university students,” said an official.

Meanwhile, the students from the ladies hostel have submitted a memorandum to the APSRTC MD AK Khan requesting him to provide special ladies buses for the girl students to

Demand for a few new routes via OU has increased.

So the expectations are high. This is the reason why commuters feel they have fewer buses.

Transport officials APSRTC

BOTULISM CONTAMINATION

NZ’s ‘clean’ green’ image hurt

The image is particularly valuable in Asia and especially China, where a series of food scandals have undermined trust in local products.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand has long marketed itself as "100 per cent pure", but experts say that image is under threat amid fears of botulism contamination in its baby formula and other milk products.

The crisis gripping dairy giant Fonterra has implications for the entire country because of its importance to the economy and the damage being done to New Zealand’s brand in China, its fastest growing export market, said communications expert Chris Galloway.

New Zealand largely shuns intensive farming methods and its cows feed on rolling pastures rather than feed lots, helping it foster a reputation for produc-

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ing “clean, green” products.

The image is particularly valuable in Asia and especially China, where a series of food scandals have undermined trust in local products.

But Prime Minister John Key has acknowledged that New Zealand will face a tough task restoring confidence in markets such as China after a potentially deadly bug that can cause botulism was found in some Fonterra products.

While isolating the cause of the contamination, a dirty pipe in a North Island processing

plan, and destroying the affected goods was relatively simple, Key said he feared the affair would damage international customers’ perceptions of New Zealand goods.

A clearly frustrated Key questioned why Fonterra took so long to sound the alarm, saying the company knew it could not afford to take risks with people’s health.

AFP

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

HEALTH

UTTAR PRADESH

Brazil to test HIV shot on monkeys Scientists said the vaccine would not totally eliminate the virus from the organism yet.

SAO PAULO: Brazilian scientists have developed an HIV vaccine and plan to begin testing on monkeys later this year, a sponsor institution said Monday.

Known as the HIVBr18, the vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS was developed and patented by a team from the Medicine Faculty of the University of Sao Paulo, the Sao Paulo state Research Foundation (FAPE-

SP) said.

The scientists said that, at its current stage of development, the vaccine would not totally eliminate the virus from the organism.

But the vaccine would be able to maintain it at a viral load low enough that the infected person will neither develop an immunodeficiency nor transmit the virus, they explained.

The foundation said the mon-

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key trials are expected to last two years.

“Our goal is to test various immunization methods to select the one capable of inducing a stronger immunological response and thus be able to test it on

humans," FAPESP quoted Cunha Neto as saying. Provided adequate funding is available, the first clinical trials could then be launched, it added. Work on the vaccine began in 2001 and the research team — Edecio Cunha Neto, Jorge Kalil and Simone Fonseca — plan to test it on a colony of rhesus monkeys provided by Sao Paulo state’s Butantan biomedical research institute.

POLITICS

‘UT to City spells trouble’ The TRS has now come out with a new argument that if Hyderabad is made a UT, it would render it a crime capital like Delhi.

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Taking a new aggressive stance against the Union Territory status to Hyderabad, the TRS leaders quote the ‘Medical student rape” case in Delhi to scare the people saying if Hyderabad is made a UT, it will become a crime capital like Delhi.

The new argument is being aired free to say the state capital ought to be the capital of the New Telangana. Joint capital status to Hyderabad would be rendering it a no-man territory, they say.

The TRS stance comes as a counter to the ongoing Seemandhra stir to declare Hyderabad a UT for fear of reprisals from the Seemandhra people in Hyderabad at the hands of the Telanagana votaries. As of now, the Centre plans to keep the Hyderabad city as the joint capital of both Telangana and Seemandhra states.

Many of the Telangana protagonists castigated the demands of Seemandhra leaders stating that the law order

status will deteriorate terribly and crime will increase drastically.

“Delhi police are under the direct control of the Central government. This is the main reason for the deterioration of law and order situation there. Delhi Medical student’s brutal rape and her subsequent death is a classic example of this. The increase in crime is because of the only reason that the law enforcing agencies are not under the control of Delhi government. The same thing will happen if Hyderabad is made a union territory," TRS President KCR’s daughter and Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavita.

She called upon the people of the Andhra and Rayalaseema to stop their agitation and hold discussions with the T-leaders over their apprehensions.

“They can’t go on agitating by holding insincere agitations. If they have any problem vis-a-vis Telangana state or Hyderabad city they can always hold discussions with us to dispel their fears," she added.

Progressive Organisation of Women (POW) state president

Durga did not raze wall, say intel reports LUCKNOW: Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Zevar and not suspended IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was SDM Sadar of Noida, razed the boundary wall of an under construction mosque, said a report from the local intelligence unit (LIU) that pushed the Uttar Pradesh government to the back foot Tuesday.

The report was submitted to the state government July 27, the day when hours later Durga Shakti Nagpal was given marching orders and was attached to the state revenue board. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Monday made it clear that UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s decision in this matter was correct and that there was no option to go back now. Notwithstanding the AROUND THE

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V. Sandhya also expressed similar views. She said that the Telangana people can’t be reconciled to the loss of Hyderabad which geographically and rightfully belongs to Telangana. The

Telangana Joint Action Committee Leader and Telangana Gazetted Officers’ Association (TGOA) President V Srinivas Goud said that the new state of Telangana will not afford to have a crime capital like Delhi by turning into a union territory.

He said that the telangana supporters will never agree to such a proposal.

letter written by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that treatment to the officials should be fair, Mulayam Singh Yadav said the decision to suspend her was “final". Sources in the government while confirming the LIU report said the political leadership of the state government has “decided not to go back in this matter now".

Akhilesh Yadav has maintained that the decision to suspend the SDM was taken to thwart any communal flare up in the Kadalpur village of Noida. In the detailed report, the LIU team says that a mosque was being constructed in Kadalpur village falling under the Raghupura police station.

IANS

NATION BRIEFS Nine Hindu pilgrims killed in two accidents

Use coercive diplomacy against Sri Lanka: Jaya

Lok Sabha adjourned till noon

Rescuers resume search in Idukki

Ban interacts with Odisha tribal students

PATNA: Nine Hindu pilgrims (Kanwariyas) were killed and nearly a dozen injured in two separate road accidents Tuesday in Bihar’s Jamui and Saran districts, police said. In Jamui, five pilgrims belonging to a family, were killed when a speeding truck hit their vehicle near Sikandra.

In the second accident in Saran, four died and eight were hurt.

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take immediate steps to initiate “coercive diplomacy” against “unfriendly” Sri Lanka that continues to attack Indian fishermen. Jayalalithaa said 70 innocent fishermen from Tamil Nadu languish in Sri Lankan jails.

NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha was Tuesday adjourned till noon after MPs, including of the BJP and SP, disrupted proceedings raising slogans over the deaths of five Indian soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP and SP members went near the speaker’s podium and raised slogans protesting the killing of the soldiers by Pakistani troops.

IDUKKI: Rescuers were today looking for possible survivors in rain-ravaged Idukki district of Kerala, where a string of landslides claimed 14 lives, even as Cochin International Airport was yet to resume operations. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is visiting Idukki to assess the magnitude of the disaster.

BHUBANESWAR: As many as 25 young tribal boys and girls of Bhubaneswar-based Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences participated in a live discussion with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon via video conferencing, the institute said Tuesday. The UN secretary-general and a team of panelists held talks with the students Monday.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

UNIVERSAL EDUCATION

T

spirit is willing but...

While infrastructure is not really the issue, state apathy towards public schools is the debilitating factor.

MOHSIN ALI ali@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Educationalists from Telangana want to bring reforms in the educational system to make it world class and more competitive after the bifurcation.

T politicians and educationists blame the AP government of pandering to the corporate schools for the miserable condition of public schools in the State.

The TRS chief K Chandrasekhar says he dreams of a universal education for Telangana children from the formative stage to post graduation. The proposed State believes government schools are superior to private ones but deliberate denigration of public schools by the government

SECRETARIAT

Governance at its lowest ebb

Most of the ministers from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions have not turned up for work since the T-state announcement.

Md Inkeshaf Ahmed ahmed.m@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: The ongoing agitations

by Seemandhra leaders including state cabinet ministers and employees have virtually paralysed the administration at the State Secretariat The cabinet ministers from Andhra

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and Rayalaseema regions are following in the footsteps of the chief minister who remains confined to his camp office, skipping work at the Secretariat.

Most of the ministers from these two regions did not turn up for work since the T-state announcement. These leaders are instead busy in participating in the ongoing agitations in their respective regions.

The direct result of the negligence of duties is the piling up of files and decisional logjam. Adding to this is the continuous agitation by Seemandhra employees in the secretariat. Most of these employees after marking their presence are whiling away time discussing Telangana. The flow of visitors has almost stopped, while empty chairs and running fans are the order of the day.

REVIEW MEETINGS DISCONTINUED

Another direct effect of the agitation by state cabinet ministers is reduction in the number of review meetings.

Lack of regular review meetings, which play a crucial role in monitoring the progress of various development activities, are also resulting in ineffective implementation of schemes at the grassroot level especially due to the incessant rains.

and bureaucracy are the reasons for the state of affairs. Telangana has total 26,221 primary, 6,832 upper primary, and 9,967 high schools in which the total strength of the students enrolled is 60,36,321 and 2,14,864 teachers.

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Speaking to Postnoon in this regard, Member of Legislative Council, TRS, Pathuri Sudhakar Reddy said, "We can have quality of education if we utilise our resources. In a competitive world where the private schools provide digital education the government schools continue to talk and use chalk. The present government is

promoting and favouring the corporate managements for its personal interest and neglecting the government schools which have superior resources, but are illmanaged.

Reddy says even the government teachers are better trained than the private and corporate schools. Asked about the lack of infrastructure and staff, the commissioner at the Directorate of School Education, Vani Mohan she said," We are concentrating on improving the public schools, especially in rural areas of Telangana. We will do our best.�

But the government schools continue to protest and all admit that it is a Herculean task to recapture the glory of public schools.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

POLITICS

Amazon's Bezos buys Washington Post for $250 mn WASHINGTON: The Washington Post, the legendary newspaper that broke the Watergate scandal, is being sold to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as it seeks to survive the onslaught of the Internet.

Donald Graham, grandson of Eugene Meyer, who bought the Post during the Great Depression in 1933, stunned the US media industry on Monday, announcing the sale of the storied title to Bezos for $250 million. Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Co., had given no hint that the newspaper was up for sale, despite sinking earnings and plunging

subscriptions.

But he admitted that he and his niece, Post publisher Katharine Weymouth, "have no answers" to the challenge the newspaper faces from the Internet, after seven years of falling revenues, which finally led to the deal. Annual operating losses more than doubled to $53.7 million last year and were $14.8 million in the second quarter of this year.

The deal involves only the newspaper assets of the Washington Post Co., including its free commuter daily The Express, the Spanish language

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newspaper El Tiempo Latino, and Robinson Terminal, a warehouse asset. The Washington Post Co. will retain the large educational testing service Kaplan, Foreign Policy magazine, Slate.com, and a cable television operation, as well as the Post's downtown headquarters in the US capital.

Weymouth will stay on as the newspaper's CEO and publisher along with other top management.

AFP

Daily owner held for fraud SEOUL: Police have arrested the chairman of one of South Korea's major newspapers on charges of embezzling millions of dollars, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Chang Jae-Ku, owner of the Hankook Ilbo media group which includes several wellknown dailies, magazines and a cable channel, was arrested on Monday night.

Chang, 65, is accused of embezzling company funds worth 13 billion won ($11.6 million) for his personal use

CROSS-BORDER RAID

Pakistani troops kill five Indian soldiers in J&K A senior police officer sais Pakistani troops crossed the LoC in Chakan-da-Bagh sector of Poonch and attacked an army post.

JAMMU: Five Indian Army soldiers were killed by Pakistani troops who crossed the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, a police official said Tuesday.

A senior police officer told IANS that Pakistani troops crossed the LoC in Chakan-daBagh sector of Poonch district late Monday night.

"They attacked our post in Karmad village on the LoC

Dastardly ambush: Modi

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killing five of our soldiers. Later, the intruding soldiers withdrew back into the Pakistan side of the LOC," the official said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah took to his micro-blogging twitter site to express condolences to the families of the

slain soldiers.

Omar also said incidents like this give the lie to Pakistan's assertions of peace with India.

“Was briefed early this morning about news that 5 of our soldiers had been killed on the LOC. My heartfelt condolences

to their next of kin," Omar said in his first comment on the incident. His another tweet said: “These incidents don't help efforts to normalise or even improve relations with Pak & call into question the Pak Govt's recent overtures.”

NEW DELHI: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday called the killing of five Indian soldiers by Pakistani troops a "dastardly ambush" while Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said the killings won't "help efforts to normalise or even improve relations" with Islamabad.

Both were quick to take the Twitter route to condemn the violation of ceasefire Monday night by Pakistan in Poonch of J&K. Modi tweeted: "Dastardly ambush by Pakistan last night in the Chakan da Bagh area of Poonch leading to death of 5 Indian Soldiers is unacceptable."

and causing the group a further financial loss of 30 billion won by offering business benefits to his creditors.

The labour union of the Hankook Ilbo — the group's flagship newspaper — had asked Seoul prosecutors to investigate Chang back in April.

The management responded by firing the paper's editorin-chief, banning most unionised reporters from entering the newsroom and withholding their salaries. AFP

DEATH PENALTY Texas executes schizophrenic murderer WASHINGTON: A US man convicted of killing eight people in 1977 and 1978, but diagnosed as mentally ill, was executed Monday in Florida, despite protests from medical experts.

John Ferguson, a paranoid schizophrenic, was declared dead from lethal injection at 6:17 pm local time (2217 GMT), a prison spokesman said.

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In his final words, the inmate said he was "the Prince of God," a phrase he used for himself often, according to his lawyer.

His death sentence had raised protests from several groups of mental health experts, doctors and lawyers, who had petitioned on his behalf at the US Supreme Court, saying he was incapable of understanding the punishment. But the nation's top court rejected this final appeal.

Ferguson, 65, who had spent 35 years on death row, was convicted of killing six people in a drug-related massacre in 1977 and of killing two teenagers in 1978.

AFP

WORLD BRIEFS Trafficked Chinese baby reunited with parents

Tibetan exile dies after self-immolating in Nepal

Philippine blast death toll up to eight

Musharraf murder charges adjourned

UN food aid for 38,000 N Korea flood victims

BEIJING: A baby boy allegedly sold by the doctor who delivered him in China has been reunited with his parents. Zhang Suxia, the doctor responsible for the birth in northwestern China's Shaanxi province, allegedly persuaded the parents to give up their child last month after informing them he had serious congenital diseases.

KATHMANDU: A Tibetan exile died after self-immolating at a Buddhist monument in Nepal on Tuesday morning, a local police official said. "A Tibetan man in his forties set himself on fire at the Bouddhanath Stupa temple in the morning. His body was badly burned," Arjun Chand, a police official in Kathmandu, told AFP.

MANILA: The death toll from a powerful bomb that hit a southern Philippine city rose to eight on Tuesday, police said, as officials pointed to political rivalry as a possible motive. Thirty-six people were caught in Monday's roadside blast, with four killed at the scene and another four dying in local hospitals overnight.

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan's exmilitary ruler Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday failed to appear in court where he was to be indicted over the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto due to what police said were security concerns.

Musharraf had been summoned to face charges of criminal conspiracy and the murder of Bhutto in 2007.

SEOUL: The UN's World Food Programme said Tuesday it had begun distributing 460 tonnes of maize to victims of major floods in North Korea that have killed more than 30 people. The aid is aimed at addressing the "immediate food needs" of around 38,000 people living in areas of serious crop devastation, the WFP said.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

TERROR ALERT

GUN VIOLENCE

‘Zawahiri had ordered hit’ The State Department, acting ‘out of an abundance of caution’ has extended some of the closures.

NICOLAS REVISE Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON: Intercepts between Al-Qaeda chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri and the leader of the group’s Yemen affiliate sparked Washington’s closure of US missions overseas and global travel alert, US media reported Monday.

The New York Times said in its online edition that the electronic communications last week revealed that Zawahiri had ordered Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday.

CNN, meanwhile, reported that Zawahiri told Wuhayshi to “do something," causing officials in both Washington and Yemen to fear an attack was imminent.

As a result, roughly two dozen US diplomatic posts were shuttered across the Middle East Sunday.

The State Department, acting “out of an abundance of caution”

The warning

T

he New York Times said in its online edition that the electronic communications last week revealed that Zawahiri had ordered Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the head of AlQaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, to carry out an attack as early as this past Sunday.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the House omeland Security ommittee dubbed the intelligence “probably one of the most specific and credible threats I’ve seen, perhaps, since 9/11.”

has extended some of the closures, saying 19 diplomatic outposts would remain shut through Saturday.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is seen by Washington as the most active branch of the jihadist network.

Several US allies, including Britain, France, Germany and Norway have also announced closures of some of their missions in the region.

The US closure list includes 15 embassies or consulates that were shut on Sunday — the fifteenth anniversary of Al-Qaeda’s attacks on US embassies in East Africa — as well as four additional posts.

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Lawmakers in Washington described the threat level as very serious.

Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee dubbed the intelligence “probably one of the most specific and credible threats I’ve seen, perhaps, since 9/11."

Saxby Chambliss, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the level of chatter among alleged terrorists was “very reminiscent of what we saw pre-9/11".

General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC News the threats were “more specific” than previous threats, although the exact target was unknown.

ABC News cited an unnamed US official as saying there was concern Al-Qaeda might deploy suicide attackers with surgically implanted bombs to evade security.

The posts to be closed include Abu Dhabi, Amman, Cairo, Riyadh, Dhahran, Jeddah, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait, Manama, Muscat, Sanaa, Tripoli, Antananarivo, Bujumbura, Djibouti, Khartoum, Kigali and Port Louis.

WITCH HUNT

US man kills three at meeting WASHINGTON: A gunman opened fire at a small town meeting Monday in the US state of Pennsylvania, killing at least three people, police said. Three others were wounded in the attack, and the gunman was also injured and receiving medical care, according to the local NBC affiliate.

The meeting of town supervisors in Ross Township, in the eastern US state’s Monroe County, was slated to begin at 7:00 pm local time (2300 GMT). Just 23 minutes later, emergency calls started coming in, the broadcaster said. The Pocono Record local paper reported that an official had tackled the shooter and shot him with his own weapon. The shooter was reportedly conscious AROUND THE

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when he was taken away on a stretcher.

Chris Reber, a reporter for the newspaper who was at the meeting, said the shooter fired through the walls, sending clouds of plaster into the room where around 15 people were seated on folding chairs.

“I heard more than 10 shots. It was automatic, like a string of firecrackers," he said, according to an account published on the newspaper’s website, at www.poconorecord.com.

AFP

China expunges Bo’s once-stellar reputation DALIAN: The Dalian Modern Museum (a display pictured) once boasted exhibits on the achievements that brought renown to the city and its former mayor Bo Xilai. Not any more, with China’s propaganda machine dismantling Bo’s reputation as his trial approaches.

Any references to the one-time political star at the $24 million museum have disappeared, along with once-prominent displays showcasing signature features of Dalian, which Bo is credited with transforming in the 1990s.

In recent months a hodgepodge of items have instead been on show, among them a gallery of American artwork, display cases of 20th century pipes and stamps, and Inner Mongolian stirrups and jewellery dating back a millennium.

Although some locals still remember him fondly, the makeover is emblematic of the way the ruling Communist Party is scrubbing away the vestiges of the disgraced politician, whose trial on bribery and other AROUND THE

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charges is scheduled this month.

Until his downfall, Bo had been praised for transforming Dalian into a development success story during the 1990s, before he moved on to head the provincial government of Liaoning and the national commerce ministry.

In 2007 he moved to Chongqing in the southwest and drew further attention with a “red revival", exem-

plified by revolutionary songs and with populist policies that came to be called the “Chongqing model” of development.

But his leftist bent alienated some leaders, and he was brought down after his police chief fled to a US consulate last February with evidence Bo’s wife had killed a British associate, lifting the lid on the scandal.

When he was accused in September of a broad range of “disciplinary violations” by the party, state media pilloried him for having “badly undermined” China’s image.

Two months later his successor said there was “no such thing as a Chongqing model".

Bo has not been seen in public since March 2012, and has had no opportunity to defend himself as his image has been taken apart.

AFP

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Remembering Hiroshima What happened on 6 August ’45

A

n American B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima August 6, 1945, in one of the final chapters of World War II. It killed an estimated 140,000 by December that year. Three days later, the port city of Nagasaki was also bombed, killing an estimated 70,000 people.

Tens of thousands gathered at a peace memorial park in Hiroshima on Tuesday to mark the 68th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city, as anti-atomic sentiment runs high in Japan.

The annual ceremony came as radioactive water leaks at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have stoked renewed fears about the plant's precarious state, and underscored broader worries about atomic power following Japan's 2011 nuclear crisis.

In Hiroshima, ageing survivors, relatives, government officials and foreign delegates observed a moment of silence at 8:15 am, the time of the detonation which turned the western Japanese city into a nuclear inferno.

Its most mighty

L

ater today, Japanese officials will be unveiling Tokyo's biggest naval ship since World War II, as the government moves to beef up Japan's self-defence forces, jangling nerves in neighbouring China and South Korea.

The 248-metre (810-foot) helicopter carrier which can accommodate nine aircraft.

Abe's conservative Liberal Democratic Party has also said it wants to upgrade Japan's self-defence forces into a full-fledged military, which would mean overhauling a pacifist constitution imposed on the country by the US and its allies after WWII.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

CITIZEN PROTEST

Fracking fury hits idyllic British village Protestors fear that Cuadrilla will use the controversial method of hydraulic fracturing or 'fracking' of oil and gas from underground shale rock.

JUDITH EVANS feedback@postnoon.com BALCOMBE: Louisa Delpy had never protested before, but when she heard that shale gas extraction might begin in her leafy part of the English countryside, she was so furious that she took to the streets.

The 36-year-old mother went with two friends and a home-made sign to the lonely site where test drilling for oil and gas has begun, close to her upmarket village of Balcombe in West Sussex, a fifty-minute train ride from

central London.

Three weeks later, the gaggle of demonstrators has mushroomed into a protest camp of hundreds, becoming the focus of a national campaign against the controversial extraction technique known as “fracking”.

Protesters from around Britain have set up dozens of tents, loudspeakers and banners, while crowds surge forward with yells of fury to try to block each truck that drives towards the drilling site.

“I’ve never protested against anything in my life, but

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look where we are now,” Delpy said.

Waving signs with slogans such as “Frack off!” and “Balcombe’s not for shale”, the campers say they will stay as long as it takes for Cuadrilla, the firm that has pioneered fracking in Britain, to reconsider its involvement.

A prosperous commuter area in the home territory of Prime Minister David

Cameron’s Conservative party, Balcombe is an unlikely birthplace for a rowdy protest movement.

But many residents say that having objected unsuccessfully through official channels, they feel forced into direct action.

“All the normal forms of democracy seem to have been ignored,” said Stephen White, 59, a filmmaker from a nearby village. “It’s like the Wild West.”

Cuadrilla — whose chairman is former BP chief John Browne — has tried to pacify the locals, holding open days

and promising not to “ruin the countryside”.

It also says it is merely carrying out test drilling, which could lead to standard oil extraction, fracking, or nothing at all. The plan is to drill a 3,000-foot (915-metre) vertical well in a project lasting up to three months.

But Cuadrilla’s involvement elsewhere with fracking, or hydraulic fracturing — using huge amounts of pressurised water mixed with chemicals to crack open rock and release natural gas — has fuelled suspicion.

AFP

THE HIMALAYAS

Dust speeding melting of glaciers?

Dust enhanced water vapour and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere resulting in the warming up of the troposphere, especially in the western parts of Himalayan region.

KS JAYARAMAN feedback@postnoon.com BANGALORE: The International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS) proposes to set up a working group to study the impact of dust and black carbon from forest fires on the accelerated melting of snow and glaciers on the Himalayas. The decision was taken at a recent meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Cryosphere collectively describes the portions of the Earth’s surface where water is in the form of ice, snow, glaciers and frozen ground. The IACS was created in 2007 as a separate body within the International Union of Geology and Geophysics (IUGG) to promote research in this area through international coordination.

Ramesh Singh at the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences of Chapman University in California, who was formerly a professor of the

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Pollution in the IndoGangetic plains from industrial activities, biomass burning and sometimes forest fires further contributed to the warming of troposphere.

Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, has been asked by the IACS to submit a detailed proposal bringing out objectives of the proposed working group.

While at Kanpur, Singh used optical and microwave remote sensing satellite data extensively over the Himalayan region and also had a research project for three years jointly

with the Snow and Avalanche Institute in Manali under the defence ministry.

While analysing the satellite data, Singh noticed during the winter season a vast pool of atmospheric pollution over the Indo-Gangetic plains reaching all the way to the Himalayan foothills.

“The dust which is very common in the western parts of India almost every year (during April-June) reaches to the western parts of the Himalayas,” Singh told IANS. He said the dust also enhanced water vapour and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere resulting in the warming up of the troposphere, especially in the western parts of the Himalayan region accelerating the melting of glaciers there.

He added that pollution in the Indo-Gangetic plains from industrial activities, biomass burning and sometimes forest fires further contributed to the warming of troposphere and the Himalayan snow/glaciers.

IANS

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

ENVIRONMENT

DAM(N)ED!

The waters of the mighty Mekong have sustained generations of families but nowadays its fishermen often find their nets empty and fear hydropower mega-dams will destroy their livelihoods.

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The project

T

he Xayaburi hydropower project is one of 11 planned on the lower Mekong, raising worries for the future of the 60 million people in the region estimated to depend on the river in some way.

The cons

E

nvironmentalists warn that damming the lower Mekong would trap vital nutrients, increase algae growth and prevent dozens of species of migratory fish — including the giant catfish — swimming upstream to spawning grounds.

AMELIE BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence france Presse WIANG KAEN: The waters of the mighty Mekong have sustained generations of families but nowadays its fishermen often find their nets empty and fear hydropower mega-dams will destroy their livelihoods.

Pat Chaiwong has fished the Mekong in northern Thailand for three decades but good days are increasingly rare. “Some days I can catch fish. Some days I don’t catch any,” lamented the 67-yearold, one of about two dozen fishermen in the community of Wiang Kaen in the northern province of Chiang Rai. For many in the community, the reason lies upriver in the Chinese province of Yunnan where dams on the upper reaches of the river disturb the delicate cycle of nature.

“Usually the water would rise (and fall) with the seasons,” said fisherman Decha Chaiwong, 48.

Now it ebbs and flows depending on whether the dams are open or closed, he said.

“That’s why the fish have decreased.”

Today a new threat looms

Divided they stand

T

downstream in neighbouring Laos. The Xayaburi hydropower project is one of 11 planned on the lower Mekong, raising worries for the future of the 60 million people in the region estimated to depend on the river in some way.

The 4,800 kilometre long waterway, the longest in Southeast Asia, is home to hundreds of species of freshwater fish including the endangered giant Mekong catfish.

Environmentalists warn that damming the lower Mekong would trap vital nutrients, increase algae growth and pre-

vent dozens of species of migratory fish — including the giant catfish — swimming upstream to spawning grounds.

Many of the roughly 200 species in the lower Mekong swim upriver to spawn — one of the most important mass river migrations in the world, according to the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

The hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, has sharply divided four Mekong nations — Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand — who formed the MRC.

Pick

he hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, has sharply divided four Mekong nations — Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand — who formed the MRC, an intergovernmental group.

Communist Laos, one the world’s most under-developed nations, believes the planned 1,285 megawatt dam — which will cost $3.5 billion according to state media — will help it become “the battery of Southeast Asia”.

Thailand has agreed to buy most of the electricity generated by the project, but Cambodia and Vietnam fear the dam could seriously affect fish migration and sediment flows, hitting their farming and fishing industries.

Communist Laos, one the world’s most under-developed nations, believes the planned 1,285 megawatt dam — which will cost $3.5 billion according to state media — will help it become “the battery of Southeast Asia”.

at the

Thailand has agreed to buy most of the electricity generated by the project, but Cambodia and Vietnam fear the dam could seriously affect fish migration and sediment flows, hitting their farming and fishing industries.

Despite the concerns, construction on the main part of the dam began in November with Laos predicting completion by the end of 2019.

Laos has modified the design to try to minimise the impact, said Hans Guttman, chief executive officer of the Mekong River Commission Secretariat.

The changes include a system to flush sediment through the dams and allow fish to migrate through fish passages, he said.

“It is still obviously up for question whether this sediment flushing will work as envisaged because it has never been tested, and there is also concern about whether the fish passages will work on a structure this big,” he added.

In a study published in 2011, the MRC warned that the construction of 11 dams on the river in Laos and Cambodia as well as dozens more on tributaries, could cause fish catch to drop by at least 25 percent by 2030.

airport,

-

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COLOUR CONTROVERSY

AUSTRALIA

Oz ‘Sapphires’ protest US film cover ‘disrespect’ The women say the DVD cover completely missed the trauma that people of colour experienced in Australia and the United States.

SYDNEY: The Aboriginal Australian women whose lives inspired the acclaimed movie The Sapphires have protested at the film’s US DVD cover, saying its portrayal of a white male actor as the lead disrespects people of colour.

The feel-good flick about four Aboriginal singers sent to entertain troops in Vietnam has the women on its DVD cover in Australia.

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But in the US version they are “blue washed” and placed in the background while Irish actor Chris O’Dowd — who plays their manager — is front and centre in full colour. The original Sapphires — Naomi Mayers, Beverly Briggs, Lois Peeler and Laurel Robinson — have written to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the US to complain.

The women, in a letter written on their behalf by the Aboriginal Medical Service, say the DVD cover completely missed the trauma that people of colour experienced in Australia and the US.

The US cover has already caused a storm on social media, with O’Dowd himself tweeting that it was “ridiculous, misleading, and insensitive. ‘’The US cover of the DVD... in fact reinforces precisely the sort of bigotry that Naomi, Beverly, Lois and Laurel fought so hard against,’’it said. ‘’We’re hopeful that the NAACP — with its long and proud history of advocating strongly for the interests of people of colour — will add its significant voice to calls for the DVD cover to be changed.’’

Mayers, who works at the Aboriginal Medical Service in inner Sydney’s Redfern suburb, described

the cover as disrespectful. ‘’What has upset us is that the DVD cover appears to miss that point (of the film) entirely,’’she told The Sydney Morning Herald. ‘’It’s disrespectful to the very talented young Aboriginal actors in the film, and it’s disrespectful to us as a group. ‘But in particular, it’s disrespectful to women of colour everywhere who have stood up against this sort of thing all their lives. We hope that the US distributors of the DVD stop and

think about how their depiction of that work might be received, and that it motivates them to reconsider the cover artwork before the DVD is distributed,’’ she said.

The US cover has already caused a storm on social media, with O’Dowd himself tweeting in response to a question that it was “ridiculous, misleading, illjudged, insensitive and everything the film wasn’t”.

AFP

Politician quits over lewd texts SYDNEY: An Australian politician was forced to quit a parliamentary ethics committee on Tuesday after his exmistress revealed lewd texts he sent her, including one reportedly of his penis in a glass of red wine.

Queensland state government MP Peter Dowling, who has been married for more than 25 years, apologised to his family for the pain and embarrassment of the scandal which was sensationally published in the Courier-Mail newspaper.

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“I am not proud of the events plastered all over the paper,” Dowling, a Liberal National Party politician, told parliament in reference to reports he had sent the woman several explicit text messages, including one which involved full-frontal nudity.

“I can’t and won’t defend any part of it.”

The MP, who was also accused of taking advantage of parliamentary trips to rendezvous with his mistress, said he would stand aside as chair of the ethics committee to allow an investigation into his travel to take place.

AFP

LANGUAGE BARRIER

Japan’s fake food is real deal for tourists

KYOKO HASEGAWA feedback@postnoon.com

TOKYO: Alberto Pellegrini doesn’t speak or read Japanese, a deficit that threatened to leave the Italian tourist starving in a nation famous for its gastronomic delights.

Fortunately for the hungry honeymooner, restaurants across this food-obsessed nation — where English menus range from sparse to non-existent — often display their wares in the form of intricately-made plastic replicas.

The sight of a giant hotdog slathered in condiments doesn’t faze the average Japanese restaurant goer, and these fake food

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parades are often so similar to the real thing that they almost dare potential customers to take a bite.

A sudsy-looking beer, perfectly glazed sushi and indestructible deep-fried pork cutlets, known as tonkatsu, are a common sight on the streets of neon-lit Tokyo and even the smallest towns.

“It can really help,” Pellegrini said as he and his new wife combed lunch venues in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza shopping district.

“I point at the food and I just say ‘I want this, I want that’. It is easier because choosing from a list

(in Japanese) is impossible.”

But that sumptuous-looking futomaki has less-than-tasty origins.

“The original craftsman was working for doctors and making models for pathological studies, such as skin diseases and human organs, before he was asked to make food samples for a restaurant,” says Yasunobu Nose, a senior editor at the leading Nikkei business daily who authored a book about food models.

That turn of events in the early 1920s set off a food revolution in Japan where the idea spread rapidly as eating out soared in popularity and rural people flocked to the cities.

Unused to what city restaurants had to offer, the models gave country dwellers and locals alike a quick visual rundown of the chef’s specialties before stepping inside an eatery. Nearly a century later, “Japanese have developed a sense of getting information from threedimensional signs”, Nose said, adding that plastic food also has a

limited presence in neighbouring China and South Korea.

“You’re calculating lots of things — what kind of side dishes are there, how big is the meal, and is it economical?” he said.

“But for foreign tourists who don’t have this literacy, food samples are just something that closely resemble real dishes.”

AFP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Business

OIL PRICES SLIP AS LIBYAN PROD BOUNCES

Oil prices slipped in Asian trade on Tuesday as a rebound in Libyan oil production eased concerns about global supply, analysts said. West Texas Intermediate for delivery in September, was down four cents at $106.52 a barrel.

REAL ESTATE

The importance of FDI While banks have aided most real estate development in the past, the cost of debt is getting higher by the day.

SHOBHIT AGARWAL feedback@postnoon.com

7,000 6,000

T

he strict guidelines introduced by RBI have made real estate lending expensive and cumbersome. Currently, the costs of key inputs for real estate development are up by at least 7%. This is over and above a rise of about 25% last year. Labour cost is up 10-15% and the costs of steel and cement by about 7%. To add to this, funding costs have headed north. If we look at a city like Mumbai, the recent DCR amendments would add to developers' costs by about 15%, which includes the fungible premium payable if the builder opts to take the additional 35% FSI option.

Cumulatively, this comes to an approximate hike of 20% hike in construction cost, which most developers would pass on the consumers. The Indian real estate sector is in dire need of foreign funding — both in terms of maintaining growth and for the benefit of consumers.

FDI — THE ONLY FEASIBLE OPTION

Unlike most developed economies, India does not allow REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). Many would point to the M&A route, but this is also a lacklustre option as it comes at a cost of about 20%.

Meanwhile, REMFs (Real Estate Mutual Funds) — India's tentative answer to the international REITs model, adapted to the existing Indian mutual funds platform — do not seem to be the right answer, either.

While everybody is working on entry and creating assets, the important question of who will buy these assets to provide an

CHINA MALL VILLAS FLOP

Twenty-five luxury villas built on top of a Chinese shopping mall have become migrant workers' residences after authorities declared them illegal, state media said on Tuesday.

The houses, covering an area about the size of three football pitches, were built in 2009 on the roof of a multi-storey construction materials and furniture mall in Hengyang, the China Daily said. Pictures show the houses — with bright blue roofs and pastel yellow walls — mixing architectural styles, with wraparound verandahs and some having vaguely Germanic towers attached.

Sharp fall in FDI in Real Estate & Infrastructure in India

5,000 USD mn

4,000 3,000 2,000

NUMEROLOGY

1,000 0

13

FY 07

exit to the developers / investors needs to be addressed.

The leveraging allowed in the case of Indian REITs is the lowest (at 20% of the value) compared to 35% in case of Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan and 200% in the case of Korea. This could result in a lower yield — and because it is not really leveraged, the risk factor is also higher.

With all these routes being plugged because of the risk involved, FDI is clearly the only life-saver which the real estate sector can look up to. However; the ever-changing policies on FDI, taxation and development, coupled with a lack in transparency in the system and a high amount of friction in approval mechanisms, have led to an uncertainty in yields and tenure of lock-in for investments in real estate.

Today, if a foreign investor is willing to invest for a medium term like 5-6 years, he is bound to be hesitant as it is most likely that the targeted projects would

2.5%

FY 08 FY 09 FY 10 FY 11 FY 12 FY 13 take longer than 5 years to be completed.

Also, foreign investors are bound to miss out on the cream of returns, which come only after the project is in advanced stages of development or nearing completion.

This uncertainty of the quantum and time of returns is the reason why most foreign investors are currently shying away from Indian real estate sector.

FDI IS SLOWING DUE TO LOW YIELD, LONG GESTATION

Some international and domestic real estate funds are still focused on investments in residential projects in India. Luxury housing projects are out of the picture, as they are not large enough to meet minimum size for FDI requirements. Today, a majority of real estate investments are targeted towards the mid-income housing segment with unit typically priced between Rs. 50 lakh to Rs.1.5 crore. Now, even affordable housing projects are failing to strike a chord with investors

owing to the low yield and long gestation period involved.

NEED TO BOOST FDI IN INDIAN REAL ESTATE

To enable the Indian real estate sector to meet its massive capital requirements and capitalize on the opportunities for largescale real estate developments, the sector needs investor-friendly, streamlined policies from the Government. The most important steps would be: n Allowing 100% FDI in most real estate segments (with relaxation of certain parameters) n Introduction of a dedicated regulatory body n Ramping up the speed of the approval process.

These, coupled with increased transparency, adapting modern designs and technology for improved project execution and timely delivery from the industry are essential for attracting FDI back into Indian real estate.

Shobhit Agarwal is managing director, capital markets at Jones Lang LaSalle India

GOLD`27,841 10g SILVER `41,829 1kg

24C

for

for

DOLLAR `61.51 POUND `94.48

is what Australia's central bank interest rates have been cut down to.

RUPEE HITS RECORD LOW The rupee plunged to a fresh record low against the dollar on Tuesday over concerns that foreign capital could flow back to the United States as the American economy picks up.

The rupee, Asia's worst-performing major currency this year, hit a lifetime low of 61.51 rupees to the dollar in morning trade, below its previous low of 61.21 rupees on July 8. The rupee has plunged 12.3 percent in 2013, including Tuesday's fall. Indian shares fell 1.03 percent to 18,983.76 points after the currency hit a new low. "The rupee is on a runaway train and no one knows where it will stop," said Naveen Mathur of Angel Broking.

THUS SPAKE A lot of investors realised the global economy in the first half might be worse than they originally thought.... that dragged down the market sentiment.

JACKSON WONG, TANRICH SECURITIES VICE-PRESIDENT

BSE NSE

18,965.94 220.46

5,606.85 79.50

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Comment Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

Jane Austen English novelist

US analysts slam Turkey coup trial FULYA OZERKAN Agence France-Presse

T

he analysts in Turkey heaped scorn on a court’s decision to sentence a former army chief to life in jail following a divisive trial of 275 people accused of plotting a coup.

The civilian court Monday imprisoned ex top general Ilker Basbug for life and handed down lengthy sentences for other retired high-ranking officers, academics, politicians, lawyers and journalists in a landmark verdict that prompted ridicule from some observers.

Umit Kocasakal, from Istanbul’s Galatasaray University, dismissed the trial as a “theatre play”.

“The play is over, applaud!” said Kocasakal sarcastically, a phrase traditionally used at the end of Roman plays.

“An unlawful end is fitting for such an unlawful court case,” added the analyst.

The mass trial was seen as a key test in Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s showdown with secularist and military opponents, and critics branded it as a witchhunt aimed at stifling dissent.

The defendants faced dozens of charges ranging from membership of an underground “terrorist organisation” to arson, illegal weapons possession and instigating an armed uprising against Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which came to power in 2002.

Only 21 of the 275 defendants were acquitted although others were convicted and then released as they had already

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS Rising automation and low attrition in the IT sector may act as a dampener for job seekers with industry body Nasscom expecting hiring to decline by 17 per cent to 1,50,000 this current fiscal. The $108-billion Indian IT-ITeS sector provides employment to 3 million professionals.

NET SNOOPING

14

US EMBASSY CLOSURES SHARPEN DEBATE MATHIEU RABECHAULT Agence France Presse

T

he United States’ unprecedented decision to close two dozen diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa has intensified the debate on its spy agencies’ vast Internet surveillance program.

The embassies and missions were shut down until the end of Ramadan after what the State Department said were credible intelligence reports that AlQaeda is preparing a major attack on US interests.

Defenders of the National Security Agency’s digital dragnet seized upon this as evidence that the controversial web surveillance is both effective and necessary to protect American lives.

But opponents of the programs, which were revealed in June by rogue intelligence contractor Edward Snowden in a leak of classified documents, expressed skepticism at the value of the vague warnings.

“It’s a very credible threat, and it’s based on intelligence,” said Dutch Ruppersberger, the ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee.

“The good news is that

we’ve picked up intelligence.

That’s what NSA does. NSA’s sole purpose is to get information and intelligence to protect Americans from attack,” he told ABC television.

If the latest dire warnings do prove justified — or even if a week goes by without violent incident — defenders of the NSA will say the ongoing threat from Middle East extremists justifies the surveillance.

But some of those who have expressed concerns about the programs, which have scooped up web traffic and telephone metadata from millions of Americans as well as from foreign targets, were unconvinced.

“You have to be very careful about how much you represent that any particular program has contributed to our security,” said Democratic lawmaker Adam Schiff. If you look at the one that’s most at issue here, and that’s the bulk metadata program, there’s no indication — unless I’m proved wrong later that that program — which collects vast amounts of domestic data, domestic telephony data, contributed to information about this particular plot.”

Lawmakers were reacting after Vice President Joe Biden gave them a classified briefing on the threats, and after NSA number two John Inglis claimed the controversial programs had thwarted 54 planned attacks.

“It is scary. Al-Qaeda is on

the rise in this part of the world and the NSA program is proving its worth yet again,” insisted Republican hawk Senator Lindsey Graham.

But the vague nature of the apparent threat — despite claiming to have precise intelligence, the State Department has closed dozens of disparate installations — has led many to question its worth. Some commentators even went to far as to imply that the US government had exaggerated the risk in order to justify the NSA action.

But others said the administration faced a genuine dilemma: Go public with vague intelligence at the risk of scaremongering, or stay quiet and run the risk of being accused of missing

a threat. The White House is still smarting over criticism of the administration’s handling of the September 11, 2012 attack on its mission in Benghazi, Libya, which left four Americans dead including the US ambassador.

“Remember we’re still in the wake of Benghazi where people criticize the government for not doing enough,” former CIA and FBI agent Phil Mudd told CNN. “In the FBI or the agency, you’re between a rock and a hard place. You’re out there warning people knowing that the warning is so vague, I need more information to take action.

That said, if you don’t warn them and something happens, what you say, you had information and you didn’t tell us.”

EDITORIALS Environmental clearance for sand mining a must

T

he National Green Tribunal’s ban on mining or removal of sand from river beds across the country without an environmental clearance amid the uproar over suspension of an IAS officer who had cracked down on the sand mafia in Uttar Pradesh is praiseworthy.

The Tribunal’s note that the loss caused to the state exchequer due to illegal sand mining may run into lakhs of crores of rupees is not surprising. The order was given on a plea alleging that such activities were going on in UP with the “wilful connivance” of its state machinery. A bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar said its order would be applicable across the nation as the petition raised substantial environmental issues thus widening the ambit of the plea. The bench, which initially banned illegal sand mining on the beds and banks of rivers Yamuna, Ganga, amongst others justifiably modified its order saying the issue of illegally removing sand has nationwide implications. Clearance has to be obtained from the Ministry of Environment and Forests or State Environment Impact Assessment Authority.

READERS’ VIEWS

Brain-dead declaration

T

he stress by medical experts that a ‘braindead’ declaration must be made mandatory in government hospitals in Andhra Pradesh will help to identify potential organ donors. Currently doctors are struggling to identify brain-dead patients as it is an uphill task. The Jeevandan scheme has had 114 organs donated from 26 people between January and July 2013, but there is a strong need for more. Awareness among public and sensitisation of the medical fraternity is essential.

We invite you to write to us comments, suggestions, viewpoint or just about anything to feedback@postnoon.com or #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500 033 or even by way of a call on 4067 2222.

Editor: Dean Williams

15

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

focus

KEEPING A CLOSE WATCH

Will customer centricity ever come to the fore?

As consumers in a scarcity-hit nation until a few decade ago, Indians are transitioning from queuing to being served as consumers.

SANJIV KATARIA feedback@postnoon.com

commit marketing expenditures which are long-term-orientedcustomer service, investing in the brand.

It is precisely the reason why customer centricity suffers. It is no use advertising a 1-800 number, a Twitter handle or a Facebook page or anointing a highly respected ombudsman or appointing a marketing legend as an independent director if the idea is solely to dress up your marketing show window.

Likewise there is little point in getting a marketing head reporting directly to the CEO if she is still going to be measured on revenue per enquiry, billing per guest, revenue per passenger, or average revenue per user.

A

s one among thousands of newspaper readers who spotted headline Nirmalaya Kumar to join Tata Sons, I felt happy for the Indian consumer as the news announcing the appointment of celebrated marketing professor and author said that he was expected to bring ‘Customer Centricity’ to the fore across the Tata group companies.

As consumers in a scarcityhit nation until a few decade ago, Indians are transitioning from queuing to being served as consumers. However, the sales and marketing managers are still striving to understand ‘Customer Centricity’ as the following anecdotes exemplify. n Which Indian hasn’t faced service issues with her mobile service provider? From no network to excess billing, from being served valued added services that he/she never subscribed to a barrage of unsolicited calls despite registering on ‘do not call’ registry. n Who hasn’t experienced slow computer networks that bring down the bank branches to a grinding halt as you keep staring at the service delivery norms signage in the branch? n Why must a customer get groped by clumsy security persons in full public view on entering a mall or wriggle through a 18-inch wide grill door to her favourite bank branch just because they can’t install modern security systems? n How often do we need to get ‘welcome back’ notes from companies one has discontinued services or stopped using their products?

All these examples are a telling account of how Indian firms love to chase the customer for her money but shy away from addressing real customer issues.

Companies come up with innovative ideas to enhance market

access, often going a long distance to make it easy for him/her to buy. The product managers too love making changes to the product and invest in proactively offering new product designs and variants to suit changing customer needs.

WHO OWNS CUSTOMER CENTRICITY? When it comes to enhancing customer centricity and addressing customer pain, the enthusiasm of the perky product managers wanes. The head of a large outsourced customer care centre said this is because Indians are culturally averse valuing ‘people’ in general. And the business leaders don’t realise that the customer is a subset of the same group of ‘people’ that it chooses to ignore.

This attitude rules when these companies buy ‘customer services’. While they hire the best sales and marketing teams, engage with the best advertising and branding agencies to look good in public spaces they engage the cheapest service providers for customer support thus damaging the brand.

How else would you explain multiple tele-callers from the same firm calling you for the same product on the same day.

And three out of four times the telecallers don’t even know the

name and age of the person at the other end.

WILL THE TATA INITIATIVE SPUR A CUSTOMER-CENTRICITY MOVEMENT IN INDIA?

The optimist in me tells me it will, provided the group commits itself to the consumer needs of today. Tata’s have a good record of customer centricity through its hospitality business.

Can they bring this experience to the services and commodity business?

Nirmalaya Kumar in a recent interview with Mint newspaper said that companies make liberal budget allocations for advertising and promotions as it is easy see the impact in rising sales.

However, it is tough for them to

While the company hires the best sales and marketing teams to look good in public spaces they engage the cheapest service providers for customer support thus damaging the brand.

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge for Nirmalaya Kumar would be to scrap the current job description for all the Tata group marketing heads to one single goal around Customer Centricity. And follow this up with two simple steps. Firstly, encourage every marketing head to mandatorily listen to the “pain of the customer” each time she calls a call centre, tweets or walks into a Tata store. Secondly, sensitize all Tata employees on customer care and empower them to address customer issues at the first point of contact and resolve them on the spot.

A marketing head’s success should be measured not by the absolute number of complaints but by the percentage of customer complaints addressed at the first point of contact.

If Nirmalaya Kumar can help his boss Cyrus Mistry to agree to an entirely new global framework for bringing customer centricity to the Tata Group, he would have resurrected the revolution - for Indian firms to see Customer as the King! IANS (Sanjiv Kataria was a brand custodian for NIIT and NIIT Technologies for 19 years.

The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at @sanjivkataria or sanjiv.kataria@gmail.com)

CELEBRATION TIME

ADP COMPANY DAY

T

o mark fourteen successful years of operation in India, over 4,000 associates of ADP Private Limited, a subsidiary of ADP, Inc., celebrated at Hyderabad International Convention Center (HICC), Hyderabad on Sunday August 4, 2013, rejoicing and strengthening their bonding with each other. On the occasion, Shakti Sagar, Managing Director, ADP Private Limited addressed the associates informing them of the company’s future map “Company Day is a special day for us to rejoice our achievements throughout the year. At ADP, we look at each year as a fresh opportunity for achieving more success and aspire to con-

quer larger coup. This year, we are committed to aligning ourselves to larger global goals in each of our work spheres and becoming a true business transformation partner.” The highlight of the evening was a percussion based jugalbandhi by ADP associates and the hilarious ADP version of the play Refund created a mesmerising atmosphere and left the audience awe-struck. Delightfully adorable performances by the kids of ADP’s CSR initiative MIDAS (Making an Impactful Difference at Schools) created an upbeat atmosphere and kept the mood alive. The enthralling and engrossing evening concluded with equally captivating and delightful dinner.

18

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

spotlight STOMPALICIOUS

POOLSIDE FUN

Marigold Hotel, Begumpet, in association with Sula Wines held a fun grape stomping afternoon and later a poolside bash for its guests.The guests made the most of it.

SRINIVAS SETTY

JOYOUS CELEBRATIONS

ADP celebrated its Company Day recently, the event was attended by all employees. It was an evening of great fun and music.

ENCOURAGING LEADERSHIP

FICCI Ladies Organisation organised a learning session themed ‘Transforming Organisations – Building a Culture of Leadership’ for its members at Hotel ITC Kakatiya on Monday. Dr Baba Prasad, President & CEO of Vivékin Group was the main speaker at the event.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

health

BREAKFAST MUST FOR KIDS

Backing what many parents already believe, experts say that healthy eating and good sleep habits can help youngsters do well at school. When kids go to school without eating breakfast, their [thinking and learning skills] can be affected, says a press release by the University of Birmingham.

ORGAN DONATION DAY

19

Hundreds die in India for lack of organs While in western countries around 70-80 per cent of people pledge their organs, in India only about 0.01 per cent do so.

N

eera Yadav (name changed), a 20-year old college student suffering from an end-stage renal disease, was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. Though her parents went from pillar to post, they could not find a donor for her in Delhi and she died last month.

Experts say this is not an isolated case. Hundreds of people in need of organ transplants cannot be saved every year because of lack of donors.

According to MC Misra, chief of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the donor scene in India is still very “dismal” despite amendments to a law which the government passed in 2008. The amendments to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (Thoa), 1994, were passed following the unearthing of a thriving kidney donation racket in northern India.

While in western countries around 70-80 per cent of people pledge their organs, in

India only about 0.01 per cent do so, Misra stated.

Sanjiv Gulati, director of nephrology at Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj, said: “There has been almost no improvement in the organ donation situation.

Things have not changed at all.

People are not ready to part with organs of their loved ones even after death.”

While most donors in India are women, many don’t come forward to pledge organ donation because of religious or superstitious reasons, the expert said.

“We need to rope in religious leaders to make people aware of the need for organ donation. People have weird thinking like whichever organ you donate, in the next life you will be born without that,” Misra added. Another major problem is that in India brain death itself is not recognised by many people. “People think till

the heart is beating the person has to be alive. Which makes it difficult for us to harvest organs,” Misra explained.

According to AIIMS figures, of the 205 patients declared

brain dead at the trauma centre in the past five years, only 10 were potential donors.

In a study published in the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, the AIIMS Trauma Centre, which admits over 6,500 patients every year, analysed the number of cadaver donations between September 2007 and August 2012.

The study said that 90 percent of donors were middleaged males. The cause of brain death in 70 per cent of cases was injuries sustained in road accidents, 20 per cent after falling from heights and 10 percent due to being gored by animals, particularly cows.

The average time recorded from certification of brain death to organ harvesting was 33 to 46 hours, the study said, adding the organs harvested were kid-

neys, hearts, heart valves, livers and corneas. Gulati said in case of live donations, it was mostly women who were donating their body parts like kidneys.

The ratio of male versus female in live donations was around 20:80. The amended version of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act allows donations from a “near relative” defined as spouse, son, daughter, father, mother, brother or sister. The amended law broadens the definition of “near relative” to include grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

Also, not-so-close relatives who have stayed with the patient can donate organs, provided there is no commercial dealing. The law makes swapping of organs between two unrelated families legal in cases where organs of willing nearrelative donors are found medically incompatible. But the swap should be without any commercial transactions, it stipulates.

Misra said the organ donation scene could change in the country if the government offers incentives. “Donors should also be appreciated on events like Independence Day and Republic Day,” he said, adding that concessions in railway reservations and medical benefits to the donors can make people pledge their organs. IANS

20

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Technology PHONE MAGIC

1

3

INSTANT WEBCAM

Control all

I

f you have a wi-fi connection, the app ‘Mobiola’ can turn your smartphone into a webcam, to be used in applications like Skype and Google+.

S

oftware designer Qualcomm has developed ‘AllJoyn’ that allows you to control multiple devices from your smartphone. Any smartphone can be connected using Qualcom’s open source networking platform.

4

START YOUR CAR

2 SONY REJECTS SPIN-OFF

MEASURE THINGS WITH YOUR CAMERA

V

iper Smart Start app allows you to start your car remotely. It is available on iOS, Android and Blackberry.

M

easure objects by simply pointing your camera at them. An easy way to settle ‘Who is taller?’ dispute.

GET SMART 5

Augmented reality for home design

A

pps like uDecore allow you to view a real room through the device’s camera, and using augmented reality, visualise different pieces of furniture and design elements.

Monitor your heart rate

S

6

martphones can be heart smart too! Azumio's instant heart rate measures your heart after you place your finger on your smartphone for a few seconds. The app, available on 1OS, Andriod and Windows phone, was awarded the best health and fitness app awards in 2011.

7

Toss the remote

C

hances are that you have experienced the frustration of searching deep into the couch cushions for the TV remote. Search no longer by using ThinkFlood's RedEye infrared device.

Attached to your phone, it allows you to control multiple devices at once.

The power of light Everything (well almost...) is at the tip of your fingers if you own a smartphone. The range of things you can do is simply mindboggling. Here are some simple ones for starters that you may do a touch away.

W

8

ith Phillips "Hue" app and smart lightbulbs you can control the brightness and colour of your lights from your smartphone. You can also turn your lights on ir off remotelt when you are away.

9

Scanner

G

et rid of those crumpled receipts, business cards, and other miscellaneous papers crowding your wallet.

Your smartphone can easily act as a personal scanner! Several apps can scan your papers using your phone's camera, then store it to a contact in your phone.

Unlock your phone

U

10

nlocking your smartphone can serve unlimited purposes, such as saving your money when you travel internationally, ability to use the phone of your choice on the carrier, possibility of combining two phone numbers into one phone, increase in resale value.

Sony on Tuesday said it has rejected a US hedge fund's proposal to spin off part of its profitable entertainment arm, marking the latest failed bid by an overseas investor to stoke change at a major Japanese firm. "The Sony board of directors has unanimously concluded that continuing to own 100 percent of our entertainment business is the best path forward and is integral to Sony's strategy," Sony president Kazuo Hirai said in a letter to US billionaire Daniel Loeb.

"We... will continue to give full consideration to any constructive feedback from our valued shareholders," Hirai added, promising to maintain "a productive relationship with you and welcome an ongoing dialogue".Sony shares dropped after the announcement, which adds to a growing list of failed attempts by foreign investors to penetrate corporate Japan. Shareholder activism is not firmly entrenched like it is in Europe and the US

Apple’s trade-in woes Fears of dangerous shocks caused by unsanctioned chargers for Apple gadgets prompted the company on Monday to announce a trade-in program.

Beginning on August 16, people with counterfeit or third-party power adaptors will be able to swap them for certified Apple models for the local equivalent of $10. "Recent reports have suggested that some counterfeit and third party adapters may not be designed properly and could result in safety issues," Apple said in a blog post. "While not all third party adapters have an issue, we are announcing a USB Power Adapter Takeback Program to enable customers to acquire properly designed adapters."

People must bring the unwanted chargers along with a corresponding iPod, iPad, or iPhone to an Apple Retail Store or to an authorized Apple service provider.

Apple said device serial numbers need to be valid to qualify for the adapter trade-in program.

21

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Entertainment CINE BYTES

Sophie shakes a leg with Mahesh Babu

M

ahesh Babu is currently shooting for a dance number with Sophie Chowdary in London for his upcoming movie 1-Nenokkadine. Prem Rakshit is choreographing this item song. Kriti Sanon is the leading lady of the movie. 1Nenokkadine is expected to hit the screens in time for Sankranthi 2014.

F

resh from churning out a hit in Balupu, director Gopichand Malineni is all set to team up with Allu Arjun for the next project.

This venture will be produced by star producer Dil Raju. S Thaman will be scoring the music for the film.

AWE-STRUCK

ANUSHKA SHETTY

ENVIOUS OF ARYA’S DEDICATION

A

nushka Shetty has teamed up with Tamil actor Arya for the first time in upcoming romanticdrama Irandam Ulagam and she is bowled over by his dedication and concentration. “Arya is one actor I envy the most. I envy his dedication and wonder how can someone work with no hang ups and manage to do different kind of films. He is so relaxed off the set, but extremely committed on the sets,” Anushka said. The movie is touted to be a

love story laced with fantasy.

This is also her first film with director Selvaraghavan.

On working with the director, Anushka said: “I’m glad I didn’t get to work with him all these years because then I would’ve missed the opportunity to work in this film. He is one of the few directors who teaches nuances of acting that makes one a great performer”.

Produced by PVP Cinema, Irandam Ulagam is set to release soon. It has music by Harris Jayaraj.

IANS

Arya is one actor I envy the most.

I envy his dedication and wonder how can someone work with no hang ups and manage to do different kind of films.

Anushka Shetty Actress

Jagapathi Babu up for a villain act

Allu Arjun teams up with Gopichand

J

agapathi Babu is going to be seen as a villain in Balakrishna’s next. Boyapati Sreenu is the director of this movie and 14 Reels Entertainment banner is producing this venture in association with Sai Korrapati. With his strong voice and intense looks, Jagapathi Babu is bound to be a good villain.

22

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

prepares for Tina And Lolo

SUNNY LEONE

DIARY ENTRY

CINE BYTES

Akshay to host a grand Iftar party

A

s part of the ongoing promotions of Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara, a grand iftaar party has been organised at a suburban Mumbai hotel on August 6, for which invitations are going out to the biggest names in Bollywood and also to non-film personalities.

Says a source, “Many top-level politicians and government officials are expected at the bash.”

Arshad most secured actor in Bollywood

A

ctor-director Naseeruddin Shah, who has worked with Arshad Warsi in Ishqiya, says he is one of the most secured actors in Bollywood. “I enjoy working with Arshad. He is one of the finest actors we have today. He is the most secured actor in Bollywood. He is very sure about himself,” Nasser told IANS.

A

fter playing sensuous characters, Sunny Leone is set for director Devang Dholakia’s Tina And Lolo.

She is training to make sure her action-character looks real on the big screen.

The thriller is set to go on floors soon. A source close to Sunny said: “She is working really hard. It’s a full-fledged action film. It will see different kind of action... and Sunny is working hard and very excited.”

Sunny, an Indo-Canadian adult star, entered the Indian showbiz industry with reality show Bigg Boss 5 and then featured in erotic thriller Jism 2, her first Hindi movie.

Her next will be Ragini MMS 2 and she is also part of Jackpot. IANS

Traditionally yours

I

ndian Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan(L) along with Indian Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone (C) and Indian fashion designer Manish Malhotra pose during the Grand Finale of PCJ Delhi Couture Week 2013 in New Delhi.

AFP PHOTO/ SAJJAD HUSSAIN

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

23

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

24

25

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

THEIR BUNDLE OF JOY

CINE BYTES

PENÉLOPE CRUZ H AND JAVIER BARDEM name daughter Luna

ave Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem finally decided on a name for their daughter?

A week after welcoming their second child, the actor paid a visit to Madrid's central registrar office on Tuesday morning, where he reportedly registered the couple's baby girl, according to Spanish magazineVanitatis.

So what moniker made the final cut? If the reports are true, 2½-yearold Leonardo's little sister, who was born on July 22, is named Luna Encinas Cruz. Luna means moon while Encinas is Bardem's first surname.

Notoriously private when it comes to their personal lives, Cruz, 39, and Bardem, 44, never officially confirmed Luna's birth. Reps for the couple did not return PEOPLE's request for comment.

Leah Remini plans a tellall memoir

A

ctress Leah Remini, whose very public split from the Church of Scientology produced a negative round of publicity for the religion, is now planning on writing a tell-all book about her life. The King of Queens actress, told US Weekly that a memoir would include "My experiences, everything that's taboo to talk about."

Can't stand my voice: Bruce Willis

A

ctor Bruce Willis has ruled out any chance of going behind the mike to sing a song in future.

The Die Hard actor had done a successful cover version of famous song Under the boardwalk in the late 1980's. The track, which was originally sung by The Drifters in 1964, made Willis reach number two positions in Britain's singles countdown.

Jodie Foster rescues Jamie Lee Curtis

A

ctress Jodie Foster came to the rescue of Jamie Lee Curtis, after the latter got involved in a car accident. The 50-year-old rushed to help her friend when Lee Curtis called her from the scene of the accident in Las Vegas, California, August 1, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

Lee Curtis' black SUV crashed into a BMW and she along with one more person was rushed to a hospital in two separate ambulances.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Let's not kid ourselves. Whatever we diagnose, most patients, if they don't die, get well by themselves. Our job is mainly to try to make them feel better; do no harm.

Dr Diane Frolov and Dr Andrew Schneider

KAKURO

QUICK CROSSWORD

26

SUDOKU How to play kakuro Kakuro is a popular game similar to sudoku in some ways. But is also suitably different. The key question: ‘How do you play kakuro?’, well here are the rules of kakuro. The answer: The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be of any size. It has rows and columns, and dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like in a crossword, some of the dark cells will contain numbers. Some cells will contain two numbers.

However, in a crossword the numbers reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers are all you get! They denote the total of the digits in the row or column referenced by the number.

Within each collection of cells — called a run — any of the numbers 1 to 9 may be used but, like sudoku, each number may only be used once.

Let’s have an example to explain this concept more clearly: In the image above, which shows a section of a kakuro puzzle, you will see the numbers ‘26’ and ‘14’ in the top row. Look at the 14. This means that the total of the three cells underneath must sum to 14. Therefore 9, 4, 1 could be the answer, or perhaps 7, 4, 3 and so on...

So, how do you work out the actual combination? Well, this is done through elimination and cross-referencing. For instance, as you work out the answers for other kakuro clues, this will naturally limit the valid combinations, and hence the answer for this particular run.

Note the second cell in row two — it contains two numbers, 30 and 11. The 30 refers to the vertical run underneath the number 30 and the 11 refers to the two cells to the right, horizontally, of the number 11.

ACROSS

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

SCRIBBLING PAD

1 Bygone big birds 5 John of ‘Coming to America’ 9 Rear of a plane 13 Assign as one’s share 15 Chantilly product 16 Balm base 17 ‘___ Andronicus’ (Shakespeare play) 18 Final unpleasant moment 20 Cheered, in a way 22 Sticks that go boom 23 Overly proper person 24 ‘It Happened One Night’ director Frank 28 File, Edit, or Help 31 Tediously repetitious 34 Pie part 36 Tool repository 37 ‘That turns my stomach!’

38 Old tummy tuckers 41 Conductor’s nickname 43 TiVo users may skip them 44 Yuletide song 46 Use choice words 47 Tournedos, eg 51 Art Deco illustrator 52 Murphy of Hollywood 53 Attack from all directions 55 Eb’s wife?

57 Cleverly 61 Experienced sailors, slangily 65 Bout of indulgence 66 Salt Lake City’s home 67 Doomed (with ‘for’) 68 Bonnie and Clyde caper 69 Reporter’s quest 70 Some babies 71 Planning to vote no

DOWN

1 Addition or subtraction 2 Melange 3 Singing voice 4 Grouchy sort 5 Reflective power, as of a planet 6 Damsels 7 Six mos from Apr 8 Paving stone 9 Bagpiper’s wear 10 Pub offering 11 Charged atom 12 Conducted 14 Pre-Soviet royalty 19 Makes cryptic 21 Substitute for forgotten words 25 One who’s moping 26 Little rascal 27 Bad way for a ship to be driven 28 ‘___ & Mrs Miller’ (Robert Altman film) 29 Became weatherworn 30 Consumed slowly, as a drink 32 Measure of resistance 33 Chinese restaurant freebie 35 In an unrelaxed manner 39 Two-year-old 40 ‘What did I tell you?’

42 Climbing legume 45 Cheesy pasta dish 48 Some bottles of liquor 49 Meetings of lips 50 Decide on, as a date 54 Babble enthusiastically 56 Bookie’s numbers 58 ‘___ go bragh!’

59 ‘___ we forget ...’

60 Abominable snowman 61 Day light?

62 Partook of 63 Type of suit 64 ‘Look at that!’

Chai Time TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 7-8-2013

27

As per Hindu panchang thiruvaikumar@yahoo. co. in, 040-27177230 / 9177596118

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Delays and disappointments will depress you. Your pet project might face roadblocks; keep going on without giving up. Adopt a patient approach in all work as you need to adhere to a slow-and-steady approach right now.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Persons in love will be happy as their marriage is likely to be finalised. Financial position looks to be strong. Expectations will be fulfilled but you may not be fully satisfied. Be content with whatever things happen and avoid being greedy.

Good news awaits those trying for a new job. Avoid taking suggestions from others as your own decisions will yield desired result. Be positive in your approach. Never get annoyed with anyone come what may. Your art of creativity will increase.

Businessmen will feel relaxed as they collect old dues. Politicians and govt employees may face tension. Never get frustrated if things are not happening as per your expectations. Proceed with determination without so that you succeed.

Avoid taking a controversial stance. Friendship circle will expand. Avoid taking any important decision and travelling today.

Businessmen might find it difficult as they are unable to satisfy customers. Be alert as you might be blamed for no fault of yours.

Be careful during travel as tension is likely. Health needs to be taken good care of.

Businessmen will sign new profitable contracts. Assess pros and cons before taking any important work and accordingly put efforts to complete them.

Your influence is set to increase.

Your creative abilities will get sharpened and efforts will bear fruits. Plan your trips whether in India or abroad properly. Lastminute changes are not advisable. Marriage talks will resume and progress well.

You might be in a fix to decide on an important issue but you need to go as per plans and intuition; or, postpone the decision. Health problems should not be ignored; take immediate treatment to avoid any major trouble in future.

Your financial position looks strong. All dreams and expectations will get fulfilled. Businessmen are advised to be cautious and think twice before making fresh investments. Visitors will charge the atmosphere at home and family will be cheerful.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Six of Pentacles – You are surrounded by some very good-natured and helpful people.

This wide network will help you through any doubts and ups and

LEO:

Knight of Pentacles – You may come across as a strict officer, who is extremely rigid and does not change things no matter what.

You can learn a few things from this.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Ace of Pentacles – You’ll be involved in some guessing game because you will not get any clear answers as to what exactly is happening. Keep guessing.

SAGITTARIUS:

Page of Swords – Be kind to everyone you meet.

Every person is fighting a different kind of battle and you do not know about it. A smile can make things better.

TAURUS:

The Lovers – A decision needs to be taken. You have been shunted around and thrown in a position that you do not particularly like. Leave if you cannot handle it.

CANCER:

Eight of Pentacles – You’re tired and need to rest. You may be facing some sort of difficulty right now. Meditate, exercise regularly to think clearly.

VIRGO:

Seven of Pentacles – This is a good time to sort out all the different areas of your life and reprioritise your needs. Think of what’s urgent versus what’s important.

SCORPIO:

Four of Swords – There are some giant ideas and project work in the pipeline. This is an amazing time for change and looking at new opportunities.

CAPRICORN:

Knight of Swords – Someone is irritating you by saying and doing things you do not like. It is not this person’s fault.

You just have to learn to deal with it.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

Three of Swords – Read some interesting newspaper and magazine articles and do what’s needed to stay updated on the latest trends and happenings.

NUMBER GAME

tacles – Do not get into the trap of judging someone based on their actions in the immediate past. You know not what the person’s gone through.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Queen of Pen-

POOCH CAFE

You will be positive and cheerful. With determination and push, you will win where you have faced failure and that brings you cheer. Right steps at the right time will bring you success. A strained relationship will resume and strengthen.

for 7-8-2013

Judgement – You have to deal with an inner conflict and debate about a personal philosophy, which may need a re-look in the current circumstances.

NON SEQUITUR

You might feel depressed to see that most of your work gets struck half way; this will change soon. Many turning points are likely in your life. Friends may not act favourable. Avoid harsh talks and unwanted arguments with anyone.

SUDUKO

Consult family members before taking major decisions. Intolerance in dealing with any issue must be avoided. Opportunities will knock at your door; make full use of them. Avoid acting in haste at work to avoid failure and disappointment.

Boggle KIRK SULU SPOCK UHURA CHEKOV Vol: 3, No 17 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033 and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: feedback@postnoon. com and for subscription, please call 040-4067 2222, Fax: 040-4067 2211

28

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

MEMORIES OF THE PAST

Nicole Scherzinger STILL IN LOVE WITH

LEWIS HAMILTON?

S

inger Nicole Scherzinger, who has broken up with Lewis Hamilton, is reportedly still in love with the Formula One driver.

Scherzinger, a judge on British reality show The X Factor, parted ways with Hamilton after being in a relationship for over five years. However, her X Factor protege, Jahmene Douglas, says she still loves Hamilton.

“I know that she is in love with Lewis. And I’ve been with her as a friend while she was with him and when they broke up,” mirror.co.uk quoted Douglas as saying.

“I am trying to be there for her because it is a tough time. It isn’t easy to switch off after spending five years in a relationship. I think it was just obvious that the distance thing might have taken its toll.

“But she’s a strong woman and she’s not silly. She is very into her faith so she knows how to get through something and just needs the right friends around her,” added Douglas.

IANS

CINE BYTES Mice invade Lady Gaga’s eatery

S

inger Lady Gaga’s restaurant ‘Joanne Trattoria’ is reportedly infested with mice. The eatery is run by Gaga’s father Joe Germanotta and the guests were horrified on July 31 when they saw rodents running freely near the tables and in the patio area of the establishment adjacent to Central Park, reports radaronline.com.

Break not good for Denzel Washington Juno Temple finds Daniel Radcliffe funny enzel Washington

D

says he doesn’t like taking breaks. “I didn’t make any movies last year. It’s not good for me to take a break. I need to stay busy.

A man needs to get up in the morning, go to work, and have something to do,” he said. IANS

A

ctress Juno Temple says that her Horns co-star Daniel Radcliffe is super funny. “There was one take where there was quite a complicated shot. We had to open with me laughing and Daniel must have told me 20 to 25 jokes. It was insane,” said the Wild Child actress. IANS

sports

29

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

ATHLETICS

Drug cases rob lustre MOSCOW: The promise of a spectacular World Championship showdown between the USA and Jamaica has disolved in a spate of doping cases that leave the Moscow sprints looking more likely to be a showcase for Usain Bolt.

A resurgent Tyson Gay had sent a ripple of excitement through US athletics in winning the 100m at the US trials at Des Moines in 9.75sec.

Gay, whose personal bests of 9.69 in the 100m and 19.58 in the 200m had long made him one of the few who looked capable of challenging Bolt, appeared poised to do just that having moved beyond a string of debilitating injuries.

But Gay won't race in Moscow, having tested positive for a banned drug not just once

but apparently several times this season.

His disgrace is one of a welter of positive drug tests that have cast a shadow over the World Championships, with former 100m world record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica and compatriots Sherone Simpson and Veronica Campbell-Brown also caught out.

Justin Gatlin, the 2004 Olympic gold medallist who finished runner-up to Gay at the US trials, will spearhead the American challenge to Bolt.

Gatlin's best time this season is 9.98sec, but he did hand Bolt a rare defeat in Rome earlier this year and the 31-year-old will be looking to rehabilitate himself totally after his four year ban for doping

which ended in 2010. Jamaican Nesta Carter, whose 9.87 in Madrid on July 13 makes him the second-fastest man in the field, should also be in medal contention.

Another Jamaican, 2012 Olympic bronze m e d a l l i s t Warren Weir, looks the only man capable of getting close to Bolt over 200m.

He won t h e

Bolt and team-mates tested KINGSTON: All 44 athletes on the Jamaican team, including sprint superstar Usain Bolt, were tested Monday at their Moscow training camp for the athletics World Championships. Team officials confirmed that agents from the World Antidoping Agency (WADA) arrived at the camp in Moscow, where all of the athletes had blood taken in the sweeping operation. It wasn't clear if an entire national team had ever before been asked to undergo testing

on the eve of a major competition. The Jamaican track and field program has been under increased scrutiny over the last two months after former World 100m record holder Asafa Powell and his training partner Sherone Simpson were among five athletes who tested positive at the Jamaican championships in Kingston in June.

AFP

NBA

Harris hit with five-game ban NEW YORK CITY: Portland Trail Blazers American guard Terrel Harris was suspended without pay for five games for a violation of the NBA's anti-drug program, the league announced on Monday.

Harris, who turns 26 on Saturday, will begin the ban with the first game of the upcoming 20132014 season, provided he is healthy and physically able to perform.

The league did not announce what substance was involved in the violation of the anti-drug program agreed upon in conjunction with the players union. US medical privacy laws often prevent such disclosures.

Harris has averaged 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 42 career regular-season NBA games with Miami and New Orleans.

Harris had a reserve role in Miami's playoff march to the NBA title in 2012, scoring five points and grabbing three rebounds in 10 minutes on the court for the Heat in the post-season. He was traded to New Orleans after seven appearances for Miami last season.

AFP

200m title at the Jamaican trials in 19.79, Bolt skipping the event since his world title assured him of a berth.

Gatlin, twice banned for doping himself, said he wouldn't allow himself to be distracted by the doping scandal.

"The show must go on," Gatlin said. "I think a lot of athletes think like that. Staying concentrated and winning for your country, that's what counts."

Carmelita Jeter, America's reigning women's 100m world champion, left a press conference in Monaco rather than discuss the doping cases, Jeter didn't compete at the US trials as she continued her recovery from a quadriceps injury, but the 33year-old will head a strong US challenge to Jamaica's two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the women's 100m.

English Gardner, who turned professional in June and began training with coach John Smith after winning the US collegiate 100m crown, won the women's 100m at the US trials in 10.85sec and Barbara Pierre has twice posted the same time this season.

Fraser-Pryce leads the world in both the 100m (10.77sec) and 200m (22.13) this season and with Campbell-Brown unable to defend her 200m title, after her positive test for a banned diuretic, heads Jamaica's bid in the half-lap sprint.

AFP

LOCAL SPORT Charan, Srujan, Praveen slam tons A-4 one day n MP Sporting 306/7 (Naveen Makhija 76, Vinit 82 n.o., Vijay 3/85) bt PKCC 195 (Prem 31, Vijay 55, Chaitanya 4/52) . n Team Kun 290/4 (Mohd Taha Sheikh 30, MSR Charan 142, A Varun Goud 81, Shravan Naidu 3/65) bt HGC 144 (Sai Charan 35, Sai 35, KP Shiva 5/29) n St Patricks 176 (Saathyakhi 89, Bharat 3/48) bt Sunshine 166 (Kiran 81, Saathyakhi 4/53) n XI Masters 205 (Prasad 31, Srujan 100 n.o., Vamshi 5/56) bt All Saints 203/8 (Ibrahim 38) n Natraj 122 (Javed 3/28, Haseeb 4/28)

lost to PN Youngstars 123/7 (Haseeb 34, Manikumar 3/35). n Relaince 110 (KVI Satwik 5/33) lost to Manikumar 111 for no loss (D Srinath Naik 70 n.o., P Siddhartha 33 n.o.). n Sacred Heart 161 (Jerome Arokianadhan 34, Joseph Rayappa 32) bt MP Blues 107 (Jerome Arokianadhan 3/42). n Greenlands 253/8 (Sunder Kumar 100, E Sreecharan 86, Prajwal 3/37) bt Bhartiya 89 (E Sreecharan 5/19) n Yadav Dairy 278/9 (Vigneshwar 87, M Abhishek 76) lost to Saint Sai 279/4 (Raja 54, Praveen 101, Jeetu 61)

Chess tourney from Monday HYDERABAD: The RR District Chess Association is going to organize RR District under-11 selection chess tourney and under-19 open chess tournament at Johnson Grammar School, Mallapur Road, Nacharam, on 12 and 13 August

to select the under-11 District team for AP Sub Junior State Championship. The top two boys and girls will be selected for AP State Championship. For further detalis, contact: Sree Krishna 9247143456.0

China heads to Moscow with one eye on Beijing ’15 BEIJING: With the Liu Xiang era limping to a close, China's focus is squarely on Beijing 2015 as an emerging group of competitors test themselves at the world championships in Moscow.

Track and field hopes for the world's most populous nation have long rested on 110m hurdler Liu, who became China's first men's Olympic track and field champion at Athens 2004.

However, strikingly similar injury exits at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 — both in the opening heat, and with the same Achilles problem — appear to have all but ended the 30-year-old's career. Now, the onus is on China's young stars as they prepare to welcome the world back to the famous Bird's Nest Olympic stadium for the next world championships in two years' time.

"China has a lot of top athletes, especially in the men's 110m hurdles," Xie Wenjun, 23, said at the Shanghai Diamond League meet in May, where he finished third behind reigning world champion Jason Richardson. "Liu Xiang is not here, and we all hope he returns, but he is not the only one... we are also talented and can achieve very good results."

Xie's words were borne out in Shanghai, where his performance was not the only reason for Chinese officials to cheer. AFP

Akshat Reddy to lead Hyderabad HYDERABAD: P Akshat Reddy will lead the Hyderabad cricket team for the upcoming All India Buchi Babu Invitation Cricket Tournament to be held at Chennai from 15 August to 1 September.

All the selected players are to report at the Gymkhana Grounds at 6.30am on 9 August.

Team: P Akshat Reddy (captain), B Sandeep, GH Vihari, Tanmay Agarwal, Parth Jhala, Akash Bhandari, Rohit Rayudu, K Sumanth (wk), CV Milind, Amol Shinde, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Mehdi Hasan, M Ravi Kiran, Roshan Raghuram, Habeeb Ahmed Coach: Abdul Azeem; Manager: Shastry (Central Bank).

30

sports TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

TORONTO WTA

Venus happy to be back in action

Venus Williams dances during a break in her exhibition doubles match on day 1 of the Rogers Cup Toronto at Rexall Centre at York University on Monday in Toronto, Canada.

AFP/ANDY LYONS

TORONTO: Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, set to launch her Toronto WTA campaign on Tuesday, believes the back trouble that forced her out of Wimbledon is behind her.

Williams suffered her earliest French Open exit in 12 years in May, when she crashed to a firstround defeat to Poland's Urszula Radwanska.

She then pulled out of Wimbledon, but said Monday she thinks she's fit enough to mount a challenge on the hardcourts at Montreal, with an eye to the last Grand Slam of the year at the US Open later this month.

"I just started to realize that I couldn't play, especially since I didn't have a serve," she said of her decision to take a lengthy

break. "It was just really hard to play without a serve, I found out — especially such a huge part of my game. I feel like I'm at the point now where I can hit the ball pretty well," she added.

Williams was scheduled to face Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in the first round on Tuesday.

She warmed up for that with a doubles exhibition on Monday night with sister Serena, the world number one and top seed, along with retired WTA great Monica Seles and young Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.

First-round action got underway earlier in the day, when Belgian Yanina Wickmayer defeated American lucky loser Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to book a second-round meet-

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Tiger and Phil set for duel ROCHESTER: World number one Tiger Woods and new British Open champion Phil Mickelson are on a collision course, fighting for the year's last major golf crown at the 95th PGA Championship.

Practice began Monday at Oak Hill Country Club with Woods coming off a seven-stroke triumph at the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational, his eighth triumph at Firestone Country Club, and Mickelson still enjoying last month's British Open win at Muirfield.

"When Phil and I have battled, it has been in big events and we've shot some pretty good rounds together and against each other," Woods said.

Woods, a 14-time major winner chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, has not won a major title in 17

attempts since the 2008 US Open but says he feels no extra urgency to win the last major before his 38th birthday.

"As far as wanting it more than any other, no. It's the same," Woods said. "Those are the

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are on a collision course, fighting for the year's last major golf crown at the 95th PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods of the United States walks to the range during a practice round prior to the start of the 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club on Monday in Rochester, New York.

AFP/STREETER LECKA

events that we try and peak for and win. Each and every major, I always want them. I've been successful 14 times and hopefully (this) will be 15."

Mickelson captured his fifth major crown in July and is confident he knows Oak Hill well.

"I've studied the golf course," Mickelson said. "I know exactly how I'm going to play it. I just need to get my game sharp now."

Nicklaus, who won the 1980 PGA at Oak Hill, sees Woods and Mickelson as favourites but warns a lot of players could be in

the hunt because the course will force golfers to change their games.

"The player has got to suit his game to the golf course," Nicklaus said. "Mickelson will adapt well to it. Tiger will adapt well to it."

AFP

JONES, WOODLAND JOIN FIELD

Indian blind team to tour Pakistan

ROCHESTER: Australian Matt Jones and American Gary Woodland became the final additions to the field for the 95th PGA Championship on Monday.

Jones made the field when world number one Tiger Woods, already qualified for the year's final major tournament at Oak Hill Country Club, won the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational. A spot had been held open for a winner who was not yet qualified. Jones, who enjoyed his best US PGA finish last month with a share of second at the Greenbrier Classic, will be in Thursday morning's final group off the first tee alongside South African Jaco Van Zyl and American J.C. Anderson. Woodland won last week's US PGA Reno-Tahoe Open, his second tour title after the 2011 Tampa Bay Championship, to take his place alongside Scotsman Richie Ramsay and countryman Sonny Skinner in the last group of the day in Thursday afternoon's opening round.

LAHORE: The body running cricket for the blind in Pakistan said Monday it has persuaded its counterparts in India to come on tour in February next year. The trip would be the Indian blind team's third tour to their arch-rivals, the last coming in December 2011 when they lost both the one-day and Twenty20 series.

"We have convinced India to send their blind team to Pakistan for a three one-day and three Twenty20 international tour next February," Syed Sultan Shah, president of the Pakistan Blind Cricket Association, told AFP. The matches will be played in Lahore, Faisalabad and Islamabad, Shah said.

"They were reluctant to send their team owing to security reasons but we managed to convince them because blind cricket is all about peace and harmony and there are no fears on holding such a series," said Shah.

AFP

ing with third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.

Mattek-Sands gained a place in the draw after Britain's Laura Robson withdrew Monday morning with a right wrist injury. Robson was the latest injury casualty in the event, which had already seen world number two Victoria Azarenka and number three Maria Sharapova opt out.

In other early matches, Italy's Flavia Pennetta beat Urszula Radwanska — younger sister of Angieszka — 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

The Italian next faces either Ana Ivanovic or Hsieh Su-Wei. Mona Barthel rallied after dropping a first-set tiebreaker to beat China's Zheng Jie 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 7-6 (7/1).

AFP

MONTREAL MASTERS Tomic's hopes of Djokovic clash dashed MONTREAL: German Florian Mayer defeated Bernard Tomic (in pic) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday, ending the Australian's chances of playing top seed Novak Djokovic at the Montreal Masters.

Tomic, complained of windy conditions but was more upset with his own lack of initiative after winning the opening set of the first-round encounter.

He will now have to hit the practice courts after missing a chance to build up some valuable hardcourt experience before the start of the US Open in three weeks.

Qualifier Marinko Matosevic produced some good news for Australia by following up his defeat of Canadian Milos Raonic last week in Washington with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Germany's Benjamin Becker.

AFP

URN

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

IT ASHES 2013

31

Aussies hopes turn to Ashes England retained the Ashes after rain meant that the third Test against Australia at Old Trafford, ended in a draw with only 20.3 overs being bolwed on the final day.

Australia takes heart despite misery SYDNEY: Australia might have lost the Ashes to England but the nation’s media saw enough at Old Trafford to believe the tables can be turned when the rivalry heads Down Under later this year. England retained the famous urn after rain meant the third Test ended in a draw on Monday, denying Australia the opportunity to claw back the series to 2-1 with two Tests to play. After losing the first two Tests by 14 runs and 347 runs at Trent Bridge and Lord’s respectively, Australia had England at 37 for three on the final day, having set them 332 to win, before the weather shattered their chances.

AFP

Cook savours ‘great if strange’ success MANCHESTER: Retaining the Ashes, even after a rain-affected draw in the third Test, was a “great feeling if a slightly strange feeling”, England captain Alastair Cook said.

The Ashes-holders went into the match on the back of wins by 14 and 347 runs in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord’s respectively.

But it was a different story at Old Trafford where they were under sustained pressure for the first time in the series.

Set 332 to win, after Australia captain Michael Clarke declared on his side’s overnight 172 for seven, England collapsed to 37 for three on Monday’s final day in the 94 minutes’ play possible before rain saw the match abandoned as a draw.

That left England 2-0 up with only two Tests to play and, as the holders, they retain the Ashes.

“It’s obviously a great feeling if a slightly strange feeling today,” Cook said. “We were behind the eight ball for quite a lot of this game, but we fought hard today and had a little bit of luck with the weather. “It’s certainly nice to retain the Ashes.”

MANCHESTER: England retained the Ashes after rain meant the third Test against Australia at Old Trafford ended in a draw on Monday.

Only 20.3 overs were possible on the fifth and final day, but that was still long enough for England to collapse to 37 for three, having been set 332 to win after Australia declared on their overnight 172 for seven. But England, 2-0 up in the five-match series after wins by 14 runs and 347 runs at Trent Bridge and Lord’s respectively, only had to draw this match to be sure of retaining the Ashes. And they had the result they required when the match was abandoned as a draw.

“It’s a great feeling, a strange feeling. It’s been a strange day for the lads but we’ve retained it after three games, played good cricket in the first two, fought hard and had a little bit of a luck today with the weather,”

SCORECARD

Cricket fans are pictured during a rain delay on the fifth day of the third Ashes Test between England and Australia at Old Trafford in Manchester, north-west England on Monday.

AFP/ANDREW YATES

England captain Alastair Cook said at the presentation ceremony. “It’s nice to retain the Ashes.

“It’s been a really good series.

We played well at Lord’s (where England won the second Test by 347 runs), Trent Bridge was a

nail-biting game (England got home in the first Test there by just 14 runs).

“In this game it was an important toss to win but Australia played well, put us under pressure getting 500 but

Shared series still in Clarke’s sights

MANCHESTER: Australia captain Michael Clarke (above) said drawing the Test series with England would still be a notable achievement after dreams of regaining the Ashes were washed away in Manchester.

The tourists had to win at Old Trafford to regain the urn and were in a commanding position as England collapsed to 37 for three on Monday’s final day after Clarke’s declaration left them needing 332 to win.

But then rain prevented any further play and the match was abandoned as a draw with England, now 2-0 up with just two to play in the five-match series,

assured of retaining the Ashes after wins by 14 runs and a mammoth 347 runs in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Lord’s respectively.

Nevertheless this result stopped a run of six successive Test defeats for Australia, their worst in 29 years, and spared them the shame of equalling the national record losing streak of seven set long ago by the teams of 1885-88.

And it meant Clarke’s men could still end this series all square at 2-2.

The last time an Ashes series finished level was in England in 1972 and then Australia captain Ian Chappell credited that 2-2 campaign as the springboard for the several successful years that followed.

Now Clarke wants to follow suit, insisting he still has ambitions in this series that could yet prove a moralebooster for his side ahead of the start of the next Ashes series in Australia in November.

“If we can level the series we will take a lot of confidence back to Australia,” said Clarke, man-of-the-match at Old Trafford for his brilliant first innings 187.

“I’m confident if we play the type of cricket that we have through the four days here that we will give it a real good shake.”

AFP

Australia 1st Innings 527-7 decl England 1st Innings 368 Australia 2nd Innings 172-7 decl England 2nd Innings (target: 332) A. Cook lbw b Harris 0 J. Root not out 13 J. Trott c Haddin b Harris 11 K. Pietersen c Haddin b Siddle 8 I. Bell not out 4 Extras (w1) 1 Total (3 wkts, 20.3 overs) 37 Bowling: Harris 7-3-13-2; Starc 4-2-6-0 (1w); Watson 2-2-0-0; Lyon 3-0-8-0; Siddle 3.3-0-8-1; Clarke 1-0-2-0

we responded well with the wicket getting harder. We fought hard.” Asked if the match had ended in an anti-climax, Cook replied: “The weather hasn’t been ideal but you can’t predict that.”

AFP

‘Mission accomplished, despite damp squib’ LONDON: England’s retention of the Ashes at the expense of age-old rivals Australia dominated the back pages on Tuesday, but the rain-soaked moment of triumph left Fleet Street underwhelmed.

England retained the Urn after rain washed out the final two sessions of play at Manchester’s Old Trafford ground, bringing Australia’s quest for victory to a shuddering halt and leaving Alastair Cook’s men two up with two to play.

Headline writers celebrated the famed Mancunian weather, with the Daily Mail proclaiming “Long to rain over Oz”.

The Daily Mirror ran with “We’ve won the splashes” while the Financial Times carried a front-page photograph of defeated Australian captain Michael Clarke under the words “Heaven Forbids”.

The Daily Telegraph said England were “singing in the rain” and the Times ran a photograph of undefeated batsmen Ian Bell and Joe Root, captioned “Cheer up lads, it’s mission accomplished.”

The Guardian reflected on the mood of anticlimax, running with the page three headline “The Ashes fizzle out.”

The Times also reflected on the lack of drama. “Even Cook, this most phlegmatic of characters, would have preferred something a little more dramatic than a handshake with his opposite number and the match officials as the rain teemed down,” said Times columnist and former England captain Michael Atherton.

AFP

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6, 2013

sports

FRENCH STAR REMY JOINS NEWCASTLE ON LOAN

Newcastle finally made their first significant signing since the end of last season as France striker Loic Remy joined the club on a season-long loan from QPR. Magpies director of football Joe Kinnear had been under fire for his failure to land any new players since his appointment in June.

INTERNATIONAL CHAMPIONS CUP

BRIEFS

Jose set for grudge tie Jose Mourinho has a golden opportunity to make a point to Real Madrid when the Chelsea manager’s team take on his old club in Miami.

MIAMI: Jose Mourinho (in pic) has a golden opportunity to make a point to Real Madrid when the Chelsea manager faces his old club in Miami on Wednesday. Mourinho will go head to head with Madrid in the final of the International Champions Cup just three months after his acrimonious departure from the Spanish giants.

After feeling unloved for much of his time in Madrid, the Portuguese coach is enjoying his second spell at Chelsea, where he is treated with total respect following his Premier League title triumphs in 2005 and 2006.

The hero worship that follows his every move in the Premier League is a far cry from the hostile reaction to his presence in Spain.

By the time he departed Madrid, Mourinho had made numerous enemies among the squad, with his decision to drop iconic goalkeeper Iker Casillas an especially sore point, as well as falling out with some of the club's hierarchy, while fans jeered the manager in the final weeks of last season.

However, Mourinho's exit and the arrival of the more affable Carlo Ancelotti as his replacement has been the trigger for the kind of spending

spree that the out-spoken 50year-old would have relished.

While Mourinho was always given fairly substantial funds for signing during his time at

Madrid, since his exit Real owner Florentino Perez has given the green light to a spending spree that is likely to approach £150 million ($230 million, 170 million euros) by the close of the transfer window.

In a bid to make a fresh start after Mourinho's divisive spell, Perez has already splashed out £63 million on Asier Illarramendi, Isco, Daniel Carvajal and Casemiro.

But the biggest purchase is still to come, with the nine-time European champions on the verge of signing Wales winger Gareth Bale from Tottenham for a world record fee of around £85 million.

If the Bale deal goes through it will be the fifth successive time Real have broken the transfer record. Since signing Luis Figo for £37 million in 2000, Real have gone on to shatter their own record with swoops for Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Yet none of those deals occurred during Mourinho's reign and he may be wondering why he wasn't afford such riches. AFP

GERMAN CUP

Mueller sees Bayern through BERLIN: A hat-trick by German international Thomas Mueller inspired holders Bayern Munich to a 5-0 win over fifth Division SW Rehden on Monday in their first round German Cup clash.

Mueller's hat-trick - one a penalty - and goals by Swiss Brendan Shaqiri and Dutch veteran Arjen Robben saw them dispose of their hosts and into Saturday's second round draw.

It gave Bayern and their coach Pep Guardiola an ideal lead in to the opening match of the defence of their league title on Friday at home to Borussia Moenchengladbach, who exited the Cup on Sunday beaten on penalties by Third Division Darmstadt.

Guardiola, whose first competitive match in charge

on July 27 saw his side beaten 4-2 by Borussia Dortmund the side they beat in the Champions League final last term, allowed himself the lux-

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ury of not starting several first choice regulars such as Franck Ribery and captain Philipp Lahm while new signing from his former club Thiago

FC Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller (back) scores 3-0 past Rehdener's goalkeeper Milos Mandic during the German Cup match against BSV SW Rehdener on Monday in in Osnabrueck.

AFP/FRISO GENTSCH

Alcantara also had to be content with a place on the bench.

Earlier on Monday Schalke had made hard work of beating another fifth division outfit FC Noettingen 2-0, with Dutch ace Klaas-Jan Huntelaar giving them a 30th minute lead but they had to wait till the fourth minute of time added on to double their lead as new signing Leon Goretzka netted.

Schalke despite their unconvincing performance are through to the next round, the matches taking place on September 24 and 25, but three others from the top division joined Moenchengladbach in failing to make it to the second round.

The highest profile casualty apart from Moenchengladbach was Werder Bremen, who went out beaten 3-1 by Third Division Sarrebruck.

AFP

Brown backs Celtic BORAS: Celtic travel to Sweden in confident mood as they look to finish off Elfsborg in the second leg of their Champions League third qualifying round clash on Wednesday, captain Scott Brown said.

Neil Lennon's team hold a 1-0 advantage from the first leg thanks to a Kris Commons strike at Parkhead last week.

The Scottish champions' dismal form away from home in Europe improved drastically last season with wins against Helsinki, Helsingborgs and Spartak Moscow coming in a run to the last 16 of the Champions League. And, after also coming close against Barcelona and Benfica, Scotland midfielder Brown believe Lennon has finally taught them how to handle the pressure on the road.

"This is a club who can go away from home now and get a good result," Brown said.

"There was talk about it in the past, about us struggling to go away and getting beat in every game, but now we can win away as well as at home.

"That's what the gaffer has instilled in us. Last season we went on a good run so it was good experience for us." afp

Taarabt set to join Fulham: Jol LONDON: Fulham manager Martin Jol on Monday revealed that QPR midfielder Adel Taarabt is set to join the Premier League club on loan.

Taarabt had made it clear he wants to leave Loftus Road following QPR's relegation from the Premier League last season and Jol has made an approach for the Morocco international.

Jol, speaking after Fulham's 1-1 friendly draw against Real Betis on Monday, revealed Taarabt is due to have a medical on Tuesday ahead of his proposed loan move.

Taarabt first moved to England as a teenager when he signed for Jol during the Dutchman's reign at Tottenham. He has made more than 150 appearances for QPR since joining, initially on loan, from Tottenham in 2009 and was named the Championship's player of the year as he helped the Hoops win promotion in 2011.

Taarabt was not named in QPR's squad for their victory over Sheffield Wednesday on the opening day of the Championship season on Saturday.

AFP