Postnoon E-Paper for 29 March 2013

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013 HYDERABAD

WEATHER: SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS; 34°C

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

32 PAGES

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SEASON THREE IS COMING Spoiler alert! If you haven't watched the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, we suggest you turn the page. But for those who are waiting for the third instalment here's a lowdown.

P16&17

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

GOVT’S IT RULES ARE A

CRYING SHAME, BUT CHANGE IS IN THE AIR REPORT ON P8

By using ambiguous words like ‘blasphemy’ and ‘disparaging’, Section 79 of the IT Act is a gross violation of our freedom of expression. Now, however, forces within the government are pushing for change, a movement applauded by the Centre for Internet and Society.

2

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

city events

THE GREAT OXFORD SALE

There is a 10 per cent discount on magazines, stationary and gift items.

You can also avail discounts of up to 80 per cent on books. The sale will go on till March 31 at Oxford Bookstore, Tresorie, The Park , 22 Raj Bhavan Road.

Weather for Hyderabad Morning

New Delhi Mumbai Max 31 Max 32 Min 21 Min 25

Evening

Overnight

Afternoon

24°C

21°C

25°C

28°C

Clear with cloudy periods.

Clear. Slight chance of a thunderstorm.

Mostly sunny.

Chance of storm.

Sunny. Slight chance of a thunderstorm.

Clear.

Chennai Max 34 Min 27

Clear.

Partly cloudy.

Bangalore Max 34 Min 25 Mostly cloudy.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES When: Preview: March 30, from 6pm to 8pm Continues till April 10, Contact: www.alankritha.in

DINING Grand Easter brunch The chefs at Avasa have devised a special menu. The brunch will not only have a great choice of food, but also loads of entertainment activities.

Where: Pi, Avasa Hotel, Madhapur When: March 31, noon onwards Contact: (040) 6728 2828

Innovating traditions Artists with interest in sculptural forms are invited to participate in this workshop. There will be an interactive use of techniques between Nakashi art and contemporary art practices.

Where: ICONART Artist in Residency Premises, 1672 SBI building, 2nd floor, Road no12, Banjara Hills When: Ongoing Contact: 98499 68797

Easter goodies Hot cross buns, Easter Bunnies, and Easter chocolates are part of the special Easter menu.

Where: Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre When: March 25-31 Daily treats Orange is the fruit of the month at The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace.

Dishes include orange blossom cheesecake, orange creme brule and dark chocolate orange tart.

Where: Daily Treats, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace When: Up to March 31 Contact: (040) 6767 6818 Double Easter treat There is an exquisite seafood barbecue, along with Easter classics at Okra. Specially crafted Easter hampers are available at The Hyderabad Baking Company.

Where: Okra, Hyderabad Marriott Hotel & Convention Centre When: March 31,

MISCELLANEOUS

GOOD FRIDAY: There was a programme at St Joseph’s Church, Abids, on the occasion of Good Friday.

12.30pm to 3.30pm Contact: (040) 2752 2567 Easter brunch The multi-cuisine buffet includes western barbecue, oriental and Hyderabadi specialties, soft beverages and live stations. There are exciting activities for children like egg painting, face painting and treasure hunt Where: Celeste, Taj Falaknuma Palace When: March 31, 12.30pm to 3.30pm Contact: (040) 6629 8585 Holi Special Aam panna, thandai, assorted pakodas and special chat platters are some of the items on the menu.

There will also be tattoo and mehendi artistes, musician and bangle seller at the venue.

Where: Kailash Parbat

Commissioner & Spl Officer

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

198 155313

POLICE CONTROL ROOM Hyderabad 27852435 Traffic Control Room 27852482 DCP Traffic 23234065, 23243499F Pollution Control Board 23887500 ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

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

Road no. 36, Jubilee Hills When: March 23-31 Lunch: noon to 3.30pm Snacks: noon to 11.30pm Dinner: 7pm to 11pm Contact: (040) 2355 8856 It’s Easter!

There is a special Easter brunch.

Where: : Seasonal Tastes, The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace When: March 31, noon to 4pm Contact: (040) 6767 6888

ART French artist B2Fays Alliance Française of Hyderabad, Kalakriti Art Gallery and Park Hyatt Hyderabad present French artist

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

B2Fays. It is an exhibition of paintings and multimedia installations.

Where: Kalakriti Art Gallery When: Up to April 9, 11am to 7pm Contact: (040) 6656 4466 Thinking form and content An exhibition of art work by Gopal Nayak.

Where: ICONART Gallery, Road no. 12, Sri Ram Nagar Colony, Banjara Hills When: Up to March 30 from 11.30 am to 7pm Contact: 98499 68797

Black Night — A short Film This is a story of two chess players challenging each others’ game skills.

The movie shows us how the winning pattern changes during the course of time and how emotions take over the situation.

Where: Lamakaan When: Up to March 29, 7pm onwards Contact: 96427 31329

Group painting exhibition An exhibition of paintings by Pradosh Swain and Suchismita Sahoo.

Where: Aalankritha Art Gallery

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

M ANIL KUMAR

Easter workshop for children A workshop with the executive chef including a special Sunday brunch for children.

Where: The Park Hotel, When: March 31, 11am onwards Contact: (040) 2345 6789

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

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

City

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

IS AP GOVT LOSING ITS GRIP ON POWER SITUATION? 92% 8%

YES (A) NO (B)

TODAY’S QUESTION

IS THE ADMINISTRATION TAKING THE MAINTENANCE OF HERITAGE MONUMENTS TOO LIGHTLY? A)

YES

B)

NO

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

CRIME

3

Four held for illegally selling liquor on Holi Commissioner Anurag Sharma had placed restrictions on the sale of alcohol in view of the festival, but despite this many people were openly selling alcohol in public places.

Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com

T

he police on Wednesday arrested four people from different parts of the City for illegally selling liquor on the eve of Holi.

City police commissioner Anurag Sharma had placed restrictions on the sale of alcohol in view of the festival, but despite this many people were

openly selling alcohol in public places. Large quantities of liquor bottles and cash were seized from the culprits.

The East zone task force team conducted a special drive to crackdown the illegal sale of liquor and arrested two people — J Jagram, a resident of Saidabad, and C Srinivas from Amberpet — and seized several bottles and `5,000 in cash.

The duo purchased alcohol

The East zone task force team conducted a special drive to crackdown the illegal sale of liquor and arrested two people and seized several bottles and `5,000 in cash.

from a wholesale dealer and sold it at high prices, taking advantage of the fact that all liquor stores were shut in the City. After being arrested, it was revealed that they had been charge sheeted for other cases in the past.

Meanwhile in Golconda, N Jagdish, 34, and Satpal Singh, 35, both residents of Golconda Fort were arrested on the same charge and over 200 bottles and a large amount of cash was seized.

Jagdish runs a liquor store in Erragadda and had shifted several bottles of alcohol into his house before shutting shop for the day. He then sold the alcohol from near his house on Holi.

Singh was also caught in a similar fashion for selling liquor on the roadside near Banjari Darwaza.

All the accused have been sent to prison and an enquiry has begun into the cases.

CRIME

Vexed wife hammers husband to death A man was murdered and his body set ablaze by his ‘harassed’ wife in the wee hours of Friday at Gauri Shanker colony, Banjara Hills.

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

A

ccording to G Sudheer Babu, deputy commissioner of police, West zone, the victim, B Venkatesh, 56, was a civil contractor, who got married to Laxmi.

The two have children and had been living at Gauri Shankar Colony, road no 10, Banjara Hills. Venkatesh is said to have been having an extra-marital affair for the last few years.

The two quarrelled over this, with Laxmi demanding that her husband send his lover out of the house. Vekatesh refused to do so.

He allegedly used to beat her up and harass

her in an intoxicated state. Vexed with this, she is said to have planned to kill him.

Laxmi allegedly gave sleeping pills to her husband on Thursday night, and when the latter was unconscious she hit him on the head with a hammer. Venkatesh is said to have died on the spot due to multiple head injuries and Laxmi set his body ablaze with kerosene at around 4am on March 29.

She then informed her neighbours about this and later surrendered to the Banjara Hills police.

The police have booked a case of murder against her. The body has been sent to Osmania General Hospital for autopsy.

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city FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

GOVERNANCE

LAST YEAR... HERE

Babli battle to continue

Police play guardian angel

L

ast year we had reported how a boy, thrown out of his house by his foster parents, was rescued by City cops.

The orphaned Ranjith was brought to Hyderabad by his caretakers — his uncle and aunt — and was abandoned on the Necklace Road. He was roaming the streets when someone took pity on him and informed the Ramgopalpet police.

MARCH 29, 2012

NUMEROLOGY

100

to 250 more residential schools and colleges are to be constructed across the State, according to a government proposal.

Off late intermediate education has become more of a business than an education system in itself... Parents are only concerned about good grades...

KP Sarathi, education minister

See page 6

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

1

Increase in cases of ‘harassed wife’ killing husband.

Postnoon had reported how a woman had allegedly set her husband ablaze, unable to tolerate harassment. Another such incident was reported today.

2

Political marketing of power crisis by Opposition?

Lashing out at ex-ministers, Jagga Reddy said that opposition parties are cashing in on the power crisis for their personal gains instead of giving positive suggestions to the government.

3

An all-party meeting on the Babli project in Maharashtra was held under presidentship of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here on Thursday.

S

peaking to the media after the meeting, TDP leaders Errabelly Dayakar Rao and Kadiam Srihari said the chief minister was keen on filing a review petition in the Supreme Court on the Babli project.

They said the CM had reportedly said at the meeting that he was ready for legal battle on the “illegal” Babli project after seeking advice from legal luminaries on the subject.

The TDP leaders said Kiran Kumar Reddy had agreed to call for another all-party meeting again after eliciting views of the opposition parties.

The opposition parties demanded that the chief minister ensure that the three-member committee constituted by the Union government worked under the direct supervision of

the Centre.

They specifically told the chief minister that the threemember committee should not function from Maharashtra.

Opposition leaders reportedly told the CM that there were no instances of mini-projects built

GOVERNANCE

‘Ex-CMs responsible for power crisis’ S

angareddy MLA Toorpu Jayaprakash Reddy on Thursday alleged that the State was in the dark due to non-performance of ministers in the previous cabinets.

Speaking to the media here on Thursday, Jagga Reddy alleged severe power crisis emerged in the State because of negligence former chief ministers. He said the present incumbent Kiran Kumar Reddy was facing the music because of the “thoughtless” decisions of former chief ministers. He said though Kiran Kumar Reddy was speaking truth on the power situation, the opposition parties were making a fuss on power crisis for politi-

cal gains, adding that it was atrocious on the part of opposition parties to utilise the power issue for the sake of paltry political gains instead of giving positive suggestions to the government on the burning issue.

Alleging that the TDP and TRS parties were adopting double-tongued policy with regard to the Telangana issue, he recalled TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao’s statement that there was no need for Assembly’s resolution to carve out Telangana state. But now the same TRS leaders were disrupting the House proceedings for the sake of temporary political gains, he added.

NSS

under big projects like the Babli project.

They said the CM was visibly convinced by their argument.

The TDP leaders asked the Chief Minister to lead the allparty delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

He strongly felt that the Supreme Court had upheld the Maharashtra argument over the Babli project recently due to the failure of the Andhra Pradesh government to provide cogent and convincing argument on the State’s rights over the river water.

He also lashed out at the Maharashtra government for illegally utilizing 100 TMC water as against its legitimate share of 60 TMC in violation of the Tribunal Accord.

CPM legislator Julakanti

Ranga Reddy has suggested to the chief minister to strive for a political solution even while continuing the legal battle.

PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana told opposition leaders that the Kiran Kumar Reddy government was not keeping its eyes shut towards the issues.

He said barring a few assurances made on the eve of 2009 elections, the present government had not only fulfilled all the poll promises, but also conceived and implemented new programmes for the benefit of the poor and weaker sections.

Botsa also called upon the party cadre to get ready for the ensuing local bodies elections.

He claimed that some extramanifesto schemes were being implemented for the good of the people.

NSS

HOMAGE TO NTR

On the occasion of Telugu Desam Party’s formation day, T Srinivas Yadav and other party leaders visited NTR Ghat today morning to pay homage to the leader.

N SHIVA KUMAR

NEWS BRIEFS

State-run colleges are losing to corporate counterparts.

Sources say it is due to the fact that most government colleges are for day scholars and do not have residential facilities.

CM to resume Indiramma Baata

City celebrates Good Friday

Man kills wife over ‘petty quarrel’

Chain snatching on rise in Secunderabad

4

C

G

A

T

BJP’s campaign not for people’s welfare?.

BJP is focusing on drumming up support for Modi in its State-wide campaign.

5

Will the ambiguity over IT rules be resolved?

Many suggestions have been made by the parliamentary standing committee to amend the IT rules.

hief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy,who took a break from his pet programme Indiramma Baata due to various reasons, will resume it next month. He will undertake a three-day tour to Nellore district as part of the programme from April 1-3. The CM is scheduled to participate in various development programmes.

ood Friday was celebrated across the Hyderabad today.

Christians from various sects took out a huge rally from KGR Gardens to Patny center in Secunderabad.

The rally was organised to spread the message of peace, love and harmony in the society. There were also programmes at various churches across the City.

women named Usha was murdered by her husband Subramaniyam over on petty issue on the wee hours of Thursday at SM colony, Ramchandrapuram. The accused was working as a private employee and is said to be a habitual drunkard. He had quarreled with his wife over on petty mater and attacked his wife with a pistol.

wo women lost their gold chain and mangalsutra in separate incidents at Secunderabad on Thursday.

Yashooda, 45, a resident of Bowenpally was returning to home from the market when two youths on a bike snatched 3.5 tolas of gold chain from her. At Lal Bazaar Krishna Veni, 39, was going to the market when two youths snatched her three tolas gold chain.

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city FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

POLITICS

BJP spreads Modi mantra in AP? Is drumming up support for Modi’s candidature for the prime minister’s post in the next General Election the main agenda behind BJP stalwart Venkaiah Naidu’s State-wide public campaign?

INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com

T

hough Naidu himself announced that the main objective behind the public campaign is to win as many MP seats as possible, party insiders have a different thing to say.

According to these leaders, the State-wide promotion campaign, which was named Praja Chaitanya Sadassul (public awareness meeting), was aimed at drumming up support for Modi in Andhra Pradesh before his announcement as a prime ministerial candidate.

“The State-wide campaign launched by party senior leader Venkaiah Naidu has two main objectives: The first is to ensure that Modi’s got enough support from the people of Andhra Pradesh so that his candidature for the prime minister’s post is not opposed from within the party and the second, and most important objective, is to ensure that his name gets a majority of the votes after his announcement as party’s prime ministerial candidate during the next general elections due to

be held in 2014,” a party spokesperson revealed while speaking to Postnoon.

Interestingly, true to the revelation made by the party's spokesperson, all of Venkaiah Naidu’s public speeches revolve around only one topic: Praising Modi. Naidu, who is known for his attractive speeches, is making sure to heap praises on Modi to the extent that they had adequate impact on public's mind.

"If we look at Venkaiah Naidu's speeches, they are carefully woven around praising Modi. Apart from Modi's achievement as Gujarat’s chief

minister, Naidu also talks about a survey done in Andhra Pradesh to find out the pulse of people in relation to Modi's candidature as prime minister. The survey has revealed that 62 per cent of the people of the State want to see Modi as the PM of the country," the spokes person added.

It may be mentioned here that reacting to a question posed by media persons, BJP stalwart Venkaiah Naidu, at the time of announcement of his decision to undertake the State-wide campaign, said that the sole objective is to meet all sections of society, especially intellectuals like chartered accountants, doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers, and seek their support for BJP during the next general elections.

Interestingly, the slogan used for this campaign by the party is BJP ni Gelipiddam Deshanni Kapadadam (Letting BJP win is to protect the nation). Apart from the Modi mantra, the campaign will also attempt to focus on getting votes in the Telangana region, which consists of 17 Lok Sabha seats, by raising the separate Telangana issue.

ASSEMBLY

Budget session to be delayed The second spell of the budget session of Andhra Pradesh Assembly, which was scheduled to begin in the last week of April, is likely to be delayed for ‘various reasons.’

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com

budget.

OPPOSITION SCEPTICAL

T

he most important reason for the possible delay of the scheduled budget session is the non-completion of formation of 12 standing committees.

As per the schedule announced by authorities earlier, the standing committees, which were to be set up for the first time on the lines of Karnataka and Kerala, would start functioning immediately after the conclusion of the first phase of the budget session.

The first phase of the session had begun on March 13. But, according to Assembly authorities, there has been an undue delay in the formation of all committees, especially in the process of nomination of members.

“Initially, we thought of completing the process before the end of the first phase of the budget session. But we could not do so due to various reasons. We expect to complete the process in either the first or second week of April,” a

senior official of AP Assembly told Postnoon.

The official further informed that after the completion of the process of formation of standing committees, the debates over various budgetary allocations

would be held for a period of about four weeks.

SECOND SPELL IN MAY

Following the changed circumstances, the budget session is now likely to be held in the

month of May instead of April.

The second spell of the budget session will undertake a comprehensive discussion on budgetary allocations for 41 heads of the State government before giving the House’s assent to the annual

On the other hand, opposition political parties are sceptical about the holding of the second round of the Assembly session in an ideal manner.

Reacting to the delay in undertaking discussions on budgetary allocations through various standing committees, CPI floor leader Gunda Mallesh alleged that the government was not serious about taking the rival party MLAs into consideration in the governance of the State and added that the delay in formation of standing committees would ultimately lead to reduction in the number of days of the budget session. "The delay is nothing but an act of the State to curb the voice of opposition party MLAs. If it was serious in undertaking a debate over its budget, the State government would have begun the process as per the earlier announced schedule," he said. TDP, TRS, YSRC and CPM party leaders also expressed similar views.

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city FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

EDUCATION

Where are all the good govt colleges?

Few students are opting for govt colleges. With corporate colleges taking over intermediate education, Postnoon finds out why state-run institutions are being looked down upon.

FOR REPRESENTATION ONLY

ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com

T

here was a time when some of the best brains in the country passed out from government colleges, but that time has long gone. Today, government colleges are looked down upon and even those who have studied in government schools till class X are choosing private colleges for their intermediate courses. As a result, government colleges have taken a back seat in the State.

The 820 government junior colleges in the State are left to their own mercy. With lakhs making a beeline to private institutions, only those from economically backward classes, who have no other option, enrol in these colleges.

Ten years ago there were only around 500 government junior colleges; today the number has almost doubled. But despite an

increase in the number of government colleges, they have failed to attract a large number of students, with the exception of well-known colleges like Mahaboobia Junior College and Nampally

Junior College.

So where did things go wrong? Who is to blame?

Secondary education minister K Partha Sarathi feels that the fault lies in the fact that education has become a business these days.

DANGEROUS HYDERABAD

SRINIVAS SETTY

SMOKE SCREENS

T

here’s a heavy price we pay for all the modernisation that we boast of. Pollution being one of the outcomes of our reckless abuse of our natural resources. Even so, instead of stepping up efforts to curb pollution, we seem to be bent on making matters worse. Every year the pollution control board releases figures that are always increasing, showing us how alarmingly pollution is growing. But instead of taking steps to put an end to this or to at least minimise it, we are going all out to help inflate those pollution figures.

In this picture one can see a couple of school students walking past a pile of burning garbage. The scene is very common across the City. Instead of clearing away the overflowing garbage bins, GHMC workers simply set them on fire in a bid to do away with the growing pile. But the civic workers are not alone. Maids and watchmen across the City also set fire to the rubbish from their employers’ homes, without a second thought. Little wonder then that the number of respiratory ailments in the City has been on the rise in the last few years.

“Off late intermediate education has become more of a business than an education system in itself. Students lost faith in government colleges after the corporate college system took over.

Parents are only concerned about their children securing good grades and thus want them to study in residential colleges.

Most government colleges are only for day scholars, have fixed timings and work on a different pattern, unlike corporate colleges,” he says.

Some educationists feel that the ‘corporate mafia’ has taken over the education system, especially in intermediate education.

APCC general secretary and educationist Abid Rasool Khan says, “Most tutorial or corporate colleges are only in education to make money. They identify bright students in government schools, sponsor them and guarantee them seats in engineering or medical colleges. This way

they are drawing more students to their colleges. All government colleges have the requisite number of labs, good classrooms and huge play areas. It is the duty of the government to promote these colleges.”

Meanwhile, a proposal has been sent to construct another 100-250 residential schools and colleges across the State.

“Once a student completes his/her class X, they tend to look out for other intermediate colleges since most government schools do not have the option of studying till class XI and XII. To avoid this, we have decided to build residential schools across the State from class VI to class XII. This way, students will not need to leave school and join any private institution after class X. We will also be strengthening the quality of teaching by appointing lecturers who have completed at least their post-graduation,” says Partha Sarathi.

7

city FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

REPORTERS’ DIARY

KIRAN

bucks predictions

D

efying all predictions of star gazers, N Kiran Kumar Reddy, is steadily going strong with little hint of stumbling midway.

It is amusing to recall how a majority of the astrologers had predicted troubles for him quoting astro-formations at the time of his oath taking.

“Patience exhausted, Kiran Kumar Reddy will be eased out, to take in the man who will be leading the State to 2014 general elections,” predicted one. “The celestial formation at the time of the Oath taking ceremony of the new Chief Minister for Andhra Pradesh Sri Kiran Kumar Reddy indicates a troublesome period for a successful ruling, if survived he will have full term till the Apr-2013(Sic!),” said another.

“He will not cross 2012,” another brazenly declared.

All indications point to the contrary. He has withstood the Telangana assault. Lost bypolls, true, but has won the cooperative elections and is poised to reap good harvests in the local body elections. If he does as well in the local body elections as he did in the cooperative polls, he is on a firm wicket.

Be that as it may, it is bemusing to read Tim Jones’s take on Zodiac Virgo. Here it goes: “The biggest schemer under the Sun... politics is not a good profession for Virgo... Virgoan smiles with brilliantly clean teeth which would do credit to a horse... And, in whose company Kiran is? Confucius, Richard Gere, Agatha Christie, Elizabeth I, Jackson, DH Lawrence.... (PK)

WHO CARES?

The ruling Congress party, despite its strong public posture that it was not worried about rebel and dissident MLAs within the party, is actually a worried lot privately. The party, whose numbers have now come down to 146, four less than the magic number of 148, in the 294-member Assembly is so angry with its MLAs that it is not taking every care to keep its flock intact. Recently, the party president in AP, Botsa Satyanarayana, who is yet to come to terms after incurring the shock of nine Congress MLAs voting in favour of the No Confidence Motion is the most worried of all. When he heard that two more party MLAs have decided to join the rival YSRC party, he immediately summoned the two said MLAs with an intention to counsel them in his

MLA D Sudheer Reddy reportedly told Botsa that nobody could stop him from leaving the party if he had made up his mind.

Assembly chambers.

The MLAs in question turned up at Botsa's chambers and put forth their views.

Among the two MLAs, LB Nagar MLA D Sudheer Reddy, not only gave his explanation but also went a step ahead much to the chagrin of Botsa.

He reportedly told Botsa that nobody can stop him from leaving the party if he has made up his mind and added that he is yet to make up his mind to leave the Congress and join the YSRC party. He did not stop here. He said that he would leave the party after publicly announcing it and not secretly.

So much for the fear of the high command!

(IA)

SCRIBE AS AGENT

What do local scribes do at the RTO office in Khaiaratabad?

Good question. Here’s the answer. Some act as brokers for customers. When this reporter's meeting with the joint commissioner was interrupted, the source of commotion turned out to be a local reporter, whose unverified credentials failed to get him an audience with the commissioner.

The irritated commissioner, stumped at having the interview interrupted, yelled to find out what the man wanted. The scribe walked in and settled himself in the visitor’s chair and said, "My niece's license permit has been cancelled. I was hoping you would look into this matter." Imagine this blackmail — the commissioner did eventually sign the papers and the scribe left the place happy.

(RR)

SWAYING COPS

Our City police need a makeover; not exactly. Let’s put it this way, our police seniors need a modicum of discipline hammered into their heads. The reporter the other day found an additional DCP, swaying in blithe bliss near Charminar.

When contacted he kept himself at a distance to prevent close scrutiny. His juniors knew what it was. After a while, he bolted the scene and got in to his office for a snooze.

It is not an isolated case.

People tell tales of lower ranks coming on duty after a couple of pegs under their belt. What kind of law and what kind of order could they maintain? The trouble is with police officers. If they, who should supervise the ranks, come drunk where is hope? There is a little light, perhaps, when the police chief detected some of these specimens and issued warnings. But unless strict punishment is meted out to the violators, this

will continue.

FAMILY UNDER ATTACK?

(MS)

Going by the speed at which the young these days file for a divorce in the City, one wonders if the institution of family is withering. If discerning sociologists are to be believed, the family institution as we find today are indeed under great stress with the onward march of the technical man. Today, the transience in job and everything else we know in societal life leaves the traditional family too beaten. People still do not have an answer to the alternative. But if that perspicacious writer Alvin Toffler is to be believed, we are moving on to a fast family life where many experiments are on the anvil. Some of them unbelievable like serial marriage and mobile family. It may happen in our children’s time.

(PK) (Contributed by Rahul Ramakrishna, Mohd Subhan, Inkeshaf Ahmed and PK Surendran)

8

city FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

CYBER LAWS Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) has lauded the Parliament Standing Committee on subordinate legislation for its many suggestions to amend the IT Rules which goes against the spirit of the freedom of expression.

Subordinate Legislation finds many holes in IT Rules 2011

PRANESH PRAKASH feedback@postnoon.com

T

he Committee has rightly lambasted the government for the IT Rules it passed in April 2011 under section 79 of the IT Act, and has recommended that the government amend them. These rules have been termed unconstitutional by many, including CIS, Software Freedom Law Centre, and Society for Knowledge Commons, and many eminent lawyers. Sunil Abraham, executive director at CIS, noted that, “The Standing Committee has asked the government to make changes to the rules to ensure that the fundamental rights to freedom of speech and privacy are safeguarded, and that the principles of natural justice are respected when a person’s freedom of speech or privacy are legitimately curtailed”.

AMBIGUOUS AND OVER-REACHING LANGUAGE The Standing Committee has noted the inherent ambiguity of words like “blasphemy”, “disparaging”, etc, which are used in the Intermediary Guidelines Rules, and has pointed out that unclear language can lead to harassment of people as has happened with Section 66A of the IT Act, and can lead to legitimate speech being removed. Importantly, the Standing Committee recognises that many categories of speech prohibited by the Intermediary Guidelines Rules are not prohibited by any statute, and hence cannot be prohibited by the government through these rules.

Accordingly, the Standing Committee has asked the government to ensure “no new category of crimes or offences is created” by these rules.

GOVT CONFUSED WHETHER RULES ARE MANDATORY The government’s Janus-faced stance on the issue of the mandatory nature of these rules has been unmasked by the Standing Committee. The Standing Committee has highlighted the discrepancy in the government’s stand that the Intermediary Guidelines Rules are not mandatory, and are only of advisory nature and self-regulation, and that “it is not mandatory for the Intermediary to disable the information, the rule does not lead to any kind of censorship”. The Standing Committee points out the flaw in this, and notes that the language used in the rules is mandatory language (“shall act” within 36 hours). Thus, it rightly notes that there is a “need for clarity on the aforesaid contradiction”. Further, it also notes that there should be safeguards to protect against any abuse since this is a form of private censorship by intermediaries.

EVIDENCE NEEDED AGAINST FOREIGN WEBSITES The government has told the Standing Committee that “for-

eign websites repeatedly refused to honour our laws”. But it has not provided any proof for this assertion. Cyber Cafes Rules Violate Citizens’ Privacy The Standing Committee also pointed out that the Cyber Cafe Rules violated citizens’ right to privacy in requiring that “screens of the computers installed other than in partitions and cubicles should face open space of the cyber café”. it was unfortunate that the Standing Committee did not consider the privacy argument against retention of extensive and intrusive logs.” He explained: “Under the Cyber Cafe Rules, cyber cafes are required to retain (for a minimum of one year) extensive logs, including that of “history of websites accessed using computer resource at cyber café” in such a manner that each website accessed can be linked to a person.

The Committee only considered the argument that this would impose financial burdens on small cybercafes, and rejected that argument. CIS wishes the Committee had examined the provision on log maintenance on grounds of privacy as well.

GOVERNMENT’S HALF-TRUTHS In one response, the government notes that “rules under Section 79 in particular have undergone scrutiny by High

Courts in the country. Based on the rules, the courts have given reliefs to a number of individuals and organisations in the country. No provision of the Rules notified under Sections 43A and 79 of the IT Act, 2000 have been held ultra vires.

What the government has told the Standing Committee is a half-truth. So far, courts have not struck down any of the IT Rules. But that is because none of the High Court cases in which the vires of the rules have been challenged has concluded. So it is disingenuous of the government to claim that the Rule have “undergone scrutiny by High Courts”. And in those cases where relief has been granted under the Intermediary Guidelines, the cases have been ex parte or have been cases where the vires of the Rules have not been challenged. The government, if it wants to defend the rules, should point out to any case in which the vires of the rules have been upheld. Not a single court till date has declared the rules to be constitutional when that question was before it.

LACK OF REPRESENTATION OF STAKEHOLDERS Lastly, the Standing Committee noted that it is not clear whether the Cyber Regulatory Advisory Committee (CRAC), which is

responsible for policy guidance on the IT Act, has “members representing the interests of principally affected or having special knowledge of the subject matter as expressly stipulated in Section 88(2) of the IT Act”. This is a problem that we at CIS also noted in January 2013, after the CRAC was reconstituted after having been defunct since 2001.

I hope that the government finally takes note of the view of legal experts, the Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation, the Parliamentary motion against the rules, and numerous articles and editorials in the press, and withdraws the Intermediary Guidelines Rules and the Cyber Cafe Rules, and instead replaces them with rules that do not infringe our constitutional rights.

Author is policy director of The Centre for Internet and Society, a non-profit research organisation that works on policy issues relating to freedom of expression, privacy, accessibility for persons with disabilities, access to knowledge and IPR reform, and openness, and engages in academic research on digital natives and digital humanities. It was among the organizations that submitted evidence to the Standing Committee on Subordinate Legislation on the IT Rules.

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

focus

FEELING THE BITE OF COLD

Freak blizzards and freezing weather over the first few days of spring have hit Europe and parts of the United States, causing fatal cases of hypothermia, power outages and transport chaos. In the United States, where a huge spring storm dumped several inches of snow from St Louis to the East Coast and grounded hundreds of flights.

ENVIRONMENT

9

Is global warming causing harsher winters?

RICHARD INGHAM and CLAIRE SNEGAROFF Agence France-Presse

M

illions of people in northern Europe are still battling snow and ice, wondering why they are being punished with bitter cold when — officially — spring has arrived and Earth is in the grip of global warming. Yet some scientists, eyeing the fourth year in a row of exceptionally harsh late-winter weather in parts of Europe and North America, suggest warming is precisely the problem.

In a complex tango between ocean and atmosphere, warming is causing icy polar air to be displaced southwards, they contend.

“The linkage is becoming clearer and clearer, I think, although the science has not yet been settled,” said Dim Coumou of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) near Berlin.

The theory derives from a long-studied Arctic phenomenon called a positive feedback — in plain words, a vicious circle.

Rising temperatures are melting the Arctic’s floating cap of sea ice, especially in summer.

In 1979, when satellite measurements began, summer ice covered some seven million square kilometres, roughly equivalent to 90 percent the area of Australia.

In September 2012, summer ice hit its lowest extent on record, at just 3.4 million sq kms.

Take away reflective ice, and you have a dark sea that absorbs solar radiation, which in turn reinforces the melting, and so on.

But the theory suggests the added heat, stored over a vast area of surface water, is also gradually released into the atmosphere during the Arctic autumn.

It increases air pressure and moisture in the Arctic, reducing the temperature differential with lower latitudes.

Here’s what happens next: The polar vortex, a powerful circular wind that essentially pens Arctic air to the roof of the world, begins to weaken.

Finding itself released, a mass of moist cold air spills southward, bringing snow and chill down into North America and Europe. And it tends to stay there, because of what happens to the jet stream.

Instead of encircling the northern hemisphere in a sturdy and predictable fashion, this high-altitude wind takes a lazy looping path, zigzagging over the United States, the Atlantic and Europe. The southern parts of the loops get a bout of cold weather that becomes stalled in place.

“Heat that is stored in the (Arctic) ocean can rapidly transfer to the atmosphere, and this affects the dynamics” of northern hemisphere weather patterns, said Coumou in a phone interview.

“We’ve had a couple of winters (in Europe) where you’ve had rather shorter-term cold spells, of a duration of maybe 10, 20, 30 days... It’s been the same in the continental US and Canada

A top scientist postulates that Superstorm Sandy wreaked its havoc because of a high-pressure zone over Greenland, possibly strengthened by changes triggered by sea-ice loss in the Arctic. where they’ve seen similar quite bizarre cold spells but of a relatively shorter period.”

ARCTIC WARMING ‘STACKS THE DECK’ Charles Greene, director of the Ocean Resources and Ecosystems Program at Cornell University in New York, said Arctic warming added a joker or two to the climate pack.

“With the changes in sea ice, we set up a situation where we stack the deck, increasing the probability of these invasions of cold Arctic air,” he said.

“But what’s less predictable is which regions in the mid-latitudes will get hit. We’re not sure yet how it will interact with other parts of the climate system in any given year, for instance how it will interact with El Nino and La Nina.”

Greene also postulates that Superstorm Sandy last October wreaked its havoc because of a high-pressure zone over Greenland, possibly strengthened by changes triggered by sea-ice loss in the Arctic.

Like a barrier closing off a street, this mass of air forced Sandy to turn sharply west so that it slammed into the US East Coast. Normally, late-season hurricanes follow a northeastern track and peter out at sea.

The warming-and-winter

scenario is far from unanimous in climatology. Other experts call for more evidence, especially from longer-term data.

“Looking at what’s happening right now, in early spring, it’s too early to say whether it is due in part to a temporary climatic swing,” said David Salas-y-Melia of Meteo France, the French meteorological agency.

Jeff Knight of Britain’s Met Office pointed to a natural climate variation called the North Atlantic Oscillation, whose phases tend to span 30-40 years.

Several decades of relatively harsher winters alternate with relatively milder ones — but there can also be years within these phases that buck the trend.

“In Europe, the effect of climate variability is quite large,” said Knight. “There are possible links to explain why sea ice might influence atmospheric circulation, but the jury is very much still out at the moment.”

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Business

QATAR GROUP BUYS LUXURY LONDON HOTEL

InterContinental Hotels Group announced on Thursday they have agreed to sell their London Park Lane hotel to Qatari investors. IHG said they had sold the 447-room property to Constellation Hotels Holding, "a Middle Eastern private investment group" for £301.5 million.

MIND MAPPING

10

BMPS IN $4BN LOSS

Mind your biz... easily

Managing business has been made simpler with increasing use of mind maps in analysing the components that make a business model work.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world's oldest surviving bank and Italy's third biggest, on Thursday reported a net loss for 2012 of $4.06 billion. Of that sum, the bank registered a loss of 1.591 billion euros in the fourth semester alone. The bank, which benefited from a 4 billion euro rescue loan from the Italian government earlier this year, said it took 2.67 billion euros writedowns in 2012 to cover bad debts. In January, Italian prosecutors launched legal proceedings against BMPS on reports it had lost some $900 million through risky investments in complex financial products. The bank has said it will lay off 4,600 people by 2015 and close hundreds of branches.

NUMEROLOGY

$98

mn

is the profit smartphone maker BlackBerry made in the fourth fiscal quarter ended March 2.

IMF BACKS LAGARDE PRUDHVI RAJU K prudhvi.k@postnoon.com

W

hat do Boeing, BBC, Google and P&G have in common? All these global companies use Mind Maps to increase their efficiencies in operations and save valuable time and money. Using mind maps in businesses have become global trend but is still nascent and evolving in the country.

“For setting up or managing any business, the key attributes are ideas and thought process apart from resources and infrastructure. Why not giving physical shape to those ideas using mind maps to analyse and get clarity for better understanding,” says Koteshwar, Educe Learning.

One may doubt, how is it different from things to do or points that one note. He says, “It explains the entrepreneur to think a lot in one direction with clarity and organised way. For instance, if you write a business needs on a paper, you may not actually concentrate each of the sub-sets that you need to do to achieve that objective. However, mind maps are radiant, colourful with curves and pictorially depicted as maps. The objective

of the business is at the centre and the things required to reach that objective can be stems.

Further, each of the stems can be divided to facilitate each of those things required.

“The nature works in a radiant way from brain to tree.

Working in this style will help to think in multiple directions on each of the subject that gives a better and holistic understanding. The pictorial and colourful looks break the monotony and make the person to remember in simple and easy fashion. Few pages of information can be integrated in one map and can be made easy to understand.

“Working in a radiant fashion doesn’t let the person to stop thinking on one aspect. He may immediately jump in to next aspect and comeback to the one when it is needed. However, if we work on linear fashion, it is difficult to leave the gap and further fill and in a way making the entrepreneur stuck at a single point which need to be solved rather than working on individual aspects,” he explains.

“The decision-making can also be quick and at the same time informed by simply analysing pro and cons of the given problem. For instance, the

entrepreneur can analyse the problem in a detailed way and work on it. These questions need to be thought while drawing mind map; What is the problem; Why and when it’s started and its implications? When and how are we going to address?

Who are responsible and who can solve it? Answering these questions on mind map will help the entrepreneur to get a better understanding and work on each of the possibility individually aiming to solving the problem.”

On learning resources, he says, “There are multiple free and paid tools. Many companies are already using these applications. It is not about the cost but the intention of the user that is required to integrate and use in everyday operations.

Uses n Effective and holistic planning n Solution finding n Decision-making n Brainstorming For more information http://www.educe.org/ http://www.thinkbuzan.co m/intl/a_id/500a896c4f7f5

There are many resources like free apps on phones, tablets and PCs. If they want to enhance further they can attend different workshops that are being conducted in the City.”

About its usage in different industries, he says, “This is being used across industries from aerospace to automobiles.

However, it is greatly trending in educational institutes. Some schools are converting each subject into one mind map that helps students to easily remember, comprehend and revise in minutes during exam time. The student can explain the answer in much better way with the help of mind maps.

“This is also trending as project management tool. For instance, Boeing saved $11 million by using this as a tool. The aerospace processes are complex involving various parts and departments. The 25-foot long mind map helped the engineers to understand and learn the engineering manual. This also helped each of the team member informed about each of theirs project developments and ideas using shared mind maps.

This helped the team members to maintain pace and generate new ideas.”

The IMF said Thursday said it remains confident in Managing Director Christine Lagarde despite a French probe into her handling of a highprofile scandal when she was a government minister. "It would not be appropriate to comment on a case that has been and that is currently before the French judiciary," International Monetary Fund spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters in a briefing. However, he added, "the executive board has been briefed on this matter, including recently, and continues to express its confidence in the managing director's ability to effectively carry out her duties."

On March 20, French police raided Lagarde's Paris home in connection with the investigation into her decision in 2007, when she was minister in charge of the economy, to ask an arbitration panel to rule on a dispute between disgraced tycoon Bernard Tapie and the collapsed bank Credit Lyonnais. The arbitration resulted in Tapie being awarded around 400 million euros ($510 million).

THUS SPAKE I am particularly glad some projects, which were either conceived at the New Delhi Summit of BRICS in March last year or piloted by India during its just-concluded chairmanship of BRICS, have registered important progress, MANMOHAN SINGH, PRIME MINISTER

11

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

nation

TWO VILLAGERS INJURED IN LEOPARD ATTACK Two villagers were seriously injured when a leopard attacked them in Parsapur village near Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary. They were attacked by the leopard yesterday when they went to their field, officials said. Both of them were rushed to hospital, where their condition was stated to be critical.

LAWYER SHOT DEAD

EYE IN THE SKY

An AWACS lands at a forward base after a successful mission during the exercise “Live Wire”.

PTI

Five killed in Mumbai wall collapse

MUMBAI: Five people were killed in a wall collapse triggered by an explosion in the Saki Naka area of the city's Andheri east early Friday, officials said. The cause of the blast remains unknown.

The explosion took place around 2am in an aluminium moulding factory's warehouse that led to the collapse of a compound wall, an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) Disaster Control unit said.

The explosion took place around 2am in an aluminium moulding factory's warehouse that led to the collapse.

The wall crashed onto some tenements adjacent to the factory premises, killing

five people and injuring three others.

Those killed have been

identified as Savka Patel (55), Bharati (32), Ganesh Patel (25), Manisha(15) and Neha (13).

The injured, identified as Amit Harijan (27), Bhaiyalal (25) and Mangesh Patel (30), have been admitted to the Rajawadi Hospital in Ghatkopar.

The anti-terrorist and bomb squads were rushed to the explosion site which is close the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

IANS

A lawyer was shot dead by a father-son duo in Civil Lines area of Badaun, police said today.

Manmohan Verma, 30, was shot at by the accused, who are also lawyers, last evening when he was going to visit his relatives. Verma was rushed to a hospital where he died during treatment. Accused Mahipal Singh and his son Mukul alleged that Verma had first opened fire at them. They were also injured in the incident, police said. Police is investigating the matter.

FOUR INJURED IN CLASH BALLIA (UTTAR PRADESH): Four persons were seriously injured when two groups clashed in village Chedi in Revti area here, police said today. The clash took place last night due to old enmity. The injured identified as Subba Singh, his son Pawan Singh, Bhawani Singh and Dheeraj Singh were rushed to hospital, where their condition was stated to be critical. A First Information Report has been lodged against five persons in this regard. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has come under fire from several quarters, including those from the party, for the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

NEWS BRIEFS Man shot dead after spat with friends on Holi

Two more women accuse Marathi writer of rape

Farmhouses of singer Mika, others sealed

NEW DELHI: : A 25-year-old man was shot dead outside his house by one of four drunken people he was playing Holi with, police said Thursday.

The incident occurred in Kalyanpuri in east Delhi Wednesday when four friends of the victim, Rahul, came to his house to play Holi. Rahul, a cleaner with East Delhi Municipal Corporation sanitation department, came out.

"They started putting colours on each other and dancing. Soon, Rahul had a verbal spat with his friends that turned ugly. One of the men took out a pistol and shot at Rahul and the four then fled," said a police officer Rahul was declared dead at the hospital. Police have arrested two of the accused Rajnish and Sohan and are looking for Satish and Kishan, said the officer.

Police said the motive behind the attack was not yet known.

Investigations are continuing, they said.

SATARA: Two more women have accused Marathi writer Laxman Mane of raping them, police said. Earlier, three women alleged he had sexually assaulted them. Mane is absconding since he was booked on Tuesday on the allegations of the three women working in a school run by him. "Of the two new complainants who came forward late Wednesday, one is a cook and the other was a peon in the school. Mane is absconding and police teams are investigating the matter," police said. Mane, 63, a former Maharashtra legislative council member, has now been charged with raping five women working at his residential school for tribal children in Satara. Mane was honoured with a Padma Shri by the central government four years ago. According to police, three married women aged between 30 and 35 on Monday alleged that the writer raped them on the pretext of making them permanent employees.

CHANDIGARGH: The district administration in Gurgaon Thursday sealed several illegal farmhouses, including that of popular Bollywood singer Mika Singh, in village Roz Ka Gujjar. A state government spokesman said here that the farmhouses were illegally running small tourism units and other commercial activities. Meena had directed district officials to inspect the Roz ka Gujjar village area in Sohna tehsil of the district for violations by illegal farm houses.The National Green Tribunal had raised objection to running of commercial activities in village Roz Ka Gujjar, saying that 75 percent area falls under forest area.In February this year, the district authorities had recovered 10 acres of land from singer Daler Mehndi, elder brother of Mika Singh. The court of the SDM at Sohna in Haryana had served Daler a 15-day notice for another 100 acres of land in his possession.

PICK YOUR

@

Across Stores

ities Twin C

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

World

SCORSESE TO MAKE GANGS OF NEW YORK TV SERIES Martin Scorsese is to make a television series of Gangs of New York, the epic story he brought to the big screen in an Oscar-nominated 2002 movie. Scorsese is teaming up with film and TV studio Miramax to make the small screen series.

NELSON MANDELA’S HEALTH

‘OFFENSIVE’ UN TROOPS

Mandela is responding to treatment, say doctors President Jacob Zuma sought to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

ANDREW BEATTY Agence France-Presse JOHANNESBURG: Doctors said Nelson Mandela was responding positively to treatment Thursday after being readmitted to hospital with a lung infection, the latest health scare for the revered antiapartheid icon.

President Jacob Zuma sought to reassure South Africans that Mandela was in good hands as his doctors reported some progress in his treatment.

“The country must not panic, Madiba is fine," Zuma told the BBC, referring to South Africa’s first black president by his clan name.

The 94-year-old was hospitalised just before midnight on Wednesday and is expected to spend a second night in care.

“The doctors advise that former president Nelson Mandela is responding positively to the treatment he is undergoing for a recurring lung infection," Zuma’s office said in a short statement. The Nobel peace laureate was conscious when he was admitted, Zuma’s spokesman Mac Maharaj told AFP. But it is the second time this month that Mandela has spent the night in hospital, after a stint to undergo checkups.

That followed a nearly three-week hospital stay in December, when Mandela was treated for another lung infection and underwent gallstone

surgery, after which he was released for home-based care.

The series of hospitalisations has seen an outpouring of prayers, but has also seen South Africans come to terms with the mortality of their national hero.

“In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about," Zuma said. Mandela is idolised in his home nation, where he is seen as the architect of the country’s peaceful transition from racialist police state to hope-filled democracy.

12

In Zulu, when someone passes away who is very old, people say he or she has gone home. I think those are some of the things we should be thinking about.

Jacob Zuma President, South Africa

Nearly 20 years after he came to power he remains a unifying symbol in a country that is still riven by racial tensions and deep inequality.

Recent labour unrest, highprofile crimes, grinding poverty and corruption scandals have effectively ended the honeymoon enjoyed after Mandela ushered in the “Rainbow Nation".

“He is the voice that holds the country together," said Kasturi Pandaram in Durban, reacting to news of Mandela’s hospitalisation.

While Mandela the symbol bestrides South African politics, the man has long since exited the political stage and for South Africa’s large young population he is a figure from another era.

He has not appeared in public since South Africa’s football World Cup final in 2010, six years after retiring from public life.

Still, his nearly life-long struggle against apartheid resonates.

“We are deeply concerned with Nelson Mandela’s health — he is a hero, I think, to all of us," US President Barack Obama said as he met four leaders from sub-Saharan Africa at the White House. “When we think of a single individual that embodies the kind of leadership qualities that I think we all aspire to, the person’s name that comes up is Nelson Mandela. So we wish him all the very best," Obama added.

NEWS BRIEFS North Korea puts rockets on standby

Italy struggles to break government deadlock

11th man arrested in Savile investigation

US gunman’s plea offer rejected: Reports

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un ordered preparations for strategic rocket strikes on the US mainland after US stealth bombers flew training runs over South Korea.

The order came as US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would not be cowed by Pyongyang’s threats and stood ready to respond to “any eventuality".

ROME: Italy was left struggling to form a government after leftist leader Pier Luigi Bersani lost his bid to end an impasse created by elections with no clear winner in the eurozone’s third-largest economy.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was scheduled to hold a day of consultations with political leaders starting on Friday.

LONDON: British police on arrested an 82-year-old man as part of the investigation into sexual abuses launched following the Jimmy Savile scandal. Metropolitan Police said officers from Operation Yewtree, established following a slew of abuse claims against late BBC presenter Savile, had detained a man from Berkshire.

LOS ANGELES: US prosecutors rebuffed a reported offer by Colorado theater massacre suspect James Holmes to plead guilty in exchange for escaping the death penalty, legal documents showed. A prosecutors’ filing was scathing about a defense motion which suggested a guilty plea in return for a sentence of life behind bars.

The UN Security Council approved the first-ever “offensive” UN peacekeeping brigade to battle rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A council resolution gave the 3,000-strong force orders to “neutralize” and “disarm” rebel groups in the resource-rich east of the country, which has been gripped by conflict for more than two decades. The first troops will come from South Africa, Tanzania and Malawi.

NUMEROLOGY

7,000

patients risked contracting HIV and other infectious diseases because an Oklahoma dentist failed to sterilise equipment at his clinic, health officials said on Thursday.

ARMS PLAN BLOCKED Iran, North Korea and Syria on Thursday held up agreement on the first global treaty on the $80 billion a year conventional arms trade. The three states twice blocked moves to adopt a treaty by consensus at the end of 10 days of arduous talks at the UN headquarters. A coalition of countries from around the world said they would now take the treaty straight to the 193-member UN General Assembly next week for approval. It can be passed with a two thirds majority which is virtually assured.

An English territory more than 12,000 kilometers away? The question wouldn’t even stand in a kindergarten of three-yearolds Cristina Kirchner The Argentine president will not let the Falklands issue rest

13

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Technology EXPLORATION

IS THAT FACEBOOK OS?

Facebook just invited press to an event at its headquarters on April 4 to “Come See Our New Home On Android”. According to sources, it will be a modified version of the Android operating system with deep native Facebook functionality on the homescreen that may live on an HTC handset. The evidence aligns to say this is the Facebook Phone announcement people have been speculating about for years. One source recently told us to be on the lookout for a Facebook mobile press event in early April where the social network would reveal an altered Android OS running on HTC.

DIFFERENT W E I V

HARUMI OZAWA feedback@postnoon.com

TOKYO: Visitors to Google Maps can now roam virtually through the overgrown streets of an abandoned town where time has stood still since a tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant two years ago.

The Internet giant’s mapping site is offering views of the deserted streets of Namie, half of which sits within the 20-kilometre (12-mile) no-go zone around the nuclear plant, wrecked when the 2011 tsunami crashed into Japan.

With cooling systems knocked out by the wall of water, three reactors melted down, spewing radioactive particles into the air, soil and sea and forcing Namie’s entire population of 21,000 to flee.

The entrance ban will be lifted for a small part of the town from Monday next week, allowing residents to visit for a short time, but the vast majority remains highly contaminated and is expected to be uninhabitable for years.

“The world is moving on to the future after the disaster... but time has stopped in the town of Namie," said mayor Tamotsu Baba, writing on a blog for

Google reveals views of Japan’s nuclear ghost town

Google Japan Thursday.

“I hope these street views will show the people of future generations what the great earthquake and nuclear disaster brought," he said.

“We need many years and many people’s cooperation to rise again from the nuclear crisis. We will never give up on getting back our hometown," he said.

The natural disasters killed nearly 19,000 people, including those whose bodies are yet to be recovered.

Some parts of the town were swamped by the waves of March 11. Houses and other buildings damaged by the water can be clearly seen as site visitors click through the panoramic displays.

Along the coastline, the occasional boat lies in an

untended field, dumped there by the waves that spread heavy oils and silt over rice paddies, where they also left the now rotted bodies of marine life.

But many of the buildings in the town are intact, tinged only by the invisible menace of radiation and abandoned when the sudden order to evacuate came two years ago.

Plant pots, their contents long dead or run wild, stand neatly outside some houses.

Barber shops and hairdressers still display their welcome signs, offering haircuts to customers who may never return.

The images come from a heavily polluted part of the town, where residents are not allowed to venture, a town official said.

“The town requested special approval for the Google crew to

enter the zone," the official said.

“The crew wore protective gear and stayed inside the car while shooting."

Mayor Baba, who asked Google to come into his town, said he wanted the world to see what it looked like and wanted those who had been forced out to be able to virtually visit the places they grew up.

“Even two years after the disaster, we cannot walk into Namie freely," the mayor said.

“Many people from the town say they want to see what state their hometown is in now.

“I am sure many people around the world will want to see the tragedy a nuclear accident can bring."

Tens of thousands of people in the area were forced from their homes by the nuclear catastrophe, the worst the planet has seen since the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl.

No one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the radiation, but scientists warn some areas may remain contaminated for decades, while those most heavily polluted could be uninhabitable forever.

The Street View function can be accessed through the map, which can be found here: http://goo.gl/VbxDY

SLOW DOWN!

Internet speeds in India, especially for customers of Bharti Airtel, Tata Communications and state-owned BSNL and MTNL are set to be disrupted for the next 20-25 days, after a key undersea cable, carrying data traffic across 14 countries, from Singapore to France, was cut off the coast of Egypt. Two other key cable networks, linking Asia to Europe, were also allegedly damaged. Beam customers also got a message saying their service might be slow for the coming week because of the issue. The cable was cut about 750 metres from Egypt coast and it is not clear what the motive of this people was.

GOOD BUY Amazon has announced the acquisition of social reading service, Goodreads. Specific terms of the deal weren’t disclosed and it should close by the end of Q2.

Goodreads had raised $2.75 million in funding from the likes of True Ventures since launching in January 2007. When we talked to them last August, the site had over 10 million members and had catalogued more than 360 million books, adding 22 million each month. Now, the site boasts over 16 million users. This type of social integration could give Amazon a major advantage over e-sellers like Apple, who have no social components to their product whatsoever.

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Comment All good books have one thing in common — they are truer than if they had really happened.

Ernest Hemingway American writer

Resurrecting Tiger Woods THE HUMAN CONDITION Dean Williams

T

iger Woods is golf’s number one again, and his journey from the pinnacle of the sport to the depths of society’s moral hell and back again is a triumphant one. Now many of you out there may still hold his philandering ways against him, but the mark of a man is not how virtuous he is but how he can resurrect his spirit from the opprobrium heaped on it by those about him revelling in hypocritical sermonising. There are no perfect human beings, just those for whom perfection is an aim achieved by following one’s heart and instinct. Our hearts and instincts are intrinsically flawed, hence perfection can never be achieved. Tiger deserves our admiration not for what he has done in his personal life, but rather for how he rose from the ashes of a scandal to regain the number one spot in a game where loneliness is a constant companion. The golf course may have resembled an endless ocean, and Tiger must have felt like a castaway in those dark days after the sex scandal broke. A lesser man would have found a dark rock to hide under, resting on yesteryear’s laurels.

But Tiger roared back. His focus was laser-like and his ambition unquelled by moral waves.

Will Woods philander again?

Probably. Will the moral brigade ever forgive him? Unlikely. But whatever the future holds, every time Tiger steps up to the Tee, he will not see a fairway in front of him. He will see his life in all its meandering shame and glory.

He will hit the ball hard, and know that he is in control.

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS Jet issues a 1,000-word statement regretting the accidental death of a passenger’s cat at the tarmac. Compassionate carrier, one must say. Don’t remmeber such a long explanation last time there was a near-miss involving hundreds of passengers.

WEST ASIA PEACE

14

HOPE LIES IN MAKING BOLD CHOICES JO BIDDLE

Agence France-Presse

B

old choices are needed to coax the West Asia peace process back to life, including bringing Hamas off the sidelines, which may risk tearing the new Israeli cabinet apart, experts say. Much will also depend on what legacy Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, newly-elected for a third term, decides he wants to leave.

After US President Barack Obama’s visit to Israel last week, backed by shuttle diplomacy by Secretary of State John Kerry, there is hope of reinvigorated efforts to reach a deal.

But the challenges are huge, and experts at a Brookings Institution debate Thursday warned that new realities on the ground particularly in the wake of the Arab Spring demanded fresh, creative thinking.

“If we’re going to have a final status agreement, it will take a leadership act of the highest order by Netanyahu,” said Itamar Rabinovich, a former Israeli ambassador to the US. “For this he will have to break his coalition,” he said, arguing that Netanyahu had been lumped with a cabinet he didn’t want and might welcome the chance, under outside pressure,

to dump it.

Netanyahu unveiled in midMarch a coalition dominated by the hawkish Likud-Beitenu and its new national-religious ally Jewish Home, a far-right faction that is the party of choice for settlers. Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett has openly opposed a Palestinian state — which will put intense pressure on Netanyahu.

The burgeoning settlements have been a major obstacle to bringing the Palestinians back to the table, with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas demanding a freeze on all new settlement construction.

But Natan Sachs, a fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings, pointed to “voices out of the prime

minister’s office... that Israel might be going towards what it considers to be a quiet freeze” to avoid further global outcry.

The Palestinians are just as divided, torn between Abbas’s Fatah leadership which controls the West Bank and the militant Hamas which rules the Gaza Strip. Any moves to resume the peace talks will have to involve some kind of reconciliation with Hamas, both with the Palestinians and with the international community, argued Khaled Elgindy, a former adviser to the Palestinian leadership on the negotiations with Israel.

“Islamists matter, whether they are in the opposition to the government, or whether they’re the ruling party. You have to take them into account,” said

Elgindy. Even if Hamas did not want to sit down and negotiate directly, “they can’t be ignored, or wished out of existence,” Elgindy said. “They’re there, and if they’re not in the process in some broad sense... then they become part of the problem.”

He argued there was even broader support for a two-state solution in the Gaza Strip than there was in the West Bank, where the majority believe it is no longer viable.

But Washington is firmly opposed to direct engagement with Hamas, which has been on a US blacklist as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

Third-party countries which have some liaison with Hamas and which are US allies could be tapped to help sound out Hamas’s true intentions, suggested Rabinovich.

Turkey could have a key role to play, having restored relations with Israel following Netanyahu’s apology last week over the deaths of nine Turks in an Israeli crackdown on a Gazabound aid flotilla in 2010.

“As a more serious drive towards some kind of a peace process is being lead by the United States, people’s real positions will be tested, including that of Hamas,” Rabinovich said. “There will be a point at which ambivalent statements won’t work and one will be required to take a definitive stand and then we’ll know.”

EDITORIALS Disgruntled Nitish is UPA’s big bet

I

t’s true that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies. Trinamool Congress and DMK have pulled out of the ruling alliance and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is throwing tantrums, but the Prime Minister is least worried. This bravado is not without reason. The recent bonhomie with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has given a fallback option for the UPA government. With BJP showing every sign of pitching for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as its prime minister candidate for 2014 General Elections, Nitish’s chance at landing the top job is becoming more and more distant. The Bihar CM, though in alliance with the BJP at the state, has made clear on several occasions his discomfort in sharing space with Modi.

With Bihar sending 40 MPs to the Lok Sabha, Nitish’s JD(U), popular for the positive changes it has brought to governance, is likely to be in position to play king-maker and wrest some plum jobs at the Centre. Musical chair anyone?

READERS’ VIEWS

Time heals everything... really?

P

ost 2002, Narendra Modi was castigated severely for the Godhra riots. Mauth-kasaudagar-like monikers were coined in scores for the man who was till then one of the most famous posterboys who could do no wrong. The snubs he got from the US and the UK reflected what the West thought of him. But now, after it is likely that Modi is to be BJP’s PM candidate, slowly the perception is fading. Part of the job time did, part of it Modi by hard work and political acumen. But will it pay off? Let’s see.

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

Editor: Dean Williams

15

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Music

FROM THE HORSE’S MOUTH

'I'm just happy that 'Idol' producers gave me a shot on the show ... because I feel like I'm every single woman,' Nicki Minaj says on her stint in American Idol.

"My best and worst 'Idol' moments? I don't have a worst 'Idol' moment. I've been spectacular. Yes, I am going to toot my own horn," she said.

THE CITY’S MUSIC

NEW ALBUM

Going Underground Traversing the world of mainstream aqnd underground music is a feat. Yellow Studio Works is on the course to capture the City’s underground music scene.

Dakta Dub meditates with the help of a singing bowl for half hour each time before starting a mixing session.

KANCHAN AGARWAL kanchan.a@postnoon.com

“E

very city has a sound of its own.

We realised this during our long journey on foot across ten states in India. For a long time we have wanted to capture the music essence of our city Hyderabad,” and that is how Faiz Rai of Yellow Studio Works set upon filming a documentary titled Hyderabad-Notes from Underground.

It is underground music because it has not attained popularity with the masses as such.

With no idea of where to begin with, being in Hyderabad, they naturally steered to Old City and began listening and understanding the world of Qawwals.

Traversing from the world of mainstream to the underground is revealing and all definitions one had for music change forever.

“Underground artists are all independent ones.

These qawwals do about 26 jampacked shows a month but still live in small and simple houses in the bylanes of Tolichowki and Nampally. After a couple of weeks of enthralling spiritual Qawwali, a friend of ours introduced me to Underground Dj Dakta Dub. It helped me immensely in my research,” reveals Faiz.

Dakta Dub is only the stage

iTUNES Top 10 songs 1 THE WAY Ariana Grande

Justin Timberlake

6 FEEL THIS MOMENT

2 JUST GIVE ME A REA- Pitbull SON 7 THRIFT SHOP

P!nk Macklemore, Ryan Lewis

3 WHEN I WAS YOUR 8 MIRRORS Justin Timberlake MAN 9 MY SONGS KNOW Bruno Mars WHAT YOU DID ...

4 RADIOACTIVE Fall Out Boy Imagine Dragons 10 I LOVE IT 5 SUIT&TIE Icona Pop

name of 29-year-old Bala Subrahmanyam, who has his musical roots in Indian classical, and has followed legends such as Ustad Bismillah Khan and Vilayat Khan. In 2004, he flew to Budapest to pursue a diploma course. He stumbled upon a job opportunity at Tilos Radio, the biggest underground radio station at Budapest, which exposed to him a wide world of dub, hiphop, reggae, dubstep, drum & bass and more such genres.

When he came back home, he realised that the music culture here is way behind. Convinced that Indian and Jamaican cultures have been intertwined for ages, Bala found his calling in Jamaican Dub and began his underground struggle.

“Underground music always starts with a strong emo-

Top 10 albums 1 WHAT ABOUT NOW 6 ALL AROUND THE WORLD Bon Jovi Mindless Behaviour

2 THE NEXT DAY 7 OLD SOCK

David Bowie Eric Clapton

3 SPRING BREAK...HERE 8 SOUND CITY...REAL TO TO PARTY REEL Luke Bryan Soundtrack

4 LET THE FUTURE BEGIN 9. BABEL

Passion Mumford & Sons

5 UNOTHRODOX JUKEBOX 10.PEOPLE, HELL AND Bruno Mars ANGELS Jimi Hendrix

tion. It starts when you want to do something without regret.

He is now an independent artist who often plays at 10 Lounge.

He has also started the City's very own non-commercial radio station called Monkey Radio.

Currently, it is an online radio but they dream to broadcast on FM one day,” adds Faiz.

Traversing from the world of mainstream to the underground is revealing and all definitions one had for music change forever. To Faiz it has been intriguing, “When I started off, I often asked myself ‘What am I looking for?’ You cannot put a finger on something and say ‘This is underground’. It is a personal experience.

Underground music is unique to each city and is constantly evolving. If you notice, older genres of music are gradually fading away. Underground helps in reviving older genres.”

From seeking the sound of his City to finding a world that preserves it, Faiz has come a long way. A trailer of the documentary has been submitted for a competition by Talenthouse, winners of which will have claim to two Nokia phones with which they have to shoot the entire film.

If he wins or not, Faiz has his own plans. “While interviewing him, Bala quoted singer and guitarist Frank Zappa — ‘Mainstream music comes to you, but you have to go to the underground.’ This encapsulates everything I did to make the trailer. Even if I don’t win, I will still finish my documentary.

And Hyderabad, I think, is just the root of this journey,” he says.

Bollywood Top 10 1. MERA MANN KEHNE Himmatwala LAGA 6. MANJHA Nautanki Saala Kai Po Che

2. AAKE TERE KAREEB 7. SAPNA MERA TOOTA Amma ki boli Nautanki Saala

3. SADI GALLI AAJA 8. AAJA MERI JAAN Nautanki Saala I love New Year

4 MEETHI BOLIYAN 9. SURMAYEE

Kai Po Che Amma ki boli

5. THANK GOD ITS 10.JUDAAI UNPLUGGED I love New Year FRIDAY

Crime & the City Solution American Twilight is more than just a triumphant comeback by C&CS—who were not fully appreciated for their uniqueness the first time around—it is a literate, sprawling, bruising rock & roll record that convincingly addresses the crises we face—cultural, spiritual, integral—and the choices we make.The first album in over 22 years for the Australian rock band led by Simon Bonney was recorded in Detroit and coproduced with Dave Feeny.

DID YOU KNOW...

Justin

Timerblake now claim the 19th biggest debut since SoundScan began tracking sales data in 1991.Though Experience fell just short of hitting the one million mark, according to figures provided by Nielsen SoundScan, it ranks as the year's best-seller to date.

It also easily blew past the first-week figures for 2002's Justified, which entered the charts at #2 with 439,000, as well as 2006's FutureSex/LoveSounds, which hit #1 with 684,000.

TRENDING...

Teen pop star Justin Bieber is reportedly planning to make his second concert film on a budget of 15 million pounds.

His maiden concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never released in 2011 and turned out to be the highestgrossing music movie of all time by raking in 65 million pounds.The film will be out in time for Christmas.

Black Eyed Peas star Will.i.am is teaming up with pop star Britney Spears for a new track to be included on her next album. Spears appeared on the producer and rapper's huge track Scream and Shout earlier this year, and he is set to return the favour, by working on some tracks for her next album, reported MTV online.

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

spotlight

TIME TO GROOVE

Ladies can let their hair down at one of the best sports bar in the city.

Dance the night away at News Cafe, Inorbit Mall, as the in-house DJ churns your favourite dance numbers behind the console. Be there at 7.

S BALAKRISHNA

FUN AND FROLIC

1

2

18

3

5

4

Night-time fun There is nothing better that would get party lovers excited than the promise of good food, great music and a whale of a time. Bottles & Chimney was the hub last night as youngsters danced the night away at the pub.

6

7

8

9

1 Deepika

6 Sanju, Sofia

2 Rashmi

7 Tina

3 Kriti

8 Rahul, Meenakshi

4 Sonia, Moin

9 Sharory

5 Yashu

LEAVING TRACES

Kalakriti Art Gallery, Park Hyatt Hyderabad and Alliance Francaise presents Via Presence – B2fays, a collection of multimedia installation and paintings.

The opening preview for which was held at Park Hyatt on Thursday.The exhibition, which will continue at Kalakriti Art Gallery, will be on till April 9.

S BALAKRISHNA

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FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

health

‘HOLY GRAIL’ VACCINE FOR FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE British scientists have developed a "holy grail" vaccine for foot-and-mouth disease that is safer and more resilient than current vaccines, according to the journal PLOS pathogens. A team of scientists were able to reconstruct the outside structure of the virus, which triggers the production of antibodies.

MYTHS

Myth: If you kill the scorpion that stung you, your pain vanishes.

Fact: The scorpion’s stinger contains a toxin, which is a mixture of proteins.

Clearly, catching the scorpion is of no help once you’ve been stung. Very few species of scorpion inject venom that is powerful enough to cause serious damage or death. In most cases, the symptoms are mild and subside with simple home remedies.

Myth: Suck the venom out of a snake bite.

Fact: This venom can spread to the person sucking the wound, and the germs from his mouth can infect the wound as well. seriouslyfacts.me mentions a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine, snake venom spreads fast in the body, making “sucking out venom” an impossibility.

WILD IDEAS! Human-animal interactions and encounters are plagued with myths.

Here are some of them debunked.

DEEPASHRI VARADHARAJAN

deepashri.v@postnoon.com

Myth: A spider bite leaves two punctures.

Fact: Though spiders do have two venom-injecting fangs, the distance between the two are so close in tiny spiders that it doesn’t appears as two separate punctures, reports burkemuseum.org. This could very well be a bite from some other insect or a skin eruption. According to firstaid.about.com, most spider bites are harmless, and go unnoticed or untreated.

Myth: A dog’s mouth is clean and it’s ok to kiss your dog.

Fact: A dog’s mouth contains germs, though most of them are not harmful to humans. According to petsadviser.com, this depends on where your dog’s mouth has been, and dogs may even have tartar build-up on their teeth. rodale.com advices that people with a weakened immune system must refrain from getting licked on the face, as it may even cause salmonella poisoning.

ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF

Myth: You become insane if you swallow cat hair.

HOUSECALL

Fact: The atlantic.com carried a report on Jaroslav Flegr, a professor of biology at Charles University in Prague, felt his mind had been ‘invaded’ by parasites carried by house cats, saying that this was responsible for his ‘altered behaviour.’

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease, the primary host of which is the house cat. In severe cases, it can cause inflammation of the brain, and can even be fatal. The Daily Mail reported how it can cause schizophrenia in humans.

DID YOU KNOW?

PIONEERS

Yogify

Porphyria

Nose warms 500 cf of air

Marco Abbondanza

Find your strength, balance, and flexibility with Yogify. Push your mind and body to new limits with Yogify’s flow-style yoga programmes.

Accessible to beginners and challenging to experienced yogis, master over 275 unique poses in studio-quality practices “on the go” or from the comforts of home.

Porphyria is the name for certain medical conditions or diseases. Those who suffer from the disease can not make certain substances in the blood. The condition may be genetic or acquired. This will manifest in either skin problems, or some diseases of the nervous system. Drugs are available to treat symptoms. This disease is most common in European countries. A Porphyria patient will lose their hair about two weeks after having an attack.

The nose cleans, warms, or cools, filters, and humidifies over 500 cubic feet of air every day. It monitors and classifies over 10,000 different odours and sense of smell is so keen that it can detect the odours of substances even when they are diluted to 1 part to 30bn. A human can detect one drop of perfume diffused throughout a 3-room apartment.

Marco Abbondanza is an Italian medical doctor and eye surgeon, best known for his treatment of keratoconus. He graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the Sapienza University of Rome in 1983.

From 1984, together with a team of Italian physicians, Abbondanza studied and developed a new incisional procedure capable of correcting visual impairments caused by keratoconus and maintaining the evolution of the pathology.

20

health FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

TREND

RESEARCH

LEECH THERAPY makes a comeback in India Many people are now taking to leech therapy to treat conditions ranging from blood pressure and gout to hair fall.

NEW DELHI: A few years ago when Hollywood actress Demi Moore said she let leeches suck her blood as part of a therapy to look fresh and young it made headlines. This ancient medical therapy of using leeches for clinical bloodletting to treat certain health conditions is making a comeback of sorts in India where the therapy is said to have originated.

Leeches (or Hirudo Medicinalis) are segmented worms from the Annelida family with suckers at the ends of their body. A leech can consume between five and 15 ml of blood — or four-six times their body weight in a single feed. The bite of a leech is not painful as it releases an anaesthetic to prevent the hosts from feeling them.

Many people are now taking to leech therapy to treat conditions ranging from blood pressure to gout, from healing wounds to even hair fall. Only the medicinal leeches are used for treatment, which are brown, red striped and olive-coloured.

“The therapy has a lot many advantages, without any side effects. It is a major therapeutic tool and helps in many blood-related diseases. It also minimises the chances of blood rejection in blood transfusion cases,” said ayurveda specialist Ravi Raghuvanshi.

“In India, where the therapy originated, there is hardly any awareness or much research, though the practice dates back 5,000 years. The knowledge has not been transferred well. The popularity is also scattered. Only 300-400 people every year in Delhi and NCR use leech therapy,” Raghuvanshi said.

In 2008, the union health ministry decided to recognise leech therapy to treat a range of diseases, including eczema, gangrene, vascular reconstruction and vascular surgery in chronic wounds.

It is in vogue in Jammu and Kashmir, coastal Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and some parts of Gujarat. Now the therapy is also practised in some clinics across cities like Delhi and Mumbai.

STUDY

Divya Sharma, 47, a resident of east Delhi, says she found the treatment very effective. “I had suffered serious injury to my legs in an accident some months back.

The wounds turned gangrenous and doctors said they might have to amputate my legs if the injury does not heal. Then a friend advised me to try leech therapy.

After I started it, my injuries began to get better day by day. The doctors said no operation was required.”

“The therapy is usually done on patients with rheumatoid arthritis, skin disorders and even in cases of hair fall. People suffering from bleeding disorders are not given the therapy. Otherwise the practice has only advantages,” said S Jain, a Delhi-based ayurveda specialist.

“The subject has been taken out of ayurveda, but not many people have the awareness. It will, however, gain in reckoning in the near future,”said Jain, whose clinic provides the facility.

According to medical experts, leeches remove blood from their host and release pain-killing and blood-thinning substances into the blood through their saliva. The saliva contains about 100 different bioactive substances, including anti-coagulants, vaso-dilators and anaesthetics.

The medicinal leeches are brown, red striped and olive-coloured.

The first description of leech therapy, classified as blood letting, was found in the text of Sushruta samhita (dating 800 B.C.) written

by Sushruta, who was also considered the father of plastic surgery, according to information on the web.

The application of medicinal leeches for cleaning the blood of poison was used in Egypt around 2,500 years ago. The therapy was common until the mid-1800s when newer therapies took their place.

In the 1980s, medicinal leech therapy got a big boost by plastic surgeons who used leeches to relieve venous congestion, especially in transplant surgery. In 2004, use of blood-sucking leeches was also approved by the US government as a tool for healing skin grafts and for restoring circulation.

IANS

Bugs in gut could help lose weight

WASHINGTON: Scientists have shown that tinkering with bugs present normally in the gut could provide a tool to weightloss, says a study, giving new hope to people trying to fight the battle of the bulge.

New research, conducted by Harvard scientists in collaboration with researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), has found that the gut microbes of mice undergo drastic changes following gastric bypass surgery. Transfer of these microbes into sterile mice resulted in rapid weight loss. The study is described in a March 27 paper in Science Translational Medicine.

“Simply by colonizing mice with the altered microbial community, the mice were able to maintain a lower body fat, and lose weight — about 20 percent as much as they would if they underwent surgery,” said Peter Turnbaugh, a Bauer Fellow at Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Center for Systems Biology, and one of two senior authors of the paper.

“Our study suggests that the specific effects of gastric bypass on the microbiota contribute to its ability to cause weight loss and that finding ways to manipulate microbial populations to mimic those effects could become a valuable new tool to address obesity,” said Lee Kaplan, director of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition Institute at MGH,and the other senior author of the paper. IANS

Tea,coffee, smoke flavourings linked to cancer gene WASHINGTON: Pairing food chemistry and cancer biology in a laboratory study, scientists at the Johns Hopkins University’s Kimmel Cancer Centre tested the potentially harmful effects of foods and flavourings on the DNA of cells.

They found that liquid smoke flavouring, black and green teas and coffee activated the highest levels of a well-

known cancer-linked gene called p53.

The p53 gene gets activated when DNA is damaged. Its gene product makes repair proteins that mend DNA. The higher the level of DNA damage, the more activated p53 becomes.

“We don’t know much about the foods we eat and how they affect cells in our bodies,” says Scott Kern, pro-

fessor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“But it’s clear that plants contain many compounds that are meant to deter humans and animals from eating them, like cellulose in stems and bittertasting tannins in leaves and beans we use to make teas and coffees, and their impact

needs to be assessed.”

“We found that Scotch whiskey, which has a smoky flavour and could be a substitute for liquid smoke, had minimal effect on p53 activity in our tests,” says Kern.

Other flavourings like fish and oyster sauces, tabasco and soy sauces, and black bean sauces showed minimal p53 effects in the tests.

IANS

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FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Entertainment CINE BYTES

Gauravam’s first look unveiled

Gautham in Ala Modalaindi’s remake

G

autham Karthik, who was he first look of Allu Sirish’s last seen in Mani debut film Gauravam was Ratnam’s Kadali, is all set to unveiled yesterday. Radha Mohan start shooting for his next has directed the film in Telugu and Tamil film and it’s reportedly Tamil and it also stars Yami a remake of Ala Modalaindi.

Gautam and Prakash Raj in lead Ravi Thagyarajan, a former roles. Gauravam is said to be a associate of Priyadarshan, is social drama based on honour directing the Tamil version of killings and how a group of Ala Modalaindi. D Imman youngsters fight back against this will score the music. social evil in a village.

T

DREAM RUN

M

irchi has set a new record in Prabhas’ 11year-old career and what’s surprising is that this new feat comes at a time when it was believed to be a thing of a bygone era. The film has completed its 50 days run today in a whopping 238 centres across the state and two centres in US. Incidentally, none of the films featuring big stars have managed to achieve this feat in recent years. Talking about the film’s outstanding run at the box office, one of the producers of the film, Pramod said, “The main reason why the film has been so well received at the box office is that it appealed to all sections of the audience. The film had a great mix of action, comedy and family drama which worked in its favour.” Mirchi is also the biggest hit in Prabhas’ career so far, but a film running in more than 200 centres even after 50 days are a rarity these days.A decade ago, more than the film’s opening collections and revenue collected in long run, the number of theatres it was screened for after 50 days and 100 days was considered to be the most prestigious thing for a film. Actors like Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, NTR, Pawan Kalyan, Mahesh Babu and Ram Charan had films which managed to run in more than 200 centres even after 50 days and now Prabhas has joined this elite list. Over the past few years, the dynamics of Telugu film industry has changed so much that it’s practically not possible to expect a film to have a dream run at the box office for more than four weeks. As a result, most producers, filmmakers and actors began concentrating on releasing the film in maximum number of theatres in the first week to rake in the moolah. In fact, several bigwigs in the industry have openly declared that we may never have a film celebrating silver jubilee events in future. A well known publicist says, “The main reason for Mirchi’s dream run at the box office is because it appealed to people from different sections. Moreover, the fact that none of the films which released after Mirchi managed to do well, shifted the tide in Mirchi’s favour even after so many days.” Directed by Koratala Siva, the film had Prabhas, Anushka and Richa Gangopadhyay in lead roles.

Iddarammayilatho’s team returns to India

A

llu Arjun’s upcoming film Iddarammayilatho is nearing completion and after nearly two months of extensive shoot in Barcelona, the team of will return to India. “The last schedule will begin soon in India and we are going to wrap it up in 10 days,” Puri Jagnnadh said.

Amala Paul and Catherine Tresa are also playing the lead roles.

M I RC H I sets a new record in PRABHAS’ career

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

fashion

LOUIS VUITTON PHOTO EXHIBITION

LOUIS VUITTON will host a Tom Craig and Bay Garnett photography exhibition in association with the Vogue Festival next month. All Four Corners — held at the label's Bond Street store private apartment - will showcase a collection of beautiful imagery taken for Vogue, starring a mixture of actresses and models - from Rachel Weisz to Stella Tennant.

T

he week is the biggest fashion event in the country and is becoming more international than ever since its founding in 1997. This season is a good example, attracting Gherardini to make its debut in China. In addition, the young designer Wang is also developing an international name.

He is the first Chinese fashion designer to have made his way to Milan Fashion Week.Yang Jian, secretary- general of China Fashion Week organising committee, said the fresh designs from Chinese designers are the main attraction for foreign fashion workers. �Compared with the situation in previous years, there are more young Chinese fashion designers using a more universal language of design that can be highlighted on the world's catwalks, for example, Wang Yutao and Wang Peiyi," Yang said. Not only is China Fashion Week becoming more international, it is also developing commercially.

It has attracted title sponsorship from auto giant MercedesBenz since 2011, the main sponsor for the major fashion weeks in the world, including New York, Tokyo and Milan.

A NEW COLLABORATION

THE HOTLY-ANTICIPATED collaboration between Mary Katrantzou and Current/Elliott launched on mywardrobe.com. Comprising jeans, dresses, shorts and tops, the aesthetic for the collection was inspired by Katrantzou's spring/summer 2013 collection that depicted postage stamps and bank notes.

22&23

Elegant and feminine

PICS: AFP

China Fashion Week 2013 (autumn/ winter) opened in Beijing's D-Park on Sunday with a show from Italian luxury leather label Gherardini following another one from Chinese fashion designer Wang Peiyi.

Entertainment FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

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Entertainment FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

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FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

CS Lewis

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 Eavesdropper 6 Tire letters 9 Laundry accumulations 14 “___ Cane” (1962 movie) 15 Greek letter 16 Sports venue 17 Many a John Wayne flick 18 Gobble 19 Prepared for action 20 Haunted house sound, perhaps 23 Distress signal 24 Shaking of the earth 25 Well-thought-out 27 One of 100 in a baht 30 Beginner’s luck beneficiary 31 Customary practice 32 Scottish clan chief 35 Physiques, informally 39 Certain holiday feeling 43 Mass number 44 “State” or “national” starter 45 Sawbones’ org.

46 Gave away verbally 49 Made from fleece 51 King’s chair 54 Express checkout units 56 Word of support 57 Tribal healer 62 Turkish official 64 “So that’s how it is!”

65 Engine supercharger, for short 66 Bewhiskered swimmer 67 A link between words?

68 Silas Marner’s creator 69 Piece of something brittle 70 Business meeting fixture 71 Blows violently, as a storm

DOWN

1 Component of urban air 2 Ham’s father

3 Not taken in by 4 “Potemkin” mutiny site 5 Signs of things to come 6 Hunts for a meal 7 Old wind instrument 8 Minuscule bit 9 Living room of old 10 Result of raising hackles 11 It can be broken or lost 12 Words before a happy note?

13 Speak biblically 21 Not weighing much 22 Like perilous winter roads 26 Asia’s largest desert 27 No-thing connector 28 Pale in color 29 Time spent in an office 30 Class struggle?

33 In the middle of 34 Palindromic Bobbsey 36 Like some thermometers 37 Coin with a torch on the back 38 Saxophonist Getz or cartoonist Drake 40 Word with “each life” or “thin air” 41 Did some quilting 42 Show-biz necessity 47 “Let’s keep moving ahead!”

48 Necklace made of flowers 50 Apertures in a sponge 51 Printed goofs 52 Candy bar choice 53 One in dreadlocks 54 Blood of the gods, in Greek myth 55 Rose’s protector 58 Cheeselike health food 59 Math course, for short 60 Wind quintet instrument 61 Goes bad 63 “Love ___ Madly” (The Doors hit)

Chai Time FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 30-3-2013

27

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Good news from daughter or son about arrival of the offspring will bring cheer to the family. Vehicle maintenance expenses will go up considerably. Wandering, higher expenses and tension are inevitable. Be cool.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Employees will feel happy as atmosphere at the workplace is changed for good. Confusion and expression existed will disappear. More expenses towards fulfilling children’s demands are likely. Confusion will disappear.

Good and constructive thoughts will come to you and by implementing the same you will reap good benefits.

Unwanted worries and fear existed will get cleared and you will be in a relaxed mood.

Employees will do well.

Your self confidence and courage levels will be at their high which will help you in achieving the hardest tasks undertaken by you. Couple will be more affectionate towards each other and a happy atmosphere will prevail at home.

You will be able to sell the property at the expected price which will make you feel relaxed. Confusions and worries will be over. Influx of close relatives and performance of happy events will bring cheer to the family members.

Both happiness and expenses through children are likely.

Businessmen are advised to treat their partners with due respect, else there are chances of strained relationship.

Employees might be overburdened with extra work.

Those in a depressed mood will feel cheerful as the dull situation slowly change in their favor. Real estate deals are likely to bring good and attractive gains. Expenses will be more and make you upset. Drastic changes in lifestyle likely.

Income and expenses will compete with each other which might make you depressed.

Employees will be charged and work hard as there will be a comfortable situation at the workplace. Ego clashes between couples will be over.

Those who were deprived of a child since long time might get favorable news soon. You will be happy to received timely help and support from maternal relatives. Changes are likely in your travel plans. Artists are likely to perform well.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

Eight of Cups – You may have concentrated on all the practical parts of life and made it perfect from what is conventionally expected. Live a little. Let go.

LEO:

Queen of Cups – You wear your heart on your sleeve and it is not always a bad thing. People should also realise that some people can be honest with their emotions.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

The World – Fear of processes, fear of filling out forms, and fear of something you don’t like may be holding you back. Take a deep breath and do what’s needed.

SAGITTARIUS:

The Lovers – Decision time! The time is ripe for you to take call on a close relationship. It might work out to your favour, in fact, to allow destiny to take over.

TAURUS:

The High Priestess – Allow your intuition to guide you. There may be some doubt over whether to trust a person or not.

CANCER:

Queen of Pentacles – Only very few lucky people get to keep friends for a lifetime.

If you have that opportunity by letting go of your ego, just do it.

VIRGO:

Six of Pentacles – A senior from your profession is likely to come to your rescue and make you re-prioritise your expectations.

Change of mindset is needed.

SCORPIO:

King of Cups – You are in a position of power, especially when it comes to an intimate relationship. But how you use this power will determine its direction.

CAPRICORN:

Four of Pentacles – Financial stability is of essence if you want to make any major changes in your current career situation.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

The Wheel of Fortune – What goes around, comes around. If you’ve been good to people in the past, good is about to come back to you.

NUMBER GAME

Hierophant – Only you are holding yourself back from achieving all that you want to. An attitude change and a mindset alteration are needed.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: The

POOCH CAFE

You will have to raise new debts on urgent basis as your requirement of funds is likely to go up. Hurdles or road blocks in the way of marriage finalization will be cleared.

There will be a change in your attitude.

for 30-3-2013

Queen of Swords – If you’re feeling lonely, work actively towards socializing. It takes effort and you need to put your best foot forward.

NON SEQUITUR

You might face a dilemmatic situation in a few issues but will get resolved soon within a shortest span. Avoid unwanted arguments or disputes with anyone especially with your spouse as it might lead to a big and complicated issue.

SUDUKO

Drastic and favorable changes are to take place in your approach and you will look cheerful and complete all the works will get completed to your fullest satisfaction.

Delayed works too will resume and get completed.

Boggle FUMBLE HELMET JERSEY PLAYER Vol: 2, No 252 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033 and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved.

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

28

Entertainment FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

NO WEDDING RUSH

Angelina Jolie W

hen Angelina Jolie went on a humanitarian trip to the Congo recently, her engagement ring was replaced by a simple gold band. Of course, the change in jewellery sparked rumours that Jolie has secretly married her fiance, Brad Pitt.

Jolie ended the rumors today, when asked by a photographer at the airport if the band was a wedding ring. She offered a simple "No," as she got as she got into the back of a black SUV, TMZ reports.Brad and Angelina announced their engagement nearly a year ago, but no wedding date has been announced. The couple has six children, three of which were adopted by Jolie at first, and eventually adopted by Pitt as well. They have been together since 2005.

CINE BYTES

says she and Brad Pitt did not get secretly married

Jim Carrey, author! actor planning to self-publish

J

im Carrey is writing the next chapter of his career. The actor is set to try his hand as an author, announcing that he plans selfpublish his first novel. And, in true Jim Carrey, fashion, it's anything but predictable. In an interview with HitFix, the star reveals that he's angling to write what he dubs a "metaphysical children's book" that deals with "serious things in a really fun way."

MGM rebooting Tomb Raider movie

M

ove over, Angelina Jolie — there's a new Lara Croft coming to town.

MGM has acquired the film rights to the Tomb Raider video game series and will reboot the franchise in partnership with producer Graham King's Gk Films.

King had previously secured the rights back in 2011 from the game's current publisher Square Enix Ltd.

Daniel wants to direct films

H

arry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe says he would love to try his hand at directing. The 23-year-old actor, who has been very selective about his movie roles, said he will don the director's hat very soon, reported Contactmusic. "I would love to direct, definitely and I hope I get to do that soon," he said. IANS

sports

29

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

BACK FROM RETIREMENT

POSESSION OF GUN

Haye eyes Klitschkos

David Haye announced his comeback from retirement and declared that he is still gunning for the scalps of the Klitschko brothers.

LONDON: One-time WBA heavyweight champion David Haye announced his comeback from retirement on Thursday and declared that he is still gunning for the scalps of the Klitschko brothers.

The 32-year-old Londoner, who announced his return at a press conference in his home city, is scheduled to fight an as yet unnamed opponent in Manchester on June 29.

Haye also expects to fight again later in 2013, in order to become the mandatory contender for a bout with either Vitali or Wladimir Klitschko next year.

“Instead of sitting around and waiting another year, I want to get back in there,” Haye said.

“I’m happy to be back. A year is long enough time to wait for someone to phone you.”

Haye’s last fight saw him defeat fellow British heavyweight Dereck Chisora at London’s Upton Park stadium last July.

Wladimir Klitschko beat Haye in Hamburg in 2011 to add the WBA title to his IBF and WBO crowns, while elder broth-

TOUR OF FLANDERS

British former WBA heavyweight boxing champion David Haye poses for photographers after a press conference in central London on Thursday to announce his return from retirement.

AFP/CARL COURT

er Vitali is the reigning WBC champion. “I want that heavyweight title back,” Haye said.

“I was hoping Vitali would be a man of his word and fight me after I did what he and his team wanted me to do and beat Dereck Chisora.

“We have been sitting around, waiting for the phone to ring but that hasn’t happened.

We have sent some emails but they have fallen on deaf ears.”

Haye’s trainer, Adam Booth, said talks were ongoing to find the right opponent for his fighter’s comeback fight in June.

“David will fight an opponent who I am yet to secure, but who will be highly ranked,” said Booth. “He wants to fight twice this year against highly ranked contenders to put himself in an unavoidable position to be the mandatory contender to one of the brothers. He is not waiting anymore. He is fighting his way into position.”

Vitali is not sure to fight again as he is said to be weighing up the possibility of retiring and pursuing a career in politics while Wladimir defends against Francesco Pianeta next.

Mayweather foe Guerrero arrested NEW YORK: Robert Guerrero, set to fight Floyd Mayweather in five weeks, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly trying to take a handgun onto an airplane, prosecutors in New York said.

The 30-year-old Guerrero was arrested at John F. Kennedy Airport on gun possession charges while trying to catch a flight to Las Vegas.

“I hope Mr Guerrero fights better than he thinks,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “You cannot bring an unlicensed weapon loaded or unloaded - into this country or this city. And if you do you will be arrested and face felony charges.”

Guerrero, 31-1-1 with 18 knockouts, is set to fight fellow American Mayweather, 43-0 with 26 knockouts, for the undefeated star’s World Boxing Council welterweight crown on May 4 at Las Vegas.

Guerrero is a former International Boxing Federation super featherweight and featherweight world champion from California, who beat Andre Berto by unanimous decision last November to keep an interim title.

AFP

IN TROUBLED WATERS

Court clears Pistorius travel

Gilbert, Phinney ruled out PARIS: Reigning world champion Philippe Gilbert of Belgium and American rider Taylor Phinney have both been ruled out of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders, their team BMC announced on Thursday.

Gilbert, who has twice finished third in the spring classic race, is currently recovering from a cold and is not in suitable condition to take part, while Phinney has a knee injury and is hoping to return to peak condition for the Paris-Roubaix on April 7.

“With my current condition, I know I cannot be successful at Flanders,” Gilbert was quoted as saying on BMC’s official website.

Phinney said: “I’m confident if I stay at home in Italy and have a couple more days of recovery, I can be back 100 percent for Paris-Roubaix.”

AFP

Oscar Pistorius may compete at the World Championships in August after a South Afr ican court cleared him for international travel.

SUSAN NJANJI-MATETAKUFA Agence France-Presse PRETORIA: Paralympian sprint star Oscar Pistorius may compete at the World Championships in August after a South African court cleared him for international travel, easing stringent bail terms imposed after he was charged with murdering his girlfriend. Pistorius, 26, whose athletics career has been on hold since the Valentine’s Day killing of 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, had appealed against a raft of bail conditions he said were unfair and unwarranted.

His manager Peet Van Zyl said the double amputee was under no pressure to return to the track, but if he felt like it and was in shape, the decision rests solely on him. “So if he decides to run and manages to achieve the qualification standards that an athlete has to achieve for the

South African defence team Barry Roux (L), Brian Webber (C) and Andrew Fancett attend on Thursday the bail application appeal of South African Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius (pic 2) at the North Gauteng Hight Court in Pretoria. The court cleared Pistorius for international travel after the Paralympian sprint star, charged with murdering his girlfriend, challenged his stringent bail terms. Pistorius had appealed against a raft of conditions including the confiscation of his passport that he said were unfair and unwarranted. AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN

World Championship he must go,” Van Zyl told AFP. “And this is obviously something that we will have to consider and look at.”

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships take place in Moscow in August.

On Thursday Pretoria High Court Judge Bert Bam said the initial magistrate’s decision last month to order Pistorius to hand over his passport was “wrong”.

“I find no reason why the appellant should be forbidden to leave the Republic of South Africa if invited to compete in

athletics events in other countries,” Bam ruled.

Pistorius will however have to submit his itinerary to the prosecution at least one week before travel and hand back his passport within 24 hours of return. The passport will now be kept by his lawyer.

sports

30

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

MIAMI MASTERS

WILLIAMS, SHARAPOVA

TO CLASH

IN FINAL MIAMI: Five-time champion Serena Williams wasted no time booking her berth in the WTA Miami final by steamrolling Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 6-3 to set up a title clash with third seed Maria Sharapova. Sharapova, a four-time runner up in Miami, was equally dominant as the newly-crowned Indian Wells winner hammered Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 6-1 in the other semi-final on Thursday.

“Today my game wasn’t great but I had to keep trying," Williams said. “I am excited because I am in the final. “My family and friends are here so I have to do well. I can’t let my friends down.”

The 31-year-old Williams blasted 12 aces and won 83 percent of her first serves in the 65-minute match against the fourth seeded Radwanska of Poland.

Williams is bidding to become just the fourth woman in the modern era to win the same event six times, joining Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova. Evert is the only player over the age of 30 to win the title, doing so at the age of 31 years, two months in 1986.

“She (Sharapova) is playing so well.

It will be a great match. We always have great matches,” Williams said of facing Sharapova. Sharapova is in her fifth final in quest of her first Miami title.

“It would mean so much to me,” Sharapova said. “The fans give me so much support here. I love this city. It was the first city I came to in this country when I was a little girl and I would love to win.”

Sharapova lost to Kim Clijsters in the 2005 finals, to Svetlana Kuznetsova in ’06, Victoria Azarenka in ’11 and Radwanska last year — all in straight sets. AFP

Murray advances to semifinals

MIAMI: Reigning US Open and Olympic champion Andy Murray advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Miami Masters on Thursday by defeating Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3.

The second-seeded Scotsman will play the winner of a later quarter-final between French eighth seed Richard Gasquet and Czech fourth seed Tomas Berdych for a spot in Sunday’s final.

HOUSTON OPEN

Points on top in Houston, McIlroy struggles HOUSTON, TEXAS: D.A. Points fired an eight-under-par 64 to grab a one-stroke lead at the Houston Open on Thursday as Rory McIlroy’s bid to reclaim his world number one status got off to a shaky start.

Points, who started on the back nine, has a slim lead over fellow Americans Cameron Tringale and John Rollins, who each carded a seven-under 65 at the Redstone Golf Club on Thursday.

“They’re not super difficult holes," Points said. “But if you hit it where you’re looking and you leave it in the right spot, you make a good stroke, you give yourself

good chances to make birdies.

“Today I finally saw some balls go in the hole." Points started quickly as he rolled in a pair of putts from over 11 feet during his opening birdie run. Points said his used his mother’s old putter during the round.

“You know, it was one of those rounds where I felt like I was going to putt pretty well because I changed the putter and had a putting lesson and was feeling pretty good," said Points.

Points made the turn at sixunder after nailing a 55-foot birdie putt at the 17th.

He converted another lengthy

putt at the third from 36 feet but then recorded his lone bogey of the day at the fifth. He had a fivefoot birdie putt at the eighth and closed his round with a par to take the clubhouse lead.

But while Points was red hot, McIlroy’s hopes of wresting back his world number one status from Tiger Woods suffered a setback.

McIlroy carded a one-over-par 73 in a round which included a double-bogey on the par-three eighth.

He finished with three bogeys.

After struggling on the front

nine, McIlroy rebounded after the turn making birdie on three of his first four holes. “It wasn’t the start I wanted," McIlroy said.

“I made a couple quick birdies to start back nine which helped. I started to commit to my shots on back nine bit more which helped. Hopefully I can go out there tomorrow in good conditions and get some back."

Elsewhere Jason Kokrak and Angel Cabrera, of Argentina, are tied for third place with sixunder 66s.

AFP

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland makes bogey on the second hole during the first round of the Shell Houston Open at the Redstone Golf Club on SCOTT HALLERAN/GETTY IMAGES/AFP March 28, 2013 in Humble, Texas.

sports

31

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

BAR BRAWL

Ryder improves, one arrested over assault

Ryder was showing signs of improvement and gave family the thumbs-up as police charged a man with assaulting the player.

This February 25, 2012 file photo shows New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder batting during the first ODI against South Africa at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington. Jesse Ryder has been rushed to hospital with a fractured skull following a bar brawl on Thursday.

AFP/FILES/MARTY MELVILLE

WELLINGTON: Battered New Zealand cricketer Jesse Ryder was showing signs of improvement Friday and gave family the thumbs-up as police charged a man with assaulting the gifted batsman in a savage beating.

Ryder was attacked by a group of men as he left a bar in the South Island city of Christchurch early Thursday, and was rushed to hospital in a critical condition where he was placed in an induced coma.

His manager Aaron Klee said Ryder was responsive Friday and had given the thumbs-up to medical staff and members of his family who rushed to be at his bedside.

BANGLADESH VS SRI LANKA

IN BRIEF

‘Doing well overseas is important’

Bangla clinch thriller, level series PALLEKELE, SRI LANKA: Nasir Hossain hit an unbeaten 33 under pressure as Bangladesh levelled the one-day series against Sri Lanka 1-1 with a three-wicket win in the thrilling third and final match on Thursday.

Bangladesh, chasing a rainrevised target of 183 off 27 overs, won the day-night match with six balls to spare in Pallekele to register their fourth one-day victory against Sri Lanka in 33 matches.

The tourists needed 17 to win off the last 12 deliveries, but Nasir eased the pressure when he smashed three fours in an over from seamer Thisara Perera before Sohag Gazi hit the winning boundary.

“It’s a huge win for us,” said Bangladesh skipper Mushfiqur Rahim.

“It was a challenge for us to do well against big teams, so I am very happy with the effort.

Ryder remains in an intensive care unit in a stable condition and requires help with breathing because of an injury to his lung.

His mother Heather and his partner Ally thanked people around the world for sending messages of sympathy and police for arresting “people responsible for the heinous crime committed on our Jesse”.

“Jesse will be chuffed knowing how many people care and have reached out, including the huge number of cricket fans and players from around the world,” they said in a statement.

“We have read many of the mes-

BRIEF SCORES

Sri Lanka 302/9 (in 50 overs) (K. Perera 56, Dilshan 125, Sangakkara 48, L. Thirimanne not out 25, Razzak 5/62) lost to Bangladesh 184/7(target 183 in 27 overs) (Anamul Haque 40, Nasir Hossain not out 3, Kulasekara 4-1-29-0 (w5), Malinga 2/29, Mathews 2/39, Senanayake 2/26)

We have not been in such situations before and that’s why the boys were panicking, but we pulled it off.”

Bangladesh began their chase on an impressive note when Anamul Haque (40) and Mohammad Ashraful (29) put on 77 for the opening wicket in 12.5 overs before completing the upset win in the penultimate over.

Sri Lanka won the first onedayer by eight wickets in Hambantota, while the second match at the same venue was abandoned due to rain.

AFP

NEW DELHI: Lauding the team for their 4-0 triumph over Australia in the recently concluded Test series, out-of-favour opener Gautam Gambhir today stressed on the need to win Test series abroad in order to be recognized as a force in world cricket.

“Unless a team wins overseas, they are not recognized as a force. I have always believed that winning in overseas conditions matters a lot. I am happy that we have done well at home,” Gambhir said.

sages online over the past 24 hours and we are keeping them for Jesse to read when he recovers.”

Police said they had charged a 20year-old man with assault and were also questioning a 37-year-old man.

“Two or three” people attacked Ryder as he left a bar and then resumed the assault when the injured player made his way to the car park of a fast-food outlet across the road, police said.

Although Ryder has a history of alcohol-related incidents and had been drinking before he was attacked, police said alcohol was not a factor in this instance.

AFP

PAKISTAN IN SOUTH AFRICA

PCB instructs coach to file report

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board has advised the national team’s head coach, Dav Whatmore to first return to the country and file his tour report on South Africa before going on a short vacation.

“The board told Whatmore and fielding coach Julian Fountain to first return with the team and file their tour reports which need to be discussed by the national selectors with the PCB,” a source said. He said Whatmore was not happy with the situation but the board felt he should also return to watch the national Super Eights T20

championship underway in Lahore.

“The national selectors have also assembled in Lahore and the chairman of the board, Zaka Ashraf is also back from South Africa.

The idea is to have a round table meeting to do a post mortem on the SA tour,” the source added.

He said the board wanted Whatmore and other team officials to be involved in the meeting so that the selectors can take reports into consideration before finalising the 30 probables for the Champions Trophy in England.

PTI

ROAD TO RECOVERY: ASHES SERIES

Swann on track to return LONDON: England’s Graeme Swann has revealed he is on course to return from an elbow injury in time for this year’s Ashes showdown against Australia.

Swann was sidelined for England’s recent drawn Test series in New Zealand after undergoing surgery in United States earlier this month in an attempt to cure the long-standing problem.

He first visited the specialist clinic in Minnesota in 2009 and the treatment allowed him to feature as England reclaimed

the Ashes from Australia later that year.

But the elbow problem flared up again just before the first Test in New Zealand earlier this year, leading to concerns over Swann’s long-term future.

Fortunately the surgery appears to have been successful and Swann plans to be bowling by the end of next month and available for the return series against New Zealand in May which serves as a warm-up for the Ashes.

AFP

FRIDAY, MARCH 29, 2013

sports

UNSTOPPABLE TOTTI CELEBRATES 20 YRS IN SERIE A

Roma captain Francesco Totti claims his long career in Italy’s top flight had “flown by” as he celebrated 20 goal-laden years of Serie A. The Giallorossi icon last week scored his 226th league goal to move to second in the league’s all-time scoring charts behind Silvio Piola.

BUNDESLIGA PREVIEW

32

Bayern Munich eyes Bundesliga record If Dortmund fail to win at Stuttgart on Saturday, record champions Bayern will be in a position to clinch their 23rd national title, and 22nd since the inception of the Bundesliga.

BERLIN: Runaway leaders Bayern Munich can become the first team ever to secure the Bundesliga title before the end of March if they beat Hamburg on Saturday evening and other results go their way.

Borussia Dortmund have won the last two titles, but they currently sit 20 points adrift of Bayern in second place with eight games remaining.

If Juergen Klopp’s side fail to win at Stuttgart on Saturday afternoon, record

Bayern players and staff insist all the focus is on Hamburg, but the prospect of any major celebrations if they do wrap up the title has been ruled out, with officials confirming that there will be no trophy presentation at the Allianz Arena regardless of what happens.

“In the dressing room, we’re talking exclusively about Hamburg,” said midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger. That’s our main focus. We need a good performance.”

champions Bayern will be in a position to clinch their 23rd national title, and 22nd since the inception of the Bundesliga half a century ago.

However, it is inevitable that the Bavarians will eventually get their hands on the ‘Salad Bowl’ trophy, and those at the club are not too concerned whether they do so this weekend, especially with the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Juventus to come on Tuesday.

ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW

Wenger backs experience Wenger has overseen 15 consecutive years in Europe’s elite competition.

16. “We just want to continue our form,” Wenger said ahead of Reading’s visit to the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

“Bayern and Swansea is a good inspiration to continue our run-in. There are nine games to go. We play five at home and four away. I think we have a very good chance to finish in the top four.

“We have a special desire to do it together.”

Fourth-placed Tottenham looked certainties for a Champions League place until defeats opened the door for Arsenal and Wenger is confident the Gunners, who are currently four points behind their north London rivals, can close the gap.

LONDON: Arsene Wenger believes the experience gained from Arsenal’s long run of successful attempts to qualify for the Champions League will serve his team well in the battle to finish in the top four.

Wenger has overseen 15 consecutive years in Europe’s elite club competition, but Arsenal’s place in the Premier League’s top four has appeared more under threat than ever this season.

Despite Arsenal’s spluttering form, the Gunners boss has been encouraged by the win over Swansea before the international break and their failed effort to overturn a first leg deficit against Bayern Munich in the Champions League last

Mancini furious with Kompany The Belgium defender has not played for the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City since damaging a calf muscle in January.

M A N C H E S T E R : Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has criticised captain Vincent Kompany after he ignored advice from the club over the management of his comeback from injury.

The Belgium defender has not played for the reigning Premier League champions City since damaging a calf muscle in January.

Mancini criticised Kompany after he ignored the club’s advice over management of his comeback from injury.

But the influential centreback figured in a World Cup qualifying match this week, much to the annoyance of his

club manager.

If Kompany suffers no adverse reaction to his appearance in the 1-0 win against Macedonia, he will lead out his City team-mates for the first time in two months against Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

But Mancini, who has conceded the title to runaway leaders Manchester

United, made it clear he was not happy with his skipper.

Having tried to persuade the defender not to join up with the Belgium squad, he said that he had expected Kompany to return “in a day or two” after checking in with the national team for medical formalities. “Sometimes the player has to understand that the club is more important,” Mancini said.

Rafa sets sights on second place Chelsea will attempt to increase the pressure on Manchester City, who sit five points ahead.

IAN WINROW Agence France-Presse SOUTHAMPTON: Rafael Benitez insists Chelsea can still claim second place in the Premier League ahead of a trip to Southampton on Saturday that marks the start of a testing run of fixtures for the Blues.

Benitez’s third placed side will attempt to increase the pressure on Manchester City, who sit five points ahead in second spot, with victory over the relegation-threatened Saints at St Mary’s.

That marks the first of six games in a 16-day period for Chelsea, with the FA Cup sixth round replay against Manchester United next up just 48 hours later.

The programme will test Benitez’s squad to the limit but the Spaniard said: “It is better to have this problem than be at home watching it on the television.

“It is better to have this schedule because it means you are still competing.

“With a top side, the last month in the season is when you fight for trophies.”