Postnoon E-Paper for May 29th 2013

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 HYDERABAD

WWW.POSTNOON.COM

WEATHER: A MIX OF CLOUDY AND CLEAR SKIES; 35°C

32 PAGES

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therapy in The first family Fish troubled waters?

Whether it’s a rom-com or an intense drama, the Kapoor family has been there, done that.

In fact, the Kapoors have only improved with each generation. With Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani set for release, we find out more about the first family.

P16&17

Multitudes disapproved of the sudden Lokayukta directive to the government to stop giving support to the famous Mrigasira Nakshatra or fish therapy that purports to cure chronic asthma.

P4

HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER

100 DAYS AFTER TWIN BLASTS,

WE’RE AS CLUELESS AS EVER N SHIVA KUMAR

On Friday, it will have been 100 days since twin blasts rocked the City’s commercial hub, and yet, the mighty National Investigation Agency (NIA) throws up its hands and looks confused. People who lost their limbs and livelihoods question the lack of progress.

REPORT ON P9

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

city events

RELATIONS AND REFLECTIONS

Relations and Reflections, paintings of Shambu Prasad Reddy will be on display at Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills till June 3.

Weather for Hyderabad

Evening

Overnight

Morning

35°C

30°C

34°C

40°C

Cloudy with showers likely.

Cloudy with showers likely.

Cloudy with showers likely.

Cloudy

New Delhi Mumbai Max 42 Max 35 Min 28 Min 29

Afternoon

Partly cloudy

Chennai Max 36 Min 29

Bangalore Max 30 Min 20

Cloudy with chances of thunderstorms.

Cloudy with chances of thunderstorms.

Clear with chances of rain.

AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES When: May 29, 7 pm to 8 pm.

SHOWS Celebrating women Fast Girls by Regan Hall will be screened.

Where: Alliance Francaise, Banjara Hills When: May 30, 6 pm

DINING Food fest Afghani Pathani food festival will be held.

Where: Hotel GreenPark, Begumpet When: 31st May to 09th June, 2013 Film fest Film by Arto Halonen Princess will be screened.

Where: Alliance Francaise, Banjara Hills When: May 29, 6 pm Movie time Applause by Martin Pieter Zandvliet will be screened.

Where: Alliance Francaise, Banjara Hills When: May 29, 4 pm Movie matter Eszter's Inheritance - Film By Jozsef Sipos will be screened.

Where: Alliance Francaise, Banjara Hills When: May 30, 4 pm

CROWNING GLORY: A special train from Kachiguda to Madurai was launched with much fanfare on May 28.

M ANIL KUMAR

WORKSHOPS Kitchen queens Cookery workshop will be held.

Where: Inorbit Mall, Madhapur When: May 29, 5 pm to 6 pm

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

155333 23431178 23431179

MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

Where: Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad When: May 27, May 29 and May 31, 10.30 am to 12 noon.

Contact: 9030013344

Photography workshop Photography workshop for kids will be held.

Where: Treasure House, Banjara Hills When: May 27 to May 30 Contact: 23355118

Swimming lessons A swimming workshop for ladies and children is on.

Where: Novotel, Hyderabad When: Till May 31

Art and craft An art and craft workshop will be held.

Where: Inorbit Mall, Madhapur When: May 30, 7 pm to 8 pm

Wet paper painting Wet paper painting workshop by Sakshi Mudaliar will be held.

Fat to fab Zumba workshop is on.

Where: Inorbit Mall, Madhapur

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

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

155313 23307328 23313163

27505566 23314095 23390933 24600146 27001134 23607777 30418888 30417777 30419000 30416666 39879999

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

27567892 23559555 23226624 27633087 27035588 27550238 30799999 30418296 30417445

AMBULANCES Apollo 23548888, 23607777 Kamineni 24022222 Medwin 23202902, 23204616 Smile Line Dental Hospital 23747979 Red Cross 27627973 Niloufer Hospital 23314095 Gandhi 23320332 AIRLINES

Ocean’s Eleven Eleven of the finest prawns are on offer.

Where: Lacantina, Novotel.

Game of bottles Attend bartending sessions by Tulleho.

Where: Godrej Nature’s Basket, Road No 36, Jubilee Hills.

When: May 30, 4.30 pm to 6 pm.

Women empowered A self defence workshop for women will be held.

Where: Inorbit Mall, Madhapur When: May 30, 5 pm to 6 pm.

Commissioner & Spl Officer

Helpline

ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section

Cold affair Flavoured iced tea on offer.

Where: Seasons Bar, Taj Krishna When: Till May 31, 12 pm

When: Till May 31, 7 pm to 11 pm Frozen beverages A whole new array of soothing and relaxing diaquires.

Where: Lacatina, Novotel Fit for royalty Royal thali fest is on.

Where: Aish, The Park Hyderabad, Somajiguda When: Till May 31

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

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

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

24523211 232431300/7641 24521029

Readers’ views

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

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

news

TODAY’S QUESTION

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

WILL SPLIT IN FAMILY AFFECT TDP’S POLL PROSPECTS?

ARE DENIZENS APATHETIC TO ECO DEGRADATION? 76% 24%

YES (A) NO (B)

A)

YES

To vote visit www.postnoon.com

POLICE ATROCITIES

B)

NO

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Cops 'parade' arrested girl in China They allegedly paraded a 13-year-old girl in handcuffs for splashing a government vehicle BEIJING: Two Chinese officials allegedly paraded a 13-year-old girl through the streets in handcuffs for splashing a government vehicle, state media reported today after images of the incident provoked outrage online.

A party secretary in Kele, in the southern province of Guizhou, and a policeman were being investigated over the matter, the Global Times said.

Rao Yao was accused of deliberately splashing “dirty water” on a government car, drenching another local official, after a row about her family's street stall, the Sichuan Daily reported.

Party secretary Yuan Zehong ordered the girl arrested and told more than 30 policemen to “beat up” her aunt after she protested

the handcuffing, claimed a post on Sina Weibo, China's Twitterlike social messaging service.

It included photos of the incident and alleged that Rao had been made to walk for 20 minutes in public while wearing the AROUND THE

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handcuffs.

According to the Sichuan Daily, officials accused the girl's father Rao Fugui of making up the accusations because of a long-running dispute over the market where he works.

He was quoted by the Beijing News Wednesday as saying that his daughter was illegally detained for 12 hours, although

it also cited him as saying she was only transferred between two vehicles during the April incident, rather than paraded.

Nonetheless many netizens were outraged. “Now a 13-yearold is being cuffed and paraded?

What's wrong with this country?" asked Vivian Panda on her Weibo account.

Another netizen, Liu Tong, a media businessman with more than three million followers, quoted new President Xi Jinping's oft-cited but largely undefined slogan of a “Chinese Dream".

“There are some people in this country who become others' punchbags and their Chinese dream is simply to live with a bit more dignity," he said.

AFP

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News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE Feeling the pinch

L

ast year we had reported how not having a vehicle also does not spare a person from facing the brunt of the petrol hike. Parents found their household budgets being thrown out of gear because they suddenly had to shell out more to send their children to school by auto. The lack of school buses and other options leaves parents with no choice.

MAY 29, 2011

NUMEROLOGY

100

days will have passed on Friday since the Dilsukhnagar blasts rocked the City. However, the investigation agency does not seem to have made any progress.

In several premiere Indian universities, there is a lot of inertia. It does not take a lot of money to generate quality content, if our professors are willing to do it.

Piyush Agarwal, CEO See page 6

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

1

Marriage season throws spanner in GHMC works.

Political leaders are a busy lot around now; not because of the upcoming elections but because of weddings. As a result, they are skipping work to attend the nuptials of family and friends.

2

Union holds the GHMC to ransom.

Demanding the immediate allocation of space for a housing society for workers, GHMEU members managed to bring the municipal offices to a near standstill.

3

FAITH AND GOVERNANCE

Fish therapy in troubled waters?

Lokayukta has asked the government not to support the annual fish therapy event. This has created an uproar that objects to judiciary stepping into a popular charitable event.

ALEENA ALICE feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Multitudes disapproved of the sudden Lokayukta directive to the government to stop giving support to the famous Mrigasira Nakshatra or fish therapy that purports to cure chronic asthma. This year, the day falls on next Saturday.

“It’s a faith and it is free.

Many have benefited from this.

Why would anybody object unless the medical circles want to frustrate it?” asks Raman Srivastava, who belongs to UP and is waiting for the day to try this traditional therapy.

Though science and medicine have advanced leaps and bounds over the years, there is still scope for traditional remedies, many believe. Testimonials pouring in from many parts of the country and abroad say that those who underwent the therapy felt relief, if not complete cure.

Every year, the fish medicine is distributed on Mrigasira Nakshatra to hundreds of thousands of asthma or bronchitis patients who tried modern drugs to no avail. The fish and herbs that are administrated are specially chosen and they are strictly under the control of the Bathini family. Herbs are brought from Rishikesh, they say. Fish coated with herbs and jaggery is given to the patient to swallow.

For decades now, the Bathini family has been dispensing the medicine to asthma patients, and claim that the medicine has proved effective for 90 per cent.

“Some organisations and pharma companies have been trying to tarnish the image of our family.

For the last 167 years, the Bathini family has been administering this medicine to people suffering from asthma. So far, there has not been a single complaint of any

side effect. People from all over the country throng the City to take this medicine because they have faith that it will cure them,” said Bathini Harinath Goud.

Dismissing the stance of Andhra Pradesh Balala Hakkula Sangham that the medicine is causing various sorts of other ailments as calumny, Goud said, “It is the faith of the people and the goodwill we have established over the years that keeps bringing people back to us for

Bathini tradition

T

he Bathini Goud brothers live in Hyderabad. The Goud family claims to be able to cure asthma using a home-made ancestral remedy. The treatment involves the swallowing of live twoinch-long fish filled with medicine. The Goud family claims they had been successively offering the treatment for more than 160 years, crediting the secret of the medicine to their great-grandfather Bathini Veeranna Goud, a toddy tapper.

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the fish medicine. The hue and cry these organisations are making is only to mislead people.

When people take the medicine they have to follow a diet for 45 days, and also the medicine has to be taken for three consecutive years for complete cure.

Allopathic doctors charge thousands of rupees to treat asthma patients, yet there is no result.”

WHAT PATIENTS SAY Savitha Rani, 25, a housewife from Bollaram, says, “I had tried various medicines for asthma, but found no relief. So when I heard about the fish medicine from people who have taken it, I wanted to try it as well. I felt better after taking it. People may say all sorts of things, but it is my belief that it works. The only problem is that after taking the medicine, a strict diet has to be followed, which I could not last year. However, this year, I plan to follow the diet and hope the results are better.”

Raju Nair, a 73-year-old for-

mer banker from Kochi, writes on his FB page, “God bless the Bathini brothers. I had been a chronic asthma patient for 10 years before I participated the famous fish therapy. I think I have a great relief if not fully cured. When you get your breath back, it is an ecstatic condition.”

THE BUSINESS ASPECT Various streams which are directly and indirectly involved in the distribution of the medicine contribute to the economy of the City. People from all walks of society come together for this event, providing equal opportunity for every businessman.

It’s the fishermen who play a key role in the revenue stream.

For the medicine, nearly a million small fish are required. The fisheries department, along with fishermen, supply fish to various distribution centres. Since the fish are transported from coastal areas, it also provides business opportunities to transport companies. Tourism, from tourist sites to restaurants and shops in the City, benefits from the thousands that pour in to Hyderabad for the cure.

NEWS BRIEFS

Pakistan TV serial hopes to address sensitive issues.

Gay romance, religious extremism and politics figure heavily in what people are calling Pakistan’s answer to US TV show Glee.

Engineering CET results declared

TDP chief declares bus yatra plans

Hyderabad doctor killed serving Syrian refugees

Fee structure for professional colleges

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E

A

D

A

Remembering the days of Spring Thunder.

India’s biggest internal security threat started out as a nondescript peasant-police confrontation.

5

Satisfying your creative demands.

A group of young students have set up Burp Studios to experiment with short film making.

ngineering Common Entrance Test (ECET-2013) results were released by JNTU-K vice-chancellor Dr Tulasi Ramdas yesterday. In ECET-2013, 99.9 per cent examinees passed the test. He also released the key. The candidates can download their rank cards by June 3. The candidates can view the results on the official website www.apecet.org

fter the walkathon, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu has declared that he would undertake a bus yatra from July. He said he had so far covered 16 districts through his padayatra and would visit the rest of the districts by bus. He said as several leaders asked him to visit these districts by bus, he had decided to start the bus yatra in July.

r E Abdur Rahman of Hyderabad, who was serving victims of Syria in refugee camps, was killed by rebel attacks, reports said. He belongs to a business family in Hyderabad. He had last visited Hyderabad in January 2012 to meet his relatives. He was just 26. He went to Syria through a British organisation “Hand In Hand For Syria”.

dmission and Fee Regulatory Committee will finalise the fee structure for professional colleges.

On Tuesday, commissioner of technical education Ajay Jain announced that the fee structure for engineering colleges will be finalised by June 12. Reports said 570 colleges have not implemented the Sixth pay commission recommendations.

5

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 OVEN FRESH

HOUSING

Give us the keys: GHMEU

Union members kicked up a ruckus in the GHMC offices, demanding the immediate allocation of space for a housing society for employees.

MD NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com

No economic crisis for France’s bakeries PARIS: The “boulangerie”, the bakery, is perhaps the only small business that has not suffered economic crisis in France, where there are more than 30,000 across the country, 3,000 of them only in Paris.

Professional bakers are socially esteemed, far beyond the category of tradesmen which has labelled them for decades.

It’s a profession that gets its start at the “Ecole de Boulangerie” of Paris, from which 500 students graduate each year, not an amateur among them, eager to take part in the profession, many with the idea of opening their own business.

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Bread is much more than food in France — 95 per cent of French people go to the nearest bakery at least once a day, 80 per cent of the time to pick up the famous baguette, so indispensable for its shape, its practical use and “also the presence of the artisan baker it emanates”, Sorbonne University professor Gilles Fumey said.

Bread, documented as a basic element for humanity’s survival since prehistoric times, is today a social element and a reflection of the cultural identity of each country, an idea most fully expressed in France, home of the baguette.

IANS

HYDERABAD: The TRA-affiliated GHM Employees Union disrupted the working of the municipal office on Tuesday demanding immediate allocation of space for a housing society for employees.

The high-voltage drama unfolded in the afternoon on the 86th day of the relay hunger strike. Union members, under the leadership of U Gopal, sat on a dharna that ended in a confrontation between union members and policemen summoned for maintaining peace.

Alleging that the corporation had no qualms allotting land worth crores of rupees to Ramky but dragged its feet on allocating plots for employees housing society, Gopal and others expressed their anger at the GHMC commissioner whose effigy they tried to burn. Police intervention led to a struggle that scared office staff who left early to avoid further trouble.

Alleging unreasonableness

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on the part of the union to demand keys to the proposed society plots, additional commissioners L Vandan Kumar and CN Raghu Prasad tried to pacify the union leaders but failed to cut ice with them.

Speaking to Postnoon, Vandan Kumar said the issue was all about the space for a housing society which is yet to be registered. “They are unconditionally demanding keys to the proposed society space which is locked now. How can we hand over the key without any formal procedure?” he asked.

Later, commissioner MT Krishna Babu yielded to the pressure and called for a meeting, which continued for an hour in his chamber. He gave the union assurances that the process of registration of the housing society will be taken up. “He assured us that it would be completed in 20 days. Ashok

Reddy (additional commissioner, finance) will oversee the process,” said an official, who attended the meeting. But the commissioner refrained from handing over the space unconditionally. He could only assure us that a formal letter supporting the registration of the society will be forwarded,” said a

union leader.

According to Gopal, the commissioner will be attending the meeting with the minister for municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) M Maheedhar Reddy over the issue of regularisation of employees and housing scheme.

CYBER EYE

HP police to list sex offenders SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh police is set to launch a website which will list the names of sex offenders, an official said today.

The police will maintain a register of sexual offenders and their names will be displayed on its official website, Inspector General (Law and Order) Sanjay Kundu said in a statement.

He said a decision in this regard was taken at a meeting chaired by Director General of Police B Kamal Kumar Tuesday.

It was also decided at the meeting that gender-sensitisation training would be organised for all the police personnel.

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It was also decided at the meeting that gender-sensitisation training would be organised for all the police personnel.

“This will probably make Himachal the first state to adopt a standard procedure to deal with crime related to sexual offences,” he said.

IANS

NATION BRIEFS 12 die as bus falls into Maharashtra river

NIC founder directorgeneral Seshagiri dead

No woman sarpanch at Gurgaon police meet

Criminal killed by gang in Madurai

Girl from Jharkhand raped in Delhi

THANE: At least 12 people were killed and 15 injured today when a luxury tourist bus rammed into a truck and plunged into a river in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said. The accident occurred around 7am when the Ahmedabad-Mumbai tourist bus and a truck collided near Kasa village, an official from Palghar police said.

BANGALORE: Padma Bhushan N Seshagiri, former special secretary to the union information technology department and Planning Commission and founder directorgeneral of the state-run National Informatics Centre (NIC), died here after a brief illness. He was 73. He leaves behind his wife, son, daughter and two grandchildren.

GURGAON: A meeting called to discuss rural women's empowerment by the city's police commissioner was not attended by a single woman panchayat head. Alok Mittal, Gurgaon police commissioner, who had called the meeting of sarpanches from south Gurgaon, said that it was the collective duty of everyone to check crimes against women.

MADURAI: A notorious criminal was killed by a four-member gang.

The assailants killed the victim by slitting his throat in Kakathope area in the city, Madurai police said today. While one of the gang members were arrested, the others managed to escape in an autorickshaw, they added. The victim was not named.

NEW DELHI: A 16-year-old girl who was brought to the national capital on the pretext of getting a job was gang-raped repeatedly by her cousin and his friends, police said Tuesday. The girl was brought from Gumla in Jharkhand by her cousin and his friend. The girl was found unconscious near a temple near Kashmiri Gate metro station.

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News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

EDUCATION

Teaching, learning will benefit from technology boost extremely important.

Piyush Agarwal, CEO of Aurus Network, tells why Indian universities should embrace technology to make quality education affordable and accessible.

ARUNIMA RAJAN arunima.r@postnoon.com

A

t a time when top universities are opening their doors for students across the globe, Indian universities are still hesitant to share their content through internet. Piysuh Agarwal, CEO of Aurus Network, which offers technical solutions for educational institutes like IITs, talks about the disadvantages of the traditional educational system and how Indian universities should embrace technology to make quality education affordable and accessible.

What are the major disadvantages of a traditional academic system?

Best universities are dependent on a high student to teacher ratio. There is also a severe shortage of highly skilled teachers and a divide between elite and non-elite institutes. Access to good AROUND THE

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Technology-based education will give recognition to good teachers and students.

Today, students go online and watch lectures of Stanford professors if they are not happy with their teachers.

quality education is limited by design.

We conducted a survey at IIT-Kanpur and for the kind of interaction that is happening in a classroom, there is minimum interaction between the teacher and the student. Students have to move on irrespective of whether they really understood the topic or not. We allow teachers to assess how students are performing at multiple stages. They can take proactive steps rather than waiting till the end of the exam. Every learner is different. For some people, the lecture mode might work and for others it could be reading. The pace of learning varies from student to student.

Technology can actually offer people two different ways to learn. For certain topics, you can offer animation tools.

Some educationists fear that technology might actually lower the quality of education? What’s your take on it?

Technology-based education will give recognition to good teachers and students. Today, students go online and watch lectures of Stanford professors if they are not happy with their teachers.

One top management college in India introduced a video conferencing system, but it was never used by teachers as they did not want to change their teaching style. Technology cannot dictate ways of learning to teachers if they want to reach out to more students.

Technology should also give more flexible solutions to teachers.

Can a smaller class size magically solve the problems?

Access to quality teachers is one of the biggest hurdles for attaining quality education. Technology alone cannot solve the problem. Empowering teachers to ensure that learning happens is

What sort of measures should be adopted to ensure that students comprehend the subject completely?

There are multiple models, like virtual laboratories. A video lesson is the primary mode of learning used in our system. It could either be a live video or an on-demand lecture. Live lectures have the audiovideo component as well as an option for text interaction with the instructor. There are pop-up quizzes which give them hint about the topic or gives reference to other materials so that they can use it. The responses of students are automatically recorded, so that teacher can assess if students are struggling with a particular concept.

Why do you think Indian universities are not ready to take the plunge in to online education?

Even if quality content is available, there isn’t much demand for it. The sole motivation of most students is to clear exams. The reason why students are opting for courses offered by universities like Stanford is

It does not take a lot of money to generate quality content, if our professors are willing to do it. because of the brand value attached to it.

Even if a tier-three university offers quality content, students will not consume it. In several premiere Indian universities, there is a lot of inertia. It does not take a lot of money to generate quality content, if our professors are willing to do it. Indian universities blindly follow Western ones. The classic example is the government’s initiative to upload MIT’s content on YouTube. However, there is no feedback mechanism integrated to the whole system, so the number of students who actually come back to watch the video lessons are very less.

We will see more universities offering online content for fee or for a certificate in the next one to two years. Teachers in US universities let students learn in their own way. But here, most universities are more concerned about attendance.

7

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

BILATERAL TIES

POLL MOVES

Japan bullet train for India?

Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail line plan gets accelerated by Japan PM as he plans to treble the sales of Japan’s infrastructure projects.

TOKYO: India is seen set to use Japanese bullet train technology for a high-speed connection between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, a report said today, the centrepiece of a huge package of infrastructure sales.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh will issue a joint statement at a summit later giving details on a feasibility study for the railway, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Abe is to offer a sweetener in the form of 101.7 billion yen ($1.0 billion) in yen-based loans to India, as Tokyo fights off competition from nations such as France, which has the TGV high-speed rail network.

Abe is embarking on a renewed drive to sell roads, rail and power stations to emerging nations, including India, in a bid to offset lassitude in the domestic economy that has left it

IDENTITY THEFT

‘Obama’ surfs China cafe

The MumbaiAhmedabad rail line would stretch 312 miles, costing to one trillion yen.

The governments plan to finish technological reviews and costings by March 2014. treading water. Abe said he wanted to treble sales of Japan's well-respected infrastructure projects to 30 trillion yen a year.

Abe was also expected to offer around 17.7 billion yen to India to build a conference hall and other facilities at the Indian Institute of Technology in Hyderabad, along with around 13 billion yen for the Tamil Nadu state government.

The pledges will come on top of a March offer of a 71 billion yen loan towards the construction of an underground rail network in Mumbai.

The two sides will agree on drafting a master plan for new infrastructure in southern India, which could see Japanese knowhow used to build a power grid, roads, railways and ports around Bangalore and Chennai.

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The sales boom comes as the two countries eye the rise of China with increasing unease as Beijing presses territorial claims with growing insistence.

Singh called for the shoring up of military and security ties, stressing the commonalities between Tokyo and Delhi, stressing that Japan is the only country with which India has held a "two-plus-two" meeting of foreign and defence ministers, Kyodo said.

Media reported that Japan was expected to sell amphibious planes to India in what would be the first sale of hardware used by the Japanese military since a weapons export ban was imposed in the 1960s.

AFP

ASS YO LIKE IT

BEIJING: President Barack Obama appears to be a regular customer of a Chinese Internet cafe, reports said, after the manager forged an identity card in the US leader's name to help surfers avoid China's web rules.

POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: This month, a Telugu favourite month for marriages is keeping Political leaders engaged now.

Most of these politicians especially cabinet ministers, MPs and MLAs are the most in demand. This has made them scarce from secretariat and their offices.

Official Sources of secretariat told Postnoon that most of the ministers have skipped their visiting hours for the last one week.

Marriage is a social engage-

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ment that a politician can’t ignore because he will lose the goodwill of not one family but of many. It is due to this reason why ministers, MPs and MLAs make it a point at least to make a brief appearance in marriage functions. It is also a photo-op for the families and friends.

"Majority of the ministers meet visitors after 3pm every day. But the marriage season has kept them away from routine work, " an official said.

The next general elections are approaching fast.

The marriage does give us a great opportunity to socialise with our own people and make them felt at home in our company.

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The card has a full-face picture of Obama, lists his correct birthday and gives his address as "White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC", while stating his ethnicity as "Kenyan", pictures showed.

AFP

Knots tie politicians down

People conducting a 'donkey marriage' as they believe it brings adequate rain in Solapur, Maharashtra on Monday.

PTI

A senior cabinet minister

WORLD BRIEFS Iraq violence kills 27: UN envoy urges dialogue

US drone strike kills four in Pakistan

Six suicide attackers killed in Afghanistan

Malaysian oppn figures charged with sedition

US embassy personnel shot in Venezuela

BAGHDAD: Violence in Iraq killed 27 people on Tuesday, as the country's cabinet discussed how to curb unrest that led to 500 deaths this month and raised fears of allout sectarian conflict. The UN envoy now urges feuding political leaders to resolve the crises that have paralysed the govt. and been blamed for its inability to halt the bloodshed.

MIRANSHAH: A US drone early Wednesday fired two missiles into a house in Pakistan's troubled northwestern tribal belt, killing four people. Incoming PM Sharif, who is preparing to take power, has called the drone strikes a "challenge" to his country's sovereignty and said Washington must take Pakistani concerns seriously.

KABUL: Afghan security forces killed six suicide bombers who attacked the Panjshir provincial governor's office early Wednesday. "Six suicide bombers wearing police uniform entered the governor's office.

Our team responded and all, except one who detonated himself, were brought down," Abdul Kabir Waseq, the governor's spokesman, told AFP.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian court charged four people with sedition as part of what critics have decried as a crackdown on accusations that the government cheated to win elections. The four men charged were opposition politicians Tian Chua and Tamrin Ghafar, and two activists , pleaded not guilty in a Kuala Lumpur district court.

CARACAS: Two employees of the US embassy were shot and wounded in Venezuela capital Caracas, in a murky incident that local media and a police source said took place at a strip club. The local media identified the two men as Roberto Ezequiel Rosas and Paul Marwin, and said they were military attaches at the embassy.

8

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

SYRIAN CONFLICT

ISRAEL WARNS RUSSIA Fears rise of escalation of conflict as Russia reiterates its stand to supply S-300 missiles as counterweight to EU lifting arms embargo on rebels.

DAMASCUS: Israel warned it “will know what to do” if Russia delivers promised anti-aircraft missiles to its war-torn ally Syria, amid growing fears of a wider conflict brewing as the fighting spills into Lebanon.

Israel said it would act if the Russian delivery went ahead, while Syria’s top rebel commander gave Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese Shiite movement, a 24-hour ultimatum to stop fighting alongside regime forces.

The developments stoked tensions after the European Union decided to lift an embargo on supplying weapons to Syria’s rebels, in a move the opposition reacted to with caution.

Syria’s regime joined its ally Russia in condemning the EU decision as an “obstruction” to peace efforts, while accusing the bloc of supporting and encouraging “terrorists”.

The United States said it supported the EU move as a show of “full support” for the rebels, despite its own refusal to provide arms it fears will end up in jihadist hands.

The lifting of the embargo “sends a message to the Assad regime that support for the opposition is only going to increase”, said US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell Moscow said its planned to deliver to Damascus the S-300 missiles — designed to intercept aircraft or other missiles like Patriots NATO has already deployed on Turkey’s border with Syria — which were part of existing contracts.

“We consider these supplies a stabilising factor,” deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said, adding they could act as a deterrent against foreign intervention.

Israel has strongly objected to the delivery, and its defence minister warned of a response.

“The deliveries have not taken place, and I hope they do not. But if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do,” said Moshe Yaalon.

The Jewish state has reportedly carried out at least three strikes against Syria since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March 2011, apparently targeting weapons.

On the ground, the conflict has already spilled over into Lebanon, and in the latest incident three soldiers were killed in an attack near the northern border town of Arsal, where most

SECURITY

Radical held over French soldier’s stabbing AROUND THE

We support the easing of the EU arms embargo as a part of the international community’s efforts to demonstrate its full support for the Syrian opposition.

AROUND THE

NATION

The deliveries have not taken place, and I hope they do not. But if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do, Moshe Yaalon Israel defence minister people back the uprising in Syria.

And in the eastern Lebanese town of Hermel, security sources

Features n Vertical launch n 2 missiles launched on one target n Short deployment time n Mobile launcher makes tracking and targeting difficult

said six rockets apparently fired from Syria hit the Hezbollah stronghold, wounding seven people.

Hezbollah is allied with Syria’s regime and fighting alongside the army against the rebels, including in the central town of Qusayr, where it has lost dozens of men.

Its role has raised fears Lebanon could be dragged into the war, and rebel chief Salim Idriss warned his fighters would respond within 24 hours if the group failed to halt its intervention.

AFP “If the attacks of Hezbollah against Syrian territory do not stop within 24 hours, we will take all measures to hunt Hezbollah, even in hell,” he told Al-Arabiya news channel.

The tensions overshadowed an ongoing meeting in Istanbul

Patrick Ventrell US State Department spokesman of Syria’s opposition National Coalition, which responded cautiously to the EU’s decision to lift its arms embargo on the rebels.

“Definitely it is a positive step, but we are afraid it could be too little, too late,” spokesman Louay Safi told AFP. A week into the marathon talks aimed at presenting a united front on a proposed peace conference aimed at ending the civil war, Syria’s opposition remains more divided than ever, pulled apart by regional power grabs and unpopular with rebels on the ground.

The EU agreed Monday to lift the arms embargo, but no member state intends to send any weapons immediately for fear of endangering prospects for the planned peace conference.

AFP

S-300 SURFACE-TO-AIR MISSILE SYSTEM

Russia

Effective in taking out advanced fighter planes, and to some extent, cruise missiles.

China

Characterstics n Lenght: 8 m n Range: 200 km n Active homing radar

Israel’s worries n Resistance to counter-measures n Cross-border targeting capability nMissiles falling into the hands of guerilla groups like Hezbollah

WORLD

PARIS: Police investigating the stabbing of a French soldier in Paris arrested on Wednesday a suspect sources described as an adherent of “radical Islam.”

“The suspected perpetrator of the attack on a soldier Saturday evening in La Defense (business district) was arrested this morning,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said in a statement.

The statement said the suspect was arrested in the Yvelines, just to the west of Paris.

Sources close to the investigation said the 22-year-old man has been a follower of a “traditionalist even radical Islam for the last three or four years.” But the sources urged caution in a case that is still in its early stages, saying the suspect was not known to be a jihadist .

The attack on Saturday in

Police in France are seeking to determine if the attack was a copycat of the brutal murder of the British soldier in London last Wednesday. a busy underground shopping and transport hub echoed the grisly killing of another soldier in London, but authorities have not yet established a link between the two cases.

Valls told Canal+ on Monday that police had “serious leads” on the identity of the attacker, who stabbed and injured French soldier Cedric Cordiez in the neck while he was on patrol with two colleagues.

The attacker, described by police as bearded and around 1.9 metres (six feet three inches) tall, approached the 23year-old soldier, stabbed him and then disappeared into a crowd.

Sources close to the investigation said that the suspect was caught praying on video a few minutes prior to the attack and that a plastic bag containing a bottle, a knife and rubbish was found nearby.

AFP

9

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

HYDERABAD BLASTS: 100 DAYS ON

PHOTOS: M ANIL KUMAR

On Friday, it will have been 100 days since twin blasts rocked the City’s commercial hub, and yet, the mighty National Investigation Agency (NIA) throws up its hands and looks confused. People who lost their limbs and livelihoods question the lack of progress.

Dilsukhnagar awaits answers Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com HYDERABAD: Experienced police officers know one thing.

If an investigation agency fails to find clues to a daring act of daylight blasts in one of the busiest localities, it means only one thing: Local hands are involved and they get political and community protection.

This is admitted to by a senior police officer who worked for task force earlier. He believes the Central government has done well in handing over the case to NIA since the agency will not be protecting local elements. But the question that arises now is if the government has the will to find out the truth. If so, why could it not come up with a shred of evidence? Is it not tantamount to admitting failure before some cowardly criminals? “The country’s image is at stake,” he said.

Even if the agency does a good job and catches the criminals, political bosses will come out and save them to get applause from this community or that. This has happened to the Mecca Masjid blast where all the accused were acquitted because the government weakened the case. So to whom should the people turn to for help?

“Khuda,” said a provision store owner, Syed Javed. He says if politicians do not see

crime as crime, then god is the only resort. Javed bemoans that despite passing of 100 days, people still fear to come to Dilsukhnagar. His business is down by half, he says.

B Anjaneyulu comes from Devar Khadri village in Mahbubnagar. “I believe I did a foolish thing coming to the City. I could have earned better AROUND THE

CITY

back in my native place. But having come now, I feel trapped. Police take extra bandobast in this part of the City after the blasts. They are following orders but what is the use of shutting the cage after the bird flies away?” The only result is dwindling business.

SMALL EARNERS HARASSED

A universal complaint of pushcart owners and kiosks in this area is that police continue to collect ‘mamool’ (extracting money) for allowing business.

No police chief or politician could stop it. KP Reddy, a native of Narayanakheda of Medak, sells red chilli in his small shop. One of the blasts had occurred smack opposite his shop, so the police now do not allow him to reopen the shop! He and his workers are trying to do some other business. But what’s the logic, asks one who started a paan shop instead of chilli. He too says police collect mamool, and what’s worse, every new inspector raises the sum!

Jagnath Sangam Basappa, a native of Markal in Bidar, says dejectedly, “Police don’t allow a

kiosk to open and if we seek permission, they want mamool.”

He says every small tea-snack kiosk pays between `50 and `100 daily to the police.

Another pushcart owner S Subhash says there are some 200 kiosks or pushcarts that together give `15,000 to `20,000 a day! How much money the police under whose jurisdiction Dilsukhnagar comes under is easily imaginable. “Ek toh karobar nahi chalta, doosri taraf policewale satathe hai,” (On one hand, business is dull and on the other, police harass us).

Businessmen in this area say they recall with trepidation every evening the blasts that made Dilsukhnagar a terror spot nationally.

Everyone (except the perpetrator of crime) in Dilsukhnagar has only one question: Whodunit?

Only god can help now, believes Syed Javed.

N SHIVA KUMAR

I did a foolish thing coming to the City. I could have earned better back in my native place. But having come now, I feel trapped.

Investigating officers inspect the blast site.

B Anjaneyulu, Dilsukhnagar hawker

B Anjaneyulu wishes he had never left his village.

Jagnath S Basappa says every shop has to pay mamool.

10

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

POLITICS

CM to lay foundation stones

N Kiran Kumar Reddy to lay foundation stones for several GHMC projects on June 1.

MD NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com

AROUND THE

CITY

C

hief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy will be laying the foundation stones for several GHMC projects on June 1. He will also be laying foundations for construction of flyover at Towlichowki, widening of road at Nandanavanam from Moghal ka nala to Puranapul, widening of road from Botanical garden to Old Mumbai Highway via Masjid banda village, improvement of old Mumbai highway from Towlichowki to Gachibowli and construction of link road from Miyapur to Yellammabanda road.

GHMC Commissioner MT Krishna Babu (in the picture) visited the sites and said the chief minister will be participating in the programmes under the Greater Hyderabad Development Project.

While most of the work will be completed within a year, construction of the flyover at Towlichowki would take 18 months.

MLAs from Serlingampally and Karwan M Bikshapathi Yadav and Afsar Khan also visited the site along with Ziaguda corporator A Krishna and GHMC officials.

AROUND THE NATION UP rolls back power privatisation LUCKNOW: The deadlock between the state government and protesting power board staff, who threatened an indefinite strike from Wednesday, ended late on Tuesday as the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) agreed not to privatise the sector.

At a high level meeting between UPPCL officials and the Vidyut Karmachari Sangharsh Samiti (Electricity Workers' Protest Group) it was decided that the power men would not proceed with the strike as the state government said it rolled back plans for privatisation.

IANS

SONG, DANCE AND CHANGE

Pak’s ‘Glee’ smashes taboos

Gay romance, Islamic extremism and a soundtrack of classic love songs make for Taan, Pakistan’s musical answer to the hugely successful US television series Glee.

ARIF ALI/AFP

GUILLAUME LAVALLEE Agence France-Presse LAHORE: Gay romance, Islamic extremism and a soundtrack of classic love songs make for Pakistan’s taboo-breaking answer to the hugely successful US television series Glee.

Like its smash hit forerunner, Taan follows the lives and loves of a group of young people who regularly burst into song. But this time they attend a music academy in Lahore, instead of an American high school.

Taan — which is a musical note in Urdu — tackles subjects considered off limits in Pakistan’s deeply conservative society, with plotlines including love affairs between two men and between a Taliban extremist and a beautiful Christian girl.

The plan is for the 26-episode series to air in September or October, and while producer Nabeel Sarwar insisted the programme was not a “political pulpit”, he is determined to take on the tough issues.

“Nobody wants to have controversy for the sake of controversy, nobody wants to have an assignment to violence, nobody wants to push a button that would result in a disaster for anyone,” he told AFP. “But the truth has to come out somewhere. Where are we going to put a line in the sand and say, ‘Look, this is what we are’?”

Taking a public stand to defend liberal values like this is rare in Pakistan, where forces of religious conservatism have

Director Samar Raza (right) said that representing the lives of gay characters was difficult in a country where homosexuality is still illegal.

AROUND THE

WORLD

risen steadily in recent years.

Risque scenes in foreign films are routinely cut by the authorities and the team behind Taan are acutely aware that they must tread carefully with their challenging material.

In one scene the two gay lovers dance and sing in a small room but never embrace — their relationship is suggested rather

than overtly shown. The moment is interrupted when a radical Islamist character bursts in.

Director Samar Raza said representing the lives of gay characters was difficult in a country where homosexuality is still illegal.

“Let’s say in a certain scene, there are two boys talking to

each other, they are not allowed to show their physical attachment to each other,” he said.

“So I bring a third character who says: ‘God designed Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve’.”

It is not only the sensibilities of the censors the producers must navigate.

While 70 per cent of Pakistan’s population is under 35, a huge and potentially lucrative audience for advertisers, it is the head of the household who decides what families watch on TV, explains Sarwar.

“The head of the household during the day is the matriarch and the head of the household at night is the patriarch — they control access to TV,” he told AFP. “You have to find programming that allows the matriarch and the patriarch to join in and participate, but there has to be room for the younger audience.”

In a bid to appeal to older viewers, the makers of Taan have licensed around 100 classic Pakistani songs, some by legendary artists such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and have reworked them to suit modern tastes, as Glee does.

“We try to find music that resonates with the older generation which control the access to the TV but we contemporise that music so that the younger audience does not feel left out,” Sarwar said.

The show hopes that by taking on difficult issues in a lighthearted way it will both reflect the changing nature of Pakistani society and attract a young audi-

Turkish Invasion

T

urkish soaps are widely watched across the Muslim world, but the popularity of Ishq-e-Mamnu and Manahil and Khalil has prompted a lively debate about the “Turkish invasion” of the small screen in Pakistan, with local production companies complaining that they do not have the resources to rival them.

ence currently hooked on imported Turkish soap operas.

Local dramas struggle to compete with the likes of Manahil and Khalil and Ishq-e-Mamnu (Forbidden Love) — Turkish serials starring Westernised characters with fair skin and dubbed into Urdu.

Turkish soaps are widely watched across the Muslim world, but the popularity of Ishqe-Mamnu has prompted a lively debate about the “Turkish invasion” of the small screen in Pakistan, with local production companies complaining that they do not have the resources to rival them.

Yasmin Huq, one of the stars of Taan, told AFP a homegrown show could speak more clearly to Pakistanis than foreign imports.

“Today’s generation is watching Turkish and Indian dramas,” she said. “But no one can make a musical story like Pakistanis. Even if you watch the Turkish and Indian dramas, you will see that nobody can talk about Pakistan like Pakistanis.”

11

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 TECHBOOST

ROOTS OF THE NAXAL MOVEMENT

RELIGIOUS UNREST

Myanmar urges calm after fresh violence Trio takes shortcut to dock at ISS BAIKONUR: An international trio flying in a Russian capsule docked the International Space Station on Wednesday with a busy schedule full of space walks and an encounter with a pioneering US cargo craft.

The six-month mission of Russian commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and his two flight engineers, Karen Nyberg of NASA and Italian Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agencybegan once their craft sidled up to the orbiting lab six hours after blasting off from the Moscowowned Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan.

AROUND THE

WORLD

The Soyuz took a shortcut that slashed the travel time from the usual 48 hours thanks to a special orbit that catapults the astronauts directly to their destination.

The trio's six-month mission will include six space walks and a link-up with a pioneer US spacecraft called Cygnus.

Cygnus is an unmanned resupply ship being designed by the private Orbital Sciences Corporation as part of a broader NASA effort to get commercial firms to fill the void left by the retired US space shuttle programme.

The demo flight is due to be followed later in the year by an actual delivery of cargo using a more powerful upperstage rocket.

AFP

(L) Security personnel inspect the site of Maoists’ ambush on Sunday in Bastar; (R) bodies at the clash site.

SPRING THUNDER

MR NARAYAN SWAMY feedback@postnoon.com WEST BENGAL: It would have remained — and been forgotten — as another localised peasantpolice clash had not the lanky Charu Mazumdar called it the start of a long awaited agrarian revolution, and promptly received the blessings of Mao, his ideological god. Thanks to China’s decision to call the May 1967 incident in Naxalbari village in West Bengal a “spring thunder” and a “prairie fire”, a brutal and violent Maoist movement soon engulfed India.

Mazumdar was a local firebrand leader of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) who felt the time had come to defy his party as it was steeped in electoral politics. Once peasants in Naxalbari seeking control of land killed an inspector with a hail of arrows, Mazumdar teamed up with like-minded comrades to split the CPI-M and set up the Communist Party of IndiaMarxist Leninist (CPI-ML) as his call for a Maoist style revolution won adherents across India.

The Naxalite movement — as it became known after the village Naxalbari — became the biggest pan-India armed challenge the Indian state had ever faced. In rapid strides, it spread to large parts of India, turning West Bengal in particular into a killing field. Mazumdar unleashed a policy of “annihilation of class enemies”, giving a carte blanche to his band of men and women to put to death anyone who

A 1967 peasantpolice clash has escalated into India‘s worst internal security issue. crossed their path, both in rural and urban areas.

Indira Gandhi and her CM in West Bengal, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, hit back with a vengeance.

By the time the Bangladesh liberation war broke out in 1971, security forces and Congress activists began hounding and killing Maoists at will. Dissension eruptAROUND THE

NATION

ed in the CPI-ML. Even the Chinese Communists took objection to some of Mazumdar’s writings. The man got arrested in July 1972 and soon died in police lock-up, marking the virtual end of a movement.

By the time Gandhi imposed Emergency rule in 1975, the CPIML had split into numerous warring factions. A section of the Maoists decided to embrace parliamentary politics. But two of the biggest groups, the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the CPI-ML People’s War, popularly known as People’s War Group (PWG), remained committed to the idea of a Mao style armed revolution. After remaining at loggerheads for a long time, they merged in 2004, creating the present day CPI-Maoist.

Pick

The Maoist movement abated in late 1970s and early 1980s, partly due to state repression and in part due to ideological infighting. Andhra Pradesh, once a bastion, was virtually stripped clean of Maoists by security forces. Kerala suffered the same fate. Maoist ideology lost the appeal it once had for the young and educated middle class.

Amid the lull, PWG shifted its base to the Bastar region in present day Chhattisgarh, slowly building a powerful network among the impoverished tribals, in a terrain virtually impregnable. Many of those active in the region today are Maoists from Andhra Pradesh. The MCC remained a force in Bihar and Jharkhand region. Once the two teamed up, the state found them to be a formidable foe.

From the time when Mazumdar’s death looked as if the Maoist movement had been buried for good, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has now been forced to describe it as the country’s biggest internal security threat. Today, several hundreds — the precise number is not clear — of Maoists are active in several states, better armed than ever.

The massacre in Chhattisgarh Saturday, when two senior leaders of the Congress were amongst the nearly 30 killed in a perfectly timed ambush, was the latest instance of this capability.

Will they ever win? I doubt it.

But can they ever be vanquished? I doubt that too. The state-versus-Maoist war will rage for a long time.

IANS

at the

airport,

YANGON: Myanmar's government called for calm Wednesday after mobs burned down a Muslim orphanage, a mosque and shops during a new eruption of religious violence in the east of the country.

The situation was "under control" after an overnight curfew was imposed in Lashio town in Shan State, but the unrest was triggered by an attack on a local Buddhist woman by a Muslim man.

There were no other reports of injuries in the violence, the latest in a series of outbreaks of unrest that pose a major challenge to the country's reformist government following the end of decades of military rule.

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WORLD

Attacks against Muslims have exposed deep rifts in the Buddhistmajority country and cast a shadow over widely praised political reforms.

In March at least 44 people were killed in sectarian strife in central Myanmar where thousands of homes were set ablaze in riots sparked by an apparent row at a Muslim-owned gold shop.

According to state media, the 24-year-old victim suffered burns to her chest, back and hand, but her condition was not serious.

Deadly unrest targeted at Rohingya Muslims in western Rakhine State, left about 200 people dead and tens of thousands displacedfrom civil service jobs leading to accusations of prejudice from rights groups.

AFP

-

12

News WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 BIZARRE

ID must in China city to buy T-shirts AROUND THE

WORLD

BEIJING: Authorities in a protest-hit Chinese city are making people who buy white Tshirts or print or photocopy banners show identity cards and register their real names, state media said on Tuesday.

The regulations are aimed at preventing further demonstrations against a planned paraxylene (PX) chemical plant, the Global Times reported, citing residents in Kunming, in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

PX is a toxic petrochemical used to make fabrics and hundreds of people took to the streets earlier this month to protest against the proposed facility.

Two printing and photocopying shops in Kunmingsaid that they were not accepting any work concerning the PX protests even if customers showed their identification.

The demonstrations come amid growing environmental concerns in the country, where new leaders including President Xi Jinping have promised to address the situation.

AFP

ENTERTAINMENT

Burp! rolls camera in City New start up production house in the City, Burp! Studios take their passion to the next level and attempt to redefine film-making as an art

EA ABHISHEK feedback@postnoon.com

W

ith numerous short film clubs/groups coming up in the city, BURP STUDIOS is a group of young college students who say their independent thinking and willingness to experiment sets them apart.

Short film making has become a craze among the youngsters in the City, from commercial film inspired stories to experimental videos, they produce it all.

BURP STUDIOS is one such group of students that has created an impact in a short time since their inception. When questioned about the idea of setting up such a studio, Sharath Nair the Owner/Director says,

BURP!

T

hey say their dream project would be one that makes people think, question the norms and which gets featured on an International Platform, be it a channel like VH1 or a film festival like Cannes.

“We were a group of young people in love with our camera, we spent hours editing and captured things with our camera.

Later we decided to take our passion a step further, which resulted in Burp Studios. We think we have immense creative talent and believe that Burp will break boundaries redefine filmmaking.”

Shashank Reddy, the coowner/screenplay writer at the studio, tells us about their projects, “We’ve worked on Music Videos for TREO-The Band. We also made and conceptualized videos for The Candent Slaves, a video which received huge acclaim and was featured on MTV last month. We are currently working on a short film, details of which will be out soon on various platforms.”

What is interesting about this group is their structured and defined role of each member. “Apart from Sharath and Shashank, I am also a coowner/cinematographer. The other team members include Aradhana George, Shweta Hara and Sashwatha Sridhar who handle Public Relations, Events and contentwriting respectively.

Abhiraj Nair and Nani saladi

AP

Crew members of Burp! Studios

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CITY

are our GraphicDesigners/ Photographers. Vineeth is the producer and Sunny Bharadwaj does music for us.” says Varun Raj. The budget being one major issue, Sharath says “It definitely is a concern, but so far we’ve relied on sponsors or the Producer. When we do a video for a band, they pitch in money too for more equipments. We’re looking at being self sustain-

URBAN SPACES

It’s crunch time in HK

A recent study which showed an estimated 171,300 people living in 66,900 subdivided flats is a pointer to the staggering demand-supply gap in affordable housing.

HONG KONG: More than 170,000 people in Hong Kong are living in cramped subdivided flats, a government-commissioned study has found, underlining the scale of the city's housing crisis.

Tens of thousands of lowincome families and immigrants are forced to live in the tiny subdivided units, unable to afford AROUND THE

WORLD

sky-high rents in the crowded city of seven million.

Hong Kong's Beijing-backed leader Leung Chun-ying has promised to priotise the housing problem and tackle it by boosting the number of new homes.

But the study showed the problem is even greater than what was previously expected,

with an estimated 171,300 people living in 66,900 subdivided flats.

"About 30,600 such units do not have essential facilities such as kitchen facilities, independent toilet and water supply," Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony Cheung told reporters.

The study was carried out from January to April by Policy21, a survey organisation comprising academics from the University of Hong Kong.

The Census and Statistics Department last October estimated 64,900 people live in subdivided flats, cubicles, caged bed spaces and cocklofts.

The smallest of these cubicles cost less than $26 a month. But poor workmanship and lax standards in subdivided apartments often create s tructural dangers, hygiene

able.” When asked about how to balance passion and college, he says “We believe that one should strike a balance between college and extracurricular.

Never do we slack off in college.

Film making is something we love and it’s not a job for us.”

Justifying the group name, Sharath says “Burp! You say after a satisfying drink of beer on a hot day. BURP STUDIOS! As satisfying a place, it belongs to a bunch of independent film makers, who believe in making a difference in the film industry by thinking out of the box and being unique.”

HEALTH

HIV tests abolished for teachers BEIJING: A Chinese province is likely to abolish mandatory HIV tests for teachers, state media said Tuesday, making it the first region on the mainland to eliminate the measures long-branded as discriminatory.

The state-run China Daily said that HIV tests had been removed from a draft list of health standards for teaching

AROUND THE

WORLD

problems and fire hazards.

In 2011 a fire which started in a street market killed nine people from a nearby tenement after they failed to escape the cubicle-style flats through a maze of narrow hallways.

The Asian financial centre has some of the highest proper-

ty prices in the world, driven by limited supply and speculation from wealthy mainland Chinese investors.

The government has raised real-estate purchasing and resale costs for non-local buyers in an attempt to cool the overheating market.

AFP

candidates in Guangdong. Kong Lingkun of AIDS advocacy group Beijing Rainbow Centre, said provincial testing policies were at odds with central government statements adding, "Guangdong's move is more of correcting their mistakes. It's the first time the authorities made a change, which are unimaginable in other countries.

AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Business

IMF CUTS 2013 CHINA GROWTH FORECAST TO 7.75%

The International Monetary Fund expects China's economy to grow "around 7.75 per cent" in 2013, a top fund official said today, lower than the 8.0 per cent the organisation forecast last month.

RESTAURANT BUSINESS

WALMART FINED $110m

Budget hotels starving Budget hotel owners blame increase in food prices and a fall in disposable incomes among the middle class for the woes of the industry.

PRUDHVI RAJU K prudhvi.k@postnoon.com

T

he budget hotel industry is being crippled by high food inflation, economic slowdown, fall in tourists inflow and competition.

According to industry experts, almost 50 per cent of the budget hotels in the State are on sale and are not finding buyers.

Segments of the hospitality sector such as restaurants, hotels and lodges are hugely affected with the rise in input costs.

“Hospitality industry is one of the worst performing industries in the last fiscal year. Budget hotels, which constitute around 95 per cent of the industry are seriously affected by rising costs. For instance, rice, which was priced at around `25 three years ago, is now at `48 per kg.

The provisions costs grew by more than 50 per cent in the last three years. The industry, which is operating 20 per cent

13

WASHINGTON: Walmart was hit with $110 million in US federal and state fines yesterday after pleading guilty to criminal charges of mishandling hazardous waste and pesticides at its retail stores. The world's largest retailer was fined for dumping hazardous chemicals in city trash bins and sewer systems in cases filed by the Los Angeles and San Francisco municipalities. In addition, the US Justice Department said Walmart Stores had mishandled pesticides it had sent as damaged products to a Missouri recycling facility that resulted in them being mixed together and put on sale again in a process that violated federal laws regulating pesticide processing. Walmart pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of violating the Clean Water Act in the California cases, and, in the Missouri case, one charge of violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

NUMEROLOGY

$1.1

margins, could not survive if there is 50 per cent growth in input costs in few years.

Unavailability of human resources, high provision rates and low occupancy rates have hit the industry. Occupancy rates continued to be at around 25 per cent for last three years

Almost 50 per cent of the hotels are on sale in the City. And, fall in incomes is not attracting any buyers either. in many hotels, whereas to get a breakeven they needed to have at least 60 per occupancy rate,” says GV Krishnaiah, president, AP Hotels association.

“The vegetable prices grew by 200 per cent in almost three months. For instance, Soybeans cost as much as `100 in normal super markets. Rising fuel and labour costs and other taxes

have been worrying hoteliers for the past few years,” he adds.

Despite growth in all these input costs, hoteliers didn’t dare to increase tariffs and food prices. “Middle class Indians do not have decent disposable income to spend on hotels.

Most of their income goes to food, rent, education and health. With the fall in disposable incomes, they prefer to visit an affordable restaurant if at all. Most of the times they don’t even bother having food from roadside stalls. They are even ready to skip a weekend restaurant visit if they fall short of money. In this scenario, any increase in tariff or price seriously affects volumes of the business. Hotels and restaurants that are already suffering with shrinking margins cannot exist if they don’t have enough people coming in.”

“Almost 50 per cent of the hotels are on sale in the City.

The fall in incomes is not attracting any buyers either.

Even banks that gave loans to these hotels could not take over due to fall in values of the mortgaged properties (hotels) and increase in loan amounts with addition of interests,” he says.

Krishnaiah says that hoteliers should rethink their investments and overheads.

“Only a business with reasonable investments and low overheads, which offers food in hygienic conditions, can sustain in this situation. The industry, which provides food and shelter to the common man, should not be taxed at all. The government can fix the tariffs and prices for food and shelter which industry is ready to abide. In every aspect, we are paying heavily to the government from fuel, to current taxes. It should seriously look at the condition of the industry before levying taxes. Any tax wave offs would give some relief and help the industry come out of this crisis,” he adds.

GOLD `26,474 10g SILVER `43,400 1kg

24C

for

for

DOLLAR `56. 13 POUND `84.32

bn

New Zealand’s EBOS Group announced plans to buy Zuellig Healthcare Holdings Australia for NZ$1.1 billion ($890 million).

NOD FOR SOFTBANK DEAL WASHINGTON: Japan's SoftBank and US-based SprintNextel reached an agreement with the US government aimed at protecting national security as part of their $20-billion takeover deal, US media reported yesterday. The agreement in principle "likely to be finalised soon, would clear the biggest regulatory hurdle facing the Japanese telecom company's proposed acquisition of the third-largest US wireless carrier".

The Wall Street Journal reported online citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. "As part of the deal, the new Sprint would have a four-member national-security committee, including a security director who would sit on the wireless carrier's board," the report said.

There may be an announcement by the two companies today, The New York Times reported. It said the US government panel Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or Cfius, made its decision just ahead of its late Tuesday deadline to do so.

BSE 6,102.20 NSE

20,153.52 07.30

09.05

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Comment Why does a woman work 10 years to change a man's habits and then complain he's not the man she married?

Barbra Streisand Actor

Bhutan prepares for democracy 2.0

V

oters in the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan will begin electing their second ever government this week, five years after the country's Buddhist "dragon kings" gave way to democracy. The electorate of less than 400,000 people will choose from four parties on Friday when the primary round of voting for the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, commences. The two most popular parties will then contest a run-off round on July 13 to form the next government.

Bhutan held its first election in 2008 after the monarchy ceded absolute power and actively led the move to a parliamentary democracy. In the 2008 vote, the centre-right Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), drawn from the country's traditional elite, won a huge landslide and secured 45 of 47 seats available against the People's Democratic Party. This time two new centre-left parties, both led by women, are joining the contest, but the well-established DPT is generally expected to win by a small margin .A rule that allows only graduates to stand for office has created difficulties for the new parties in their search for recruits, with a fifth party disqualified over its lack of candidates. Jigmi Y. Thinley, the incumbent prime minister, is also the only leading candidate who can speak in Bhutan's many local dialects, which could help him win more support in remote corners of the country. The DPT is unlikely to repeat its 2008 landslide win, analysts say, as it faces more competition amid concerns over corruption, unemployment and a rupee liquidity crunch under the party's watch.

HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS Look what an attack on family can do to ideologies. Union minister Jairam Ramesh, who had rather benevolent views about Maoists, has made a U-turn and called for the ‘terrorists’ to be wiped out. What happened to winning hearts approach Rameshji?

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

14

Colombia peace still distant despite first deal PHILIPPE ZYGEL

Agence France-Presse

A

land reform deal reached by Colombia's government and leftist FARC rebels marked a major step forward in their peace talks, but they still face a long slog to end Latin America's oldest conflict.

The land dispute was among the thorniest issues being negotiated between the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, whose rebellion began as a peasant insurrection in 1964.

After six months of negotiations in Cuba, which is facilitating the talks along with Norway, the two sides announced late Sunday a deal on "land access and use" and the "regularisation of property."

Land distribution is an old and extreme source of tension in Colombia, where one percent of the population holds half of the rural land.

Santos released some details Monday night, saying the agreement would involve "comprehensive rural reform" based on four pillars.

He said these are distributing land to peasants who have

none or not enough, via a "major land fund"; special development programs for areas most affected by the inequality; nationwide plans to improve health, education, housing and other services in rural areas; and food and nutritional security for rural people via greater food production.

The agreement won praise.

"It is a very important message for Colombians. Previous discussions with the FARC never went this far," Alejo Vargas, political expert at National University of Bogota, told AFP, stressing that the agrarian dispute was the "most complicated" issue of the conflict.

The government's three previous attempts at peace talks in the past 30 years never achieved such a result and ultimately failed. In 1984, the rivals managed to agree on a ceasefire, but it ended three years late after a wave of assassinations of elected officials close to the FARC. Vargas said the land reform deal will create "some trust between the delegation" and has given the two sides a "way of working that works."

The fact that an agreement emerged on anything in the negotiations proves that communist Cuba was the right location for the talks, he said.

The international community and the United Nations wel-

comed the agreement, while Santos described it as a "fundamental step" towards a full agreement to end a conflict that has left 600,000 people dead and 15,000 missing.

The handshake between government negotiator Franck Pearl and senior FARC member Pablo Catatumbo in Havana became a symbol of hope.

The rebel leader even made the surprising suggesting that he would favor Santos winning re-election next year in order to "give continuity to the peace process."

But the negotiations are taking place without a ceasefire and they still face many obstacles, including whether the rebels can avoid jail before returning to civilian life, the

FARC's role in drug trafficking, disarmament and compensation for victims.

"We must be prudent and realistic because tougher questions that are even more divisive will come up," Javier Ciurlizza, regional director of the International Crisis Group, a non-governmental organization specialized in conflict resolution, told AFP. "The path is still full of thorns and rocks," he said.

Implementing the land deal could prove tricky in the first place since legislation is needed to modify property rules.

"It's an enormous challenge because Colombia historically has had a deficit when it comes to agricultural property registries," Ciurlizza said.

EDITORIALS Syria could soon become the Cold War redux

W

hen Israeli defence minister Moshe Ya’alon claimed Israel would target and destroy shipments of the Russian-made S-300 SAMs headed for Assad’s forces in Syria, a cold front swept across the globe. Not since the Balkan conflict in the 1990s have the West and Russia locked horns with such rampant jingoism. The British and French started the fire by pushing the EU into lifting the embargo on providing arms to the Syrian rebels; Russia stoked the flames by stating that they would provide potent weaponry to Assad; and then Israel jumped on the bandwagon all guns blazing.

While Europe and Russia bicker over Syria, the country itself is now threatened with being turned into a proxy battlefield of epic proportions. The US has so far let the UK be at the vanguard of what is most certainly destined to be another ill-fated venture in the Middle East. The only sure thing is that innocent people will be the real vicitms, just like they were in Iraq.

READERS’ VIEWS

Dead, but refusing to go

S

ome people have the ability to continue nuisance to the world even after they are dead and gone — this description would fit none better than late Siv Sena Supremo Bal Thackeray. If one thought ‘good riddance’ when the divisive politician kicked the bucket, they were wrong. Now his party wants memorial s to be erected for him. Naming the press box at Wankhede stadium after Thackeray is just the beginning. We’ll see more of him all over Mumbai soon. Sad state of affairs.

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

Editor: Dean Williams

15

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Cinema

A SECRET GIFT Supermodel Miranda Kerr, who used to model for luxury lingerie brand Victoria's Secret, has gifted custom-made innerwear to actress Jennifer Aniston ahead of the Friends star's wedding. Aniston is engaged to Justin Theroux.

HEAPS OF PRAISES

Bound

B

efore all the brouhaha over The Matrix, the Wachowski Brothers directed a neo noir crime thriller named Bound which focused on two women, who hatch a plot to steal millions of dollars and the pin the blame on of the girl’s boyfriend. The film was particularly praised for the portrayal of the lesbian relationship between Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly, who played the lead roles in the film. The Wachowski Brothers even hired a feminist writer and sex educator Susie Bright, to choreograph the sex scenes in the film.

SCREEN POOPERS Show Me Love

Boys Don’t Cry

H

illary Swank raised a storm in 1999 when she played the role of a transgendered teen who’s raped and murdered by his acquaintances after they discover that he was born biologically female.

Directed by Kimberly Peirce, the film was based on the life of Brandon Teena and Swank reprised her role in the film. Before all the mayhem breaks out, Teena (Hillary Swank) gets into a sexual relationship with Lana Tisdel (Chloë Sevigny). Swank won an Academy award for the performance.

A

critically acclaimed Swedish film, which released in 1998, Show Me Love is about two teenage girls, who are poles apart, and how they fall in love with each other. Directed by Lukas Moodysson, the film, starring Rebecka Liljeberg and Alexandra Dahlström, is set in a town named Åmål and focuses on the budding relationship between the two girls, who finally come to terms with their sexuality. The film was a smash hit and British Film Institute named it as one of the top ten films among the 50 films to watch before you turn 14.

HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com

Water Lilies

C

éline Sciamma’s debut film, Water Lilies is a coming-of-age drama about three 15-year-old girls, who begin to understand the meaning of love and sexual awakening over the course of a summer in Paris. Prior to its release in 2007, this French film was screened in several film festivals, including the Un certain regard section in Cannes. The three girls in the film share many a intimate moments in the swimming pool locker room and Céline Sciamma was highly praised for her writing and she was even nominated for a César Award for Best Debut in 2008.

G N I K A S E R R E B RRI BA A

The portrayal of lesbians in cinema has always been a controversial subject and once again it’s in limelight, thanks to Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winning film Blue is the Warmest Colour. Here are five other lesbian-themed films which got people talking over the years.

Saving Face

lice Wu’s romantic comedy, Saving Face was the first lesbian film about an Asian-American couple who must overcome the cultural taboo to find love. The film follows the life of Wilhelmina, a young Chinese American surgeon, who falls in love with a dancer, while her unwed mother moves in to her apartment after she becomes pregnant.

The film starring Michelle Krusiec, Joan Chen and Lynn Chen is inspired from the director’s own experiences and gives a rare sneak peek into how the Asian-American community treats homosexuality. Incidentally, the film was co-produced by Will Smith.

Don’t kiss and tell Mallika Sherawat’s criticism of India has created much debate in B-Town. Keeping aside one’s patriotic emotions, Mallika’s statement about India being regressive isn’t entirely false. However, the ‘facts’ she used to substantiate her statement were rubbish.

She isn’t the first Bollywood actress to kiss on screen, Devika Rani is — she had a four-minute on screen kiss in Karma (1933).

And that she is the first one to sport a bikini — also wrong — it was Sharmila Tagore. So, next time, a little Google search won’t hurt so much.

Questionable taste So, Rumi Jaffery recently called Nargis Fakhri a talented actress.

Well, if pouting and eyebrow twitching was the basis — Fakhri is truly God-gifted. Not only is it a laughable matter that the pouting actress has been labeled talented, what’s funnier is the fact that the director needs talent for his upcoming version of Shaukeen!

TRENDING...

Two days after claiming she was "sexually harassed" by a New York police officer, Amanda Bynes says she plans to sue the NYPD. The troubled actress hit Twitter on Monday to tell her 1.34 million followers that she is going to sue the police.

Actor Liam Hemsworth, who is engaged to singer-actress Miley Cyrus, says he is not a heartthrob in any sense.

The 23-year-old feels "fortunate" to have enjoyed worldwide career success, but he maintains that he doesn't take anything for granted.

18

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

spotlight

NIGHT OF FUN

DJ Rahul and Preet will be belting out the latest chartbusters at 10 Downing Street tonight. Head to the pub to have a blast.

PARTY PEOPLE 1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Ruchika 2 Pinky, Siraj

STILETTO SET

3 Bhavya 4 Asra 5 Sonal 6 Sonia 7 Shilpa 8 Vidya, Aisha 9 Tina

City's party peeps dressed in their glamourous best, ganged up with their friends and headed out to rock the night. They were seen setting the dance floor on fire at various night clubs in the City.

7

8

9

10 Mahima, Zarine 11 Sagun 12 Afsa 13 Ayushi 14 Kamini, Kavita

10

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TREATS TO SAVOUR Barbecue restaurant Thugs of Grill will be launched at Kukatpally today. Actor Jagapathi Babu will be inaugurating the restaurant.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

health

TOTAL BAN ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS' ADS FAVOURED The government and non-governmental organisations favoured a complete ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products in the country. At a national-level multi-stakeholder consultation held in New Delhi, the government as well as the NGOs resolved in favour of the ban.

ECZEMA

19

SKIN IN DISTRESS

In eczema, it’s the itching that causes the most distress, be the person suffering is a child or an adult. Simple triggers like heat or stress are enough to cause itching but a little precaution and knowledge on our part can help us be proactive.

eczema have a higher risk of developing other allergic conditions like asthma.

FLEME VARKEY

fleme.v@postnoon.com

A

UK-wide trial is about to get underway to determine the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of atopic eczema — a debilitating skin condition which affects around one in three children nationally.

In medical terms eczema has been described as a skin condition caused by inflammation. Atopic dermatitis is the most common of the many types of eczema. While the word ’dermatitis’ means inflammation of the skin, ’atopic’ refers to an allergic tendency, which is often inherited. Those with atopic

WHAT CAUSES ECZEMA? Like asthma, eczema seems to run in families. Certain genes make some people have extra-sensitive skin, and certain environmental factors — like stress — can trigger an episode of eczema.

Eczema is also triggered or aggravated by contact with irritants in common substances such as: n Woollen and synthetic fabrics n Soap and other agents that dry skin n Heat and sweat n Eczema can also be aggravated by dry skin. n Since eczema may in part be an internal response to stress, any emotionally charged event — from a move to a new job — may trigger a flare-up.

Symptoms

A

lmost always, your skin will itch before a rash appears in eczema.

Typically, eczema shows itself as: Patches of chronically itchy, dry, thickened skin, usually on the hands, neck, face, and legs, but it can occur anywhere. In children, the inner creases of the knees and elbows are often involved. If scratched, dry patches of skin and open sores with crusts may

develop and may get infected.

Dr A Sachin, consultant dermatologist at a clinic in Delhi says, “The probable places for eczema to manifest itself is on the hands, feet, arms, behind the knees, ankles, wrists, face, neck, and upper chest. Some patients have symptoms around the eyes, including the eyelids. In children you can find it manifest on their faces.”

Treatment

D

r Sachin says that the least a person can do is to avoid scratching the itchy surface. Itchiness is a common part of eczema, and scratching is a natural reaction to deal with itching. Unfortunately, scratching will invariably further aggravate the skin and make symptoms worse.

Scratching also raises the risk of infection. “Getting an adult to do this is easy but it becomes difficult when it comes to children,” he adds. Another possible

treatment is to keep oneself away from triggers like dust, pollen, mites etc..

Good skin care is a key component in controlling eczema. For some people with mild eczema, modifying their skin care routine and making a few lifestyle changes may be all that is needed to treat eczema.

Other people with more severe eczema may need to take medications to control their symptoms.

Also the family’s medical history is also taken into consideration.

Non-drug treatments for eczema include: n

Mild soap and moisturizer.

It's best to use a mild soap or soap substitute that won't dry your skin.

n

Short, warm showers.

People with eczema should avoid taking very hot or very long showers or baths, which can dry out your skin.

n

Reduce stress. Take steps to reduce stress. Get regular exercise and set aside time to relax.

20

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Technology PRESSTIGE Lines of code:

Worldwide

66,130,651 25,045 1,780 plugins

installations

202,959 = 52

free themes

66%

years of programming

Marketshare Wordpress is important not only for blogs. Within the content management systems, WordPress has the biggest market share.

WORDPRESS

10%

JOOMLA

9%

DRUPAL

15%

OTHERS

10

years and

counting

done by hundreds of contributors from the open source community

When Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little decided to fork the blogging software b2 to create Wordpress, they probably did not imagine what they started.

That was 2003.

Since then Wordpress has grown to one of the most important blogging, publishing and CMS tools worldwide!

Main releases of WordPress are codenamed after wellknown jazz musicians, starting from WordPress 1.0, search for wordpressrelease-jazz on last.fm

WP

22 MIO

15%

$2.8 m

The name of WordPress was given

by Christine Tremoulet, a photographer and friend of Matt Mullenweg

Backups of WordPress installations are done with the backup plugin BackWPup every year.

How long ago was your last backup?

of all websites worldwide are based on WordPress and it iss still growing.

would be the salary for the developers if they would have been paid for their work

Wordpress timeline n

Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little creates WordPress 2003 n

n

n

Vital features, like ability to manage static pages and a template / theme system.

Rich editing and image upload. The plugin akismet launched to fight spam

2005 2004 Creates ping-o-matic that informs search engines about new posts

n

n

Improved content management options

2007 2006 1st Wordcamp with about 500 atenndees took place in San Francisco

n n n

Automated upgrade and plugin install features Automatic installing of themes Built-in image editor, batch plugin updates 2009

n n

2008 Widgets arrive Native support for tags

n

n

‘CHANGE IS GOOD’

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical and self-appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life feels that Microsoft has made the right choice with Windows 8. He explained that Windows 8 indeed brings many changes, but pointed out that such dramatic releases are necessary for many companies.

Change is hard, he explained, hinting that, eventually, everybody will get used to the “new” Windows.

“Bold choices, right vision, stumbled at the gate but the race is just beginning,” he said.

MEGA TAKEDOWN 2

Did you know

17

THAT’S CREEPY

If you don’t want to be creeped out by the Xbox One Kinect sensor’s ability to track your every move in your living room, then don’t read about some of the ideas that Microsoft has been batting around for how to give viewers incentives to sit through commercials. Per Polygon, Microsoft filed a patent application back in 2011 that detailed how Kinect could watch viewers to make sure they’re sitting through commercials and then reward them with special “achievements” for watching a certain number of ads. Polygon says that getting a certain number of achievements might unlock awards that could include digital gifts, avatar enhancements or reward points.

n

n

Merged WordPress multiuser, added a new dynamic meu system and included a new default theme called Twenty Ten. Admin bar added:

2011 2010 BuddyPress released by Andy Peatling: Adding social network features to WordPress multi-use site Non-profit WordPress foundation is formed by Mattt Mullenweg

n n

n

Improved image workflow, new colour picker.

2013 2012 Made WordPress friendlier for users Improved theme customisations and Twitter integration.

Two major Hollywood studios have asked Google to remove the homepage of Kim Dotcom’s Mega from its search results.

Warner Bros. and NBC Universal claim that their copyrighted content is hosted on the URL and want it taken down. Dotcom is disappointed by the news and points out that constant takedown abuse is restricting access to legitimate files. According to a takedown request by NBC Universal, however, Google is led to believe that Mega’s homepage is linking to an infringing copy of its film Mama. Warner Bros. on the other hand claim in a DMCA notice that Mega is making a pirated copy of Gangster Squad available to the public.

21

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Entertainment CINE BYTES

Sunil does a cameo in Action 3D

A

nil Sunkara’s upcoming film Action 3D has yet another added attraction. Buzz is that Sunil has done a cameo in the film and he has already completed shooting his part. The multi-starrer has Allari Naresh, Shaam, Vaibhav Reddy, Sudeep, Raju Sundaram, Neelam, Sneha Ullal and others in lead roles.The film is likely to release on June 7.

Kevvu Keka’s audio launch on June 2

Venkatesh, Ram are teaming up

V

enkatesh and Ram are teaming up for the first time in their career for the Telugu remake of Bol Bachchan. Earlier, there was a rumour that Garam Masala was being considered as the film’s title; however, producer Suresh Babu has confirmed that it’s Golmaal.

T

he audio of Allari Naresh, Sharmiela Mandre starrer Kevvu Keka is going to be launched on June 2. Devi Prasad has directed the film and most part of it has been shot in Bangkok and Hyderabad. The principal shooting has been wrapped up and the film is likely to hit the screens in late June.

A DOTING FATHER

Teamwork is the key to success:

NAGARJUNA HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com

N

agarjuna is all smiles that Tadakha has turned out to be a big hit, as he had predicted.

The film is doing quite well at the box office and it’s poised to be one of the biggest hits in Naga Chaitanya and Sunil’s respective careers. “Just before the film’s release, I had to go to Slovenia for Bhai’s shooting and right from the day Tadakha released, I have been getting numerous phone calls from people who appreciated the film. I couldn’t be happier that Naga Chaitanya has got a hit after a long gap,” he said. He praised Kishore Pardasani, the direc-

tor of the film, for adapting a superhit Tamil film so well in Telugu.

“Honestly, I liked the Telugu version more than its original version.

Kishore has done a great job in making important changes to suit the local sensibilities and there were plenty of scenes in the second half which were much better than those in

Vettai. One of my favourite scenes in the film is the conversation between Naga Chaitanya and Sunil in the hospital. The dialogues are apt in that scene and both of them did well,” he said. During the film’s audio launch, Nagarjuna had said that he was thrilled that Sunil was going to play Naga Chaitanya’s elder brother’s role in the film and the press conference recently, he reiterated his stance, saying, “Sunil has always been a good actor and he understands the nuances of acting quite well. He’s one of those people who believe that cinema is more important than their role in the film. The fact that his scenes with Naga Chaitanya have got such wide appreciation from all segments is proof enough of what I have been saying right from the beginning.” For Naga Chaitanya, Tadakha’s success couldn’t have come at a better time.

After 100% Love, he hasn’t had a single hit to his credit and Tadakha is the first action entertainer which has clicked at the box office. Was it a calculated risk right from the beginning that Naga Chaitanya was willing to take, despite the lukewarm response to his previous two films? “Those two films failed to click due to various reasons. I am actually very happy that Naga Chaitanya has gone through highs and lows in the early stages of his career. These are important lessons and I am sure they’ll help him a lot in future. The best

Nagarjuna is delighted that Tadakha has become a box-office hit and that Naga Chaitanya has overcome his lover boy image.

thing is that after breaking his lover boy image with Tadakha, he can dabble with plenty other stories instead of just sticking to romantic films. I hope he doesn’t change his strategy from hereafter. It’s important that actors today dabble with as many different genres as possible. In future, there’s going to be a massive growth in multiplex audience and they won’t be too keen on watching formulaic films again and again,” Nagarjuna avers and adds, “Tadakha is a collaborative effort and the credit for the film’s success goes to each and every technician and actor who has worked on the film. I have always believed that teamwork is the key to success.

There’s no two ways about it.”

22

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

A LOOK BACK

CINE BYTES A rich legacy of cinema that has lost its essence in the last two decades.

India nowadays has only made its fashionable presence known at Cannes. What about its films?

We take a look

INDIA AT CANNES EA ABHISHEK feedback@postnoon.com

I

ndependent filmmaker Anurag Kashyap has managed to get four of his films screened at the Cannes Film Festival this year, but what needs mentioning is that not even one of them is nominated In Competition. India has not had a single film In Competition for major awards like the Grand Prix or the Palme d’Or since 1994 and interestingly we had 22 films In Competition before that from 1946 to 1994.

India’s tryst with Cannes began a year before Independence when popular actor Dev Anand’s brother Chetan Anand’s film Neecha Nagar won India’s only Palme d’Or award till date. The film spoke about the differences between the rich and the poor in the Indian society, this approach of making films based on society would go on become the theme of many other Indian films that were successful at the festival. In 1952, legendary filmmaker V Shantaram made a film on the Maratha struggle against the British called Amar Bhoopali. The film was nominated for the Grand Prix at the festival.

The showman came next, Raj Kapoor and his films on the issues of the common man and the society had made him an International figure to an extent that a road was named after him in Russia. His films always

spoke the universal language of humanity which made them successful. At Cannes two of his films Aawara (1953) and Boot Polish (1955) were nominated for the Grand Prix and the Palme d’Or respectively. During the same period another Bengali cinematographer turned director named Bimal Roy made a film called Do Bhiga Zameen that got nominated for the Grand Prix in 1954. Roy was known for the realism he brought to his filmmaking and also for the women centric subjects he chose, two of his Biraj Bahu (1955) and Sujata (1960) were nominated for the Palme d’Or. Roy also produced a documentary called Gotoma The Buddha (1956) that was nominated for the Palme d’Or, the film was directed by Rajbans Khanna.

Bengali directors have been the most successful for India at Cannes and the most prolific of them was Satyajit Ray. Ray introduced the world to Indian neorealism, the perfection in his work in terms of detail and exe-

n Satyajit Ray won the Best Human Document OCIC award (special mention) for Pather Panchali at Cannes in 1956, the film was also nominated for the Palme d’Or. n Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay), Shaji N Karun (Piravi) and Murali Nair (Marana Simhasanam) have won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 1988, 1989 and 1999 respectively. cution made him a master craftsman. Four of his films Pather Panchali (1956), Parash Pather (1958), Devi (1962) and Ghare Baire (1984) were nominated for the Palme d’Or. Mrinal Sen was another stalwart of parallel cinema along with Ray, but unlike Ray he was more into experimenting with the possibilities of cinema in terms of technique and subjects which got him a lot

of International awards and appreciation. Sen’s Ek Din Pratidin (1980), Kharij (1983), Genesis (1986) were nominated for the Palme d’Or. Art House director Shyam Benegal also received a Golden Palm nomination for his film Nishant in 1976.

The final nomination that India received at Cannes was a Palme d’Or in 1994 for a Malayalam film called Swaham directed by Shaji N Karun. A rather unknown figure even in India, Shaji has made four feature films all of which have been screened at Cannes in various sections. The answer for why India has not managed to get films nominated at Cannes since then lies in the very history of its cinema. Indian cinema is defined by its society and culture. The problem is that we have stopped making films that have an essence of India or its people in it. As filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan once said, “We as Indians have to look deeper into ourselves and we would find so many stories to tell, stories that are entertaining and informative, stories that are Indian.” It is not that we have a lack of talent here, it is only the mindset that has to change and it is slowly changing with young independent filmmakers experimenting with indigenous subjects.

This change will bring us back onto the international stage very soon, may be even a Palme d’Or win.

There is no belief in animation: Nikhil Advani

L

ong ignored, Indian animation has finally come into the limelight with Nikhil Advani's Delhi Safari, which won the best animated film honour at the 60th National Film Awards. The director says Indian cinema still doesn't recognise the power of animation. “There is no belief in animation. If you look at the last year’s top 10 animation films, they are only Hollywood...

Hollywood approaches an animation film like a mainstream Hollywood film,” he said. IANS

Kristina inspired by Dharmendra

A

ustralian model-actress Kristina Akheeva is part of the Deols' home production Yamla Pagla Deewana 2. While working on the film she got to spend time with Dharmendra and was inspired by his life story.

Describing the 77-year-old as the "most kindest" and "most humble" person, he made her feel "extremely welcome" and said she was a "part of the family". IANS

Prateik wants to show Issaq first to Aamir, Kiran

A

ctor Prateik, who worked with superstar Aamir Khan and his director wife Kiran Rao in Dhobi Ghat, wants the star couple's feedback on his upcoming release Issaq before it hits theatres. PTI

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

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Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

24

25

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

MUCH NEEDED RESPITE

CINE BYTES

JENNIFER LAWRENCE’S Pattinson, Perry crash wedding rehearsal

T

wilight star Robert Pattinson and Firework hitmaker Katy Perry were spotted enjoying a trip to Santa Barbara. Pattinson, 27, and Perry, 28, were seen in the back of a courtyard at San Ysidro Ranch, taking in the wedding rehearsal of a pair of strangers, reported People magazine. PTI

Studios thought film was too gay: Damon

J

ason Bourne star Matt Damon revealed that producers were too worried with his latest flick Behind the Candelabra of being just too gay. Industry veteran Michael Douglas depicts the life of pianist Liberace and the secret affair he had with young Scott Thorson, played by 42-year-old Damon, based on Thorson’s memoir of same name, reported Contactmusic.

PTI

Showbiz is a drug, says Will Smith

A

ctor Will Smith says bringing family into show business is almost like introducing them to drugs. The After Earth star, whose kids Willow and Jaden are famous in their own right, says being in the spotlight constantly is Hollywood’s downside, reported Digital Spy. PTI

S

talker arrested for alleged harassment Zhao Han Cong, a 23year-old Canadian, has been arrested by FBI for allegedly stalking and harassing the family of Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Chinese born Han Cong, was harassing Lawrence’s brother Blaine about a month ago with over 200 phone calls, emails and text messages, where he claimed to be Jennifer’s ‘husband for life', reported Ace Showbiz. Han Cong troubled

the Lawrence family as he insisted on getting in touch with the star in order to ‘protect’ her, threatening them with dire consequences otherwise.

The stalker also flew from Vancouver to Kentucky in April and approached the local

police station when Blaine did not revert to his messages. Law enforcement officers later took him into custody and made him undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was handed to federal authorities on May 7.

PTI

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

Chai Time

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

There is a sort of jealousy which needs very little fire; it is hardly a passion, but a blight bred in the cloudy, damp despondency of uneasy egoism.

George Eliot

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 Achy after a workout 5 Swiss capital 10 Became an adult (with “up”) 14 Jannings of old films 15 Bubbling, in a way 16 Change, as the decor 17 Fixes, as a carnival game 18 Primitive calculators 19 Like left-side book pages 20 Body of good conduct 22 Not inclined to speak 24 Earths, in sci-fi 27 Dubai VIP 28 “Don’t make me laugh!”

30 “Dynamic” prefix 31 Certain tics 34 Chicken ___ king 35 Steak or ground round 36 Move stealthily 37 Laze about 39 Trumped-up 42 Teamster’s truck 43 Killed, mobster-style 45 Provides succor 47 Not a whit 48 C&W singer George 50 Salt Lake City’s state 51 Alternative to mousse 52 Colored portion of the eye 53 Sign after Taurus 55 Baked beans, e.g.

58 It lasts for weeks 61 Edible root of the taro 62 Of birth 65 Belle’s escort 66 Bass or treble, e.g.

67 Three-pointers 68 Post-Mardi Gras observance 69 Lowly worker

70 Fathered 71 Energy bits

DOWN

1 Parched 2 Elide 3 Order to the helm 4 Cow in milk ads 5 Sheep bleat 6 Outward flow 7 Music to a comedian’s ears 8 Well-mannered 9 Exclusive groups 10 Socrates and Plato, for two 11 Take apart to understand the design of 12 First family’s home?

13 “This ___ take long” 21 Maryland food specialty 23 Mischief-makers 25 Underwater obstacle 26 Geometric calculation 28 Angels’ headpieces 29 Over one’s head 32 Actress Van Doren 33 Developed ability 38 Exclude, as from a list 40 Location 41 Yellow cheese with a red rind 44 Fizzled out 46 Adjust with a wedge 49 Makes impure 54 Born to the purple 55 Min. segments 56 Run in place 57 Ganges garb 59 Astronaut’s drink 60 Grass shacks 63 Supporter’s response 64 Illegal thing to drop

Chai Time WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013 Thiruvaikumar

STAR POWER for 30-5-2013

27

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

ARIES

TAURUS

GEMINI

CANCER

LEO

VIRGO

LIBRA

SCORPIO

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

AQUARIUS

PISCES

Bright chance to buy immovable asset. Money will come from expected sources making your position comfortable. You will get tasks completed with full control in your hands. Court case concerning ancestral property will favour you.

STRIP TEASE AGNES

Avoid negative thoughts. You will face difficult situations courageously and proceed to achieve all goals without giving up. Unexpected financial fortune is likely. Govt. works might get delayed. Your pending wishes will get fulfilled.

Marriage talks will resume and progress well. Your bold decisions will yield desired results and time looks favorable. You will extend your help to others in making them successful.

Expenses beyond expectations will make you upset.

Children will make you happy and proud. You will not hesitate to question the wrong doings by anyone in the society. All expectations will be fulfilled without any hurdles or obstructions. Money will come by from expected sources.

Purchase of a new vehicle is most likely. You will be the most respected person wherever you visit. You will acquire legal solutions to your problems. Father’s health might make you upset.

Problem is likely in getting the share in father’s property.

VIPs will become friends.

Those deprived of a child will be favored with an offspring.

Businessmen need to act on their own rather than trusting anyone else. Financial position is strong. Challenging tasks will be completed successfully.

Never hesitate to seek help from others in dire need. To achieve success this is necessary. Hence just be frank and go ahead. Businessmen will flourish, earn big profits and plan fresh investments which will expand their horizon.

New job opportunity is likely for some. You are bold enough to face any problems or sabotage actions by others. Self confidence and boldness levels are at their high enabling you to achieve all goals. Real estate deals will bring decent gains.

Marriage of siblings might take place. You will realise your strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly. Your pending wishes will get fulfilled. All hurdles will end and mental depression will reduce. Money comes from expected sources.

TAROT READ

Sumaa Tekur

tarotreadhyd@gmail. com

ARIES:

GEMINI:

King of Pentacles – A job offer likely to come your way.

It will be exactly what you’re looking for. But you don’t want unsettle yourself from your current situation.

LEO:

The High Priestess – This is boom time to put all your plans into action. You are in the limelight and your ideas are in demand at the work place.

LIBRA:

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE

The Star – Parental support determines how you work through the bigger problems of life.

Teachings and philosophies make you realize the importance of values.

SAGITTARIUS:

Ace of Pentacles – Think of the utility value of something before you invest in it in a big way. Be practical and don’t think of only the immediate benefits.

TAURUS:

Queen of Cups – There is nothing wrong in being mediocre. Not everyone can be excellent at everything al the time.

Cut yourself some slack and chill out.

CANCER:

Two of Pentacles – A crucial balancing act is needed in order to get to the top. You have to be both diplomatic and strong to win over people.

VIRGO:

Three of Cups – An illness may set you back by time only. You recover quickly and bounce back better than before. You’re able to give full energy to your projects.

SCORPIO:

Judgment – You are likely to face defeat in something. Don’t take it to heart. Treat it as a lesson by noting down how you could have played your cards right.

CAPRICORN:

The Sun – Scratch the surface just a little and come across many more issues that need tackling. It’s not going to be easy. So put on your analytical cap.

PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS

PISCES:

The World – You need to be assertive and hold on to your position of being the person in charge. You can also get across the point gently without using force.

NUMBER GAME

Pentacles – You may have to spend some anxious moments when results of a crucial event take longer than expected. All will go fine. Stay calm.

SCRABBLE

AQUARIUS: Four of

POOCH CAFE

Bright chances exist for some to go abroad. You will be a trouble shooter for others who will seek your help. Sudden financial fortune is likely to happen. Health problems will end. You will be able to save, as expenses are under control.

for 30-5-2013

Five of Wands – It is very important that you take a stance on a crucial issue. Sitting on the fence all the time will not show you in good light among peers.

NON SEQUITUR

Health looks fine and no need to worry. You will excel in all tasks but remain calm. Minor hurdles faced in the Govt. works will end and likely to benefit you. Employees might feel a dull trend and keep trying to complete certain tasks.

SUDUKO

Tasks undertaken by you will be completed successfully. VIP friends and well wishers will extend help when required..

Financial position is comfortable. Wandering and expenses will make you upset. Couples will get closer to each other.

Boggle DOG CAT FISH BIRD HAMSTER Vol: 2, No 313 RNI No: APENG/2011/39337 Published for the proprietors, Scribble Media and Entertainment Pvt Ltd, by V Harshavardhan Reddy, at #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033 and printed by him at Jagati Publications Ltd, Plot No D-75&E-52, APIE Industrial Estate, Balanagar, Ranga Reddy Dist, Hyderabad – 500037, Editor: Dean Williams – Responsible for selection of news under the PRB Act All rights reserved.

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

28

Entertainment WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

WHO WILL HAVE THE LAST LAUGH?

Hillary Clinton Biopic: Top actresses vying for the spot

I

t would not be an easy feat to fill Hillary Rodham Clinton’s political pumps, but four Alist actresses are vying to try.

Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Amanda Seyfried and

Jessica Chastain are reportedly the front-runners to play the former secretary of state in the James Ponsoldtdirected biopic, Rodham.

The film will focus on the former first lady’s early years, chronicling her days

as a Washington lawyer in 1974 at the height of the Watergate scandal.

“They’re all wonderful actresses," Ponsoldt told The Independent. “We’re very fortunate that a lot of really great actors are interested in

playing these roles. We’re in an enviable position."

He added: “Regardless of people’s political affiliation or how they feel about Hillary Clinton, you don’t find people who question the quality of her intelli-

gence or her drive. I want a wonderful actress who could embody that."

The film’s release is set to be timed with the 2016 presidential election, where Clinton could be a candidate for the Democratic party.

CINE BYTES Rebecca Hall to make Broadway debut

R

ebecca Hall, fresh off bewitching Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man 3, will make her Broadway debut in Machinal, Roundabout Theatre Company said Tuesday.

The 1928 Sophie Treadwell play was inspired by the true story of Ruth Snyder, who was executed for teaming up with her lover to kill her husband.

Henry Cavill may replace Tom Cruise om Cruise just left Guy Ritchie’s The Man from U.N.C.L.E., so naturally there’s a scramble to figure out who can fill those Cruisey shoes, with signs pointing to Henry “New Superman” Cavill.Variety reports that Henry Cavill will replace Tom Cruise.

T

Johnny Depp offers roles to homeless people

A

ctor Johnny Depp has reportedly offered two homeless people a chance to feature in his forthcoming sci-fi film Transcendence after spotting them in Mexico.

“Johnny always likes to help out the community when on location," femalefirst.co.uk quoted a source as saying. IANS

sports

29

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

NBA

Pacers beat Heat to level series

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA: Centre Roy Hibbert scored 23 points as the Indiana Pacers went on a 13-3 run to close the game and beat the Miami Heat 99-92 in game four of their NBA semifinal round series on Tuesday.

The Pacers were blown out of game three by the Heat but they rebounded mightily at home on Tuesday against the defending NBA champion Heat to level the series at 2-2.

After scoring a franchise record 70 points in the first half of game three, Miami struggled on offense in game four and had just 72 points midway through the final quarter.

LeBron James scored a teamhigh 24 points for the Heat before he fouled out in the fourth quarter of the Eastern Conference contest with the winner of the best-of-seven series advancing to the NBA finals.

With James on the bench, the Pacers’ offense continued to roll in front of a crowd of 18,165 at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse arena.

Hibbert also had 12 rebounds and scored two times off the offensive boards down the

Indiana Pacers went on a 13-3 run to close the game and beat Miami Heat 99-92 in their semifinals.

Tyler Hansbrough #50 of the Indiana Pacers shoots against Chris Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals during the 2013 NBA Playoffs on Tuesday.

AFP/NBAE/RON HOSKINS

BRIEFS Hawks hire Mike as head coach GEORGIA: Atlanta Hawks have hired San Antonio assistant coach Mike Budenholzer to become the team’s new head coach, the National Basketball Association club announced on Tuesday. Budenholzer, who was part of San Antonio’s run of four NBA titles between 1999 and 2007, served as an assistant under head coach Gregg Popovich for the last six years. The 43-year-old American has spent 17 of the previous 19 seasons as an assistant with the Spurs. Budenholzer takes over from Larry Drew who guided Atlanta to a 44-38 record and firstround playoff defeat to the Indiana Pacers. Drew told the Hawks he was leaving to seek another coaching job.

Owners approve sale of Kings to Indian tycoon NEW YORK: The National Basketball Association approved the sale of the Sacramento Kings to a group headed

by Indian business tycoon Vivek Ranadive (in pic), the league announced on Tuesday.

The NBA board of governors voted unanimously to allow the Maloof family to sell the franchise to Ranadive for a reported $347 million.

The Maloofs had controlling ownership of the Kings since 1999.

There was a competing bid from a group, headed by Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer, that wanted to move the team to Seattle, but board voted down that proposal earlier this year.

AFP

TALENT SERIES TENNIS TOURNEY

Raghav defeats Varun HYDERABAD: Raghav defeated Varun in the AITA Talent Series conducted by Ranga Reddy District Lawn Tennis Association at Advantage Tennis Academy courts in St.Thomas High School, here, on Tuesday.

Results: Boys U-12 second round Raghav C Gannavarapu bt M Varun Kumar 8-1; Bommu Krishna Vamsi bt Vallabhaneni Preetam 8-7(7-3); Khan Mohd Iqbal bt Vehuri Sai Krishna 85; Anne Akash bt Harshith Kosaraju 8-6; K Ashish Anand bt Sai Teja Rohith 8-4; Rahul Chandna bt R Ruchit Goud 8-3; Venkata Swamy Naidu bt Lanka Reddy Suhit 8-1; Shaikh Rifaath bt B Varun Kumar 8-3.

Boys U-14 second round K Rohan Reddy bt Rithwik Sai Patel 8-4; Sanchith Sikka bt Vallabhaneni Preetam 8-1; Ganta Sai Karthik Reddy bt K Paresh 8-2; K Ashish Anand bt A Prithviraj 8-3; Thota Sai Prateek bt Shaik Ahmed 8-3; B Srikar Sai Reddy bt R Ruchit Goud 8-7(8-6); Venkat Anikait bt Mynampati Gautam Akash 8-6.

Girls U-14 first round Anushka Greeshma Reddy bt K Avanthika Reddy 8-4; Charitha Vasi Reddy bt Sri Harshitha Vanchinathan 8-7 (7-3); Bipasha Mehn bt Nikhita Simhambatla 8-2; Ansnda Dharma

Mudaliar bt Manya Vishwanath 8-2; Bhakti Shah bt Ananya Mohan 8-6; Navya Kola bt M Sahithi Reddy 5-7 (7-5); Juvera Fatima bt Smriti Bhasin 8-2; Mirica Jaiswal bt Sahaja Y 8-4; Nissi Raha bt Lasya Patnaik 8-7 (7-1); Dhriti Kapoor bt Lipika Murumalla 86; Sahithi Annam bt Fareena Viccajee 8-1; Shreya Tatavarthy bt R Ikitha Mansi 8-5; Shreya Kudumulla bt Fiona Reginald Williams 8-3; Akshitha Mulla Goud bt Sumana Panuganti 8-0; K Sri Sai Shivani bt Tulasi Korwar 8-2.

Girls U-12 Second Round Sahithi Annam bt Ananya Mohan 81; Kudumula Shreya bt M Sahithi Reddy 8-3; Akshitha Mulla Goud bt Tanuja Chouhan 8-4; Bipasha Mehn bt Sonali Jaiswal 8-7 (7-3); Lipika Muramalla bt Amulya Penikalapati 81; Bhakti Shah bt Sumana Panuganti 8-0; Dhruthi Kapoor bt Manya Vishwanath 8-5; Juvera Fatima bt D Sanskrithi 8-1.

Girls U-14 second round Syeda Shajiha Begum bt K Avanthika Reddy 8-7 (8-6); Charitha Vasi Reddy bt Bipasha Mehn 8-2; Bhakti Shah bt Ananda Dharma Mudaliar 8-2; Mirica Jaiswal bt Nissi Raha 8-5; Sahithi Annam bt Dhriti Kapoor 8-1; K Sri Sai Shivani bt Akshitha Mulla Goud 8-1.

stretch in the close contest.

Hibbert was benched late in overtime in the game one loss.

Lance Stephenson had 20 points, George Hill added 19 and David West finished with 14 with 12 rebounds for the Pacers who shot 50 percent from the field against the Heat. Indiana also had 50 points in the paint compared to just 32 for Miami.

The Pacers won despite allstar guard Paul George having his second straight off night.

George shot just four-of-10 and finished with 12 points Tuesday after shooting three-of-10 in game three. The series now shifts to Miami for game five on Thursday.

James fouled out for just second time in the post-season in his brilliant career after finishing with 24 points, six rebounds and five assists on Tuesday.

Mario Chalmers had 20 points and Dwyane Wade 16 for the Heat, who had won 10 straight road games, including a one-sided game three win at the same Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Miami had just a half dozen turnovers but shot a modest 39 percent from the floor.

AFP

LOCAL SPORTS Chess tournament from June 2 HYDERABAD: Hyderabad District Chess Association will conduct the 14th Hyderabad City Team Chess Selection Tournament on June 2 at LB Stadium, Hyderabad.

The top five ranked teams will represent Hyderabad in the national cities chess championship to be held at Kerala from June 15-20. For further details, contact Krishna on 9247143456.

AP teams surge ahead NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh defeated Uttar Pradesh 3-0 in the Boys under-12 AITA inter state nationals held here on Tuesday. In the girls event, Andhra Pradesh got the better of Delhi when they beat them 3-0.

Results: Boys: Andhra Pradesh bt Uttar Pradesh 3-0 Menga Rohit bt Vaibhav S Bisht 6-3,6-1; Teertha Shashank bt Aakarshit Mahajan 6-0,6-0; Menga Rohit/Teertha Shashank bt Aakarshit Mahajan/Affan Kidwai 6-2,6-2.

Girls: Andhra Pradesh bt Delhi 3-0 Prathyusha Rachapudi bt Kiran Kalkal 6-1,7-5.; S.Rachana Reddy bt Muskaan 6-0,6-2; 3.Prathyusha Rachapudi/Amineni Shivani bt Kiran Kalkal/Kashish Bhatia 6-2,6-3.

sports

30

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

US OPEN

2020 OLYMPICS

Day added to tourney field Former tournament runner-up Jason Day and Colonial winner Boo Weekley were added to the field for the US Open tournament, the USGA had announced.

FAR HILLS, NEW JERSEY: Former tournament runner-up Jason Day and last week’s Colonial winner Boo Weekley were added to the field for the US Open tournament, the USGA announced on Tuesday.

Australia’s Day and American Weekley were part of a group of 26 players who earned full exemptions to the major championship tournament.

Day, who was the runner-up at the 2011 US Open, is ranked 25th in the world while Weekley moved up 56 spots to number 55 after his Colonial victory.

Twenty-five of the exemptions were given to players ranked in the top 60 of the world golf rankings.

Also earning full exemptions through the official world golf rankings were: Tim Clark, George Coetzee, Nicolas Colsaerts, Jamie Donaldson, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Branden Grace, Bill Haas, Peter Hanson, Russell Henley, Billy Horschel, Fredrik Jacobson, Thongchai Jaidee, Martin Laird, Paul Lawrie, Marc Leishman,

ANNUAL AWARDS

Singapore’s sportsmen snubbed SINGAPORE: Singaporean authorities have caused a stir by failing to nominate anyone for the annual sportsman of the year award, reports said on Wednesday.

Despite a men’s football team which claimed a record fourth Southeast Asian title, an Olympic sailor and a world champion in the regional martial art of silat, the men’s shortlist released by organisers was left blank. “We acknowledge the athletes for their achievements,” said Jessie Phua, chairwoman of the Singapore Sports Awards body, according to the Straits Times newspaper. “However, the bar has been raised and this year, there just wasn’t a milestone that was significant to give this award out.” Candidates were named in the best sportswoman, boy, girl, coach and team categories, but the decision to leave out the men’s award annoyed some administrators.

AFP

Francesco Molinari, Thorbjorn Olesen, D.A. Points, Ian Poulter, Marcel Siem, Henrik Stenson, Richard Sterne and Kevin Streelman.

The 26th player to earn a full exemption was the European Tour’s BMW PGA

Day is ranked 25th in the world while Weekley moved up 56 spots to number 55 after his Colonial victory.

Championship winner Matteo Manassero.

The 20-year-old earned a spot in the US Open after becoming the youngest-ever winner at the circuit’s flagship event on Sunday.

Spain unite for fight to win Games: Blanco PARIS: A united Spain is prepared for the fight for Madrid to win the right to host the 2020 Olympics, the bid’s president Alejandro Blanco said.

The 62-year-old former judoka — who is also president of the Spanish National Olympic Committee — insisted the bid had united people nationwide who see it as a way of easing the dire situation of the Spanish economy.

Unemployment was at a record 27.16 percent overall at the end of the first quarter as the country struggles through a double-dip recession sparked by the collapse of a decadelong building boom in 2008.

But such is the enthusiasm across the country that Spain’s World Cup and European Championship-winning coach Vicente del Bosque has been encouraged to sign up as an unpaid volunteer. “It is clear that hosting the Olympic Games will serve as a booster for all the economic spheres of our country,” said Blanco. AFP

AFP

SEVERING TIES

Nike halt Livestrong merchandise LOS ANGELES: Nike has decided to stop making products for disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong’s cancer charity Livestrong, but will still support the group financially, the sports products giant said Tuesday.

The Livestrong Collection, which includes footwear, apparel and accessories, will be phased out at the end of the year, the company said, bringing down the curtain on what has been a globally recognized brand for almost a decade.

Exemplified by the distinctive yellow Livestrong wristband, of which Nike said 87 million had been distributed worldwide, the decision will inevitably be seen as the company’s latest step to rid itself of Armstrong’s toxic legacy.

“Nike has made the decision to stop producing new Livestrong products after its Holiday 2013 line,” the company said in a statement.

“We will continue to support the Livestrong Foundation by funding them directly as they continue their work serving and improving outcomes for people

facing cancer.”

The Austin, Texas based charity earlier announced the end of the partnership, thanking Nike — which cut all other ties with Armstrong last October — saying the collaboration had helped raise over $100 million.

The foundation “is deeply grateful to Nike not only for the time and resources it invested in helping us improve the lives of people affected by cancer... but also the creative drive it brought to our nine-year partnership.

“While the Foundation created and owns the Livestrong brand, Nike shone a spotlight on the spirit of courage and resilience it represents,” it said.

The charity played down the potential impact on Livestrong, noting that the announcement would “prompt some to jump to negative conclusions,” about its future.

“We see things quite differently. We expected and planned for changes like this and are therefore in a good position to

adjust swiftly and move forward with our patient-focused work.

“Because of our sound fiscal health, the Foundation is wellpositioned to continue to grow our free services for cancer patients and survivors that improve quality of life and access to care.”

Livestrong evolved from The Lance Armstrong Foundation, though the two were widely seen as synonymous.

Livestrong, however, developed its own spirit long before Armstrong stepped down as its chairman last year, and he subsequently left the board entirely.

A Nike spokeswoman, Mary Remuzzi, meanwhile, said she had no specifics about how much or in what form Nike funds Livestrong.

Armstrong was an inspirational figure for millions after recovering from testicular cancer and then winning the world’s most celebrated cycling event, the Tour de France, seven times in a row.

AFP

sports

31

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

THE FIXING SAGA

CHAMPIONS TROPHY

Mumbai cops may quiz Harbhajan Singh The Mumbai crime branch is likely to question Harbhajan Singh and three players from the Chennai Super Kings team, who were close to Gurunath Meiyappan to know if he had tried to influence them, according to a report

MUMBAI: The Mumbai crime branch is likely to question Harbhajan Singh and three players from Chennai Super Kings who were close to Gurunath Meiyappan to know if he had tried to influence them, according to a report.

Police want to record the

players’ statements to ascertain if Meiyappan and Vindu Dara Singh were into match-fixing.

Harbhajan plays for Mumbai Indians and Meiyappan had told the police that Vindu had asked him to get close to Harbhajan with the intention of cultivating him for

future matches.

“We are legally examining whether to record the statements of a few players who were in touch with Meiyappan,” a crime branch official said on the condition of anonymity.

The crime branch will also summon Chennai-based hotelier Vikram Aggarwal alias Victor, who is suspected to be the key link between bookies and punters, to appear before it on Friday.

Officials said that Vindu and Meiyappan have both denied Aggarwal’s role in the scandal but police want to know more about the back-to-back calls between him and absconding bookies Sanjay Jaipur, Pawan Jaipur and Chandresh alias Jupiter. Several players also used to visit Aggarwal’s Chennai hotel often, police said. Aggarwal is a close friend of Meiyappan. On Tuesday, a Mumbai crime branch team had gone to serve summons on Aggarwal

Captain Cook wary of premature Root growth LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM: England captain Alastair Cook said it would be a “risk”promoting Joe Root to open alongside him in the Ashes despite the Yorkshireman’s impressive series against New Zealand.

The 22-year-old Root, batting at number five, made his maiden Test hundred as England thrashed New Zealand by 247 runs on his Headingley home ground.

Root, who opens for Yorkshire, was named as England’s man-of-the-series by New Zealand coach Mike Hesson on Tuesday after his 104 followed a composed 71 in the hosts’ 170-run first Test win at Lord’s that set up this 2-0 series victory.

Root’s recent form has been in stark contrast to that of Nick Compton, Cook’s current opening partner.

Since scoring back-to-back hundreds in England’s 0-0 drawn series in New Zealand

England cricketer Joe Root celebrates his half-century during the second Test against New Zealand.

AFP/LINDSEY PARNABY

earlier this year, Compton’s next six Test innings have yielded just 54 runs, spread across more than six hours at the

crease.

Cook, asked if having Root open in the Ashes would be a risk, replied: “Yes I think it would be. It is an important position in a very big series. You are in the firing line straight away and you want to set a good tone at the top of the order, so yes it is a risk.”

Compton, grandson of England batting great Denis, was off the field with a rib injury when England wrapped up victory on Tuesday.

“He went for a scan this (Tuesday) morning. Compo. He will be back playing for Somerset on June 2,” Cook said.

At least one of England’s current specialist batsmen is set to miss out come the first Test against Australia at Trent Bridge in July should Kevin Pietersen, as expected, recover in time from a knee injury. “Hopefully he keeps progressing well and he comes back on the field,” Cook said of Pietersen.

AFP

Singh plays for Mumbai Indians and Meiyappan told the police that Vindu had asked him to get close to him with the intention of cultivating him for future matches. but returned after learning that the Chennai police wanted to question him on Thursday.

“We have enough reasons to question him in regard to betting. We will be issuing fresh summons asking him to appear on May 31,” said Himanshu Roy, joint commissioner of police (crime).

Investigators stumbled upon Victor while going through the call records of Vindu after the actor was arrested on May 21.

Chennai police, too, are probing Aggarwal’s role in connection with the betting racket.

AFP

15-member Indian team departs for England today MUMBAI: The 15-member Indian squad for the ICC Champions Trophy commencing on June 6 left here today for London via Dubai.

The 15-member team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni is scheduled to reach England later today.

Dhoni, who was gagged by the Cricket Board (BCCI) from answering any questions over the raging spot-fixing and betting scandal at the pre-departure news conference yesterday, is scheduled to address the world media tomorrow.

Two warm-up games have been scheduled for the squad on June 1 and 4 ahead of the Champions Trophy opener against South Africa on June 6 at Cardiff, Wales.

The squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik, Murali Vijay, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and R Vinay Kumar.

PTI

McCullum backs England for Ashes JULIAN GUYER Agence France-Presse LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM: New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum said England were “red hot favourites” to retain the Ashes after the Black Caps had their “hearts ripped out”

by Alastair Cook’s men.

England completed a 2-0 series whitewash with a commanding 247-run victory over New Zealand in the second Test at Headingley on Tuesday.

This was England’s last Test before the Ashes opener at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge ground in July.

Australian batsmen have struggled against the swinging ball in recent Ashes series and McCullum said: “England are red hot favourites at home, their ability to swing the Duke ball is huge. Any team that plays at home is familiar with the surroundings.”

McCullum added the defin-

ing moment of his team’s Test campaign against England had been the fourth day of the first Test at Lord’s.

New Zealand collapsed to 68 all out, England paceman Stuart Broad taking a Test-best seven for 44, as they suffered a 170-run defeat.

“Right up until that point our self-belief was very high and that ripped our hearts out and just started to create some self-doubt among us which is a horrible thing in this game,” McCullum said.

Headingley saw New Zealand experience fresh batting woes, mainly against offspinner Graeme Swann who took 10 wickets in the match.

“That’s what unfolded in this Test,” McCullum added after the tourists could only manage 174 in reply to England’s first innings 354 before being bowled out for 220 in pursuit of an improbable 468 for victory.

AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2013

sports

SMITH LIKELY OUT OF ACTION FOR OVER 4 MONTHS South African Test captain Graeme Smith might remain out of action for four to six months due to the ankle surgery which he underwent recently, leaving him uncertain for the home series against India which is scheduled to be held later this year.

FRENCH OPEN

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Djokovic beats David Goffin Novak Djokovic, bidding to win a first French Open and become just the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam, beat David Goffin of Belgium 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-5 to reach the second round.

PARIS: World number one Novak Djokovic, bidding to win a first French Open and become just the eighth man to complete a career Grand Slam, beat David Goffin of Belgium 7-6 (7/5), 6-4, 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the second round.

The top-seeded Serb will face Guido Pella of Argentina for a place in the last 32.

“Thanks to all the fans for waiting. It was a good match, David is a good player and has a lot of talent,” said Djokovic.

“I’m happy to win and hope to continue like this.”

Djokovic, the runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2012, had waited patiently to get his first round underway after heavy rain had robbed the schedule of more than four hours of play.

But Goffin, who made the last 16 in 2012 after coming through qualifying, was not overawed by the challenge but lacked the firepower to consistently trouble the world number one.

AFP

Novak demands lights, action

W

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic serves to Belgium’s David Goffin during a French tennis Open first round match at the AFP/THOMAS COEX Roland Garros stadium in Paris on Tuesday.

Tomic sticks with dad John PARIS: On a day when 13 matches of the 40 scheduled were held over until Wednesday, and three were uncompleted, it was troubled Australian Bernard Tomic who found himself at the centre of attention during the cool and damp afternoon.

Tomic, 20, retired from his

first round match against Victor Hanescu with a muscle tear.

The world number 61 then launched a passionate defence of his father, and coach, John Tomic who is facing criminal charges in Spain after being accused of assaulting his son’s

training partner.

“My dad is in Paris, he’s still my dad and he will remain my coach. I love him a lot,” said Tomic, who dropped the first two sets against Hanescu before quitting in the third to hand a 7-5, 7-6 (10/8), 2-1 win to his Romanian opponent.

John Tomic was banned from attending the tournament after he was accused of attacking Thomas Drouet, in Madrid on May 4.

Drouet was left with a broken nose after a brawl outside the hotel where players in the Madrid Masters were staying.

Highly-rated Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, dubbed ‘Baby Federer’ because of his similar style to the 17-time Grand Slam winner, went through when Colombian opponent Alejandro Falla retired with the Bulgarian 26th seed 6-4, 1-0 to the good.

The 22-year-old Dimitrov, the boyfriend of Maria

Sharapova, could face Djokovic in the third round.

“These are the kind of matches I always want to play in. I feel good on the big courts and playing against good players,” said the Bulgarian, who beat Djokovic in Madrid and pushed Rafael Nadal to three sets in the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals.

Dimitrov will attempt to reach the third round of a Grand Slam for the first time when he faces French wildcard Lucas Pouille, the world number 324.

World number 83 Kimiko Date-Krumm, who played her first Roland Garros in 1989 -three years before Dimitrov was born -- probably wished it had kept on raining on Tuesday.

The 42-year-old Japanese lost 6-0, 6-2 to Australian ninth seed Samantha Stosur, the 2010 runner-up and former US Open winner.

AFP

orld number one Novak Djokovic called for the French Open to install floodlights to help clear the backlog of rain-hit matches and claimed that a five-year wait to have a roof-covered showcourt was too long.

Top seed Djokovic only got on court at just after 1830 (1630GMT) on Tuesday to kick off his 2013 campaign in Paris where he seeks a first Roland Garros title and to become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam.

In all 13 matches were held over to Wednesday while three others were suspended due to darkness after rain delays of four hours played havoc with the schedule.

AFP

Fedex, Serena target last 32 PARIS: Roger Federer and Serena Williams bid for French Open last 32 places Wednesday while second seed Victoria Azarenka begins her campaign as Roland Garros plays catch-up after Tuesday’s schedule was badly hit by rain. Federer tackles Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman, the world number 188.

Second seed Federer beat Devvarman in their only previous meeting in straight sets in Dubai in 2011.

Williams, the defending women’s champion, faces French teenager Caroline Garcia who was a set and 4-1 up on Maria Sharapova at Roland Garros in the second round in 2011 before losing in three.

The American top seed is looking for a second title in Paris, 13 years after her first.

Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, the third seed, faces experienced Russian Elena Vesnina in a first round match held over from Tuesday because of rain.

AFP