Epaper 22 august 2013 by Scribble Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 HYDERABAD

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

SILENCING

32 PAGES

WEATHER: MOSTLY CLOUDY; 26°C

Almost as many journalists died in India as in war-torn Syria in the first six months of this year, according to research by the International News Safety Institute. Also Guardian scribe Glenn Greenwald's partner was detained by the UK authorities for merely being related to Greenwald. We list today some countries that are unsafe for journalists.

THE VOICE

P16&17

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

BJP GEARS

THROW AWAY THOSE SMARTPHONES, THE ‘SMARTWATCH IS NEAR’

UP TO WOO CITY’S MUSLIM

VOTERS The party’s decision comes in the wake of the recent visit to Hyderabad by Narendra Modi and his direction to party cadres to take steps to woo Muslims, in the hope of undercutting the Congress. But will the party’s past make this easier said than done?

REPORT ON P5

THE BLING RING Bangalore-based jewellery designer Pallavi Foley, fresh from her stint at the India International Jewellery Week, gives women some muchneeded tips on trends and fashion.

P20

SPEAKER SUSPENDS 11 SEEMANDHRA MPs The UPA government has acted on the agitating Seemandhra MPs in the ongoing monsoon session. A total of 11 MPs — seven from Congress and four from TDP — were suspended from the house by Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar for the entire session after a resolution moved by Union minister Kamalnath.

FLASH

GUESS WHO’S PLAYING SCARLET WITCH IN AVENGERS 2: AGE OF ULTRON P28

P22&23

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

city events

FLAVOURS TO SAVOUR

Unique flavours of Pondicherry. Where: Dakshin, ITC Kakatiya, Begumpet When: August 30 Contact: 789301 3000

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

26°C

21°C

A mix of cloudy and clear skies.

Clear

Morning

Afternoon

25°C

30°C

Cloudy at times

A mix of cloud and sun.

New Delhi Mumbai Max 32 Max 29 Min 25 Min 25 Chances of storm

Chennai Max 34 Min 25

Thunderstorms likely

Mostly cloudy

Bangalore Max 26 Min 19 Cloudy with showers likely

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES drawings and graphics is on. Where: Poecile Art Gallery, Banjara Hills When: Till August 22, 11 am to 7 pm Contact: 2355-0340 / 99089-46958

DINING

Art show A solo show by Devangana Kumar, Pageants of the Raj will be held. Where: Kalakriti Art Gallery, Banjara Hills When: Till August 25, 11 am to 7 pm Contact: +9140.66564466 Performance time Lagori band will be putting up a performance. Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Banjara Hills When: August 22, 9 pm Contact: 6463-6375

Fish fest To showcase a slice of Indian culinary heritage, Taj Krishna is hosting the Simply Fish Festival. Where: Firdaus, Taj Krishna When: Lunch and dinner, Till August 31 Contact: +91 9246 21 5332 Delectable fare Oriental food festival is on. Where: Zodiac Hall, Golkonda Hotel. When: 12 noon, Till August 31. Tea flavours Try the tea flavours of Budlabeta, Hapjan, Khobong and Sessa. A portion of the proceeds will be contributed to WWF India's one-horned

PEACE RIDE: Members of Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) India click pictures of Ahimsa Harley, which is on display at HICC. The Ahimsa Harley was created at HMUN India 2012 when 850 high school students signed their names and messages of peace in white on the black harley davidson bike. Rhino Conservation project in Assam. Where: Oxford Bookstore, The Park, 22 Rajbhavan Road When: Ongoing Contact: 8790432354 India on a Platter A culinary journey across the country at The Square. Where: The Square, Novotel Contact: 8686080577

WORKSHOPS Yoga classes Parental yoga classes will be held. Where: The Birthplace, Banjara Hills When: August 24, 11.30 am Contact: 98855-69459

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

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

Story-telling workshop Creative story-telling workshop by Deepa Kiran will be held. Where: Shwaas - Centre for Inspired Learning, Jubilee Hills When: August 23, 10 am to 1 pm Contact: Salil, at 94405-00277 or Anita, at 99593-83947 Comicon workshop Comic Con India in association with The Coffee Cup presents a special workshop on Graphic Novel Project conducted by Jaideep Khare. Where: The Coffee Cup, Sainikpuri When: August 24, 1 pm till 3 pm Contact: +91-9711335505

Sizzling South This food festival will focus on South Indian specialties and gourmet delicacies from interiors of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Where: Chill Restaurant and Terrace, Radisson Blue When: Till August 30 Contact: 7799917999

SHOWS State of the art Consortium "6" - Group exhibition of

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

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

Art attack Works of artists like Anand Panchal, Nagesh Goud, Laxman Aelay and others will be exhibited. Where: Aalankritha Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills When: Till August 22, 11 am to 7 pm Contact: +91-40-23113709; 40207171

Art exhibition Art exhibition Artist Chinna and his friends will be held. Where: Alliance Française of Hyderabad, Plot No. 4, Aurora Colony When: 22nd August till August 31. Contact: On Facebook

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, AUGUST 22, 2013

news Bike thieves held YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

WILL THIS FOOD SECURITY BILL BE EFFECTIVE? 41%

59%

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

SHALL BJP GAIN ANY TRACTION IN OLD CITY, THE AIMIM HUB?

YES

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

Two men were arrested and sent to prison in separate cases: five bikes were recovered in the first and two in the second.

Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Police have made an arrest in connection with bike thefts. A man named Rehan was arrested and five bikes have been recovered from him, police of Pahadishareef said. The arrested man is 24 years old and is a resident of Nabeel Colony in Kothapet. He had been working as a private firm employee when he started stealing bikes a month ago. The bikes were stolen from Old City, Chandrayangutta, Yakutpura, Madannapet and Pahadishareef. Rehan’s modus operandi was to wait for the owner to park and leave after which he would come and make away with the bike using false keys. Rehan said he resorted to

Both men were in financial troubles and had started stealing bikes to supplement their income.

stealing because he needed money for Ramzan shopping. In another case, a team of Mirchowk police arrested one G Rohit and recovered two stolen

bikes from him. He was passing by Darushifa Crossroads on a bike when he was stopped and it emerged that the bike with him had no proper documents. Rohit, 27, a resident of MCH quarters at Ziaguda, had been working at the Hyderabad Race Course for the past two years and he had lost huge amounts on bets. He was in debt and to find money to repay his creditors and place more bets he started stealing bikes and selling them at lower prices.

FIERY SHOW

Man slits wife’s throat, flees

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

Performers from Starlight Alchemy perform a feat with fire during a media preview of the Singapore Night Festival on August 21. The sixth edition of the Singapore Night Festival to be held over two weekends in August consist of an eclectic mix of aerial performances, art and light installations, roving acts and heritage-inspired programmes by local and international performers. AFP PHOTO/ROSLAN RAHMAN

HYDERABAD: A man who suspected the fidelity of his wife stabbed her to death and fled the scene. The incident happened in Domalguda basti of Chikkadpally area, police said. The accused Ganesh, 27, was a watchman and his wife Anitha, 22, a house help. They had gotten married two years ago and had shifted to the city where they had been working since and staying in the servant quarters. Their marriage soured after Ganesh began to suspect Anitha of cheating on him and he would come home

Ganesh suspected that his wife was having an affair with someone. drunk and physically abuse her every night. The night of the murder too he came drunk and began quarrelling with her. In the heat of the moment he hit her on the head with a heavy vessel, rendering her unconscious. He then slit her throat with a knife and fled the scene. The police were informed when a neighbour came to the house looking for Ganesh and instead found Anitha in a pool of blood.

CITY BRIEFS Nine sentenced for drunken driving

Official caught redhanded for bribery

Accident victim succumbs to injuries

Seemandhra hit by agitations

Library opens at Shilparamam

HYDERABAD: Nine people were sentenced to three days of jail for drunken driving. The enforcement against Drunk Driving was carried out over the last weekend on August 17 and 18. A total of 193 cases were booked against drunk drivers. The vehicles of all the respondents were detained; they attended counselling sessions.

HYDERABAD: M Srinivas, 48, assistant engineer, Panchayath Raj Section, MPDO Office, Nagireddypet (M), Nizamabad was caught redhanded by the ACB Officials on 21 august at his office, when he demanded and accepted an amount of `10,000 as bribe from a complainant, for doing an official favour.

HYDERABAD: A boy who was undergoing treatment for injuries suffered in a bike mishap on Independence Day succumbed on Wednesday. Mohammed Ashraf, 14, a resident of Kurmaguda and an SSC student was injured when he was coming back from ID celebrations with his brother on a bike when an unidentiﬁed vehicle hit them.

HYDERABAD: The agitation of Seemandhra people continue to affect normal life in the two regions. On Thursday too, APSRTC buses did not run incurring a loss of over `12 crore per day in 13 district of the two regions. Government employees especially non-gazetted ofﬁcers continued their indeﬁnite strike blocking rocks.

HYDERABAD: Popular tourist attraction Shilparamam will now become an attraction for book lovers too. A library on the premises has been inaugurated by Chief Secretary PK Mohanty on Wednesday. The library is located beside the art gallary. It will have books pertaining to Indian culture, heritage and paintings and handicrafts.

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE Fake grooms

ast year we had reported how a police team from RR district had gone to Gujarat to probe into the shocking incidents of poor Telugu girls being ensnared into fake marriages and later being pushed into ﬂesh trade by men from Gujarat. At that time we had reported how more than 200 girls were supposed to have fallen prey to this trap.

AUGUST 22, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

1,300

Syrian rebels claim that President Bashar al-Assad's forces massacred 1,300 people in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus.

We have already chalked out plans to ensure the defeat of MIM Party in the Old City. The MIM had won the elections with a secret understanding with the ruling Congress till now. But it will not happen anymore. K Lakshman, BJP National Secretary, See page 5

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

Hospital does not have funds to maintain a restroom Guardians and relatives of patients admitted to the Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital have no restroom or overnight waiting facilities.

Chinese political star Bo Xilai’s trial Bo Xilai’s long-awaited trial is expected to proceed swiftly, with a guilty verdict and the sentence believed to have been decided.

How to combat pesky geese in Ottawa Canada’s capital has ordered drone strikes to rid a popular Ottawa beach of pesky geese.

Grapes solving unemployment problems in Canary Islands The harvest is luring people with few other prospects in a country with an unemployment rate of more than 26 per cent.

Fate of Picasso’s murals rest on demolition decision Five Picasso murals that survived Breivik’s bombing of an Oslo government block in 2011 are now at the heart of a divisive debate in Norway on the buildings’ fate.

RELATIVES NOT WELCOME

Lack of facilities plague eye hospital

Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital might be godsend for patients but it is a nightmare for relatives of the patients since there is no facility to house them at the hospital. MOHSIN ALI ali@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital is the beacon of hope for many since it is the only government eye hospital in Andhra Pradesh that provides free operations. People from far and wide including rural areas of the state and sometimes from other states queue up to be treated at the hospital. It is godsend for the patients but not so much for their relatives as there is no facility in the hospital to house family members. There is a restroom located in the hospital premises, although it has been locked for over a decade forcing family members to stay in waiting rooms for days together. Kamalamma a mother of eight-year-old patient Raja hailing from Khammam District said, “My son is suffering from an eye infection and I got him admitted in the hospital on Monday. He had to undergo a surgery on Tuesday and was kept under observation till Friday. We might be allowed to go home by Saturday. My brother, who is accompanying us has been in the hospital for more than a week but is not allowed inside the premises. He sleeps in the waiting hall at night and spends the day under the shade of trees outside. There are many others like him who are facing the same problem. Hospital

management should take the necessary steps to provide shelter for the family members.” Hospital sources say that the restroom, which was supposed to provide shelter for relatives, was built by Shiva Reddy charitable Trust in 1973 and is supposed to be maintained by them for 99 years as per the contract. There was a time when the trust used to let family members stay at the restroom and charged a nominal fee for the same. But since 2004, the trust has ceased paying heed to the rest room and thus it is no longer functional. The hospital doesn’t

AROUND THE

CITY

Hospital doesn’t have enough funds to maintain and run the rest room and the building is left in ruins. have enough funds to maintain and run the restroom and the building is left in ruins. The NATCO pharma company has donated 16 lakh to ren-

ovate the resthouse. Work on rooms, bathrooms, water and electricity has been completed. The work, sources say, will be finished in a while. The total capacity of the inpatients’ cell is 557 while the regular strength of the patients is around 300. Daily, around 50100 patients get treated at the out-patient ward. Senior Surgeon Dr Shekhar says that on an average around 50 operations are performed daily at the hospital. “We are now equipped with the latest technology at the hospital. Surgeons capable of performing high-end surgeries to treat near and far sightedness are being hired. We have also installed the machines that help us perform complicated surgeries like vitrectomy. We have also installed slit lamps for eye inspection, microscopes, special lenses and green laser for surgeries.” He added that unlike previous years, they no longer send patients to private hospitals for advanced operations. It seems that with the exception of a functional restroom, the hospital is running smoothly.

REMEMBERING THE LEGEND

Jazz musician Marian McPartland dead WASHINGTON: Marian McPartland, a jazz pianist who was a glittering fixture in her musical genre over a career spanning six decades, has died at the age of 95, her record label said. English-born McPartland also hosted a programme on National Public Radio called Piano Jazz, which at more than 30 years was the longest running cultural programme on the popular US radio station, Concord Music Group said. McPartland died of natural causes at her home in Long Island, New York on Tuesday

On her radio programme, she interviewed practically every major jazz musician of the post World War-II era.

night, NPR said. She recorded over 50 albums and the honours she received included the George Foster Peabody Award, the National Music Council’s American Eagle Award and a GRAMMY Trustee’s Award for lifetime achievement. On her radio programme, she interviewed practically every major jazz musician of the post World War-II era, NPR said. She told the station in 2005 that her interest in music started when she was a young girl, after hearing her mother play the piano.

AROUND THE

WORLD

“From that moment on, I don’t remember ever not playing the piano, day and night, wherever I was,” she said. “At my aunt’s house, at kindergarten — wherever they had a piano, I played it. Of course, on the BBC they played all the hits from over here [in the US]. They played them, I heard them and I learned them,” McPartland said. AFP

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

TELUGU DESAM

POLITICS

BJP to move into MIM’s backyard The decision of the BJP comes in the wake of the recent meeting of Narendra Modi in Hyderabad and his direction to party cadres from all states to take steps to woo Muslims. MD. INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: The All India Majlis Itehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Party will have to struggle a lot to either win or retain its existing seats during the next general elections with the Bharatiya Janata Party deciding to woo Muslims in the city with the sole objective of winning their hearts and make them its vote bank in the all important Assembly Polls. The decision of the BJP comes in the wake of the recent meeting of Narendra Modi in Hyderabad and his direction to party cadres from all states to take steps to woo Muslims. The party has already started courting the youth in old city youth and have planned several programmes to gather their support. Speaking to Postnoon, the BJP National Secretary and former MLA from Musheerabad Assembly seat Dr K Lakshman confirmed the news and said that BJP is the only alternative to MIM in old city and would do everything to check its dominance in the next General Polls. “Yes, we have already chalked out plans to ensure the defeat of MIM Party in old city. The MIM had won elections by a secret understanding with the Congress all through these years. But it won’t happen anymore, as we have decided to reach out to Muslims of old city with a series of programmes

AROUND THE

CITY

and solve their problems," he said. Dr Lakshman further added that initially the focus of the party would be on poor Muslims of the city. “The poorest of the poor among the Muslim community are always in need of support. So, our emphasis would be on solving their problems by ensuring the delivery of all government services at their door steps and fight for the redress of their other problems," he noted. According to him, the party had already begun efforts to strengthen its base in old city from the grass-root level. Party General Secretary

NVSS Prabhakar prophesied that the Muslims would vote for BJP, as the party had decided to strive for the comprehensive developments of Muslims. “Look at all the BJP-ruled states. Muslims are happy and prospering. They are not facing any problem like they do in Congress-ruled states. This is how Gujarat CM Narendra Modi won their trust in the form of votes. He asked us to replicate the same across the nation. According to Modi, when the Muslims of Gujarat can vote for him why can’t they vote for BJP in other parts of the state. We will follow in his footsteps," he noted. Five seats target The party has targeted to wrest five assembly seats from the hands of the MIM party. These seats include Chandrayantgutta, Charminar, Karwaan, Bahadurpura and Nampally seats. According to the party leaders, the BJP has a strong base in all these constituencies and it can defeat the MIM by making concerted efforts. Reservations promise In a radical shift from its earlier stance on reservations to Muslims in educational and employment sector, the party is mulling reservations, too, albeit in a different manner in its manifesto. It has plans to provide reservations on the basis of socio- economic condiitons of Muslims instead of religious based reservations.

The rift between them is no secret TDP Rajya Sabha MP and brother-in-law of N Chandrababu Naidu resigned from his MP post this morning. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Hyderabad: The gulf between Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and his brother in law Nandamuri Hari Krishna, who is also a Party MP, seems to be widening with each passing day. The alleged strong differences between the two leaders once again came to light on Wednesday when Harikrishna and his son and popular tollywood actor Junior NTR did not

AROUND THE

CITY

turn up at the marriage of his brother Balakrishna’s daughter. This has not only put to rest the rumors of strong differences between Naidu and Harikrishna and also led to a demand of expelling the latter from the party. “Harikrishna lost the basic right to continue in the party after resorting to anti-party activities. He should be immediately expelled from the party," a senior party leader told postnoon. Former minister and party MLA KE Krishnamurthy said that nobody is above party discipline

and everybody has to abide it. “All of us have to abide by the discipline of the party. If anybody violates it he should be punished. We did the same thing with Dadi Veerabadra Rao, who worked as floor leader of TDP in AP Legislative Council," he said. Party sources informed postnoon that they would seek explanation from Harikirishna before

Harikrishna lost the basic right to continue in the party after resorting to anti-party activities. He should be immediately expelled from the party. A senior leader of Telugu Desam taking disciplinary action against him. “We give enough time even to a man who faces charges that bring the death sentence. We will do the same thing with Harikrishna. We will seek explanation before initiating the disciplinary action,” they informed.

NATION BRIEFS Flash floods kill two in Odisha

40 injured as bus rolls down Himachal gorge

BHUBANESWAR: Flash ﬂoods triggered by heavy rain over the past four days have killed two people in Odisha, and left about 1,000 people displaced, an ofﬁcial said Thursday. The northern parts of the state received heavy rainfall, and the major rivers in the region, including the Budhabalanga, Subarnarekha and Baitarani, were in spate.

SHIMLA: Over 40 people were injured when a state roadways bus on its way to the Himachal Pradesh capital rolled down a gorge Thursday, a police ofﬁcial said. Most of the victims were ofﬁce-goers, and they have been admitted to the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMCH) in Shimla. The accident occurred in Hasan Valley

Top GJM leader arrested along with 6 activists DARJEELING: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) assistant general secretary Benoy Tamang was arrested Thursday along with six of his party workers, police said. Tamang, a close associate of GJM supremo Bimal Gurung is the highest-ranking leader of the party to be arrested since the West Bengal government started a crackdown on it.

Encephalitis claims seven lives

2G case: Anil Ambani deposes as CBI witness

GORAKHPUR: Seven persons have died due to encephalitis at the BRD Medical College here, taking the death toll due to the disease this year to 160. While ﬁve of the victims were from Gorakhpur, one was from Maharajganj and another from adjoining Bihar, health ofﬁcials said today. The authorities have accelerated their efforts.

NEW DELHI: Reliance ADAG Chairman Anil Ambani today deposed as a CBI witness in the 2G case before a Delhi court after it dismissed Reliance Telecom Ltd’s (RTL) plea for postponement of his testimony. Ambani reached the court premises early this morning and deposed before Special CBI Judge O P Saini.

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

RISE OF THE ROWDIES

Coppers come a cropper

Failure of the cops to keep a check on movements of rowdy elements have resulted in an increase in the crime rate in the city over the past 15 days. Agreed that the police are short of hands, but the spurt in the crime rate is a serious cause for concern. ALEENA ALICE Aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Though recently the city police conducted a drive to check rowdy elements, there has been a spurt in the crime rate in the city. The recent murder of a 19year old degree student in Sitarambagh police station limits is an example. The offenders of the case Thakur Ramesh Kumar, a city criminal under the Mangalhat police station limits and Mohammed Ahmed, a notorious property offender from BS Maktha, were in police records. and their names had come up during the police drives, but the murder could not be prevented. The recent murder of rowdy sheeter Mahzar Ali at Rein Bazar by his close associates is another example of the city police’s fail-

Mapping crime Rate over the past 5 years Murder

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

198 214 235 241 204

Murder for gain 51 58 43 64 48

In 2013 till March, according to official records, Murder cases reported were 19. In the past 10 days, 15 murder cases have been reported in the city. ure to keep a tab on the movements of the rowdy elements. Though the police department claims that police from 150 stations in the twin cities are in mufti and keeping an eye on the movements of rowdy elements,

there have been 15 murder cases reported in the past 10 days. It is alleged that the cops have not been keeping track of suspects checking into various lodges and star hotels in the city. Though submission of particu-

PROGRESSIVE LEGISLATION

Obama unswayed by Sanjay Gupta’s views on weed

WASHINGTON: Apparently unswayed by noted Indian-American medical journalist Sanjay Gupta’s change of mind on medical marijuana, President Barack Obama isn’t looking to change current federal laws relating to them anytime soon. White House spokesman Josh Earnest, said Obama “does not, at this point, advocate a change in the law” that places marijuana in the

Year

AROUND THE

WORLD

same class of drugs as heroin, ecstasy and psychedelic mushrooms, and which deems cannabis to have no medical use. Earnest described the Obama administration’s position on marijuana as mainly focused on prosecuting drug traffickers rather than individual users.

Gupta’s online essay on marijuana, published Aug 9, was titled “Why I changed my mind on weed.” In it, he described changing his own stance on medical marijuana after researching the topic for his CNN documentary “Weed.” According to CNN Obama last weighed in on the use of marijuana after two states Washington and Colorado - legalised the recreational use of the drug. “This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law,” Obama told ABC News. “I head up the executive branch; we’re supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we’re going to need to have is a conversation about, How do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it’s legal?” IANS

lars of visitors checking into lodges and hotels is a must, there is no one to see if this actually happens. Night patrolling in less populated areas, has not been taking place for some months now, which offenders have been

AROUND THE

CITY

using to their advantage. The police department, when contacted, says that the bundobust for Bonalu and Ramzan had kept them occupied. “There has been a spurt in crimes and revenge murders over the past few days,” said a senior police official. “The two festivals back-toback had kept us on our toes. However, we will be conducting counselling for the persons listed in the rowdy sheets who have been reported to be active,” he added. “Weekly drives will be conducted and their movements will be closely monitored,” he assured.

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

JUSTICE

Maldives court quashes flogging of rape victim MALÉ: The Maldivian High Court has overturned a public flogging sentence for a 15-yearold rape victim whose conviction sparked outrage among rights groups. The High Court issued a statement on Wednesday saying that the girl, whose step-father is on trial for raping her, had been wrongly convicted by a juvenile court of having pre-marital sex with another man. The court said the sentence was handed down based on a confession that the child made while she was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, adding she had been “unfit for trial”. The Maldivian government

COALGATE Parliament disrupted over missing files AROUND THE

WORLD

BANGKOK: Both houses of parliament were disrupted Thursday over BJP’s demand for a statement by the prime minister on the missing files related to the allocation of coal blocks. As soon Rajya Sabha met, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should make a statement on the missing files. Rajya Sabha Chairperson Hamid Ansari said for this a notice has to be given and appealed to the members to allow question hour to run. As commotion prevailed, Ansari adjourned the house for 15 minutes. In Lok Sabha, noisy protests continued with BJP members resorting to sloganeering that prime minister should reply on the missing coal files. Lok Sabha was adjourned till noon. IANS

FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE

AROUND THE

WORLD

appealed on behalf of the teenager following an international outcry over the February sentence to punish her with 100 lashes when she reached the age of 18. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was charged after police investigating a complaint that she was raped by her step-father found that she had also been having consensual sex with another man. Premarital sex is illegal in the Maldives. AFP

A firefighter from Ebbetts Pass Fire District uses a drip torch to light a back fire while battling the Rim Fire on Wednesday in Groveland, California. The Rim Fire continues to burn out of control and threatens 2,500 homes outside of Yosemite National Park. Over 400 firefighters are battling the blaze that is only 5 per cent JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES/AFP contained.

SECURITY

Pakistan violates ceasefire again There have been over 80 ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops this year, with at least 30 this month. JAMMU: Pakistani troops again violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district at two places, an army spokesman said Thursday. Col R.K. Palta told IANS that Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing at Indian positions in Mendhar and Hamirpur areas of the LoC in Poonch district Wednesday night. “Pakistani troops used small arms, automatics and mortars to target our positions in Mendhar and Hamirpur areas of the LoC yesterday (Wednesday) night. Our troops retaliated to the enemy fire. The firing exchanges started at 10.30 p.m. and continued

China troops intruded 20 km, stayed 4 days NEW DELHI: In yet another face-off with Indian Army similar to the one in Ladakh, Chinese troops reportedly intruded more than 20 kms into Indian territory last week in Chaglagam area of AROUND THE

NATION

for about one hour,” he said. The bilateral ceasefire that came into force between India and Pakistan in November 2003 had brought in a modicum of normalcy in the lives of thousands of people living

Arunachal Pradesh and stayed there for about four days. A PLA contingent reportedly intruded into the Indian territory on August 11 and stayed put there, Defence sources said. along the borders in divided Kashmir in Indian and Pakistan administered parts. India has been accusing Pakistan of violating the ceasefire agreement frequently since the beginning of this year. Five Indian soldiers were killed on August 6 by Pakistani troops who crossed over into Indian territory. IANS

DELHI GANGRAPE Apex Court permits juvenile board to give verdict NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Thursday allowed the Juvenile Justice Board to go ahead with the pronouncement of its verdict on the alleged involvement of a juvenile accused in the December 16 Delhi gangrape case. The apex court bench headed AROUND THE

NATION

by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, however, said that it would examine the larger issue of immunity granted to a juvenile accused involved in heinous offences from being tried under the normal criminal laws. The court said that the government plea objecting to the locus of the BJP leader Subramanian Swamy will not stand in the way of its considering the larger issue. IANS

WORLD BRIEFS Mexico teachers block access to Congress

Columbia thieves steal $3 mn in gold, platinum

Fiji releases new constitution

German who lost arm to shark in Hawaii dies

Thai court sentences 2 Iranians for bomb plot

MEXICO CITY: Thousands of teachers blocked access to Mexico’s chamber of deputies to protest education reform legislation, forcing lawmakers to move their special session to a convention center. Ninety of 128 senators and more than 300 deputies crammed into the smaller Senate across town for the opening ceremony.

BOGOTA: Gunmen, including three in police uniform, stole $3 million in gold and platinum on Wednesday from a warehouse in Medellin, northwestern Colombia, police said. A crew of eight men overpowered security guards and ﬂed with the loot in a car and motorcycles, all of which bore police markings.

SUVA: Fiji’s military regime Thursday unveiled a new constitution to serve as a blueprint for 2014 elections, the ﬁrst polls to be held in the Paciﬁc nation since the government seized power in a coup seven years ago. The document, the fourth since Fiji gained independence from Britain in 1970, will replace the constitution adopted in 1997.

LOS ANGELES: A young German woman who was attacked by a shark and had her right arm bitten off died Wednesday at a hospital in Hawaii, medics said. Jana Lutteropp, 20, passed away at Maui Memorial Medical Center after spending days on life support and in critical condition.

MEXICO CITY: Two Iranian men were sentenced to between 15 years and life Thursday for their parts in a botched bomb plot last year in Bangkok that ended with one of them having his legs blown off. Saeid Moradi, 29, was handed a life term and Mohammad Khazaei, 43, was given a 15 year jail term for possession of explosives.

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

BACKING OFF?

US avoids â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;red linesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; after Syria chemical claims US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, pushed back on calls for air strikes, which he said could embroil USA in an open-ended war. conversation about red lines ... I'm not setting red lines," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. The White House meanwhile refused to specify what, if any action Assad would face if it was proven that his forces were AROUND THE

WORLD

WASHINGTON: The United States refused to set new "red lines" for Syria Wednesday as claims of a horrific chemical arms strike reignited debate over Washington's reluctance to intervene in the civil war. Claims by Syrian rebels that President Bashar al-Assad's forces massacred 1,300 people in a chemical weapons attack near Damascus sparked new pressure for action on Capitol Hill. But the top US military offi-

cer, General Martin Dempsey, pushed back on calls for air strikes, which he said could embroil America in an openended war. The new claim of chemical warfare lured Barack Obama's administration onto difficult political ground after the president was accused earlier this year of not enforcing "red lines" he set over such attacks. "I'm not talking about red lines. I'm not having a debate or

behind the attack in which many victims apparently choked to death. Spokesman Josh Earnest said, "Before we suggest what may or may not happen as a result of the investigation's findings being revealed, let's start with making sure that this investigation actually gets conducted in a manner that is credible." A year ago, Obama said at a White House press conference that any use of Assad's deadly chemical arsenal would cross a

"red line" and would entail "enormous consequences." Then, Washington concluded in June that Assad's forces had indeed used chemical arms, including the nerve gas sarin, in attacks that killed up to 150 people. In response, Washington promised to significantly toughen its stance on Syria and said it would provide military support to rebels for the first time. But it has refused to specify exactly what it is doing, as the information is classified, and much of the assistance is believed to have yet to reach vetted opposition groups. Obama's opponents on Capitol Hill accuse him of damaging his own credibility by refusing to back up infringed red lines with overt military action. The latest reports represent another Middle Eastern headache for a White House currently also struggling to frame a

White House has refused to specify what action Assad would face if it was proven that his forces were behind the attack in which many victims apparently choked to death. coherent response to a coup in Egypt. Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee, said that if the report was credible, "a red line has been crossed again." "The US has two options: continue to largely stand on the sidelines as the regime slaughters its own people, or tip the balance of power against a brutal dictator by degrading its ability to attack civilians." AFP

NSA IN THE DOCK

US says electronic spying on people was illegal The court concluded the program violated privacy rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. WASHINGTON: The US government spied on electronic communications between Americans with no links to terror suspects until a judge ruled it illegal in 2011, officials acknowledged Wednesday. The unlawful program, which involved tens of thousands of emails, was revealed in declassified documents from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which reviews the legality of eavesdropping programs. Officials said the court rulings had been declassified to better inform the public about how the eavesdropping programs are carried out with what they called rigorous "oversight." Under the program addressed by the court in 2011, the NSA had diverted a massive trove of international data flowing through fiber-optic cables in the United States, purportedly to

sift through foreign communications. But the NSA proved unable to separate emails between Americans who had no links to terror suspects, and the agency was collecting tens of thousands of "wholly domestic communications" every year, the court said. The court concluded the proAROUND THE

WORLD

gram violated privacy rights enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution. The surveillance resulted "in the acquisition of a very large number of Fourth Amendmentprotected communications that have no direct connection to any targeted facility and thus do not serve the national security needs" defined under the law, the

court said. The government altered the program and later came back to the court for approval of a revised surveillance operation. A senior US official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, played down the surveillance violation as "a technological problem" rather than an invasion of privacy. "These documents released today will provide a strong indication to back up the statements we've been making from the beginning about the strong nature of the oversight of this program," said the official. "This is not an egregious overreaching," he said, adding it was merely "an inadvertent problem that involved a relatively small number of US persons." But the court, in its ruling, disagreed with the government's claim. AFP

Assange blames Manning, Snowden for party chaos SYDNEY: Julian Assange on Thursday took responsibility for the resignation of a key candidate from his WikiLeaks Party running in Australian elections, blaming his focus on Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning. The fledgling party is in crisis after its number two candidate for the Australian Senate behind Assange, ethicist Leslie Cannold, said she was disillusioned with its lack of transparency and accountability and quit Wednesday. Other members of the party, have also walked away, including four of its 11

governing National Council representatives. Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London, admitted he had not been as focused as he should have. "I made a decision two months ago to spend a lot of my time on dealing with the Edward Snowden asylum situation and trying to save the life of a young man (Manning)," he said. "Now, the result is over-delegation, so I admit and I accept full responsibility for over-delegating functions while I tried to take care of those situations. AFP

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

JUSTICE OR VENDETTA

Chinese high-flyer Bo goes on trial

Bo was once one of the 25 members of the Communist Party’s Politburo, and the party is touting the trial as proof of its intent to crack down on graft.

Fall from grace

Bo Xilai’s long-awaited trial is expected to proceed swiftly, with a guilty verdict all but certain and the sentence believed to have been decided beforehand. JINAN: Ousted Chinese political star Bo Xilai went on trial for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power on Thursday, a court said, in the country’s highestprofile prosecution for decades. Bo was accused of abusing his political powers to cover up his wife’s murder of a British businessman in 2011, according to the Twitter-like weibo account of the Intermediate People’s Court in Jinan. A picture of Bo posted on the account showed him standing in the dock wearing an opennecked white shirt and looking pensive, his hands crossed in front of him. His hair was short, and tinged with grey at the temples, and he was flanked by two policemen, both taller than him. Bo took advantage of his position as party secretary of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing to carry out “a series of acts of abuse of power", the court heard. Bo also “received 21.8 million yuan” ($3.6 million) in bribes while mayor of the northeastern port city of Dalian, governor of Liaoning province and national minister of commerce, prosecutors said, adding that Bo had also embezzled another five million yuan of public funds. Bribes were received through Bo’s wife Gu Kailai and his son Bo Guagua, they said. The prosecution called for Bo to be punished according to a law that prescribes a minimum of 10 years in jail for taking bribes

of more than 100,000 yuan. Bo was once one of the 25 members of the Communist Party’s Politburo, and the party is touting the trial as proof of its intent to crack down on corruption. But details about the scandal, which erupted in the build-up to a once-in-a-decade leadership handover that saw Xi Jinping eleAROUND THE

WORLD

The prosecution called for Bo to be punished according to a law that prescribes a minimum of 10 years in jail for taking bribes of more than 100,000 yuan. vated as party chief, have also exposed the high-flying lifestyles and murky dealings of China’s political elite. It also revealed factional divisions within the party, and the proceedings remain sensitive. Scores of blue-uniformed police early Thursday blocked roads around the front and side entrances of the court. Hundreds of passersby stopped to watch, some capturing the scene on their smartphones, as cars, buses and ambulances occasionally drove into

the court. One Bo supporter surnamed He, who worked part of the year in Chongqing, said he flew in the night before and had met many others from the city. The 51-year-old said he had not told his family he was coming to the trial, reflecting the sensitivity of the situation. Yet he openly praised the fallen leader in front of a row of police blocking the street. “If this were a matter of justice, would they be so nervous?" he said, referring to the massive police presence. The galleries were packed, the court said, with five relatives of the accused present, two assistants, 19 journalists and 84 members of the public. But no foreign media organisations were granted entry. Bo’s dramatic downfall began in November 2011 when British businessman Neil Heywood was found dead in a hilltop hotel room. Gu was last year given a suspended death sentence — normally commuted to life imprisonment — for Heywood’s murder. Bo’s police chief Wang Lijun, whose flight to a US consulate blew the scandal open, got 15 years in jail for his role in covering up the killing, defection and other crimes. Bo’s own long-awaited trial is expected to proceed swiftly, with a guilty verdict all but certain and the sentence believed to have been decided beforehand. AFP

2011 Nov 15: British businessman Neil Heywood is found dead in a hotel room in Chongqing, a sprawling municipality in southwestern China. Authorities rule the cause of death was a heart attack and his body is quickly cremated. 2012 Feb 2: Bo’s right-hand man and Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun is demoted. Feb 6: Wang visits US embassy in Chengdu reportedly seeking political asylum. After leaving of his own volition the next day, he is placed on sick leave for stress and over-work. “Sick leave” is often used as a euphemism for a political purge in China. March 2: State news agency Xinhua says Wang has been placed under investigation, giving no further details. March 9: Bo publicly defends himself and his wife Gu Kailai during a news conference at annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, China’s parliament. March 15: Bo sacked from position as Chongqing party secretary, with no reason given for his dismissal. March 26: British government asks China to investigate Heywood’s death. April 10: Bo is stripped of his position in the Communist Party’s 25-member Politburo and the wider Central Committee. Government says

Gu is being investigated on suspicion of involvement in Heywood’s murder. July 26: Gu and Zhang Xiaojun, a family employee, are charged with killing Heywood. Aug 20: Gu is handed a suspended death sentence for murder. The sentence is usually commuted to life in prison. Sept 5: Wang is charged with defection, taking bribes and abuse of power. An indictment quoted by state media said Wang had “known beforehand” that Gu was under “serious suspicion” of murdering Heywood, without taking action. AROUND THE

WORLD

Sept 24: Wang is sentenced to 15 years in prison following a two-day trial in which he does not contest the charges against him. Sept 28: State media say Bo has been expelled from the party and will “face justice". Oct 26: Bo is expelled from China’s parliament, removing his immunity from prosecution. 2013 July 25: Prosecutors charge Bo with bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power. AUG 22: Bo goes on trial at the Intermediate People’s Court in the eastern city of Jinan.

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

CANADA

Drones on goose chase! Trained dogs, noise blasts, animal decoys and countless other means to try to shoo the geese away had failed. OTTAWA: Canada’s capital has ordered drone strikes to rid a popular Ottawa beach of pesky geese that dirty the waters with fecal matter, demonstrating on Wednesday how it works. The hexacopter — a 26inch-wide remote-controlled hobby aircraft that was adapted by its owner for pest control — takes off every morning at dawn and chases away the waterfowl sullying the Ottawa River near Petrie Island park on the city’s east side. “It’s been really effective,” city councillor Bob Monette told AFP. He said the city has tried using trained dogs, noise blasts, animal decoys and countless other means to try to shoo the geese away, but nothing worked. City staff a few years ago even tried spraying a foul-smelling chemical but the geese eventually got used to the smell. Though majestic and beautiful birds, Canada geese drop

AROUND THE

WORLD

a lot of dung that raises e-coli levels in the river, creating a health hazard for bathers. Last year, the Petrie Island beach had to be closed for 13 days. Since deploying the drones in July, the number of geese in the area has dropped from hundreds to a few dozen, and the beach has been not been shut once, Monette said. The owner and operator of the hexacopter, Steve Wambolt, said his novel business started by chance. The former IT worker was pitching ariel photography services to Monette when the city councillor pressed him about other possible uses for the drone. “I didn’t know anything about geese before, and now ... I’m an expert,” Wambolt said. For example, he said, geese don’t like black, silver or bright orange colors

— similar to predators or hunters’ vests. So to be sure in tests that the geese were fleeing the hexacopter and not its operator, he discarded the orange safety vest. What Wambolt learned — mostly by researching online — he incorporated into the redesign of his hexicopter, which took about two weeks. Its cameras were removed and speakers were added to play the sounds of predators as it flies low accross the beach. The city even obtained a special “scare permit” from wildlife authorities to bother the protected birds. And then the program took off. As Wambolt demonstrated how the contraption works, curious beach-goers flocked to him to ask questions. Unfortunately, the drone has not been effective at scaring away seagulls, one observer lamented. “Seagulls are more stubborn,” Wambolt said. AFP

MALAYSIA

Bus plunges into ravine, 37 killed The vehicle had been blacklisted by authorities, according to a leading daily. KUALA LUMPUR: A bus that plunged into a ravine, killing 37 in Malaysia’s worst-ever road accident, was overloaded according to reports on Thursday that indicated the vehicle had been banned from the roads and that foreigners were among the casualties. Authorities say the express bus was carrying 53 people when it veered off a busy and treacherous mountain road Wednesday, tumbling into a deep gully and scattering dead and injured on the mountainside. Sixteen survivors have been sent to hospitals, with some reportedly in critical condition. Housing and Urban Wellbeing Minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan was quoted as saying the vehicle’s capacity was 44. “You do the math,” Rahman told reporters when asked if the bus was overloaded. The bus plied an express line bringing visitors to the Genting Highlands resort, a mountaintop gambling and entertainment park about an hour’s drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur. The vehicle had been blacklisted by authorities, according to leading daily The Star, but the reasons were not stated and AFP could not immediately verify the claim. A horrific scene greeted rescue personnel as they tried to pull survivors out of the man-

AROUND THE

WORLD

gled bus, hindered by the sheer 70-metre hillside which the bus had plunged down. Authorities speculated that the driver lost control on a tight bend but cautioned that investigations were still underway. The tragedy is certain to bring new scrutiny to the issue of safety on the route leading to the resort, which is popular with both Malaysians and foreigners. The resort’s casino and a theme park draw about 20 million visitors per year. It is undergoing a major refurbishment, aimed at bringing in still more visitors, which will see a Twentieth Century Fox theme park open in 2016. AFP

INSTRUMENTS OF DOOM?

Risky financial crisis derivatives return Collateralised debt obligations, the instruments that cratered disastrously in the financial crisis, are back. NEW YORK: The market for the instruments, which were based on subprime mortgages, shrank from $520 billion in 2006 to just $4.3 billion in 2009 after the housing bust. Warren Buffett once called CDOs “financial weapons of mass destruction” because of their riskiness. This time around, the investment has shifted from a mortgage-based CDO into a “collateralized loan obligation,” a cashgenerating asset structured similarly to CDOs, but consisting of loans to businesses. Financial institutions have issued $50 billion in CLOs in the US in 2013, estimates the Loan Syndication and Trading Association, a trade group. The

LSTA estimates the industry will issue $70 billion-worth in the US overall in 2013 and $100 billion worldwide. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and Citigroup are among the banks most active in structuring CLOs in 2013. Citigroup alone has sold about 20 of the instruments this year. “There really isn’t a CDO market anymore,” but “the CLO market has been quite active” for a couple of quarters, said an executive at a major Wall Street bank. “There’s an uptick, but it’s still small compared with the pre-crisis peak,” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University. CLOs are structured financial

AROUND THE

WORLD

Before the financial crisis, many CDO slices that were categorized “senior” and rated highly by credit ratings agencies were actually high-risk and contained many subprime mortgages that ended up in default. products in which financial institutions pool loans of varying risk

and market the securities to investors. The securities can be sliced into tranches of different underlying loan risk levels. The riskiest “junior” or “equity” tranches — which were at the heart of the financial crisis of 2008 — remain popular with speculative funds because they pay higher yields. “With interest rates still very low and borrowing costs so cheap, some investors are searching for risk,” said Ruben Marciano, a trader at Societe Generale. Tranches packed with loans of moderate risk are known as “mezzanine” loans, while “senior” tranches are the safest. Before the financial crisis,

many CDO slices that were categorized “senior” and rated highly by credit ratings agencies were actually high-risk and contained many subprime mortgages that ended up in default. Moreover, because all of the loans packaged in the same derivative products were in the same sector — housing — the instrument itself was vulnerable when the housing market collapsed. An analyst who specialises in CDOs for a large British bank said the investments are better bets when they contain loans from different sectors. Even as new CDO issues have vanished, Marciano said there remains an active secondary market since the crisis. AFP

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 HEADY FIGHTBACK

Bumper grape crop lures Spanish from jobless lines to vines DESIREE MARTIN Agence France Presse TEJINA: Spain’s Canary Islands have begun an expected bumper wine grape harvest for 2013, luring some workers from the unemployment queues to the vineyard. Vineyards in the Atlantic archipelago off Africa are the first to be harvested in Spain, and they are forecasting a large, high quality crop with five of the six big names predicting bigger volumes than in 2012. Together, Canary Island vineyards are reportedly predicting a crop of about six million kilos (13 million pounds), up by a third from last year. The harvest is luring people with few other prospects in a country with an unemployment rate of more than 26 percent. Domingo Martin Cruz, head of Bodegas Marba vineyard in the town of Tejina on the Canary Island of Tenerife, said some locals were taking the place of immigrants in the harvest. “This year there are already fewer immigrants in the fields. Local people are taking up the habit again for financial reasons more than anything," he said.

Canary Island vineyards are reportedly predicting a crop of about six million kilogrammes, up by a third from last year.

Pick

at the

AROUND THE

WORLD

Alejandro Garcia Oliva, 45, said he worked for 15 years as a chef in a pastry shop but was made redundant two years ago. “This is not my thing but at least it is work in the open air," he said, his hands protected with gloves as he cut grapes from the vines with pruning shears under a hot sun. “I have plans to open a pastry shop with traditional deserts but for now this is all there is." A fellow vineyard worker, 24year-old Mohammed Laamech, said he arrived from Morocco to the Canary Islands nine years ago on a small boat and was trained in agriculture at the centre for minors where he was placed on arrival. He had been working the fields since 2005. “I would like to do something else but for now I am pretty happy here," he said. Spain plunged into a deep recession after a property bubble imploded in 2008, with spending cuts and tax hikes pushing up unemployment further.

airport,

News THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

TORN APART

Looking for lost love in Shanghai AFP PHOTO / PETER PARKS

Now 92, Gary Matzdorff returned to his former home in Shanghai hoping to find the Chinese woman he spotted across a dance hall floor again.

BILL SAVADOVE Agence France-Presse SHANGHAI: It was more than 70 years ago that Gary Matzdorff, a Jewish refugee, escaped Nazi Germany for China and found love, only to lose his paramour and then have to flee the Communists. Now 92, Matzdorff returned to his former home in Shanghai hoping to find the Chinese woman he spotted across a dance hall floor again. Then, the sophisticated city was renowned as the “Paris of the East”. Some of Matzdorff’s memories of Shanghai have faded over the decades, but the image of the woman in a dress split high up the leg remains clearly imprinted on his mind. “She looked like a princess,” he says. “She was just beautiful.” He scrawled a note on a napkin, asking the woman to meet him later in the evening. Cleo Wong, it turned out, ran her own lace shop. At the time, Matzdorff, his parents and grandmother were trying to build a new life for themselves after sailing halfway around the world. He experienced antiSemitism first-hand in Hitler’s Germany, when he and members of his Jewish boy scout troop were beaten up on a camping trip, and lived through the notorious Kristallnacht, when gangs targeted Jewish businesses and landmarks, leaving the streets of

his home city strewn with broken glass. Within a year, his fur trader father and his mother, a lampshade maker, joined tens of thousands of Jewish refugees who found safety in Shanghai from persecution in Europe. But his paternal grandparents perished in the concentration camps. Shanghai “was a haven for me”, he told AFP, his spry AROUND THE

WORLD

Back in Shanghai earlier this summer, he was amazed at the city’s gleaming towers, part of a transformation that is putting the future of the former ghetto itself into question. demeanour and firm voice belying his years. “It saved my life from Hitler or extinction.” On arrival, his family moved to the city’s Hongkou district, which in 1943 would become the designated Jewish ghetto on orders of the occupying Japanese authorities. But the hardships and lack of food of the later wartime years were still in the future when he

ART IN DANGER

Five Picasso murals that survived Anders Behring Breivik’s bombing of an Oslo government block in 2011 risk being removed from the location if the damaged buildings are torn down.

Fate of Picasso’s murals rest on demolition decision PIERRE-HENRY DESHAYES

Agence France-Presse

met Cleo Wang in 1941. The relationship lasted a year. He took her to meet his parents in their small rented room in Hongkou. “My Dad was apprehensive, because in those days for a foreigner to perhaps marry a Chinese girl was a little bit misunderstood. It was not customary,” he said. But any thought of marriage disappeared when she dumped him for a US Navy sailor. He only saw her once more after the war, in Nanjing Road, a busy commercial street not far from where they first met. “One day somebody tapped me on the shoulder. And she was trying to tell me what happened. But I was not interested anymore,” he said. But now, after moving to the United States, becoming an American citizen, building a successful leather business and retiring, he thinks of finding her once again before he dies. Back in Shanghai earlier this summer, he was amazed at the city’s gleaming towers, part of a transformation that is putting the future of the former ghetto itself into question. The story has captured the imagination of the Chinese press, but no leads have emerged. “If she is (in her) nineties then she’s still alive. But who knows?” Matzdorff said. “All I could ask is: ‘Do you remember me?’”

OSLO: Five Picasso murals that survived Anders Behring Breivik’s bombing of an Oslo government block in 2011 are now at the heart of a divisive debate in Norway on the buildings’ fate. The murals drawn by the Spanish master in the late 1950s and 1960s — The Beach, The Seagull, Satyr and Faun and two versions of The Fishermen — risk being removed from the location for which they were conceived if the damaged buildings are torn down. The government is currently mulling whether to demolish the structures or repair them. Picasso’s artwork adorns the concrete interiors and exteriors of two of the government buildings erected in central Oslo in the post-war period. The murals, four of which were drawn specifically for the buildings and are done in a childlike style with simple geometric figures, were reproduced by Norwegian artist Carl Nesjar who sandblasted them into the concrete. They mark Picasso’s first

foray into concrete murals. The so-called “H block”, a 17-storey tower that houses the prime minister’s offices, is “an international treasure”, said Norwegian Environment Minister Baard Vegar Solhjell, who is also tasked with cultural heritage issues. “If it were demolished it would lead to an international debate,” he told daily Dagsavisen. At the end of June, a panel AROUND THE

WORLD

of experts decided that the most economical solution would be to demolish four buildings in the government block, including “H block” and another ministerial building, “Y block” — the two that feature the five Picasso works. The art itself would not be demolished, but cut up and used elsewhere. But given the fact the murals were designed with the original architecture in mind, art experts and media commentators are against such a move. Furthermore, Picasso’s family owns the rights to his works and has to be consulted on what happens to the murals. AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Business

SENSEX TRADES FLAT DURING EARLY SESSION

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading flat at 11.62 points or 0.06 per cent down during early trade on Thursday. Good buying was observed in metal and IT sectors; while selling pressure was seen in banking index (bankex) and realty sectors.

TEAMING UP

` BREACHES 65

The rupee tumbled to a new record low against the dollar on Thursday as uncertainty about the future of the US stimulus programme added to growing fears about the state of the Indian economy. Closely watched minutes from the US Federal Reserve were unable to shed any light on when the bank will begin winding down its bond-buying scheme, which has helped fuel an investment splurge in Asia’s emerging markets. The rupee sank to 65.04 against the dollar in early trade despite suspected interventions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to try to halt the slide this week.

NUMEROLOGY

2,300

Apollo Tyres to sponsor Manchester United

It is only the second Indian company, after Airtel, to sponsor the EPL giant. NEW DELHI: Tyre manufacturer Apollo Wednesday became the second Indian company after telecom major Bharti Airtel to sponsor highly popular English Premier League (EPL) side Manchester United. As a part of the three-year deal, Apollo will create footballbased play zones, using recycled rubber, in local communities in Britain and India to encourage healthy lifestyles among youngsters. Apollo has also become the club’s official tyre partner in Britain and India. Apollo will build “Go The Distance” football pitches made

Apollo Tyres is headquartered in Gurgaon and has a manufacturing presence in Asia, Europe and Africa with revenues of over $2.34 billion. from recycled tyres in local communities across the UK and India, with the first being on site (as part of a fan zone/play zone) at Old Trafford. During Wednesday’s launch event, Manchester United first

team players Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans participated in the “Go The Distance” skills challenges that will be similar to those featured on the new pitches. Man Utd Group Managing Director Richard Arnold, said: “Apollo Tyres is a leading player in the tyre industry and its rate of growth and development into new territories made it an attractive partner for the Club.” “With a combined fan base close to 46 million followers in both the UK and India, we are confident in providing Apollo

with a highly engaged audience, not only to promote its brand, but also to engage and communicate with our fans.” Onkar Kanwar, chairman, Apollo Tyres said: “This is a very significant partnership for us as a company and clearly demonstrates our global ambitions for our business, and the brand.” “It is a matter of great pride for us to introduce a new healthy living initiative under our corporate social responsibility (CSR), to create new play zones for the youth in the UK and India.” IANS

GOLD`31,518 10g SILVER `51.664 1kg

24C

for

DOLLAR `65.24 POUND `101.76

is the No of mortgage jobs US banking giant Wells Fargo said it was cutting due to declines in mortgage refinancings due to higher interest rates.

ANTI-DUMPING PROBE ENDS The European Union(EU) has decided to terminate its anti-dumping investigation over China’s steel fittings. The European Commission (EC), executive body the EU, said Wednesday that it decided to terminate anti-dumping proceeding concerning imports of stainless steel tube and pipe butt welding fittings originating from China, Xinhua reported. The EC launched a probe following complaints over alleged injurious dumping in last September from the defence committee of the stainless steel butt welding fittings industry that represents over a quarter of the total EU production.

THUS SPAKE Tobacco companies themselves have admitted they only donate to political parties to try to inﬂuence policy.

BSE NSE

KEVIN RUDD, AUSTRIALIAN PRIME MINISTER

17,829.44 64.66

5,274.35 30.65

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Comment Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

NOT A WALK IN THE PARK

STEPHEN COLLINSON, NICOLAS REVISE Agence France-Presse

he United States again faces the unpalatable policy dilemma that has shaped decades of relations with Egypt. Should it swallow its values on human rights and democracy and sup with Egyptian generals who plotted a coup but are vital to US strategic and security interests? The White House has struggled for two years to keep pace with Arab revolutions. But the ouster of democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi and a bloody crackdown on Islamist protesters have revived uncomfortable questions which dogged the alliance with strongman Hosni Mubarak. For years, Washington bought a cold peace between Israel and Egypt, priority access to the Suez Canal, a partner in Middle East peace brokering and checked the spread of Islamic extremism with billions of dollars in mostly military aid. Now, President Barack Obama must decide whether to renew that pragmatic bargain with a government again accused of crushing bedrock freedoms. “This is a balancing act between how to best promote our interests and our values and our principles,” said Marie Harf, a State Department spokeswoman. Early signs suggest national interests will be decisive. With rare candour, the White House will not call Morsi’s ouster a coup.

RAKSHA… WHO IS THIS RAKSHA? BUT... SERIOUSLY

Abraham Lincoln Former US president

Obama faces distasteful choice in Egypt

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS Britain’s top civil servant approached The Guardian to demand the newspaper return or destroy secret files leaked by former US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. So much for the freedom of press!

Ajay Hotchandani

his week millions, if not a billion, of people (mainly brown) celebrated Raksha Bhandan. If you are an Indian living in isolation and don’t know what Raksha Bhandan is but happen to get Postnoon delivered to you in isolation, Raksha Bhandan is a festival that Indians (and brownies alike) celebrate to honour the relationship and bond between brothers and sisters. It is a day where a sister shows her appreciation and love for her brother. The symbol of this celebration is the tying of a Rakhi (thread) around the brother’s wrist. This is the simplified version of it. If you want a more detailed and very informative explanation of it, I suggest Wikipedia. I have two older sisters who would partake in this yearly ritual by tying a rakhi around my wrist, putting tilak on my forehead and feeding me mithais or something else sweet like a piece of chocolate. And in return I would touch their feet (at least they told me that’s what I had to do), hug them and then give them money (or some gift whose value is proportional to

my ‘love’ for them). Hey, I was an Indian kid living in Central America, what do I know? I would go to school with the tilak and the thread around my wrist, needless to say the other kids were not too kind with their remarks. Then I was told I had to keep it on until Diwali. Every year the thread would break in a day, and I would claim the integrity of the thread was compromised while I was playing. As I got older I started to question this whole, ‘you give me a piece of thread and I give you money’ concept. While I am not one to believe in conspiracy theories, I do believe this whole concept was conspired by a girl, most likely named Raksha, who needed a few quick bills to buy a new pair of shoes that her mum didn’t want to get her. The thread industry, greeting cards companies and National Sister Association of India (NSA-I) got together to promote this as a ‘ceremony’. So as to prevent their brother’s from rebelling against it, they added an element of religion to it, thereby solidifying it as no guy will dare argue or fight over religion (maybe a small war here or there but nothing major). My reflection also made me reflect on what my sisters did for me, and I must say they did look out for me. But when I reflect even deeper on my

reflected reflections I realise they also made me do things that would warrant more than a piece of thread, more like a Rolex! Ok so I was playing with my sister and we were playing a variation of ‘Hide and Seek’ where we would hide a bean and the other person would go find it. Being the genius that she is, she decided to hide the bean up my nose! Well, the bean got stuck and I ended up in the emergency room to get it extracted. Yes, and for that she gets the Greatest Sister of the Year Award. My next sister would send me on errands. One particular errand she would send me on and every time I went they both would laugh. It was only years

YUJIE ZHANG

later when I realised that she were sending me to buy maxi (sanitary/feminine) pads! Here I was, this 8-year-old kid, going to the store around the corner purchasing women’s pads. And at that time they were the size of a pillow, so you couldn’t exactly be discrete about it. I didn’t know what they were so I would be walking down the street throwing the pack in the air and catching it as though it were a pillowed size baseball. And for two years they had me doing this never once telling me to at least put it in a paper bag. Yes, and for that she gets the Greatest Sister of the Year Award. To my sisters, Asha and Anju, thanks for being there... and putting a bean up my nose and having me shop for pads!

EDITORIALS The loosening grip of the rakhi

odernisation comes with a fair share of baggage. Compromise is one of it that has become increasing accepted as norm. The importance of commitment to relationships is petering. One such relationship to suffer the take-it-easy policy of the current generation is the brother-sister one, the one sanctified by the rakhi, at least. The symbolic piece of thread no longer brings with it strong emotional bonding it was associated with a couple of decades back. The numbers certainly have come down – to such an extent that when a woman from across the border ties one to her ‘brother’ here, it becomes news! It is little wonder that these are times when a woman’s body is found in her home a good five months after she died. Kids move to distant lands to ‘make a quick buck and then return to my motherland’; quick buck they go on making. Priorities have changed big time. Achievements are calculated by their materialistic value. Anyway, with wealth come a lot of relationships, it is perceived. The Fortune 500 target is not achieved without sacrifices.

READERS’ VIEWS

Apps hold promise!

he last big development in digital technology came with Windows. Communication is all about transferring text, voice and images. To do this we have 70 billion smartphone and tablet apps being downloaded on an annual basis and this is only zooming upwards. Indulgence in advancement is to further our gaming skills. Is it surprising then that consumers are using apps for shorter bursts of time and opting to ‘snack’ on content more frequently, which is revealed by painstakingly collected data.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

tELEVISION

BREAKING BAD'S JONATHAN BANKS JOINS COMMUNITY

Breaking Bad star Jonathan Banks is to join the fifth season of Community, it has been reported. According to Entertainment Weekly, the 66-year-old actor will star in 11 episodes of the comedy as Pat Nichols — a criminology professor at college.

BEHIND BARS

HIGHEST-PAID TV STARS

The new colours of prison Orange Is The New Black has a lead character who is highly unlikeable. And that's what is so great about the show. JYOTSNA NAMBIAR jyotsna.n@postnoon.com

magine a privileged, rich, white, blond woman. Now, imagine her in prison. Unlikely? Not in Piper Kerman’s case. Piper Kerman was found guilty of carrying drug money for her girlfriend, who was part of an international drug cartel. Her subsequent incarceration became the subject of her memoirs, Orange Is The New Black, which has now been turned into a hit TV series by Jenji Kohan. If it had been a fictional programme, it is easy to see how wrong this premise could have gone. Bad slapstick humour, standard prison jokes and easy stereotypes would have killed the show. Instead, the show takes a more sensitive view of the idea, bringing a woman’s prison to life with great vividity and colour.

It’s not like stereotypes don't appear through the show. The Russian has to be dangerous and hot-tempered, there has to be an angry black girl. But as the show progresses, each character’s back story is revealed — not in a manner to induce sympathy, but to show how regular the people who end up in prison are. Taylor Schilling plays Piper Chapman, and you cannot imagine a more perfect actor for the character. She comes across as spoilt, over-enthusiastic and totally out of place. With all her first-world problems, she is really quite unlikeable. It is this that makes the show so great — it gently pokes fun at how ‘difficult’ it is for a woman like Piper to be in this situation, even though it is the other inmates who have had tougher lives. Laura Prepon plays Alex, Piper’s former lover. Piper blames Alex for getting her into this

mess, but soon acknowledges that she has no one to blame but herself. Prepon is a little bland in the show, and her chemistry with Schilling is almost non-existent. Now with an annoying lead, the only way for a show to win is with great supporting actors. This is easily the show’s greatest strength. Every other character, even the ones who don’t have a major role, are nuanced, interesting and well-cast. Easily the most fun character is Susanne Crazy Eyes (Uzo Aduba), a prisoner who develops a crush on Chapman. Her charac-

ter development is a joy to watch over the first season. Other stand-outs include Red (Kate Mulgrew), the Russian cook who has a tough exterior but is a mother figure for a lot of the inmates. Another reason the show stands out is for its range of female characters. From a highly articulate transgender hairdresser to an overweight Latino whose stylish mother is in the same prison, every size, shape and type of woman is represented. This is a refreshing change from even the most diverse TV shows, where women end up fitting one stereotype or the other. The male characters are also great fun to watch, especially the incredibly sweet officer John Bennett, played by Matt McGorry. Television’s portrayal of prison has never been as sunny or as interesting as it is in Orange Is The New Black.

Ashton Kutcher and NCIS lead Mark Harmon are among US TV's highest-paid stars. Kutcher is currently the highest-paid comedy actor, earning $750,000 (£478,377) per episode of Two and a Half Men, reports TV Guide. NCIS lead Mark Harmon tops the drama list, making $525,000 (£334,864) per episode. Jon Stewart is now the highest-paid late night host, earning $25-$30 million (£16-£19m) a year on Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

DID YOU KNOW

JLo

will be confirmed as an American Idol judge later this week, a new report has claimed. According to Entertainment Weekly, Lopez is very close to officially signing a new deal with producers to return to the panel. Lopez, who previously judged the show in the tenth and eleventh seasons, has been linked to the new panel for some time.

BIRTHDAY BASH

Gautam Rode who is currently playing the lead of Saraswatichandra threw a small private bash at a suburban ﬁve star hotel with friends from the industry. While Sayanti Ghosh, Karan and Nishal Mehra, Rahul Mahajan, etc were early to arrive others like Karan Wahi, Roshni Chopra, etc were seen walking in later. The party also saw some big producers from the telly world including Rajan Shahi, Nikhil Sinha and Aatish Kapadia. Nigar and Gauhar Khan were spotted mingling with the crowd and teasing the birthday boy as he cut his cake.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

spotlight A GLITTERY AFFAIR

DREAM WEDDING Political bigwigs and Tollywood hotshots gathered at Hitex for the wedding ceremony of Balkrishna's daughter Tejaswini and Sri Bharat.

TECHIEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S DELIGHT

Actress Archana Veda inaugurated Samsung Plaza-New Concept Techno Store at Attapur on Wednesday. S Raj Kumar Pai, MD Pai International Electronics and Atul Jain, Sr Vice President Samsung India Electronics Ltd were present at the do.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

health

DENGUE CASES RISE IN THE COUNTRY

India has recorded 15,893 dengue cases in 2013, a sharp increase from last year, health ministry figures show. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha Tuesday, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said total dengue deaths across the country till July this year were 56 while it was 76 in 2012.

CHILDREN’S HEALTH

Chemicals in plastics may boost kids’ risk for obesity Chemicals used in plastic food wraps and containers could be contributing to childhood diabetes and obesity, two new studies claim. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

ne study links phthalates to increased insulin resistance in children, while another associates bisphenol A (BPA) with high body-mass index (BMI) and expanding waistlines. Both studies appear online Aug. 19 and in the September print issue of Pediatrics. “There is increasing concern that environmental chemicals might be independent contributors to childhood diseases related to the obesity epidemic," said phthalates study author Dr. Leonardo Trasande, an associate professor of pediatrics and environmental medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. “Our research adds to these growing concerns." Trasande’s study reviewed insulin resistance and urinary levels of phthalates in 766 kids aged 12 to 19. Previous studies have linked phthalate exposure to insulin resistance in animals and human adults. Phthalates are chemicals used to soften and increase the flexibility of plastics and vinyl. They are suspected endocrine disruptors, and manufacturers have discontinued their use in baby products like

teething rings and pacifiers. The study found that insulin resistance in children increased with levels of a phthalate called di-2-ethylhexylphthalate, or DEHP. The association held even after researchers took into account the children’s caloric intake, BMI and other risk factors for diabetes. “There are lab studies suggesting these chemicals can influence how our bodies respond to glucose," Trasande said. “In particular, they are thought to influence genes that regulate release of insulin. There are other potential mechanisms, but that is the main mechanism of concern." In the other study, researchers Dr. Donna Eng and colleagues at the University of Michigan found that high urinary levels of BPA are associated with increased risk of obesity. BPA is used to make polycarbonate and epoxy resins for a wide variety of products. For example, a l u -

minum cans use a BPA lining to prevent corrosion. It has been linked to a wide variety of health concerns, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has banned its use in sippy cups, baby bottles and infant formula packaging. The study reviewed data on about 3,300 kids aged 6 to 18, and found that children with high BPA levels tend to have excessive amounts of body fat and

unusually expanded waistlines. However, in a related journal commentary, Dr. Robert Brent of Cornell University pointed out the limitations of using urine levels alone to determine the extent or impact of chemical exposure. Dr. Hugh Taylor, chair of the Yale School of Medicine’s department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences, said these studies “point out the vulnerability of children to environmental chemicals. It seems the younger you look, the more things are developing and the more vulnerable they are to these type of insults." However, Taylor added that the food wrapped in containers with phthalates and BPA likely are doing as much or more to contribute to diabetes and obesity as the chemicals themselves. “It’s probably more about the type of diet

these kids are eating," Taylor said. “A move toward healthier natural food is always a good idea, not just because of the elimination of BPA and phthalates but for all the other health benefits. If we think about more common-sense eating of healthy foods that aren’t packaged in a way that would introduce BPA and phthalates, we would be so much better off." Trasande recommends that parents avoid using plastic containers with the recycling numbers 3, 6 or 7, in which phthalates or BPA are used. “I also advise families not to microwave plastics, hand wash plastic containers, and throw away plastic containers where there is etching or other damage to them," he said. While the new studies found associations between chemicals in plastic and insulin resistance and obesity in children, they did not establish cause-and-effect. Source: WebMd

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Technology SMARTWATCH

Are they really smart? News that Samsung will unveil a “smartwatch” next month has sent rumour mills into overdrive within the tech community as it second guesses what the much-hyped gadget will offer. SEOUL: News that Samsung will unveil a “smartwatch” next month has sent rumour mills into overdrive within the tech community as it second guesses what the muchhyped gadget will offer. Wearable computing, including Google’s smart glasses, is considered the next frontier in consumer electronics following smartphones. Apple has long been rumoured to be working on introducing an “iWatch” and Samsung is reportedly looking to steal a march on its arch rival by launching its “Galaxy Gear” smartwatch at the IFA industrial exhibition in Berlin in the first week of September. Samsung has steadfastly declined to confirm or deny its intentions and has offered no insights on the design or technical specifications of the new digital device. That has not stopped specialist tech websites filling the vacuum with speculation and informed guesswork based on sources at application development firms who have apparently been sent prototypes. Initial reports suggested the watch would allow users

to make calls, access e-mail and surf the Internet. The Verge website cited one source who insisted it would not be a self-contained “watchphone” in the sense of a unit with its own SIM card, cellular radio, and data connection. Instead it will be a device that “works with phones” using bluetooth technology to pair with a user’s smartphone, the source was quoted as saying. The website GigaOM cited various sources as saying the Samsung device would have a camera integrated into the strap and tiny speakers in the clasp of the watch. This was partly supported

Galaxy gear

pple has long been rumoured to be working on introducing an “iWatch” and Samsung is reportedly looking to steal a march on its arch rival by launching its “Galaxy Gear” smartwatch at the IFA industrial exhibition in Berlin in the first week of September.

The Verge cited one source who insisted it would not be a selfcontained “watchphone” in the sense of a unit with its own SIM card, cellular radio, and data connection. by details provided by local South Korean website Moveplayer of a patent for “Samsung Gear” that was approved by the South Korean patent office in May. The patent design shows what looks like both a tiny microphone and/or speaker as well as a USB port embedded in the wrist clasp. It also suggested a curved screen that would make up the watch’s main display. GigaOM’s sources said Samsung had seeded various different designs to developers but with some common characteristics including a 2.5 inch OLED screen. The watch will boast a built-in “accelerometer” that makes it possible to switch it on when it is moved up towards the eye, the sources said, adding that the screen

would support the usual touch, swipe and select type gestures — but not text-input given the size constraints. Phil Libin, the CEO of app developer Evernote, told GigaOM that smartwatch technology remained experimental despite its rapid development. “None of this is going to be super mainstream in six or 12 months, but I think it’s going to be in the next two or three years,” Libin said. “It’s going to go faster than people expect.” The idea of the connected watch has been around for at least a decade: Microsoft had one in 2003. And some devices are already on the market including from Sony, the crowd-funded maker Pebble and Italian-based firm i’m Watch. Up to now, smartwatches have been able to connect to phones wirelessly to give users signals about new messages, and allow some limited Web access. But analysts say once they gain traction, app developers can come up with new functions, possibly drawing on health and fitness monitoring devices now in use.

CONNECTING THE WORLD

Mark to work to widen global internet access

WASHINGTON: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a campaign Wednesday with global technology giants to connect billions of people worldwide who lack access to the Internet. The project is entitled Internet.org and its goal is to extend Internet access to five billion people by cutting the cost of smartphone-based Internet services in developing countries. “There is no guarantee that most people will ever have access to the Internet. It isn’t going to happen by itself,” Zuckerberg, the 29-year-old billionaire founder of the popular social network said in a statement. “But I believe connectivity is a human right, and that if we work together we can make it a reality.” Other partners in the project are Finland-based Nokia, Sweden’s Ericsson, Samsung of South Korea, US-based Qualcomm, MediaTek of Taiwan and Norway’s Opera. US-based social networks Twitter and LinkedIn are also due to sign up. Today some 2.7 billion people, just over a third of the world’s population, have access to the Internet, and the number of new users is growing only slowly each year, organizers said. “The goal of Internet.org is to make Internet access available to the two-thirds of the world who are not yet connected, and to bring the same opportunities to everyone that the connected third of the world has today,” they said in a statement.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Entertainment ALL FOR A CAUSE

CINE BYTES

Sutta Kadhai

movie promotions aim at noble cause

t a time when most film promotions are about product tie-ups and mobile games, the makers of upcoming Tamil crime-comedy Sutta Kadhai have decided to donate a part of its promotion-budget to facilitate the heart surgery of 10 children. The donation amount for the children will be issued to SAIL (Save An Individual's Life), an initiative which collects funds to perform cardiac surgery for kids who come from economically weaker section of the society. "Promotions for a movie are vital. It ranges from half to two times of the production budget. It's expensive, and I believe movie promotions should be meaningful to an extent," the film's producer Ravindar Chandrasekhar, said. "Libra Productions is very happy to promote for a meaningful cause, concerned to make a child help see this world again with new hope," he added. It is a gift of hope for the next generation to keep their hearts continue beating. "When movie production is considered as giving life to hundreds by employing their manpower, why not its promotions considered in benefitting the people," he said. Chandrasekhar, who is awaiting the release of Sutta Kadhai later this month, also has four more Tamil films lined up. Nalanum Nandhiniyum, his second production venture, is also ready for release soon. His third project Kolai Nokku Paarvai is currently on floors, while his fourth and fifth projects titled 1+13 and Mr. & Mrs. Kalyanam, respectively, are in its pre-production stages. Sutta Kadhai, directed by debutant Subu, features Lakshmi Priyaa Chandramouli and Venkatesh Harinath in lead roles. IANS

Aagadu to roll from November

he latest news is that Mahesh Babu's next project Aagadu directed by Sreenu Vaitla will roll from November. The actor is currently shooting for 1 – Nenokkadine which is directed by Sukumar. Both projects are being produced by 14 Reels Entertainment banner. 1 – Nenokkadine is expected to be a suspense thriller.

Thalaivaa releases amidst celebration

he makers of Thalaivaa couldn't have asked for more. Fans queued up from 6 in the morning, brought the film's reel on a chariot, and danced to celebrate the film's peaceful release. After crossing roadblocks, Vijay starrer Tamil action drama Thalaivaa has finally released in Tamil Nadu and Pudicherry. IANS

A gala wedding for Balayya’s daughter

he marriage ceremony of Tejaswini, daughter of Nandamuri Balakrishna, held at HITEX was a grand affair. Some of the dignitaries who attended the function include Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Dasari Narayana Rao, Venkatesh, Jagapathi Babu, Srikanth, Murali Mohan, Eenadu Chairman Ramoji Rao, ABN Chairman Radha Krishna, Tarun and Sivaji Raja.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

fashion

Q What was your inspiration for this new collection at IIJW? Why the name Shezmin?

The Shezmin Collection is inspired by jasmine, the flower traditionally used to adorn beauty from time immemorial. I have followed my intuitive style of taking forward three dimensionality and innovative drapes and fluidity, in a modern sensibility, even with the most traditionally rooted subjects, like the jasmine flower. The mesmerising fragrance of the jasmine is represented through 18k gold and fresh water pearl buds, that entwine and draped into an imaginative and avant-garde collection. Shezmin means flower and it depicts the floral nature of the collection. Q What is your masterpiece of this new collection?

Each and every piece is sketched and thought out and handmade to perfection. My favourite are three pieces from this collection. It s a body jewellery piece, called The Body Vine. It’s a surreal drape of 18k gold leaves and jasmine buds represented in pearls, on the body. The body vine, is a piece of jewellery, that drapes on the body and a surreal jasmine drape, made in 18k gold and baroque pearls. It adjusts to various body sizes since it is made with many links, that are concealed as part of the design. It’s a beautiful piece of art and is a perfect avant-garde evening wear. It took months to make and high levels of craftsmanship to achieve the natural forms of leaves and set the pearls perfectly in synergy. The Jasmine abstraction ear drops worn by Alia Bhatt, are a dramatic design statement, with the jasmine by night. Q Tell us about your design style. What makes your collections unique in the industry?

In one word, avant-garde. Though I believe that after conceptualising a design idea, it’s all about design detailing; there is as much science in a piece of jewellery as there is art. Q What kind of person wears your jewellery?

A woman who is sensitive about design. Q What are you favourite materials to work with?

Gold is my favourite metal, love its malleability, lustre and I think it is such a fabulous metal for any jewellery designer, to turn their visions into reality. Q What do you think are the current trends in jewellery?

Layering Dramatic forms for earrings Deconstruction Wearable and stylised Indian-inspired jewels Body jewels, that drape on the body and unusual takes on necklaces. Q What is your favourite piece you’ve ever created – and what made it so special?

My attempt is to redefine the very concepts of jewellery, and every-time I design a new collection I like to take it into a

Please Advise n

What kind of accessories/jewellery can collegegoing girls sport without looking flashy?

Dramatise their look by doing a single accessory. Don’t overdo it, less is more. Look at the earrings that Aliya Bhatt, wore as the showstopper. I didn’t want her to overdo it and we keep it dramatic yet simple, with a pair of large ear drops.

What are the pieces of jewellery that every woman must have in their collection?

A string of pearls Gold hoops Brooch pins Dramatic earrings.

Could you give us some tips on how to manage pearls?

Handle them with care and wear them often. Keep them in a soft fabric.

22&23 Bangalore-based jewellery designer Pallavi Foley, fresh from her stint at the India Interational Jewellery Week, gives the women some much needed tips on trends and fashion.

About the designer

realm of a fresh and new idea, thematically and conceptually new, offering the woman of today a new way to express her style through her dressing. My favourite design is the ‘Femina Miss India Universe crown’ which I designed in 2006 while I was working for Tanishq. It was not as simple as it seemed. I wanted to study the experience, so I met a few Miss India’s, both from Bangalore and had them explain their crowing moment. This research made me go back to the drawing table and propose a new direction. For a designer, it’s not enough to design a fantastic product, since it would never see the light of the day, if everyone involved does not see your point of view. After many days of sketching I had finally arrived on a design for a crown that I was unable to get my eyes off. It is still my favourite design. The crown, which weighed 450gms was encrusted with 2000 stones and its form was inspired by the galaxies. The delicate strands with precious crystals radiated out like shooting comets. Many hours of sketching, working with the craftsmen was all worth it, when

FLEME VARKEY fleme.v@postnoon.com

allavi Foley is one of India’s leading jewellery designers, who is known for her couture and avant-garde jewellery pieces.She is based in Bangalore and her creative hive is a design studio, which is part of her exclusive boutique, situated at level-C at the Leela galleria, Leela Palace hotel, from where she retails precious and semi precious jewellery. She recently showcased at the India International Jewellery Week 2013 in association with Abharan Jewellers and offered the Shezmin collection inspired by the fragrant jasmine buds.

I saw the crown go on the head of the most beautiful woman and then she was ecstatic. Q What are you working on now? designs you can hint at?

Any new

I am working with a Tanzanite and shades of blue enamel and I’m also exploring some new international crafts that lend themselves to jewellery naturally. Q What is the best feedback you have received for your work?

Seeing bollywood celebrities wear my jewels, is always flattering. Also, it’s always a great high to go to a party and spot a stylish woman wearing a piece that I have designed, but in her own style language. Recently when while I was shopping at a mall, and my six-year-old daughter, Nia spotted a lady carrying a ‘Pallavi Foley’ bag, …it felt fantastic.

Entertainment THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

There is a sacred horror about everything grand. It is easy to admire mediocrity and hills; but whatever is too lofty, a genius as well as a mountain, an assembly as well as a masterpiece, seen too near, is appalling. Victor Hugo

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 Red meat 5 What stealth planes avoid 10 Sleeve end 14 Abbr curtailing a list 15 Susan Lucci role 16 Biblical brother 17 What’s chopped in a chop shop 18 Change, as from two lanes to three 19 ___ contendere 20 Flares, eg 23 Arm of the sea 24 Itsy-bitsy bits 25 Like skinny-dippers 28 Flair 30 Convince 31 Chef’s garment 33 Famous square? 36 Annual Baltimore race 40 Mama porker 41 Avian home on a hill 42 Comedian’s visual 43 Post-sandwich sandwich cookie 44 Tedious rundown 46 Venue for big crowds 49 Raccoon resembler 51 Thing on some mail 57 Shrek’s one 58 Slow-moving lemur 59 Eurasia-dividing range 60 Carrot or turnip, eg 61 Filled with joy, to a bard 62 Fraught with danger 63 Makes a miscalculation 64 Way-out swingers? 65 ‘First Lady of Song’ Fitzgerald

DOWN

1 Bit of condensation 2 Bag for small articles

3 Puts away the dishes? 4 Naval formation 5 Fix over, as a pipe joint 6 Pop up, as a question 7 Performed, in the Bible 8 One-spot cards 9 Bombay royal 10 Heavy artillery weapon 11 Certain torpedo launcher 12 Guy, informally 13 It may get food away from a canine 21 ‘Messenger’ compound 22 California baseballer 25 Express Mail org 26 Wolfe the sleuth 27 Ball of thread 28 It’s heard in the Highlands 29 ___ Alamitos, Calif 31 Prefix for ‘sol’ or ‘space’ 32 Letters on a radial tire 33 Gumbo pod 34 Big-city light type 35 Get a glimpse of 37 Gold purity unit 38 Word before a maiden name 39 Natural talent 43 Beginnings 44 Bonnie ones 45 ‘___ Greek to me’ 46 Prefix for ‘mentioned’ 47 Severity 48 ‘Trial’ partner 49 Monte ___ (Monaco region) 50 Tree that provides wickers 52 Opposite of 25-Across 53 Corporation emblem 54 Jacket for a seed 55 Loamy fertiliser 56 ‘Give me another chance,’ eg

Chai Time THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 23-8-2013

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Tension and worries will disappear. New efforts will be successful and yield expected results. Avoid taking vital decisions on the advice of inexperienced friends. Money will come from the expected sources and make you feel comfortable.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Court issue will go smoothly and verdict will go in your favour. You will be in search of loyal persons as you have got cheated earlier. Avoid harsh decisions as suggestions proposed by you will draw flak and might face strong opposition.

You need to work with patience and follow the slow-and-steady policy. Politicians are advised to stay away from internal issues and avoid expressing opinions on controversial issues. You will show maturity in talk and also execution of work.

Children will make you feel happy and proud. New plans and innovative steps will be implemented successfully. You will march ahead with a determination. A marriage is on the cards in the family. Those deprived of a child will get favourable news.

Speculative deals are likely to bring you decent gains. You will not hesitate to punish those who take the wrong path. Politicians will be in the limelight and participate from the forefront. Businessmen are likely to get sops from the government.

Tension and embarrassing situation due to children is likely; be patient. Financial position will be more than satisfaction with which you will clear the old debts. Loan and help anticipated for construction of your house will come without delay.

A fortune opportunity is likely to make you comfortable. New plans and efforts will be successful. Marriage talks will progress well and get finalised. You will gain success in all challenging tasks. Even enemies are likely to become friends.

A happy atmosphere will prevail at home. Financial position will improve considerably. Some have a bright chance to purchase movable assets. Plans to construct a house will materialise as loan gets a green signal from a financial institution.

Friendship circle is likely to expand with good-natured friends. Family will be in a cheerful atmosphere as many happy events take place. Newlyweds can get ready to welcome an offspring. You will surrender to those who give you affection.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

The Wheel of Fortune – What goes around comes around. Remember that bad times don’t last, nor do good times. Take care and have a good friend.

LEO:

Eight of Cups – You are becoming busy at work and this will take a toll on your health. Meditate regularly or spend time every day exercising for emotional balance.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Eight of Pentacles – You come across to peers and colleagues as being too harsh, too judgmental. Tone down your communication and be more accommodating.

SAGITTARIUS:

The High Priestess – You need to learn how not to put all your eggs in one basket. You have the tendency to focus only on one thing or person. Avoid doing this.

TAURUS:

Ace of Swords – Be more organised today. Create job lists and break up your day by prioritising your jobs correctly. You need to plan well and complete tasks on time.

CANCER:

The Chariot – You are in the process of amassing large amounts of wealth. Remember that too much wealth can also get you into trouble. Stay balanced and practical.

VIRGO:

Page of Cups – You’re at your creative best and must work at putting your ideas to the test. Talk about these to bosses and do something different and off the cuff.

SCORPIO:

Four of Pentacles – Don’t get on the offensive with someone you need to do your job. With your harsh words and behaviour, you may be putting off this person.

CAPRICORN:

Death – Pay attention to your diet. It might be a good idea to do a complete re-jig of your dietary intake based on your weight control goals.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

King of Wands – You think you can get away without working hard. But you soon realise that’s not possible. You have to work doubly hard to make things happen.

NUMBER GAME

– Beneath a tough exterior you do have a very soft and lovable heart. Allow this to come to the fore every now and then. Do things for others.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: The Magician

POOCH CAFE

Real estate matters will bring decent gains. VIP friends will help you in important tasks and make you successful. You will be bold and succeed in completing all work in time. You will be able to increase income through multiple channels.

for 23-8-2013

The Fool – You need to be a team player and know that your decisions cannot be unilateral. Learn from managers and leaders about handling team affairs.

NON SEQUITUR

Employees will feel comfortable and management will fulfil their demands. Your stock is set to pile up. Couples who were living apart may come together. You will struggle hard with determination to make your dreams come true.

SUDOKU

Support extended by friends and relatives will cheer you. You will not be afraid or depressed on facing disappointments. Daughter’s marriage will get finalised. Expenses and tension due to children are inevitable but will be resolved soon.

Boggle FOX COW PIG RAT BAT CAT DOG ELK Vol: 3, No 33 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

Entertainment THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

DOING THE ROUNDS

oss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron will likely introduce at least a few new characters— both super and not — to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but for now most of the casting attention has been on the brother-sister duo Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Ever since the characters were teased by the writer/director in May, fans around the world have speculated wildly about potential actors that could fill the parts. But while it's been confirmed that Kick-Ass star Aaron Johnson has had meetings about playing the male half of the duo, we have been mostly in the dark in regards to the casting of his character's sibling. Early on it was rumoured that Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan was being considered for the part, but apparently those talks (if they were real to begin with) have fallen through, and now Marvel Studios has reportedly set its eyes on another potential star: Elizabeth Olsen. Unnamed sources have told the folks over at Bleeding Cool that Ronan actually passed on the role of Scarlet Witch — real name Wanda Maximoff — and that now they've moved on to their second choice. The site doesn't say why the Irish actress turned down the part, but it could very well be news that Olsen would be happy to hear.

THE AVENGERS: Age Of Ultron rumours suggest Elizabeth Olsen could play Scarlet Witch

CINE BYTES Rachel McAdams to play Franco's girlfriend

achel McAdams is set to join Wim Wenders’ Every Thing Will Be Fine, which tells the story of a writer (James Franco) who causes the death of a young boy. McAdams will take on the role of Franco’s girlfriend. Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia) will appear as the slain boy’s mother. The story chronicles the 10 years after the accident.

Drew Barrymore joins Twitter—Check it out!

little late but worth the wait! Drew Barrymore has finally hopped on board the Twitter train. Earlier today and posted her very first tweet to thousands of fans: "Late to the party, but happy to be here! 140 characters should keep me from rambling… someone told me it doesn't all have to fit in 1 tweet".

Spears starts countdown on her website

eads up, Britney Spears fans. Something Britney this way comes on September 17. Spears posted a countdown clock on her website today with the words “Britney Spears” and “All Eyes On Me” with the clock counting down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to some big event. Is it a new single? A new album? Her long-awaited Las Vegas residency a Planet Hollywood?

sports

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

FORMULA ONE

Spotlight on Ferrari at Belgian GP SPA FRANCORCHAMPS: Formula One returns this weekend after its now traditional mid-season European summer break with speculation swirling around Ferrari as the circus heads to the Belgian Grand Prix. A month on from Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Hungary, the Italian team is the focus of intense attention both on and off the circuit as they prepare for action at the majestic SpaArdennes circuit in the Ardennes. Two-time champion Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa are expected to mount a second-half challenge to defending triple world champ Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. And the team is fending off suggestions that they are poised to re-sign Kimi Raikkonen, currently with Lotus, as the sport’s ‘silly season’ for driver transfer speculation also intensifies. Team chief Stefano

F1 returns this weekend after its break with speculation swirling around Ferrari as the circus heads to the Belgian Grand Prix.

Domenicali, dogged by talk of crisis and upheaval throughout his summer holidays, said: “There is much talk outside the company regarding the future, but we must concentrate only on the present, on the fight for the championship. “The words of our president before the summer break must serve as a stimulus,

because they were meant as the words of a good family father, who, first and foremost really roots for our team. Keep those words in mind and let’s all pull together, starting in Spa." As Ferrari regroup, Lotus are set to make serious overtures in their bid to keep Raikkonen, who left Ferrari in 2008 to test himself

in the world rally championship before returning to F1 with Lotus in 2012. According to Raikkonen’s agent Steve Robertson Lotus remain favourites to retain him next year. “Lotus hold the key to his future," said Robertson. “If the team can provide him with the answers he is seeking, which will ensure he has a car that can fight for race wins and the championship, then he will stay." Domenicali addressed his Maranello staff on Tuesday to make clear that who drives along-

USA PRO CHALLENGE

side Alonso next year - current incumbent Massa or a new face — is not important right now. Instead, he urged each team member to do his or her best to lift Alonso and Ferrari to the top of the standings. “We have spelt it out many times before — the driver topic is definitely not a priority," said Domenicali. “What counts is to give them (Alonso and Massa) the best chance of finishing ahead of everyone — and, in order to succeed, each and every one of us must do our job to the best of our ability on all levels. “If they have a winning car in their hands, then I am convinced they will know how to win with it. If we all believe, then we can do it. Our history tells us that..." Alonso trails Vettel by 39 points and knows that a resurgent Hamilton and Mercedes are also a major factor in his bid to stop the German landing a fourth successive drivers title. AFP

AMERICA’S CUP

Sagan claims third stage STEAMBOAT SPRINGS: Tour de France sprint jersey winner Peter Sagan claimed the third stage of the USA Pro Challenge, edging out runner-up Luka Mezgec by a wheel in a dash to the finish Wednesday. Cannondale’s Sagan, of Slovakia, earned his second stage victory in the 170-kilometer (105-mile) ride from Breckenridge to Steamboat Springs, which was topped off with a bunch sprint. “I am very happy," said Sagan. “Thank you to my teammates. They did very good work." Mezgec (Argos-Shimano) was second and Canada’s Ryan Anderson placed third. Lachlan Morton (Garmin-Sharp) held onto the overall leader’s jersey and will wear it during Thursday’s stage four from Steamboat Springs to the winter ski resort of Beaver Creek.

Peter Sagan of Slovakia and Cannondale Pro Cycling crosses the finish line to win stage three of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge on Wednesday. AFP/CHRIS GRAYTHEN

The Australian will have a twosecond cushion over Mathias Frank (BMC Racing). Sagan is third overall, at 11 seconds. Two-time Tour de France stage winner Jens Voigt had the solo lead

with just over five kilometers to go before the peloton caught him. “I attacked because I saw the group falling apart, due to different interests," said Germany’s Voigt. “I was angry, disappointed. I thought it would work out today, and it didn’t, and I was a little bit mad with the world in general. Then I heard a crash happened, so it could have been worse." Voigt managed to avoid a crash with two kilometers to go which took down several competitors, including Mike Friedman (Optum), George Bennett, Kiel Reijnen, Alex Candelario and Jesse Anthony. Friedman stayed down for a long time but managed to climb back on his bike and finish, his jersey ripped and flapping in the breeze. Reijnen also finished, but had to be taken to hospital for treatment. AFP

NZ sweeps two races over Luna Rossa SAN FRANCISCO: Team New Zealand swept two races against Luna Rossa on Wednesday, seizing a 4-1 lead over the Italian boat in quest of a berth in next month’s America’s Cup. The Kiwi vessel took a commanding lead in the best-of-13 Louis Vuitton Cup challenger races to determine an opponent for American defenders Oracle. In a series nagged by one-boat races and mechanical failures plus the May death of a crewman for an already eliminated Swedish challenger during training, the twin bill provided as much excitement as any session so far on San Francisco Bay. AFP

BRIEFS Warrants against three Dawood aides

Sports ministry in a fix over awards

Thai players to return from IBL

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court Wednesday issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against three Pakistan-based close associates of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in connection with the IPL spot-fixing case. Additional Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma issued open NBWs against Pakistan-based Javed Chutani, Salman alias Master and Ehteysham, considered to be close aides of Dawood. The court’s direction came on an application filed by Special Cell of Delhi Police seeking issuance of warrants against the three, saying they had played a key role in the entire conspiracy.

NEW DELHI: For the second day running, the sports ministry has not been able to announce the national sports awards. Senior officials in the department of sports Wednesday confirmed to IANS that the list has been finalised but they are unable to say what the hitch was in making the formal announcement. A top official, on condition of anonymity, expressed his helplessness in throwing any light on the impasse as the file was still with Sports Minister Jitendra Singh. “The matter is still undecided. Even I don’t know, when the announcement will be made. The file is still with the minister," the official said.

NEW DELHI: Thai shuttlers participating in the Indian Badminton League (IBL) will return home for their national championships, an official said Wednesday.The three Thai players are Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk (Hyderabad Hotshots), Nichaon Jindapon (Krrish Delhi Smashers) and Sapsiree Taerattanachai (Awadhe Warriors). “The Thailand shuttlers are returning home to participate in their national championships which start from August 28. They will be replaced by players from the reserve list," Badminton Association of India (BAI) vice-president T.P.S. Puri told IANS from Pune.

sports

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

NEW HAVEN OPEN

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Wozniacki advances

NEW HAVEN: Fourth seeded Caroline Wozniacki eased into the quarter-finals Wednesday while top seeded Sara Errani crashed out of the WTA Tour New Haven Open, the final tune-up for the US Open. Czech Petra Kvitova, who is seeded third, also booked her spot in the quarter-finals of the $690,000 hardcourt tournament. Four-time champion Wozniacki beat Italian qualifier Karin Knapp 6-1, 7-5 while 2012 French Open runner-up Errani was stunned by Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale University. “She’s not a comfortable player for me, as I had lost the last couple times we played,” Makarova said. “So today I was trying to be extra aggressive on my serve and go to the net. I also tried to attack her second serve.”

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark returns a shot to Karin Knapp of Italy during the New Haven Open at Yale on Wednesday. AFP/ELSA

The former world number one Wozniacki captured this New Haven event four years in a row from 2008-11. “I just wanted to try to get through this match in two sets,

US OPEN

Sharapova out with shoulder injury NEW YORK CITY: Russian world number three Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the US Open because of a right shoulder injury, tournament organizers announced Wednesday. On the eve of the draw for the year’s final Grand Slam event that begins Monday on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts, US Open tournament director David Brewer announced the withdrawal. “Maria has informed us that she will be unable to compete at the US Open this year due to a right shoulder bursitis and has withdrawn from the tournament,” he said. “We wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to her return to New York next year.” As a result, Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska moves into the third seed in the women’s singles draw and other seeds will move up one place, with Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advancing into the 32nd spot. Sharapova’s only match since a second-round defeat at Wimbledon in late June was a loss in her opening match in last week’s WTA event at Cincinnati to American Sloane Stephens. That was followed by a split with Jimmy Connors, who had been her coach for less than three weeks. Sharapova had been nursing a hip injury after Wimbledon. AFP

as I have had a bit of a cold the whole week and felt a little dizzy out there,” Wozniacki said. “She really stepped it up and started to play really well in the second set.”

Kvitova, who won the 2011 Wimbledon title, outlasted American qualifier Alison Riske 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3. Errani’s loss makes this the first time in New Haven history that neither of the Top 2 seeds advanced to the quarters. Number two seed Angelique Kerber was eliminated on Tuesday. Makarova’s quarter-final opponent on Thursday will be red-hot Romanian Simona Halep, who came from behind to beat Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Halep is aiming for her fourth title in seven tournaments and is playing some of her best tennis heading into the US Open which begins Monday in New York. Sloane Stephens slipped past German Julia Goerges 7-5, 2-6, 61 in a night match. AFP

China’s Li faces scrutiny over fiery temper BEIJING: China’s superstar Li Na heads into next week’s US Open eyeing a second Grand Slam crown but with questions over her temperament mounting in media after two furious outbursts. Winning the 2011 French Open title sealed Li’s place as the country’s tennis darling as 116 million people at home tuned in to watch her become Asia’s first Grand Slam singles champion. But Na has developed a reputation as a prickly character in a nation where sports stars typically keep their emotions strictly in check. After her second-round exit at the French Open and her quarter-final defeat at Wimbledon, Li turned on Wang Zijiang of news agency Xinhua when he asked if she had a message for fans back home. “I lost a game and that’s it. Do I need to get on my knees and kowtow to them? Apologise to them?” she snapped.

WINSTON-SALEM OPEN ‘This is huge for my confidence,’ said Querrey, who came from 6-3 down in the deciding tiebreak.

Querrey in last eight WINSTON-SALEM: American Sam Querrey stepped up his rivalry with countryman John Isner on Wednesday, blasting 19 aces to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Winston-Salem Open. Sixth seed Querrey beat 11th seed Jarkko Nieminen 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (12/10) a day after the 40th-ranked Finn had advanced when American Mardy Fish could not continue due to heat stroke. Home-state hero Isner and Querrey have long been friendly rivals, with both standing over two meters tall and relying on huge serving games.

Isner was the top seed and two-time defending champion at Winston-Salem, but he and third seed Tomas Berdych withdrew, citing injury concerns a week ahead of the start of the US Open. Querrey reached the semifinals here a year ago, losing to eventual finalist Berdych. He won his 21st match of the season, with his best showing an Auckland semifinal nearly nine months ago, and says he has his chances with the pair of major seeds missing. “Two big kind of power guys are out. You want to take it one match at a time, but it’s hard not to know that in the back of my mind that, ‘Hey, I have got a good opportunity here,’” said Querrey. Querrey, who had won

just two matches over five ATP events from the end of the French Open until this week, hopes to kick-start his hardcourt season in time for the US Open. “This is huge for my confidence,” said Querrey, who came from 6-3 down in the deciding tiebreak. “It’s the first time in a long while I can remember squeezing out a long tough one, saving match points, getting through when it wasn’t pretty at times. “I felt better in this match than the first one and tomorrow I am hoping I’ll feel a bit better.” Querrey will bid for the semi-finals against Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania, who defeated Roberto Bautista Agut 6-3, 6-3. AFP

Sam Querrey of the USA reacts to a point against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland during the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University on Wednesday in Winston Salem, North Carolina. AFP/STREETER LECKA

PSPB favourites at Inter-Institutional TT DHARWAD: All top paddlers of the country, barring Sharath Kamal, will be seen in action in the LIC-sponsored 43rd Inter-Institutional Table Tennis Championships beginning at the District Youth Service Indoor Hall here from Thursday. With the Petroleum Sports Promotion Board (PSPB) getting the pride of

place in all the four categories based on their last edition’s performances, there may not be any change in the pecking order. When PSPB have players of the like Soumyajit Ghosh and Soumyadeep Roy in men’s category and K. Shamin and Poulomi Ghatak in the women’s section, things become easy. IANS

Wood quits as Tennis Australia chief SYDNEY: Steve Wood will resign next month after eight years as chief executive to be replaced by Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia said Thursday. TA President Steve Healy said Wood, 51, had decided to take a break after building the organisation into an Aus$200 million ($180 million) business, including the transformation

of the Australian Open grand slam event. “Steve’s legacy is that tennis is well-positioned commercially and structurally to take on these challenges. To keep the momentum going the TA Board has decided that Australian Open and Tennis Director Craig Tiley will be appointed to the role,” Healy said. AFP

URN

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

IT ASHES 2013

Watson ton puts Oz on top Shane Watson’s Test-best 176 had tourists Australia firmly in charge of the fifth Ashes Test, with a score of 307 for four at the end of Day one, against England at The Oval. LONDON: Shane Watson’s Testbest 176 left Australia firmly in charge of the fifth Ashes match against England at The Oval. At stumps on Wednesday’s first day, Australia were 307 for four as they sought a consolation victory in a five-match series already won by England at 3-0 up. Watson put a disappointing series with the bat behind him with just his third Test hundred — his first in 25 matches and 48 innings since his previous best of 126 against India at Mohali in October 2010.

SCORECARD Australia 1st Innings C. Rogers c Trott b Swann 23 D. Warner c Prior b Anderson 6 Watson c Pietersen b Broad 176 M. Clarke b Anderson 7 S. Smith not out 66 P. Siddle not out 18 Extras (lb6, nb5) 11 Total (4 wkts, 90 overs) 307 Bowling: Anderson 18-3-52-2; Broad 19-3-73-1 (4nb); Swann 30-4-71-1; Woakes 15-5-52-0; Kerrigan 8-0-53-0 (1nb).

Australia’s Shane Watson hits a four during play on the first day of the fifth Ashes Test match between England and Australia at The Oval cricket ground in London on Wednesday. AFP/GLYN KIRK

The 32-year-old all-rounder, playing his 46th Test, was especially severe on debutants Chris Woakes (none for 52 in 15 overs) and left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan (none for 53 in eight), chosen after England opted against recalling fast bowler Chris Tremlett on his Surrey

No Australia plan to win: Arthur

SYDNEY: Sacked Australia coach Mickey Arthur says Michael Clarke’s team travelled to England with no belief they could win the Ashes. The South African, who was replaced by Darren Lehmann only 16 days before the first Ashes Test, said Australia’s developing side had planned to use the series in England as an information and confidence-gathering mission ahead of the return series at home later this year. “We had to take the pain now to get reward at the end of the day. We had a goal that I’ll reveal (and it) was... we wanted to try and push England really hard in England, but we wanted to win in Australia,” Arthur told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “This is what Michael and I wanted to do. We didn’t go into

the series ever to lose it but we wanted to develop enough intelligence on all the England players. “We were going to push them close and give the players and our team the confidence to see that England could get beaten and then go for them in Australia. That’s how we wanted to go about our escapade there.” Arthur’s absence of conviction in Australia’s chances of claiming the Ashes in England turned out to be spot-on, with the tourists trailing 3-0 before the fifth Test, which started at The Oval on Wednesday. The former coach reached a settlement with Cricket Australia (CA) after taking action against the organisation when he was dumped with two years to run on his contract. AFP

Watson, playing his 46th Test, was especially severe on debutants Chris Woakes and left-arm spinner Simon Kerrigan.

home ground. “A century is something I have searched for a long time,” Shane Watson, hit on the head by a Stuart Broad bouncer on 91, told BBC Radio’s Test Match Special. “Getting hit on the head helped me because it took my mind off getting through the nineties. “I faced Simon Kerrigan in the tour match at Northampton (against the second-string England Lions) last week and I knew what to expect.” Watson, filling Australia’s problem position of number three after starting the series as an opener and then moving to number six, received good support from Steven Smith (66 not out) in an a fourth-wicket stand of 145. Nightwatchman Peter Siddle was unbeaten on 18. Michael Clarke, trying to avoid becoming the first Australia captain to lose a Test series in England 4-0, unsurprisingly chose to bat first after winning the toss on a good pitch. AFP

Shane backs Lehmann over Broad blast LONDON: Australia batsman Shane Watson has backed Darren Lehmann after the team coach accused England’s Stuart Broad of “blatant cheating”. Broad has annoyed Australia’s players and supporters with his behaviour during the ongoing Ashes, which England lead by an unbeatable 3-0 with only the final Test at The Oval, which started Wednesday, left. The 27-year-old Broad angered his Australian opponents in particular during England’s narrow 14-run first Test win at Trent Bridge, his Nottinghamshire home ground, when he refused to walk after a thick edge deflected off the wicketkeeper’s gloves to slip. Former Australia batsman Lehmann was unimpressed, telling Australian radio station Triple M in an interview broadcast on Wednesday: “Certainly our players haven’t forgotten, they’re calling him everything under the sun as they go past.” AFP

England’s gamble backfires LONDON: England’s selection gamble backfired as surprise debutants Simon Kerrigan and Chris Woakes suffered a chastening introduction on the first day of the fifth Test against Australia on Wednesday. With the Ashes already retained, England were willing to experiment and Kerrigan and Woakes were unexpectedly named in Alastair Cook’s team at The Oval in a bid to see if either was worthy of consideration

Watson grateful for England selection blunder LONDON: Shane Watson taunted England after the Australia batsman punished their selection gamble with a superb 176 on the first day of the fifth Test on Wednesday. Watson has endured a dismal series that saw him lampooned for repeatedly getting out lbw, but the all-rounder at least partially redeemed himself as he put England debutants Chris Woakes and Simon Kerrigan to the sword in south London. With the Ashes already retained, England made the surprise decision to experiment with their line-up, bringing in Warwickshire all-rounder Woakes for Jonny Bairstow and Lancashire left-arm spinner Kerrigan for the injured Tim Bresnan.

England’s selection gamble backfired as surprise debutants Simon Kerrigan and Chris Woakes suffered a chastening introduction. for the trip to Australia later this year. But on the evidence of a miserable, wicketless day for the pair, their first Test caps could easily prove their last. Warwickshire all-rounder Woakes had come in for the dropped Jonny Bairstow, while Lancashire

AFP

left-arm spinner Kerrigan, replacing the injured Tim Bresnan, was preferred to Chris Tremlett, the Surrey fast bowler who had been widely expected to return to the team on his home ground. Neither looked comfortable in the Ashes spotlight and former

England opener Geoff Boycott was scathing in his assessment as Australia closed on 307-4. “I’ve seen Chris Woakes bowl before and, I’m sorry, he wouldn’t trouble my mum,” Boycott told Test Match Special. AFP

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22, 2013

sports

NEYMAR RESCUES BARÇA AS MESSI LIMPS OFF

Neymar scored his first goal for Barcelona as the Catalans were held 1-1 by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup, but there was another injury worry for Lionel Messi as he was forced off at half-time. David Villa gave the hosts the perfect start when he netted in just 12 mins.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Arsenal thrash Fenerbahce Aaron Ramsey scored one goal and set up another to inspire Arsenal to a 3-0 thrashing of Fenerbahce in their Champions League first leg play-off.

ISTANBUL: Wales international Aaron Ramsey scored one goal and set up another to inspire Arsenal to a 3-0 thrashing of Fenerbahce in their Champions League first leg play-off on Wednesday. The North London club now stand on the brink of a 17th straight qualification for the lucrative pool stages after a dreadful start to their Premier League campaign with defeat to Aston Villa. A potential banana skin in the Turkish capital instead ended up as a smooth ride for the 2006 finalists as Aaron Gibbs and Oliver Giroud with a late penalty joined Ramsey on the scoresheet. The breakthrough after a dull opening half arrived in the 51st minute when Ramsey played in Theo Walcott down the right wing and the winger’s cross was allowed to reach Gibbs who crashed the ball into the roof of the net. Arsenal were trying to bounce back from a disappointing debut to their domestic season when they crashed 3-1 at home to Villa and endured the wrath of their fans who are

minutes that has virtually put the tie beyond doubt. The ‘Gunners’ have a proud record of having qualified for the group stages of every Champions League competition since 1998 but they laboured during a lacklustre first half that featured no goals and few chances. Fenerbahce meanwhile were looking to reach the pool stages despite a potential ban looming over them for match fixing that has gone to appeal and will be

Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey (L) vies for the ball with Fenerbahce’s Pierre Webo (R) during their UEFA Champions League Play Off first leg match at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul on Wednesday. AFP/BULENT KILIC

growing increasingly impatient with the club’s lack of activity in the transfer market. Ramsey then scored a fortunate second goal with 24 minutes left when Fenerbahce ‘keeper Volkan Demirel inexplicably allowed a routine shot

from outside the box slip under his hands for a mistake that will haunt him for the rest of his career. Giroud then planted a confident penalty in the top left hand corner after Michal Kadlec brought down Walcott on 77

Arsenal now stand on the brink of a 17th straight qualification for the lucrative pool stages after a dreadful start to their Premier League campaign. decided on the eve of the draw. The odds were stacked against them having beaten English opposition only once in European Cup history dating back to 1969 when they eliminated Manchester City 2-1 on aggregate.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Chelsea clinch another win

TOM WILLIAMS Agence France-Presse LONDON: Chelsea overcame obdurate opposition from Aston Villa to secure a hardfought 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday that maintained their early momentum in the fledgling Premier League season. Breezy 2-0 victors over Hull City in their opening game on Sunday, Chelsea had to dig much deeper against Paul Lambert’s side but eventually prevailed through a header from Branislav Ivanovic with 17 minutes to play. As against Hull, Chelsea had taken an early lead, this time through an own goal from Antonio Luna, but Villa refused

Chelsea’s Frank Lampard (C) and Ramires (L) vie with Aston Villa’s Fabian Delph (R) during their English Premier League match at Stamford Bridge in London on Wednesday. AFP/OLLY GREENWOOD

to surrender and claimed an equaliser on the stroke of halftime when Christian Benteke lashed home. Victory in an occasionally ill-tempered game, brought forward due to Chelsea’s involve-

ment in the UEFA Super Cup on August 30, will give Jose Mourinho enhanced belief that his side are ready for the battle sure to await them at Manchester United on Monday. “That was very hard. I

missed that about the Premier League!" said Mourinho, who returned to Chelsea in June after leaving Real Madrid. “Normally matches in the Bernabeu, we win every match very comfortable. I told Paul Lambert that they deserve a point. It wouldn’t be unfair." Villa manager Lambert could take solace from the doggedness of his side’s display, four days on from their impressive 3-1 win at Arsenal and eight months after a humiliating 8-0 defeat on the same pitch. However, he was furious that Ivanovic went unpunished for an alleged elbow on Benteke and that Chelsea skipper John Terry was not penalised for an apparent handball in stoppage time.

A SECOND CHANCE

Manager in coma responds to team’s victory

football manager in an induced coma following a car crash opened his eyes when he heard his team had won their opening game, reported The Guardian. Wayne Thorne (above) had just started his second season in charge of Larkhall Athletic, when he was involved in a head-on collision. He spent a week unconscious after suffering a ruptured artery and 16 crushed ribs. He was “given the boost he needed” when his wife Mandy broke the news that his team had won 4-3 at Bridport in the Western Football League Premier Division. Paul Rankin, the chairman of Larkhill, said Thorne’s love of football was a main part of his life. “It was the first league game of the season, away to Bridport. We won and that news was passed to Wayne and gave him a little boost. We had a follow up result this week which has continued to put him in good spirits. Football is his life, along with his family. We are keeping him involved as much as we can without putting any stress on him." The collision happened two weeks ago as Thorne travelled home from his job as a kitchen fitter in Cirencester. He was taken to hospital in Bristol where doctors found he had torn the main artery in his heart, shattered 16 ribs, which punctured his lung and broke his sternum, the Bath Chronicle reported. He also shattered his hip and pelvis and suffered a fracture below his left knee. Thorne underwent a series of operations and spent a week in an induced coma but on 10 August, he opened his eyes when he was informed of his team’s victory. Mrs Thorne tweeted: “We have told Wayne the score & when Gaz said Lyno scored he opened his eyes." Doctors told her that her husband was lucky to be alive.