Epaper 20 june 2013 by Scribble Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 HYDERABAD

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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF

TONY SOPRANO

James Gandolfini, who won three Emmys and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of troubled mob boss Tony Soprano on the Sopranos, has suffered a heart attack and died, aged 51, according to media reports.

PG 11

‘MINDSETS HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

REPORT ON P7

HAVE TO CHANGE’

The AP Women’s Commission has commenced operations after seven long years of lassitude, and in less than a week their office is already packed to the brim with droves of hapless women from all over the State knocking on its doors for help. At the helm of affairs is Chairperson Tripurani Venkata Rathnam, who talks to Postnoon about the Commission’s action plan to deal with the myriad of women’s issues.

THE ALIENS AMONG US

Rohingya refugees from Burma continue to pour into Hyderabad and no proper account of them seems to be maintained. On World Refugee Day we look at a humanitarian and security crisis.

PG 9

CLEAN GREEN DRIVING MACHINES

With the solar plane completing its cross-country flight in the US, alternative energy is making the headlines once again. And who says you have to ride in unattractive little cars if you want to go green? Here are some gorgeous models that will set hearts racing and save the environment too.

PG 16&17

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

city events

SUMMER FILMMAKING WORKSHOP

Summer filmmaking workshop for engineering students is on. Where: International School for Film + Media, Banjara Hills When: Till June 21, 9.30 am to 1.30 pm Contact: 4914-1234

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

30°C

24°C

28°C

35°C

Cloudy with showers likely.

A mix of cloudy and clear skies.

A mix of cloud and sun.

Cloudy with thunderstorms.

New Delhi Mumbai Max 39 Max 30 Min 28 Min 26 Partly cloudy

Chennai Max 37 Min 28

Cloudy with chances of storm.

Rains likely

Bangalore Max 29 Min 21

Cloudy with chances of thunderstorms.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES Nandita Das will be staged. Where: The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, Hitech City When: June 22, 7.30 pm Contact: 6767-6767

DINING

World music day World music day 2013 will be held. Where: Taj Deccan , Banjara Hills When: June 21, 6 pm Contact: 2335-0443

Mime workshop Auditions for Natvarya, a workshop by Indian Mime Academy will be held. Where: Sutradhar School of Acting, Himayathnagar When: June 22 and June 23, 11 am to 5 pm Contact: 82971-17515

Kakatiya food Kakatiya Food Festival is on. Where: Bidri, Marriott When: Till June 30, 6.30 pm to 11.30 pm For reservations: +91 40 2752 2577 Food fest Pasta food festival is on. Where: Prego, The Westin When: June 20 to June 30, 7 pm to 11 pm For Reservation call: 040 6767 6828

SHOWS Reel abilities Between the Lines, English play by

Art attack An ode to a Tree, semi abstract paintings by B Bhaskar Rao will be held. Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills When: Till June 20 Contact: 98499-68797 Play time Girish Karnad's Nagamandala: Play With A Cobra will be staged. Where: Lamakaan, Banjara Hills When: June 20, 7 pm

WORKSHOPS Interview workshop Workshop on success in interview will be held. Where: Swamy Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence, Lower Tankbund When: June 22, 10 am to 1 pm Contact: 2762-7961 Money matter 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

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

Freezing a moment Workshop on professional photography. Where: Zing Academy, Banjara Hills When: June 22, 10 am Contact: 99598-88188

A BLISSFUL BEGINNING: Parents and their children from across the City poured into Saraswathi Devi temple, Madhapur for a blessed academic year ahead. SRINIVAS SETTY A thrillionare workshop by Nik Halik will be held. Where: Taj Deccan , Banjara Hills When: June 20, 5.30 pm to 9 pm Contact: 6666-3939 Film appreciation Reflect and unwind about thrillers from world cinema. Where: Yavanika Films,

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

Begumpet When: July 22 and 23, July 29 and July 30, 11 am to 7 pm Parental workshop Tips for pregnant women by Dr Rekha Sudarshan will be held. Where: Fortune Select Manohar, Begumpet When: June 22, 2 pm to 6 pm

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

Masala workout Masala bhangra workout will be held. Where: Ozone 3- Fitness N Spa, Banjara Hills When: June 22 and June 23, 10 am to 6 pm Contact: 001-212-213-8208

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

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

news

TODAY’S QUESTION

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

DO YOU THINK ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION MEASURES REMAIN MERE PAPER TIGERS? YES (A) NO (B)

100%

YES

POLITICS

Bedlam order of the day in Assembly The House witnessed similar scenes as in the past of sloganeering and picketing when it commenced its meeting at 9 am.

HYDERABAD: The lack of interest on the part of the Opposition parties to run the House was evident today too. The House witnessed similar scenes as in the past of sloganeering and placard holding when it commenced its meeting at 9 am. Moments after Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar announced that he was rejecting all the adjournment motions given by the Opposition parties, members of TRS, YSRCP, BJP and the Left parties rushed towards podium and raised slogans demanding admission of their adjournment motions The Assembly Speaker made futile

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

POLITICS

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

WILL THE SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR T SOLVE ISSUES IN THE REGION?

MONSOON ASSEMBLY

attempts to convince the opposition members. When the repeated appeals of the speak-

Today’s Opposition fare n The TRS wanted T-resolution n The YSRCP wanted discussions on the land allotment made to IMG Bharata company during the TDP rule. n The CPI gave adjournment motion on outsourcing employees and filling up of backlog posts n The CPM wanted debate on issues faces by residential school teachers.

er did not yield any result, he adjourned the House for half an hour. Later when the House met again, situation continued, resulting in the disruption of the question hour. This has again forced the Speaker to adjourn it for another half an hour. He also convened an all party meeting to find a way out to run the House. Interestingly, this was the speaker’s fourth all- party meetings in the last four days this week. The main opposition Telugu Desam Party boycotted the meetings in protest of the Speaker’s attitude in not replying to the letter dashed off by the party that alleged his partisan attitude towards opposition party MLAs.

SPECIAL T PACKAGE ROCKS ASSEMBLY While the pro-T Congress leaders said they would not support a special T package, the Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders were for it. HYDERABAD: The reports of a likely special package for Telangana region rocked the State on Wednesday. The Assembly witnessed noisy reactions from different party leaders. While the proTelangana Congress leaders made it clear that they would not accept a special package for the region, the Andhra and Rayalaseema leaders advised their counterparts from the Telangana to accept it , dropping a hint that they might rekindle their stir for a United Andhra Pradesh once again. Reacting on the issue Information and Public Relations Minister DK Aruna, said that as a staunch Telangana supporter she would not agree for the special package adding that the creation of a separate state is the only lasting solution to solve the decades long issue. "We can’t think any package could put an end to the ongoing agitation for a separate state. The only solution to solve this problem is to carve out a Telangana state." Similar were the reactions of another Congress leader and state Civil Supplies Minister D Sridhar Babu. He also made it clear that the creation of separate

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Telangana state is the only permanent solution to end the ongoing struggle and added that the announcement of package would not serve any purpose. However, the United Andhra supporters welcomed the likelihood of announcing a special package for the Telangana region and said that the implementation of the special package would put an end to the demand of dividing the state. "The division of the state would lead to destruction of the Congress party in two regions. If the Centre announced package it would solve the issue of backwardness of the region," the diehard integrationist and state minister TG Venkatesh said. Another cabinet minister K Muralimohan also expressed similar views. He felt that the time had come to put a check to the ongoing political uncertainty in the state. The convenor of Andhra and Rayalaseema Public Representatives and another staunch supporter of United state Dr. S. Sailajanath hinted at welcoming the package.

We can’t think any package could put an end to the ongoing agitation for a separate state. The only solution to solve this problem is to carve out a Telangana state. DK Aruna, Information and Public Relations Minister

CITY BRIEFS Woman gives birth in auto, child dies of neglect

Journalists to take out bike rally

Hooka centre raided, 16 men arrested

No more building regularisation scheme

Woman commits suicide due to dowry harrasment

HYDERABAD: In a curious incident, a woman delivered a girl child in an auto in Tandur in RR district yesterday but due to alleged carelessness of a hospital the child died. Lalitha, wife of Narsimhulu reached the hospital after getting labour pains. But the authorities didn’t allow the auto to enter the hospital premises, irate relatives said.

HYDERABAD: Working journalists of Hyderabad will take out a ‘bike rally’ tomorrow from Musheerabad to Indira Park. The ofﬁce bearers said bike rally was in preparation for the Maha Rally to be held on June 26 in Hyderabad in support of a charter of demands including wage board, allotment of housing site etc.

HYDERABAD: The Pahadishareef police raided a hooka centre at Sadath Nagar on Monday night and arrested 16 young men along with three workers of the hooka centre. Owner of the centre, one Ahmed managed to escape from the scene. The raid happened after people living in the area started complaining about the place.

HYDERABAD: The minister for municipal administration and urban development, Maheedhar Reddy, on Wednesday made it clear that there was no proposal with the government to announce building regularization scheme for illegal constructions. In reply to a question in the Assembly, the minister said no more regularisation was on the cards.

HYDERABAD: One Laxmi aged 25 years was reported to have committed suicide by hanging in her home at Sahebnagar . Laxmi was married to one Malikarjun and both belong to Nalgonda district. It is alleged that she was under constant duress for more dowry by her husband and in-laws. Vanasth-alipuram police are investigating.

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE Misguided students

DARK AGES

DIRECT MESSAGE

ast year, there was a report in these columns about how private students stopped reading textbooks and fared poorly in examinations. They had mostly prepared from study material prepared by their respective private collages. Dependency on study material from private colleges was so rampant that sales of textbooks had dipped drastically.

An activist has "Yes we scan" written on her forehead during a protest action on June 19, 2013 in Berlin, on behalf of the visit of the US President in the German capital. Barack Obama will walk in John F. Kennedy's footsteps this week on his first visit to Berlin as US president, but encounter a more powerful and sceptical Germany in talks on trade and secret surveillance practices..

JUNE 20, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome has been reported in Soudi Arabia till date. Worldwide it is 64. Of the 38 people dead, 32 were from Saudi.

Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a newborn baby suggests more rapid brain growth. Dr Lisa Smithers, Researcher See page 6

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

20,000 more autos expected on city roads Autowallahs have no regard for rules, ﬂout that basic one that they should charge by the metre. On top of this, 20K more are on their way. Ofﬁcials say more the merrier. How, no one knows.

GHMC fumigating claims amount to fumes. The civic body boasts of how effective fumigating drives have got results. When the night descends, along with it those minuscule vampires, we know the boasts are empty.

The plight of the thousands of Rohingyas refugees Since most of the Rohingya refugees are unaccounted, their existence is close to that of an alien’s.

French asexuals come out about lack of desire. It may known for the City of Love, but French asexuals are opening up about their lack of sexual feeling.

Talcum powder may give you cancer. Less of the whitening powder may mean healthier life.

AFP PHOTO / RONNY HARTMANN

LOVE AND LUST

Youth, chided for affair with aunt, goes missing The 21-year-old who was having an affair with his 30-yr-old aunt has run away with cash and gold from his house. Mohd SUBHAN Mohd.S@postnoon.com

ove and lust know no rules. A barely 21-year-old youth who had allegedly fallen in love with his 30-yearold aunt is now missing with household jewellery and cash. The twisted tale of J Sai Kumar, a fresh graduate residing in Bapuji Nagar in Bowenpally of Secunderabad, begins with the two crossing the reasonable threshold of relationship. Sai, it is said, had developed an intense love for his aunt who lived nearby. But it remained a secret for a couple of years. As they were relatives, nobody suspected anything amiss. However, recently, his

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The case

ai, it is said, had developed an intense love for his aunt who lived nearby. But it remained a secret for a couple of years. As they were relatives, nobody suspected anything amiss.

father Mohan Kumar smelled something wrong, as Sai was seen at his aunt’s home for long hours and had neglected studies. Mohan Kumar told police he had upbraided his son and

warned him against meeting her again. Dejected, the youth ran away from home after taking cash and jewellery. His father Mohan Kumar, a city businessman, has apprised the police of the affairs and said he was very much worried about his son. The aunt in question is still at her home, but there is no information about the boy’s whereabouts. His father fears that the young man who was scolded may resort to the extreme step in the absence of wiser counsel. His aunt denied having any knowledge of the boy’s whereabouts. Police have registered a missing case and begun investigation.

Jordan teens think honour killing justified AMMAN: Belief that so-called honour killings are justified is still common among Jordanian teenagers, a Cambridge University study revealed on Thursday. The study by researchers from the university's Institute of Criminology found that almost half of boys and one in five girls interviewed in the capital, Amman, believe that killing a daughter, sister or wife who has "dishonoured" or shamed the family is justified. "Researchers surveyed over 850 students, and found that attitudes in support of honour AROUND THE

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killing are far more likely in adolescent boys with low education backgrounds," a statement said. "Importantly, the study found that these disturbing attitudes were not connected to religious beliefs." Between 15 and 20 women die in so-called "honour" murders each year in the Arab kingdom, despite government efforts to curb such crimes. The main factors behind these crimes "include patriarchal and traditional worldviews, emphasis placed on female virtue and a more general belief that violence against others is morally justified," according to the study.

HEALTH

Blood donation changes you? Indians think blood donation could alter their personality and hence prefer a donor whose behaviour matches theirs, says a new study. WASHINGTON: Indian recipients prefer to get an organ transplant or blood transfusion from a donor whose personality matches theirs, a study has found. Some people in India and the US, who undergo transplants, believe that their personality or behaviour may change to become more like that of the blood or organ donor, researchers from the University

of Michigan, said. They feel so “creeped out” that they would decline an organ or blood that came from a murderer or thief, the study conducted on participants from India and US found. People think that behaviours and personalities are partly due to something hidden deep inside their blood or bodily organs, Meredith Meyer, the

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study’s lead author, said. “Since blood transfusions are so common and relatively straightforward, we expected people might think that they have very little effect,” Meyer said. Participants viewed a list of

possible human donors and judged whether they wanted someone who shared similar traits. Respondents from both US and India did not like transplants from animals or donors with negative traits, but differed in how they viewed donor-torecipient transfers. Indians felt stronger than Americans that transplants would affect their behaviour. PTI

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

MOSQUITO MENACE

HEALTH

Vector population happy as civic wings wage turf war Now talcum powder linked to cancer!

Anti-mosquito operations are stunted by the lack of coordinated action among various civic departments. The work in patches and fumigating (an outmoded, futile exercise) continues. Md NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: The GHMC is boastful of controlling mosquito breeding in the City, but there is little evidence at the ground level. For instance, it does not have a proper plan to weed out hyacinth from major ponds and tanks as there is lack of co-ordination between the engineering wing and the entomology wing. Each blames the other for lackadaisical work. As in the past, the corporation has taken up the task of removing hyacinth (locally known as gurrapu dekka), under which mosquitoes lay eggs. According to civic officials, this involves usage of cranes, which are under the engineering wing, to remove the weed. “We are coordinating and monitoring the progress of the

work in tanks,” says chief entomologist, V Venkatesh. Venkatesh, who visited some of the tanks in the City, says that Katoro House is the only tank where 100 per cent of the work is completed. RK Puram and HUDA park at Golconda have achieved 70 per cent and 50 per cent completion. For the Shatam Talab in Tolichowki, the “work is just started”. But when Postnoon sought a list of tanks where the weeding programme is being carried out, the official said he does not have a list. “As it is the engineering wing which is controlling the programme, we don’t have a list.” With the major source of breeding neglected, their work has been reduced to generating awareness among the masses and doing anti-larvae operations in households. The resi-

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There isn’t a proper plan to weed out hyacinth from major ponds due to lack of co-ordination between the engineering and entomology wings. dents of Old City, who are suffering from mosquito bites, are challenging the claim that hyacinth has been removed from some of the tanks. “I do not agree with the official version. This they have been claiming for years. But the weed flourish throughout the year,” says Praveen Kumar, a resident

of Ghansi Bazar. Officials say they are conducting re-organisation training for field supervisors, field assistants and workers. They also claim to be leaving Gambusia fish (larvivorous fish) in the tanks, as an environmental friendly measure to control mosquito breeding. A week ago, the GHMC had conducted an awareness programme, but it was inside the head office building. Zonal level awareness programmes are yet to begin. On the other hand, people can seen buying mosquito repellents in huge quantities. “To make sure mosquitoes do not attack us, I place one in each room. But it does not seem to deter mosquitoes these days. The authorities should root-out the main source of breeding,” says Md Shoukath, a resident of Golconda.

LONDON: A new research has suggested women regularly using talcum powder to keep fresh actually increase their risk of developing ovarian cancer by almost a quarter. Scientists have warned powder particles applied to the genital area can travel into a woman's body and trigger inflammation, which allows cancer cells to flourish, Daily Mail reported. In the past, several studies investigated the link between the powder and tumours. Some detected links with ovarian and womb cancer but others proved inconclusive. But the doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital in AROUND THE

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Boston, US, pooled data from eight separate studies to try and come up with a definitive answer. For the study, researchers analysed data from 8,525 women diagnosed with ovarian cancer and compared talcum powder use with that of 9,800 women who remained cancer-free. The results, published in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, showed regularly applying the powder particles after bathing or showering raised the risk of an ovarian tumour by 24 per cent. Cancer of the ovaries is sometimes known as a "silent killer" as for many victims symptoms only appear when it has already fairly advanced. IANS

NATION BRIEFS 60-year-old raped by youth

Clash between security forces and militants

Business group chief held in chit fund scam

Man arrested for allegedly raping minor

Advocate murdered, lawyers to boycott court

IMPHAL: A 60-year-old woman was allegedly raped by a 25-yearold youth at Yairipok area in Imphal east district of Manipur, police said today. The youth, identified as Md Sanayai, allegedly raped the woman while she was working in an isolated paddy field at Somrei village. Enraged local residents set afire and destroyed the house of the youth.

IMPHAL: Security forces exchanged fire with unidentified militants in Thoubal district but there was no report of any casualty, police said today. Acting on a tipoff, personnel of 15th Assam Rifles battalion launched a massive search at Bongbal village yesterday during which they were fired upon by suspected Kuki militants.

BHUBANESWAR: Prashant Dash, head of an Odisha-based business group, has been arrested in Mumbai in connection with an alleged chit fund scam, police said. Dash, the chairman of Odisha-based Seashore Group, was arrested in Mumbai Wednesday evening by a team of the economic offence wing of the crime branch of police.

KOCHI: A 33-year-old man, who allegedly sexually abused a minor girl hailing from UP after taking her to the temple town of Palani in Tamil Nadu, has been arrested, police said today. The accused, Sanal Kumar, working as supervisor in a private organisation, was arrested here yesterday following a complaint from the father of the girl, 14.

NAMAKKAL: A 36-year-old advocate was allegedly murdered last evening while returning from the Salem court, police said today. The deceased, Nataraj, was practising in Salem Judicial Magistrate court for the last ten years. The Salem Bar Association said lawyers are boycotting court today, condemning the murder.

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

RAIN HAVOC

Uttarakhand rescue operations intensified DEHRADUN: Amid fears of thousands left dead in rain-ravaged Uttarakhand, relief and rescue operations were intensified today with eight additional IAF choppers pressed into service to evacuate stranded people in Kedarnath which has suffered massive damage in flash floods and cloudbursts. AROUND THE

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The State Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre has said that casualties in the affected areas may run into thousands with about 90 ‘dharamashalas’ (rest houses for pilgrims) swept away in the flash floods. However, the toll has been kept officially at 150. So far, over 15,000 people stranded in Kedarnath and Govindghat on way to Hemkund Sahib have been evacuated to

Joshimath relief camps through air and road routes, IG (police) RS Meena told PTI. Authorities are focusing on rescuing more stranded people in worst-hit areas. Rescue efforts are being con-

centrated as of now on Kedarnath shrine and its adjoining areas in Rudraprayag district which has been the worst hit with about 90 dharamshalas in the temple area, where pilgrims were staying. PTI

HEALTH

Faster growing babies have higher IQ: Study MELBOURNE: Newborn babies who grow faster in the first four weeks are likely to have a higher IQ later in life, a new study has found. Weight gain and increased head size in the first month of a baby’s life is linked to a higher intelligence quotient (IQ) at early school age, the study led by University of Adelaide Public Health researchers found. They analysed data from more than 13,800 children who were born full-term. They found that babies who put on 40 per cent of their birthweight in the first four weeks had an IQ 1.5 points higher by the time they were six years of age, compared with babies who only put on 15 per cent of their birthweight. Those with the biggest growth in head circumference also had the highest IQs. “Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a newborn baby suggests more rapid brain growth,” said the lead author of the study, Dr Lisa Smithers from the University of Adelaide’s School of Population Health. “Overall, newborn children who grew faster in the first four weeks had higher IQ scores later in life,” she said.

“Those children who gained the most weight scored especially high on verbal IQ at age 6. This may be because the neural structures for verbal IQ develop earlier in life, which means the rapid weight gain during that neonatal period could be having a direct cognitive benefit for the child,” she said. Previous studies have shown the association between early postnatal diet and IQ, but this is the first study of its kind to focus on the IQ benefits of rapid weight gain in the first

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month of life for healthy babies. Smithers said the study further highlights the need for successful feeding of newborn babies. “We know that many mothers have difficulty establishing breastfeeding in the first weeks of their baby’s life,” Smithers said. “The findings of our study suggest that if infants are having feeding problems, there needs to be early intervention in the management of that feeding,” she said. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics. PTI

OVERHAUL

Get PF in 3 days! NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is planning to settle all claims like transfer and withdrawal of provident fund (PF) within three days, a move that will benefit over one crore such claimants every year. In order to give effect to the proposal of expeditious settlement of claims, EPFO has called a meeting of all zonal heads on July 5, to draw an action plan. The body is expecting 1.2 crore claims in the current fiscal and hopes that if around 70 per cent of those are settled in three days, then about 84 lakh claimants would be benefited. Quick settlement of claims “was necessary to improve the image of the organisation”, EPFO said in an officer order. EPFO has already launched a pendency clearance drive to settle all claims received before June 15 this year. As many as 5,38,704 claims were pending as on June 11 this year.

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The EPFO is introducing a facility where claimants would be able to apply online for transfer and withdrawal of their PF from July 1. The body is also in the process of introducing a facility where claimants would be able to apply online for transfer and withdrawal of their PF from July 1. EPFO is setting up a central clearance house which will be operational on July 1. This will enable subscribers to apply online for settlement of withdrawal and transfer of funds claims. The new facility will also enable subscribes to track online the status of their applications for transfer and withdrawals. PTI

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

INTERVIEW

APWC begins

N SHIVA KUMAR

anew with great expectations

The AP Women’s Commission has commenced operations after seven long years of lassitude, and less than a week later, its office is already packed to the brim with droves of hapless women from all over the State, knocking on its doors for help. At the helm of affairs is chairperson Tripurani Venkata Rathnam, who talks to Postnoon about the Commission’s action plan. History PADMINI C padmini.c@postnoon.com Now that the committee has finally been reconstituted after all these years, you have a Herculean task ahead. What is going to be the starting point? One commission, or for that matter, any individual institution can’t solve everything. All the stakeholders have to be involved and working together to actively contribute towards change. My target is to create a common platform for women’s wings of different political parties, NGOs, women’s groups, police and so on to collaborate and work handin-hand, towards one common goal — upliftment, protection and betterment of women in AP.

It’s been like that since the day we opened: Overwhelming. Strictly speaking, our mandate is not to hear individual cases but to formulate new initiatives, draft policies, advise the government on necessary Acts that help women everywhere. But we also want to be the go-to place for those seeking justice, and so every time we help one case, there are more coming in. But we won’t turn away anyone in need. So what are the new initiatives you plan to introduce? Firstly, we are planning to put an

infrastructure in place, a network for women at the village, mandal and district levels, to ensure that every complaint reaches the commission without them having to be physically present in our office. We are going to soon launch a 24-hour helpline for women, so they can receive round-the-clock support. Recent studies have shown that AP has among the highest number of reported cases of crimes against women. What should be done to tackle this? Mindsets have to change of both

women and men. Political, social and economic empowerment of women has to take place to make this happen. We need to be aware of our rights. In addition, we need short stay homes where women have a shelter until they can get back on their feet. We need fast track courts to dispose of cases relating to crimes against women in less than three months. Gender sensitisation of police and law enforcement authorities also needs to be stressed upon. What about dowry harassment, which is still a major issue? The Dowry Abolition Act is in place but nobody books a case when someone is giving or receiving dowry. A case is registered under 498A only when more dowry is being asked for. Why? Why aren’t cases being booked when they were asked dowry in the first place? We hide most problems in the name of family, honour, etc.

he AP Women’s Commission was disbanded in 2007 during YS Rajashekhar Reddy’s tenure when the then chairperson Mary Ravindranath and a member Padmaja Reddy were publicly caught hurling abuses at each other, found guilty of impropriety, and consequently forced to resign.

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Committee members

What ails eves of AP?

he five-member board, consisting of journalist/ activist Paruchuri Jamuna, founder of anti-trafficking NGO Prajwala, Sunitha Krishnan, ex-ZPTC member and Congress leader Thoti Malleswari, social worker Mukala Kasturi and former Mayor of Karnool Feroze Begum, aim to become the voice of the countless women in the State and be the torch bearers of change.

GOs working for women welfare in AP say the topmost issues are: Alcoholism of men in rural areas, NRI forsaken wives, mostly Muslim women in Hyderabad, and domestic violence. All three need different treatment and women’s commission can’t achieve all this solo. These issues have a tendency to simmer, not burst out in the open, so the society does not know the extent of damage.

Clock ticking as Mali organises urgent polls

'Despicable' attack will not end Somalia mission

NZ burglar turns himself in after finding corpse

Paris Jackson: AEG trial hears video testimony

Militants kill six soldiers in NW Pakistan

BAMAKO: The clock is ticking for Mali as it scrambles to organise key elections in less than 40 days following a ceaseﬁre deal between the government and separatist Tuareg rebels. The agreement, reached on Tuesday will enable Malian troops to enter the Tuaregheld city of Kidal in the northeast to secure polls.

MOGADISHU: UN chief Ban Kimoon expressed outrage at a "despicable" Islamist attack on a UN compound in Somalia which left 16 dead but vowed that the organisation would not end its work in the troubled country. Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents killed nine people as they shot and blasted their way into the UN compound.

WELLINGTON: A terriﬁed New Zealand burglar handed himself in after breaking into a darkened house and bumping into a hanging corpse, waking neighbours with his blood-curdling screams, police said Thursday. The would-be thief was arrested when he called police in the early hours of Wednesday to report his gruesome encounter.

LOS ANGELES: Paris Jackson recalled how her father's ex-nanny would sneak into his bed, in testimony played at the trial between the late King of Pop's family and the promoters of his last doomed tour. Michael Jackson's daughter, who tried to commit suicide earlier this month, recorded a video deposition in March.

LOS ANGELES: Militants ambushed an army convoy in northwest Pakistan late on Wednesday killing six soldiers and wounding two others, military ofﬁcials said. The vehicles were patrolling the Matani area, 25 kilometres (16 miles) south of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, when they came under attack.

What’s your primary agenda? My primary agenda would be to go to every district and meet SHGs and women’s groups, make them aware that we are working for their welfare and give assurance that there’s a place for them to voice their grievances and seek justice. We will also take feedback from them about the problems and they’re facing. How is the initial response?

But these will require dedicated infrastructure, resources and governmental commitment...? Exactly. We are handicapped at the moment, in terms of manpower, infrastructure and bud-

get. To realise any of these plans, we’ll really require the support of the government. Over the next five years, do you see yourself achieving everything you set out to do? There's so much to do. This is the only the beginning. I'm definitely going to do my part. But every woman must do hers by taking responsibility of at least a handful of other women till they can stand on their feet. They will help some others in turn. We have to start a revolution.

WORLD BRIEFS

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

TRANSPORT

Hyderabad is not an exception when it comes to the fleece and flout route taken by auto rickshaw drivers, commuters in other cities too face similar problems.

Bangalore Since most of the routes are made one-way in Bangalore, auto rickshaw drivers take passengers there for a ride and fleece them. Since the city has more of migrant population, this is an added advantage for auto drivers. However the various prepaid auto stands across the city are some sort of a relief for commuters.

Mumbai

20K more autos to share City roads

Public already disenchanted with auto-drivers’ wayward ways cry foul over sanction of 20,000 more three-wheelers for the Hyderabad City. Officials, however, seem to say more the merrier.

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: If you are already leaving your home an hour early to reach your destination, start practicing to leave an hour-and-a-half in advance, because very soon you will find 20,000 more auto rikshaws shareing the already choking roads of Hyderabad. The State government’s decision to grant permission for another 20,000 autos has drawn flak from general public but officials maintain that the additional autos will be beneficial to the public. Going by the GO 90/2013, the State government has granted permission for an additional 20,000 autos in the City limits with immediate effect. Till date there are officially 77,000 autos plying within the GHMC limits. But unofficially, the number is twice as much because many autos unlicensed to ply in City creep in. However, according to the new rule under GO 90, the new auto rickshaws should have either compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engines. Pollution Control Board authorities say that since the new auto rickshaws use CNG and LPG, the pollution level will not increase to much. But going by the track record of our traffic police and PCB, this may remain a dream, fears environmental community. If the traffic problem is one of the reasons for public to be disappointed with the additional auto rickshaws, another reason is their wayward ways and fleecing and fleeing tactics. “We have enough number of cheats on three-wheels, do we need more? Autos are known for rash and

reckless driving, careless attitude towards passengers, meter tampering, not respecting a passenger rights, creating pollution. The situation will only get worse with the additional auto rickshaws,” says Sushant Kumar, a private firm employee who uses public transport to travel.

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The number of complaints against auto rickshaw drivers and the cases registered against them have been increasing, say City police. Now with the additional number, apart from dealing with unmanageable number of vehicles, they will have to deal with the increase in complaints which is most likely to go up two-fold.

Till date there are officially 77,000 autos plying within the GHMC limits. But unofficially, the number is twice as much because a lot many autos unlicensed to ply in City creep in. “With the current traffic situation in the City, we can either chose traffic enforcement or traffic regulation at one time especially in peak hours. When the traffic is in its peak, and we find any auto rickshaw violating any rule like carrying excess passengers or similar violations, we cannot obviously stop them then and there to check

on them. This would cause more inconvenience to the flow of traffic, instead we take down the vehicle number and later take action. However when the traffic is not so much, we make sure that action is taken immediately,” says traffic DCP1, PVS Ramakrishna. The transport officials believe that 20,000 auto on the City roads won’t make much difference. “Every year two lakh vehicles are added to City roads, compared to that 20,000 autos won’t make much difference. Also now with the increase in the number there won’t be demand for auto rickshaws and so the auto drivers’ harassment of the public will also reduce. Drivers will understand that a passenger can choose another auto easily if one driver tries to fleece them,” says Pandu Ranga Rao, joint transport Commissioner. According to the GO 90, out of the 20,000 auto rickshaws approved, 13,000 have been sanctioned for the Open Category, 4,000 for BC, 2,000 for SC and ST and 1,000 auto for minorities. Various auto unions. welcoming the decision, request the government to sanction bank loans to drivers with less interest rates.

MORE PREPAID AUTO STANDS To give passengers some relief, the Hyderabad traffic police are planning to install prepaid auto stands in the city shortly. “One way of helping commuters is to keep a check on the auto rickshaws and drivers, this can be easily done by monitoring the prepaid auto stands. We are in discussion with the various auto unions and will soon be implementing this policy,” says DCP Ramakrishna.

Here’s how to deal with a Mumbai auto driver. You flag one down, tell him the destination, get in and watch him turn on his meter. Simple as that. No haggling, no compromises. Sure there are a few fake meters around, but not as many as you find here. Since there is no negotiation about the price, refusals are also much lower. However, some might try to ask for atrocious prices to ferry you from the airport.

Chennai Chennai’s autowallahs will take you for a ride. A distance of a couple of kilometers can easily cost you up to `150. Haggling is a must; but unlike in Hyderabad, if you can’t speak Tamil, you’re at a disadvantage. Another problem is that they are rather aggressive. If you refuse to agree to their terms, they are very likely to start yelling at you in the middle of the road. And if you’re female, it’s past 10pm and it’s raining, you’ll be expected to pay double their already inflated rates.

Delhi While it’s common to see people travelling by auto rikshaws in the northern part of Delhi, autos are a rare sighting in the south of the capital. Especially because of the Metro, people don’t opt for autos when they have to travel more than 10 km. Plus, Metro is cheaper. Thanks to the number of options of public transport available, autorikshaws in Delhi don’t enjoy a monopoly which obviously doesn’t allow them to fleece people. However, late in the night, when autos are the only way to travel, they do throw their weight around.

Kozhikode If there is anything found wanting about the auto drivers here, it would be a halo. Honest to the point of incredulity, they refuse to pocket balance change even if it is `1. There is no bargaining for ‘meter plus’ charges. A ride between 11pm to 5am will cost you `10-20 more and not the usual 50 per cent extra. Outside city limits, meter rates do not apply. However, this too is barely `5 above the meter and drivers carry cards that mention point-to-point rates.

Kolkata Kolkata police are doing what their counterparts do not. Recently plain-clothed traffic personnel were deployed, who, posing as passengers, caught red-handed as many as 72 taxi-drivers just two days ago. Similar raids are conducted on auto-rikshaws. Number of auto drivers prosecuted since December are: Dec - 395, Jan- 296, Feb 238, March- 267, April - 211, May - 213.

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

WORLD REFUGEE DAY

N SHIVA KUMAR

THE ALIENS AMONG US

Rohingya refugees from Burma continue to pour into Hyderabad and no proper account of them seems to be maintained. Though a humanitarian issue, the security risk involved is ignored.

Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

rom 5,000 a few months ago, the number of refugees from the strifetorn Myanmar (Burma) has risen to some 12,000 now in the absence of any check on the inflow of Rohingya refugees from the Rakhine state of Burma. Myanmar's 8,00,000 Rohingyas are stateless people today after the ethnic Buddhists drove them out. They are denied citizenship in Myanmar and are rejected by Bangladesh. The UN calls them, "one of the most persecuted peo-

World scene Every minute, eight people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. Major refugee populations include: Palestinians (4.8 million), Afghans (2.9 million), Iraqis (1.8 million), Somalis (7,00,000), Congolese (4,56.000), Myanmarese (4,07,000), Colombians (3,90,000), Sudanese (3,70,000). â&#x20AC;&#x201C;SOURCE: UNHCR

ple in the world.â&#x20AC;? In the past one month alone, 35 families totalling 200 members reached the City. A revisit to the camp in Balapur, Shaheennagar and surrounding areas shows that the government of India and the State government appear unconcerned about them. Many of them have no refugee status and some claim to have cards from the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR). Local Muslim leaders are providing shelter and work for them. They

are spread over Balapur, Hafizbabanagar, Shastripuram and Kishan Bagh. Mustafa Faiz Ur Rahman, a Burmese refugee who has learnt Hindi, has emerged their leader. He mediates between the refugees and the local Muslim leaders who are giving support to the uprooted. It is learnt that these refugees, desperate and helpless in an alien land, are being used by the local leaders. One thing that came out while visiting the camps was that they

do menial jobs or construction works for far less than the market rates, which result in loss of jobs to the local people. The other is that the local leaders who provide them support probably see them as future investments. Violence between Buddhists in Myanmar's Rakhine state and the Rohingyas exploded in June 2012. At least 3,00,000 Rohingyas have taken refuge in squalid camps on Myanmar's border with Bangladesh. But Bangladesh has prevented them from entering the country. And China does not allow them access even as refugees. David L Phillips, director, programme on peace-building and rights, Columbia University Institute for the Study of Human Rights, says Bangladesh should be pressured to fulfil its obligations under international law and provide a safe haven to those fleeing violence. Despite its endemic poverty and sky-rocketing population, Bangladesh cannot be excused for barring Rohingyas. The fleeing Rohingyas are not entertained by either China or Bangladesh. They are all driven to India, where no convincing check is evident.

INDIA OVERFLOWING WITH REFUGEES

n In India, some 17,900 refugees and 3,400 asylumseekers, mainly Afghan, Myanmar and Somali nationals, were registered with UNHCR as of September 30, 2012.

n There have been 1,50,000 Tibetan refugees in the past 50 years. Their population has doubled today. n An estimated 10 million refugees from Bangladesh fled to India in the aftermath of liberation war. How many remained and how many returned is not certain. n 60,000 Afghan refugees came to India in 1979 during Soviet Invasion. There is no proper account today of how many stay back. n There are 1,00,000 Sri Lankan Tamils in India. n This apart, those coming on visiting visa from neighbouring countries and missing are several thousands.

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

US-TALIBAN TALKS

ASTRO’GUIDE’

US tries to pacify Kabul

Chinese kids get lessons from space

The Afghan government lashed out Wednesday at US efforts to broker peace with the Taliban

WASHINGTON: The US was scrambling to salvage a plan to open peace talks with the Taliban on Wednesday amid a diplomatic row between Washington and the Afghan president Hamid Karzai over how the process was announced., reported the Guardian. The Afghan government lashed out Wednesday at US efforts to broker peace with the Taliban, suspending security talks with Washington and threatening to boycott contacts with the insurgents. Kabul issued two strongly worded statements threatening to sabotage US efforts to start

talks with the Taliban, just one day after its Islamist foes opened an office for dialogue in the tiny Gulf emirate of Qatar. With the US-led NATO combat mission due to end next year, US officials are determined to resume talks with the Taliban after tentative contacts limited to a prisoner swap collapsed last year. But President Hamid Karzai, who heads the US-backed Afghan government that took over in Kabul in the wake of a 2001 US-led invasion that brought down the then Taliban regime, opposes bilateral USTaliban talks. On Wednesday he broke off

ongoing Afghan-US talks on an agreement that would allow Washington to maintain soldiers in Afghanistan after a NATO combat mission ends next year. A few hours later the US State Department dismissed earlier reports which said the United States had scheduled talks with the Taliban for this week. “Reports of a meeting being scheduled or on the books aren’t accurate," spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, saying Washington had “never confirmed” the date and place of any specific meeting. “We are now in consultations with the Afghan leadership and the High Peace Council on how to move forward," she said. Hopes of peace were given a further reality check when the Taliban claimed an overnight rocket attack that killed four US

Reality check

opes of peace were given a further reality check when the Taliban claimed an overnight rocket attack that killed four US troops at the largest US-led military base in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai is against bilateral talks between the US and the Taliban.

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troops at the largest US-led military base in Afghanistan. In response to the talks suspension, US President Barack Obama said he always expected “friction” at Afghan reconciliation talks but voiced hope that “despite those challenges the process will proceed". But Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP there was a “contradiction between what the US government says and what it does regarding Afghanistan peace talks". The row centred on the Taliban office calling itself the “Islamic Emirate Of Afghanistan” — the formal name of its 1996-2001 government — and an entity which Kabul insists does not exist, officials said. A follow-up statement from Kabul threatening to boycott prospective talks in Qatar unless they were “Afghan-led” exposed a wider rift and criticised the US involvement outright. “The latest developments show that foreign hands are behind the Taliban’s Qatar office and, unless they are purely Afghan-led, the High Peace Council will not participate in talks," it said. AFP

BEIJING: A Chinese astronaut orbiting more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) above the Earth’s surface delivered a video class to children across the country on Thursday, state television showed in a live broadcast. Wearing a white space suit, Wang Yaping, the second Chinese woman in space, demonstrated how a variety of objects — from a bubble of water to a spinning toy — behave in zero gravity. Wang’s class — delivered from China’s orbiting space module Tiangong-1 — was shown in classrooms across China, state broadcaster CCTV said. AROUND THE

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The astronaut smiled as she pushed a fellow astronaut into the wall of the module with the merest touch of her finger, and went on to gulp down a drop of water as it floated in mid air. Using a live video link, Wang fired questions at students who gathered at a school in Beijing to watch the lesson on a giant screen. “In space... how can we tell if we have become thinner or fatter?" she asked students, with a red Chinese flag visible behind her. “We can use electric scales," one eager young boy replied, dressed in a white shirt and the red scarf of the young pioneers, a youth organisation.

BETTER TIMES

5-star luxury returns to Kashmir SHEIKH QAYOOM IANS GULMARG: Like a phoenix risen from the ashes, Kashmir has once again got a five-star luxury resort two decades after the only such property in the Valley closed down due to militancyrelated issues. It’s a sign of increasing normalcy in a state that has seen a bruising insurgency that only recently has shown signs of abating. With the beginning of the separatist violence, the state’s only 5-star heritage hotel, the Oberoi Hotel, functioning in the palace of the erstwhile Dogra maharajas in Srinagar was closed in early 1990s. Other hotels in Srinagar were also either closed or converted into makeshift bar-

racks of the security forces. Now, two high-end properties - the Taj and the Lalit - have reopened in Srinagar but they are not of the five-star variety. Spread over seven acres of land amid majestic pine trees over a terraced mountain slope in this ski-lovers’ paradise, 50

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km from summer capital Srinagar, the best part about the 85-room Khyber Himalayan Resort and Spa is that 70 percent of its staff are locals. Little wonder that its opening season occupancy is a whopping 95 percent. “It is a challenge to get quality staff, make them perform and

retain them because my competitors at the moment are good resorts both in the country and outside," Alex Koshy, the resort’s general manager, told IANS. He said he is delighted at the way things are shaping up at the resort. “For a hotel, reaching 95 percent occupancy in its first season is an achievement. This standard has to be maintained," Koshy added. The resort, which has some 180 staffers including managers, chefs, waiters, bell boys and security, is owned by Umar Tramboo, who is also its CEO. The Tramboos are a prominent business family of the Valley. “I have been very particular that the majority of the staff must be from Jammu and Kashmir. You cannot claim Kashmiri hos-

pitality unless the hosts are Kashmiris. Seventy percent of our staff is from the state," Koshy said. Asked whether the locals, with little exposure to international standards, are performing

well, he said: “They have the drive and it is not true that they do not have the right exposure. After the Khyber opened, many trained and talented locals are coming back.”

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

JAMES GANDOLFINI (1961-2013)

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TONY SOPRANO

James Gandolfini, who won three Emmys and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of troubled mob boss Tony Soprano on the Sopranos, suffered a heart attack and died, aged 51, according to media reports. MICHAEL THURSTON Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES: Award-winning US actor James Gandolfini, the burly star of classic TV mafia drama “The Sopranos,” died Wednesday aged 51 in Italy, triggering a flood of tributes from the acting world and beyond. The New Jersey-born actor, who won three Emmys and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of troubled mob boss Tony Soprano on the HBO series, suffered a heart attack according to media reports. “It is with immense sorrow that we report our client, James Gandolfini, passed away today while on holiday in Rome, Italy,” said a joint statement from his California-based managers, Mark Armstrong and Nancy Sanders. Gandolfini was in Italy for the Taormina Film Fest in Sicily, where he was expected to participate in a roundtable discussion with Italian director Gabriele Muccino this weekend, according to TMZ.

Tributes poured in from fellow actors and colleagues, including “The Sopranos” creator David Chase, who called Gandolfini a “genius.” “Anyone who saw him even in the smallest of his performances knows that,” he said. “He is one of the greatest actors of this or any time. A great deal of that genius resided in those sad eyes.” From the acting world Steve Carrell, who starred with Gandolfini in this year’s comedy “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,” said it was “unbelievably sad news.” Susan Sarandon called him “one of the sweetest, funniest, most generous actors I’ve ever worked with,” Jonah Hill said it was a “tragic loss,” and Mia Farrow called him “a great actor. Just great.” HBO, the cable TV channel on which “The Sopranos” aired, issued a statement saying: “We’re all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family.” The actor had a long film and stage career before lending his heavy stature

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It’s good to be in something from the ground floor. I came too late for that and I know. But lately, I’m getting the feeling that I came in at the end. Tony Soprano (Gandolﬁni) TV character

and big grin to play a depressed mafioso in “The Sopranos,” the celebrated series that ran from 1999 to 2007. He began acting in the New York theater, making his Broadway debut in the 1992 revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire” with Jessica Lange and Alec Baldwin. His breakthrough role came as a hitman in Tony Scott’s 1993 “True Romance,” which he followed with “She’s So Lovely” (1997), “8MM” (1999), “The Mexican” (2001), “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001) and “In the Loop” (2009). Last year, Gandolfini played former CIA director Leon Panetta in the Oscarwinning Osama bin Laden manhunt movie “Zero Dark Thirty,” while his last big-screen movie was “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone.” Gandolfini is survived by his wife, Deborah Lin, whom he married in 2008, and their nine-month old daughter, Liliana, according to the LA Times. He had a son, Michael, with his first wife, Marcy Wudarski.

JAMES GANDOLFINI FACTFILE DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: September 18, 1961, Westwood, New Jersey DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH: June 19, 2013, Rome, Italy SPOUSE(S): Deborah Lin (August 30 2008 - present); Marcy Wudarski (March 1999 December 18, 2002) (divorced) DID YOU KNOW…? n He played the trumpet and saxophone. n Although he often plays thuggish or brute characters, he is actually somewhat of a pacifist off-stage; he had reservations about continuing his production contract as Tony in The Sopranos due to the show’s violent content and stereotype of ItalianAmericans. n Originally cast in the Carl Hanratty role in Catch Me

If You Can but had to drop out due to The Sopranos. n Lost more than 40 pounds for his role in The Mexican, but had to gain it all back before shooting for The Sopranos because executives didn’t believe the audience would like a “skinny” Tony. n Was considered for the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. n Said he was nothing like Tony Soprano in real life, describing his own personality as being more like a “260-pound Woody Allen”. TOP 5 GANDOLFINI FILMS Crimson Tide (1995) Get Shorty (1995) 8MM (1999) Where the Wild Things Are (2009) Killing Them Softly (2012)

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Across Stores

ities Twin C

News THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING NT BALANARAYAN

BEST OF THE BEST

XBOX DOES A 180

This changes everything Microsoft listens to the fans and makes drastic changes to online requirements.

MACBOOK AIR (2013)

pple's zero size beauty has been around for a while but this week it has got an update to the processor which pushes up its battery life to an unbelievable 12 hours. Air previously boasted 7 hours battery life and the new achievement is attributed to improvements in Intel's processor that is powering the device. The Haswell update by Intel focuses on improving the efficiency of the processor, an aspect they had left entirely to the Atom series till recently. The chip is slowly making its way to other PC manufacturers too but it needs to be seen if they will be able to match Apple in this aspect. Just to put things in perspective, those underpowered Netbook had a battery life of nine hours!

Attendees play XBox One games at E3.

L DRAWBANG.COM

nimated gifs are all the rage again and the trend doesn’t seem to be dying. So here’s a site that you can rely on to create 2D 16-bit gifs. These retro gifs are being used extensively in gaming community and some of them are more than a bunch of flashing colours. The site also lets you see gifs created by others and add on to it. If gifs are not your thing, you could also create plain old bit-pixel graphics using the website. Either way it has enough to satisfy any pixel freak out there.

GEEK SPEAK L33T

his term, pronounced 'leet' is derived from the word elite. It is generally used in reference to someone who is one of the best at what he does. It is also spelt at 1337 by a few gamers and hackers. The term started off in bulletin boards back in the 1980s where people with L33T access would be able to gain entry to all games and all chat rooms. This was one of the first intentional misspellings that became common across the Internet. L33T was soon followed by ‘pwned’, ‘teh’ among others. The popularity of cat memes have accelerated the popularity of such words in the past few years.

ate last night Microsoft did a full 180 degree turn, but may be we should call it a 720 because they went around the loop twice and came back to square one. They cancelled the always online requirement for their upcoming Xbox One and made it possible for gamers to exchange and resell game discs again. The company was under tremendous pressure after E3 as Sony was getting all the accolades for doing nothing new. What Microsoft took was a big risk, but in the process they ended up alienating a large group of gamers around the world. The fact that Xbox One costs $100 more than PlayStation 4 didn’t help their cause either. The most damning blow was when groups associated with the US army criticised them for requiring consoles to connect to the servers every 24 hours. This meant that soldiers stationed in bases outside US without a stable Internet connection would not be able to access their sole entertainment option. This criticism was supposedly the nail in the coffin for Microsoft's futuristic policies. The company has also removed region restrictions on the console itself that would have made the console useless if there was no Xbox Live service in their country. At launch, Live service for One will only be available in 21 countries, which meant that gamers won’t be able to import their console from other

countries either to get their next-gen gaming fix. CD Projekt RED, the makers of Witcher series of games, were one of the main presenters at E3 and it came as a surprise to many of the gamers in Poland that they will not be able to play a game developed by a studio in their own country on Xbox One. Microsoft’s initial reveal of Xbox One was heavily criticised for concentrating too much on TV-related features that would be available only in the US. Gamers were expecting Microsoft to come out at E3 and show off all the cool features that would make the console

The company has also removed region restrictions on the console stand out. Instead they showed us a DRM-like system, with a few advantages but way too many disadvantages. The Internet was ready with pitchforks and was all geared up to torch the Xbox brand, so that being the circumstances Microsoft made the right decision with the announcement today. The fight for the generation does not go to Microsoft just because they reverted their policy, they still have a tough fight ahead as Sony’s console still has a few advantages over the One. PS4 is not only $100 cheaper, but also more powerful (according to developers). As far as

Microsoft is concerned they still have Kinect which is multiple times better than PlayStation Camera as of now. Oh and if you’re one of those people who are afraid of using a Kinect because of the recent NSA spying incident, do remember than your smartphone, laptop and tablet have a camera and mic too. Also, those devices are always with you and know much much more than a gaming console ever will. This is a New Coke moment for Microsoft like folks at Giant Bomb mentioned, but the change in policy means that a few good features from Xbox One will also be reversed. If the console would stay online always, games could be played without their physical disc. Also, you could share our whole gaming library with ten of your friends. These features were made with the future in mind and it is sad see these ideas thrown under the bus in the aftermath of the controversy. In the long run, gamers might have warmed up to the idea of constant connectivity, but the complete restriction of not being able to play games offline for more than 24 hours is what killed it. The workaround would have been to increase the amount of time one could game offline or an option to enable offline mode manually. When offline mode is manually activated your friends won’t be able to access your library and that should have fixed most of the issues gamers had with the console.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Business

DREAMLINER BATTERY MAKER TIES UP WITH BOSCH

Japan’s GS Yuasa, the battery supplier for Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner, on Thursday announced a tie-up with German technology giant Bosch to develop lithium-ion batteries. The pair are planning to set up a joint venture early next year with trading house Mitsubishi Corp.

FRAUD

DATA MASSACRE: KIM

Beware of scam messages Many gullible people are lured by scamsters into shelling out money under the impression that they are about to make a fortune. MONEY MATTERS Nupur Pavan Bang

bhi, my cousin, had been going through a bad patch in his life. He lost his job last year as the company in which he was working was acquired by another firm. In the process, many employees were laid off. He was still unemployed and looking for ways to improve his financial situation. He called me excitedly one evening and told me that there is something he wants to show me. Since I did not have any other engagements, I agreed to see him at home. He walked into my drawing room before time, with a piece of paper in his hands and a wide smile on his face. Abhi: See! God is very kind. Look what I’ve got! This came into my mail box today morning. All my troubles will be resolved now. Nicky: Really? Let me see. I read the letter he was carrying.

Attention dear, I am Mann Sylvester, barrister at law. A deceased client of mine who died as the result of a heartrelated condition in March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia. I have contacted you to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client before it is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this deposit valued at $19million dollars is lodged. This bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin, or the account will be confiscated. My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my

late client, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage. All legal documents to back up your claim as my client’s next of kin will be secured gradually and forwarded to you. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology. Please contact me at once to indicate your interest. Please note keep this proposal confidential between us only.

As I finished reading the letter, Abhi looked at me expectantly. I looked at him angrily. Nicky: Abhi, have you completely lost your senses? Do you really believe that someone is waiting out there to share $19 million with you? Abhi: I have no reason to not believe it. That’s what the letter says. Nicky: How about common sense? Don’t you realise that this is just a way to fool you and get some money from you instead? As soon as you reply to this mail, this person will ask for your bank account details and then he will ask you to transfer some money to him to cover transaction costs. As soon as you do that, you will never hear from him again if you are lucky. In the worst case scenario, using your account details, they can withdraw money from your account. This is a very common way to lure people into divulging details about their bank accounts. You must beware of such deals. Abhi: I am glad I ran it through you first before accepting the deal.

RBS may be split into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ LONDON: British finance minister George Osborne on Wednesday ordered a review into whether state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland should be split into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ banks, with the latter housing written-off assets, as part of the government’s plan to return RBS to the private sector. Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne, addressing business leaders in

London, added that the coalition government was also considering options for selling its stake in Lloyds Banking Group (LBG), which like RBS won a massive state bailout following the 2008 global financial crisis. “I can tell you today that we will urgently investigate the case for taking the bad assets — those mistakes of the past — out of RBS,” Osborne said.

“We will judge whether this will allow the Bank to focus on its future supporting the British economy. We will see whether it’s right for Britain to, in effect, see RBS broken up.” Osborne said the review would be carried out swiftly by the Treasury and outside support. “We will establish a bad bank if it meets our three objectives: if it supports the

British economy; if it’s in the interests of taxpayers; and if it accelerates the return to private ownership,” he said. The finance minister suggested that the bank’s failing assets should have been spun off at the time of the crisis. “With hindsight, I think splitting RBS into a Good Bank and a Bad Bank was probably what should have happened in 2008,” he remarked. AFP

GOLD `27,836 10g SILVER `43,418 1kg

24C

for

DOLLAR `59.74 POUND `92.31

WELLINGTON: Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom Thursday condemned a Dutch company’s decision to delete million of files belonging to users of his defunct website, calling it “the largest data massacre in the history of the Internet”. “Millions of personal #Megaupload files, petabytes of pictures, backups, personal & business property forever destroyed,” the New Zealand-based Internet tycoon tweeted after revealing that Leaseweb had deleted files belonging to Megaupload customers in Europe from its servers. Dotcom maintains that most of the data stored on Megaupload was legitimate, noncopyright material such as personal photographs and business documents that should be returned to users. However, it is stored on rented servers owned by hosting companies such as Haarlem-based Leaseweb, which said it could not hold the data indefinitely with no payment while the Megaupload court case drags on.

SONY HOLDS GBM TOKYO: Sony kicked off its annual shareholders’ meeting on Thursday morning with markets waiting to see how the struggling Japanese giant will address a proposal to spin off a piece of its profitable entertainment arm. Billionaire US hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb has proposed hiving off up to 20 percent of the division, which includes a music label and Hollywood movie studio, outlining his plan in two hand-delivered letters to Sony chief Kazuo Hirai. Loeb — an outspoken investor with a reputation for pushing change at the companies he targets — has suggested Hirai serve as head of the board of the new business, while retaining his spot at the helm of the overall group. Loeb argued that spinning off the entertainment division would make managers more accountable and help improve profitability at one of Sony’s key moneymakers. He also offered his service on Sony’s board, saying that his firm Third Point had amassed a stake in Sony that made it the Japanese firm’s single biggest investor.

BSE 5,692.95 NSE

18,844.84 400.86 129.30

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Comment The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen. Frank Lloyd Wright Writer and educator

Turkey in ‘uncharted waters’

CEREN KUMOVA Agence France-Presse

recently The stormy anti-government demonstrations that rocked Turkey for nearly three weeks appear to have subsided, but the fault lines have been drawn and protesters will find other ways to voice their discontent, observers say. The demonstrators who have been standing silently still in Istanbul’s Taksim Square in recent days are a far cry from the running battles that were fought between police and thousands of demonstrators at the same site just last week, when volleys of tear gas were answered with fireworks and rocks. The demonstrators may have switched tactics, but that doesn’t mean their anger has subsided against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stands accused of authoritarian tendencies and of forcing Islamic, conservative reforms on the mainly Muslim but constitutionally secular country. In fact, his heavy-handed crackdown on the protests, which culminated in the storming of Istanbul’s occupied Gezi Park on Saturday, may only have hardened protesters’ resistance to his Islamic-rooted government, experts say. Ankara bureau chief of the Today’s Zaman. A poll published in the Englishlanguage paper on Monday found that the AKP would still come first if elections were held today, but only with 35.3 per cent of the vote. By resorting to force to deal with the protesters, the government “surrendered to fear and panic", Ahmet Insel wrote in the daily Radikal.

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS

The freefall of the Rupee in recent days suggests that the role of P Chidambaram is not so much to push reforms as to keep up the illusion of forward movement alive so that the economy does not capsize in the runup to the elections. A movement is the need of the hour.

CAR CARE

MISSING A FEW SCREWS BUT... SERIOUSLY

Ajay Hotchandani

s is the routine every morning, I wake up, toss and turn for about an hour trying to find the motivation to get out of bed. Somewhere between eating and showering, I check my email and have a glance at the news on Google. Later that day I had to go pick my dad up from the airport. On the way back from the airport the passenger window decided it wasn’t happy with life and committed suicide. The motor stopped working and the window slipped into the crevice and refused to go up. Equally perplexed as I was, my dad looked to me for an answer; something I did not have. After doing a little research on this thing they call ‘Internet’, I discovered that this was a prevalent problem amongst cars made in the US (apparently there are a lot of unhappy windows here). Even more disturbing was that it was contagious and an epidemic; apparently if one window decided to bid this world goodbye, the other windows were not too far behind to join it. The worst was yet to come, as I got the first estimate to repair the damaged window. I was shocked when the Jeep dealer quoted me $450 ($335 Euros, $227 Pounds, $18,000 Rupees, $3500 HK dollars, 0.3

ounces of gold). I resorted to conducting more research and found it can be done for cheaper; however, this would entail parts ‘Made in China’ with some sort of metal that I’m sure is illegal in 50 countries due to being a health hazard, and a shady deal with mechanics in the alleys of Miami. Two days later I managed to get the China-made part for a relatively inexpensive $110, now it was just a matter of finding a mechanic. Driving in some not so scenic parts of Miami, I discovered a mechanic down an alley, just like I had imagined. Any concerns of this being a legit mechanic shop were put to rest as it had all the signs of an authentic mechanic in Miami: several cars with their hoods propped up but no one working on it, oil stains all over the ground, stray dog sniffing my crotch periodically, no one speaks English, the sign is hand painted with random letters endorsing their service, and strangers off the street stopping by to inspect my car and help the mechanic. All though it was just my car, I did feel a bit violated that strangers can just stop by and meddle with it. Imagine you go to your gynecologist (or proctologist for the guys) and you are propped up on the table, legs spread Pac-man style and the doctor is checking out under the hood when all of a sudden strangers walking past the room stop in to chit chat with the doc and have a go at your ‘privacy’ and while they are at it they

start tapping the speculum, having a smoke and offering everyone around a shot of Cuban coffee (cortadito), doing all this while commenting, “Yea that cervix looks like it needs the rotors changed, but before you do that you gotta find out what’s leaking green!" To make matters even more interesting, the stranger off the street then mentions to the mechanic, “Yea remember that cervix we worked on last week, the imported one with transmission that had to be biopsied, it’s just like that but a domestic cervix." And to further put my mind at ease, the mechanic disappeared and now I have a complete stranger messing with my parts, car parts that is. However,

the seal on the certificate of authenticity is when several mechanics, and strangers off the street, all stop working and look at a dismantled car part in confusion and silence, hoping someone has the answer to “What the HELL did we just do?" But I cannot complain, I closed my eyes and waited until the dog came around sniffing again, and before you know it I’m missing a nut, just kidding :) The door was thrown back together and nothing has fallen off yet. The window now goes up and down. However, I’m still reluctant to put down the window now, since after it was all put back together the mechanic had some screws leftover!

EDITORIALS AN ASTROLOGER’S DAY OUT!

he forest department has taken to task many of Hyderabad’s fortune-tellers for the alleged torture and cruel treatment of parakeets under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Raids were conducted by the State Forest Department ofﬁcials and members of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in Chirkur, Kukatpally and Ameerpet areas that led to the rescue of nearly 23 rose-ringed parakeets. Caging or hurting parakeets for commercial purposes is an offence under the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972 and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1979. Except crows, other birds, including parakeets, are covered under Schedule 4 of the Wildlife (Protection Act), 1972. A compensation of `2 lakh is being made to fortune-tellers against continuing this business, and to start a kirana shop or hire auto-rickshaws to earn a living. The victims claim the Andhra Pradesh government promise of aid for protection or means of an alternate earning is a sham. It needs to be seen if present planetary conﬁgurations support the future of these soothsayers!

READERS’ VIEWS

BUILDINGS ON THE BRINK

ccording to a survey of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation ofﬁcials, there are about 620 buildings and another 100 on the outskirts that need immediate demolition in the twin cities. The GHMC engineers’ wing has certiﬁed that these 700 old buildings including 200 in Secunderabad could fall any time. Do we need to lose a few lives to wake up to this lurking danger? Don’t repeated telecasts of the devastation in the north make us want to be prepared?

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

tELEVISION

DAN HARMON "SORRY" FOR SHOW CRITICISM Community creator Dan Harmon has apologised for his harsh words regarding the show's fourth season. Harmon — who will return to the NBC comedy for its fifth run — was not involved in season four after temporarily being fired from the show.

ESSENTIALLY ENGLISH

‘BLACK’ HUMOUR

ARROW 2

Blackadder is in the news again: Baldric got knighted and Blackadder a mere CBE. Ironic: the truth is Blackadder series remains iconic. Let’s see why.

RAJESH RAVINDRAN Rajesh.r@postnoon.com

t’s not even an accurate record of history. It’s merely loosely based on it. The central character whose fortunes we follow through different phases of British history is a cooked up one. But today, about three decades after the first series of the enterprise was aired on BBC, Blackadder not only endures, but it entertains also. The thing is it makes us laugh. Every single time one watches it, one laughs. Many of the plotlines are exaggerated and twisted versions of how incidents actually turned out then, nevertheless, it’s undeniably funny. It cannot be otherwise because some of the best artistes in British TV collaborated for this project: producer and writer John Lloyd, writers Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, actors Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Tony Robinson and Tim McInnerny. The first series was written by Curtis and Atkinson. Both knew each other from their days at Oxford and had

Blackadder over the years n The Black Adder (1983) — set in the late 15th Century, Edmund, unloved second son of Richard IV, plots feebly to become king. n Blackadder II (1986) — Tudor courtier Edmund, Lord Blackadder tries to win the capricious favour of Elizabeth I n Blackadder The Third (1987) — It’s the 1700s, and Blackadder is insolent butler to the future George IV (or “Prince Fathead” as he calls him). n Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) — Captain Blackadder (pictured) is serving in the trenches in WWI and trying his best to avoid being killed.

worked together on other projects, too. But the first one set in medieval times despite the Beanesque countenance of Atkinson as Prince Edmund in it, even the creators admit that it ran a bit off the mark. There were too many things happening. When Ben Elton joined the team for the second series, he suggested that the plot put more focus on the characters.

Also, the first series had Blackadder as the dunce and Baldric, his sidekick, the clever one. In the second series, apart from that it was set at a later time, the capital shift was the Blackadder improves in cunning and intelligence and Baldric’s IQ depreciates to zilch. And as the series progress over the years, Blackadder becomes more and more cunning, and Baldric’s IQ falls to ‘minus’ levels. The apotheosis of the series comes in the last one, Blackadder goes forth. It’s funnier than the earlier ones, capturing the atmosphere of the time of the soldiers during the First World War. Atkinson does a marvellous job of playing the cowardly yet clever and practical Captain always on the look-out to get away from the trenches. Adding to the Captain’s woes is just about every one else in the series: his own batman Baldric, General Melchett (Fry), Lieutenant George (Laurie) and Captain Darling (Tim McInnern). Blackadder is vexed that he is the only one who sees the senselessness of

the war. There are scenes in episodes of the last series that are hilarious yet sentimental. When Blackadder asks for coffee and insists that it be less muddy than last time, Baldric confesses that the coffee he served the past 18 months was “hot mud”with dandruff for sugar and spit for milk — funny at first, but suggestive of the trying times men in trenches went through without supplies or much support. Also exposed is the lack of regard the high-ranking officials had for the lives of ordinary soldiers, for Field Marshal Haig's supreme tactical plan proposes men climb out of their trenches and walk slowly towards the enemy... a plan they've used 18 times before and claimed several lives. And the poignancy that runs silently through Blackadder goes forth culminates in the final episode where every one except General Melchett assembles and prepares for the final push — that is climb out of the trench and walk slowly towards the enemy once again — certain death. There are no more witticisms then, only sad talk about how dear life meant to each of them, their hopes and plans they had before the war broke out and those for later if they come out of it alive. So why does Blackadder the series endure? Because history is interesting, especially this retelling; it’s extremely funny, giggle-funny, chucklefunny and extremely funny that as Blackadder in the Tudor series says he is fortunate to be wearing a corset, for a joke cracked by the queen might make his sides split; also the numerous alliterative, rhythmic witticisms that issue from Blackadder. But mostly because it tells the struggle a man goes through and his constant endeavours to keep out of trouble through “cunning” in a trying world making the best of his circumstances in the face of the inevitability of it all.

Justice Legue on screen? Ever since square-jawed teen idol Colton Haynes revealed that the second season of superhero TV drama Arrow would feature a "team" comprising DC Comics heroes, speculation has been rife that we might get to see the Justice League on the small screen. In the wake of Zack Snyder's Superman reboot Man of Steel, a big-screen JLA blockbuster is in the works.

DID YOU KNOW

Futurama

Seth MacFarlane has signed up to appear in Futurama's upcoming final season. The Ted star will provide the voice of Fry's pet dog Seymour, who previously briefly appeared in a 2002 episode, reports Entertainment Weekly. Emilia Clarke, Larry Bird, George Takei, Adam West, Dan Castellaneta, and Burt Ward will also provide voices for the final season.

TRENDING...

Hemlock Grove has been renewed for a second season by Netﬂix. Charles H "Chic" Eglee (The Walking Dead) has joined the thriller series as executive producer. Hemlock Grove's renewal comes after the ﬁrst season's success following its 13-episode debut in April.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead has joined new Cinemax drama pilot Quarry. The Death Proof star has been cast as Joni, the wife of a marine sniper played by Prometheus actor Logan Marshall Green, The Wrap reports. Lawless director John Hillcoat will helm the pilot.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

spotlight

SALSA SOCIALS

Head to Cuba Libre with a partner in tow. Learn a few salsa moves and become the star at any party. Pub is hosting Furor Thursday tonight.

BANG ON TREND 1

FASHION’S FINEST Diehard fashion followers had a field day at Ritu Kumar Store, Banjara Hills where the designer's Chanderi and Panchvastra collections were launched. 1 Sabina

5 Soundarya, Ritika

9 Ramani Nambiar

2 Shilpa Reddy

6 Bina Mehta

10 Suhani Pittie

3 Lakshmi Manchu

7 Sara

4 Samiya Alam Khan

8 Yamini Reddy

BASKING IN THE GLORY

Hyderabad Bicycling Club team members Asha Hosmane, Sreenivas Hosamane, D Dharmin, D Sujata Manohar, DV Manohar, Prashant Jain and Aditya Mehta pose at Eiffel Tower, Paris, the destination of their London-Paris Cycle Challenge. Aditya Mehta is the ﬁrst physically challenged cyclist to have successfully completed the challenge.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

health

OVER 8,000 HELD FOR FOOD CRIMES IN CHINA More than 8,200 people have been arrested in China since a crackdown on food safety crimes was launched in January. Police confiscated more than 1,50,000 illegal products, including spurious cooking oil, meat, spices and seasonings and health care products, the ministry said. IANS

UNDERSTANDING YOUR LUNGS: PART IV

EXPERT ADVICE

FOR HEALTHY LUNGS POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

hanks to the polluted environment in which we live and our sedentary lifestyles, lung diseases are increasing among youngsters and adults alike. A trip from work to home invariably involves vehicle smoke, cigarette smoking or passive smoking and dust, to name a few irritants. Not many have time for physical exercise or breathing exercises even more 20 minutes a day. Very few people consciously include nutritious food – fruits, nuts, antioxidants-- in their daily meals. Dr Aftab Ahmed,, general physician and Apollo Hospitals, says smoking is one of the main culprits for lung disorders.

We talk to Dr Aftab Ahmed, physician at Apollo Hospitals, about lung diseases on

the rise, precautions to take while woking in a polluted environment and tips for healthy lungs.

Heart Fitness Measure your heart rate with the built-in camera and monitor your physical ﬁtness using our patented technology. Developed in the laboratory of Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in France, this method has been tested and validated against FDA-approved instruments in clinical conditions. itunes.apple.com

What precautions can people living/working in a polluted environment take? Smoking can cause many problems apart from lung diseases. We need to educate youngsters about its ill effects. Medications are available to quit smoking. If your occupation is resulting in worsening of symptoms, change the location. Using masks can also help. There are vaccinations available for chronic asthma patients or those with underlying lung problems to prevent them from getting infections. There is a lot of awareness these days about vaccines. What are some tips for healthy lungs? Avoid smoking. Exercise regularly—cardio-respiratory fitness helps you perform without breathlessness. Other things like yoga help improve lung function. Avoid exposure to dust and chemical allergens. Those having underlying lung disorders or symptoms can use incentive spirometry to improve lung functions.

What respiratory disorders are on the rise? Smoking is one thing which can cause chronic or smokers’ bronchitis. Secondly, allergy problems might be seen when exposed to allergens. There are specific triggers for asthma patients. If they work in an atmosphere where they are exposed to dust or chemicals, it increases the problems.

ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF

Pollution related problems too lead to bronchitis and worsening of symptoms.

HOUSECALL

DID YOU KNOW?

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Kohlrabi is good for your health

Acute leukaemia means the condition progresses rapidly and aggressively and requires immediate treatment. It is classiﬁed according to the type of white blood cells that are affected by cancer. Symptoms usually begin slowly before rapidly getting severe as the number of immature white blood cells in your blood increases. nhs.uk

Kohlrabi, which belongs to the cabbage family, is an excellent source of vitamin C and potassium. It is also high in ﬁber. Kohlrabi helps to stabilize blood sugar and is therefore useful hypoglycemia and diabetes. It can also be effective against edema, candida and viral conditions. mercola.com

PIONEERS Ernst Haeckel Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel was a German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, stem cell, and the kingdom Protista. He developed the controversial recapitulation theory. en.wikipedia.org

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Technology EMERGING HUB

‘New’ testing ground New Zealand emerges as guinea pig for global tech firms NEIL SANDS feedback@postnoon.com

hen Google chose New Zealand to unveil secret plans for a balloon-driven wifi network last weekend, it cemented the country’s reputation as a test bed for global tech companies looking to trial their latest innovations, industry experts say. They said New Zealand, tucked away deep in the southern hemisphere, offers a tech-savvy, English-speaking population where firms such as Google and Facebook can quietly test new products without risking major fallout if anything goes wrong. “We tend to be early adopters, any technology that reduces the tyranny of distance we’re keen on,” said Malcolm Fraser, chief executive of the Auckland-based Future Cities Institute, who has researched the trend.

“We’re a small market, which means it doesn’t cost that much to test something here and if anything screws up we’re far enough from major markets for it not to have a spillover effect.” Facebook has enthusiastically used New Zealanders as guinea pigs, last year trialling a scheme where users can pay to make their posts more prominent on friends’ newsfeeds. It also rolled out its timeline feature first in New Zealand in 2011, saying at the time: “As a global company, we need to gain perspective and insights from outside the US. “New Zealand is a good place to start because it’s English speaking, so we can read the feedback and make improvements quickly.” The LinkedIn social network also tested its endorsement feature in New Zealand last year, but Fraser said the country had been a laboratory

for experimental technology since the mid-1980s, when the world’s first electronic payments system was introduced. In the early 2000s, telecoms giant Vodafone debugged the GPRS network which replaced dial-up Internet connections on Kiwis before releasing it internationally. “It comes down to the fact that (New Zealand) is a perfect microcosm of a global community,” said Candace Kinser from technology industry group NZITC. “Auckland has immigrants as more than 50 percent of its population, from nearly every country in the world (and) Kiwis take up technology rapidly and use it well.” The Google foray into New Zealand, dubbed Project Loon, is perhaps the most ambitious high-tech test carried out in the country, aiming to bring Internet to the

BIG UPDATE FOR OFFICE

two-thirds of the global population currently without web access. It involved sending 30 helium-filled balloons to the edge of space above the South Island last Saturday, each carrying transmitters capable of beaming wi-fi Internet access down to antennae on properties below. The ultimate goal, which Google admits remains a distant dream, is a network of thousands of such balloons creating a network that provides online access anywhere in the world. The first person to access the web under the scheme was dairy farmer Charles Nimmo, who said he appreciated the chance to work with one of the world’s largest companies to push the frontiers of technology. “It’s been weird,” he told the New Zealand Herald. “But it’s been exciting to be part of something new.” AFP

Microsoft today released a sneak peek of how Office Web Apps real-time co-authoring will work across Windows, Android, and iOS devices. Unfortunately, the company still doesn’t have a date for when this collaborative feature will be available, other than “in the coming months.” The demo comes in the form of a 14-minute YouTube video. Real-time co-authoring gets rid of the need to hit the save button in order to populate changes made by others. The potential here is great: Microsoft is attempting to merge its Web and desktop offerings, while also including the ability to work offline.

TRACKING STOPS HERE

Firefox is moving ahead with plans to block the most common forms of Internet tracking, allowing hundreds of millions of users to eventually limit who watches their movements across the Web, company ofﬁcials said. Firefox’s developers made the decision despite intense resistance from advertising groups, which have argued that tracking is essential to delivering well-targeted, lucrative ads that pay for many popular Internet services. Widespread release of the blocking technology remains months away.

TWITTER ACQUIRES SPINDLE Twitter has acquired Spindle, a social startup focused on the location and check-in space, and discovering local places of interest nearby. The brainchild of a group of ex-Microsoft search engineers, Spindle pitched itself as a “tacit” mobile search application. Essentially, the app sifted through the torrent of data that streamed through the social Web — from places like Facebook and Twitter — on a minute-by-minute basis, and would deliver users local points of interest like restaurants or stores based on tweets, location and time of day. It was a way of ﬁne-tuning the local discovery experience from the mobile device.

Visitors standing next to a high altitude WiFi internet hub, a Google Project Loon balloon, on display at the Airforce Museum in Christchurch

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Entertainment PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

Samantha keen on doing small budget films

CINE BYTES

RGV’s Psycho set to release this week

am Gopal Varma's Psycho is gearing up for its release this week. While RGV has written the story and screenplay, his protege Kishore Bhargav has directed the movie. The story is said to be based on some real life incidents. This movie has RGV's erstwhile discovery Nisha Kothari, in it. Psycho is produced by Vivekananda Ahuja under Calibre Films banner.

Balakrishna’s next to be shot in Dubai

andamuri Balakrishna's movie with Boyapati Sreenu, is scheduled to be shot in Dubai, where the shooting is expected to begin in mid-July. Devi Sri Prasad will be composing the music for the ﬁlm. The movie is being produced under the banner of Reels Entertainment in association with Sai Korrpati.

he has her hands full for this year, but southern actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who has worked with big stars and banners in the past, is now keen to explore small-budget films with exciting scripts in the next year. She is currently busy shooting for three big Telugu projects — Manam with Akkineni Nagarjuna, Attarintiki Daaredhi with Pawan Kalyan and Ramayya Vasthavayya with Junior NTR. She will soon start working for another big project with Junior NTR. “Next year, I wish to be part of small films with exciting scripts. [I] will not be taking up too many big films,” posted Samantha on her Twitter page. “For now, I have two big ticket films in Tamil for next year. [I’m] excited to see what will come my way,” she further posted. Except for two films in her career, Samantha has been part of big films such as Dookudu with Mahesh Babu, Brindavanam with Junior NTR and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu again with Mahesh Babu. IANS

Bhai shooting at Shamshabad

he movie Bhai, starring Akkineni Nagarjuna, is currently being shot near Shamshabad. The shooting which took place yesterday, is scheduled to be held today also. Kamna Jethmalani and Richa Gangopadhyay will also be seen in the movie. While Veerabhadram is directing Bhai, Nagarjuna is producing the movie under the Annapurna Studios banner.

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

fashion

SCHUMACHER COMES TO LONDON

SCHUMACHER will open its first London store, on Ledbury Road in Notting Hill, in September. The German brand, launched by Dorothee Schumacher in 1989, is stocked in 45 countries across the world and has become synonymous with an easy chic take on the key trends every season.

JOHNNY DOPPLEGANGER HITS THE LONDON CATWALK

JOHNNY DEPP has been spotted on the London catwalk â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or at least his doppleganger, Greg Payne, has â&#x20AC;&#x201D; seen here at the Oliver Spencer menswear show this week. His appearance prompted an investigation into who this high-cheek boned, dark haired, broody lookalike was.

22&23

DELIGHTFULLY

DEBONAIR

en's summer/spring collection 2014 held from June 16 to June 18 in London was the biggest fashion event celebrating menswear this year. Outfits ranged from traditional to avant garde as biggest designers from across the world showed their creations. Among those presenting were Savile Row and St. James, Rag & Bone and Burberry. Celebrity guests at the show included Sergio Pizzorno of British rock band Kasabian, British model Sarah Ann Macklin, Django Unchained star Kerry Washington and many others.

Entertainment THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. Mark Twain

KAKURO

QUICK CROSSWORD

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 Like many a chocolate cake 5 ‘... by the ___ early light’ 10 Lingerie item 14 Volcano shape 15 ‘Sacro’ addition 16 Gradually decline 17 Creates 20 Sorceress who aided Jason’s quest 21 Cotton fabrics 22 The Warners were some 25 Airy tune 26 Greek X 29 Colorful flower 31 Camel-like mammal 35 Chapeau 36 Cancun mister 38 Foreign currency 39 Premise of many comedies 43 Sing Sing outbreak 44 ‘Don’t be a hog!’ 45 Stop waffling 46 Emanating from stars 49 Kind of testimony 50 Ocean 51 Kinds of cuckoos 53 Soap and water results 55 A tyke might tug on it 58 Lessens the discomfort of 62 Follows about, as a pal 65 Blemish, say 66 Charmed animal? 67 Bird along the coast 68 Start of a diary entry 69 Big Band music 70 Beyond recharging

DOWN

1 A WMD 2 Apple centre

3 Wife of Geraint, in Arthurian lore 4 Cygnus supergiant 5 Bad-mouth, slangily 6 ‘Arabian Nights’ name 7 Pitching statistic 8 Birth-related 9 ‘Nova’ follower 10 Tot’s nickname, perhaps 11 Homophone for ‘lane’ 12 Bed-and-breakfast sites 13 Tuner on a viola 18 Tasteless and showy 19 Dinner signal 23 Two-tone dunker 24 Air-filled skull cavity 26 Barton of the Red Cross 27 Oldies players 28 Moron 30 Bantu language group 32 Detroit products 33 Delicate pancake 34 Blood line? 37 Airport sounds 40 More out there 41 ‘Haus’ wife 42 Joined together by heat 47 ‘Them!’ things 48 Nosegay contents, perhaps 52 Asian goat antelope 54 ___-off shotgun 55 Tempo 56 Tutor in ‘The King and I’ 57 Big desert of Asia 59 Forefather 60 Sicilian volcano 61 Tool repository 62 ‘You never ___ it so good!’ 63 Mantel adorner 64 Be a henpecker

Chai Time THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 21-6-2013

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Some likely to go abroad for a prosperous career. Renovation plan of ancestral property likely to be taken up and completed successfully with an annex. Children make you proud and happy. Financial situation will be very strong cheering you.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Friendship circle likely to expand. Your suggestions and ideas will be received well by all. Your attitude is in for a drastic change, which will spring a surprise all and help achieve goals. You might be worried about the future of your children.

Though you face difficulties in completing certain tasks, due to your straightforwardness you retain your values and achieve success. Family members cooperate and strengthen your hands. They also appreciate the way you handle tough issues.

Self-confidence level set to increase. Friendship with persons of high esteem likely; it will benefit you. Some have to change their place of residence due to a transfer to another state. You take bold and timely decision, yielding favourable results.

Bright chance of buying a house or land is not ruled out. You are surprised to meet old friends and close relatives unexpectedly in a get-together. Official journey undertaken proves to be beneficial. Long-pending wishes get fulfilled now.

Businessmen see good growth. Financial inflow improves considerably with which you come out of deficit situation. Happy events likely to take place at home in a line. Some feel happy as their wish of buying a house will materialise.

Businessmen are happy as they prosper well. You stop not till the goal is achieved and in all probability with the co-operation of family members, friends and relatives. Old dues will get collected, which makes you financially comfortable.

You look very active and cheerful. Friendship circle is likely to expand with addition of VIP friends. Some have a bright chance to buy a new vehicle. You take your own decisions. Good news through your spouse is on the cards.

Avoid unwanted arguments with spouse. Help comes from all the expected sources, both financial and physical; with this you complete all the important assignments undertaken. Some are forced to change residence due to unexpected reasons.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Nine of Wands – Make more space for your own interests. You need to stop living for others and live for yourself also. Spend some alone-time and re-prioritise.

LEO:

Seven of Cups – The focus is on material objects. You want to amass as much wealth as possible in a short time because you’re unsure of the future.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Ace of Cups – You experience the warm and fuzzy feeling of being in love. It’s an exciting time and you’re going through these emotions for the first time.

SAGITTARIUS:

Seven of Pentacles – Conflict indicated on the work front. People will push you to be aggressive. Don’t give in, unless you want to rub someone the wrong way.

TAURUS:

The Sun – The good times are rolling. Those who’re travelling will meet someone interesting from the opposite sex. The chemistry is immediate and passionate.

CANCER:

Judgment – Guard against sore throat, cold or flu, which might bring down your productivity. Eat healthy and stay away from excessive partying. Take lots of rest.

VIRGO:

The Empress – You’re in the mood to sit in bed all day and watch action movies. Not a bad idea, considering it’s the weekend and you have worked quite hard.

SCORPIO:

Five of Pentacles – Watch your diet. Don’t eat too many unhealthy foods from the buffet table. Pick up a generous serving of fruits as well.

CAPRICORN:

The Hermit – Manage your time better. Make job lists, if you have to, and be more proactive in managing your tasks so that you’re not under pressure later.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

The Tower – Changes are on the way. You may or may not be happy with these changes but you don’t have a choice but to deal with them. Might as well like them.

NUMBER GAME

Some form of loss is indicated. It could be some money lost because you forgot about an investment or didn’t take care of it well. Move on.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Five of Cups –

POOCH CAFE

Speculation might bring moderate gains. Unexpected financial fortune opportunity likely, which makes you financially comfortable. You are capable of meeting any type of challenge and being successful as the time is most favourable.

for 21-6-2013

Ace of Wands – You’re at your creative best. You find new ways to discover and travel and do all the things you’ve always dreamt of. This is a great time.

NON SEQUITUR

You do not give up if you face failure in any undertaken work till you complete them. A happy atmosphere likely to prevail at home. Strained friendship will blossom again and go steady hereafter as understanding will improve.

SUDUKO

One of your major plans will be implemented successfully, which cheer you. Marriage talk likely to end favourably. Those putting efforts for a job will get favourable news. Your stock is set to pile up and you will gain importance in the society.

Boggle BAT BOAR BEAR BEAVER BOBCAT BABOON Vol: 2, No 335 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

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

Entertainment THE COMPETITION BEGINS

akistani actress Meera, who debuted in Hindi films with 2004 movie Nazar, says she believes in competition and wants to compete with Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra. ”I hope I get to do many more good films and I want to compete with A-list actresses in Bollywood. I want to compete with Priyanka Chopra and I would also like to share screen space with her. This will give me an opportunity to prove myself and the audience can see the other side of me,” Meera said. “I believe in competition and competition allows a person to prove his or her talent.” Meera is currently busy promoting her forthcoming film Bhadaas, a psychological thriller. She zeroed on in Bhadaas because she “liked the script”. “It’s a psychological thriller. This is something that I have not tried before and wanted to explore,” she added. Produced and directed by Ajay Yadav, the film is coming out July 28. IANS

I want to compete with PC: Meera CINE BYTES Dhanush keen to go behind the camera

amil actor Dhanush, who is awaiting the release of his debut Hindi ﬁlm Raanjhanaa, said he is keen to direct soon. He is likely to wield the megaphone by the end of 2014. “I would have started my directorial project had Raanjhanaa not come my way,” he said. IANS

Lucky to have this character in Issaq: Prateik Babbar

ollywood actor Prateik Babbar, who will be seen in Issaq soon, said that he is lucky to have landed his role in the ﬁlm. “The role has everything in it; drama, violence, heroism. It is a perfect package for any package,” he said at the poster and music launch. IANS

‘My biggest achievement is not getting typecast’

f she played a fashion girl in Aisha, she even essayed a simple girl in Delhi 6. Actress Sonam Kapoor, who will now be seen in Raanjhanaa, says she considers it a big achievement that she has escaped being typecast. “I am not getting typecast and that's my biggest achievement,” she said. IANS

sports

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

FOOT-IN-MOUTH SYNDROME

Serena apologises for ‘rape’ comments The world number one had questioned why a 16-year-old girl who was raped last March allowed herself to get ‘drunk’. NEW YORK: World number one Serena Williams (right), a 16-time Grand Slam singles champion preparing to defend her title at Wimbledon, made an apology on Wednesday for comments in Rolling Stone magazine about a rape case. Williams was quoted regarding a case in Steubenville, Ohio, in a story about her posted online on Tuesday by Rolling Stone. In the case, two players from a high school American football team were convicted last March of raping a drunk 16-year-old girl, with the way other students gossiped about the incident making the attack a topic nationwide. “I’m not blaming the girl, but if you’re a 16-year-old and you’re drunk like that, your parents should teach you — don’t take drinks from other people,” the magazine quoted Williams as saying.

“She’s 16, why was she that drunk where she doesn’t remember? It could have been much worse. She’s lucky. Obviously I don’t know, maybe she wasn’t a virgin, but she shouldn’t have put herself in that position, unless they slipped her something, then that’s different.” On Wednesday, Williams called those remarks “what I supposedly said” in a statement in which she apologized “for what was written” by Rolling Stone. “What happened in Steubenville was a real shock for me. I was deeply saddened,” Williams said. “For someone to be raped, and at only 16, is such a horrible tragedy! For both families involved - that of the rape victim and of the accused. “I am currently reaching out to the girl’s family to let her know that I am deeply sorry for what was written in the Rolling Stone article. What was written — what I supposedly said — is insensitive and hurtful, and I by no means would say or insinuate that she was at all to blame. “I have fought all of my career for women’s equality, women’s equal rights, respect in their fields — anything I could do to support women I have done. My prayers and support always goes out to the rape victim. In this case, most especially, to an innocent 16-year-old child.” AFP

PGA NATIONAL

Tiger’s elbow trouble resurfaces Woods has withdrawn from the PGA National to rest his injured elbow. BETHESDA: World number one Tiger Woods will not defend his title next week at the US PGA National because of a strained left elbow after doctors advised him to rest before next month’s British Open. Woods announced his withdrawal from the event, which his foundation runs and uses as a charity benefit event, on his website on Wednesday. “I have been advised to take a few weeks off, rest and undergo treatment,” Woods said. “I’ll be ready to go for the British Open and I’m looking forward to playing at Muirfield.” The US PGA tournament, one of the last major US tuneups for the British Opens, runs June 27-30 at Congressional Country Club in suburban Washington. Woods, whose 14 major titles are four shy of the record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus, injured the elbow last month on his way to victory at the Players Championship.

TRAVELERS CHAMP. Leishman’s confidence trick After his 4th place finish at the Masters, the Australian hopes to defend his Travelers title.

CROMWELL: Australian Marc Leishman (below) credits the confidence boost he received from winning his first US PGA Tour event last year with helping him share fourth at this year’s Masters. Now the 29-year-old from Warrnambool will defend his title at the US$6.1 million Travelers Championship and take home the $1.08 million top prize when the tournament tees off on Thursday at TPC River Highlands. Leishman, the 2009 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, fired a final-round 62 last year and waited as rival after rival failed to match him in the clubhouse over the final hours. “The confidence that this tournament gave me last year, having the round I did on Sunday and not the immense pressure

of maybe what some wins might have because I finished early, that definitely helped me for the Masters,” he said. “It gave me a bit more confidence. That definitely gave me confidence to know I was good enough to win and to play good under the pump. My swing held up under pressure here and at the Masters I was in contention all week and it held up there.” Leishman owned the 18-hole lead at Augusta National before finishing four shots behind winner Adam Scott. Leishman will be grouped for the first two rounds with American Jason Dufner, who shared fourth at the US Open, and 2012 Masters champion Bubba Watson, who won the 2010 Travelers title. AFP

A-1 Three days league championship Day 1 Group A R Dayanad 224 in 63.4 Overs (Nitesh Reddy 42, P Shashank Nag 48, Vikas Reddy 30, Mehdi Hasan 4 for 68, Syed Maazuddin 3 for 61) vs Ensconse 69 for 1 in 26 Overs (Tanmay Agarwal 45* , Himalaya Agarwal 20*) Group B India Cements 244 in 87.2 Overs (Aaroun Paul 105* No (297b) Chaitany Reddy 50 (94b), P Manessh 44, Roshan Raghuram 6 for 76 vs BDL SBH 220 for 7 (T Suman 33, Anirudh Singh 68, S Anoop Pai 42, Daniel Manohar 30, Azharuddin Bloch 4 for 61) vs AOC MP Colts 387 for 4 in 83.4 Overs (Danny Derek Prince 77, B Anirudh 156, Harshavardhan 55, Minash Gabrial 37* vs EMCC

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

England thrash South Africa Highlights n South Africa (175) registered their lowest total vs England in the ICC Champions Trophy. n Rory Kleinveldt (43 off 61 balls) recorded his highest score in ODIs. n Kleinveldt established a record for the highest individual innings by a number 10 player for South Africa in ODIs, eclipsing Dale Steyn’s 35 off 19 balls against India at Jaipur on February 21, 2010. n Kleinveldt’s excellent knock is the highest score by a number 10 batsman in the ICC Champions Trophy. n Jos Buttler, with six catches, has registered his first instance of six dismissals in an innings in ODIs. He became the first wicketkeeper to effect six dismissals in an innings in the ICC Champions Trophy. n Only two England wicketkeepers have accomplished the feat in ODIs — Alec Stewart and Matt Prior. n James Tredwell (3/19) recorded his best bowling performance vs South Africa in ODIs. n Tredwell’s figures are his best in the ICC Champions Trophy apart from being his best in England. n Tredwell’s performance is the best by an England bowler vs South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy. n Tredwell got his first MoM award vs South Africa — his third in ODIs. n David Miller (56 not out off 51 balls) posted his first fifty in the ICC Champions Trophy — his fourth in ODIs. n Miller’s first half-century on foreign soil is also his first against England in ODIs. PTI

KULDIP LAL Agence France-Presse LONDON: Hosts England cruised into the Champions Trophy final with a seven-wicket win on Wednesday after South Africa once again underlined their reputation as cricket’s ‘chokers’. Alastair’s Cook men outplayed the Proteas after electing to bowl on an overcast day at the Oval where England had lost to the West Indies in the final of the same event in 2004. South Africa were reduced to 80-8 by the 23rd over before a record ninth-wicket partnership of 95 between David Miller and Rory Kleinveldt gave the total some respectability. But Jonathan Trott hit 82 not out and Joe Root made 48 during a 105-run stand to help England surpass the modest target in the 38th over of a disappointing semi-final. In Sunday’s final at Edgbaston, Birmingham, which will be worth $2 million for the champions, England will meet the winners of Thursday’s allAsian semi-final between India and Sri Lanka in Cardiff. “That’s the sort of performance you want in a semi-final,” said Cook. “To win any tournament you need everyone to fire and we’ve got that so far.” South Africa, the top-ranked Test team and a formidable opponent in world cricket, have struggled to get past the semifinal stage in major one-day tournaments since winning the inaugural version of the Champions Trophy in Bangladesh in 1998. South African captain AB de Villiers admitted the team floundered after the loss of quick wickets in the morning.

We choked, admits South Africa’s coach LONDON: South Africa’s coach Gary Kirsten admitted his team deserved the tag of chokers after it crashed to a seven-wicket defeat by England in the Champions Trophy semi-final on Wednesday. “We need to be honest with ourselves. I think we did choke again,” Kirsten said after the disappointing one-sided game at the Oval that lifted England into their second Champions Trophy final. “It’s a horrible word but we

have to front up. We let ourselves down today.” It was the first time a South African coach had publicly accepted what was widely believed in the rest of the cricket world — that the Proteas faltered in crunch games. South Africa, the top-ranked Test team and a formidable opponent in world cricket, have struggled to get past the semi-final stage in major tournaments lately.

“Under pressure from the word go, we just were not good enough,” said de Villiers. “There are no excuses. We had the talent to win this tournament. We just did not play well enough. “But I am proud of Miller and Rory (Kleinveldt). They kept fighting till the end and that is what I expect from our guys. “England got their plans spot on. We tried everything with the ball, but the wicket got pretty flat in the afternoon.”

SCORE BOARD South Africa C Ingram lbw b Anderson

Hashim Amla c Buttler b Finn

R Peterson lbw b Anderson

F du Plessis c Buttler b Tredwell

AB de Villiers c Buttler b Broad

JP Duminy b Tredwell

D Miller not out

R McLaren run out

C Morris c Buttler b Tredwell

R Kleinveldt c Buttler b Broad

L Tsotsobe c Buttler b Broad

Extras (lb6, w6) Total (all out, 38.4 overs)

12 175

Bowling: Anderson 8-1-14-2 (w3), Finn 8-1-45-1 (w1), Broad 8.4-0-50-3 (w2), Tredwell 7-1-19-3, Root 3-0-220, Bopara 4-0-19-0 England A Cook c de Villiers b Morris

I Bell c de Villiers b Kleinveldt

J Trott not out

J Root b Duminy

E Morgan not out

Extras (lb4, w4)

Total (for 3 wickets, 37.3 overs) 179

England’s Johnathan Trott (R) celebrates his half century with teammate Joe Root during their match against South Africa at the Oval in London on Wednesday. Hosts England cruised into the Champions Trophy final with a AFP/ IAN KINGTON seven-wicket against cricket’s ‘chokers’.

Bowling: Morris 8-1-38-1 (w3), Peterson 9.3-1-49-0, Duminy 5-0-271, Tsotsobe 5-0-26-0, Kleinveldt 4-010-1, McLaren 6-0-25-0 (w1) England won by seven wickets Man of the match: James Tredwell

We did not play well enough: de Villiers LONDON: South Africa skipper AB de Villiers (in pic) offered no excuses for today’s crushing defeat against England and simply blamed their elimination from the Champions Trophy on below par performance. South Africa continued to live with the tag of chokers in the ICC events as they failed to defend a modest 175 after their top and middle batting order collapsed. De Villiers said his bowlers tried hard but could not do much as the wicket had probably eased

out later on. “We tried everything with the ball but it got pretty flat in the afternoon. There’s no excuses. We had the talent to win this tournament. We just didn’t play well enough,” de Villiers said after his side lost the semifinal by seven wickets. The South African captain said he faced a selection dilemma ahead of the crucial match and in the hind sight felt Alviro Petersen’s presence in the batting order could have made some difference.

“It was the hardest team selection I’ve had. Alviro would have been great in the team but we backed Hashim and Colin. I’m especially proud of David Miller and Rory, they kept fighting to the end and that’s what I expect from our guys,” he said. The Proteas captain also refused to blame conditions or losing toss for defeat. “The toss didn’t really do that much but England got their plans spot on. Under pressure from the word go, we just weren’t good enough,” de Villiers said. PTI

30&31

Sri Lanka’s Mathews vows fight against India JULIAN GUYER Agence France-Presse CARDIFF: Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews (in pic) on Wednesday vowed his “fighting team” were prepared to put recent history behind them when they face India in the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. Thursday’s match in Cardiff is a repeat of the 2011 World Cup final, which India won by six wickets in Mumbai despite a superb century from Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene. Since then the Asian rivals have met in 10 one-day internationals with India winning seven, Sri Lanka two and one tie. At the Champions Trophy, India were the only side who reached the semi-finals on the back of a perfect group record of three wins. By contrast, Sri Lanka have had to battle their way through following a loss to New Zealand in a low-scoring opener in Cardiff. But they recovered to beat hosts England and then defeated title-holders Australia on Monday to seal their last four place. “Especially after the New Zealand game, we had to do it the hard way,” Mathews told

reporters in Cardiff. “All three games went down to the wire, and we had to fight really hard to win. We know that we are a fighting team, and we fight to the last moment.” Asked if Thursday’s match represented “payback time” for

Sri Lanka after their World Cup final heartbreak, Mathews replied: “There’s no room for revenge in sport. “But yes, if we can beat the Indians, I think it’ll be a great achievement. On our day we can beat any team.” Sri Lanka will be looking to bowling spearhead Lasith Malinga to disrupt a powerful India top order that includes inform opener Shikhar Dhawan, the tournament’s leading scorer so far with 264 runs, including two hundreds. Slingshot seamer Malinga, renowned for his yorkers, is regarded as one of the world’s most awkward bowlers to face, yet the paceman’s average against India (40.88) is his worst against that of any opposing country. “We see a lot of Malinga, we understand him better, we play him in the subcontinental conditions where he gets a lot of reversing and where he is one of the most difficult bowlers to face,” said India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India’s team in Cardiff is likely to feature only three survivors from the World Cup final — Dhoni and batsmen Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli They also have a different coach in ex-England boss Duncan Fletcher, who took over from Gary Kirsten shortly after the final with India then top of the world Test rankings.

Early results, including a 4-0 Test series loss in England, went against him. But Fletcher recently oversaw India’s 4-0 home Test trouncing of Australia and the team’s much-improved fielding in the Champions Trophy is testament to the former Zimbabwe all-rounder’s influence. “Duncan is someone who knows the basics of cricket really well,” said Dhoni. “When he came in we were going through a phase where some of the senior cricketers that we had, they left us. Also, we were at the top of what we could have done in cricket. “So he is always someone who would have felt the pressure; to maintain that kind of performance is very difficult. “But I think he’s loving the fact now the team has started to do well and also there are lots of youngsters in the side whom he needs to guide. “I am just very happy we are doing well for him.” Rain saw hosts Sri Lanka and India share the 2002 Champions Trophy title but there will be no division of the spoils if Thursday’s match is a wash-out. In that case, India will go through to Sunday’s final at Edgbaston on account of having won Group B. Thursday’s winners will face England in Birmingham after the tournament hosts beat South Africa in the first semi-final on Wednesday.

‘Sri Lanka is a dangerous squad’

CARDIFF: India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (above) rated Sri Lanka as “a dangerous team” ahead of their ICC Champions Trophy semi-final here tomorrow, saying they were not just focussing on “a Mahela Jayawardene or a Kumar Sangakkara”. Tomorrow’s semi-final will be the fifth meeting between India and Sri Lanka in the United Kingdom. Except for the shock defeat in the 1979 World Cup, India have easily won the remaining four. But Dhoni is taking nothing for granted. “Sri Lanka are a dangerous squad. We just can’t focus on a Mahela (Jayawardene) or a (Kumar) Sangakkara. We have to think of the entire team,” Dhoni told reporters after a training session today. Dhoni said there was no pressure on the Indian team to win the championship. “It’s the Indian media that creates all this hype (after the recent BCCI controversies back home) and then asks me questions. As far as we are concerned, we have to play good cricket, we are working hard and just proving ourselves.” The Indian captain has been quite selective in dealing with the press during the Champions Trophy. PTI

PCB mulling performance-based pay for players KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board is thinking of introducing a performance based pay package for the players in the wake of the national team’s disastrous performance in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy in England. Ironically, although the Board has since last year twice given pay raises to the players in their central contracts and match fees, this has not reflected in their performances. In the Champions Trophy, Pakistan lost all its three group matches to crash out of the tournament. A well informed source in the PCB said that even

though there was some confusion over the appointment of a interim chairman following the suspension of Zaka Ashraf by the Islamabad High Court, the Board officials are thinking whether a performance based pay package can be introduced for the players or not. “When the players do well the Board rewards them with bonuses for wins and individual performances. The feeling now is that payment slab system should be according to their performance series wise and tournament-to-tournament basis instead of long-term contracts,” the source said. At present the players who

are given central contracts are assured of monthly retainer payments in three categories regardless of whether they are selected to play for Pakistan or not. Following the poor show in the Champions Trophy calls have increased for the Board to make changes in the team and dump senior players who have not been performing for some time now. According to present pay scales, top category players like Misbah-ul-Haq (in pic), Md Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal will make around 1.2 million from the tour to England while those in category B will make around 850,000. PTI

THURSDAY, JUNE 20, 2013

sports

FORLAN SET TO PLAY 100TH GAME FOR URUGUAY

Diego Forlan spoke of his “great pride” as he contemplated the prospect of becoming the first player to make 100 international appearances for Uruguay. The 34-year-old striker will reach the landmark in Thursday’s Confederations Cup encounter with Nigeria.

CONFEDERATIONS CUP

Azzuri win thriller, as Brazil join them in semis

Italian beat Japan in a 4-3 thriller to go through to the semis, while Brazil beat Mexico 2-0.

CHRIS WRIGHT Agence France-Presse RECIFE: Italy booked their place in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup here Wednesday with a thrilling come-from-behind 4-3 win over Japan that also sent Brazil into the last four. The Italians looked to be heading for a shock defeat after going 2-0 down to Japan midway through the first half, with Keisuke Honda slotting a 21stminute penalty before Manchester United star Shinji Kagawa doubled the lead for the Asian champions. However, Italy fought back with a three-goal blast either side of half-time, courtesy of strikes from Daniele De Rossi, an own-goal from Atsuto Uchida and a Mario Balotelli spot-kick to make it 3-2. Japan levelled at

3-3 courtesy of a thumping header from Shinji Okazaki on 69 minutes as the momentum shifted again before Italy substitute Sebastian Giovinco sealed a dramatic encounter with the winner four minutes from time.

I think we did show we have a lot of personality but we need more experience. I hope Italy now wins the Cup since we are not going to be in the semi-finals. Alberto Zaccheroni Coach, Japan

The result saw Japan eliminated along with Mexico, while Brazil and Italy will now face each other Saturday in Salvador in the final pool match to determine who qualifies as group winners — the runners-up will likely face world champions Spain. It was an agonising exit for Japan, whose coach Alberto Zaccheroni had challenged his team to take the game to his Italian countrymen after a lacklustre display in their opening defeat to Brazil. For 40 minutes Japan seemed destined to score a first ever success over the Azzurri. Ryoichi Maeda had almost drawn first blood with a header on seven minutes but Gianluigi Buffon made a smart stop. Kagawa then fired a left foot effort goalwards in the 19th minute that Buffon parried to safety. But two minutes later,

Japan took the lead from the spot as Buffon clattered into a 50-50 challenge with Okazaki and referee Diego Abal of Argentina ruled the Italian veteran had impeded his rival. Honda, whose penalty-taking exploits earlier this month

had ensured qualification for next year’s World Cup in Brazil, drilled his kick low to Buffon’s left and just inside the post. Thereafter, Japan enjoyed a purple patch and after 33 minutes it was 2-0. Against an Italian side that had before Wednesday lost only one of 23 competitive games under Prandelli, they failed to find the coup de grace. And Andrea Pirlo gave Italy hope when he arrowed in a corner that was met by a powerful De Rossi header just before halftime for 2-1. In what was turning into a superlative advert for attacking football Giaccherini then saw a low drive come back off the base of the post with almost the last kick of the first half. The second half was no less action packed and soon after the restart Giaccherini beat Maya Yoshida and saw his low cross turned into his own net by a Uchida. Three minutes after Uchida’s faux pas Balotelli scored from the spot after Makoto Hasebe handballed in the box. But Japanese heads did not drop and they made it 3-3 in the 69th minute when Yasuhito Endo crossed for Okazaki to head in. With four minutes left of a pulsating match Giovinco netted from close range from Claudio Marchisio’s cross, meaning the pressure is off for the Italians as they go on to meet fellow Group A qualifiers Brazil in their final pool match on Saturday in Salvador.