Epaper 17 july 2013

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013 HYDERABAD

WEATHER: RAINY ; 22°C

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

TREASURE FOR THE TAKING

32 PAGES

`3

Inspired by a cover story published in an English magazine, Telugu film Sahasam revolves around a security guard who goes from India to Pakistan in search of his forefather’s treasure.

While for Tollywood the story is being touted as unique, Hollywood has churned out treasure-hunt movies by the dozen. Here are some of the best.

P16&17

NAIDU PICKS UP THE

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

GAUNTLET Wary at reports of Congress and YSRC joining hands to defeat the TDP in panchayat polls, Naidu opens a ‘control room’ at his residence and takes up the reins himself.

REPORT ON P4 PG 7

SC UPHOLDS JUVENILE JUSTICE ACT

One among the accused in the Delhi bus gangrape likely to get away with lenient punishment as he was a minor at the time of committing the crime.

VERITABLE FARE OF IFTAR FLAVOURS Come evening and everybody is out on the streets for some mouthwatering Iftar specials. Breaking the fast with family and friends is the highlight of the night, and what better way to do this than with some dry fruits, a bowl of perfect haleem and some phirni? Postnoon gives you the six best places to head to this Ramzan for a delicious feast.

PG 8&9

PG 5

WHEN QAZIS DICTATE TO WIVES... ...disaster happens.

Several cases about wives who suffer at the hands of their husbands and qazis are coming up before Human Rights Commission.

2

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

city events

THEATRE

Today is the last day to catch Raajigadu Raajayyadu, a play written by Vijay Bhaskar and directed by Venkat Govada.

Where: Ravindra Bharathi, Saifabad When: July 17, 6pm

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

26°C

22°C

26°C

29°C

Chance of showers and thunderstorm.

Cloudy with clear periods. Windy.

A mix of cloud and sun.

Chance of showers.

New Delhi Mumbai Max 34 Max 31 Min 29 Min 24 Clouds and sun with a t-storm.

Periods of rain.

Chennai Max 36 Min 25

Bangalore Max 27 Min 20

A thunderstorm in spots.

Thunderstorm likely.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES

Where: N-Convention, Madhapur When: July 27 Contact: 8790432354 State of the Art Voyage of exploration, a collection of paintings, drawing and sculptures by students of MFA programme 2013 from Sarojini Naidu School of Art & Communication, University of Hyderabad is on.

Where: Shrishti Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills When: Till July 25 Contact: +91 40 23554485/86

WORKSHOPS Music theory Theory on music by Hyderabad Western Music Foundation.

Where: Lamakaan, Banjara hills When: Till Aug 3, 11am to 2pm Contact: 2329 9779

FOOD & DRINK

Aerobics Have fun while you burn calories at this aerobics workshop.

Where:Colorama printers, Begumpet When: Till July 26, 4.30-6.30pm Contact: 2373 0328 Puppetry STEPARC is holding a workshop for adults.

Where: :Lamakaan, Banjara hills When: July 21, 10.30 am to 1.30 pm Contact: 96427 31329 Isha yoga Learn the nuances of inner engineering under the guidance of Sadhguru.

Where: Radha Swamy Ashram, West Marredpally When: July 17 to 23, 6 am Contact: 80086 24949

Mime Explore your expressions in Natvarya-a mime workshop by Indian Mime Academy Where: Sutradhar school of acting, Nampally When: Till July 20, 6 pm to 9 pm Contact: 8297117515 Relationships A workshop on art & science of relationships.

Where: Palm exotica resorts, Shankarpally When: July 19 to July 21, 11am-2pm Contact: 2329 9779 Art exhibition

Commissioner & Spl Officer

Helpline 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 ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section

PRENATAL CARE: To-be mothers attend a prenatal yoga session at Birthplace, Banjara Hills. The sessions are conducted in the morning and evening daily. For more information, log on to www.thebirthplace.com. N SHIVA KUMAR

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

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

Theatre workshop Theatre workshop for children in the eight years and above age group. It offers a rich mix of outdoor theatre activities, readings, analysis, discussions and performances.

Where: Lamakaan, Banjara hills When: Till Aug 3, 10am Contact: 2329 9779

Mr Raj presents a painting exhibition.

The abstract paintings depict various forms of human emotions.

Where: The Bar, Novotel Hyderabad, near the airport.

When: Till July 21, 9am

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 onwards Where: Green Park hotel, Ameerpet When: Till Aug 8, 6.30-10.30pm

SHOWS Just for fun History of India Viritten will be performed by stand-up comedian Vir Das.

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

Ramzan special Relish the season special iftar delicacies at these venues: Where: Viva, Taj Vivanta When: Till Aug 7, 5.30-11.30pm

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

news

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

WILL THE CONG-YSRC DEAL HURT TDP’S CHANCES? 70% 30%

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

AREN’T MOTORISTS EQUALLY AT FAULT FOR ORR ACCIDENTS? A)

YES

B)

NO

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

CRIME

3

A jailbird who fleeced Brahmins Despite conviction and imprisonment, this man conned several hundred unwary people, especially Brahmins, of their money.

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: The Hanuman Nagar police have arrested a 43year-old priest for cheating the public and looting people by posing as a Brahmin doctor wanting to help young people get life partners and jobs. He adopted many aliases and printed business cards accordingly to fleece unwary people, mostly Brahmins.

The suspect has been identified as Prakaya Ram Mohan alias Sridhar alias Dr Murlidhar, from East Godavari.

According to the police, Ram Mohan is a pujari and an electrician by profession. Greed for money led him to cheat people

AROUND THE

CITY

by pretending to offer them software jobs and help them find marriage alliances.

MODUS OPERANDI

Since 2012, the accused would target people mostly from the

Brahmin community and would approach them, promising marriage alliances. He would contact the would-be victims over phone and introduce himself as a doctor and a pujari of the Brahmin community, and offer to help them

find marriage alliances for their children.

Once the victims started believing him, the suspect would ask for photographs and biodata of the young man or woman and negotiate with them. He would then promise to publish their information in various regional newspapers in the matrimonial section and various matrimony sites.

He would also target unemployed people and promise to provide them jobs at various software companies. Later, he would call the victims to differ-

ent places and ask them to undergo medical check-ups at various hospitals. Later, he would charge hefty amounts and flee the scene.

HISTORY

He was arrested by the Market police in 2009 for similar offences and released in October 2011.

Based on credible information, the Hanuman Nagar police, along with the task force team, formed three special teams to nab this notorious cheater. The police have recovered from him cash, mobiles, gold and silver ornaments worth `9 lakh. How many unreported cases remain would be revealed after police take him to various police stations in the State.

4

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

POLITICS

LAST YEAR... HERE

SUDDEN DEATH

Naidu picks up the gauntlet

Women under attack

L

ast year we had reported how a woman was kicked out of her home by her husband and in-laws. Her crime was that she had given birth to three daughters. Her father-in-law, who participated in the torture, was a mandal leader of the TDP. When she sat outside her husband’s house in protest, the police told her to remove the pandal and move out.

Wary at reports of Congress and YSRC joining hands to defeat the TDP in panchayat polls, Naidu opens a ‘control room’ at his residence and takes up the reins himself.

JULY 17, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

5,000

MONTREAL: Cory Monteith, the Canadian star of the hit TV musical series Glee, died of an apparent overdose of heroin and alcohol, the British Columbia coroner's office said Tuesday.

The 31-year-old Monteith, who had struggled in the past with substance abuse and checked into a rehab facility in April, was found dead Saturday in his Vancouver hotel room “There is no evidence to suggest this is anything other than the most sad and tragic accident,” coroner Barbara McLintock said in a statement.

people are dying each month in Syria’s war, which has now generated the worst refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, UN officials said.

These purchases are mostly for prestige. They don’t plan for its impact.

They don’t buy fuel efficient cars.

Development should not be destructive.

Traffic DCP G Sudheer Babu See page 6

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

1

Tortured wives find no relief anywhere.

Several cases are coming up before Human Rights Commission and police of harried wives who suffer ignominy and torture at the hands of husbands and biased quazis take legal shelter.

2

New rape bid punishment?

Five slaps with a slipper.

While people cry out for stricter punishment for rapists, a village near Lucknow has gone the other way. Their punishment involves five hits with a slipper, nothing more.

3

Get your running shoes on for the marathon!

There will be practice sessions for all who plan to take part in the Airtel Marathon this year and special training for amateur runners. .

4

A ray of sunshine after 100 years.

A Norwegian town will have some sunshine this winter, thanks to some cool mirror work.

5

Hungry for Ramzan specials?

Here are our picks.

Hit the City streets this Ramzan for some great Iftar food.

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Following reports of the ruling Congress and Opposition YSR Congress joining hands secretly to ensure the defeat of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the party has geared up to take both its rivals head on. None other than the party president Nara Chandrababu Naidu has taken charge of the battle.

Naidu, who otherwise keeps himself busy with a lot of public activities, has been confined to his residence for the last few days, holding nonstop tele-conferences with party leaders of all districts.

Speaking to Postnoon, a senior TDP leader and former minister Peddi Reddy confirmed the news and said that Naidu is totally occupied with the village panchayat polls. He does not meet even the national and international media.

“He does not have time for anything. He has also curtailed meetings with visitors for the

Glee star died from heroin, alcohol mix

AROUND THE

CITY

However, when the elders and religious leaders themselves take advantage of the situation, things get out of control. last couple of days. Our party president is holding continuous tele-conferences with State and district leaders and setting targets for them to win majority number of seats in every district,” Reddy said.

Another leader of the party said that the only agenda of the TDP at this moment is to defeat Congress and YSRC at any cost. “These elections are very important to us, more than anybody else. We have been confined to the main opposition’s position for the last nine years and want to return to power at any cost.

These elections would help us in achieving this aim,” the leader said.

According to highly placed sources of the party, top leaders of the TDP from all the districts were asked to expend all their resources to win seats in the polls. They were also asked to adopt the same strategy like Congress and YSRC — offering inducements to victorious candidates in order to get their support for the party.

PARTY HEADQUARTERS DESERTED A usually crowded TDP office finds itself deserted today. The all-important nature of the local body polls has driven all leaders out of the City. Hardly any State-level leader is seen in the office.

Press conferences of official spokespersons have also reduced due to the local body poll fear. Most of these leaders were asked to camp in their respective districts till the elections are over and strive for the victory of the party.

AROUND THE

WORLD

“The cause of death was a mixed drug toxicity and it involved heroin, primarily, and also alcohol.”

McLintock said the coroner’s investigation was continuing, and that no further statements would be made until it was completed. Police said they believed Monteith had been alone when he took the heroin and died.

Monteith starred on Glee as Finn Hudson, a high school football player who joined a motley crew of students in the glee club.

Off-screen, Monteith dated his co-star Lea Michele, with whom he sang the show’s signature cover of Journey’s Don't Stop Believin.

The actor had spoken openly about his past struggles with drugs and alcohol. Before shooting to nationwide fame on the Fox hit musical show, Monteith had played minor roles in TV series such as Smallville.

AFP

CITY BRIEFS Two injured when car falls off flyover

Boy commits suicide after punishment

CPI blames Sonia, PM for Reliance ‘crimes’

College starts diploma in project development

T

C

C

D

wo persons were grievously injured when a car somersaulted from the flyover at Rajendranagar here on Tuesday and split into pieces. The accident reportedly occurred at 7.30am when the car rammed the flyover bridge railing and fell. The car that was broken into two, was hanging to the railing of the bridge.

orporal punishment cost a young student his life. A Class IV student ended his life by jumping from the second floor of his school building in Mallepalli village of Karimnagar district on Tuesday. He was reportedly reprimanded by the teachers as he had earlier run away from the school. Upset, he took the extreme step.

PI blamed AICC chief Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh for the “crimes” committed by the Reliance Company to AP. CPI Secretary Dr K Narayana has demanded that Reliance gas should be supplied to others only after serving the needs of the State.

Narayana has also blamed the state leadership for not exerting pressure.

r YSR National Institute of Tourism & Hospitality Management (NITHM) at Telecom Nagar, Gachibowli is conducting a six-month Diploma in Project Development & Consultancy Programme. Classes to commence on August 1. Spot admissions are open to graduates and post graduates who wish to pursue the course.

5

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

LEGAL

ENVIRONMENT

When qazis dictate to wives...

...disaster happens. Several cases are coming up before Human Rights Commission of wives who suffer torture at the hands of their husbands and bias from qazis.

Oz, NZ push for Antarctic plans SYDNEY: Australia and New Zealand Wednesday said they were deeply disappointed with Russia blocking a plan to create the world’s largest ocean sanctuary off Antarctica, but vowed to push ahead.

Russia on Tuesday questioned the legal right of a meeting in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, to declare such a haven, according to organisations at the talks.

Most other nations supported the proposals.

The three-day talks gathered 24 nations plus the European Union in the AROUND THE

WORLD

Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), a 31-year-old treaty tasked with overseeing conservation and sustainable exploitation of the Southern Ocean.

One proposal, floated by the US and NZ, covered 1.6 million square kilometres of the Ross Sea, the deep bay on Antarctica’s Pacific side.

The other, backed by Australia, France and the EU, would protect 1.9 million square kilometres of coastal

seas off East Antarctica, on its Indian Ocean side.

Tony Fleming, director of Australian Antarctic Division and the nation’s top delegate in Germany, admitted it was a setback but vowed to keep pushing for the sanctuaries.

“Between now and the next CCAMLR meeting we will continue to work hard with all CCAMLR nations to progress the East Antarctic proposal, and address any outstanding concerns in order to reach agreement,” he said in a statement.

“Australia remains optimistic. We received many positive and constructive comments on the proposal that has been developed on the basis of the best available science.”

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully expressed “deep disappointment” at the talks’ failure but said the Ross Sea proposal would not be abandoned.

“This debate will not simply go away,” he said.

Protecting the areas — which biologists say are rich in unique species — would more than double the area of the world’s oceans declared sanctuaries. The waters around Antarctica are home to some 16,000 known species.

AFP

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Interference of qazis in matrimonial disputes forces women to approach the Human Rights Commission.

Usually in a marital dispute, elders and religious leaders come forward to help the couple settle their disputes amicably.

However, when the elders and religious leaders themselves take advantage of the situation, things get out of control. Several cases of suffering wives, who find the whole male-dominated Islamic system going against women, seek refuge in the law and the HRC. The latest in the series is 30-year-old Nazia Begum alias Ameena Begum, a resident of Vikarabad.

In 2007, as per Muslim rites, Nazia Begum was married to Mohammed Ibrahim. At the time of the wedding, Nazia’s parents had given gold ornaments, household furniture, a twowheeler and cash to Mohammed Ibrahim and his family.

However, since Nazia could not bear children, her husband and in-laws started ill-treating her and abusing her physically and mentally for more dowry. Unable to bear the harassment, Nazia approached the Vikarabad women’s police station and filed a complaint of harassment.

Mohammed Ibrahim, along with his family members, were taken into judicial custody. The case is still pending in the court.

However, problems only got worse for Nazia after the involvement of the additional qazi of Vikarabad, Sadar Nayab Qazi. He issued a notice to her asking her to withdraw the case

AROUND THE

CITY

else her husband would give ‘Talaaq’ as per custom and remarry. He started threatening her often over the phone asking her to withdraw the cases at the courts.

“The qazi has been misusing and abusing the Muslim law. He is supporting my husband without knowing the truth and in turn harassing me. In fact, he is the one provoking my husband to give me ‘Talaaq’ as per the Muslim custom. He has been calling me every day and threat-

When the elders and religious leaders themselves take advantage of the situation, things get out of control. ening me to take back my cases.

Unable to bear the harassment, I have approached the Human Rights Commission to seek justice and protection,” says Nazia Begum.

The Human Rights Commission has taken up the complaint and the case is under investigation.

NATION BRIEFS Midday meal death toll touches 20

3 injured in Goa CM convoy accident

Wells Fargo grants $100,000 for flood relief

Minor girl raped by brother, brother-in-law

Baby dies after injection from rickshaw-puller

PATNA: Nine more school students died today due to food poisoning after consuming midday meal at a government primary school in Bihar's Saran district taking the death toll to 20, official sources said. In addition, 27 others, including the cook, were taken seriously ill and have been shifted to Patna Medical College and Hospital.

PANAJI: Three policemen were injured when Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s convoy met with an accident here, police said today.

The CM was safe in the incident that took place late last night. The accident happened as one private vehicle entered a no-entry zone and hit the pilot jeep of the convoy under the twin Mandovi bridges here.

WASHINGTON: Wells Fargo, an American banking company, has made a $100,000 grant to provide flood relief and rehabilitation in the Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all the individuals and families affected by the recent flooding,” said Daniel Ayala, head of Wells Fargo Global Remittance Services.

NEW DELHI: A 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her brother and brother-in-law on separate occasions in Burari area, police said The victim was raped by her 25year-old brother-in-law three days ago. The agony of the girl continued after she met the same fate at the hands of her 14-year-old brother last night, they said.

BALLIA (UP): An eight-monthold baby admitted to a district hospital died today after a rickshaw puller allegedly gave him an injection, police said. According to a complaint filed by the child's family, the incident took place this morning when the accused, allegedly in an inebriated state, administered an injection to the baby.

6

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

TRANSPORT

LIGHT AT LAST

FOR REPRESENTATION

Sunlight after 100 years!

After braving pitch-dark winters for over a century, a town in Norway will finally get a spot of sunshine.

Fuel prices take sheen out of cars Rocketing petrol prices will force people to go looking for alternative modes more affordable and eco-friendly than cars.

KANCHAN AGARWAL kanchan.a@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Traffic studies in the past say the City is bearing the brunt of vehicular population, leading to environment issues. The 2004 figures show that a sum of `55,000 crore was the social cost on road accidents, which made for three per cent of the State’s GDP. Seven years later, one can hazard a guess what this number must have grown to.

Times have changed. So have lifestyles, value of money, and availability of commodities. It gets easier by the day to buy items of luxury, even if their prices are high. Though prices of petrol have been hiked four times in the past three months, with the latest increase by `1.55, there are many who seem ready to bear the brunt. “I will cut down on other expenses. But I need my car to go places,” says Nakul Gupta. There are others who end up paying a much highAROUND THE

CITY

er price trudging their car through jams.

“Each day to work, I drive at 30 km/h, using first and second gears only, because roads are jammed. Manoeuvering so consumes more petrol. Even a hike by `2 ultimately affects my fuel budget,” says Alisha Kapoor.

The discounts and privileges car sellers are offering will only make things worse. There is no denying owning a car in India is seen as a sign of personal progress. “These purchases are mostly for prestige. Very few are just for the sake of utility. They don’t plan for its impact. They don’t buy fuel efficient cars. Development should not be destructive,” says traffic DCP G Sudheer Babu.

Carpooling services in City n www.ridemates.org n www.tripsharing.in n www.commuteeasy.com

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT Many believe false prestige associated with swanky cars is the main reason people who can’t afford a car in normal cases go for beg-borrow-steal culture.

AK Rao, a management consultant, suggests the Metro might change that.

“The RTC buses that we have are rickety. Making public transport attractive will help. But we must integrate the roads with MMTS routes, or we will have recreated Bangalore for ourselves.

If I spend `10 to travel one km by car, and if I have to pay even half of that to commute by bus, I am okay with that.

But I need a comfortable journey.

People don’t want rough shoulders, stinky armpits, oily hair one cm away from them while commuting,” he says.

Cab services provided by corporates have turned to be convenient. Rajiv Agarwal, a employee at an MNC, says: “All I have to do is get ready on time and walk out. I don’t have to worry about which routes I can save time on, or avoid traffic on. Plus I get to commute with my colleagues, some of them are from other teams.”

CARPOOLS HELP Has the time for carpooling come?

“Carpoolers expect it to feel like a car, not an autorickshaw. Even the driver does not want to feel like an auto driver.

A car means personal freedom to people. People don’t come together easily for such purposes. You need a lot more buses, arriving frequently, air conditioned, strictly no standing passengers and safer driving,” says AK Rao.

RJUKAN: Residents in Rjukan, an industrial town nestled in a narrow valley in central Norway, will get some sunlight on the town square from this September, breaking a history of over 100 years of having no sunlight in winter.

If everything goes as planned, sunlight will be beamed onto the square in front of the town hall from the three mirrors erected 450 meters high on the mountainside, reported Xinhua.

The installation of the mirrors, which began July 1, 2013, has already been completed.

On Monday, workers and technicians were giving the five-million-kroner project a final touch.

For decades, residents of Rjukan have being using the nearby cable car Krossobanen to get to the

AROUND THE

WORLD mountain top for sunshine in wintertime.

Karin Roe, chief of the Rjukan tourist office, said that people in the town will continue to use cable cars in winter although activities on the square are expected to increase.

The idea of building a huge mirror to reflect sun-

light onto the town was almost as old as the town.

When he started to build the town in 1907, Sam Eyde took to his heart the idea so that workers could have some sunlight in wintertime, said Rune Loedoeen, chief of the town.

“But at that time, we did not have the technology. So instead a cable car was built for the purpose,” said Loedoeen.

IANS

7

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013 WEST AFRICA

20 Indians aboard hijacked ship NEW DELHI: A chemical tanker with 20 Indian crew members on board was hijacked by suspected pirates off the coast of West African nation of Gabon, according to a media report.

The Turkish-owned, Maltese-flagged tanker has been hijacked by pirates off the coast of Port-Gentil, Gabon, said the Times of Malta.com.

The 2007-built MV Cotton, had a crew of 20, all of them Indian. The hijacking is believed to have happened Sunday.

“The owners of the MV Cotton lost contact with the tanker late on Sunday," said the official, who wished to remain anonymous.

“We believe it was captured by pirates in the region where such acts are common," the news site said.

IANS

MALAYSIA Vatican envoy apologises over ‘Allah’ row

JUVENILE JUSTICE

PANCHAYAT DECISION

SC upholds differential treatment to minors One among the accused in the Delhi bus gangrape likely to get away with lenient punishment as he was a minor at the time of commiting the crime.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday upheld the Juvenile Justice Act providing for differential treatment to a minor irrespective of the nature of crime committed by him or her.

The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir upheld the Juvenile Justice Act by declining the prayer that the age in the act should be reduced from 18 to 16 and those involved in heinous crimes should not be treated differently. The petitioner had also sought that the punishment for a heinous crime committed by a minor should not be decided by the Juvenile Justice Board.

Rejecting the petition, Chief Justice Kabir said here was no need to interfere in the matter.

AROUND THE

NATION

The petition was filed in the context of a minor who was

among those who were arrested for the gangrape, brutal assault and torture of a 23-year-old woman in a moving bus in Delhi December 16 last year.

She later died in a Singapore hospital December 29.

IANS

WHALE OF A TIME

KUALA LUMPUR: The Vatican’s first-ever envoy to Malaysia has apologised for supporting the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims after he was summoned by the foreign AROUND THE

WORLD

minister.

Archbishop Joseph Marino issued a statement late Tuesday, after meeting with Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, saying his comments were “never intended as an attempt to intrude into the internal affairs of the country".

AFP

Youth gets 5 shoe hits for rape attempt

A Humpback whale jumps to the surface of the Pacific Ocean at the Uramba Bahia Malaga natural park in Colombia. Humpback whales migrate annually from the Antarctic Peninsula to peek into the Colombian Pacific Ocean coast, with an approximate distance of 8,500 km, to give birth and nurse their young.

Humpback whales have a life cycle of 50 years or so and are about 18 meters long.

AFP/LUIS ROBAYO

LUCKNOW: At a time when people across the country are seeking tougher laws and stringent punishment for rape and sexual assaults, a youth got away with a punishment of being hit five times with shoes.

The bizarre incident took place in Madha Habibpur village of Aligarh, Tuesday, when the panchayat after coming to know of an attempted rape by a village boy read out the punishment.

The matter was later referred to the police by the distraught AROUND THE

NATION

father of the victim on whom the rape attempt was made and the police lodged a first information report (FIR) against the assailant.

Police said the assailant sexually assaulted the young girl after barging into her house late Monday.

When the matter came to the notice of the village Panchayat, they held a meeting and decided “not to take the matter further” for fear of bringing bad name to the village.

They asked the family of the girl to hit the assailant five times with shoes and let him go. While the family surrendered to the wishes of the village panchayat then, they later lodged a complaint with the police.

“A case has been registered against the accused and we are trying to arrest him," a police officials said while informing that law will take its own course in the matter and the panchayat decision was illegal.

IANS

WORLD BRIEFS Ex-VP Cheney’s daughter running for US Senate WASHINGTON: Liz Cheney announced she will run for the United States Senate in 2014. The younger Cheney’s bid puts her on a collision course with the state’s senior Senator Mike Enzi, 69, a member of the Republican old guard and one of the Senate’s more conservative members.

Asiana passengers file lawsuit against Boeing

Asiana flight delayed 17 Trial of Italy shipwreck hours by oil leak captain gets under way

1.2 tonnes of illicit drugs seized in Iran

CHICAGO: A group of 83 passengers aboard an Asiana Airlines flight which crash-landed in San Francisco has filed a lawsuit seeking millions from the aircraft’s manufacturer Boeing, their lawyers said Tuesday. Lawyer Ribbeck Law said initial reports indicate it could have been caused by a mechanical malfunction of the auto-throttle.

LONDON: An Asiana Boeing 777 was delayed in Los Angeles for 17 hours due to an engine oil leak, days after the same model crashed in San Francisco. Some 200 passengers had to be moved to a nearby hotel as the plane was worked on.

The flight finally took off at 5.20 pm Los Angeles time and was en route to Seoul.

TEHRAN: Over 1.2 tonnes of illicit drugs have been seized during two anti-drug operations in Iran’s Alborz province in the last few days, Xinhua reported Tuesday citing authorities. “Police have seized some 1,215 kg of opium and hashish in two operations in Alborz province," said provincial police chief Ali Goudarzi.

GROSSETO: The trial of Italy’s cruise ship captain Francesco Schettino is set to get underway on Wednesday, with survivors of the 2012 nighttime disaster and relatives of the 32 victims expected to attend. Schettino is accused of multiple manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing environmental damage.

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

RATTAN DELICACIES

Veritable fare of Iftar ARUN DANIEL YELLAMATY arunyellamaty@postnoon.com

FLAVOURS

Pista House

H

ead to Pista House for a dish of haleem.

The restaurant, which is popularly known for offering some of the best Hyderabad haleem available, has always lived up to haleem lovers’ expectations.

Talking about the Iftar food being served at Pista House, Md Abdul Mohsi, the owner, said, “We have been the City’s favourite for a Each plate of haleem costs long time now. This year too we have special haleem . ` being sold here at Charminar. For all those who cannot come here, there are numerous stalls put up all across the City. We have vegetarian haleem and low calorie haleem too.” This year, the restaurant has started a buffet for people who want to eat Sehri. The menu includes khichdi, mutton kheema, tomato curry and bhaji gurda fry.

110

Shah Ghouse Café

S

hah Ghouse Café, a popular restaurant in Shalibanda, Charminar, has been around for quite a few years, but came to light in 2006 after winning a haleem competition.

The restaurant boasts of using the best meat for preparing haleem. The Each plate of haleem costs owner, Mohammad Rabbani, said, “We have the advan. ` tage over various haleemselling restaurants. We know what meat should be used to cook the best haleem.”

Apart from haleem, this restaurant sells khubani ka meetha, kheer and phirni for Iftar. The restaurant has another outlet at Tolichowki as well.

100

Paradise

P

aradise Restaurant is not only known for its biryani. Since the last two years, it has become popular for its haleem sold for Iftar. They have outlets at Masab Tank, Hitec City, NTR Gardens and Kukatpally.

Md Saleem, a software Each plate of haleem costs engineer and haleem lover, said, “I come here every day each. ` with my friends to eat haleem as part of my Iftar meal. I eat a few fruits after namaz and directly head here.”

100

8&9 Come evening and everybody is out on the streets for some mouthwatering Iftar specials. Breaking the fast with family and friends is the highlight of the night, and what better way to do this than with some dry fruits, a bowl of perfect haleem and some phirni? Postnoon gives you the six best places to head to this Ramzan for a delicious feast.

PICS: M ANIL KUMAR

Bawarchi

N

ow don’t get confused with the many Barwachi’s all across the City. This restaurant is very popular for the biryani they serve, but in the recent years, it has also become a popular place for Iftar A portion of haleem costs meal. The haleem here has become Kebabs cost ` onwards. ` quite popular in and around Chikadpally. Many here eat the kebabs as well as part of the Iftar meal. The chicken and mutton kebabs are quite popular.

The haleem is sold out by 10pm.

100.

100

Hotel Shadab

O

ne of the most popular places in the City, half of Charminar can be found enjoying their Iftar meal here.

The restaurant also serves free dahi vada to those who want to break their fast.

Shadab owner Each plate of haleem costs Shoaib Md said, “We serve free dahi vada each ` to people who come here after the day’s fast. Haleem and zuban (goat’s tongue) curry with egg are the highest selling. We also have special preparations for Sehri such as dal rice with kheema, tomato ghosht with bhajji gurda and nalliyon ki dal (bone marrow curry).”

100

Hotel Sohail

T

he sole restaurant in and around Malakpet and Chaderghat where people come to have their Iftar meal. The restaurant also has a good number of Sehri dishes. The old hotel, which was Each plate of haleem costs popular for its chai and biscuits, slowly Kebabs cost ` onwards. ` became a favourite spot for haleem. Here, you can also eat kebabs, paya and nihaar.

“The haleem here is surely a must-have for haleem lovers,” said Md Farooq, a resident of Malakpet.

100.

100

10

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

RUN WITH THE CITY

Airtel Marathon on August 25

Training for beginners and amateur runners is one speciality of the Marathon this year.

ARUN D YELLAMATY

arunyellamaty@postnoon.com

T

he third edition of Airtel Marathon is back and will take place on the August 25. The race which is being held in association with the Hyderabad runners is expected to see the participation of more than 6,000 people.

R Menon, Hub CEO — AP and MP&CG, Bharti Airtel, informed that the marathon would start at 5 am from the Hussainsagar Lake bank and pass through different parts of the City before converging at the GMC Balayogi Stadium,

AROUND THE

CITY

Gachibowli. Security and other facilties have been tended to as well. The marathon will feature full (42.195K) and half (21.095K) marathon races, as well as a Marathon Relay (4x10.5K) specifically designed for corporate entities and aspiring marathon runners.

“Airtel Hyderabad Marathon has emerged as one of the City’s most prestigious sporting events. Over the years, we have seen this Marathon attracts thousands

of participants from all walks of life," Menon said.

There will be a practice session held every Saturday from the coming week. Kali Kondury, spokesperson, Hyderabad Runners, said this year’s marathon was designed to be bigger, and certainly better, conforming to international marathon standards. Aimed at training amateur runners and honing the skills of professionals, sports experts at Hyderabad Runners will be conducting free training sessions for the full, half and relay events at the KBR Park every Saturday at 6am.

PROTECTION MONEY

Japan woman sues yakuza boss

TOKYO: A woman is suing the head of Japan’s biggest yakuza organised crime group, seeking a refund of protection money paid to gangsters threatening to torch her bar, reports said Wednesday.

The plaintiff is claiming Kenichi Shinoda bears “employer’s liability” as the don of the Yamaguchi-gumi because the mobsters were affiliated to his syndicate, broadcaster TBS said, in what is thought to be the first case of its kind.

She is demanding around 17 million yen in compensation and reimbursement for payments she was forced to make to protect her bar in the central city of Nagoya, the broadcaster said, citing her

AROUND THE

WORLD

legal representatives.

The woman says she paid 30,000-100,000 yen per month between 1998 and 2010 to a member of Inabaji Ikka, a local yakuza group connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi, Kyodo News said.

The Yamaguchi-gumi makes up more than 40 per cent of the nation’s organised criminals, with about 27,700 members, according to the National Police Agency.

AFP

EGYPT UNREST

EU envoy in Cairo for talks

Islamists refuse to take part in the new administration. Army chief inducted into Cabinet.

SIMON MARTELLI, TOM LITTLE Agence France-Presse CAIRO: The European Union’s top diplomat was heading for Cairo Wednesday, a day after an interim government was sworn in to replace Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, toppled by the military two weeks ago.

Announcing the surprise visit, the office of EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said her visit was to press the case for a swift return to democratic rule.

“I am going to Egypt to reinforce our message that there must be a fully inclusive political process, taking in all groups which support democracy," Ashton said.

Both the Muslim Brotherhood, the influential movement from which Morsi hails, and the ultraconservative Al-Nur party refused to take part in the new administration.

Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad immediately rejected the 35-member cabinet that was sworn in on Tuesday.

AROUND THE

WORLD

Egyptian supporters of Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi (on the poster) take part in a self-defense training outside Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on July 16, 2013 in Cairo.

AFP /MARWAN NAAMANI

“We don’t recognise its legitimacy or its authority," he told AFP. The government is headed by liberal economist Hazem alBeblawi.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-

Sisi, the general behind the popularly backed coup that overthrew Morsi, becomes first deputy prime minister and minister of defence.

Tuesday’s swearing-in cere-

mony took place just hours after deadly clashes between the security forces and Morsi’s supporters in Cairo and nearby Giza.

Officials said seven people were killed and 261 wounded in the clashes. Hundreds of protesters were also arrested.

On Monday, US envoy Bill Burns — the most senior American official to visit since the July 3 coup — had appealed for an end to the violence rocking the Arab world’s most populous nation.Within hours however, thousands of Morsi supporters were on the streets of the capital protesting at the president’s overthrow and his detention by the military. Hundreds of them battled the security forces and two people died in clashes around the central Ramses area near Tahrir Square, while another five were killed in Giza, emergency services said.

A security source cited by state media said 401 protesters were arrested in the Ramses area alone, and at least 17 security personnel were injured.

This was the first major violence in the capital since dozens of Morsi supporters were shot dead outside an elite army barracks early last week.

The United States condemned the violence. State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said it made the transition “much more difficult," but he insisted Washington was not taking sides.

Washington has refrained from saying Morsi was the victim of a coup, which would legally require a freeze on some $1.5 billion in US military and economic assistance to Cairo.

These latest deaths bring to more than 100 the number of people killed in the unrest since the coup, according to an AFP tally.

The caretaker government unveiled on Tuesday included three women ministers and three Coptic Christians.

AFP

QUASHING RUMOURS

US denies nuclear energy talks with Pakistan WASHINGTON: The United States has flatly denied “rumours” from Islamabad that it had discussed the possibility of civil nuclear energy cooperation with Pakistan, but said it was supportive of Islamabad’s efforts with its energy problems.

“We’d seen those rumours, but I can confirm there was no discussion of civilian nuclear technology," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters Wednesday when asked about such reports from Islamabad citing official source.

AROUND THE

WORLD

“For further discussions, I’d direct you to the Government of Pakistan and Overseas

Private Investment Corporation, which is a government agency on our side. But there was no discussion of civil nuclear technology," he said.

Asked if the US was considering that (nuclear energy) as an option to address Pakistan’s

energy situation, Ventrell repeated: “Again, I confirm — can confirm there was no discussion of it here. “I don’t have anything for you on it."

In the past too, the US has rebuffed Pakistan’s plea for a nuclear energy agreement. AFP

11

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

OF OUR NEIGHBOUR

POLITICS

Modified version of BJP on ticket

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.a@postnoon.com

Tourism blooms in Pak-Kashmir again Money brought in by thousands visiting has boosted the economy of one of the poorest parts of Pakistan.

SAJJAD QAYYUM Agence France-Presse NEELUM VALLEY: Success stories can be rare in Pakistan, but business is booming in one Kashmir tourist spot as the region rebuilds after a devastating earthquake and shrugs off associations with violence.

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistani tourists drawn to the lakes and glaciers of the Neelum valley are injecting desperately needed money into one of the poorest parts of the country.

Westerners stopped coming to the Himalayas of Pakistani-Kashmir years ago, put off by its reputation as a training ground for Islamist militant groups and the risk of sporadic conflict with India.

But with a new road built by the Chinese after the 2005 earthquake killed 73,000 people and a ceasefire holding with India, Pakistanis are

discovering the snow-capped peaks, glaciers, lakes and lush-green meadows of the Neelum valley.

Known locally as "Paradise on Earth," the valley is 114 kilometres (70 miles) east of the base camp where gunmen shot dead American, Chinese, Lithuanian, Slovakian and Ukranian climbers in June, the worst attack on foreigners in Pakistan for a AROUND THE

WORLD

decade.

But few Pakistanis are worried.

"There is a bit of fear there, but overall we are enjoying ourselves and we will stay according to our plan," said Mohammad Amir, a lawyer on holiday with his family from southern Punjab.

Munazza Tariq, a university student from Karachi, agrees.

"This was carried out by enemies of Pakistan. After it happened, we received a lot of calls from our relatives from Karachi, but we are safe and enjoying ourselves," said Munazza.

Local tourism ministry official Shehla Waqar says 600,000 people visited Neelum last year compared to 130,000 in 2010, before the Chinese built a road linking the area to Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

"There is an influx of tourists in the area because we have a very beautiful road from Muzaffarabad to the Neelum Valley," she said The nearby Line of Control slices apart the Indian and Pakistani-held zones of the Himalayan region where a ceasefire has held since November 2003.

"This area is very peaceful and there is no fear of terrorism," said Waqar.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir, a Muslimmajority region claimed in full by both sides. Sporadic clashes killed six soldiers in January and February, but officials on both sides have kept tensions in check and Pakistan's newly elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, has put improving relations with India at the cornerstone of his foreign policy.

There are now 115 registered guest houses in the Neelum valley, local deputy commissioner Mohammad Farid told AFP, compared to none in 2010.

HYDERABAD: Stung by criticism of the Congress party for pricing the meeting of Narendra Modi in August, the State BJP has made it clear that those who do not buy a ticket can also attend the meeting. There is no bar, the ticket is voluntary, says AP BJP president Kishan Reddy.

Kishan Reddy expressed his disgust over some mischief mongers launching a vilification campaign against the BJP calling upon people to buy a `5 ticket to attend his public meeting here on August 11.

He explained that the party had decided to collect `5 from party workers on the occasion so that the money could be pooled and donated to the Uttarakhand victims relief fund.

He lamented that some jealous political leaders were misleading the people against the good intentions of the BJP. The BJP national leader M Venkaiah Naidu said the `5 ticket was planned and introduced to rope in the youth into a noble cause of coming to the aid

AROUND THE

CITY

of Uttarakhand disaster victims.

He also pointed out that legendary leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Jaya Prakash Narayan had collected donations for movements.

He said some people, who were not able to stomach the skyrocketing popularity of Narendra Modi, were indulging in the vilification campaign.

Reddy said those who criticise for imposing tickets must explain if they can hold such a public meeting where tickets are necessary attendance.

Many of these critics give money to participants, he alleged.

PICK YOUR

@

Across Stores

ities Twin C

12

News WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

UK GAY RIGHTS

WEAPONS ROW

Cuba claims as own arms on N. Korea ship HAVANA: Cuba on Tuesday claimed as its own the arms found on board a ship intercepted by Panama, saying the missile parts were to be repaired in North Korea and returned.

In a statement read on state television, Havana said the “obsolete” weaponry included anti-aircraft missile arrays, nine disassembled missiles and other parts, indicating it all had been headed to North Korea.

AROUND THE

WORLD

“The agreements subscribed

by Cuba in this field are supported by the need to maintain our defensive capacity in order to preserve national sovereignty,” the government said in an English-language statement.

But the shipment could violate harsh UN arms sanctions on North Korea intended to halt its nuclear program, and will likely worsen long-sour relations between Havana and Washington.

Panama called Tuesday for UN inspections of the weapons parts, which were found aboard a North Korean-flagged ship as it tried to enter the Panama Canal last week.

AFP

Gay marriage Bill passed The Bill survived a stormy passage through Parliament, with dozens of members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s own Conservative party voting against it.

LONDON: British lawmakers on Tuesday passed a Bill legalising same-sex marriage in England and Wales, paving the way for the first gay weddings in 2014.

MPs in the House of Commons decided not to oppose a number of minor amendments to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill proposed by the House of Lords, the upper parliamentary chamber.

The legislation is now expected to receive official assent from Queen Elizabeth II later this week after MPs agreed to changes such as ensuring protections for transgender couples.

Already on Monday night, jubilant gay rights activists danced outside parliament as the government-backed Bill passed unopposed through the House of Lords. Some members there wore pink carnations.

A spokesman for the culture ministry, which is overseeing the new law, told AFP the Bill would probably receive royal assent on Wednesday or Thursday.

“But we are looking at seeing the first gay weddings in the middle of 2014 because there are various issues to sort out, such as its impact on pensions,” the spokesman added.

AROUND THE

WORLD

Government computer systems also need to be updated to allow same-sex marriages to be registered, at an estimated cost of £2 million ($3 million, 2.3 million euros).

But the government hopes legalising gay marriage will bring an overall boost to the economy, estimating that the change could bring in up to £14.4

million a year for caterers, hotels and the rest of the wedding industry.

The Bill survived a stormy passage through parliament, with dozens of members of Prime Minister David Cameron’s own Conservative party voting against it.

Tory minister Gerald Howarth criticised the way the government had backed the Bill.

“I have to say that it is astonishing that a bill for which there is absolutely no mandate, against which a majority of

COUNTRY IN CRISIS

Racist hits on the rise in Greece

The crisis-hit nation is witnessing increasing racist attacks these days as it becomes dangerous for dark-skinned people.

ISABEL MALSANG Agence France-Presse ATHENS: Omar Diallo’s head is still swollen after a recent assault on the streets of Athens which left him with several stitches.

Having fled his troubled homeland of Guinea, the 28year-old is no stranger to violence, but the virulent racism he says he has experienced in crisishit Greece has come as a shock.

AROUND THE

WORLD

In the Athens neighbourhood where he lives — an area full of empty, graffiti-covered shops with “for rent” and “for sale” signs on the windows — it has become increasingly dangerous to be a dark-skinned foreigner.

“There are zones where we

no longer have the right to go, or where we can only go in groups.”

He was on his own when he was assaulted. The attack was swift and silent, unaccompanied by racist taunts or demands.

“Four people got hold of me on the street, one of them hit me

with some object on the head. I fell down and they hit me. When they finished, they left.”

Omar fled his west African home after a September 2009 stadium massacre during an opposition rally. His father was among the 157 killed, while he was thrown in jail.

After being released he decided to leave his country where he said he feared for his life. But just a few years after coming to Athens in search of a better future, he found himself lying in the street, blood dripping from his head, until police officers found him and took him to the hospital.

His story is not unique.

“I saw a young Pakistani being beaten right in front of me, by two giants, who ran through the whole bus to get to him and then kicked him violently out on the street. I did not interfere because I was scared,” a mortified retired Frenchman, who has been living in Athens for a year, told AFP. A watchdog recording racial violence counted 154 victims in 2012, 107 of whom were assaulted in Athens. In at least eight cases, victims or witnesses said they recognised people associated with neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn.

Conservatives voted against, has been bulldozed through both Houses and just two hours of debate tonight is an absolute parliamentary disgrace,” he said.

“I think the government should think very carefully in future if they want the support of these benches. Offending large swathes of the Conservative Party is not a good way of going about it.”

An attempt in the Lords last month to kill off the legislation with a “wrecking amendment” failed.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who leads Cameron’s junior coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, said the new law would ensure that gay couples felt “recognised and valued, not excluded”. Gay rights activists have vowed to press on for equal marriage in the United Kingdom’s other two nations, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But opponents of gay marriage have warned that the legislation will “come back to bite” Cameron. The Coalition for Marriage campaign group said it would mobilise a 700,000-strong support base ahead of next year’s European elections and the general election in 2015.

AFP

IMMIGRATION

Australia says asylum boats ‘god-awful’ SYDNEY: Asylum-seekers drowning on the treacherous boat journey to Australia presented a “god-awful” problem, Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said Wednesday after four more deaths were reported following a dramatic sea rescue.

AROUND THE

WORLD

Authorities pulled 144 people from the surging waters off the Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island late Tuesday, but they also recovered four bodies after the ship carrying an estimated 150 people capsized and sank.

“This is a wretchedly difficult area and it has been poisoned by politics,” Clare said of boatpeople. “If we are going to fix this god-awful problem then we need to work together.”

AFP

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Business

ETIHAD EYES LONG GAME IN AUSTRALIA

Etihad Airways chief James Hogan says the carrier is in Australia for the "long-term game" amid speculation that it was behind a flurry of Virgin share purchases this week.Hogan confirmed the Abu Dhabi-based carrier was "buying on the market at the moment".

TACKLING DIGITAL THREATS

NEC IN TROUBLE

Staying safe, digitally Going digital has not only brought us humongous benefits but has also given rise to numerous risks. The need of digital security certificates becomes all the more important at this stage.

PRUDHVI RAJU K prudhvi.k@postnoon.com

I

ndividuals, businesses and even the country as a whole has become victim to digital threats. Government and businesses are setting aside specific portion of their budgets for digital security itself. In this scenario, the digital signature certificate has gained importance for its security and legal sanctity. Even the RBI and Ministry of Corporate Affairs are moving towards this technology for maintaining security and authenticity in banking and other digital procedures.

A normal signature authenticates a person's agreement offline. However, one has to use a digital signature certificate to authenticate one’s identity electronically. This certificate is also used to encrypt information and only the intended recipient can read it. It also verifies the authenticity of the sender of the message and guarantees that the content was not changed during the transit.

“The digital signature certificate is associated with a pair of electronic keys. One private key is with the person who owns the digital certificate. It can be used with the issued password. This is either stored in the sender's harddisk or in an external drive-like token. The public key is disseminated with the encrypted information. The authentication process fails if these keys do not match. This means that the encrypted data cannot be decrypted without the public key and therefore, is inaccessible to unauthorised parties,” says Kalaivani Chittaranjan, MD and CEO, eMudhra Consumer Services.

Regarding its of usage, she

13

TOKYO: Japanese electronics giant NEC will likely abandon smartphone production after failing to bring China's Lenovo Group on board to bolster its money-losing unit, a report said Wednesday.

The Nikkei business daily said NEC had asked Lenovo to take a majority stake in development and production subsidiary NEC Casio Mobile Communications, but the two parties could not reach an agreement.

Without the extra muscle Lenovo would have provided, NEC believes it will struggle to rebuild the business in a highly competitive market dominated by South Korean giant Samsung and consumer favourite Apple.

The company plans to freeze development of new smartphones and focus solely on conventional handsets, the business daily said, without naming its sources.

Smartphones account for more than half of sales at NEC Casio Mobile, which is saddled with excess liabilities of 60 billion yen ($604 million), the paper said.

NUMEROLOGY

$1.2

bn

Chevron and Argentina's state oil giant YPF signed a $1.2 billion agreement on Tuesday to exploit a huge oil reserve, triggering protests over the fracking it will entail.

GOOGLE EYES NET TV

says, “Banks have been using digital signatures for the last 10 years for their interbank transactions. In 2011, the RBI came up with a guideline for banks to use the digital signature for their customer applications.

Recently, the RBI has mandated that banks should use digital signatures for high-value transactions and for corporate customers from September onwards.”

Apart from banking, these digital signatures can be used

Other uses: n Secure email and webbased transactions n To prove ownership of a domain name n To prove authorship of programming code n To establish SSL/ TLS encrypted secured sessions

for signing web forms, e-tendering documents, filing income tax returns, access membershipbased websites automatically without entering a username and password as well.

“Keeping the costs involved for the players in mind, the RBI have initiated for corporate accounts and for high value transactions. Over time, this will be mandated to all the retail customers and its usage will be increased even while filing ereturns,” she says.

GOLD`26,575 10g SILVER `41,089 1kg

24C

for

for

DOLLAR `59.29 POUND `89.62

NEW YORK CITY: US Internet giant Google is scrambling to deliver pay television online and has met with some content providers on licensing, The Wall Street Journal reports Tuesday.

"If the Web giant goes ahead with the idea, it would join several other companies planning to offer services that deliver cable TV-style packages of channels over broadband connections," the Journal reported.

"Intel Corp. and Sony Corp. are both working on similar offerings, while Apple Inc. has pitched various TV licensing ideas to media companies in the past couple of years," the report said.

Google's effort, if successful, has the potential to seriously undermine the current pay-cable television "ecosystem," it added.

BSE NSE

19965.74 114.51

5985.10 29.85

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Comment People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.

Isaac Asimov Author

Dinosaurs, basic astronomy stump Aussies

O

ne in four Australians believe humans coexisted with dinosaurs while one in three think it takes just one day for the Earth to orbit the sun, according to a "worrying" survey published Wednesday.

The Auspoll survey of 1,515 adults for the Australian Academy of Sciences showed basic scientific knowledge was declining on key questions, including human influences on evolution and the Earth's reserves of fresh water. Only 59 per cent of those surveyed knew that it took Earth one year to orbit the sun, a fall of two percentage points from the same survey three years ago — with 30 per cent saying it took just one day. Some 27 per cent said the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs, down from 30 percent in the previous survey; while 70 per cent said they knew evolution was currently occurring. Ten per cent said evolution was not occurring, nine percent said they did not believe in evolution and another 12 per cent said they were not sure — a similar result to 2010. The proportion of those who believed humans were influencing the evolution of other species declined from 77 per cent three years ago to 73 per cent. The survey polled Australians of 18 years and older, with the percentages rounded up. "It's a worrying wake-up call o see scientific literacy declining among young adults, and to a lesser degree among the broader Australian adult population," said Les Field, secretary for science policy at the academy. AFP

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS

The Supreme Court's ruling to curb the sale of acid in the open market is a welcome one. Rules that apply to the sale of poison now apply to acid as well. At least the tales of horror will come down.

TOURISM BOOST

14

LANKA BETS ON CASINOS AMAL JAYASINGHE Agence France-Presse

M

ulti-million-dollar casinos planned for Colombo have boosted Sri Lanka's ambitious hopes of becoming Asia's new gambling hotspot, but the projects still face political and religious opposition.

Sri Lanka legalised gambling in November 2010, with the aim of eventually luring cashed-up tourists to the island nation and boosting an economy battered by decades of ethnic war.

The government granted approval to Sri Lanka's John Keells group last week, for a $850-million "mixed development", a euphemism for an entertainment hub that includes gambling.

The green light was also given last month to the local partner of Australian billionaire and gaming tycoon James Packer, for a similar deal to build a $350 million lakeside resort in the heart of Colombo.

Both investments have been given a generous 10-year tax holiday.

John Keells, the island's biggest diversified group with interests in hotels, has not announced details but industry officials say it will include a casino with a yet-to-be named foreign partner.

Government officials have

stressed that both projects, expected to start before the end of this year, will create thousands of jobs and attract high rollers.

But the main opposition party has baulked at the projects, not on moral grounds, but because of the generous tax breaks gifted to developers.

"What we are saying is that if the country is to benefit, they must be taxed and regulated," United National Party lawmaker Harsha de Silva said. "We will not jump up and down saying we oppose casinos." The UNP is pushing for a sin-tax on casino developments in line with the heavy duties slapped on the alcohol and tobacco industries.

Investment promotion minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena defended the government's efforts to encourage "mixed-developments" including with the 10-year tax holiday. "If we don't offer generous tax incentives, these investors will go to some other country," Yapa said last week.

Small, low-key casinos have been tolerated in conservative mainly Buddhist Sri Lanka even before gambling was legalised in 2010, by exploiting various legal loopholes.

The government has been trying to placate the island's influential monks by saying all future big-name casinos will be built in one designated zone in Colombo, and open only to foreigners.

Buddhist monk Athuraliye Rathana, a lawmaker and senior leader of the National Heritage party, warned the government

that these and other details set out in the 2010 gambling legislation must be strictly followed.

"We oppose gambling, but it is not practical to eradicate it completely. The government must enforce the Gambling Act (of 2010) and limit casinos to designated areas rather than give them a free run," he said.

"The government has at least said there will be a separate area for gambling. So let us see how they implement it," another Buddhist monk, Galagodaatte Gnanasara, secretary of the radical Bodu Bala Sena (BBS, or Buddhist Force) said.

The government is still thrashing out details of a regulatory framework for casinos, three years after legalising gambling. A senior minister told parliament at the time that Sri Lanka hoped to replicate Singapore's success in attracting high rollers to a well-regulated industry.

Mohotti said luring Crown

and other brands was key to further developing tourism, which is enjoying steady growth after hitting rock bottom during the war between 1972 and 2009.

Tourism income is set to rise from 1.0 percent of gross domestic product to 5.0 percent in the next three years, according to government forecasts, on the back of a continuing hike in visitor numbers.

The government has set a target of doubling annual visitor numbers to 2.5 million by 2016, including by encouraging different forms of tourism.

Sri Lanka attracted a record one million visitors in 2012 with between 1.2 and 1.3 million expected this year, the government says. Big-name casinos in Sri Lanka could tap a huge pool of potential punters from neighbouring India, where most forms of gambling are banned, according to a recent analysis from the daily FT financial newspaper.

EDITORIALS A national shame, this

I

ndia as a 65-year-old independent nation has not learnt one lesson from the past. Even today we must look to the West for neutral assessment of our country’s happenings. While government of India and government of Uttarakhand are messing up with casualty figures of the massive disaster in Uttarakhand floods, Associated Press says the dead figure is 5700 and missing uncertain. The lesson one if the ruling elite had the brains to find out is that denuding Himalayan region has led to frequent floods and draughts in these parts for many years. It does not take an environ-pundit to know what happens when high-rise mountains are divested of their ecosystem. But, no, our leaders, busy as they are with messing around and indulging in political squabbling

READERS’ VIEWS

have no time to listen to the groaning and moaning of the Nature.

The lesson two, if the country had the will to learn, was that a national disaster management system is in place and is eating up substantial sums of taxpayers’ money. It should be put to test, and not let it rot like thousands of useless bureaucratic organisations created in the post-independence era. It is not enough the Army does a good work, the Army is not supposed to do civilian works.

Sadder is the fact that instead of declaring it a national disaster, the central and state governments chose to dismiss it as a localised accident. By their attitude, the country has become a laughing stock in the eyes of the world. It is a shame it happens under the leadership of a technocrat.

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Cinema

FAMILY SUPPORT IS ESSENTIAL: KRISTINA AKHEEVA Australian model-actress Kristina Akheeva, who shot to fame in Bollywood with director Sangeeth Sivan's Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, says her family has supported her throughout.

BREAKING OUT

SCREEN POOPERS WATER(2005) It is the final installment of Deepa Mehta’s Elements Trilogy (after Fire and Earth) that focuses on entrapment of widows in prostitution under the cover of social rules for a widow in 1938. It was released as a Canadian film. Kalyani (Lisa Ray) who lives with 14 other widows in an ashram, has been compelled into prostitution. She falls in love with Narayan (John Abraham), who promises to take her with him to a better life. However, when Kalyani discovers that Narayan’s father is one of her clients, she can’t get herself to go ahead with Narayan and drowns herself.

These unfortunate events lead Shakuntala, a strongheaded widow from the ashram, to rescue a young adolescent from clutches of prostitution.

Written by: Anurag Kashyap Directed by: Deepa Mehta

With the release of Sixteen, a movie on teenagers’ ideology on sexuality, this seems a good time to revisit movies that provoked thoughts on our sexual freedom.

The butt of all problems So, model-turned-actress Poonam Pandey recently took Twitter by storm by posting a sneak peek of her upcoming film Nasha. And, sneak peek it was.

Showing the model’s bare back and butt covered with a yellow thong, the first look of the film is Mallika Sherawat’s worst nightmare. While Bollywood is flooded with actresses who cannot act to save their lives, it is slowly becoming a haven for women who dare to bare. Of course, for them acting doesn’t count!

KANCHAN AGARWAL kanchan.a@postnoon.com

THE BOLD AVATAR FIRE (1996)

MY BROTHER NIKHIL (2005)

M

THE CLOUD DOOR(1994)

A

n Indo-German dramatic short film, The Cloud Door explores Hindu and Muslim erotic literary themes. A parrot is overheard telling erotic stories to an Indian princess which angers the King. His desire to kill the parrot is prevented by the princess.

In gratitude, the parrot arranges for the princess and his lover to meet, and they make love. The onscreen nudity of the film caused an uproar leaving it to be screened only once at a film festival.

Written & directed by: Mani Kaul

arried to men of the same house, Radha (Shabana Azmi) and Sita (Nandita Das) are left to be sincere housewives while Radha’s husband has taken to abstinence, Sita’s marriage is only a formality bent to social pressures.

What they don’t find in their marriages, they find in each other — companionship, comfort, love, hope and strength. As lesbian lovers, the two revolted and faced the family’s wrath. They overcame their subservience, let go of social obligations, moved out and started a life together.

Initially, the film was praised for its pathbreaking depiction of a homosexual relationship. However, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said the film was an attack on Hinduism as the protagonists were named

after significant Hindu goddesses.

He said he would withdraw his objection if the names were changed to Muslim names. The party also issued a statement that said if women turned to lesbianism the institution of marriage would collapse hindering reproduction.

Critics saw these reactions as an evidence to how female sexuality is controlled by men in Indian culture.

Written & directed by: Deepa Mehta

SPLIT WIDE OPEN (1999)

O

ne of the most controversial films of India, it gives an insight on the subversive sexuality in modern India and how morality is challenged when sex and poverty collide. The theme is led by search of a lost street girl that exposes the water mafia and modern sexual behaviour in Mumbai.

Written & directed by: Dev Benegal

A swimming champion is shunned by the society because he is HIV positive. Police takes him into custody and his family sends him away, too. My Brother Nikhil narrates the life of Nikhil Kapoor (Sanjay Suri) between 1987 and 1994. His sister Anamika (Juhi Chawla) and lover Nigel (Purab Kohli) make for his support system. The movie, essentially is his struggle at a time when the Indian society and government were figuring out their way around AIDS. Directed by: Onir

(Re) Making trouble It’s a pity that Katrina Kaif will be essaying Hema Malini’s Seeta and Geeta characters. While she has been finalised as the lead in the classic movie’s remake, actors are yet to be chosen. Well, it doesn’t really matter since the most challenging characters will be played by the very ‘skilled’ Katrina! But, you never know, she might surprise you, remember Chikni Chameli? She actually flexed her facial muscles in that ‘important’ song!

TRENDING...

Amitabh Bachchan, ready to star in director Anurag Kashyap's untitled TV show, is sad that the third season of his favourite fantasy drama has ended.

"The Game of Thrones occupies most of my day and there is remorse because the Season 3 is over and one wants it never to end," Bachchan posted on his blog.

Actress Angelina Jolie has reportedly asked fiance Brad Pitt to go out on a vacation and enjoy with his friends. The couple has been busy lately.

Jolie was in news for undergoing a double mastectomy, and post that, Pitt's World War Z hit the screens. So, she felt he needed to de-stress.

18

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

spotlight

PARTY LIKE A ROCK STAR

DJ Jay will turn on the heat at Kismet tonight. The pub is hosting Wild, Wicked and Wacky Wednesday tonight.

GLAMOROUS SOIREE

1

2

3

SHOPPING FRENZY

4

Tejaswi of Seetamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu fame inaugurated Trendz Exhibition cum sale at Taj Krishna, Banjara Hills on Tuesday.

1

5

6

7

2

8 3

5

HAUTE &

4

HAPPENING

1 Siddhi, Ridhi

Dressed in chic, colourful attires, members of Se La Vie assembled at The Park for a brunch on Tuesday.

Spotted at the do were Menaka, Amisha and others.

9

10

11

2 Tejaswi 3 Reena 4 Dia 5 Neha

DELECTABLE FARE

A Sense for Spice, Recipes and Stories from a Konkan Kitchen authored by Tara Deshpande Tennebaum was launched at Oxford Bookstore on Tuesday.

1 Karishma, Trishna

4 Nikita Reddy

7 Sumita Reddy

10 Shubhi

2 Prakarti

5 Suman Rao

8 Menaka

11 Gayatri

3 Amisha, Priyanka

6 Arpita

9 Honey

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

health

BILL TO BAN GUTKA TABLED IN ASSAM ASSEMBLY

The Assam government Tuesday tabled a bill in the state assembly seeking to prohibit manufacture, advertisement, sale and consumption of zarda, gutka and pan masala containing tobacco in the state. The bill, once passed, will ban manufacturing and production of all forms of smokeless and chewing tobacco in the state.

UNDERSTANDING THE EYES: PART III

19

Leave no chance for dry eyes Eye problems can plague any age group. Just like the rest of your body, your eyes too need their fair share of attention. Here are some tips to keep your eyes healthy.

MEET THE DOC

G

et an eye exam no matter your age. Seeing an ophthalmologist is not just for people who already have glasses, even children should get a full eye exam before beginning kindergarten and every few years after.

Adults also should get their eyes checked, even if there is not an obvious problem. After the age of 60, people should make yearly visits as cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration become much more common.

MEET THE TRAVEL SMART DOC

A

irplane air quality tends to be drier and more irritating to the eye, especially if you're a contact lens wearer. Using rewetting or lubricating drops in your eyes before boarding (keep the bottle handy during the flight too) is a smart way to prevent irritation caused by dry eyes. Bring along an extra pair of lenses and your glasses, just in case.

MEETPROTECTION EYE THE DOC

E

very time you lather on sunscreen, think about shielding your eyes from the sun as well. A lifetime of UV light exposure can contribute to cataracts and macular degeneration, so always wear sunglasses with 100 per cent UVA and UVB protection.

MEET CARE LENS THE DOC

P

eople throw lens into their pockets or purses or store them in a humid bathroom, which is a breeding ground for bacteria. So replace your case often and keep it in a clean, dry place.

After you put in your contacts, be sure that the case is empty of all solution: Dump it out, then rinse and dry the case before you store your lenses in it again.

MEET THEPROTECTION SCREEN DOC

I

f you work in front of a computer screen all day, use the 20-20-20 rule to let your eyes rest: Every 20 minutes, look 20 feet away or more for at least 20 seconds. It helps break the eyes' constant strain of focusing from doing close work, like reading or looking at a computer monitor.

And always be sure that you're a comfortable arm's distance away from what you're looking at or reading. Blinking is how we bring fresh tears to the corneal surface, which helps your eyes stay moist and free of irritants. So the more we concentrate, the drier our eyes become.

MEETWORKOUT EYE THE DOC

L

ike muscles in the rest of our body, the muscles in the eyes need to be kept in good shape. To give them a work out, try holding a pencil three inches from your face and focus on the tip. Move it away to arms length and then bring it forward again.

These types of exercises can help to alleviate eye strain from too much reading or computer work.

You can also try out the ancient yoga method of 'palming' in daily eye care routine. The trick of palming adds optic nerve relaxation as a main way to bring better clarity of vision and health to the eye. Simply place your cupped hands over the eyes with the eyelids closed. Block out all light for total darkness.

Breathe long, slow and deep breaths for a couple of minutes of rest for the eyes, mind and rest of the body.

MEETRIGHT EAT THE DOC

A

s with all aspects of keeping a healthy body, eating a nutritious diet will benefit.

Recent research has shown that vitamins of the antioxidant group slow down age-related conditions. Vitamins C, A and E, folic acid, selenium and zinc are definitely beneficial for the health of your eyes. These can be found in your recommended daily intake of five portions of fruit and vegetables.

20

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Technology NSA SPYING ROW

‘Can we open them?’

M

icrosoft said Tuesday it had asked the US government for permission to disclose details of how it handles national security data requests, citing “inaccuracies” in recent media reports.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said the company had asked the US attorney general “to personally take action to permit Microsoft and other companies to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information.” “We believe the US constitution guarantees our freedom to share more information with the public, yet the government is stopping us,” Smith said in a blog posting.

He said the government has yet to respond to a petition filed in court on June 19 seeking permission to publish the number of national security requests the company has received.

“We hope the attorney general can step in to change this situation,” Smith said, adding that in the interim, “we want to share as much information as we currently can.” He added that “there are significant inaccuracies in the interpretations of leaked government documents reported in the media last week.”

The reports indicated Microsoft facilitated the govern-

PLAY AS YOU DOWNLOAD

Microsoft presses US on data request disclosures

Xbox One users will be able to play games while they’re still downloading to the console, a Microsoft representative confirmed to Polygon. Microsoft said when it unveiled the Xbox One in May that the console will allow users to play disc-based games while they’re installing to the system’s hard drive; all disc-based titles must be installed. But it was unclear until now if the same functionality would apply to games downloaded from Xbox Live. The PlayStation 4 will also support playing games when a certain portion of a download is complete, said a Sony engineer during the Develop conference last week.

WHATSAPP GOES FREE

Russian supporters of US National Security Agency (NSA) fugitive leaker Edward Snowden rally in central Moscow.

ment’s ability to tap video calls on Skype, a service Microsoft acquired in 2011.

Smith said that in regard to Skype, “we only respond to legal government demands, and we only comply with orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers.”

He added that technical

changes made to Skype in 2012 “were not made to facilitate greater government access to audio, video, messaging or other customer data.”

Smith said the policy is similar for its Outlook email service and SkyDrive cloud service.

“We still require governments to follow legal processes when

requesting customer data,” Smith said.

Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and other Internet titans have come under heightened scrutiny since word leaked of vast, covert surveillance programs US authorities insist target only foreign terror suspects and have helped thwart attacks.

AFP

PERFORMANCE

Yahoo! results: Mixed picture for CEO Y ahoo! said that its profit in the second quarter rose sharply from a year ago, but revenues lagged, offering a mixed picture for chief executive Marissa Mayer’s turnaround efforts.

The net profit rose 46 percent from a year ago to $331 million, slightly better than expected, but revenues excluding payments to partners fell one percent to $1.07 billion, the Internet giant said.

“I’m encouraged by Yahoo!’s performance in the second quarter. Our business saw continued stability, and we launched more products than ever before, introducing a significant new product almost

every week,” said Mayer.

Mayer cited the company’s new Yahoo! News, the new Yahoo! Sports app, the redesigned Yahoo! search, the new Flickr, the new Yahoo!

Mail for tablet, the Yahoo!

Weather app, and the company’s new Yahoo! app with Summly. “This quarter drove tremendous improvements in our product line and our users responded with increased usage and engagement,” she said.

Mayer was hired from Google a year ago to help turn around the Internet pioneer, which had seen its fortunes fade.

Since then Yahoo! has been on a buying spree, and has also sold shares in China’s Alibaba to boost its cash. Its most publicised deal was a billion-dollar acquisition of the blogging platform Tumblr.

For its key advertising segments, however, Yahoo! saw its display revenues excluding partner payments fall 11 percent to $423 million, while search ad revenue on the same basis fell five percent to $385 million in the quarter.

“Fortunately for the stillnew CEO Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! is currently not being judged on its revenue growth as the company is shrinking some efforts to focus on better earnings opportunities elsewhere,” said Jon Ogg at 247 Wall Street. “Yahoo! showed that it made nine acquisitions to strengthen its products, content, technology, and people.”

AFP

The enormously successful mobile chat tool WhatsApp, which Apple recently listed as the sixth most popular paid app of all time, is now available for free. It had being sold at 99 cents, so this might not seem like a big deal. But for some people, shelling out anything to just try an app is a barrier, so WhatsApp is likely to become even more well used. “Free” will come with a price down the road — you’ll pay $1 per year after the first year.

NEW MAPS FOR ALL First demoed during its I/O conference back in May, Google has been making its new Google Maps web app available to users on an invite only basis.

Today, Google has opened up the service to all by allowing users to try out the redesigned maps through a sign up on its website. Users will have to opt in to switch to the new Maps, but no longer will you have to wait to receive an invite email from Google. Head over to https://www.google.com/maps/ preview to try it out now.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Entertainment CINE BYTES

AMAT is soon in offing

S

umanth Ashwin and Eesha starrer Anthaka Mundhu Aa Tharuvatha is gearing up for release in few weeks. Indraganti Mohankrishna has directed the film and it deals with the relationship between a couple before they get married. Madhubala is playing an important role in this romantic drama.

Sahasam holds fort at BO

G

opichand, Taapsee starrer Sahasam is doing well at the box office. The film took the best openings in Gopichand’s career and the collections on the weekdays too are quite encouraging.

Chandrasekhar Yeleti has directed the film and BVSN Prasad is the producer.

Sri Divya bags a biggie in Tamil

S

ri Divya, who was last seen in Mallela Theeram Lo Sirimalle Puvvu, is all set to make her debut in an upcoming Tamil film titled Varutha Padatha Valibar Sangam. Siva Karthikeyan is the lead actor and Sathyaraj, Bindu Madhavi are playing important roles in this film. Ponram has directed the film.

FESTIVE RELEASE

MAHESH BABU’S 1 PUSHED TO SANKRANTHI

M

ahesh Babu’s upcoming film 1 is expected to hit the screens during Sankranthi, 2013. In the past, films like Businessman, Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, Okkadu had released during Sankranthi time and all three of them went on to become blockbusters. Initially, the makers of 1 were planning to release the film before the end of the year; however, the film’s shooting is expected to be wrapped up only towards the end of the year.

Moreover, Mahesh Babu has allotted dates for Sreenu Vaitla’s upcoming film Aagadu from August onwards. Keeping all these constraints in mind, buzz is that the producers have decided to get the film ready for release by mid January, 2014. Sukumar is directing the film and Kriti Sanon is playing the lead role opposite Mahesh Babu. Currently, the film is being shot in London and the team is expected to return to Hyderabad towards the end of the month. Earlier this month, the film was shot in Belfast and scores of Mahesh Babu’s fans thronged to the sets to catch a glimpse of the actor. Mahesh Babu’s son, Gautham is going to make a cameo as the younger version of Mahesh Babu in this psychological drama. The film has a caption Neenokkadiney and rumours are abuzz that Mahesh Babu will be playing the role of a rockstar who goes all the way to London to find the villain. Kris Gethin, who trained Mahesh Babu to achieve a toned look for the film, told Postnoon that the actor has successfully completed his fitness programme Dramatic Transformation Principle and there is a strong buzz that Mahesh Babu will show off his six pack during one of the fight sequences in the film. Devi Sri Prasad is scoring the music and Ratnavelu is the cinematographer. The film is being produced under the 14 Reels Entertainment Pvt Ltd banner.

21

22

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

NEXT ON THE LIST

Alia keen on period film W

atching Lootera has left an impact on young actress Alia Bhatt, who now wants to do a period film. She is not lured in just for the story, but also for the kind of style and look that it promises.

“I would, at least once in my career, love to do a period film. I think a period film is not only very emotional and very dramatic, the kind of fashion you get to do is outstanding,” the 20-year-old said Monday at the unveiling of the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine featuring her.

“It’s ostentatious, beautiful, vibrant and everything is detailed. So I would love to do a period film, not only for the role, but also for fashion,” she added.

Alia even had a special word of mention for the recently released Sonakshi Sinha and Ranveer Singhstarrer Lootera, the story of which is set in 1950s.

“Of course, I love Lootera.

If you see, Lootera is very beautiful. Every scene is delicate and yet stands out in your face,” Alia said.

Talking about the kind of films she wants to do in her career, Alia said: “I have an idea of the different kind of films I want to do. I just want to do lots of films and everything should be different, something that challenges me and caters to the need of the audience as well.”

Alia has finished shooting for Imtiaz Ali’s Highway with Randeep Hooda. She is currently shooting for 2 States with Arjun Kapoor.

IANS

CINE BYTES

Umesh Shukla to direct comic thriller with Arshad

F

ilmmaker Umesh Shukla will team up with noted Marathi writer-director-actor Girish Joshi to direct a comic thriller featuring Arshad Warsi in the lead. “I’m very excited about the project.

While I share a great comfort level with Bhavesh Mandalia, I look forward to working with Arshad Warsi, who in my opinion is extremely talented,” Shukla said in an statement.

IANS

Waheeda Rehman’s hand prints captured

L

egendary actress Waheeda Rehman’s handprints were captured Monday at the South Africa India Film and Television Awards event. “Taking handprints is a new trend.

It is good for the artists. I feel honoured,” Waheeda told reporters at the curtain-raiser press conference of SAIFTA. IANS

D-Day gets thumbs up from Bollywood

D

irector Nikhil Advani’s forthcoming film D-Day, set to hit the screens July 19, has already won the hearts of people from the film fraternity including filmmakers Karan Johar and Abhishek Kapoor. “D-Day, taut, gripping and incredibly made... a strong emotional layer that gives it gravitas... performances are top notch,” Johar posted on microblogging site Twitter.

IANS

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

23

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

24

25

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013 CINE BYTES

Will Smith's Focus eyes Margot Robbie

M

argot Robbie, who will soon be seen alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, is in early talks for the female lead opposite Will Smith in WB's grifter movie Focus, TheWrap has learned. While there is no official offer on the table, Robbie landed the plum part after recently testing for the role, according to an individual familiar with the project.

Hoffman boards Jon Favreau’s Chef

D

ustin Hoffman has joined the ensemble of the Jon Favreau comedy “Chef.” He joins a cast that already includes Robert Downey Jr., Sofia Vergara, John Leguizamo, Scarlett Johansson and Bobby Cannavale. Favreau also stars and will direct.

Tom Cruise film gets new title

T

om Cruise’s upcoming sci-fi film is getting a splashy presentation at this weekend’s Comic-Con, courtesy of Warner Bros. — and a new name to boot.

Formerly known as All You Need is Kill, the movie is now titled Edge of Tomorrow. Cruise stars as a futuristic soldier who gets caught in a time loop and has to fight the same battle against alien invaders and die repeatedly.

YOUNG LOVE

When privacy wasn't an issue for

GOMEZ S

inger-actress Selena Gomez says she was never too conscious about being in the public eye when she started dating during her teenage years.

The 20-year-old has been popular since she was 10, when she made her debut with children TV series Barney and Friends. Later, she got into some high profile relations with singers Nick Jonas and Justin Bieber.

However, maintaining secrecy about her relations was never on her mind during her teens. "I can't be afraid to live my life. I had my first 'boyfriend' (Nick), which wasn't really a boyfriend, at 14, 15," Observer magazine quoted Gomez as saying.

"You're young and you don't know how to be. You don't think, 'Now I have a boyfriend — let's keep it super-private and low key', because that's not what you're thinking about," she added. She said it was all about feeling the moment, rather than think about privacy. "You're thinking about, 'Oh my God, we're holding hands!'

You're just thinking about stuff like that," she said.

IANS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

Benjamin Franklin

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 Off-center 6 ___ best friend (dog) 10 Put words to music on stage 14 Enjoy to the fullest 15 Mounted on 16 Humpbacked helper 17 Close-fitting hat 18 Iranian currency 19 Arts and crafts purchase 20 Buckeyes' school letters 21 Baseball game stretch time in Old Rome?

24 Tolerate 26 One of the little piggies 27 Spanish sheep with fine wool 29 Skilled boater 34 Opening bars 35 Breakfast roll 36 CSI lab stuff 37 Sought damages 38 More dishonorable 39 Good or bad sign 40 Commit a faux pas 41 “Beau ___” 42 Powerful chess piece 43 Strike a chord 45 In an abrupt and discourteous manner 46 Forty-niner's accessory?

47 Coolness under pressure 48 Jan. 26, 1986, event 53 Some rds.

56 Prince William's school 57 Word with “disaster” or “dining” 58 The “O” of O Magazine 60 Auto racer Yarborough 61 Baltic native 62 Brownish gray 63 Norse thunder god 64 Finish second or last 65 Flying fish- catchers

DOWN

1 Regarding, in memos 2 Arts community near Santa Fe 3 Roman football game divisions 4 Mary's Mr. Grant 5 Golfer Lee 6 Donny's sister 7 “Look ___ this way . . .”

8 Ark builder 9 It's in some pitchers' repertoires 10 John Hancock, notably 11 Tangerine-grapefruit hybrid 12 It may be proper 13 Diver Louganis 22 Oft-broken promise 23 December ditty 25 Audubon subject 27 Tight-fisted one 28 Habituate (Var.) 29 Be uneconomical 30 “A Death in the Family” Pulitzer winner James 31 Roman Summer Olympics event?

32 Slippery as ___ 33 Tot watcher 35 Strong, woody fiber 38 High-impact pitch?

39 Couple's pronoun 41 Angry dog sound 42 Cervantes' hero 44 Corkscrew, for wine 45 “Cougar Town” co-star Courteney 47 Word with “fashion” or “dinner” 48 Religious offshoot 49 Its state bird is the seagull 50 Land or water sport 51 Two-tone dunker 52 Throws water on 54 3M product 55 “___ a Lady” (Tom Jones song) 59 Good golf score

Chai Time WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 18-7-2013

27

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Health problem likely, take care.

Debt problems might surface and put you under depression.

Chances of making friendship with political VIPs are likely, which will be beneficial for the future. Speculative transactions will yield decent gains.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Your administrative skills will improve and appreciated by all.

Women will get good support from parents and achieve whatever they have planned to.

Politicians are advised to stop interfering in other’s personal issues.

VIPs are likely to get vital posts.

You might be facing criticism at work place but never mind and keep cool. Employees will enjoy good support of their superiors.

Influx of friends and relatives is likely which will make all family members cheerful.

Financial position looks satisfactory. Brothers and sisters will extend good support both physically and financially. Help from persons of other region also is likely. Employees will complete their works perfectly and get appreciation.

Couple married recently will be blessed with offspring soon.

Some will undertake construction of their new house or renovation of the existing one which will go smoothly without any hurdles. Support from father side relatives will increase.

Employees need to focus and put in their hard work to get good recognition. Businessmen will sign new contracts and they will march ahead with good profits. Financial position too will improve enormously and they will be very cheerful.

You will feel tired because of journey undertaken. Be careful while driving as minor accident is not ruled out. Works which were delayed and hurdles faced will disappear. Benefits through friends and relatives are likely.

Politicians will get good support from the high command.

Employees will get good cooperation form their colleagues and support from their superiors. Customer circle will increase for the businessmen.

Employees might be overburdened. Housing plan and loan for construction will get approval. Written off dues will get collected if proper efforts are put which will improve your financial situation. You will find solution to a long pending issue.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Three of Swords – You may be suffering from isolation.

Do not ignore feelings of loneliness and depression. Talk to someone and share your feelings ASAP.

LEO:

Ace of Pentacles – Finances are in great shape. This is mostly thanks to your excellent planning and organization. The tough part is sticking to a budget.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Page of Cups – Take time to get involved in voluntary activities. Pick a cause that matters to you – education, poverty, conservation, etc.

SAGITTARIUS:

Four of Swords – Take one day at a time. Do not generalize. Take everything by the case and avoid drawing conclusions about someone based on one day.

TAURUS:

Eight of Pentacles – Take up a study course that will enhance your chances of a raise or a better position in your chosen career.

CANCER:

Ace of Cups – You have been waiting too long to make a move, especially in romantic matters. Time will not always wait for you. Make a move.

VIRGO:

The Hanged Man – You end up spending too much time alone, even when in a crowd. You must make the effort to meet people who think like you.

SCORPIO:

Five of Swords – You will come across some random coincidences and synchronicities that are mind blogging. You will need to go with the flow.

CAPRICORN:

Death – Wake up along with the sunrise and go through day as per the sun’s cycle.

Major lifestyle changes are needed to maintain your health.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

Justice – Man’s needs are never ending. It does not mean that you have to sulk and sit in the corner when you do not get one thing. Chin up. All will be well.

NUMBER GAME

Cut down on unnecessary consumption. Focus on savings so that you have enough for tomorrow to spend on things you really want.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Five of Cups –

POOCH CAFE

Financially a strong position is likely. You will complete most of the works with a good speed. Minor clashes with spouse and health problems are likely. Employees are capable enough to complete even the hardest works.

for 18-7-2013

Seven of Cups – Pay closer attention to the fine print, especially if you are dealing with some legal matters. It will become very difficult to make changes later.

NON SEQUITUR

Blood relatives might embarrass you with their activities.

Tensions are most likely. Help from expected sources will come by at an appropriate time and keep you relaxed.

Unexpected financial fortune is likely.

SUDUKO

Marriage talks delayed will resume and progress successfully. Avoid anger and getting emotional or sentimental.

Financial assistance expected from all the sources including the bank will be received.

Artists will do well.

Boggle HORSE HYENA TIGER CAMEL MOOSE Vol: 2, No 362 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 WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

TOO WOODEN ?

CINE BYTES

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. To play both leads In Ben Stiller’s Pinocchio?

I want to make Pinocchio as a live action film and not resorting to ‘animation. I would like to do it with Ben Stiller…

Robert Downey Jr Hollywood actor

R

obert Downey Jr. may be getting ready to pull double duty for Ben Stiller. Bleeding Cool is reporting from unnamed sources that the Iron Man star could end up playing both Pinocchio and Gepetto in a new live-action adaptation of the classing doll-to-boy fairy tale.

We first heard about this project back in May, shortly after Downey Jr. had attended the annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas. At the time the star had mentioned that he was interested in reuniting with Stiller for the first time since Tropic Thunder on his Pinocchio project. Warner Bros. was talking to the director about possibly helming the project but no formal negotiations had started.

If this new report is accurate, Stiller is now moving forward with the project.

According to Bleeding Cool’s sources, Downey Jr. will be playing “a younger Gepetto than you might expect” - one around the star’s current age - and will either be using motion-capture to play the inventor’s little wooden creation or simply provide a voice for “an actual physical form” - which was apparently in the original plans back when the project was in earlier stages of development.

The site categorises the new version of Pinocchio himself as a “naughty boy” who is up to mischief, but is charming too.

Isn’t that the character description for most Robert Downey Jr. roles these days?

Lucas Till returns to Bryan Singer’s X-Men

B

ryan Singer has brought back Lucas Till for X-Men: Days of Future Past, in which the actor will reprise his Alex Summers/ Havoc character from 2011′s XMen: First Class. Singer disclosed the casting Monday on Twitter with a photo of Till from the set, clad in military fatigues.

‘I will always love you’ on tombstone

L

ate singer Whitney Houston’s tombstone has her lyrics I will always love you engraved on it.

The singer, who passed away in February 2012, was rested in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, New Jersey, next to her father’s grave. The headstone to her grave was added last week, reports tmz.com.

IANS

Lady GAGA waxed at Musee Grevin, Paris

T

he most recent entry into the Lady Gaga replica field is in France. At the Musee Grevin in Paris, a wax statue of Gaga went on display starting July 2. It was sculpted by Jean-Baptiste Seckler.

sports

29

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

PAKISTAN IN WEST INDIES

Bravo Windies!

Pakistan returned to their self-destructive ways as West Indies completed a 37-run victory in the second One-Day International at the Guyana National Stadium on Tuesday.

PROVIDENCE: Pakistan returned to their self-destructive ways as West Indies completed a 37-run victory in the second OneDay International at the Guyana National Stadium on Tuesday.

Solid contributions by the Bravo brothers, Darren and Dwayne, boosted the West Indies batting effort after they had gotten off to the worst possible start when giant left-arm fast bowler Mohammed Irfan had Chris Gayle caught at the wicket in the first over of the day.

Two days after demolishing the hosts by 126 runs, the visitors folded for 195 off 47.5 overs in reply to the Caribbean side's total of 232 for eight after they were put in on a pitch expected to offer considerable assistance to the bowlers following the previous day's torrential rain. Pakistan appeared to be cruising along at 103 for two with skipper Misbahul-Haq well entrenched and opener Nasir Jamshed (54) riding his considerable luck towards a half-century. But Misbah played a shot totally out of character to be bowled by Darren Sammy, a fitting reward for the all-rounder playing his 100th ODI. That dismissal was followed

The turning point

P

akistan appeared to be cruising along at 103 for two with skipper Misbah-ul-Haq well entrenched and opener Nasir Jamshed (54) riding his considerable luck towards a half-century. But Misbah played a shot totally out of character to be bowled by Darren Sammy, a fitting reward for the allrounder playing his 100th ODI.

West Indies bowler Sunil Narine (centre) is congratulated by Kemar Roach (left) for taking four Pakistani wickets for 26 runs during their 2nd ODI at Guyana National Stadium, Georgetown.

by a succession of poor shots and with spinner Sunil Narine returning to wicket-taking form in snaring four for 26 to claim the "Man of the Match" award, a rearguard

50 by wicketkeeper-batsman Umar Akmal proved to be too little, too late for Pakistan.

With the series now level, the teams travel on to St Lucia for the

remaining three matches, beginning on Friday, before the short tour concludes with two T20 matches in St Vincent on July 27 and 28.

ATHLETICS

DOPE PROBE

Injured Blake out of Worlds KINGSTON: Reigning 100 metre world champ Yohan Blake has withdrawn from next month's World Athletics Championships in Moscow with a hamstring injury.

The 23-year-old Jamaican has been bothered by a sore hamstring since April when he competed in the Utech Classic in Jamaica. "The injury sustained in April of this year has prevented him from attaining the necessary fitness levels that we have grown accustomed to seeing in his performances," Blake's agent Cubie Seegobin said Tuesday.

The injury also forced him to miss last month's Jamaican trials.

Blake's withdrawal not only robs the event of its defending sprint champ but it adds to the list of marquee performers who have been ruled out of the event, including some for failing doping tests.

On Sunday, American sprinter Tyson Gay, former 100m

Darren Bravo's top score of 54 paced his team through the first half of the innings while skipper Dwayne Bravo provided vital impetus in holding the latter half of the innings together with an unbeaten 43 that proved critical in helping the Caribbean side to a challenging score.

"Given the nature of the pitch, I thought 230-235 would have been a good total," said a relieved Dwayne Bravo after he completed victory with the last two wickets off consecutive deliveries.

"We really needed this win to get some confidence back.�

Rudisha to skip, too W

orld and Olympic 800m champion David Rudisha confirmed Tuesday that he will miss next month's World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

The 24-year-old world record holder twisted his knee in training in New York six weeks ago, which forced

him to skip the national trials in Nairobi last Saturday and means he will now not defend his title at the August 10-18 worlds. "I am recovering well but unfortunately it is very slow,� he said.

world record holder Asafa Powell and Olympic gold medallist Sherone Simpson, of Jamaica, said they had tested positive for banned substances.

Blake has a personal best of the 9.69 seconds in the 100m making him the co-second fastest man ever behind Jamaican teammate Usain Bolt. Gay has also run a 9.69. Blake finished second in the 2011 Daegu World Championships but was awarded the gold after organizers disqualified Bolt.

Defending champ Bolt was disqualified after he jumped out of the blocks too early.

Blake capoted two silvers in his first Olympics at the 2012 London Games in the 100m and 200m. He won gold in the 4x100m relay. Blake set a personal best of 9.69 seconds in the 100m at the Athletissima Diamond League event in August in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Italian cops probe Powell, Simpson ROME: Italian police have opened an investigation for doping against Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, as the athletes blamed their physiotherapist after they failed drugs tests. The pair, who tested positive for a banned stimulant, were training in northeast Italy but have now left the country after a police raid on their hotel. Canadian physiotherapist Chris Xuereb, who is similarly under investigation, has also left Italy, the officer, who declined to be identified, added. The prosecutor's office in Udine, the city closest to where the Jamaican team was staying, is leading the investigation for suspected violation of a law that punishes the supply and ingestion of stimulants. AFP

sports

30

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

SCOTTISH OPEN

Firm, fast, and furious test awaits the best

Drivers will seldom be seen and irons will be the weapon of choice off many tees as an elite field looks to stay out of the punishing rough and create the best angles to attack the pins at the par-71 East Lothian layout.

GULLANE: The Open returns to Muirfield for the 16th time starting Thursday, with two straight weeks of sunshine having turned the famed Scottish links into a firm, fast and furious test for the best.

Drivers will seldom be seen and irons will be the weapon of choice off many tees as an elite field looks to stay out of the punishing rough and create the best angles to attack the pins at the par-71 East Lothian layout.

Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion who grew up playing on links in Northern Ireland and who will start among the favourites, compared golfing at Muirfield to playing a game of chess.

“This is certainly a game of chess this week, where you have to position your pieces and keep them in play," he said.

“This golf course is all right there in front of you, there’s no hidden tricks to it. Good quality golf gets rewarded.

“You hit the shots, they’ll be where you expect them to be. It gives you half a chance around the greens. It’s very penal off the tee, about half a chance around the greens, gives you a chance to pitch and hit bunker shots, and doesn’t kind of unduly punish you too much.

“Nine out of ten times this golf course will reward good golf, and punish you off the tee, but give yourself opportunities

up and around the greens.

“I think it’s a fair golf course which rewards great players and great golf, probably why we have so many great champions at this venue."

A quick check down the list of past winners at Muirfield certainly confirms what McDowell says as they include Ernie Els, the last time it was played there in 2002, Nick Faldo in 1992 and 1987, Tom Watson (1980), Lee Trevino (1972), Jack Nicklaus (1966) and Gary Player (1959).

Tournament favourite Tiger Woods is eager to join that list and finally win his 15th major title, over five years after his last, which came at the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines.

The 37-year-old American knows Muirfield well and not all his memories are fond ones.

The last time it was held there in 2002, he went out in his third round just as a storm system came out of the North Sea, whipping up havoc on the course and condemning the American to a 10-over 81, to date the worst score of his professional career.

That left him with no chance of making it three majors in a row, having already won the Masters and the US Open that year, and Woods has failed to get that far along the road to the Grand Slam since then.

Still, he insists he harbours no hard feelings.

AFP

TENNIS

Bartoli, Tsonga to team up PERTH: Newly-crowned Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli will team with the popular Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for France to open their 2014 season at the Hopman Cup in Perth.

Bartoli blitzed the field at the All England Club to win her first Grand Slam title and will be making her second appearance at the mixed team tournament from December 29-January 4.

“It’s great to play with Jo, obviously. He’s an awesome player. We have known each other for so many years. I’m sure

it’s going to be a lot of fun," said Bartoli, ranked seven in the world.

Tsonga, the world No. 8 and a four-time Grand Slam semifinalist, said he favoured Perth to start his season as it was similar to the courts at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year.

“It’s the best preparation because it’s the same court as the Australian Open. It’s always really hot there," he said.

France is the first of the eight teams to be announced.

Because it’s not like at St. Andrews out and back or Troon.

You’re playing almost in kind of a circle, in a sense, because you’ve got so many different angles and so many different winds, you have to be able to maneuver the ball both ways.

Tiger Woods

This is certainly a game of chess this week, where you have to position your pieces and keep them in play.

Graeme McDowell

Hingis to come back, again PARIS: Former world number one Martina Hingis is to make a competitive comeback playing doubles, six years after her second retirement.

The Swiss star, who won five Grand Slam singles titles and nine in doubles, will play at the Southern California Open in Carlsbad from July 27 to August 4. She will partner Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, with whom she also played doubles in 2007 before her retirement. “I am very much looking forward to making a return to competitive play at

the Southern California Open," Hingis said. “I remember winning the singles and doubles here in 1997 and winning the singles again in 1999.”

URN

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

IT ASHES 2013

31

EMBERS FROM ARTHUR’S ASHES

Australia assure all’s well Haddin’s Broad-minded

LONDON: But Australia’s vice-captain said the controversial incident strengthened the case for reviews to be left solely in the hands of the umpires.

Broad had made 37 in England’s second innings when he nicked a ball from teenage debutant Ashton Agar via Haddin to Australia captain Michael Clarke at slip but was given not out by umpire Aleem Dar. As Australia had used up all their reviews in this innings they were unable to challenge Dar’s verdict, even though replays showed a thick edge. Broad went on to make a further 28 runs, before he was out for 65, in a match England won by just 14 runs. West Indies great Michael Holding said Broad should be banned from the second Test at Lord’s starting Thursday over his refusal to JULIAN GUYER Agence France-Presse LONDON: After just a three-day break since England’s thrilling 14-run win over Australia in the first Test at Trent Bridge, the Ashes rivals will meet for the second of a five-match series at Lord’s on Thursday.

But the manner in which Australia competed in Nottingham suggests Ashesholders England will not have things all their own way.

Just when Australia thought they’d put the departure of sacked former coach Mickey Arthur behind them however, the row over the South African’s controversial exit has been reignited

Mickey pickle

M

ickey Arthur, fired just 16 days before the Ashes, is taking legal action against Cricket Australia.

He is seeking up to Aus$4 million (US$3.69 million) in compensation, claiming he was discriminated against because he was South African and “didn’t understand the Australian way”.

walk.

But Australians have traditionally waited for the umpire’s decision and Haddin said Tuesday: “I personally think the umpires might as well use the reviews. I don’t think they need to be in the players’ hands, to be honest. I see nothing wrong with what Stuart did. The umpire is there to make the decision and he has seen it different to everyone else.

“That’s what the system was brought in for, the howler. The system is the same for both teams, we just haven’t used it very well.

That’s the bottom line.

“We have to take emotion out of the decision and go on what we see. If you think it’s out, challenge it. We obviously got it wrong this Test but it might be different next Test.” in spectacular fashion.

Arthur, fired just 16 days before the Ashes, is taking legal action against Cricket Australia.

He is seeking up to Aus$4 million (US$3.69 million) in compensation, claiming he was discriminated against because he was South African and “didn’t understand the Australian way”.

According to Australian broadcaster Channel Seven, the legal documents also reveal a major rift in the team between captain Michael Clarke and former vice-captain Shane Watson.

Clarke allegedly described the role of Watson, one of four players dropped by Arthur for the third Test in Mohali in March, as a “cancer”. South African called himself the “meat in the sandwich” between the conflicting camps.

Arthur, sacked two years before his contract was due to expire, claimed Clarke embraced the need for discipline, while Watson did not, Channel Seven said.

Watson has since been replaced as vice-captain by Brad Haddin but the all-rounder remains in the side as an opening batsman.

Wicketkeeper Haddin, whose second innings 71 so nearly led Australia to victory in Nottingham, insisted on Tuesday that all was well with the side.

“The Australian dressing room is fine. I don’t know how many times we need to answer this,” Haddin said.

“All the other stuff that we can talk about is white noise so it’s not something that has affected the side at all.”

Key among the things that cost Australia victory at Nottingham was their top-order batting.

Whether new coach Darren Lehmann can do much to improve it is doubtful, although struggling No 3 Ed Cowan could yet find himself dropped and replaced by Usman Khawaja.

Australia’s tenth-wicket pair were responsible for 228 runs at Trent Bridge, including a world record stand of 163 in the first innings that featured teenage debutant Ashton Agar’s 98 — the highest score by a Test No 11.

“Our tail has done really well over a period of time now but it’s time for the batters to make sure they’re making the runs,” said Lehmann.

England’s 115-run win in the last Ashes Test at Lord’s four years ago was their first Test success at the ‘home of cricket’ in 75 years against Australia.

The steep slope that runs across the ground can prove challenging for bowlers and batsmen alike unfamiliar with Lord’s but Australia opener Chris Rogers

has had the advantage of playing there for Middlesex.

So too does England fast bowler Steven Finn and, despite finding a slow pitch at Trent Bridge not to his liking, Finn’s local knowledge is likely to see him retain his place.

By contrast, Australia may be tempted to give paceman Jackson Bird a run at Lord’s in place of the wayward Mitchell Starc.

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior is expecting another tough contest.

“The Australians are fighters,” he said.

Appearances are deceptive

C

larke allegedly described the role of Watson, one of four players dropped by Arthur for the third Test in Mohali in March, as a “cancer”. Mickey Arthur called himself the “meat in the sandwich” between the conflicting camps.

PRIOR SAYS HE’S FINE

England wicketkeeper Matt Prior allayed fears over his fitness Tuesday by saying he would be fine to face Australia in the second Test at Lord’s.

Prior did not play in a planned round of golf on Monday, leading to concerns he had aggravated an Achilles problem during England’s 14run win in the first Test at Trent Bridge. With just a three-day turnaround between the two matches, Prior said missing his game of golf was just a sensible precaution.

THE TEAMS

England: Alastair Cook (capt), Joe Root, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jonny

Bairstow, Matt Prior (wkt), Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann, Steven Finn, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan, Graham Onions Australia: Shane Watson, Chris Rogers, Ed Cowan, Michael Clarke (capt), Phil Hughes, Steven Smith, Brad Haddin (wkt), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Ashton Agar, Usman Khawaja, Jackson Bird Umpires: Kumar Dharmasena (SRI), Marais Erasmus (RSA) TV umpire: Tony Hill Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013

sports NOT SO FRIENDLY

‘Mascot blues’ for Chelsea BANGKOK: A father in Thailand has claimed that his son was dumped as a mascot for Chelsea's game in Bangkok and replaced by the prime minister's son, a report said Wednesday.

Nine-year-old Noppadol Sudlapha was in line to walk out with the Chelsea players for Wednesday's friendly and had already gone through prematch rehearsals, his father Kriangyos told the Bangkok Post.

But Noppadol and several other children were told that they had been taken off the list of mascots in favour of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's son and the children of five other cabinet ministers.

Kriangyos told the newspaper that his boy was upset by the slight and no longer wanted to see the game between the English Premier League giants and the Singha All-Star XI at Rajamangala Stadium.

An official from beer company Singha, which is organising the match, said parents had been free to apply for their children to be mascots, but not all had been successful.

But the official, who did not want to be named, acknowledged that most of the mascots were the children of VIPs or Singha executives.

"Had I been authorised to make the selection, then I'd have selected the prime minister's son," he was quoted as saying. According to another report, Yingluck's 11-year-old son Supasek Amornchat, nicknamed "Pike", was also among the children who took part in Chelsea's coaching clinic this week led by star players.

"It was a lot of fun," he said, according to The Nation. "I realised how much more I have to learn. They are very good.”

CAVANI JOINS PSG IN RECORD FRENCH TRANSFER Edinson Cavani was on Tuesday officially unveiled as Paris Saint-Germain's latest mega-signing, the striker joining the French champions for a Ligue 1 record 64 million euros ($84 million) from Napoli.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE

KIWI MESSI INJURED

Rooney sees red over Moyes’s comments Although the former Everton boss previously said Rooney was not for sale, he was quoted Monday as suggesting the 27year-old would be more of a replacement for van Persie than a foil.

LONDON: England international Wayne Rooney is apparently fuming with his Manchester United bosses over comments suggesting he would be back-up to Robin van Persie this season, according to reports.

Television station Sky Sports on Tuesday quoted a source claiming Rooney was "angry and confused" by quotes attributed to his manager David Moyes.

Although the former Everton boss previously said Rooney was not for sale, he was quoted Monday as suggesting the 27-year-old would be more of a replacement for van Persie than a foil.

"Overall my thought on Wayne is, if for any reason we had an injury to Robin van

32

New Zealand's Marco Rojas faces a race to be fit for the start of the new Bundesliga season next month at VfB Stuttgart after breaking a bone in his foot. The 21-year-old New Zealander, who has been dubbed the "Kiwi Messi" and was voted the Australian ALeague's player of the year last season, suffered the injury after scoring on his Stuttgart debut last week, and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.

NUMEROLOGY

$ 26mn

This is the initial fees of Thiago Alcantara who has been signed on a four-year contract by Bayern Munich. He will be joining his former coach Pep Guardiola, who had given him his Barca debut in 2009.

Persie, we'll need him," Moyes said during United's pre-season tour of Asia and Australia.

However, he also added: "I want to be able to play the two of them, I want to use Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez as well. I want to give

Overall my thought on Wayne is, if for any reason we had an injury to Robin van Persie, we'll need him.

David Moyes Man Utd coach

myself as many options as possible."

According to the Sky Sports source, Rooney feels he is at the peak of his career and after nine years with United has no need to prove himself any more.

While van Persie plundered 30 league goals last season to finish Premier League top scorer for the second time in succession, Rooney found the net just 12 times.

He was also left out by then manager Alex Ferguson in some crucial matches, including the Champions League second round clash with Real Madrid. He has won the Premier League five times, the Champions League in 2008 and two FA Cups during his time at Old Trafford.

SPORTS BRIEFS Tough start for Russian champs Spartak

Angola and Mozambique reach Cosafa final

US beat Costa Rica 1-0 to clinch top spot

Giaccherini completes move to Sunderland

MOSCOW: Nine-time Russian champions Spartak Moscow ground a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Samara on Tuesday in their opening match of the new league season. In Tuesday's other match Amkar Perm experienced few troubles on their way to a confident 20 win at home to 10-man Tomsk.

KITWE: Angola and Mozambique reached the Cosafa Cup plate competition final Tuesday with contrasting victories in Zambia. Youthful Angola came from behind twice to edge experienced Malawi 3-2. Mozambique registered 1-0 victory over 10-man Namibia in the second semifinal.

HARTFORD: The United States, who had already advanced to the quarter-finals, defeated Costa Rica 1-0 Tuesday to clinch top spot in the C group of the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournament. Brek Shea scored late in the contest as he lifted the Americans over Costa Rica with his first goal in international play.

SUNDERLAND: Italy international Emanuele Giaccherini completed his move from Italian champions Juventus to Sunderland, the English Premier League club said Tuesday. The 28-year-old, a first choice winger under current Italy coach Cesare Prandelli, has signed a four-year deal. Juve said they had received £6.5 million for the deal.

NO HARD FEELINGS

Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said Tuesday he would be happy to team up with Liverpool striker Luis Suarez despite last season's notorious biting incident. Ivanovic said he had forgiven Suarez for biting him during Chelsea's game against Liverpool in April.

It's fantastic.

I'm very happy.

They know me.

They know that I'm not going to make their lives easy but that I am going to give them something back.

José Mourinho Chelsea coach