Epaper 27 august 2013

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 HYDERABAD

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WEATHER: HAZY; 27°C

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ROMANCE BY CORRESPONDENCE

`3

P16&17

There is nothing more romantic than declaring your love through the timeless art of putting prose on paper. Come Friday, The Lunchbox, a story of two strangers who have never met and communicate only through notes, falling in love with each other, will hit the screens.

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

ACTIVISTS AND RESIDENTS CLASH AS GHMC FUMBLES

WITH STRAY DOG ISSUE Food dumped on the street, the ignorance of animal-lovers when it comes to the importance of neutering, and a lack of willpower on the part of the GHMC is leading to an almighty tussle over stray dogs in the City.

While citizens moan they cannot walk the streets, authorities lay the blame on activists, saying they prevent them from doing their job.

REPORT ON P4

‘CONGRESS PLAYS DIVISIVE POLITICS IN AP’ Leaders in Seemandhra see a Congress design in the current strident advocacy for RayalaTelangana state including Kurnool and Anantapur districts.

PG 5

SELENA GOMEZ HAS A CRUSH ON GEORGE CLOONEY! PG 28

PG 15

BECAUSE...YOU ARE WORTH IT

You are all excited about that new job offer but the picture begins getting distorted once you begin negotiating for your salary. Victoria Pynchon, co-founder of She Negotiates Consulting, gives some great advice you might want to keep in mind.

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 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

27°C

22°C

A mix of cloudy and clear skies

A mix of clear and cloudy skies

Morning

Afternoon

26°C

30°C

New Delhi Max 36 Min 27

A mix of sun and cloud

Slight chance of showers

Mostly cloudy

Mumbai Max 31 Min 25 Showers likely

Chennai Max 33 Min 26 Cloudy with showers likely

Bangalore Max 28 Min 20

Cloudy with chances of showers

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES 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

SHOWS

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 Rhino Conservation project in Assam.

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

Art show A group show titled Krishnastuti is on.

Where: Aalankritha Art Gallery, Jubilee Hills When: Till September 6 Contact: +91-40-23113709; 40207171

AND THE CROWD GOES WILD: Fans celebrating their team’s win at the IBL badminton tournament being held at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium.

SRINIVAS SETTY When: August 31, 7 pm Contact: 2323-0641 / 2323-0435

Live performance The Last Bridge will perform live.

Where: Lamakaan, Banjara Hills When: August 31, 7 pm Contact: 96427-31329

WORKSHOPS

Gigs in town Alter Egoz – Tribute to Pink Floyd will be performing.

Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Banjara Hills When: August 29, 9 pm Contact: + 91 88864 80007

Robot talk

Album tour Lost Stories album launch tour will be held.

Where: Hard Rock Cafe, Banjara Hills When: August 30, 9 pm Contact: 6463-6375 Play time Barbareekudu will be staged.

Where: NTR Auditorium, Nampally 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

Robotics In The 21st Century by Dr Ayanna Howard will be held.

Where: Vidyaranya High School, Saifabad.

When: August 31, 6.15 pm Contact: Manthan, at 6636-0000

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

Workshop for parents Handwork & Brain Development Of Kids, a workshop for teachers and parents will be held.

Where: Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad When: August 29 and 30, 10 am to 1 pm Contact: 90300-13344 Story-telling workshop Creative story-telling workshop by Deepa Kiran will be held.

Where: Shwaas - Centre for Inspired Learning, Jubilee Hills When: August 30, 10 am to 1 pm

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

155313 23307328 23313163

27505566 23314095 23390933 24600146 27001134 23607777 30418888 30417777 30419000 30416666 39879999

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

Contact: Salil, at 94405-00277 or Anita, at 99593-83947

DINING Delectable fare Oriental food festival is on.

Where: Zodiac Hall, Golkonda Hotel.

When: 12 noon, Till August 31.

India on a Platter A culinary journey across the country at The Square.

Where: The Square, Novotel When: August 31 Contact: 8686080577

Fish fest To showcase a slice of Indian culinary

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

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

Tea time Dilmah 'Charitea' High Tea on offer.

Where: Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Banjara Hills When: August 27, 4 pm to 5 pm Contact: 6733-1133

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

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

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

24523211 232431300/7641 24521029

Readers’ views

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

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

news

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

IS INDIA’S REALTY SECTOR SETTING UP FOR ANOTHER BUBBLE? 87% 13%

A)

YES

B)

NO

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

CRIME

CRIME

2 employees cheat mobile company POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Two employees of a mobile company have slunk away after pocketing the proceeds for several days amounting to `3 lakh, police said.

The director of the mobile outlet, K Venkat Rao, has lodged a complaint against them with the Marredpally police stating that his two employees — Suresh, 26, and D Naveen

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

IS LACK OF CLARITY ON HYDERABAD’S STATUS DISRUPTING DEVELOPMENT?

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Man gets life for killing paramour

The labourer came home one night in an intoxicated state, quarreled with his lover, and clubbed her to death.

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: A local court of Ranga Reddy district has handed down a life imprisonment to Nandgopal who is accused of killing his lover in cold blood.

Baswamma, 24, was killed last year and her body was found in the outskirts of the City in Ibrahimpatnam village.

Gopal, 32, is a married man who hails from West Godavari district. He has two children. He came to the City alone just three years ago for work and he stayed in Ibrahimpatnam village. He worked as a casual labourer.

Gopal came in touch with Baswamma who too worked as a labourer. Both started living together and all thought they are

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Kumar, 30, both residents of Malkajgiri — disappeared with the money.

Rao’s shop in Bandlaguda was doing good business and the two were entrusted with sales and service. The two were appointed one year ago. Rao found out the money from sales was not deposited in the company account. He accosted them and the duo reportedly pleaded for a little time. The next day, the two disappeared without a trace.

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man and wife. Baswamma is said to be a divorcee.

Within a short while, however, differences developed between the two and quarrels started. One night last year, Gopal came home in an intoxicated condition and picked up a quarrel with Baswamma over food. He clubbed her and she died on the spot.

Baswamma, 24, was killed last year and her body was found in the outskirts in Ibrahimpatnam village.

CRIME

China Internet hit by ‘largest ever’ attack BEIJING: China has been hit by the “largest ever” attack on its Internet structure, crashing the country’s .cn servers, according to a governmentlinked agency.

The national domain name resolution service came under a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack for around two hours early on Sunday, the China Internet

service in China focuses on websites with the .cn extension.

DDoS attacks are attempts to overload a server with a huge number of requests, so that it interrupts or suspends its functions.

A second wave of the assault in China two hours later grew into “the biggest of its kind ever", CNNIC said,

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Network Information Centre (CNNIC) said in a statement.

Domain name resolution is a key part of how the Internet works, converting a website name into a set of digits — the IP address — that computers can recognise. The

without giving any indication of who might have been responsible.

“The resolution of some websites was affected, leading visits to become slow or interrupted."

Washington has repeatedly accused China of waging hacking attacks on the websites of US government agencies and businesses.

AFP

CITY BRIEFS Hearing on APNGOs’ strike on Sept 2

Two held for attempted murder

Bike stolen from near Railway Nilayam

YSR leaders to meet President Pranab

No more mulaqat for fasting Jagan

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earing on the petition filed in the High Court against the ongoing APNGOs’ strike is adjourned to September 2. The court had to adjourn the case to next Monday as the APNGOs pleaded for time till Friday to file their counter. The Bench warned the APNGOs that severe action would be initiated.

he Alwal police have arrested two persons, Kirthi Kumar, 25, and K Mallesh, 30, for attempt on the life of one Ravi Kumar on Sunday at Yapral village. It is said that caste rivalry was the cause of the trouble. Reports said Ravi Kumar being a SC was getting promotion while the other two were deprived of it led to a physical attack.

bike belonging to one Purshotham, a businessman and resident of North Lalguda, was stolen when he had gone to attend a function near the Railway Nilayam after parking the vehicle nearby.

Thieves used duplicate key to unlock, owner guessed. Lalguda police have registered a stolen case and are investigating.

he YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) delegation, led by the party’s honorary president Y S Vijayamma, will meet President Pranab Mukherjee today to apprise him of the developments in the State in the wake of the Congress decision to bifurcate the state. It would seek his intervention on the issue, sources said.

s YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has refused to give up his hunger strike that entered the second day on Monday in protest against the move to divide the State, authorities of the Central Prison, Chanchalguda, have stopped his appointments with immediate effect. Jagan was allowed to meet certain number of people while in prison.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE The treasure chest

L

ast year we had reported that Kavadipally village in Ranga Reddy district had shot to fame with the discovery of several 17th century gold coins, with images of gods imprinted on them. The villagers believe that the stolen idols from Ramalayam temple had become coins and that they were meant to find them. The spot has now become like a pilgrimage site.

AUGUST 27, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

`83,772cr

The Cabinet Committee on Investment has cleared a slew of project investments, in which it has given go ahead to 18 power projects worth `83,772 crore and nine other projects worth `92,500 crore, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said

She was allotted a single bed but immediately after the operation, she was asked to share the bed with another patient. It is a nightmarish experience.

Sai Nath Husband of woman in govt maternity hosp See page 6

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

1

Oz residents and their deadly tenants.

The irony is that the reptiles have often been living in the house or garden for years, and it is only something out of the ordinary brings them to light.

2

China renovates Dalai Lama’s home, sparks anger.

For Tibetans, the transformation of the Dalai Lama’s ancestral home is a sign of lost traditions, unrecognisable from the simple farmer’s dwelling it once was.

3

Drugs not the only contraband in Goa. A rising pan-India trend of gold smuggling and sudden seizures of the yellow metal in Goa has forced customs officers to step up vigil.

4

Kerosene gets a clean makeover.

Kerosene, a popular rural fuel, is often slammed for causing pollution, but a group of scientists are trying to change this image.

5

Life is short, so have an affair, says website.

Popular cheating-dating website Ashley Madison makes no bones about its intentions.

CIVIC

GHMC distributes dogs, not neuters them!

The street dog problem is born of lack of solid waste disposal and absence of civic vigilance. Both are absent and dogs are breeding fast.

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Sriraj Jiaswal, a resident of LB Nagar, makes sure he stays indoors once it gets dark. If ever he has to step out, he makes sure he carries a packet of biscuits. Sriraj complains of how stray dogs get hyperactive at night and start chasing motorists.

“Dogs in my colony create huge nuisance by chasing people on the bike, and try nipping the heels of the bikers. The racket it creates steals sleep. Pedestrians can’t walk and kids can’t venture AROUND THE

CITY

out to play,” he says.

Of late, there has been an increase in the number of street dogs in every colony in the City.

While bad roads currently top the list of complaints that the GHMC has been receiving, very soon street dog problem will make its way to the top.

Dogs chasing people has become a common problem, and despite several complaints the GHMC is taking no action.

On an average every day as many as 30 dog bite cases are being reported in various primary healthcare centres. The number of cases that reach private hospitals is uncertain.

Usually, dog bite cases increase in summer, but this year, the increasing cases in monsoons has taken doctors by a surprise. “We receive an average of about 40-50 cases of dogs bites in summer and during the monsoons, it’s less than 10 cases. But this year, surprisingly the numbers have gone up drastically,” says Dr K Shankar, superintendent of Sir Ronald Ross Institute of Tropical and Communicable Diseases.

GHMC GIVES UP ON DOGS?

There has been no specific measure to address the dog problem.

This is because the corporation has almost stopped thinking about rabies and rats. Residents have been complaining of how they have put forth their grievances to the civic body in vain for quite some time.

“I have stopped going for my regular walks because of the fear of street dogs. Nobody ventures out because these dogs move in groups and suddenly attack people. I have seen accidents taking place, as motorists try to avoid these street pests chasing them.

Despite complaining to the civic authority, we have received no response,” says Sunita Nair, a resident of Sainikpuri.

There are also instances where dogs are picked up from wherever there is a complaint, and released in another area.

“The authorities try to save

diesel on two trips, as separate trips are to be made to release male and female dogs. Pressure from local corporators forces GHMC staff to pick up the dogs from their divisions, and leave them where corporators are nonchalant,” says Layaq Ali, national vice-president (minority) BJP. As for the regulation of dog population, the GHMC officials swear by the efficacy of the Animal Birth Control/Anti Rabies programme, and says it is only a matter of time before the City is free of canine attacks.

GHMC chief veterinary officer Venkateshwar Reddy said, “On an average, our veterinarians are conducting 50 to 60 surgeries per day. Since last

year, there has been a reduction of 8,000-10,000 dogs in the City.

It was only in 2008 that the GHMC took up the ABC/AR programme; within a year’s time, the City will see a change.”

RESIDENTS VS ACTIVISTS

Most of the times, we are tied in taking action against street dogs because of animal welfare activists. On one hand, we try helping citizens, and on the other, activists find fault in whatever we do,” said a GHMC official.

Citizens too are to blame, say officials. “People have no qualms dumping food waste on the roads, which dogs feed on.

There are also those who with misplaced sympathy feed strays and help them proliferate.”

HEALTH

TB cases rise in Mizoram

Around 600 cases were detected in the state in the first six months of this year, as compared to only 80 cases in the whole of last year.

AIZAWL: Tuberculosis cases are on the rise in the northeastern state of Mizoram with around 600 cases being detected during the first six months this year against only 80 cases in the entire year last year, officials said here Monday.

“There were 592 fresh tuberculosis cases reported in Mizoram during January to June this year and 43 people have died of the disease in the

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state during the same period,” an official of the state health department told reporters.

The official said that 91 per cent of those infected with tuberculosis were cured during the January to June period.

“The increase of the tubercu-

losis cases was found to be disturbing. A meeting of experts, doctors, para-medical staffs and other health officials was held in Aizawl last week and finalised some strategies to deal with this health issues,” the official added.

World Health Organisation consultant Gautam Borgohain said in that meeting that Mizoram would be given a machine costing over `35 lakh

so that the doctors in the state could impart better treatment to tuberculosis patients.

According to experts, the outbreak of tuberculosis these days is due to environmental factors.

“Overcrowding, malnutrition and weakened immune systems are also major contributing factors of this disease,” said Ranjit Das, a tuberculosis disease expert.

IANS

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

RURAL FUEL

T-STIR

Don’t phase out kerosene: scientists Banning it over climate change concerns will deprive rural Indians of fuel.

KS JAYARAMAN feedback@postnoon.com BANGALORE: Indian scientists who have developed an improved lantern that uses kerosene have advised the government not to phase out the poor man’s fuel on environmental grounds.

Kerosene was traditionally burned in rural homes in hurri-

cane lamps to provide lighting or in stoves to cook food.

Now the Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) at Phaltan in Maharashtra has developed a device that simultaneously provides light (equivalent to that from a 300 watt electric bulb) and cooks a complete meal for a family of five.

The ‘lanstove’ thus makes kerosene an ideal fuel for rural

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homes, says Anil Rajvanshi, NARI director.

He says it is unfortunate that the Indian government has decided to phase out kerosene as a result of tremendous tirade by the Western countries against

the use of kerosene from a climate change point of view. This move, he says, will deprive the poor people in India of a convenient household fuel.

According to Rajvanshi, it is the way in which a fuel is burnt that makes it clean or dirty.

Lanstove was developed to overcome these drawbacks, he says in a report published in Current Science.

IANS

POLITICS

‘Congress plays divisive politics in AP’ Leaders in Seemandhra see a Congress design in the current strident advocacy for Rayala-Telangana state including Kurnool and Anantapur districts.

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Leaders in Seemandhra see a Congress design in the current strident advocacy for Rayala-Telangana state including Kurnool and Anantapur districts. This has created a schism in the RayalaAndhra leaders which the Congress leaders believe will weaken the current agitation in Seemandhra against bifurcation.

Widening the divide between the Rayala-Andhra leaders, the former minister JC Diwakar Reddy has alleged that Primary Education Minister Shailajanath was strongly advocating for a united AP due to his lust for posts. Reddy said the Congress high command was not inclined to concede the demand for united Andhra Pradesh. “Hence, we are demanding Rayala Telangana comprising 10 Telangana and two Rayalaseema districts,” he said, adding that Anantapur and

Division generates bad blood POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: While the Congress satraps in Delhi hope the Seemandhra stir would run out of steam since there is no influential patriarch to keep the fire alive, intense passions on both the sides are generating bitterness and animosity among the people of Telangana and Seemandhra, reports say.

The announcement of Telangana and later the TRS leader K Chandrasekhar Rao’s aggressive stance against Seemandhra employees have paved way for never-before animosity on both sides. The fear is acute among the Seemandhra people settled in the City. And, more importantly, it is leading to generating bad blood AROUND THE

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among state employees working at the Secretariat. The situation took a violent turn due to the overenthusiasm of political leaders came to the fore when agitating employees from the Seemandhra region attacked the vehicle of Congress Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao in Tirupathi.

If it was Payyavula Keshav, TDP MLA, who was present in Vidyut Soudha the other day to extend support to the APNGOs which virtually brought the staff from both the regions to loggerheads, it was TRS MLA Harish Rao’s support for TNGOs in the same office that led to a clash among the employees of both the regions. The police intervened and brought the situation under control.

demanding setting up of capital of new State in their districts.

He opined that half of the leaders of TRS and MIM were also supporting the proposal of Rayala Telangana. They would also convince the BJP for Rayala Telangana, he added. The leaders of Anantapur and Kurnool districts would soon meet to discuss the matter. If Rayala Telangana was not possible, Kurnool should be made capital of Seemandhra, he demanded. Keeping in view

the interests regarding irrigation and employment, the Rayalaseema people want a merger in the proposed Telangana State. He also warned the Congress candidates would not even secure deposits in the next elections if the present situation goes on. “The Rayala leaders’ aggressive posture is a ploy engineered by the Congress which is worried at the loss of goodwill of the Seemandhra voters,” alleged an opposition leader.

Underground science project in Tamil Nadu

Sonia Gandhi discharged from AIIMS

Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi joins Congress

Pakistan continues ceasefire violation on LoC

CHENNAI: India's ambitious and largest ever `1,500 crore science research project to study atmospheric neutrinos in a deep underground cave is gradually taking shape at a sleepy village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu.

Christened 'India-based Neutrino Observatory' by the Department of Atomic Energy, it will study atmospheric neutrinos 1,300 metres below ground.

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who was admitted to the AIIMS here Monday night after she complained of uneasiness in the Lok Sabha, has been discharged from the hospital, a senior doctor said. Gandhi was discharged around 1.30 am. Tuesday after undergoing several tests, AIIMS director RC Deka told reporters.

NEW DELHI: Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehndi and four leaders from various political parties joined Congress on Monday, party sources said. Mehndi and four others had applied for party membership and their requests have been accepted. The four others include two sitting Delhi legislators - Ram Singh, Asif Mohammad Khan, Ram Singh Bidhuri and VK Monga.

NEW DELHI: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire on the Line of Control throughout Monday, firing on Indian positions in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Rajouri districts, officials said. Indian troops retaliated and the exchange of fire was still late Monday night, army spokesman, Col. RK Palta said. There were no casualties or damage on the Indian side, he added.

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Kurnool districts should be linked with Telangana region for irrigation facility and the people of the two districts depended on Hyderabad for jobs.

He believes that the issue of capital for Seemandhra would not arise if Rayala Telangana was formed. He pointed out that Rayalaseema people were

NATION BRIEFS Cabinet clears projects worth over `83,000cr

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Investment has cleared a slew of project investments, in which it has given the go ahead to 18 power projects worth `83,772 cr and nine others worth `92,500 crore, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said Tuesday. He said the banks have already disbursed `30,000 crore for the projects.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

HEALTH CONCERNS

This maternity hospital is sick

MOHSIN ALI ali.@postnoon.com

Government maternity hospital in Petla Burj suffers from many ills, of which governmental neglect is the most pronounced.

HYDERABAD: Expecting mothers and their attendants are left to face several problems in the government maternity hospital in Petla Burj.

The hospital is beset with problems of lack of trained medical staff and infrastructure, patients point out. The situation is grim.

Two patients are sharing one bed for lack of infrastructure, leaving them open to infection. Many others are found sprawled over the floor in the post-operation unit.

Hopes were raised when the new hospital opened but it turned out to be another dud. Abject shortage of facilities and faculty has dashed all their hopes, patients and their relatives say.

Expressing their anguish, patients said that the outpatients have to stand for hours in long queues to get the entry pass. Even the opera-

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Two patients are sharing one bed for lack of infrastructure, leaving them open to infection. Many others are found sprawled over the floor in the postoperation unit.

tion theatre is ill-equipped and the health of the mothers and the newborn are a cause of concern.

Sai Nath, native of Mahbubnagar, whose wife delivered two days ago told Postnoon

that his wife was hospitalised on Friday. She was allotted a single bed but immediately after the operation she was asked to share the bed with another patient. “We have to be in hospital for five days

ODISHA

Chargesheet filed in Odisha girl's rape, death The CCTV camera at the gate of a private college showed the accused leading the victim away.

BHUBANESWAR: Police have filed a chargesheet in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl here in the Odisha capital, an official said Tuesday.

The 60-page chargesheet was filed Monday in the sessions court against 22year-old Kiran Sahu, the lone accused.

According to rules, a chargesheet can be filed in such cases within 120 days.

Police have gathered strong evidence against the offender, which are enough for his conviction, Deputy Commissioner of Police Nitinjit Singh said.

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The footage of a closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) that showed the accused leading the victim away has also been submitted, he said.

Police said the accused asked the victim's family about an address in the city's Salia Sahi slum. The family sent the Class IV student with the accused to lead him to the house.

Instead of locating the house, the accused allegedly took the girl to a nearby secluded area and raped her before strangling her to death, police said.

The incident occurred August 20, but came to light only after the victim's family and other residents searched for the girl when she did not return. The residents spotted her body in a nearby area and informed police.

The CCTV camera at the gate of a private college showed the accused leading the victim away. Locals nabbed the offender and handed him over to police.

The victim's family and the accused are daily-wage earners.

IANS

after the delivery. It is a nightmarish experience.”

A companion of patient, Amrutha, who belongs to Kothur village, complained about the lack of hygiene. The whole floor of the hospital is wet and water seeps into the wards also. Due to shortage of the beds her daughter inlaw was lying on the floor with a new born baby. As if all this was

not enough, she was worried about the stray dogs wandering into the premises of the hospital.

“Not just dogs, cats too abound," she said.

Many others complained of the lack of medical staff and good doctors. According to the statistics provided by Dr. Sri Devi, RMO government maternity hospital, the total number of beds are 462 in hospital but approximately 700 patients would be admitted from various parts of the state.

“Even the building has enough space, ground plus two floors and two more floors are being construct because there is complaint about lack of space,” said the RMO. Regarding staff she said that the AP District Coordinator of Hospital Services has issued a notification to recruit pediatricians, staff nurses, data entry operators and lab technicians in the Maternity Hospital on contract basis. The appointing procedure will start soon.

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

ECO-FRIENDLY

Goa may subsidise over 50,000 Ganesh idols The aim of these sops is to promote local artisans and reduce the demand for Plaster of Paris idols.

PANAJI: In a bid to promote eco-friendly clay idols over those made with Plaster of Paris (PoP), the Goa government is likely to subsidise over 50,000 Ganesh idols made by local artisans this year.

Lavu Mamledar, chairman of the Goa State Handicrafts Rural and Small Scale Industries development corporation (GSHRSSDC), said Monday that the corporation itself would be more aggressive in selling clay idols throughout

Goa, to keep the ecologically damaging PoP idols at bay.

“Through these subsidies the idea is to promote the local artisan and idols,” Mamledar told a press conference Monday.

He said over 75,000 idols were manufactured in Goa annually, out of which one third were subsidised by the corporation.

“We offer a subsidy of `100 per idols, up to 250 idols per person,” he said, adding that

last year alone over 58,000 idols had been subsidised. This year, a couple of weeks before Ganesh Chaturthi, the

GSHRSSDC had received applications for subsidy from 577 artisans, he said.

“We are trying our best to ensure that PoP idols are not used in the state,” he said, adding that the corporation had also tied up with a Pune-based green NGO which specialised in making papier mâché Ganesh idols.

Cheap, Plaster of Paris idols are banned in Goa, but their cost effectiveness and better finishing ensures that they contin-

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ue to have a market in Goa and other places which celebrate Ganesh Chaturthi.

Their hazardous gypsum, sulphur, phosphorus and magnesium content, as well as lead paints, disintegrates slowly and poisons the waters of lakes, ponds, rivers, besides choking beds of water bodies where the idols are immersed.

IANS

MUMBAI GANG-RAPE CASE

Accused admits to crime before mother

Chand Bibi said when she asked him why he had done so, Qasim kept quiet. ‘I was shattered,’ the mother said.

MUMBAI: One of the accused in the Mumbai gang-rape case is reported to have admitted before his mother that he had indeed committed the crime.

As per a report in a leading English daily, 21-year-old Qasim Shaikh told his mother Chand Bibi on Monday, while she was visiting him in lock-up, that he had raped the girl along with four other accused.

Chand Bibi said when she asked him why he had done so, Qasim kept quiet. “I was shattered,” the mother said. Meanwhile, Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh has assured early justice for the 22-yearold photojournalist who was gangraped by the five men in an abandoned textile mill complex on August 22.

"Our priority is to collect the evidence and file the chargesheet as soon as possible," he told reporters yesterday.

The Mumbai Police have arrested all the five suspects who raped the woman.

Our priority is to collect the evidence and file the chargesheet as soon as possible Satyapal Singh Police commissioner AROUND THE

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The police chief said all evidence had been collected and it would be handed over to forensic experts today.

The men had also recorded the crime on their cell phones.

"The mobile phone on which the

crime was video recorded by the accused has been recovered. We have also seized the phone of the victim which was sold off by the accused," said Satyapal Singh.

He said out of the five accused, three had criminal records. He also confirmed that none of the accused was a juvenile as was being claimed by one of suspects' mother.

Police officials escort a suspect (C), in the gang-rape of a female photographer, from a crime branch unit station in Mumbai on August 26, 2013

NEWS BRIEFS Gunmen assassinate top Ingushetia official

Oz PM says warships could be moved north

Three China ships in disputed zone: Japan

Hitmen held for plot to kill Maduro

Israel team in US for Iran, Syria talks

MOSCOW: Unidentified gunmen on Tuesday assassinated the top regional security official in Russia's violence-plagued Caucasus republic of Ingushetia as he was being driven to work, investigators said. Akhmed Kotiev, head of Ingushetia's Security Council, was killed when gunmen opened fire on his car in an attack that also claimed his driver’s life.

SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said key naval assets could be relocated north to adapt to a changing security landscape. Rudd said moving Sydney Harbour's Garden Island base to Queensland in the east and Western Australia could improve the nation's ability to sustain operations in the Asia-Pacific.

TOKYO: Three Chinese coastguard ships on Tuesday entered disputed waters near East China Sea islands at the centre of a bitter row with Tokyo, Japanese officials said.

The vessels sailed into the 12-nautical-mile band around the Tokyocontrolled Senkaku islands — which Beijing calls the Diaoyus — at around 0030 GMT.

CARACAS: Venezuela said Monday it derailed a plot to kill President Nicolas Maduro, arresting two hitmen it said wanted to assassinate the leftist leader on orders from a Colombian right-wing expresident. Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said at a briefing that Caracas arrested the alleged hitmen, two Colombians, on August 13.

WASHINGTON: A senior Israeli delegation visited the White House Monday for high-level talks on the building Syria crisis and the nuclear showdown with Iran. Officials said US National Security Advisor Susan Rice met retired Israeli major general Yaakov Amidror, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top national security advisor.

8

News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

WARNING FOR WARNING

US WARNS SYRIA OVER ‘OBSCENE’ CHEMICAL STRIKE

Amid reports that US and its allies are preparing for a cruise missile strike on Syrian targets, John Kerry accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of engaging in a cover-up.

DAMASCUS: Washington warned Syria it would face action over the “moral obscenity” of a gruesome chemical weapons attack, as UN inspectors braved sniper fire to gather evidence about the incident.

A very sudden drumbeat toward some kind of US and/or allied retaliation against Syria seemed to be getting louder.

The US cancelled a meeting with Damascus ally Russia on the Syrian conflict that had been scheduled for this week in The Hague, the State Department said.

Let me be clear.

The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity.

John Kerry US secretary of state In Asia, stocks were down and oil prices were up early Tuesday — both shifts blamed on fears of yet another escalation in the brutal 29-month-old Syrian war, this time via a direct American intervention that President Barack Obama has steadfastly tried to avoid. As recently as Friday, he seemed to rule it out as messy and hard to get out of.

Speaking amid reports that

N Korea tried to sell masks to Syria

N

orth Korea tried to export gas masks to Syria but they were seized in Turkey along with arms and ammunition, a Japanese daily said Tuesday, as the US threatened action over an alleged chemical weapons attack. A Libyan-registered vessel, identified as Al En Ti Sar, left North Korea for Syria earlier this year with the consignment, the Sankei Shimbun said, quoting unnamed sources.

A rebel fighter takes aim at regime forces in the northern city of Aleppo on August 26, 2013. Syria’s opposition accused pro-regime forces of opening fire at UN weapons inspectors on their way to a suspected chemical weapons site outside Damascus in a bid to hinder their investigation.

AFP PHOTO/LOUAI ABO AL-JOD

Washington and its allies are preparing to launch a punitive cruise missile strike on Syrian targets, US Secretary of State John Kerry accused President Bashar al-Assad’s regime of engaging in a cover-up.

“Let me be clear. The indiscriminate slaughter of civilians, the killing of women and children and innocent bystanders by chemical weapons is a moral obscenity," Kerry declared in a televised statement.

“By any standard it is inexcusable, and despite the excuses and equivocations that some have manufactured, it is undeniable."

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Kerry said Washington would provide more evidence of who was behind the attack, and that Obama was determined the guilty would face consequences.

“We have additional information about this attack, and that information is being compiled and reviewed together with our partners, and we will provide that information in the days ahead,” he warned.

“Make no mistake. President Obama believes there must be

Russia regrets US decision

R

ussia on Tuesday said it regretted a decision by the United States to shelve a meeting on the Syria crisis this week, as expectations mount of military action against the Damascus regime. accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people.

Nothing today is more serious.”

Kerry was speaking as UN

inspectors met survivors of last week’s attack, which the independent medical agency Doctors Without Borders has said left at least 355 people dead from “neurotoxic symptoms".

The UN convoy came under sniper fire as it tried to approach the Damascus suburb where the attack was reported, but the team nevertheless managed to visit victims receiving treatment in two nearby hospitals.

“It was a very productive day," UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters, adding that the team, led by Swedish expert Ake Sellstrom, is “already gathering valuable evidence”.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon said that despite the “very dangerous circumstances” the investigators “visited two hospitals, they interviewed witnesses, survivors and doctors. They also collected some samples”.

The UN team was in a buffer zone between government and opposition-held areas when it came under attack.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING MP An Amritsar NGO here has put up ‘missing’ posters promising a reward of `2 lakh for anybody who would bring the MP to the city.

`2L for finding Sidhu AMRITSAR: Upset with the prolonged absence of BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu from his constituency, an NGO here has put up “miss-

ing” posters promising a reward of `2 lakh for anybody who would bring the parliamentarian to the city. Raman Bakshi, president of Amritsar Sangharsh Samiti, said they were extremely upset about Sidhu’s absence at a time when their representative was required to be present in the area. Alleging

that the BJP leader and former India cricketer had been “missing” from the area for a long time, a AROUND THE

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poster states that, “Sidhu had

made tall promises to the people of his constituency about making Amritsar like Paris, but has betrayed them".

Bakshi said people in Amritsar were facing numerous problems about, among others, unavailability of sand and the levying of various taxes on property.

PTI

9

News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 STORM FERNAND

Thirteen dead in Mexico mudslides IGNACIO CARVAJAL Agence France-Presse VERACRUZ: Mudslides crashed through several homes in eastern Mexico on Monday, killing at least 13 people after a tropical storm pelted the state of Veracruz with heavy rains, officials said.

The storm named Fernand weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall just before midnight, unleashing a deluge that flooded streets, homes and businesses in some towns and caused rivers to overflow.

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Governor Javier Duarte, who had ordered the closure of schools before the storm came ashore, urged residents to heed any calls for evacuations and said the authorities remained on high alert.

Nine people died in the town of Yecuatla, three in Tuxpan and one in Atzalan, he said.

The deaths “were all caused by mudslides on their homes,” Duarte told a news conference.

The storm triggered 16 mudslides, while storm-related damage was reported in 22 municipalities, affecting more than 450 homes, said state civil protection director Noemi Guzman Lagunes. More than 400 people were housed in 10 temporary shelters, she said.

Authorities urged people who live near rivers to move to shelters as a precaution. Duarte asked the federal government to declare an emergency in 92 municipalities, which would make them eligible for disaster recovery funds. Duarte said Fernand was “atypical” because of how quickly it morphed into a tropical storm over the Gulf of Mexico late Sunday before making landfall.

SMUGGLING

Go, Goa, Gold Goa had been a smuggling haven for gold and electronic goods in the days of yore. Recent spurt in cases has prompted more vigil.

DABOLIM: Drugs may not be the only contraband to find favour in Goa now.

A rising pan-India trend of gold smuggling and sudden seizures of the yellow metal in Goa, otherwise a narcotics haven, has forced customs authorities in the state to step up vigil not only at the lone airport, but also on the sea routes to stop gold smugglers.

Earlier this week, there were three seizures at the Dabolim International Airport when two Sri Lankans and an Indian were caught with 4.12 kgs of gold valued at `1.33 crore ($13 million) in the Indian market.

“This seems to be the beginning of a new trend. Our air intelligence staff and air customs officers could retrieve the gold and seize it. This is so far the biggest seizure,” Commissioner Customs and Central Excise VPC Rao told IANS. Gold smuggling, he said, has become a regular feature at the Goa airport.

The two Sri Lankans had boarded the flight as domestic passengers at Mumbai, but they had taken delivery of the gold from some passengers coming from Dubai, he said.

“The gold was stuffed in their

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rectums. When they were passing through the green channel, our official saw something unusual with their movement. That is how they were busted,” a Customs official said. The Indian was from Kerala and had the gold strapped on his body under his trouser.

Rao said that Customs authorities in Goa had netted gold worth `2.66 crore in eight seizures since January.

“In all these cases, the passengers who brought the gold have been apprehended and arrested.

The total number of persons arrested is 15. The seizures are mostly from body concealments,” he said. Not just Goa, several airports across India have seen gold seizures in recent times. The rush

Rao said that Customs authorities in Goa had netted gold worth `2.66 crore in eight seizures since January.

to smuggle gold into India, officials say, has increased after the central government has upped its efforts to rein in its burgeoning trade deficit.

Recent and repeated hikes in the import duty on gold has also added lustre to the yellow metal and added incentives to its smugglers.

Alarmed by the sharp rise of gold imports to 383 tonnes in the July 2012-April 2013 period against 205 tonnes in the previous year, the government earlier this month raised the import duty on the yellow metal from eight to 10 percent. Gold is the most expensive in Kerala at `660 per 10 grams. It ranged between `32,280 to `32,630 in the four metros of

Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

Rao said that in most cases, domestic passengers are engaged in transfering gold from international passengers in the aircraft.

“That is what our interrogation has told us,” Rao said, adding that Goa is connected to the Middle East through flights coming from Sharjah, Dubai, Doha and most of the seizures are detected in the Dubai-Goa Air India flights coming either via Mumbai or directly.

“Mostly the gold smuggled seems to be meant for Mumbai and Kerala,” he said.

“There is also an apprehension that smuggling through sea may be revived because of the huge difference in domestic and international prices in Middle East. Additional measures are being taken to fight smuggling by reviving shore patrolling formations called shore guard parities,” Rao said.

Goa had been a smuggling haven for gold and electronic goods in the days of yore.

Through the 1970-80s, contraband activity was one of the prime launchpads for aspiring smugglers to leap into politics.

IANS

TASTE CENTRAL

Indulge your love for seafood If you’ve been craving some traditional Indian fish dishes, Firdaus at Taj Krishna is the place to be. From Macher Jhol to Peri Peri Rawa Fry, seafood reigns in every form.

N SHIVA KUMAR

spicy fish preparation), Bekti Macher Paturi (mustard marinated Kolkata bekti steamed in banana leaf) and Peri Peri Rawa Fry (Goan Periperi-spiced crispy fried fish).

The best part of the fish dishes was that the menu was set keeping in mind people who prefer their fish without bones.

Executive Chef Nitin Mathur AROUND THE

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ARUN D YELLAMATY arunyellamaty@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: If you are a fish lover and have been longing to taste the best seafood dishes, you should be at Firdaus Restaurant in Taj Krishna.

At the ‘Simply Fish’ festival, you will be relishing some of the best food from India’s seafood loving states.

The menu opens with exciting entrees like Meen Pollichathu (traditional Kerala grilled banana leaf-wrapped

recommends every item listed on the menu. There are close to eight different fish which are cooked in various styles like Goan, Mangalorean, Kerala, Bengal, Andhra, Punjabi and much more.

The main course has a wide spread of dishes, including

Macher Jhol (a spicy Bengali home-styled fish curry). The Alleppey Meen Curry, a mangoflavoured curry and coconutbased fish curry, is delicious and a must-have. Nellore Chepala Pulusu (spicy tangy fish curry, a speciality from Nellore), Sarsoo Batta Macch (a delicate fish preparation infused with mustard) and Machli ka Salan (traditional Hyderabadi fish cooked with hand-pounded roasted spices) are all delectable. All the curries are served with rice and rotis.

The live ghazals will make your lunch or dinner an enjoyable experience. This a la carte festival is open for lunch and dinner (12.30pm-3pm and 7.30pm-11.45pm) till August 31.

For more information and bookings, please contact: 040 6629 3306.

10

News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

LOOK WHO’S HAVING FUN

Affairs of Hong Kong

AARON TAM Agence France-Presse HONG KONG: The founder of a dating service promoting adultery is setting his sights on China’s cheating hearts after a controversial launch in Hong Kong.

“It is a reality of life, we are an unfaithful society,” said Noel Biderman, the founder of the Ashley Madison “married dating” service.

With its slogan “Life is short.

Have an affair”, the website boasts more than 20 million users in more than 15 countries.

It has been expanding aggressively, adding Japan and India last year. On Friday it launched in Hong Kong, where religious and family planning groups have come together to criticise its message.

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Biderman said he nevertheless expected his service to be “wildly popular” in the southern Chinese city, noting that the website received around 320,000 Hong Kong hits in the past year without spending anything on marketing.

“That to us indicates massive appetite for this specific product,” Biderman told AFP, citing rising divorce rates in the city.

Government data show 30 out of 100 married couples filed for a divorce in 2011, twice as many as in 1991. The number of divorce cases hit a record high of 21,125 in 2012.

Hong Kong is “in transition when it comes to relationships and marriage and that can lead to an interesting environment,” said Biderman.

“When we put ourselves into that mix, we can do extremely

Lusting China

O

ver 640,000 people from China tried to access Ashley Madison in the past year before it was available, showing “a lot of pent-up demand” in the country.

What a reputation

H

ong Kongers also have a reputation as some of the least active lovers in Asia, ranking low in informal surveys of sexual frequency by British condom manufacturer Durex.

well.”

User “mamama222” was one of the first in Hong Kong to sign up. “I’m looking for various men to fulfil what my husband can’t,” she said on her profile.

In catering to such motivations, Ashley Madison has attracted plenty of criticism from religious groups and social workers.

“We must do everything we can to uphold the values and the stability of” marriage and family, Hong Kong Catholic Diocese reverend Lawrence Lee told AFP. “This is disrupting marriage and family, what good can it come to?” he added, noting that Chinese people had “great respect for marriage and family.”

A Hong Kong Family Planning Association spokeswoman told AFP: “Infidelity in any form of clandestine extra-marital affair without the partner’s knowledge or consent may hurt the marital relationship and ultimately undermine family integrity”.

The concept of marriage in the city is nevertheless becoming increasingly “fragile”, Chinese University of Hong Kong profes-

sor of Social Work Lam Chingman told AFP. “Hong Kong people are facing lots of challenges,” Lam said, adding that couples have to deal with an increasing financial burden and other social stresses.

Lam does not believe the website will be as popular in Hong Kong compared to other locations such as Japan which saw a million users sign up in months.

Hong Kong has one of the

world’s lowest fertility rates, which experts say is driven by financial pressures in a city of extremely high property prices.

Hong Kongers also have a reputation as some of the least active lovers in Asia, ranking low in informal surveys of sexual frequency by British condom manufacturer Durex.

Younger Hong Kong residents typically live at home deep into their 20s or 30s because they can’t afford to marry and move

Most adulterous Asians Thailand came out on top

54%

South Korea

34%

Malaysia Russia

33% 33%

Singapore

19%

out earlier, meaning that many reside in close proximity to their parents in cramped apartments.

But for Biderman, the city is a possible springboard for an entry into China, home to one of the largest internet markets in the world.

Over 640,000 people from China tried to access Ashley Madison in the past year before it was available, showing “a lot of pent-up demand” in the country, Biderman said.

“If there were 10 times more people trying to log in from China as there were last year because of the Hong Kong launch and it starts to spread virally that way, that could be the impetus for me to take that plunge” he said.

“Bottom line is, people have affairs, they’re having affairs because they don’t want to leave the family,” he said.

“There really is a negative impact in separating a family, there is no corresponding negative impact to an undiscovered affair...The vast majority of people that have affairs, especially on our service, never get discovered.”

11

News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

SINOFICATION?

Anger as China ‘restores’ Dalai Lama’s ancestral home The modest house has become a symbol of China’s bitterly divisive policy in Tibetan regions.

For Tibetans, the building’s transformation is a sign of lost traditions, unrecognisable from the simple farmer’s dwelling it once was.

NEIL CONNOR Agence France-Presse HONGAI: The Chinese town where the Dalai Lama was born is undergoing huge redevelopment, and behind a mountain, the exiled spiritual leader’s family home has received a makeover of its own, with a three-metre wall and security cameras installed.

The building in Hongai village, at the summit of a towering peak, is the only place in China dedicated to the man Beijing considers a violent separatist and a “wolf in monk’s robes”.

But the house has become a symbol of China’s bitterly divisive policy in Tibetan regions following its 2.5 million yuan ($400,000) refurbishment, amid concern from international rights groups over the scale and speed of Tibetan housing and relocation programmes.

“This is not modernisation but Sinofication,” Tibetan poet and activist Tsering Woeser told AFP. Hongai, known to Tibetans as Taktser, is in an area that has been culturally Tibetan for centuries but lies deep in the western Chinese province of Qinghai, several hundred kilometres (miles) outside the boundaries of the Special Administrative Region itself.

For Tibetans, the building’s transformation is a sign of lost traditions, unrecognisable from the simple farmer’s dwelling found by a search party of Buddhists who identified toddler Lhamo Dhondup as

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the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation in the 1930s. Authorities who funded what appears to be a total rebuild, however, view it as a goodwill gesture to visiting pilgrims and part of a 1.5 billion yuan ($244 million) local regeneration drive.

A typically poor outpost in China’s sparsely populated west, the area is beginning to share in the country’s economic explosion, with several overseas companies setting up, according to state media.

“Today, the once bleak, underdeveloped county is closer to a boom town,” local official Sun Xiuzong

told the official news agency Xinhua.

But near the Dalai Lama’s house, there is little sign of opening up.

“You are not allowed in,” said a neighbour on a narrow, leafy street in the eerily quiet village.“No foreigners are allowed in. It is because of the police,” he added, as dogs — kept in many Tibetan households as protection — barked in the distance.

Local authorities declined a formal request to enter the property.

“We don’t want to offer the Dalai Lama any publicity,” an official told AFP. The future Nobel laureate was taken to Tibet from Hongai and enthroned before he turned four. He was formally recognised as the 14th Dalai Lama in 1950, at the age of 15, but was forced to flee Tibet nine years later following a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

He later founded the government in exile in Dharamshala after being offered refuge by India, and has campaigned for the preservation of Tibetan culture on the world stage ever since. Back in Hongai, his house was reportedly destroyed by Red Guards during the decade-long Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 70s, but rebuilt in the 1980s.

It is currently being maintained

by Gonpo Tashi, a nephew of the 78year-old Dalai Lama and former local official, who is understood to live next door.

“The refurbished compound has retained its original look, but the ground is newly paved, beams have been reinforced and murals were repainted,” according to Xinhua,

who officials said were the only media allowed inside since the works.

There was no response from either the Dalai Lama’s house or the neighbouring property when AFP visited.

Locals say devotees are often allowed in to worship.

Rudy Kong, a Canadian writer who lived in China for many years and visited the house in 2000 — one of the few foreigners to do so — was sceptical about the refurbishment. “The main building looks totally different, as it was quite open, but now it is filled in, and the roof was not as steep,” he said after viewing AFP

images. “It looks like a total rebuild — and I certainly don’t remember a grey threemetre wall surrounding the entire site,” he added.

Tibetans fear the destruction of their culture through urbanisation and China’s relentless drive to modernise — while Beijing says its investments have significantly raised living standards.

Sophie Richardson, China director for USbased campaign group Human Rights Watch said in June: “The scale and speed at which the Tibetan rural population is being remodelled by mass rehousing and relocation policies are unprecedented in the post-Mao era.”

Beijing may be using the house as “bait” to convince senior monks to choose the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama within China’s borders, she added.“Their words are very sweet, but the real situation is very sad, and they are playing games with it.”

PICK YOUR

@

Across Stores

ities Twin C

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News TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBOUR

Mate! There’s a snake in your closet!

Australia is home to some of the most venomous species including the lethal eastern brown — they are the nightmare tenants who can live undetected alongside Australian families for years.

Some are cute, some are ugly, but all of them are deadly Australia is renowned as being home to a startling number of the world’s deadliest creatures, including a range of venomous snakes, spiders, jellyfish and octopuses that can kill a human within minutes.

WE LIST SOME OF THEM Scorpion fish that live near the Australian coasts are the world’s most poisonous fish.

The Sydney funnel-web spider’s bite can lead to muscle spasms and brain damage.

The Chironex fleckeri, or the box jelly fish is the world’s most venomous animal.

The cassowary is the world’s most dangerous bird, found in New Guinea and northern Australia.

Snake catcher Andrew Melrose holding a green tree snake he recovered from a house in Sydney

MADELEINE COOREY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY: They are the nightmare tenants who can live undetected alongside Australian families for years: the world’s deadliest snakes.

Australia is home to some of the most venomous species including the lethal eastern brown, which thrive in urban areas where rubbish bins attract prey such as rats and mice.

Sydney snake handler Andrew Melrose says some species even spend winter months comfortably curled up inside warm roofs, until they are disturbed, often by accident.

“Some people really panic, and they are screaming," says Melrose of the residents who call him for help.

“They reckon they are going to sell up and move to a place like New Zealand where there are no snakes."

The irony is that the reptiles have often been living in the house or garden for years, and it is only something out of the ordinary — such as a rare day off for the homeowner or a building renovation — that brings them to light, Melrose says.

Australia is renowned as being home to a startling number of the world’s deadliest creatures, including a range of venomous snakes, spiders, jellyfish and octopuses that can kill a human within minutes.

Snake deaths are rare, with only an average of one to four each year, in part because they shy away from humans.

“Most of the snakes, most of time we don’t see them," says Ken Winkel,

director of the Australian Venom Research Unit at the University of Melbourne, who agrees that many people live alongside snakes for years without knowing it.

“We are more a threat to Australian snakes than vice versa. In the life of the average Australian, it’s uncommon for them to see a dangerous snake."

Most fatalities are in rural areas but deaths do occasionally occur in cities.

Winkel cites the case of the elderly woman who died after being bitten by a tiger snake while tending her passion fruit vines in Melbourne’s Kew in 2003, and a 16 year-old boy who panicked AROUND THE

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and ran after being bitten by a brown snake in Sydney in 2007.

Although not as venomous as the inland taipan — which is only found in remote areas — the most common killer in Australia is the eastern brown snake which exceed two metres in length and which is found across the country. “It’s a very common snake throughout the continent of Australia, combined with the fact that it is not so fussy about what it eats, says Finkel, adding that brown snakes do well in urban habitats.

Snakes usually avoid humans, but curious children present problems.

In 2012 a three-year-old boy in Townsville, Queensland, had a lucky escape when he found some eggs, placed them in a plastic container and hid them in a wardrobe. The eggs

hatched deadly eastern brown snakes and he was fortunate not to be bitten.

The snakes were released into the wild.

Melrose says most of the call-outs he receives are from people claiming to have a brown snake in their house or garden, but in most cases they are not the deadly variety — often simply brown-coloured snakes or lizards.

He says he recommends not disturbing the animals. “They are harmless and will probably find their way back there as they have lived there for 20 or 30 years. In a lot of areas... they do live in perfect harmony with the people."

Jim and Carolyn Bland are such a couple, having unknowingly shared their Sydney home for years with a nest of snakes which lived snugly above their heads.

“We found some snake skins out in the backyard," Jim told AFP. “But it didn’t sort of twig to me that there might have been snakes living in the house or on the house."

It wasn’t until they were re-tiling their roof that workers found one snake and refused to go anywhere near it. In all, three were found — all harmless green tree snakes.

“It didn’t worry us at all because we didn’t know they were there," says Carolyn Bland, admitting that a noisy possum in the roof and a diamond python snake which had once lived in a back tree had been more troubling.

“And once we found out they were non-venomous green tree snakes, well we would have quite happily left them there because they have to have somewhere to live."

Barrier Reef cone shell’s venom is a neurotoxin that can kill a human, and there is no antivenin.

The blue-ringed octopus is as small as a golf ball but its venom can kill a human being.

Appearances are always deceptive.

This is not a koala, but a drop bear, a vicious carnivore.

The inland Taipan’s single bite contains enough venom to kill 100 men.

Found in dry regions.

The Saltie (saltwater crocodile) is an apex predator which preys on fish, crustaceans, reptiles and mammals.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Business

CHINA DETAILS CHARGES IN FOREIGN FRAUD

Chinese state television put two foreign fraud investigators on display Tuesday as police announced they had been charged with illegally obtaining personal information. Police in Shanghai arrested British national Peter Humphrey and his wife Yu Yingzeng.

POSITIVITY

ANA TO BUY STAKE

Can afford food-for-poor despite rupee fall: FM

NEW DELHI: The finance minister insisted on Tuesday that the government can afford a vast new food programme for the poor despite concern about its impact on the strained public finances.

The rupee skidded in morning trade to 65.40 against the dollar, close to its lifetime low of 65.56, and stock markets fell the morning after the lower house of parliament passed the Food Security Bill.

The legislation, a flagship programme of the ruling Congress party with a budgeted annual cost of around $18 billion, is intended to “wipe out” endemic hunger and malnutrition in the aspiring superpower.

Once passed by the upper house and approved by the president, it will reform India’s existing food distribution system, providing five kilograms of heavily subsidised food grain per month to more than 800 million people.

“After providing for the food security bill, we will

remain within the limit I have set for myself in the budget,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters at a press conference in the capital.

The government has budgeted an additional 230 billion rupees annually for the programme on top of the existing 900-billion-rupee food subsidy bill.

Chidambaram, who has

been seeking to reassure investors about India’s finances, reiterated that a budget deficit of 4.8 percent of gross domestic product remained a “red line” that would not be crossed this year.

India’s central Reserve Bank of India has previously warned that increased public spending stemming from the food bill could deepen the government’s

deficit and stoke already elevated inflation.

“The broad sentiment for the rupee is still weak. The food bill will be a strain on the government finances,” said Siddhartha Sanyal, chief India economist with Barclays Capital.

Asian shares and currencies were also hit on Tuesday by concerns over possible US military intervention in Syria.

The rupee, one of Asia’s worst-performing currencies this year, has fallen on fears of foreign fund outflows as the US economy picks up.

Chidambaram said on Monday that he expected the bill to clear the upper house of parliament “in the next couple of days”. It will then need to be signed by the president to pass into law.

Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi told MPs in parliament that the food bill would send a “big message” to the world that India “is taking the responsibility of providing food security of all its citizens.”

AFP

COMPANY CRASH

Billabong posts mammoth loss SYDNEY: Embattled Australian surfwear brand Billabong reported a huge Aus$859.5 million (US$771.7 million) net annual loss on Tuesday — triple the firm’s market value and far worse than analyst forecasts.

Billabong said the record loss, which significantly undershot market predictions of a Aus$560 million debit, came after a 13.5 percent plunge in global sales revenues to Aus$1.34 billion and Aus$604.3 million in write-

13

shares dive 9.73 percent in morning trade to 51 cents.

“They have had an absolutely ginormous writedown, and that’s the only way that you can describe it,” said IG Markets analyst Evan Lucas.

“The revenue generation is horrendous.”

The ailing firm has been the subject of multiple failed takeover bids as it battled a prolonged rally of the Australian dollar and muted consumer confidence in its key US and European markets.

downs.

Chairman Ian Pollard said it had been “the most challenging period in the company’s history”, with 158 of its stores shutting down, a selloff of the DaKine brand and restructure of Nixon which Billabong said it now valued at nil.

Earnings were Aus$72.6 million, in line with guidance of Aus$67-74 million offered two months ago and 16.4 percent lower than the previous year, seeing Billabong’s

GOLD`32,490 10g SILVER `54,965 1kg

24C

for

for

DOLLAR `65.66 POUND `102.17

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) said on Tuesday it would acquire a 49 percent stake in a Myanmar airline, the latest foray into the potentially lucrative Southeast Asian market that is rapidly opening up. “ANA Group will invest $25 million (2.5 billion yen) for AWA (Asian Wings Airways) as part of its stated strategy of expanding into new international markets,” ANA Holdings — the parent of Japan’s major airline — said in a statement.

NUMEROLOGY

$20

mn

is the settlement that a US judge approved against Facebook for using members “likes” as endorsements for ads.

DOLLAR SAGS IN ASIA The dollar edged down against the safe-haven yen in Asia on Tuesday due to concerns over a possible US military action against Syria. The dollar was at 98.29 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, down from 98.51 yen in New York Monday afternoon. The euro bought $1.3373 and 131.45 yen compared with $1.3369 and 131.68 yen. The greenback lost ground in the wake of a decline in Tokyo stocks and due to concerns over a possible US military strike against Syria, said a dealer at a Japanese bank. “The possibility of the US military attacks could make investors risk averse, weighing on the dollar,” he told Dow Jones Newswires. US Secretary of State John Kerry gave the most explicit warning yet to Damascus that the US would take action over the chemical weapons attack.

THUS SPAKE We will implement the central food security scheme after the bill is passed by Parliament.

BSE NSE

SIDDARAMAIAH, KARNATAKA CHIEF MINISTER

18,068.69 489.37

5,322.50 151.25

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Comment Ah, this is obviously some strange usage of the word 'safe' that I wasn't previously aware of.

MUMBAI

Bo trial reveals lifestyles of China's rich and infamous CAROL HUANG Agence France-Presse

T

he family's safes held more cash than an average Chinese might see in a lifetime. Their French villa was held through shell companies designed to avoid taxes and publicity. The son gallivanted around the world at huge expense.

The sensational corruption trial of Bo Xilai exposed the lavish lifestyle of one of China's most powerful politicians, gripping the Communist-run country where mounting inequality has stoked public discontent.

The bribery and embezzlement charges against Bo, until last year the head of the megacity of Chongqing and one of China's top-25 leaders, amount to 26.8 million yuan ($4.4 million).

And that only touches on a few business dealings in the early part of the 64-year-old's career.

Bo defended himself against allegations from his wife Gu Kailai that she once saw $80,000 in bribe money by revealing the amount of ready cash they kept at home.

"In the shared safe there were hundreds of thousands of yuan, so how could she know the money she took out was from me?" he said, according to court accounts.

The ruling party mounted an apparently unusually open trial following its most explosive political scandal in decades.

The court in the eastern city of Jinan posted lengthy transcripts on its Twitter-like Weibo account each day.

14

GANG-RAPE SUSPECTS WERE FEARED IN THEIR SLUM HOME RACHEL O'BRIEN

Douglas Adams English humourist

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS Now this is one domino effect we could have done without: India will soon become pizza chain Domino's second-largest market after the US. The dietician who keeps harping that fast food should be avoided in favour of fresh food can take a walk!

Agence France Presse

M

umbai reels over the gang-rape of a young photographer in the heart of the city last week, angry neighbours of the arrested suspects describe a gang of jobless youths known for petty theft and drinking.

The five men are accused of repeatedly raping the 22-yearold woman and attacking her male colleague in an abandoned mill compound in central Mumbai, which was known as a haven for drink and drug addicts.

While smart neighbourhoods of luxury apartments, office blocks and malls are close to the scene of the crime, most of the accused gang members hailed from nearby slums where they earned themselves an unfavourable reputation.

"They were local criminals," said Ajit Pevekar, a 32-year-old neighbour and community worker.

The eldest suspect, 27-yearold Mohammed Salim Ansari, was the last to be arrested on Sunday in New Delhi after fleeing from his home in eastern Mumbai.

His four alleged accomplices, aged between 18 and 24 according to police, were from

nearer the mill in slums surrounding Dhobi Ghat, a site famed as the world's largest outdoor laundry.

The men have not yet been formally charged and have not commented on the allegations against them.

Unlike the industrious washermen of Dhobi Ghat, three of the suspects known to Pevekar "had no regular work, were playing cards all the time, and all of them drank", he told AFP, adding that the men would regularly snatch people's chains or purses.

Some neighbours denied knowledge of the men, while others said they wanted them hanged.

One of the accused, 18-yearold Vijay Mohan Jadhav, went for tea near the police station just hours after the alleged offence on Thursday, and next day went to see a Bollywood movie with Ansari, the DNA newspaper reported.

"The people feel they should be handed over to us, and we will beat them," Pevekar said.

The attack shocked Mumbai, long-considered safer for women than the capital New Delhi where the fatal gang-rape of a student in December sparked nationwide protests and led to a tougher anti-rape law.

Last week's attack had eerie parallels with that case -- both happened in megacities, and both victims were in their early

20s, one a student and one reportedly a journalism intern.

Both were attacked while they were out in public with a man, who in each case was beaten up.

The 23-year-old New Delhi victim, who later died from her injuries, was attacked with an iron rod.

Mumbai's victim was threatened with a broken beer bottle and is now in hospital, but is said to be stable and recovering.

The two gangs, whose alleged crimes ignited national outrage, were alike in size and were made up of mostly young slum-dwellers.

Mumbai's chief of police, Satyapal Singh, said the suspects in last week's case were all unemployed school drop-outs,

three with criminal records for theft.

He said the attack in the early evening did not appear to be pre-planned and the suspects did not seem to have been under the influence of alcohol.

Mohammed Kasim Hafeez Shaikh, known locally as Kasim Bangali, had four criminal cases to his name and was, according to Indian media, the suspected gang-leader.

Sitting quietly in a oneroomed slum next to a busy road and overflowing rubbish bins, Bangali's mother told he was only 17, although police remand documents said he was 21.

"I don't believe it, but the police say yes, they have done it," she said.

EDITORIALS Bill to change archaic mindset necessary SC move on rapes welcome

T

he Marriage Laws (Amendment) bill in the Rajya Sabha three years after it was first introduced in Parliament brings the much-needed law closer to being reality for wronged women. With this, the country has moved a step closer to making divorce less cumbersome for women by making it mandatory for the wife to get a share of her husband’s immovable property: because, the financial strength mostly lies with the ‘darker’ sex. But that’s not the point. There is no dearth of women-friendly laws in India: it's the execution that fails, and this is because of an archaic mindset. In a predominantly patriarchal society that ours has been for centuries, the entire system right from the perpetrator (husband), to be it the village head or the superintendent of police, the attitude is that of ‘how dare she?’ The woman, even now, is expected to be the submissive, all-accepting slave. There are a number of cases wherein the ways of the victim have been questioned should it be a woman. This bias has to change.

READERS’ VIEWS

W

hen upbringing and social fabric fail to produce a population that respects fellow human beings, the law needs to step in.

With a rise in rape cases, especially gang-rape cases being reported of late, the Supreme Court has decided to analyse reasons for this ugly phenomenon. That sure is a big step forward to ensure that more than half of India’s population get a chance to live a life of dignity; and the way Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore dreamed for us... ‘Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high.’

We invite you to write to us comments, suggestions, viewpoint or just about anything to feedback@postnoon.com or # Plot no.550-A1,3rd floor, Road no-92, Jubilee hills, Hyderabad-500033 Landmark – Volkswagen showroom or even by way of a call on 4067 2222. Editor: Dean Williams

15

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

workplace You are all excited about that new job offer but the picture begins getting distorted once you begin negotiating for your salary. Victoria Pynchon co-founder of She Negotiates Consulting, gives some great advice you might want to keep in mind.

BECAUSE...YOU ARE WORTH IT DO YOUR RESEARCH

I’M SORRY

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

W

omen tend to apologise for things they shouldn’t. Stay away from saying things like, "I’m sorry to ask for this, but I feel that I deserve a raise." Manisha Katiyal, a call-center employ-

ee blames this attitude of hers for not securing a better job when she had the chance. “It was a great offer and at the salary negotiations everything broke down. I sounded so

desperate and sorry that I deserved the raise, that the interviewer told me, ‘If you are so apologetic about yourself, I wonder if we will be right in hiring you.’ It taught me a great lesson.”

MY MARKET VALUE IS SO MUCH BUT I AM WILLING TO SETTLE FOR SOMETHING LESS

"D

on't discount your worth right out of the gate with language like, "My rate is `45,000, but I'll

take `25,000." You are already being valued less than you're worth because you are a woman. Practice

with a friend until you sound confident if you can't actually be confident. (Fake it until you make it.)

YES (TO THE FIRST OFFER).

I

LACK OF SELF-ESTEEM IS BAD

O

nce again, if you don't yet possess confidence, fake it.

Eventually you'll grow into your own power without having sacrificed raises and promotions along the way. By being unsure if you're worth more, telling yourself that other people are more clever/worthy than you or deserving of larger money amounts, you're putting yourself down in the worst possible way. Stop this, before you fade into anonymity!

T

REVIEW TO LEARN

he only way you can really improve your ability to negotiate is to explicitly learn from your experiences. After you finish negotiations, reflect on what you did that worked well and what you might want to do differently next time.

f you aren't in a position to make the first offer (and make it more than you're willing to take) then at least don't agree to the first offer given to you. Your employer expects you to negotiate and has more authority than the first offer made. Say, "I appreciate your proposal. I did a little research on my current market value [handing the proposal over] and it's 10 per cent (or 20 or 30) more than that." Sunaina Sharma, a marketing manager says, “I think it’s imperative that we never say yes to the first offer otherwise the future employers may think that you can easily be bought and controlled and will therefore try and settle you on a low pay scale. If you are confident about yourself then say it. They can’t penalise you. For all you know they might even agree to it.”

NO (IF YOU BELIEVE YOU'VE REACHED IMPASSE)

T

he point of a negotiation is to drive the conversation to an agreement.

Saying "no" closes off the conversation and makes it difficult to start back up. Always be moving toward getting the deal you want.

L

earn as much as you can about the pay scale of the company that wants to hire you. Find out the industry average, as well.

You may aspire to a career in scheduling at a major airline, but if the company's practice is to hire from within, you might need to accept an entry-level position.

Union constraints may limit any flexibility on salary levels, no matter how many university degrees you have. As part of your research, you need to have a clear idea of what your minimum salary expectations are. Do the math in advance and decide what your deal-breaker point is.

EMPHASISE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR SKILLS

W

hen you talk about your last job, describe your accomplishments.

Quantify your successes in terms of cost savings, increased productivity and overall contribution to the company. This will help the interviewers recognize the benefits of having you join their team, and will help boost the salary offer. If you earned performance bonuses or incentive awards, mention those so that you'll be viewed as an achiever.

BE PREPARED FOR A NO

B

e prepared for "no" as another possibility. Know in advance how you'll react if the answer is a "no". Aim to be gracious but also try to think outside the square.

Acknowledge that the employer came to the negotiating table in good faith.

Remind yourself that you are not your salary. This is not personal––it's business.

Source: Linkedin.com, inputs from Postnoon, wikihow

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

spotlight A GRAND WEDDING

1

2

4

3

BEST WISHES Two of the most well known families in the City got together on the wedding of Saffan Baig with Husna Fatima at Le Palace Royale, Secunderabad. It was an evening to be remembered.

5

6

7

7 Jaffer Alam Khan, Harhshad

1 Saad

8

9

10

11

2 Mehamoob, Toishif,Kashif

8 Nasser

3 Ahamad, Hyder

9 Rashid

4 Saffan Baig

10 Kuthub

5 Khaaja, Fareed

11 Harshad Ayub

6 Jabran, Rasheed

12 Hyder, Arshad

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

health

NEW VACCINE LAUNCHED TO BATTLE TYPHOID

A leading biotechnology company Monday launched a new vaccine for typhoid that can be given to infants below two years of age and to adults too. Typbar-TCV is said to be the world's first clinically proven typhoid conjugate vaccine which can provide long term protection to adults as well as children six months old and above.

EAT RIGHT

CARBOHYDRATES

PROTEIN

Sources: Whole grains, cereals, legumes, fruits, milk, sugar, potatoes Quantity per day: 40-60 per cent of the calorie requirement

FAT

Sources: Butter, cream, cheese, nuts, seeds, oil, chicken, beef Quantity per day: 15-25 per cent of calorie requirement

19

Sources: Pulses, legumes, milk products, chicken, fish, eggs Quantity per day: 10-35 per cent of calorie requirement

FINDING A

BALANCE

VITAMIN A

Sources: Carrots, spinach, liver, fish Quantity per day: 700-900 mcg

CALCIUM

Sources: Milk, yogurt, spinach Quantity per day: 1,000mg

VITAMIN B2 (RIBOFLAVIN)

Sources: Dark green vegetables, milk, liver, eggs, legumes Quantity per day: 1.1-1.3mg

A balanced diet has long been the favourite catchphrase of all doctors.

But what exactly does your body need and in what quantity?

Here's your guide to a healthy meal.

IRON

Sources: Beans, lentils, beef, eggs Quantity per day: 8mg for men, 18mg for women

VITAMIN E

Sources: Soybean, corn, cottonseed, egg yolks Quantity per day: 15 mcg

VITAMIN B1 (THIAMINE)

Sources: Whole grain cereals, liver, pork, eggs Quantity per day: 0.8-1mg

VITAMIN C

Sources: Citrus fruits like oranges and lemons Quantity per day: 75-90mg

VITAMIN D

VITAMIN K

Sources: Egg yolks, liver Quantity per day: 15 mcg

Sources: Leafy vegetables, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, olive oil Quantity per day: 120 mcg

SOURCE: Annapurna Agrawal, Nutritionist at Snap Fitness India, IANS

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TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Technology GAMECON

It’s the digital age, but one must meet and greet Spanning an area the size of some 20 soccer pitches, Europe’s largest videogames trade fair opened its doors on Thursday.

V

ideogames maker Electronic Arts knows that in the Vatican there are more than just a few soccer fans thanks to customer feedback for its flagship sports title FIFA Soccer mined from connected gamers all over the world.

Game developers such as EA, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft and Sony are sitting on a treasure trove of client data that enables them to reach the right target group at the right time, yet every year in August they still flock to the Gamescom in Cologne to meet gamers in person.

Spanning an area the size of some 20 soccer pitches, Europe’s largest videogames trade fair opened its doors on Thursday. It has been growing steadily every year and the 2013 convention with 340,000 visitors not just surpassed its predecessors but far exceeded the expected 275,000.

“The brilliant part about this show is, it is the equivalent of real live Twitter,” said David Rutter, executive producer of

EA’s FIFA soccer videogame.

“We have a coding room here in the venue. Fans who like our games come in and play. We ask what they like, what they don’t and we instantly can make the changes.”

Adding to Gamescom’s appeal this year was that visitors, willing to queue for half an hour or more, could try out two brand new consoles that will only be available from November - Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4.

The Cologne show is the first opportunity for gamers to actually play the games after

they were unveiled two months ago at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles.

“We are experiencing a banner year for console gaming, the kind that we’ve not had for a while,” said Steve Bailey, games analyst at research firm IHS. “This is when the value of E3 and Gamescom is at its peak, as a loudhailer platform not just for the dissemination of information, but of projecting a sense of eventfulness.”

The convention doesn’t just serve as a promotional stage to showcase new games to consumers but also attracts man-

NUMEROLOGY

340K

The Gamecon has been growing steadily every year and the 2013 convention with 340,000 visitors not just surpassed its predecessors but far exceeded the expected 275,000.

agers from major manufacturers looking to do business. Product placement in videogames is a billion dollar market - one that carmakers for example can’t afford to miss out on.

“We have a full schedule of appointments in Cologne, meeting both partners with whom we already are in close collaboration as well as new game developers interested in a creative exchange of ideas,” said Claudia Mueller, head of Entertainment Marketing at BMW, whose Z4 coupe features prominently in the online racing game “Auto Club Revolution”. Located at the center of Europe along the continent’s main trade routes, Germany has a long history of trade shows including the Book Fair and IAA autoshow in Frankfurt as well as the IFA in Berlin, Europe’s biggest consumer electronics show.

Germany hosted 649 conventions in 2012, ranking it second to the United States, according to data from ICCA, a global association for the trade fair industry.

AGENCIES

CHILDREN PRIVACY US judge grants final approval to Facebook over ads settlement A US judge on Monday granted final approval to Facebook’s $20 million settlement of a lawsuit over targeted advertising despite objections that the deal did not go far enough to protect children’s privacy.

Five plaintiffs filed a class action against Facebook in 2011, saying the social networking giant’s “Sponsored Stories” program shared users’ “likes” of certain advertisers with friends without paying them or allowing them to opt out.

A “Sponsored Story” is an advertisement that appears on a member’s Facebook page and generally consists of a friend’s name, profile picture and an assertion that the person “likes” the advertiser.

The case has highlighted tension between privacy concerns and Facebook’s drive to monetize user content.

Under the terms of the settlement, Facebook will pay $20 million to compensate class members, and promised to give users more control over how their content is shared - changes which plaintiff lawyers estimate to have a value of up to $145 million.

Facebook charged advertisers nearly $234 million for Sponsored Stories between January 2011 and August 2012, court filings show.

Child rights advocates had argued that no minors should have their content shared with advertisers. But in an order on Monday, US District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco wrote that the settlement, “while not incorporating all features that some of the objectors might prefer, has significant value.”

Representatives for Facebook, the plaintiffs or objectors could not immediately be reached for comment. The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Angel Fraley et al., individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs.

Facebook Inc, 11-cv-1726.

21

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Entertainment SHOWING RESPECT

Don't promote Madha Gadha Raja as MGR:

VISHAL T

he much-delayed Vishal Krishna-starrer Tamil romantic-comedy Madha Gadha Raja is slated to release September 6, and actor Vishal does not want it promote MGR, the title's abbreviated version. The late iconic MG Ramachandran, who was chief minister of the state for a decade until his death in 1987, was popularly known as MGR. "I have been hearing people using the abbreviated version of the title. I want to reiterate that the film is titled Madha Gadha Raja and not MGR. We don't want to attract controversy and therefore I urge everyone to stop using the abbreviated title,"

Vishal said. Directed by Sundar C, the film is releasing after eight months of delay. It was slated to come out during Pongal. "The film was delayed due to several reasons, but I'm glad it's finally coming out. It's an out-and-out comedy entertainer. I'm sure audiences will love it," said the actor, without giving any details. Madha Gadha Raja, also featuring Anjali, Varalakshmi, Sada, Santhanam and Sonu Sood in important roles, has been dubbed in Telugu as Nataraja Thaney Raja and will simultaneously released along with its Tamil version. Vishal, who turned producer with the recently released Tamil actioncomedy Pattatthu Yaanai, has bought the distribution rights of Tamil and Telugu version of Madha Gadha Raja.

He will be releasing the film under his home banner Vishal Factory.

IANS

I want to reiterate that the film is titled Madha Gadha Raja and not MGR. I urge everyone to stop using the abbreviated title.

Vishal Krishna

CINE BYTES ‘Ego-free heroes every director's delight’

A

R Murugadoss, who has worked with superstars like Vijay, Ajith Kumar and Aamir Khan, says he enjoys working with them as they don't have ego problems.

Known for helming films such as Ghajini, 7am Arivu and Stalin, Murugadoss is currently busy with Hindi remake of Thuppakki with Akshay Kumar. IANS

Telugu dubbing of Kochadaiyaan begins

T

he Telugu dubbing of Kochadaiyaan starring Rajinikanth has begun. Deepika Padukone is playing the female lead. The movie will be released as Vikrama Simha in Telugu. AR Rahman has composed the music for the film.

Rana to work with home banner?

S

uresh Productions might be one of the most prestigious production houses in Tollywood but Rana who is a scion of the noted Daggubati family hasn’t had a chance to work with his home banner yet. Recently in an audio launch funtion, he said, “Very soon I would like to act in a film produced by Suresh Productions”.

22

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

GETTING SPORTY

CINE BYTES

Katrina Kaif’s sister ties the knot

K

atrina Kaif’s sister Natacha tied the knot Sunday and thanks to the Bollywood actress’ busy schedule, she could only leave Mumbai for London just hours before the ceremony. Katrina left Mumbai for London midnight on Saturday to join her family for the wedding, thereby rubbishing all the rumours and speculation regarding her alleged time-off for a visit to join Ranbir Kapoor in Sri Lanka.

IANS

Watch Zanjeer for my clothes: Mahie Gill

B

ollywood actress Mahie Gill, who will be seen next in film Zanjeer, has said that her fans must watch out for her different outfits in the film. Pria Kataria designed her outfits in the film. “I feel that Pria is the best designer. I love her clothes. She makes you feel really sexy and glamorous. She made me look so glamorous today,” Mahie said.

IANS

I am not bigger than any show: Rohit Roy

R

ohit Roy, who has been part of the television industry for a number of years now, says stardom on television cannot make a show successful. He feels that this is the prime difference when it comes to film and TV. “Film is a larger than life medium where a hero or a heroine runs a movie. In TV, very few people can drive a show. Otherwise, it is the show that drives you. I am not bigger than any show either,” Rohit said.

IANS

I’VE NEVER PLAYED SPORTS IN MY LIFE: PRIYANKA CHOPRA

B

ollywood actress Priyanka Chopra, who plays boxer Mary Kom in an upcoming biopic on the Olympic medallist, says what makes the film harder for her is the fact that she never played sports in her life.

“To learn a new sport and to get her body language, I don’t know how am I going to do this. I have never played sports in my life.

This is my hardest film,” said Priyanka.

Priyanka has been working hard to perfect herself for the role. She even visited Imphal to meet Kom and the place where the boxing champ practises.

The 31-year-old believes this biopic, directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, will be different.

“Most of the biopics are of persons who are either no more or seniors. But Mary is 32 years old and an international icon. It’s a very difficult film. I want to show her personality in the film,” she said.

Priyanka’s forthcoming films also includes Zanjeer, a remake of megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s 1973 film of the same name. This is the third remake of a Big B-starrer that Priyanka features in.

“Mr. Bachchan is my favourite actor. I am glad I have been a part of his remake films. I think its a co-incidence,” she said.

Earlier, she was seen in the remake of Amitabh’s Don and Agneepath.

The new Zanjee”, directed by Apoorva Lakhia, releases September 6. It features southern star Ram Charan Teja in the lead.

IANS

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

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Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

24

25

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

LATE HONOUR

CINE BYTES

VIN DIESEL honoured with star on Walk of Fame J

ust over a decade ago, Vin Diesel shot from nearobscurity to earning a $10 million payday in what seemed like record time, racing from an ensemble role in Saving Private Ryan to headlining XXX in nearly four years. But those who think of Diesel as an overnight action star don’t know the half of it.

“Vin is one of the most wildly misunderstood actor-producers out there,” says Universal co-chairman Donna Langley, whose connection with Diesel predates even 2001’s The Fast and the Furious, tracing back to Boiler Room at New Line.

While Diesel’s fans are familiar with his muscular physique and the trademark thunder-roll of his voice, what they don’t necessarily realise is just how much work Diesel puts into developing the movies they see as pure popcorn fun — or how hard he struggled to get to this point.

Before he became a star, Diesel broke through as an independent filmmaker, writing and directing work that was invited to screen at the Sundance and Cannes film festivals.

And before he retires, Diesel will likely step behind the camera again, maybe even to direct his long-brewing passion project, Hannibal.

It‘s Diesel’s behind-the-scenes attention to the bones of a project — not his onscreen muscles — that represent the integrity behind the Riddick and The Fast and the Furious franchises. Diesel is an active producer on both, dedicating long hours to make sure the films deliver what audiences expect.

He’s not bragging when he says, “I turned down more money than I had ever even heard of to do 2 Fast 2 Furious, and instead of taking millions of dollars, I took $50,000 to do a WGA polish on Chronicles of Riddick. For Diesel, getting the story right is the first priority.

Austin Mahone named Artist To Watch

Y

ouTube sensation Austin Mahone took home the Artist To Watch honor at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday.

The 17-year-old crooner nabbed the award in recognition of his third single,"What About Love.

Mahone, has been likened to Aaron Carter and Justin Bieber, will release his debut album on October 8.

Blue Jasmine on course to be top Indie

W

oody Allen's Blue Jasmine is on its way to becoming the highestgrossing independent release of the year after taking in $4.3 million over the weekend. Sony Pictures Classics aggressively expanded the drama, in which Cate Blanchett plays the wife of a Bernie Madoff-type swindler, into 1,283 theaters in its fifth weekend, up from 229.

Cheryl Cole defends her new tattoo

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inger Cheryl Cole has defended her new tattoo, which covers her entire derriere, by saying that people can have their own opinion. The 30-year-old created a buzz when it was revealed that she got her entire lower back and derriere tattooed with a red and black rose. She got mixed responses from her fans.

IANS

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule – and both commonly succeed, and are right.

HL Mencken

KAKURO

QUICK CROSSWORD

26

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

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

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

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

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

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

ACROSS

PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER

SCRIBBLING PAD

1 It’s often near crackers or carrots 4 Agency controlling TV 7 Had been 10 Possibilities 13 Feeling of fury 14 ‘Watch it!’

16 You might take it lying down 17 Michael Douglas role 19 Good thing to call an elderly gentleman 20 Prefix with ‘Chinese’ or ‘European’ 21 More E than N 22 Autumn color 24 Move emotionally 26 Cowboy’s horse 29 ‘... but few ___ chosen’ 30 Belg was in it 32 Took a policy on 33 Abate 35 Famous Siamese twin 36 Rock band T ___ 37 Superman’s alter ego 40 A Gabor, when doubled 42 Stooge with a bowl cut 43 Casualties 47 Quartet crossing Abbey Road 49 Boarding-pass word 50 Solo of sci-fi 51 Rolled Mexican dish 53 Disgraced veep Agnew 55 Out ___ light 56 Elected ones 58 Knowledgable about 59 US Department of Justice org 60 2001 Martin Lawrence epic 64 Thanksgiving day (Abbr) 65 Defamation suit defendant 66 Bruce with chops 67 US immigrant’s class 68 H that’s a vowel 69 Bighorn breeder 70 Bring the curtain down

DOWN

1 Kind of photography or clock 2 Cargo on the ill-fated Edmund Fitzgerald 3 Some grocery-store chicken roasters 4 ‘Kiss my grits’ lady 5 Volcano shape 6 After-dinner brandy 7 Chinese cooking necessity 8 Northern diving bird 9 Barflies’ perches 10 Close to the coast 11 Women, in old-fashioned parlance 12 Holiday meal, informally 15 Retain 18 Bespectacled dwarf 23 Wimbledon venues 25 Bread end 27 Color for baby girls 28 Muhammad Ali cornerman Dundee 31 Crown covering 34 Criticise harshly 35 Barely manage (with ‘out’) 38 A California Santa 39 ‘___ as good a time as any’ 40 Pinnacles 41 Potato buy 44 Doctor’s signboard 45 Like clay pots 46 Acted snobbishly toward 47 Arrive past due 48 Legally accountable 49 Get one’s goat 52 They may be thrown for a loss 54 Maui mouthful 57 Depict unfairly, as data 61 Ignited 62 League where Dr J’s pro career began 63 Bridal bio word

Chai Time TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 28-8-2013

27

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

Exporters will reap good benefits. Self=confidence level will be at its high. Employees will feel cheerful as management will accept their demands. Real estate deals will end with gains.

Businessmen will land sudden and unexpected fortune.

TAURUS

Money will be received from all the expected sources. VIPs will become your friends. Politicians will be in limelight and get support from the high command. Success is certain as you work hard and sincerely. A court verdict will go in favour.

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

A courageous decision will yield desirable results. Confusion will disappear as you get a clear-cut vision. Work held up for long will resume now and end successfully. Misunderstanding and cold war with a neighbour will soon be over.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Your influence is set to improve and you will attract someone from the opposite sex. Clever talk and creativity will earn you appreciation. You will maintain your cool and work with a lot of patience. Money will come from the expected sources.

Your cool attitude will ensure that all undertaken work get completed successfully. Some will undertake pilgrimage. Speculation will yield decent gains.

You hesitate to enter into others’ personal matters. Be careful while driving as accident is likely.

You will be upset as income and expenses match, with which you will not be able to save as per plan. Heat-related ailments are likely to affect you; take care through treatment. Avoid impossible commitments to anyone and harsh talk.

Children will make you feel happy and proud. You will be responsible and complete all work with full focus. Govt sops are likely for businessmen. Financial position will be strong, hence you will feel relaxed. Marriage talks will progress fruitfully.

Some have a bright chance to go abroad for the first time.

Real estate transactions will land favourable gains. Blood relatives will extend financial and physical help to encourage you. You will be focused in getting all work done successfully.

Your talk exposes maturity and sound knowledge. Everyone will appreciate you for your innovative approach. Those deprived of a child may hear good news soon. With swift actions you will be able to put your enemies at bay.

Money will come from all the expected sources and let you relax. You will be very generous but at the same time firm in decisions. You might be worried about the future. Sudden travel likely to be undertaken will yield desired results.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Justice – Time will tell, whether your actions have taken you in the right path or not. At the end, justice will be done. You needn’t worry about right and wrong.

LEO:

Queen of Pentacles – You are happiest in your own world doing your own thing. You may even come across as a loner. There will be times when you feel lonely.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

Page of Swords – You may be impulsive. Guard against that if you want to get into the game for the long haul. You need not make decisions right now.

SAGITTARIUS:

The Empress – Singles are likely to find someone attractive in an unusual place like a conference or a public place like a bus stop. Strike up a conversation.

TAURUS:

Six of Wands – There will be many ups and downs on the work front. You will have to battle this, and sometimes, you think this is not going to be worth it.

CANCER:

Temperance – This is an exceptionally trying time.

People will move away from you and you will be forced to develop a relationship with yourself. Be patient.

VIRGO:

Page of Pentacles – You will see success with your ideas for the moment. But time will tell if these will remain successful in the months to come. Bide your time.

SCORPIO:

Four of Wands – The wait is over. You are now moving, very slowly, toward your goals.

You feel excellent about your health and are waiting to charge ahead.

CAPRICORN:

King of Cups – It’s the tug of war between the head and heart. Your heart seems to be telling you to do something irrational but your head cautions against it.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

The Tower – Everything is changing forever. This may not be such a bad thing. There will be times when you doubt your own decisions. Use your intuition well.

NUMBER GAME

Priest – The solutions are right in front of you. Yet, you hesitate to take a call and get into the heart of the matter. Be more practical.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: The High

POOCH CAFE

Spouse’s health may be a cause for concern. You might be deprived of sleep due to tension; however, wise actions will drive away the tension.

Those who benefitted through you might not respect you but will realise your importance.

for 28-8-2013

Five of Pentacles – Conflict and uncomfortable situation has to be tackled. Stay away from the situation. Do not aggravate it by using harsh words and judgment.

NON SEQUITUR

Apprehensions will disappear.

Delayed marriage talk will resume and get finalised. You will involve yourself in new efforts and become successful.

Purchase or sale of house or land will be profitable. Those trying for job will succeed.

SUDUKO

ARIES

Boggle BABY MOLAR WISDOM INCISOR Vol: 3, No 38 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at # Plot no.550-A1,3rd floor, Road no-92, Jubilee hills, Hyderabad-500033 Landmark - Volkswagen showroom and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission of the publisher is prohibited. For feedback, please write to: feedback@postnoon. com and for subscription, please call 040-4067 2222, Fax: 040-4067 2211

28

Entertainment TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

IT’S JUST A LITTLE CRUSH

CINE BYTES

SELENA GOMEZ

has a crush on George Clooney!

S

orry, Justin Bieber. Selena Gomez may have won big at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, but she’s got her eye on another prize: George Clooney!

The 21-year-old, who scored a Moonman for Best Pop Video for latest hit single Come & Get It revealed to E! News her latest celebrity crush is none other than Hollywood’s hottest hunk.

When asked who her celebrity crush is, the songstress admitted: “Well I once said Logan Lerman but now it’s George Clooney.”

Hmm, now that’s a couple we’d love to follow. Not to mention, Selooney has a nice ring to it.

Selena also told E! exclusively that her favorite performance from Sunday night’s show was Robin Thicke. “I really thought the collaboration with Miley was amazing!” she said.

Justin Timberlake leads MTV Video Music Awards

S

inger-songwriter Justin Timberlake won four trophies, the maximum, at the MTV Video Music Awards 2013 held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Timberlake won the best video of the year award for his song “Mirrors”, which was also honoured for best editing.

IANS

Khloe wants husband to take polygraph test

T

elevision presenter Khloe Kardashian apparently wants husband Lamar Odom to take polygraph test to prove himself innocent. The couple’s marriage hit a rough patch after two women accused Lamar of having affairs with them separately. Even though none of them have approached their lawyers for divorce, Khloe wants to know the truth, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

IANS

Catching Fire: Wiress joins Victor Banner

T

he latest tribute has been added to the Hunger Games: Catching Fire Victor Banner.

Wiress (Amanda Plummer) joins Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), Johanna (Jena Malone), Gloss (Alan Ritchson) and Mags (Lynn Cohen). Wiress is a victor from District 3 and reenters the games with district partner, and loyal companion, Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), who has yet to be added to the banner.

sports

29

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

INDIAN BADMINTON LEAGUE

Warriors Pistons seal semis berth Awadhe Warriors defeated Pune Pistons 3-2 in their encounter when the two sides clashed. With this encounter, both the teams booked their semifinal berth.

G. APARNA SAI aparna.s@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Awadhe Warriors defeated Pune Pistons 3-2 in their Indian Badminton League encounter when the two sides clashed at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, here on Monday. With this encounter, both the teams booked their semifinal berth.

The Warriors managed to bag four points with this victory and are currently at the top of the table.

In the opening match, Warriors’ K Srikanth clashed with Pistons’ Saurabh Verma.

They both put up a good fight but it was the former who ultimately emerged victorious defeating his opponent 21-18, 21-16.

In the women’s singles, PV Sindhu managed to clinch victory from the jaws of defeat when she beat Pune’s Juliane Schenk.

Schenk looked to be in control for a major part of the match but she always fumbled at the last hurdle, losing both the sets on the score 20-21.

The story was not very different for the Pistons in the men’s doubles category.

Warriors’ Mathias Boe and Markis Kido won their men's doubles rubber against Arun

Vishnu and Sanave Thomas 2115, 21-16 to seal the tie 3-0.

It was after this match that fate swung in the favour of the Pistons. The Pistons came back well and won the second men's singles and mixed doubles rubbers and qualified for the semifinals along with their opponents.

Pistons' Tien Minh Nyugen won the second men's singles rubber 21-12, 21-18 against RMV Gurusaidutt while in the final mixed doubles match Pistons' icon player Ashwini Ponnappa with partner Joachim Fischer Nielsen beat the brother-sister pairing of Markis Kido and Pia Bernadeth 21-16, 21-14.

PV Sindhu of Awadhe Warriors reacts after defeating Juliane Schenk fo Pune Pistons during their Indian Badminton League clash in Hyderabad on Monday.

SRINIVAS SETTY

Post their victory Ashwini said that Fischer was an experienced player and keeps correcting her mistakes.

“I am glad that my team

LEAGUE CRICKET

n A division two days Syndicate 137 (Santosh Shekar 52, Arvind Shetty 53no, Mahesh Kumar Goud 4/38, Ashwin Vijay 4/44) bt Sultan Shahi 110 (Vamshi Raghava 39, G Srinivas Rao 7/47, MA Jaweed 3/45) Vijay Hanuman 258 (Kartikeya Kak 54, Vishesh 52, Jayaram Reddy 51, Chandrakanth Dixit 3/74, Raghavendra Raj 3/50) vs Hyderabad Titans 8 for no loss Gouds XI 298 (Vamshi Vardhan Reddy 34, K Sainadh 140, Y Harish 71, Shahshidhar 4/47, Rajender 4/88) vs Galaxy Sporting XI 226 (Varun Yadav 73, Vivek Mohan 83, Faheem 4/34, Abhishek Singh 4/54) vs SA Amberpet 18/1 Team Speed 145/7 (Abhinay 37, Sandeep Goud 46) vs Gujrathi XI Gemini Friends 478 (Chandrasekhar 143, Parvath 83, Abdul Shakeel 79, Christy 60, Laxman 45, Abdul Ela 4/) vs CCOB Brothers XI 377 (Akender Kunwar 175, Md Saleem 33, Yogesh 31, Md Sajjad Ali 49, Ajay Rawat 3/102, Md Taquiullah 4/87) vs P&T Colony Osmania 192 (Santosh Reddy 57no, Dinesh Kumr 34, Karthik Reddy 5/47) vs Venus Cybertech 11/2 n A division one day Gowlipura 166 (Arun Kumar 34, Raghuveer 48, Vijay Kumar 3/30, Fahad Patel 5/39) bt Adams XI 91 (Arun Kumar 33, Rohan Baba 3/12, Srikanth 3/17) MP Blues 130 (L Srinivas 51, Ramesh 3/13) bt LNCC 91 (Pranay 34, Satish 3/17) Vijaypuri Willowmen 149 (Zarkash 35, Sagar 5/43, Yogesh Mehta 3/37) bt Azad 133 (Khuzema 45, Shakir Ahmed 5/44) Sagar XI 250 (Vijay Naik 40, A Raju 41, Akshay 30, K Meher 54, Akshay 4/40) bt Rohit XI 189 (Krishna Samson 81, Ansul 5/34) RK Puram 216/6 (Raja 33, Nagesh 46, M Vijay Kumar 35) bt HUCC 95 (T Arun Kumar 5/45, M Premnand 5/25) Mayura CC 247 (Kamal Choudhary 30, Gopal Jha 55, Sanjay Singh 86, Jaber Khan 4/51) bt Hyderabad Panthers XI 214 (MA Waheed 34, Adam 42, Akshilesh Yadav 5/32) XI Masters 191 (Sesha Sai 43, Shiva 49, Jayachandra 5/22) bt Lal Bahadur CC 189 (Sesha Sai 3/24) Natraj CC 179 (J Charan Pal 72, Junaid Ali 37,

worked hard together to qualify for the semis. As far as my game is concerned, I couldn't have played better than this,” she added.

FOR CHARITY SA Aziz Quadri 3 for 31, Azmath Khan 3/59) lost to Boys Town 181/2 (Pragun Dubey 100no) Saint Sai 87 (Bhuvan Reddy 6/40, Vamshi Srivasthav 3/19) lost to All Saints 89/3 (G Madhu Kumar 37) Southened Raymonds 189 (Akshay 39, P Arun Kumar 68, Arvind 3/7, Chaitanya 3/45) bt AB Colony 166 (Arvind 40) Income Tax 277 (G Maruthi Prasad 33, Shiv Charan 44, Himanshu Joshi 89, Ankith 5/95, Nishanth 3/13) bt SN Group 184 (Pawan Kumar 33, Abhishek 48, J Timothy Ravi Kumar 3/54, TK Nagaraju 3/30) Imperial 154 (Kashyap 64, Ramdas 3 for 26, Nayan varu 4 for 42) lost to Roshanara 157 for 7 (Amit Singh 45, Kashyap 3 for 39) Gunrock 188 (Mujeeb 45, Bhargav 50, Anirudh 3/37) lost to St Patricks 189 for no loss (Hrishikesh 106no, Saathyakhi Miryala 56no) St Andrews 306/6 (K Preetham 78, Abhinav Kumar 43, S Sohail 105no, Siddhanth 3/44) bt Nobel 136 (Thirupathi 35, Sai Aadhithya 3/27) Secunderabad Club 253/8 (CV Anand 88, Kashyap Patel 77, Srikanth 6/59) bt PKCC 138 (Chalapathi 31, Vijay 36, Akshat Badruka 4/32) Vijay Bharath 139 (Krishna 4/24, Sai Purnanand Rao 3/39) lost to Sungrace 142/8 Sacred Heart 76 (Md Abrar Khan 5/15) lost to Classic 77/4(Jerome Arokianathan 3/35) Manikumar 216/5 (P Siddharth 38, B Sai Ramdev 66no) lost to Shalimar 218/8 (Samuel Raj 52, KVI Satwik 3/65) Victor CC 112 (Krishna 4/17) bt Eklavya 53 (Rajamani Prasad 4/26, Ashfaq Ali 5/27) Vijaynagar 163 (Ajay Yadav 55, Abhishek 3/33) bt Tarakarama 119 (Vikram 33, MD Munnawar 5/33) Deccan Blues 90 (Mahmood 5/17, Qawi 3/20) lost to Red Hills 91/7 (Vishal 3/17) Greenlands 278 (M Pratyush Kumar 39, Kiran 68, Sanjay 62, Ravi 3/49) bt Raju CC 71 (M Pratyush Reddy 8/30) HPS R 134 (Hrishikesh Simha 46, Jayant 36, YVVS Sai Charan 4/24, Kapil Vyas 4/8) lost to WMCC 139/5 (YVVS Sai Charan 31) Kishoresons 146 (Harish Yadav 33, Aakarsh Jain 51, Syed Mateen 3/20, Yasin Baig 4/36) bt Youngmaster 68 (Akash Jain 5/34, Ajmer 5/18) Deccan Wanderers 160/7 (Md Imrose 73, Srikanth Kesari 4/43) lost to Ameerpet 161/4 (Shabbir 44, Mubhashir 38no) Young Citizen 279 (Vikas 103, Ajay Dev Goud

37, Mahender 3/43) bt Satya CC 189 (Rasheed 90, Ajay Dev Goud 7/37, Jaidev 3/35) Youth CC 164/8 (Ankit Agarwal 57, Naresh 4/29) bt Ameerpet 156 (Rajkumar 41, Ameer 49, S Maqeeth Ahmed 4/45) Agarwal Sr 176 (Khaled 38, Junaid 62, V Ravi Kumar 8/36) bt Kakatiya 148 (Sai 47, Prashanth 49, Khaled 4/40, Shaker 5/26) n Inter district two days Day 2 Karimnagar 126 and 172 (Vikranth 67, Hareen 57no, Sudheer 3/25, SK Asif 3/30) lost to Khammam 272 and 27 for no loss Nizamabad 211 and 178 (Sajeed 36, Suraj Naik 34, Vikarm 32, Rakesh Goud 4/32)drew with Adilabad 167 (Sandeep 3/49, Lalith Reddy 3/40) and 157 Ramesh Yadav 45 Medak 275 and 232/9 (Md Samiuddin 42, Praveen 86, P Upender Reddy 4/33, Mohd Nissar 3/37) bt Nalgonda 175 and 179 (Krishna Reddy 57, Srikanth Reddy 43no, Md Younus 34, Saikumar 4/36) n HCA Coca Cola

under-16 inter school Super League Quarter Finals Wesley Boys Junior College 321/3 (Chandan Sahani 123no, G Vineeth Reddy 126, B Srinath 43) bt St Mary’s Junior Colleg Basheerbagh 148/8 (Shantan Reddy 46, Akshay Kumar 45, KV Rakesh 4/24) All Saints High School 251 (G Madhu Kumar 40, Md Ibrahim Ali 39) bt HPS Ramantapur192/9 (HK Simha 40, Vamshi Srivastav 3/38) HPS B 114 (Sachin 31, Sohail 3/24) lost to St Andrews High School 115/3 (Sohail 46no) Adilabad District 149 (P Naveen 32, J Anjaiah 31) lost to Bhavans S A JC 150/1 (Sai Kiran 66, Nikhil Naidu 62no) n Under-19 Day 3 Hyderabad U-19 167 and 179 (Rahul Singh 68, G Shashidhar 38, Fabid Farooq 3/61, Anand Raj 5/60) lost to Kerala U-19 168 (Jofin Jose 39 ,Balu Babu 48, Tanay Tyagrajan 7/53) and 179/9 (Anuj Jotin 38, Salman Nizar 51no, Tanay Thyagarajan 6/78) Andhra U-19 190 and 322/9 decl (Jawardhan 55, Ashwin Hebber 89, D Naren Reddy 92, Vikas Yadav 6/77) drew with Baroda U-19 121 and 52/3

Woods pulls out of event VERONA: Tiger Woods has pulled out of a charity golf event scheduled for Wednesday because of back pain which troubled him during the PGA Tour's The Barclays event, organizers said Monday.

"The important thing for Tiger is to make sure he is 100 percent healthy and not risk further injuring himself," said tournament organizer Notah Begay.

Woods was set to play in the 18-hole exhibition, called the Notah Begay III Foundation Challenge in the state of New York, until back spasms bothered him during The Barclays.

Despite the injury, he finished runner-up on Sunday, one shot behind Adam Scott.

It is not known if Woods will be able to participate in this weekend's Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

AFP

NBA

Ex-scoring champ McGrady retires SAN ANTONIO: Two-time league scoring champion Tracy McGrady, a member of the playoff runner-up San Antonio Spurs last season, announced his retirement from the National Basketball Association on Monday.

The seven-time all-star McGrady also played in the Chinese Basketball Association last season for the Qingdao Eagles.

"Thank all of you who have supported me over 16 NBA seasons, seven all-stars, and countless exciting moments.

Retiring from NBA," McGrady said.

30

sports TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

ASHES

Broad accepts apology Stuart Broad said he had accepted an apology from Darren Lehmann following the Australia coach’s scathing attack on the bowler.

LONDON: Stuart Broad said Monday he had accepted an apology from Darren Lehmann following the Australia coach’s scathing attack on the England bowler during the Ashes series.

Lehmann, speaking in a radio interview last week, accused Broad of “blatant cheating” following the pace bowler’s decision not to walk after edging a catch at Trent Bridge.

Broad told his Twitter followers: “Spoke to Darren Lehmann last (Sunday) night.

He apologised for his comments, I accepted it. He said they were made in Jest for banter. Done.”

Lehmann, whose team were beaten 3-0 by England over the five-Test series, also called on the Australian public to make life so difficult for Broad during the Ashes rematch in Australia later this year that he will want to cry and go home.

The comments earned Lehmann a fine of 20 percent of his match fee from the fifth and final Ashes Test at The Oval,

Morris to step down as ECB chief LONDON: Hugh Morris on Monday confirmed he is set to leave his position as the England and Wales Cricket Board’s managing director of cricket later this year.

Morris took the role in the aftermath of England’s 50 Test defeat in Australia in 2006-07 and has overseen three consecutive Ashes wins, culminating in the 3-0 rout of Michael Clarke’s team that ended with a dramatic drawn fifth Test at The Oval on Sunday.

He has accepted the combined position of chief executive and director of cricket with Glamorgan, the county he captained as a player, but it is understood he will remain with the ECB until the conclusion of the Ashes rematch in Australia later this year.

Former England captain Andrew Strauss, who retired last year, has been mooted as possible replacement after working for Sky television this summer.

AFP

Lehmann, speaking in a radio interview last week, accused Broad of “blatant cheating” following the pace bowler’s decision not to walk after edging a catch at Trent Bridge.

which ended in a draw on Sunday.

Former Australia batsman Lehmann, who took over as coach at the start of the series following Mickey Arthur’s acrimonious departure, confirmed Monday he’d spoken to Broad to draw a line under the incident and will look to make sure he chooses his words better in future.

“I’ve had a chat with him already. We just move on,” Lehmann said.

“It was a good learning curve for a new coach, wasn’t it?

“You know, it was a jovial setting but you’ve got to learn from that. I’ve got to learn and improve from that. The players aren’t on their own in trying to improve. Coaches have got to improve so that’s something I’ve got to get better at.”

Despite the series loss and the criticism he received following the radio interview, Lehmann still has passion for the role and is looking forward to the remainder of the tour in England and then renewal of the Ashes rivalry in November.

“I’m still loving it, it’s a great job,” he added.

“I’d like to win a Test match, though, but it’s a fantastic job.

I’ve seen all the players here, and the one-day and Twenty20 players are obviously starting Thursday, so you get to deal with them and look at how we’re going in that format of the game as well.”

AFP

‘Players may have answered call of nature’ LONDON: England spin bowler Graeme Swann on Tuesday confessed that some of his teammates may have urinated on the Oval pitch during late night celebrations toasting their Ashes victory.

Australian journalists earlier reported seeing three England players; swing-bowler James Anderson, batsman Kevin Pietersen and fast bowler Stuart Broad relieving themselves on the pitch as the players held a private midnight party on the famous turf.

“We did go out to the middle of the pitch, all the lads, drinking beers, singing a few songs and enjoying each other’s company,” Swann told the Sun newspaper.

“I think the call of nature might have come once or twice, but it was nothing untoward.

“It was midnight, a private celebration in the middle of the pitch and the ground was dark,” added the ace-spinner.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said it would investigate the reports.

Fellow spinner Monty Panesar was recently fined by police after being caught urinating on bouncers following a nightclub row.

AFP

ZURICH DIAMOND LEAGUE

Bolt to run in League ZURICH: Sprint legend Usain Bolt is among six Jamaicans confirmed for the Diamond League meeting in Zurich Thursday.

Bolt will compete in the men’s 100 metres, his first race since the Moscow World Championships, reports CMC. The six-time Olympic champion stole the spotlight at the Moscow World Championships by completing a triple gold-medal performance.

Bolt will race against three other Jamaicans — Nesta Carter, the 100-metre bronze medallist at the Moscow World Championships, Nickel

Ashmeade and Kemar Bailey Cole — in the short sprint.

The race also includes American Justin Gatlin, who won the silver medal behind Bolt in the 100 metres at the Moscow World Championships. Jamaican sprint queen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is

Sprint legend Usain Bolt is among six Jamaicans confirmed for the Diamond League meeting in Zurich.

also down to compete in Zurich, her first outing after creating history in Moscow.

Fraser-Pryce became the first woman in world championships history to sweep the sprint events, when she anchored Jamaica to gold in the 4x100-metre relay final to finish the championships with three gold medals, just like Bolt.

Fraser-Pryce will again come face-to-face with the big Ivory Coast sprinter Murielle Ahoure.

MOTO GP

Honda rule out Stoner return

SYDNEY: Honda team boss Livio Suppo Tuesday ruled out Casey Stoner making a wildcard appearance at his home Australian Grand Prix despite the former world Moto GP champion testing with the Japanese manufacturer.

Stoner fuelled speculation of a return to the sport when he test-rode with his old team earlier this month and said it was “really good to get back on the bike after nine months”.

But Suppo said the 27year-old Australian, who

shocked the sport last year when he retired at the peak of his career and switched to V8 Supercars, had no plans to compete again.

“For every manufacturer, to have a fast test rider is something like a dream; it’s

almost impossible to find a super-fast rider to do tests,” Suppo told the Australian Grand Prix podcast.

“With Casey, it was a perfect situation. Since he retired, we spoke about his dream to still ride the bike sometimes.

MEADOW

MAGIC

31

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

Nadal, Serena cruise ahead Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams cruised into the second round of the US Open but 17-time major winner Roger Federer was thwarted by rain.

DAVE JAMES Agence France-Presse NEW YORK CITY: US Open favorites Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, with 28 Grand Slam titles between them, cruised into the US Open on Monday but 17time major winner Roger Federer was thwarted by rain.

Nadal, the second-seeded 2010 champion who watched the 2012 US Open from his home in Spain as he endured a sevenmonth injury layoff, cruised to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 win over America’s Ryan Harrison to record a 16th win on hard courts this year.

The 27-year-old Spaniard has captured nine trophies since his return from injury in February, building up a 54-3 record in the process, and came into New York having won back-to-back Masters

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball against Ryan Harrison of the US during their 2013 US Open men’s singles match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Monday.

AFP/TIMOTHY CLARY

titles at Montreal and Cincinnati, comfortably erasing his shock first-round exit at Wimbledon.

“It’s a special emotion to be back in New York. It’s a special atmosphere,” said Nadal, who

Don’t pity me says cancer-survivor

NEW YORKL: Cancer survivor Alisa Kleybanova enjoyed a winning return to Grand Slam tennis on Monday at the US Open, but pleaded with fans not to pity her after her courageous battle for survival. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphona in 2011, an illness which forced her off tour until May this year.

Kleybanova, who once reached 20 in the world but now stands at 363 in the rankings, marked her first major appearance in over two years with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over number 44 Monica Puig of Puerto Rico.

“I’m happy that all those things are over for me now. I went through them. I came as a winner in that battle,” said Kleybanova.

“I hear a lot from people that I’m a big inspiration for them. A lot of people now look up to me.

I mean, I think it’s great. But I don’t want to be an example. “I’m not trying to show anything or whatever. I do it for myself. I want to play tennis.

I’m not trying to pretend anything. But if my story inspires people and gives them more belief, makes them feel stronger at some point, that’s great.”

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BRIEFS

next tackles either Canada’s Vasek Pospisil or Brazilian qualifier Rogerio Dutra Silva.

“I was nervous before the start, but I hope to have these nerves again in the future if it

means I win.”

Defending women’s champion Serena Williams, a four-time winner, needed just an hour to see off Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone, 6-0, 6-1.

The top seed fired 13 winners and broke the former French Open champion six times on her way to a second round match-up against Kazakhstan’s Galina Voskoboeva.

“I’m really excited,” Williams said. “I knew playing a former Grand Slam champion the first round was a tough draw so I just tried to be super serious.”

Venus Williams, the back-toback champion in 2000 and 2001 and the oldest woman left in the draw at 33, started her 15th US Open with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Belgian 12th seed Kirsten Flipkens, a semi-finalist at Wimbledon.

Trendy Djoker diet hard to swallow: Nadal NEW YORK CITY: Rafael Nadal blasted the current obsession with fad diets on Monday, especially the moves towards gluten-free eating popularised by Grand Slam rival Novak Djokovic. Nadal, the world number two, insisted he has never been tempted to succumb to what he describes as a passing trend which will be replaced by something more fashionable in years to come.

“At the end of the day, all the small things can help if you don’t get crazy. I always had the theory that the most important thing is be happy, enjoy what are you doing, and be fresh mentally,” said Nadal.

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Novak, Roger to take spotlight NEW YORK: World number one Novak Djokovic and 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer are Tuesday’s top attractions at the US Open with big servers John Isner and Milos Raonic also on the schedule.

Djokovic (in pic), a six-time Grand Slam champion who captured his fourth Australian Open crown earlier this year, launches his quest for a fourth consecutive trip to the US Open final when he faces Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis in the first night match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The Serbian star will be followed into the main stadium by two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who will meet Germany’s Dinah Pfizenmaier in a first-round matchup.

And seventh-seeded Swiss star Federer, at his lowest spot in the US Open order since 2002, will face Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja in the last afternoon match at Arthur Ashe in a

match that was postponed from Monday due to rain.

Canadian 10th seed Raonic opens against Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano at Louis Armstrong Stadium while Isner, the top US hope at the 13th seed, will meet Italy’s Filippo Volandri on the Grandstand.

Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych,

on a quarter-final collision course with British defending champion Andy Murray, faces Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi in their opener.

Czech seventh seed Petra Kvitova opens at Ashe with a morning match against Japan’s Misaki Doi while Denmark’s sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki, a 2011 US Open semi-finalist who was ousted last year in the first round, follows against China’s Duan Ying-Ying.

Italian fourth seed Sara Errani, a US Open semi-finalist last year, will meet Australian lucky loser Olivia Rogowska.

Another Aussie, 2011 US Open winner Samantha Stosur, launches her title bid against Victoria Duval.

Stosur split with her long-time coach David Taylor after a WTA title at Carlsbad, her first crown since her Grand Slam breakthrough two years ago on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts.

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Schiavone gets hug in trouncing

Evans steps out of Welsh twilight zone

Blake to retire after Open

NEW YORK: As she slipped to a 6-0, 6-1 US Open defeat to Serena Williams on Monday, Francesca Schiavone slumped into the arms of a ballboy on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. The Italian veteran was looking at a double-bagel in her first round tie after being given the run around by the defending champion when she embraced the startled youngster.

“I don’t need a hug in that moment. I needed a game, points,” said the 33-year-old former French Open champion.

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NEW YORK: Twelve months ago, Daniel Evans was playing an obscure Futures tournament in the Welsh town of Wrexham, earning a meager $480 for making the semi-finals of a competition on the circuit’s third tier.

But, on Monday, the 23-year-old swapped the somber surroundings of the North Wales Regional Tennis Centre for the razzmatazz of Flushing Meadows, stunning Japanese 12th seed Kei Nishikori, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2, in the first round of the US Open.

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NEW YORK CITY: James Blake, who snuck into the US Open as a youth by crawling under a fence, said Monday that he will end his 14-year career at his hometown Grand Slam event. The 33-year-old righthander announced his retirement from the conclusion of the US Open, which began Monday on the Flushing Meadows hardcourts where Blake reached his first Slam quarter-finals in 2005 and 2006. And even after a tearful farewell announcement, he apologized for sneaking in so often all those years ago.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2013

sports

ROONEY MAY DECIDE TO STAY: MOURINHO

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho suggested the pursuit of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney may be at an end following the 0-0 draw between the teams. Mourinho has had two bids for Rooney rejected and after he produced a committed display, Jose admitted he may miss out on signing him.

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Utd, Chelsea draw clash Manchester United and Chelsea ended their match in a 0-0 draw after Wayne Rooney displayed a committed effort throughout the game.

TOM WILLIAMS Agence France-Presse MANCHESTER: Wayne Rooney may have played his way out of a transfer to Chelsea after a committed display in Manchester United’s 0-0 draw against their Premier League rivals on Monday.

Rooney has been the subject of two failed bids from Chelsea in recent weeks, but he was one of few impressive players on a night when the season’s first major head-to-head clash failed to live up to its billing.

The England striker’s performance, in which he tested visiting goalkeeper Petr Cech on three occasions, prompted Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho to admit that he could miss out on a move for the 27-year-old.

“I think probably now he thinks he wants to stay,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “If that is his decision, we will respect that and say it is over.”

Rooney’s display, and Mourinho’s subsequent declaration, will have cheered David Moyes after his first home game as United manager, even though he saw his side refused a sec-

Manchester United’s English striker Wayne Rooney (L) tackles Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires (R) during AFP/ANDREW YATES their English Premier League match at Old Trafford in Manchester on Monday.

ond-half penalty following an apparent handball by Frank Lampard.

“I thought we played very well, but couldn’t get the final cross in to get the final chance in front of goal,” Moyes said.

“I didn’t have a great view of the penalty claims, but I think it’s still a situation where the referees don’t know what is handball and what isn’t.”

Mourinho provided a

Rooney has been the subject of two failed bids from Chelsea in recent weeks, but he was one of the few impressive players last night. provocative touchline presence and was goaded throughout on

his return to Old Trafford as Chelsea coach, but his team rarely threatened ahead of Friday’s UEFA Super Cup against Bayern Munich.

“We play to win but if we don’t win, we don’t lose, and I think the players understand this completely,” Mourinho said.

“Both teams gave everything and I think towards the end, my players went for the defensive position and to get the point.”

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Benzema stars in Real win

Rumours of Bale’s arrival in Real had overshadowed the game, but the visitors didn’t appear distracted as Benzema opened the scoring after just 10 minutes.

KIERAN CANNING Agence France-Presse MADRID: Real Madrid made it two wins from two games under Carlo Ancelotti with a 1-0 victory at Granada, but Los Blancos were again made to work for the three points.

Rumours of Gareth Bale’s impending arrival in Madrid had somewhat overshadowed the build-up to the game, but the visitors didn’t appear distracted as Karim Benzema opened the scoring after just 10 minutes. Mesut Ozil then had a goal ruled out and Isco struck the post after the break as

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Real Madrid’s French forward Karim Benzema (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the Spanish league match Granada FC vs Real Madrid CF at Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium in Granada on Monday.

AFP/JORGE GUERRERO

Madrid continued to have the lion’s share of the chances.

However, Granada were denied a great chance to snatch a point five minutes from time when referee Javier Estrada Fernandez failed to spot a trip on Diego Buonanotte by Casemiro inside the area.

“I am happy. It was an important result,” Ancelotti told a press conference afterwards. In the first-half we played very well with a very fast rhythm. The team was compact defensively despite the fact we had a lot of offensive players as they all worked hard.”

AFP

Barça wait on Messi

MADRID: Barcelona will give Lionel Messi (below) every opportunity to prove his fitness ahead of their second-leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night.

Messi was taken off at halftime during last week’s 1-1 draw in the first-leg with a thigh injury and missed the Catalans’ 1-0 win away to Malaga on Sunday which moved them back to the top of La Liga.

However, the Argentine took a full part in training on Monday with those who hadn’t been involved in the Malaga game as the majority of his colleagues underwent a recovery session. “We have two days to make a decision, but with the information that I have today we are very happy with how he is recovering,” Barca boss Gerardo Martino told reporters after Sunday’s game.

However, Martino indicated that Neymar could once miss out from the start despite shining in cameo appearances as a substitute in Barca’s last two games. The Brazilian scored his first Barca goal to rescue a draw for Martino’s men in the first-leg and again looked like the visitors most dangerous outlet when he replaced Pedro with half an hour to go at La Rosaleda at the weekend.

“Neymar is improving all the time, you can already see the difference in him between the the last two matches and the first one against Levante.

“I don’t know when exactly we will start him but you can see mentally he is ready and we will do it at the most opportune time.”

AFP