WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 HYDERABAD
STOP THIS SHAM, ACTIVISTS TELL GOVERNMENT
32 PAGES
WEATHER: MOSTLY CLEAR; 26°C
WWW.POSTNOON.COM
16&17
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY
RTI, the only privilege citizens possess is being blunted by the government and bureaucracy. RTI activists cry foul and ask for the creations of a selection committee to choose information commissioners.
P6
THE KOREAN
CONUNDRUM
two blue stripes FATHERLANDadopted on September 9, 1948. Thered FLAG OF THE flag represents the was officially signify purity, the white stripes The North Korea peace and friendship. the recognized symbol of Communism. is nify sovereignty, and the red star Communist revolution
al
Knowledge Centr 6, 2013
PROGRAMME been a has NORTH KOREA’S NUKE
programme orth Korea's nuclear international comconcern for the source of great state is already than 20 years. The munity for more underground nuclear conducted two P'unggye-yok in believed to have 2009 at a site called near the town tests in 2006 and the east of the country, amid a strict a remote area in rounds of negotiationslittle to curb its of Kilju. Multiple done appear to have sanctions regime nuclear ambitions.
North Korean Nuclear facilities at Yongbyon
N
In the US it's
No-man’s land Northern limit line
Sangnam Ri
the two fter Korea was divided, tried to Korean powers both peninsula. As control the whole on the 38th parallel, conflicts escalated were made to the border, attempts the whole of for negotiate elections
A
turned into all-out Korea. The strife Korean military civil war when North June 25, 1950. on invaded the South its allies, intervened The US, along with South South. When the on behalf of the gained momenKorean counter-attack
K
2,255,000
4%
1,473,900
US GDP
India is #3:
1,414,000
NORTH KOREA GDP 1.7%
4%
CHINA GDP
RUSSIA GDP
North Korea also
NORTH KOREAN
MISSILES AND RANGE 1,000km
Tongjoson Man
1 Nodong: 2,200km 2 Teapodong-1: 3 Musudan: 4,000km 6,000km 4 Teapodong-2:
able to carry Nuclear Warheads
TAEPODONG2
TAEPODONG 1
Hwasong 7 (NK name) Range: 3,500-4,300km (2nd stage) 4,000-4,300km (3rd stage) Length: 32m Load: Less than 1,000kg
East Sea
Yellow Sea
RODONG 1
Hwasong 5 Single stage Range: 1,000-1,300km Length: 15m Load: 1,000kg
length:11.25m Load: 500kg.
Brazil Pakistan right to vote at 17, Citizens have the party to vote for. but there's only one as many as camps that hold The state runs re-education 50,000 political prisoners guilty of crimes.
FOR BE EXECUTED CHRISTIANS CAN BIBLES. DISTRIBUTING AND THE MEDIA IS STATE-RUN COMPLETE LIES OFTEN REPORTS PROPAGANDA. OF GOVERNMENT
Busan
You may be executed
for
PHONE CALL MAKING AN INTERNATIONAL HOARDING FOOD
An estimated RESERVED FUEL ARE OFTEN VEHICLES AND ELITE. FOR THE POLITICAL
THE 'IL'L JOKES
K
Gwangju
Greece
KIM JONG-UN
current Jong-il and is the third son of Kim power, he im Jong-un is the North Korea. Before assuming Party of of of the Workers' supreme leader First of First Secretary has held the titles of the Central Military Commission, of Korea, the Chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Chairman Supreme Commander North Korea, the Army, and also a presidium Korean People's Politburo of the Workers' Central he is the member of the 29–30 years of age, is Party of Korea. At head of state. He world's youngest married to Ri Sol-ju.
Daegu
im Jong-il the supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He was the general secretary of the Workers' Party of of Korea, Chairman the National Defence North Commission of Korea, and the supreme the Korean commander of fourthPeople's Army, the army in largest standing the world.
The US has
LEARNING IS DEVOTED TOLEADER. OF EDUCATION THEIR HIGHER THAN REVERENCE TOWARDS HAS THE US AND THAT'S THE SAME THE LITERACY RATE IS
Range: 550km Single stage ballistic missile
SOUTH KOREA
KIM JONG-ILwas
Russia has
children 96% of school aged Education is state-run. until 16. AND get compulsory education COMMUNIST MORALITY
SCUD-C UPGRADE
K
Seoul
Chinese forces joined tum, North-allied ended on July 27, the strife. Fighting that restored the 1953, with an armistice More than 2 original boundaries. soldiers were and million civilians killed in the war.
Hwasong 6 Range: 1,5002,000km (2nd stage) 2,475-2,896km (3rd stage) Length: 25m Load: 1,000kg
KIM IL-SUNG
leader of North im Il-sung was the in Korea from its establishment the in 1994. He held 1948 until his deathMinister from 1948 to posts of Prime from 1972 to his 1972 and President the leader of the death. He was also Korea from Workers' Party of as chair1949 to 1994 (titled1966 and to man from 1949 after as general secretaryleader as 1966). His tenure has often of North Korea as autobeen described cratic, and he established cult of peran all-pervasive of sonality. In the Library on Study Congress Country 2009, he North Korea in "one of was described as figures the most intriguing century". of the twentieth to as Kim Il-sung is referred "The Great Leader".
25%
25% OF ITS GDP
US is #2 with:
China is #1 with:
Hamhung NORTH KOREA
Pyongyang Nampo
and the main forces left in 1948, of Korea until agenda was unification of the Syngman the consolidation South and a bruthe Rhee regime in Communist symtal crackdown on presidency. In his pathisers under proposed 1949, Kim Il-sung part in the Southern military action support from the which did not get Soviet Union.
THE KOREAN WAR
$1,800
in North is Military spending much as estimated to be as
1.1 MILLION active soldiers
Musudan Ri
Korea has Pundits predict North chemical weapons. of biological and has an estimated
Youngdoktong
THE TALE OF TWO COUNTRIES
per capita is
$46,442
N Korea has the fourth largest army
Yong-jo Ri
Border
its nuclear tests and its missile and nation. in the news for the mysterious North Korea is Here’s more about eccentric leaders.
would be held for overseen elections after the war. In began odern Korean history — the whole of Korea Japan Soviet Army estabwith the fall of August 1945, the it in Authority to rule which had annexed War, lished a Soviet Civil of the Korean World the northern portion 1910 — in the Second The a domestic regime, of military rule. Peninsula until ending 35 years could be estabwas divided into friendly to the USSR,governed by the Korean peninsula in 1945. The lished. This became Committee for two occupied zones occupied by the Provisional People's 1948. Soviet the northern half was the southern by North Korea through Soviet Union and that UNUS, on the understanding
North Korea's GDP
Punggye-yok
facility Ballistic missile Nuclear test site
THE KOREAN CONUNDRUM M
CRAZY COUNTRY
Chongjin
Military base US forces base
`3
executed people have been by the government.
like defecate or urinate says he does not Kim Jong-il biography and got 11 other people. shot 38 under par of golf, he reportedly In his first game giant rabbits. holes in one. Korea by breeding solve hunger in North (cognac), He planned to buyer of Hennessey world's single largest He was once the $700,000 per year. exact size importing worth he eats to ensure every grain of rice Workers inspected to stay and colour. virgins, reportedly with the blood of He injected himself young. and control the created the world he and his father Citizens are told of weather. rid the future generations being short and to islands. At 5'3", he hated short people to uninhabited this curse, he sent
North Korea is in the news for its missile and nuclear tests and its eccentric leaders. Here’s more about the mysterious nation.
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HYDERABAD’S FIRST COMPACT AFTERNOON NEWSPAPER
AADHAAR LINKING TO LPG
SUBSIDY CHALLENGED
In the latest in a series of setbacks to the farcical Aadhaar Card scheme, one harassed citizen has moved the AP High Court against what he claims is the arbitrary linking of the Aadhaar card to LPG subsidy.
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Is Aadhaar a boorish attempt by the Nilekani brigade to impose things on hapless citizens? PK Surendran
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MIM TAKES ITS ISSUE TO SUPREME COURT
The oath-taking issue of C Uday Kumar has become a point of prestige and contention for both the MIM and the BJP. Uday Kumar claims that he took oath on February 2 without being administered. Meanwhile, the MIM has filed a Special Leave Petition in Supreme Court. The Court has set February 14 for hearing.
P4
THE COST OF HYDERABAD `
1,00,000
crore
Continuing our dialogue with stakeholders of the Telangana separation issue, we find out that it may cost Telangana an arm and a leg to keep Hyderabad as its state capital.
REPORT ON P5
TIPS FOR A TONED TUMMY
Who doesn’t dream of a beautifully flat tummy? But thanks to the desktop culture most of us lead, a flabby stomach is inevitable. Read on to learn how you can shed the flab.
P19
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
city events
MIX MEDIA PRINTS
A Journey from Inlay to Intaglio is a solo show by Sonal Varshneya. It is at Rainbow Gallery from February 8-17. Her prints reflect contemporary Indian art in a global context. Her prints on various themes are said to be technically very rich.
Weather for Hyderabad
Evening
Overnight
24°C
21°C
Mostly clear.
Mostly clear.
Morning
Afternoon
25°C
28°C
Mostly sunny.
A mix of sun and cloud.
New Delhi Mumbai Max 21 Max 28 Min 9 Min 16 Clear skies.
Chennai Max 30 Min 20
Clear skies.
Mostly sunny.
Bangalore Max 28 Min 20 Mostly sunny.
AROUND THE CITY: YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES Industrial Exhibition is an ongoing event in the City. Where: Exhibition Ground, Mukarramjahi Road, Nampally, When: Up to February 15, 4pm to 11pm Contact: (040) 2460 3015
SHOWS Urban Ballet A French dance show blending classical and hip hop. Where: Shilpa Kala Vedika When: February 6, 7pm onwards Contact: (040) 2355 4486
The Landmark sale Landmark announces its sale of Up to 70 per cent off. Bestselling books starting at `49, 3 for 2 on the top 500 new releases are just some of the offers. Where: Landmark, When: January 25-February 25
Hyderabad 360 Live virtual and visual music by Puce Muse. Where: Qutb Shahi Tombs When: February 17, 7pm onwards Contact: (040) 2355 4486 Confluence Perfect Harmony Productions and Cisne for Arts bring together Zakir Hussain, Bela Fleck & Edgar M for a trio concert. Where: Shilpa Kala Vedika, Hitec City When: February 8, 6:30pm onwards Contact: (040) 2311 2707 French Film Festival Six French films will be screened with English subtitles. Where: Prasads IMAX When: February 19-21 Contact: hyderabad.afindia.org Yudh Sai Shree Arts presents Yudh, a Bharathanatyam solo by Savitha Sastry on war. Where: Ravindra Bharathi When: February 19,
Urban Stampede The run is aimed at encouraging amateurs and seasoned runners alike to take part in a sport that is enjoyable and beneficial. Where: CBIT, Gandipet When: March 3 Contact: urban-stampede.com STUDENT ACTIVISM: Katherine Dhanani, US consul general, Hyderabad, inaugurated the display of ‘Little Citizens’ M ANIL KUMAR Social Activism’ project, by students from Old City at Sanaia Garden, Charminar. 7pm to 8:15pm Contact: (040) 2323 1245
Where: Truffles cafe Plot no. 376, Road no. 10, Jubilee Hills, When: Up to February 10 Contact: (040) 2355 0105
DINING Dakshin Ruchulu GreenPark brings all the South Indian cuisines under one roof. It includes dishes from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Where: Once Upon A Time, Hotel GreenPark, Greenlands, Begumpet When: February 1-10 7:30pm to 11pm Contact: (040) 6651 5151 Cafe Classics Month Truffles cafe pays tribute to some selective cafes and restaurants in India and the world. The cafe will be serving some of their special dishes.
Helpline
Commissioner & Spl Officer
GAS BOOKING IVRS NO HP 9666023456 Indane 9848824365 BSNL Complaints HMWS & SB Complaints
198 155313
POLICE CONTROL ROOM Hyderabad 27852435 Traffic Control Room 27852482 DCP Traffic 23234065, 23243499F Pollution Control Board 23887500 ELECTRICITY General Complaints Breakdown Section
155333 23431178 23431179
MUNICIPAL CORPORATION
23262266 24166666R ENC 23225267 Engineering 23220418 MCH Tankbund 23225397 Emergency MCH Circle I&II 24525842 MCH Circle III 24736912 MCH Circle IV 23326975 MCH Circle V 23326976 MCH Circle VI MCH Complaints 1100 Head Office 23225397 IVRS CUM MANUAL ENQUIRY PHONE NUMBERS (TRAIN & RESERVATION) RAILWAYS Rail Nilayam 27833169, 27824216 Railway Information 131 Reservations 135 Recorded Information 1345 Enquiry (IVRS) 1331, 1332, 1333
ART For 'HER' A tribute to Victim X, raising the conscience to respect womanhood through art. Exhibition of installations and mixed media art by a variety of artists. The preview is on February 4 at 6:30pm. Where: Ravindra Bharathi, Saifabad When: February 4-14, 11:30am to 7pm Contact: www.iconart.in The River Moving Within The River Moving Within is an exhibition of art work by Koeli Mukherjee
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
Ghose. It is inspired by the works of Rumi and 'Narda Bhakti Sutra' and reflects a love for life. Where: Truffles Cafe, Jubilee Hills When: Up to February 8 Buy Art It is an anniversary art show of affordable art by 30 artists. All artworks are priced between `1,000 to `10,000. Where: Iconart Gallery, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad When: January 18-February 18 11:30am-7pm Contact: www.iconart.in
MISCELLANEOUS Numaish Numaish is the 73rd All India
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
Pochampally IKAT Mela Pochampally handloom park is organising 'Pochampally IKAT Mela 2013,’ a nine-day handloom exhibition of products like hand made bed and home linen, dress materials, silk and cotton saris, dupattas , table mats, covers, cotton shirts and kurtis Where: Minerva (Bibesia) Banquet Hall, Ground floor, Amrutha Mall, Somajiguda When: February 3-11 Contact: (040) 2355 8857
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, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
City
YESTERDAY’S QUESTION
IS THE BAN ON PAKISTANI PLAYERS IN IPL APPROPRIATE? 32% 68%
YES (A) NO (B)
Airport job scam busted The accused promised his victims jobs at the RGI airport and disappeared with their money.
T
he Shamshabad police has arrested a 40-yearold man, Adam, who cheated hundreds of unemployed people by promising to provide them jobs at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. He also dumped them of several lakhs. Adam, who lives in Hyderabad, had started a job consultancy firm in the City a few months back. He had advertised through newspapers, stating that he could provide jobs in different categories at the international airport. Nearly 100-150 people, including several youngsters, approached him for a job at the
A)
YES
B)
NO
To vote visit www.postnoon.com
CRIME
Mohd SUBHAN mohd.s@postnoon.com
TODAY’S QUESTION
IS THE MIM’S PETTY POLITICS AFFECTING CITY LIFE?
Nearly 100-150 people, including several youngsters, approached Adam for a job at the airport. He charged each one anywhere between `50,000 and `1 lakh for the job. airport. He charged each applicant anywhere between `50,000 and `1 lakh for the job. Adam did not contact any of the applicants who had paid him in the last two months. His mobile phone was also switched off. Suspicious, some of the applicants went to the air-
port to look into the matter. It came to light that the airport authorities had not issued any such notices or circulars for jobs. They also told the victims that no one by the name of Adam had contacted them in connection with jobs at the airport. The shocked victims lodged a complaint with the RGI police, who registered a case. A few days later, Adam was arrested and the police recovered some money from his possession. It turned out that Adam was not from the City and had come to Hyderabad for the sole purpose of getting a job. When he failed to do so, he decided to cheat innocent people and make money.
CRIME
3
Company loot proved inside job
POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com
T
he Shamshabad police have arrested four men who had allegedly broken into a factory in Sathamrai area on Friday. It proved to be an inside job. The arrested are: Sourabh Mandal, 25, supervisor of an electrical supplying company; Biswanth Hazra, 38, another supervisor in the same company; Ameer Hamza, 25, a driver for the same company; and Abdul Hameed, 45, a scrap dealer. According to the details, Sourabh, Biswanth and Hamza have been working in this company for the past few years and have been allegedly spiriting away in instalments expensive articles from the premises.
A few days ago, the owner of the company, Anil Kumar Lakhotiya, visited the premises and noticed that iron pipes, steel rods and other expensive materials were missing. He lodged a complaint with the Shamshabad police. Police probe resulted in hauling of the employees. Police have recovered the stolen property from them.
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city WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 LAST YEAR... HERE Water woes
L
ast year we had reported how citizens were fuming after receiving inflated water bills after the HMWS&SB revised the drinking water tariff in the City. The arbitrary method of calculating the revised tariff, with hikes ranging from 50 to 400 per cent, also was a cause of annoyance. With summer around the corner, citizens now fear the same problem this year.
FEBRUARY 06, 2012
NUMEROLOGY
`1L cr
is the price of Hyderabad, it seems. A State Cabinet minister said that Andhra and Rayalaseema would concede Hyderabad if these regions are given `1 lakh crore for development.
Women on all levels and everywhere fight the same battles. Injustice, violence — both physical and emotional — and inequality is part of the agenda for all of us. Prasanthi, Mahila Samita See page 8
CIVIC
Rivalry takes centre stage Has the budget session been postponed just to spite the BJP?
P
olitical rivalry again took centre stage in the general body meeting of the GHMC today when the mayor, in an apparent collusion with the Congress, kept only the condolence meeting on agenda and suspended the meeting for the day. It was supposed to begin the all-important budget session today. The meeting began 20 minutes past 10am. Mayor Mohd Majid Hussain called the meeting to order and took up the condolence meeting for the first woman mayor, Sarojini Pullareddy, who died the other day. Three members spoke and the motion was passed. Then, with no valid reason, the mayor announced suspension of the meeting for the rest of the day. All hell broke loose. The TDP and BJP, who were taken by surprise, rushed after the mayor, who went to his chambers. The counsellors chased him and tried to barge into his chambers. The mayor had already summoned the police and the cops took the protesting TDP and BJP corpora-
2
Not many takers for mediation centres. Reconciliation centres haven’t had much success in the State. From an indifferent judiciary to stubborn litigants, there are many hurdles before mediation becomes accepted widely.
3
T
he mayor announced at a press conference that the budget session of the council will begin on February 18 and the general body meeting will be on February 19. He promised that the budget will be passed by February 20.
tors in custody. They included TDP floor leader Singireddy Srinivas Reddy and BJP floor
leader Bangaru Prakash. The protesting corporators alleged conspiracy by the Congress and MIM and demanded removal of the mayor, who they said was playing petty politics at the cost of the City. It became clear that the ruling partners, MIM and Congress, had a tacit understanding on the issue of keeping BJP corporator Uday Kumar (of Langer House) out of the council by not allowing him to take the oath.
MIM takes Langer House issue to SC
The column that teaches everyone something new about the way the City functions.
1
Session on Feb 18
CIVIC
THINGS WE 5LEARNT TODAY Putting a price on Hyderabad’s head. Hyderabad is being pulled from all directions in the separate state tussle. No one seems to want to lose the golden goose, and everyone wants compensation if it is taken away.
N SHIVA KUMAR
Md NIZAMUDDIN nizamuddin.a@postnoon.com
The GHMC legal cell says that if on record, a self-administered oath is valid. rule book is silent on this. In the absence of any guidance, commissioner MT Krishna Babu has written to the secretary (MA & UD), seeking a legal opinion whether the oath taken by Uday Kumar on his own is valid or not. The legal cell responded to the commissioner’s query this morning. The legal opinion stated that if the oath is on record, it is valid, no matter it was admin-
POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com
T
he oath-taking of C Uday Kumar has become a point of prestige for the MIM and the BJP. Uday Kumar claims he took the oath on February 2 without being administered. The question that needs to be answered is whether somebody has to administer the oath. The
istered or self-taken. The MIM has filed a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court. The court has set February 14 for its hearing. “The respondents will be at liberty to file their counter affidavits to the special leave petition by Febuary 8, 2013. Rejoinder affidavit, if any, may be filed by February 12, 2013,” the SC said.
NEWS BRIEFS
Will the City rise to the occasion? Lack of sponsors and it being Valentine’s Day might dampen the One Billion Rising campaign here.
Teenager attempts suicide
Alternative routes suggested
Burglars decamp with gold and cash
‘No dumping silt in Jawaharnagar dump’
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A
T
F
ifteen tolas of gold and `10,000 were stolen from the house of a DRDL employee, Sridharahary, a resident of Pupalguda village of Narsingi on Tuesday. The occupants were away when the theft occurred. Burglars broke open the main lock to enter the house. The burglars did not take any other articles except the gold and cash.
R
Aadhaar card-LPG cylinder supply link challenged. A citizen has moved the AP HC against the move to make Aadhaar card necessary for LPG subsidies.
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Make RTI matters transparent, say activists. The government has come under fire for the arbitrary selection of information commissioners.
n intermediate student, Mohd Zakir, a resident of Nagulapally village in Ranga Reddy district, attempted suicide by jumping in front of a train near Tandur railway station on Tuesday. The 17-year-old escaped with severe injuries. It is said that the youth attempted to kill himself over some petty quarrel at home.
he traffic police issued an advisory for the public in the wake of the Metro rail work in the City. Alternative routes through areas like MG Road, RP Road, Tank Bund, Necklace Road, Himayathnagar, Ramanthapur and Basheerbagh were suggested to decrease traffic congestion. Rasoolpura junction will be closed from Wednesday.
anga Reddy district collector A Vani Prasad has asked HMDA officials to discontinue the practice of dumping silt in Jawaharnagar dumpyard. This directive came after new sites were identified for silt dumping. Vani Prasad has suggested to the HMDA that old mining sites in the City should be used instead.
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city WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
POLITICS
Price of Hyderabad: `1 lakh crore Continuing the dialogue with stakeholders of the Telangana issue, Postnoon analyses the second option available to the Centre with regard to Hyderabad. Underneath the worry is the fate of massive investment the entrepreneurs of Andhra-Rayala have made in Hyderabad over the years. INKESHAF AHMED ahmed.m@postnoon.com
T
he second option the Central government is reportedly mulling over to solve the ongoing tussle over the division of the State is to make Hyderabad the capital of Telangana. All pro-Telangana champions, especially Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhara Rao, have been demanding that the Central government create Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital.
TRS
TRS argues that if Hyderabad is made the capital of Telangana, it will compensate for the backwardness of the region. It means that instead of a package, the Centre could bequeath Hyderabad and take care of the rest of the region with special packages. Commenting on the issue, TRS floor leader Etela Rajender said that Hyderabad has been an integral part of Telangana for centuries and the importance of Hyderabad in terms of being the
biggest revenue earner will help drive the growth of the region.”
RAYALA-ANDHRA
However, leaders from Andhra and Rayalaseema are against the proposal. “Hyderabad is the main bone of contention when it comes to the division of the State. We are
CRIME
Forensic records Owaisi’s voice
not opposed to the division per se if it is not linked to Hyderabad city,” said Congress party MLC and APCC general secretary Rudraraju Padma Raju. “People from Andhra and Rayalaseema have made the City their abode and sacrificed their lives and money to take it to this level. We have struggled to make
it the biggest revenue grosser in the entire State. How can we compromise on it?” he asked. He further said that industrialists from Andhra and Rayalaseema played their role in making Hyderabad one of the best destinations to do business. On the other hand, State cabinet minister TG Venkatesh, who has been waging a war for the rights of the Rayalaseema people, said that they can concede Hyderabad as the capital of Telangana if the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were given `1 lakh crore package for their development. “Our regions, Andhra and Rayalaseema are more backward than Telangana,” Venkatesh said. “If the Central government decides to give (a separate) Telangana by making Hyderabad its capital, it has to compensate the rest of the State,” he added. Venkatesh believes that it would be difficult for them to develop Hyderabad.
TDP
TDP senior leader and party
Our regions, Andhra and Rayalaseema, are more backward than Telangana. If the Central government decides to give Telangana by making Hyderabad its capital, it has to compensate the rest of the state. TG Venkatesh Minister politburo member Dr K Sivaprasad Rao also expressed similar views over the future of Hyderabad. He felt that a huge package alone can help the two regions — Rayalaseema and Andhra — to develop another capital city.
NEEDS OF INDUSTRIES A Classified Display Feature
F
orensic experts on Tuesday recorded the voice of MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi in a court. This followed his contention that the CD produced in Court as proof of his hate speech was not his. If it matches, he could be tried for perjury too, besides hate speech. The court has extended his judicial custody till February 19. Another court dismissed his bail plea in another hate speech case, while he got bail in a seven-year-old case of manhandling of an official. Officials said that the voice sample would be sent to a laboratory in Chandigarh to be matched with the voice in the video footage of the public meeting. Akbar Owaisi was brought from the district jail in Adilabad to Nirmal, where he was produced before judicial first class magistrate K Ajesh Kumar. Owaisi is facing several cases of hate speech and use abusive language in public against leaders and political parties. AGENCIES
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city WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
ACTIVISM
Stop this sham, activists say
RTI, the only privilege citizens possess, is being blunted by the government and bureaucracy. Activists cry foul and ask for a selection committee to choose information commissioners. N SHIVA KUMAR
RAHUL RAMAKRISHNA rahul.r@postnoon.com
RTI activists call the arbitrary selection of four information commissioners a farce.
T
he arbitrary selection of four information commissioners for the State information commission faced a lot of heat at a press conference organised by civil societies. Condemning the move as undemocratic and farce, activists presented a host of problems and their reasons for challenging the chief minister’s move to induct four more commissioners. Speaking to Postnoon, CJ Karira, an activist from the United Forum for Right To Information (UFRTI), which has been instrumental in spearheading the opposition against the CM’s move, said, “They followed half of the Supreme Court’s order from Section 15(6) of the Namit Sharma vs Union
of India judgement, but conveniently forgot the other half of the judgement, which emphasised on the necessity of a selection committee that is fully functional and not just a sham show.” Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu,
co-convenor of the UFRTI said, “This is just a stunt to provide political rehabilitation for people in the information commission. Both the opposition leader and the chief minister, who were part of the selection committee, decided to respectively
AADHAAR WOES
pitch for four of their candidates, which shows that the entire method of selection was a sham and nothing else.” According to Karira, there has been a history of appointments of information commissioners in India in the recent past, who have not merely abused their position of power but have also been arrested and prosecuted by the government for the same. “When an information commissioner, who needs to be transparent and honest to his profession, is elected in such an opaque method, where is the future of the RTI Act heading?”
Hall of shame We take a look at all the ‘stalwart’ information commissioners who have been in news for all the wrong reasons n Commissioner K Sudhakar of the State information commission was caught distributing money and sports equipment to children before elections at Nizamabad. n Retired information commissioner Ramanand Tiwari was arrested for his involvement in the multi-crore Aadarsh Housing scam. n A former information commissioner of Karnataka resigned after his involvement in a fake education degree racket was unearthed. Over 3,600 fake degree certificates were reportedly uncovered. n Former chief information commissioner of UP, Justice MA Khan, committed suicide at the age of 68 due to depression after being hauled up for perjury. The present CIC had been questioned by Allahabad High Court for coal mine allocations.
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city
7
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
FAMILY MATTERS
Mediation centres lack patronage FACT SHEET Statics of the cases referred and settled at the mediation centre since inception
737 2963 4115 3660
cases were referred to the mediation centres in 2008. 90 were settled.
cases were referred in 2009 out of which 1,314 cases were settled.
cases were referred in 2010 and 2,594 cases were settled.
cases were referred to the mediation centres in 2011 and 1,806 cases were settled.
2082
cases were referred in 2012 only 319 cases were settled.
INTERVIEW
Is it because the mediation business is not as lucrative for the legal fraternity? It’s also a fact that many litigants refuse to reach a compromise and the judiciary shows no zeal for the cause either. ALEENA ALICE aleena.t@postnoon.com
T
he alternate dispute or mediation centres set up in the State to help litigants solve the matter amicably is yet to taste the success of resolving cases that come to them. So far there are 24 mediation centres in the State, with one mediation centre in every district. These centres were set up in 2008 however till last year except for 2010, there was not even 50 per cent success reported at the mediation centres. Not that there is any dearth for mediators, Hyderabad alone has nearly 150 mediators and so goes with the other districts. Then what could be the reason for the number of settlement
cases to not go beyond 50 per cent? According to the mediators, the reason for not many cases being solved is the unwillingness of the parties to make use of the mediation centres. “There
There are 24 mediation centres in the State, with one mediation centre in every district. They haven’t reported a success rate of even 50 per cent. can be different reasons for the drop in the statistics pertaining to the cases settled at the mediation centre, sometimes the parties do not want to settle the case
and want to drag it to the court, sometimes the case could be complicated. Whatever the reason, we can keep the case with us for only 90 days after which we will have to send it back to the High Court. We cannot force the parties to compromise, we can only counsel them. At the end of the day they will have to make a decision. If the parties do not want to compromise they have to go back to court,” says Rajendra Reddy, senior advocate and mediator at the AP State Legal Service Authority. “Also there has to be awareness among people about the system and people should opt for the mechanism for a less complex litigation. Without people’s acceptance, the success ratio will not improve,” he adds. Meanwhile, according to
150 24
mediators practice in Hyderabad alone
mediation centres across the State
sources at the court the mediation centres do not receive much support from the other lower courts nor the High Court. According to a senior advocate, “Sometimes the judges do not refer cases to the mediation centre because they have to complete a certain number of cases and so they hold back the cases which can possibly be solved at the mediation centres,” he says.
Eccentricity lures him
Author John Zubrzycki goes beyond what is obvious in a person to delve into the depths and bring out a story that can leave readers stunned. S BALAKRISHNA
RAJESH RAVINDRAN rajesh.r@postnoon.com
A
lexander Malcolm Jacob was truly a man of many roles. Wikipedia searches reveal that he was born in Turkey, sold as a slave at 10, was well versed in Eastern life, language, art, literature, philosophy, and occultism and prospered as a jeweller only to end in ruin through the sale of the Imperial Diamond to the then Nizam Mir Mahbub Ali Khan. But there are shades that not many know of him. He was not just a jeweller: he was a magician and also a spy. And this is the story that John Zubrzycki, a former Delhi-based foreign correspondent and diplomat, tells us in The Mysterious Mr Jacob.
Zubrzycki’s The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback, which also was
launched here, came out six years ago. He admits he likes stories of eccentric, mysterious peo-
ple. And so when he came across Jacob during his researches for the book on the Nizams, it was only natural that he wrote about this man, who inspired the character of Lurgan Sahib in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim. “Jacob’s story is like a thriller,” said Zubrzycki, who was at the Oxford Press bookstore at The Park for the launch of his book. “The rises and falls in his life... the aura he cultivated about him... the stories that built around him... there cannot be a jeweller with such an eventful story.” Jacob’s story is stranger than fiction, Zubrzycki said. “He is said to have played a key role in the Great Game (the tug of war for power between the British and the Russians in the late 1800s
and early 1900s) by getting information about a fort near the Khyber Pass. He was almost made a British envoy to Kabul.” Zubrzycki also spoke about his meeting with Mukarram Jah, who was the protagonist in his first book, a man who was endowed with immense wealth and legacy, but turned his back against his heirloom and went to Australia and ran a sheep farm. “It was hard getting access to him,” Zubrzycki recalled. “But when his private secretary was convinced that I was serious about writing on him, I got to meet him. I met a man who was eager to tell his story. His face lit up when he spoke fondly of his days there driving bulldozers into the desert, about his Australian friends.”
8
city WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
ONE BILLION RISING
Hyderabad is rising! Hyderabad is the latest in the collective of cities worldwide that will join the One Billion Rising movement aimed at ending violence against women. Come join. PADMINI C padmini.c@postnoon.com
How to rise
T
his year, February 14 will be more than just Valentine’s Day. It’s also the day that will see one billion people across 180 countries, rise from all walks of life to demand that violence against women be put to an end. The movement which started as a VDay campaign by Vagina Monologues playwright Eve Ensler is now due to become the largest ever grassroot revolution for change. In what is now being deemed the ‘feminist tsunami’, One Billion Rising is a call for a global strike, to women and those who love them to come out on the streets, dance, protest, refuse to participate in the status quo until the culture of rape violence ends. The tsunami has just hit Hyderabad as it prepares to join the fight. Over 20 NGOs and women’s groups from the City gathered here on Tuesday to plan for the One Billion Rising events in Hyderabad. Among the many events leading up to February 14 will be film screenings, panel discussions on gender equality, awareness talks in city colleges and a massive rally from Jalavihar to People’s Plaza, Necklace Road. One in every three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. It is a statistic
that cuts across borders and one that particularly hit home, after the horror of the Delhi rape case. Sparking a revolution of its own in the country and adding to the need for a movement like One Billion Rising, believes prominent feminist writer Vasanth Kannabiran of NGO, Asmita collective, which initiated the OBR campaign in Hyderabad “When we spoke of the frequency and severity of atrocities committed against women, people listened but didn’t connect. That has changed now. After Delhi, what
LEGAL
A
harassed citizen has moved the AP High Court against what he said is the arbitrary linking of Aadhaar card to LPG subsidy. The petition, filed by a private employee, G Bala Goud questioned the rationale behind the deadline of February 15 being fixed by the authorities for obtaining Aadhaar cards when the State has not yet completed the process of issuing it. Goud wanted the court to direct the authorities concerned not to impose the condition till the completion of the process of
Write to asmita.collective@gmail.com if you want to volunteer to help at OBR or wish to contribute. Visit facebook page: one billion rising hyderabad for more details. had started as a global campaign gained a specific agenda and fed its momentum. It’s fired the imagination of the youth and I think that’s will be special about the One Billion Rising event. It
EXHIBITION
Aadhaar linking to subsidy challenged POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com
How you can help
issuing Aadhaar cards to all people. He made several oil companies such as HPCL, BPCL etc as respondents. The Central government has imposed certain restrictions with regard to supply of domestic gas cylinders to public. Besides, the oil companies have decided to link up the Aadhaar cards to supply of cylinders and the person who submitted the card are entitled to get subsidised cylinders. In fact, there is no necessity to make Aadhaar card mandatory for supply of cylinders as the government has already issued ration card, voter identity card etc. to identify a person, he contended.
Crafts festival organised
T
he AP Handicrafts D e v e l o p m e n t Corporation Limited is organising Lepakshi Crafts Festival from February 7 to 9 at Kamma Sangam in Nizampet. The exhibition, which is being organised at the all India level, aims to promote and create a market for the products of weavers and artisans. The exhibition will have handlooms and handicrafts from AP, Haryana, Delhi, Orissa, West Bengal, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir etc. Visitors can have their pick from a variety of cotton and silk saris, bedsheets, jewellery and jute products.
n Dance Strike: Lead a crowd of people to transform a public space into a dance party. n Flash Mob: inspire onlookers to join the strike, in the midst of a free-style dance celebration. n V-Day Performance: Consider beginning or ending your rising with a production of The Vagina Monologues or another artistic event. n Change your Facebook profile picture to the ONE BILLION RISING logo on February 14, 2013. n Tweet about why you are rising by using the hashtag #obruk or #1BillionRising. n Send a letter to your lawmakers demanding that they prioritise legislation that protects women and girls from violence. will be driven by people like you,” she says. Apart from being a protest, One Billion Rising is also “an act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in
numbers.” Staying true to the theme, thousands of women from the grassroots in 14 districts of the State will also rise to join the movement on the day, says Prasanthi of Mahila Samita, a nation-wide women’s group that fights for the empowerment of women. “Women on all levels and everywhere fight the same battles. Injustices, violence both physical and emotional, and inequality is part of the agenda for all of us. So when we are standing, women from all districts and mandals where we work will also rise.” However, it’s not all smooth sailing for these women. A paucity of funds, sponsors and turnout numbers are plaguing worries. “As the numbers go up, so do costs. And, only a couple of corporates have shown any interest and we are still approaching others. So that’s an issue. Meanwhile, since it’s Valentine’s day, we are not sure about how many people will turn out. I asked some youngsters in a few colleges if they’d come, and they said no since they already had plans,” smiles an organising member, ruefully. But the organisers say they do not want any celebrities or political parties to hijack the event. “We don’t want numbers for the sake of numbers. They should come if they want, if they believe,” concludes Vasanth.
POLITICS
Congress MLA meets Jagan in prison C
ongress MLA from Chintalapudi Maddala Rajesh met YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy in Chanchalguda jail on Tuesday. It is learnt that Ramesh was there to discuss his joining the YSRC. Sources say that as per Jagan’s suggestion, Rajesh might join the YSRC in the presence of Vijayamma. It may be recalled that PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana had announced the expulsion of nine MLAs from the party. Rajesh is one of them. He has already announced his decision to join the YSRC. He has also resigned from the Assembly and submitted his resignation to the Speaker. He also met Vijayamma sev-
eral times in the recent past. He had earlier declared that he became an MLA because of the late chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and would be loyal to the party launched by his son. Stating that it was during the period of YSR that his constituency developed, Rajesh said he would be loyal to YSR’s family. NSS
9
city WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
SOCIETY
Celebrating with joy of giving While many wax eloquent about the need to give for charity, some denizens with hearts of gold decide to make their special occasions a reason for the underprivileged to cheer about. They are pioneering a movement that promises to be a win-win situation for all.
KANCHAN AGARWAL kanchan.a@postnoon.com
W
hen Harshvardhan Khemani, a City entrepreneur, recently changed his relationship status from ‘in a relationship’ to ‘married’, most ‘likes’ came from outside the circle of family and friends. The wedding was a typical big fat Indian wedding, fabulous garments, scrumptious food, naach gaana, band baaja, relatives from all over and festivities, but differed in one major aspect — gifts! In the invitation cards, the couple, Harsh and Varsha, informed their friends that they had registered with two NGOs — Ashraya Akruti and Aapatsahaaya Foundation. If they wished to give them gifts, they must
only donate at these NGOs. The card had details of the banks to channel donations and what each an amount would be used for. Harsh got this idea last year during his sister’s wedding when her friends chose to donate to an NGO on behalf of the couple. “My sister and brother-inlaw are well off. I really liked the idea of spending on someone who needed it rather than giving the couple gifts that they might not even use,” says Harsh, who gifted several of his friends in similar manner thereafter. In India, wedding is by default a grand affair and a matter of pride. And for elders in the family, a wedding that wavers from tradition is difficult to come to terms with — Harsh’s family was no different. “It was new to them. They did-
Hyderabadis are roping in NGOs to ensure that their celebrations benefit and give joy to those who are underprivileged. And their numbers are on the rise. n’t understand. When I sat with them and explained, they got the better of it. The older uncles and aunts, of course, would not to refrain from giving us cash with blessings. All that cash we got is also going to charity,” explains Harsh. He would like his friends to emulate this ‘new’ tradition. Harsh is not alone.
Vikram Shewani, an Indian residing in USA, was in the City last year for his son’s birthday. Instead of booking a swanky theme park or hosting a lavish dinner, he held a party for underprivileged children at Spoorthi, an NGO. “I have always believed in sharing. We always give 4-5 per cent of our earnings for charity. It’s part of my upbringing. By god’s grace, my family is well off,” he says. Though only five years old, the son too understood, to some extent, the reason for such a caring gesture. The party was as good as a regular one with colourful decorations, birthday cake and birthday song, recalls Vikram. “It was a Sunday, so the trustee told us that if we could bring lunch, the kids would be happy. So we ordered biryani. The kids sang the birthday song and danced. My son likes to play cricket so they played together for 30-40 minutes.” Vikram’s family also sponsored a few basic necessities like rice, pulses and grains, and went back home feeling happy for having done a good deed. Spoorthi is quite favourite a venue for celebrating birthdays, especially first birthdays, wedding anniversaries and even job promotions. The NGO welcomes the concept of creating a party environment for the underprivileged. Many people have gone to the extent of bringing magicians, return gifts, tattoo stalls and horse and camel rides. Some are generous enough to gift new clothes to the children. For those children at Spoorthi, aged between five and 15, these parties are not a reminder of their deprived status, but sheer joy. “It gives them the opportunity to meet people from outside, play games and dance. It is a refreshing change,” explains Sridayal, trustee of Spoorthi. Next time you think of celebrating a special time, taking cue from these stories, find a genuine NGO and spread the cheer.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Business Why US sued S&P for $5bn n S&P built up a huge business of rating collateralized debt obligations and residential mortgage-backed securities, which were rolled into the CDOs. Earning up to $750,000 for each rating, S&P brought in some $900 million on the business in 2006 and 2007. n With issuers favouring whoever would give a better grade to their securities, S&P softened its CDO and RMBS ratings to keep ahead of rival Moody's. It even stalled upgrading its own ratings models and criteria so that it would not have to toughen its ratings. n Banks and other financial institutions invested in the securities based on S&P's top-grade AAA rating, expecting that it meant the CDOs were very low-risk. They lost billions due to that confidence in S&P's ratings. n In early 2007 S&P gave AAA ratings to dozens of CDO issues. Within one year, and sometimes within six months, nearly all were in default, investors losing most or all their money. For example, almost all the tranches of the $1.5 billion Pinnacle Peal I CDO earned a AAA rating on July 3. By January 17, 2008, the CDO was in default, and a key investor, Citigroup, lost its money. n From late 2006 and through 2007 S&P executives and analysts knew the US housing market, and the millions of mortgages that comprised the RMBS and CDOs, were in deep trouble and that the risks for the CDOs it rated had risen sharply.
MS-HUAWEI TIE UP FOR AFRICA SMARTPHONE
Microsoft on Tuesday announced a partnership with Chinese manufacturer Huawei to offer an affordably priced (below $200) smartphone in Africa geared toward tapping into the continent's exploding mobile market.
LIBOR SCAM FALLOUT
TWITTER BUYS BLUEFIN
RBS investment chief to resign
Some say Hourican was being forced out though most of the fixing happened before he took over. What is Libor scam
T
he Libor, or London Interbank Offered Rate, estimates the rates at which banks lend money to each other and is used to calculate huge numbers of financial contracts around the world. Last year, the Libor system was found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure, a scandal that has seriously damaged the reputation of the City of London financial centre.
LONDON: The head of the Royal Bank of Scotland's investment banking arm is to step down over the Libor rate-rigging scandal, British media reported on Tuesday. John Hourican is to give up £4 million ($6.32 million, 4.65 million euros) in past share awards when he quits the staterescued British bank, Sky News television reported. The BBC quoted sources who said Hourican, who has been at RBS for 17 years, was being forced out even though most of the fixing happened before he took over as head of its investment banking division in late 2008. His expected resignation comes as Dow Jones Newswires reported that RBS is to announce on Wednesday that it will settle its part of the scandal by paying US and British authorities up to £500 million ($780 million, 580 million euros). The Libor, or London Interbank Offered Rate, estimates the rates at which banks
10
lend money to each other and is used to calculate huge numbers of financial contracts around the world. Last year, the Libor system was found to be open to abuse, with some traders lying about borrowing costs to boost trading positions or make their bank seem more secure, a scandal that has seriously damaged the reputation of the City of London financial centre.
John Hourican is to give up £4 million ($6.32 million, 4.65 million euros) in past share awards when he quits the state-rescued British bank Swiss bank UBS was the first bank to reveal problems in the rate-setting process, and two former UBS employees were charged in December when the group's UBS Securities Japan unit settled similar allegations
NUMEROLOGY
$23.3
$780 MILLION
is what RBS will shell out to settle its part of the scandal by paying fines to the US and British authorities.
n UBS Securities Japan $1.5 billion n Barclays Bank $450 million
with US and British authorities for $1.5 billion, the biggest amount to date. US Justice officials do not plan to charge individuals at RBS with crimes, Dow Jones said. But the newswire said an RBS unit, possibly based in Asia, could plead guilty to a crime in the United States. The British government owns more than 80 percent of the shares in RBS, owing to a massive £45.5 billion bailout of the bank during the global financial crisis. There is considerable pressure in Britain for senior bank executives to take responsibility for the scandal. AFP
forfor
for for
DOLLAR `53.03 `53.79 `85.15 POUND `83.05
bn
in cash and stock is what US-based cable operator Liberty Global will pay in cash and stock to buy cable television firm Virgin Media.
What others paid
10g GOLD`30,890 10g GOLD`31,100 1kg `60,100 1kg SILVER `58,489
24C
Twitter has bought Bluefin Labs to ride the trend of viewers using smartphones or tablet computers to chat at social networks about shows they are watching. Born out of research at the MIT, Bluefin combines cognitive science and machine learning to measure how much people are talking about broadcasts in real time on Twitter, Facebook and other forums. Bluefin, founded in 2008, also measures whether people online are making favourable or unfavourable comments. Bluefin reported that 30.6 million public Twitter messages and Facebook comments about Super Bowl XLVII fired off during the game, with 3.9 million of those being about ads.
US SELLS CITI STAKE The US Treasury Department said Tuesday it was selling its last holding in Citigroup, one of the banks rescued by the government amid the 2008 financial crisis. The sale of Citigroup subordinated notes is expected to add $894 million to the Treasury's coffers, bringing the overall positive return to US taxpayers on the investment to more than $13.4 billion, the Treasury said in a statement. The Treasury injected $45 billion into Citigroup under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program aimed at preventing the collapse of major financial institutions after the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008.
THUS SPAKE We have to reduce delay and increase quality. The main aim of the new defence production policy is to increase indigenous content and avoid imports, AK ANTONY, DEFENCE MINISTER
BSE 5,974.80 6,057.70 NSE
20,025.67 19,706.15 44.10 46.33 9.20 17.90
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
nation
MODI IN DELHI, MEETS MANMOHAN Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and presented a memorandum on issues related to the Sardar Sarovar dam. They also held brief talks. He is scheduled to deliver a lecture at Shri Ram College of Commerce later in the day.
POLITICAL DRAMA
HOWDY!
Buddha questions Mamata’s honesty
‘I am not a drain inspector. If you feel like, you can probe it’.
A foreign tourist walks with Tibetan Buddhist monks at a religious procession during Maha Kumbh festival in Allahabad on Tuesday. PTI
HALL OF SHAME
Abused baby put on ventilator JAIPUR: A five-month-old baby girl from Bikaner, whose father had bitten off parts of her lips, nose and cheek last month, was today put on ventilator support after her condition deteriorated, doctors said here. "The baby was operated upon on February 1 at the Sawai Man Singh Government Hospital and she was stable but her condition turned critical following which she was put on ventilator today," the hospital spokesperson said.
The baby's 36-yearold father Bahadur Singh had bit off her nose, lip and cheek in a fit of rage leaving her face damaged last month. The baby's 36-year-old father Bahadur Singh had bit off her nose, lip and cheek in a fit of
rage leaving her face damaged in Bikaner last month. The accused was drunk when he had reached his house in Siyana village and had a verbal spat with his wife Santosh over some domestic issue. During the quarrel, he had allegedly bit his daughter’s upper lip, nose and cheek, according to police. Many NGOs and activist groups have come out with calls of death penalty for the father. PTI
KOLKATA: Questioning West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s honesty, her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Tuesday asked the media to probe her family condition after she came to power as compared to what it was earlier. Asked to comment in an interview with Bengali television channel Chobbis Ghanta on the Trinamool Congress projecting Banerjee as a symbol of honesty, Bhattacharjee replied: “I am unable to agree”. “You conduct a probe into her family condition now as compared to what it was earlier. According to my yardstick, she does not pass the yardstick of honesty. I would have been happy had she been honest. But I am unable to accept her as honest. And this is no secret. Lot of
people close to her know this and they have started talking about it,” Bhattacharjee told the news channel. Asked whether he could give details, he said: “I am not a drain inspector. If you feel like, you can probe it. Lot of people know what those close to her are doing. What all is happening. Everything will come out if there is an investigation. There will not be much of a problem in digging those things out.” IANS
NEWS BRIEFS Obama’s top PIO science aide quits
US Sikh family found dead
WB rights panel orders probe into assault
WASHINGTON: Subra Suresh, President Barack Obama’s
WASHINGTON: Four members of a Sikh family, including
top Indian-American science official, has resigned as director of the National Science Foundation to become the president of Carnegie Mellon University. Obama appointed Suresh in 2010 as head of NSF, a $7 billion independent federal science agency charged with advancing all fields of fundamental science and engineering research and related education. “Subra has shown himself to be a consummate scientist and engineer — beholden to evidence and committed to upholding the highest scientific standards,” Obama said accepting Suresh’s resignation. Previously, Suresh served as dean of the School of Engineering at the MIT from 2007 to 2010.
two minor children, have died in Atlanta under mysterious circumstances with police terming it as a “murder-suicide”. “While Sartaj, 12, and Gurtej, 5, died from homicide by sharp force injuries to the neck, their mother Damanjit Kaur Grover, 47, died from homicide by blunt force trauma to the head. “Besides, the police also recovered the family head Shivinder Singh Grover’s, 52, body, which was found hanging at their residence in Johns Creek on Monday,” Johns Creek Police Chief Ed Densmore said yesterday. “It’s pretty bad as you can imagine any time you deal with this. When it involves kids, it’s a little bit heart-wrenching,” Densmore said.
KOLKATA: The West Bengal Human Rights Commission has ordered a probe into allegations by women teachers of a city college that they were assaulted. The commission’s order followed a petition from three teachers of the Milli Al-Ameen College (For Girls) who were placed under suspension by the authorities for their alleged involvement in violence inside the premises on Monday. The petitioner Baishakhi Banerjee said she along with two colleagues were suspended without following established procedure and prevented from entering the college. “On the basis of Banerjee’s petition, the WBHRC has directed the DGP of the commission’s investigation wing to conduct the probe and submit a report in two weeks,” said a WBHRC official.
Pick
at the
airport,
-
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
World
FB MEMBERS TAKE BREAK DUE TO FATIGUE More than half of US Facebook members have taken breaks from the leading social network, with the top reason being they are just too busy, according to a study released Tuesday. About 61 percent of US users said they had taken time off from Facebook at some point, with 27 percent planning to spend less time on it in the coming year.
KILLER WAVES
12
AHMADINEJAD CHIDED
Tsunami hits Solomon Islands A quake-generated wave of just under one metre (three feet) reached part of the Solomons, and Vanuatu and New Caledonia also saw rising sea levels.
The Ring of Fire n The Ring of Fire reaches from Indonesia to the coast of Chile in a 40,000 kilometre (25,000 mile) arc of seismic violence that unleashes earthquakes and volcanoes around the Pacific rim almost every day. n The Ring of Fire stretches along the western coast of the Americas and through the island nations of the South Pacific and on through Southeast Asia. n The 9.3-magnitude quake that struck Indonesia on December 26, 2004 unleashed tsunamis that crashed into Indian Ocean shorelines, killing more than 220,000 people. n The world’s largest-ever registered tremor, the 9.5-magnitude Valdiva quake, shook Chile in 1960 and churned up a tsunami that killed scores in Japan and Hawaii. n A 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake off Japan in 2011 triggered a tsunami that left about 19,000 people dead or missing, and caused a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in the world’s worst atomic disaster in 25 years. In 2007 a tsunami following an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed at least 52 people in the Solomons and left thousands homeless.
n Tsunami triggered by 8.0 earthquake. n Three villages flattened. n Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded.
Egypt’s top cleric has told visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not to interfere in the affairs of Bahrain or other Gulf states, and to uphold the rights of his country’s Sunni minority. Ahmadinejad, the first Iranian president to visit Egypt in more than 30 years, was given a redcarpet welcome by Islamist President Mohamed Morsi on Tuesday at the start of his landmark visit but was later chided by the top Sunni cleric.
NUMEROLOGY HONIARA: A major 8.0 magnitude earthquake hit the Solomon Islands Wednesday, reportedly flattening three villages, as small tsunami waves lapped Pacific coastlines and emergency sirens blared evacuation warnings. A quake-generated wave of just under one metre (three feet) reached part of the Solomons, and Vanuatu and New Caledonia also reported rising sea levels, before a region-wide tsunami alert was lifted. Sirens were heard in Fiji while the alert remained in place, locals said. “Chaos in the streets of Suva as everyone tries to avoid the tsunami!!” tweeted Ratu Nemani Tebana from the Fiji capital Suva. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center cancelled its regional alert at 0350 GMT, about two and a half hours after the powerful quake struck at 0112 GMT near the Santa Cruz Islands in the Solomons. The US Geological Survey said the quake hit the Santa Cruz Islands, which have been
“Chaos in the streets of Suva as everyone tries to avoid the tsunami!!” tweeted Ratu Nemani Tebana from the Fiji capital Suva. rocked by a series of strong tremors over the past week, at a shallow depth of 5.8 kilometres (3.5 miles). Two powerful aftershocks of 6.4 and 6.6 magnitude were also recorded. “Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated,” the Hawaii-based Pacific centre said after the 8.0 quake, before lifting its tsunami alert for several island nations. Australia’s earthquake monitoring agency and the Pacific centre said the biggest tsunami wave was measured at 91 centimetres, at Lata, on the main Santa Cruz island of Ndende. Locals in the Solomons capital Honiara, 580 kilometres (360 miles) from the epicentre, said the quake was not felt there, but some villages on the
Santa Cruz islands were destroyed, according to a hospital director. “The information we are getting is that some villages west and south of Lata along the coast have been destroyed, although we cannot confirm this yet,” the director of nursing at Lata Hospital told AFP. “There was continuous shaking in Lata but no damaged buildings here,” he added. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation cited emergency service authorities in the Solomons as saying three villages were destroyed by the quake. Officials could not be reached for confirmation, with phone lines down. Hospital director Augustine Bilve said patients were being evacuated to prepare for any injured from the villages along the coast. “We were told that after the shaking, waves came to the villages. So far, we are waiting in Lata and are evacuating patients in case there are any casualties.”
NEWS BRIEFS China cop with hundreds US Egypt defence chiefs of houses sacked for strong security ties
Many militants killed; Taiwan officer gets 12 France to withdraw soon years for espionage
BEIJING: A Chinese police chief has been sacked after reports he owned hundreds of houses and a false identity card, state media said Wednesday in the latest scandal to fuel public outrage over corruption. Zhao Haibin was stripped of his public offices for “engaging in business deals using a fake identity card”, Xinhua news agency reported.
GAO: French-led forces have killed hundreds of militants in fighting to reclaim northern Mali and with the rebels’ last bastion secured, France said Tuesday it will begin withdrawing troops in March. Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the 26-day French military intervention had killed “several hundred” militants.
WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his Egyptian counterpart on Tuesday to hear an update on the tense political situation in Cairo and the “role” of the army amid recent street demonstrations. Defence minister and military chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sissi voiced support for strong ties with the US.
TAIPEI: A former Taiwanese air force officer has been given 12 life sentences for spying for China, a court said Wednesday, adding to a lengthy list of espionage cases that have rocked the island. Lieutenant Colonel Yuan Hsiao-feng was convicted of passing unspecified military secrets to China between 2001 and 2007, said a High Court official.
£1,200
is the amount that Prince Harry caused a club where he partied, as the owner was made to refloor the way to the back exit for security fears after the Prince scooted through the backdoor to escape paparazzis
RAPE VICTIM JAILED A Somali woman who said she was raped by state security forces, and a journalist who interviewed her, were each sentenced on Tuesday to a year in jail in a trial that human rights advocates called “a terrible miscarriage of justice”, reported the Guardian. The 27-year-old woman was accused of insulting a government body and making false claims. The court in the capital, Mogadishu, said it based its decision on medical evidence that she was not raped, but the judge deferred her sentence until she has weaned her child.
If North Korea insists on a third nuclear test despite attempts to dissuade it, it must pay a heavy price. The assistance it will be able to receive from China should be reduced. The Global Times Chinese newspaper
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Technology SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES
TOUCH ME Acer launched a new line of V5 series notebooks with touchscreens running on Windows 8 OS. These devices that have specs ranging from Pentium Dual Core processor to Intel Core i5 also have a 10-point touch system and come in 14-inch and 15.4inch variants. Aspire V5 series features a 2-spindle design that includes a large volume HDD and built-in slim DVD drive. It needs to be seen what devices other OEMs launch. The sale of laptops with touchscreens are expected to skyrocket, but not many models are available in India.
OUYA’S NEW FRIENDS
JUST LIKE THAT
Facebook turned nine years old this week and we take a look at some of the numbers that makes the social networking site a force to be reckoned with.
OUYA, an Android-powered videogame console funded on crowd-funding site Kickstarter, will begin selling through Amazon, Gamestop and several other retailers in the US. Pre-orders for both consoles and controllers will start being accepted on Tuesday, in advance of retail availability in June. Additional retailers include Target and Best Buy, who will sell the console for about $100. OUYA will also sell its controllers for about $50. The console plugs into televisions and runs a number of games based on Android. It’s open to any developer, and they can build games and modify the hardware with new accessories or gadgets.
WEB-FRIENDLY NOW After two years of being a mobile exclusive service Instagram has decided to beef up its website. Instagram announced on Tuesday that users can now view their stream feed of photos from the Web, which includes all those being uploaded by the people they follow on the service. Pretty straightforward, in that in the past two years you were only able to see your real-time stream flow in through the company’s Android or iOS apps. Instagram recently debuted user profiles on the Web, but users still weren’t able to watch their flow of photos come in from their friends. It was more of a repository for your own imagery.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Comment He not busy being born is busy dying. Bob Dylan Musician and songwriter
Stop this Hitlerian act
INTERNAL SECURITY
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he UPA sarkar better remember the words of George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In the days of Emergency it was not the Indira government that ran amok. It was the overzealous police who suddenly found their ‘hands free’. However, it was the government and political leaders who bore the brunt of police vandalism. The current bureaucratic obsession with the Aadhar card will prove another undoing for the UPA government. The mad rush and consequent problems in the Old city yesterday for Aadhar card is only the beginning. In fact, the very rationale of Aadhar card is questionable since a citizen today has half a dozen cards proclaiming his identity with and without photographs. Why should one produce an Aadhar card for gas subsidy? It is a boorish attempt of the Nilekani brigade to impose things on hapless citizens. How could a voting citizen suddenly becomes persona no grata if he has no Aadhar card? Nowhere else in the world does a government behave as authoritarian as in India. The anachronism is showing. We are a professed democracy which presupposes transparency in governance and nearconsensus in mass issues. The government of the day can’t impose its will on people. It can, but there will be consequences. The Aadhar card row has become so ridiculous that an RTA insists on it for registering a vehicle! Its own document, the driving license, is not enough! Aadhar card is an infringement on a citizen’s privacy and is a security risk. In these days when everything once produced could be forged, it is inadvisable to go for a such thing especially when it proclaims that Aadhar is no proof of citizenship. Then, pray, what does it seeks to prove?
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TIME TO STREAMLINE ANTI-NAXAL OPS FUSILLADE Arun Koshy Phillip
HARD TALK PK Surendran
HIGH-FLYING THOUGHTS
What will those who rent apart Asaran Baba for his ridiculous comments say when they hear a Somali woman who was raped by government security forces was sentenced to jail for insulting government institutions?
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wo Central ministries, ministry of defence (MoD) and ministry of home affairs (MHA), are engaged in a nasty war of words over an incident involving Indian Air Force personnel during an antiMaoist operation in Chhattisgarh. An IAF Mi-17 that was providing logistical support to the police was brought down by Naxal fire. The MHA lashed out at the “cowardice” of the IAF personnel who, reportedly chose to abandon the machine and the wounded man where the chopper landed and flee to the nearest camp. The rescue party and reinforcements reached the spot three hours later. The IAF also came under fire because its personnel did not bother to leave behind its commandos to guard the chopper and the injured cop — leaving the machine and its load of weapons unguarded in the Naxal-infested territory for three long hours. The Air Force, in its defence, said the blame lay on the state’s police which did not ‘sanitise’ the area near their camp.
While the blame game continues and respective departmental inquiries are on, the uncomfortable issue of (and the ambiguity regarding) the role of the armed forces in anti-Naxal operations has raised its head. The MoD had earlier declared that its personnel (read IAF) can return fire if fired upon by the Maoists guerrillas. It has not emerged clearly why the armed helicopter, with highly trained commandos on board, could not respond to the attack and went down. The IAF personnel, before scramming, left an LMG and a pistol with the wounded policeman — how noble! May be, in that condition, he was supposed to do a Rambo and mow down any possible Naxal assault team. Now, imagine a scenario if the chopper crew had decided to hold their position. No matter what their training, the sheer numerical superiority of a Naxal party would have overwhelmed them. The result would be that other IAF teams would tend to get trigger-happy, raising the possibilities of civilian casualties. In an area where human intelligence is minimal and terrain preventing easy distinguishing of Naxal patrols and foraging tribals, this would have serious consequences. There is also the issue of setting up Army camps and train-
ing sessions in Naxal strongholds. True, a sovereign country will not be dictated by presence of guerrilla groups when it comes to training and deployment of its forces. Though there has been no untoward incident so far, there is a high probability of the Army getting dragged into the conflict. The Naxals are no fools to attack army personnel or camps and bring on themselves the wrath of a well-trained and heavily-armed force. However, if a communication gap or a case of mistaken identity results in such an attack – and casualties – things are going to get
ugly. The Army would get involved in the direct action and soon the conflict would snowball into a full-fledged civil war. And when such a conflict takes place it always tends to take a heavy toll on lives (uniformed and civilian) and scars the region’s psyche — and that is something nobody wants. The government agencies should shake off their lethargy and revisit standard operating procedures (SOPs) so that the forces (police and the military) are in a better position to deal with delicate situations like the one faced by the IAF personnel in Chhattisgarh.
EDITORIALS The Prince keeps his word and takes his subject for a ‘royal ride’
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oyalty can spell trouble for themselves and those who have visitations from them. They who get to host them may deem it an honour, but a club owner who has had a visitation from Prince Harry is not very happy about it, though he says that’s not the case. What happened was Prince Harry, fresh from killing Talibanis and drawing flak for comparing his army duty to video games, let his hair down proper and clubbed on the aforementioned man’s premises till 10 pm. The paps had got wind of it and the Prince who is not very fond of them convinced the management to let him leave through the backdoor. The royalstruck folks let him have his way and in comes the next day
READERS’ VIEWS
the health and security official who was with the Prince the night before. He asked the owner to make repairs in his backyard for security reasons, since the Prince could have hurt himself on the uneven flooring. So the owner refloored the whole area blasting £1,200 from his pocket. He admits this was never foreseen, he was taken unawares by this hole in his pocket caused by the Prince. But is this what the Prince meant by being more royal than the regular army guy. Before he caught the plane home at least it was to this effect he gave the world understand. Perhaps this is the true royal way, where subjects had to bear anything for their Prince.
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
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Cinema
SOUTHERN LEAD
For the third weekend in a row, Django Unchained led all movies at the overseas box office. The film added an estimated $30.2 million from 65 markets for a new total of $158.2 million. It held on to first place in Germany and France for the third-straight weekend with $6.4 million and $4.9 million, respectively.
POLITICS AND FILMS
POWER GAMES
Steven Spielberg's Lincoln is a top contender for plenty of Academy Awards this year. Apart from Lincoln, there have been a few other political films which got people talking over the years. Here's a list of few films which left us spellbound. Z
HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
Directed by Alan J Pakula, All The President’s Men is perhaps one of the greatest political thrillers of all time. This 1976 film was based on a non-fiction book written by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the two Washington Post journalists who exposed the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of Richard Nixon. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman played the lead roles and the film won multiple Academy awards including one for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor.
LINCOLN
IRUVAR
Mani Ratnam has always had a thing for exploring complex issues in his film, but Iruvar was a whole different ballgame. The irrevocable affair between films and politics in Tamil Nadu has been in vogue since the rise of DMK in the early 50s and Mani Ratnam managed to achieve the unthinkable. Iruvar is loosely based on the rise of M Karunanidhi and MGR, who were thick friends under Annadurai’s leadership, but parted ways in early 70s. The film starred Prakash Raj, Mohanlal, Revathi and Aishwarya Rai in lead roles. Iruvar is one of the finest Tamil films ever made on the roots of Tamil Nadu’s politics.
Costa Gavras’ Z, a 1969 French language political thriller, is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film took a direct dig at Greek politics and the assassination of democratic politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963 and the subsequent military dictatorship in Greece in the early 60s. Z was a major critical and commercial success and it was the beginning of a glorious phase in Costa Gavras’ career and he went on to make several more political thrillers. Z won the Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category and it was also nominated for Best Picture.
The idea of making a film on Abraham Lincoln began in the late 90s, but it took nearly 11 years for Steven Spielberg to complete the project. Upon completion of the script, Spielberg waited for years before shooting the film because he was adamant to cast Daniel Day Lewis in the lead role as Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is based on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln and it focuses on the final four months of Lincoln's life, during which he fought for the abolition of slavery in the backdrop of the Civil War. You can’t miss it. Watch for the sake of Daniel Day Lewis’s stunning performance as Lincoln.
MUDHALVAN
“You don’t know what it is like to be a Chief Minister. I challenge you to withstand the pressure for one day,” Aranganathan, Tamil Nadu’s CM, challenges a TV journalist Pughazhendhi. Much to his surprise Pughazhendhi accepts the challenge and manages to bring in changes into how the state machinery functions. That was the premise of Shankar’s Mudhalvan which had Arjun, Manisha Koirala and Raghuvaran in lead role. The film was dubbed in Telugu as Oke Okkadu and Shankar left no stone unturned to point out the inefficiency of the government. Rumour is that Shankar approached Rajinikanth to play the lead role in Mudhalvan, but the superstar turned down the offer. Such a pity!
SCREEN POOPERS
Ameesha Patel So, Ameesha Patel feels she never left the industry to make a comeback. But, sweetie, were you really in the industry before Race 2 anyway? Just a pretty face in your first and only blockbuster Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai...you've hardly changed since. Even in your first, Hrithik Roshan stole the spotlight. Where were you? Well, no one really cared. Since you live in the I’m-an-actress bubble, we’ll be your reality check – your 'acting' career ended a decade ago!
Jeremy Renner Ahh! Jeremy Renner. We had such high hopes of you. Not anymore though — we just watched Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. As one part of the witch-hunting brothersister duo, Renner brought neither charm nor expression to the movie. He simply moved around, beefcake-like, with the same grim face whether he was fighting witches or being seduced by a mysterious villager. But it wasn't all Renner's fault. Try enjoying a fairy tale after you've had heads and intestines hurled at you.
TRENDING...
Anthony Hopkins is getting some company in the supernatural serial killer thriller Solace. The story centers on a former doctor with psychic abilities who gets roped in by the FBI to aid in a serial killer case. Now Deadline reports that Colin Farrell has been set to star as an FBI detective who brings in Hopkins.
Ian McKellen was given an honorary doctorate from the University of Ulster Sunday, and delivered the school's annual chancellor's lecture, focusing his speech on equality for gays. "Thanks to every gay person in public and nonpublic life who has come out," the 73-yearold openly gay Hobbit star said.
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spotlight
GOING WITH THE FLOW
The River Moving Within by Koeli Mukherjee Ghose, is an exclusive selection of art works based on the artist’s understanding of her spiritual evolution. The exhibition is being held at Truffles Cafe, till February 8.
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DANCE NIGHTS
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JUST GROOVIN’ A place to live it up, that’s what Kismet is for youngsters in the City. Weekends or weekdays, the fun never ends here.
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M ANIL KUMAR
1 Abhninaya
4 Avanthika
2 Sabrena
5 Pearl, Vikram
3 Pravachana
6 Sachin, Pooja,
SILKEN PROFITS
Looti 7 Arunima, Aarthi 8 Karishma, Madhavi
9 Shruthi, Ashish
12 Shepali
10 Farha
13 Alankritha
11 Karishma
14 Vidya
S BALAKRISHNA
Sai Silks from the Kalamandir group announced on Tuesday their limited equity shares which opened on February 1 and will close on February 13. The event was held at Taj Deccan. S BALAKRISHNA
BETTER HEALTH CARE
Ozone Hospitals at Kothapet was inaugurated by Panchayati Raj minister Jana Reddy with MLAs Sudheer Reddy, Ranga Reddy and other dignitaries in attendance.
SHOWING THE WAY
Taj Krishna on Tuesday was choc-a-bloc with parents and excited students as they participated in the Education UK Exhibition that was being held there.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
health FITNESS
‘LIVING NEAR EQUATOR RAISES ALLERGY, ASTHMA RISKS’ People residing near the equator may find themselves sneezing and wheezing more than usual due to exposure to higher ultra violet radiations, says a US study. “UV-B rays exposure is higher for people living in areas closer to the equator,” said Vicka Oktaria, from the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (ACAAI), who led the study.
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Tips for a
TONED TUMMY Who doesn’t dream of a beautifully flat tummy? But thanks to the desktop culture most of us lead, a flabby stomach is inevitable. Read on to learn how you can shed the flab. RANJANI RAJENDRA
ranjani.r@postnoon.com
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ou know that time in college when you could wear those hot, midriff bearing lehengas, cropped tops or slim fit shirts and look fabulous? And now those same clothes end up making you look bloated and accentuate that flab. Thanks to busy schedules, hectic lifestyles and one drink too many, it is not surprising that many of us have issues keeping that tummy flat and toned. A bulging paunch is almost too common in many. But with a little hardwork and some smart eating it is not that hard to bring back those washboard abs and pull out those long-forgotten outfits from the bottom of your wardrobe. For starters, you might want to make circuit training at a gym your best friend for at least three days a week. Now that’s not so hard. It is one of the best ways to burn the fat and build muscle. Fullbidy exercises like lunges, pull-ups and push-ups can do wonders. Now since your aim is to flatten that stomach, we suggest working on some abdom-
inal exercises like crunches. There are various kinds. And while initially it might seem painful, it soon becomes a lot easier. All you need to do is push yourself a bit to actually leave that couch and hit the gym. If you don’t have the
ANEWS PP-LYBRIEFS YOURSELF Storm Sim Free Storm Sim Free is a great way to relax and fall asleep. Weather you want something to fall asleep to, read with, or to use as a special sound effect, you have the ability and options with Storm Sim. Storm Sim dynamically generates a thunderstorm in real-time as you listen. It has 16 rain, thunder, water, animal, and wind effects built-in.
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Fizzy drinks: Carbonated drinks (even diet ones) can cause gas to get trapped in your belly. Switch to lemon juice or peppermint tea instead. Chewing gum: It can also lead to swallowing air, which can cause bloating. If you absolutely can’t do without your gum, at least cut down on it and adopt healthier things like highfibre snacks. Sugar-free foods: Artificially sweeteners are no good for your tummy. So either limit them to two servings a day or simply avoid them. Limit Sodium: Processed foods are high in sodium and contribute to that bloated feeling. So avoid. Gassy legumes and vegetables: Chole, certain beans and vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli can cause a gassy, bloated feeling. So try and reduce your intake of these. Source: www.webmd.com
time to sign up at a gym then you can learn some ab exercises and devote at least 30 to 45 minutes each day at home to incorporate this with some full-body exercises in the comfort of your home. Plank exercises are also great for a toned stomach. Now that you are working so hard towards achieving that flat stomach, you might want to go a step further and watch what you eat. Your food has a lot to do with how your body looks. So supplement your exercise regime with some healthy eating. Cut down on gassy foods like, cauliflower, chickpeas (chana) and beans, which leave you feeling bloated. Kiss those sugary drinks goodbye and make green tea and fresh juices (minus added sugar) your best friends. Processed foods like sausages and ready-to-eat foods are a big no. They have too much sodium. Make sure you incorporate high fibre foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables in your diet. Of course, this does mean that you might have to cut down on those hours in front of the idiot box or your computer. But hey, it will be worth it.
HOUSECALL
DID YOU KNOW?
PIONEERS
Movement disorders
Head Weight
Jan Ingenhousz
Human movement involves an astonishingly complex interaction of the brain, nervous system and muscles, so it’s no wonder problems with movement are common. Even a simple action engages several different parts of the brain. The conscious thought areas of the brain trigger the motor area to send signals to the muscles of the arm. Given such complexity, problems with the control of movement are widespread.
No wonder babies have such a hard time holding up their heads: The human head is onequarter of our total length at birth but only one-eighth of our total length by the time we reach adulthood.The human head typically weighs between 5 and 30 lbs. It supports the face and is maintained by the skull.
Bron in 1730, Jan Ingenhousz was a Dutch physiologist, biologist and chemist who discovered the process of photosynthesis, by which a plant converts carbon dioxide (i.e. sunlight) into oxygen. He is also well known for successfully inoculating the royal Habsburg family against smallpox in 1758. He later made the first scientist to make quantitative measurements of heat conduction in metal rods.
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health WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
BREAKTHROUGH
Scientists ‘print’ 3D object with stem cells
Once fine-tuned, the technology should allow scientists to make three dimensional human tissue in the lab, eliminating the need for organ donation. PARIS: Scientists on Monday said that for the first time they had printed 3D objects using human embryonic stem cells, furthering the quest to fabricate transplantable organs. Once fine-tuned, the technology should allow scientists to make three-dimensional human tissue in the lab, eliminating the need for organ donation or testing on animals, they reported. Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) can replicate indefinitely and become almost any type of cell in the human body. They are touted as a source of replacement tissue, fixing nearly anything from malfunctioning hearts and lungs, to damaged spines, Parkinson’s disease or even baldness. Scientists have previously tested 3D printing, which uses inkjet technology, with other types of cells, including adult stem cells. But until now hESCs, which are more versatile than mature ones, have proven too fragile. “This is a scientific development which we hope and believe will have immense valuable long-term implications for reliable, animal-free drug testing and in the longer term, to provide organs for transplant on demand,” said Jason King from British stem cell company Roslin Cellab, which took part in the work. The team used a speciallydesigned “valve-based” printer that deposited a “bio ink” of liquid containing laboratory-cultivated hESCs.
The cells are forced out with a tiny blast of air, and the flow is controlled by the opening and closing of a microvalve. “We are able to print millions of cells within minutes,” co-author Will Shu of the Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, told AFP. “The printer is similar to the size of a standard desktopsize laser printer.” The living cells are printed onto a culture dish and left to aggregate together to form “what we call a spheroid, like... a little ball,” said Shu. Each spheroid was smaller than a millimetre. The study appears in Biofabrication, a journal published by Britain’s Institute of Physics (IOP). The experiment was not designed to create anything but to demonstrate a method that did not damage the delicate cells. “Most importantly, the printed hESCs maintained their pluripotency — the ability to be differentiated into any other cell type,” the IOP said in a statement. Theoretically, the team can print any shape, but is not yet able to recreate a human organ, which needs a mesh of blood vessels.
“The challenge for printing a whole organ is to have this vascular structure inside it to feed it, allowing the tissue to survive in the long term,” explained Shu. “We have our first step towards that.” Another big hurdle is finetuning the science of instructing embryonic stem cells to become specific types of tissue. In the short term, said Shu, his team is seeking to print 3D liver tissue, which has one of the simplest of biological structures.
This could then be used for laboratory drug testing, “which would hopefully eliminate the use of animals,” he said. “I expect this technology can be realised in one or two years’ time.” One idea behind the search for replacement organs is to grow the cells using a patient’s own DNA to avert transplant rejection. But the sector has been dogged by objections over the use of early-stage embryos, where the most adaptable, or pluripotent, cells are found. AFP
RESEARCH
Vitamin D levels could halve diabetes risk
WASHINGTON: Adequate levels of vitamin D during young adulthood may halve the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes, according to a new research. The findings by the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) could lead to a role for vitamin D supplementation in preventing this serious auto-immune disease in adults, when the immune system starts damaging tissues. “It is surprising that a serious disease such as type 1 diabetes could perhaps be prevented by a simple and safe intervention,” said Kassandra Munger, research associate at HSPH, who led the study, the American Journal of Epidemiology reports. In type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks and permanently disables the insulinmaking cells in the pancreas. About five percent of the estimated 25.8 million people in the US suffer from this condition, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although it often starts in childhood, about 60 percent of type 1 diabetes cases occur after age 20, according to an Harvard statement. Identifying 310 individuals diagnosed with type 1 diabetes between 1997 and 2009, the team examined blood samples taken before onset of the disease, and compared the samples with those of 613 people in a control group, not having the disease. IANS
STUDY
Too much calcium may raise heart risk
LONDON: High doses of calcium supplements can raise men’s risk of dying from heart disease by 20 per cent, a new study has warned. The study, involving 388,000 people, found men taking calcium supplements of more than 1,000mg a day had a greater chance of suffering heart disease and dying from it.
However, those achieving high-calcium diets solely through food or drink were not at extra risk, said researchers from the National Cancer Institute in the US. It was the way supplements increase the levels of calcium circulating in the blood which appeared to have an adverse
effect on the cardiovascular system, the Daily Mail reported. Experts believe higher blood levels lead to hardening of the arteries, which can cause heart attacks. Women had no such extra risk, although some previous trials have found a link, the study reported in JAMA Internal
Medicine said. “Whether there is a sex difference in the cardiovascular effect of calcium supplements warrants further investigation. Given the extensive use of calcium supplements in the population, it is of great importance to assess its use beyond bone health,” the report said. PTI
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Entertainment PEN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD
Education can eradicate poverty :
Nagarjuna N
agarjuna has joined hands with celebrities like Sachin Tendulkar and Aishwarya Rai to raise funds for the revitalisation of 272 schools as part of Coca-Cola and NDTV’s Support My School campaign. “Support My School is a great initiative which will make a difference to the lives of hundreds of students across the country. Education plays a key role in the eradication of poverty in India. An educated person in a family makes all
the difference and I must appreciate Sachin Tendulkar for supporting a noble initiative like this,” Nagarjuna said. Several other celebrities like Kajol, Ajay Devgn, Ayushmann Khurrana, Yuvraj Singh and Sashi Tharoor have pledged their support for the campaign. Sachin Tendulkar is the brand ambassador of the initiative. In the past, Nagarjuna had pledged his support for various campaigns including one for eye donation and fighting against corruption. Meanwhile, Nagarjuna is busy wrapping up the shoot
of his upcoming romantic entertainer Greeku Veerudu and he also has Bhai and another film in Vikram Kumar’s direction in the pipeline.
MOVIE OF THE WEEK Action shifts to Belum caves
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handrasekhar Yeleti’s upcoming action adventure is currently being shot near Belum caves in Kurnool district. The final patch work is going on and rest of the songs will be shot soon. Gopichand and Taapsee are playing the lead roles in this film. BVSN Prasad is producing it. The film has been tentatively named as Jackpot.
GJG in last leg of production
D for Dopidi pushed to Summer
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arun Sandesh, Sundeep Kishan and Melanie Kannokada starrer D for Dopidi has been pushed to summer. The film, directed by Siraaj Kalla, was supposed to release mid February. Mahesh Shankar has scored the music for the Raj & DK production.
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he principal shooting of Nithin’s upcoming film Gunde Jaari Gallanthayindhe is fast nearing completion. The final schedule has begun and only three songs need to be shot. Nithya Menen and Isha Talwar are the leads in this romantic entertainer, directed by Vijay Kumar Konda. Anup Rubens is scoring the music.
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Entertainment WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL
CINE BYTES
Too many films cluttering one Friday Director wants to cast Big B, Farhan in musical
D
irector Sameer Sharma of Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana fame is all set to make a musical and Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar are on his wishlist. Currently, the film, titled Jugalbandi is in scripting stages. “It’s a drama film with music in the background. There will be lot of music, different ragas, jazz... it will be musical jugalbandi between East and West,” Sharma said. PTI
Not doing Hindi films for money: Vikram
T
amil actor Vikram, who made his B-town entry with Raavan followed by David, says he is in no hurry to do Hindi films and has not taken these projects for money. Vikram has acted primarily in Tamil films as well as in Telugu and Malayalam. His memorable performances include Sethu, Anniyan, and Kanthaswamy. PTI
M
ai..., Listen...Amaya, Midnight’s Children and Vishwaroopam — four films came in a cluster on February 1. The result? Only Vishwaroopam managed to get an audience, while Midnight’s Children received a lukewarm reception and the other two are struggling for survival. What is the rationale behind releasing as many as four to five films on one Friday? Is the audience expected to see so many films during the same week?
No, says trade expert Taran Adarsh. “When will producers learn from their mistakes? Too many movies clashing on the same Friday does affect the overall business. I fail to understand the mad rush to release so many films during the same week. The common man has no time, money or inclination to watch so many films in a week. The business is bound to suffer,” said Adarsh. However, Vikram Malhotra, chief operating officer of the thriving production company Viacom18 Motion Pictures, thinks the audience’s buying capacity at the box office window remains
undiminished. “There is a healthy trend of movie-goers flocking to theatres. But it only happens with the films that connect with audiences. They won’t come to the theatres just because films are bound to be released every Friday. “Consumers are more valueconscious than ever before. They totally reject films that don’t seem to be worth their time and money,” said Malhotra. He sees no harm in a bunch of films being released on the same Friday. “If two or three good films would release together, they would all get their due provided the content engages,” he added. One solution to the surfeit of releases on Friday is the Direct-ToHome (DTH) facility, whereby the more intimate character-based films like Mai... and Listen...Amaya could be premiered directly to homes via satellite. IANS
Akshay to visit Special Chabbis crime spot
A
kshay Kumar, along with the cast of Special Chabbis, will visit the actual spot of crime which inspired the drama. The film is based on a jewellery heist in Mumbai in 1983, where conmen posing as CBI officials robbed TBZ store in Zaveri Bazaar. In broad daylight, 26 men, along with mastermind Ajay Singh, raided the store and walked away with all the cash and jewellery. IANS
Entertainment WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
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Entertainment WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
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Entertainment WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Beyonce to perform at Rock in Rio 2013
POPULAR CHOICE
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eyonce, one of the world’s top pop queens, will be the main openingnight attraction at Rock in Rio 2013, to be held between September 13-22, the organisers said Monday. Beyonce, winner of 16 Grammy Awards, con-
CINE BYTES
Amazing Spider-Man 2 begins production
E
veryone’s favourite webslinger is officially back in action. “Day 1. #anamorphic #film #philthecameraoperator,” tweeted Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb on Monday. The highly-anticipated superhero sequel is being filmed in the Big Apple. The sequel will see Andrew Garfield, returning, going up against Jamie Foxx’s Electro and Paul Giamatti’s Rhino.
Theron steps up in place of Amy Adams
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harlize Theron may be stepping in for Amy Adams as the star of a new thriller. With David Fincher currently circling Gone Girl over at Fox, author Gillian Flynn’s bestselling 2009 novel Dark Places is also being tapped for a Hollywood adaptation, and Theron is now in talks for the lead role, as noted by Deadline.
Judge rules in favour of John Travolta
A
firmed her participation in the Rio de Janeiro festival in the early hours on Monday after her halftime performance at the NFL Super Bowl. She was the winner of a survey taken by Rock in Rio organisers to find out which artists people in Rio de Janeiro would most like to see.
Beyonce, who has sold 75 million discs worldwide, showed her popularity in Brazil in 2010 when her five concerts were practically sold out. The American pop sensation joins a line-up that includes Metallica, Alice in Chains, the Swedish group Ghost and the veteran bands Iron
Maiden and Slayer. The last time the festival was staged in Rio de Janeiro, in 2011, it attracted 700,000 people over seven days to see artists that included Coldplay, Mana, Snow Patrol, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Elton John, Stevie Wonder and Shakira. IANS
judge has ruled that John Travolta’s ticket aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship in June 2009 wasn’t a ticket to arbitration. Fabian Zanzi, a ship attendant, filed a lawsuit against Travolta for assault and battery and infliction of emotional distress in June. The plaintiff says that upon request, he gave Travolta a neck massage on the cruise ship. Travolta allegedly disrobed, exposed himself and then “forcefully embraced” him.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Chai Time
Play & Win
Please send in your filled-in entries to Postnoon, #1246, Level 3, Jubilee Casa, Road No 62, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad – 500033. The winners will be announced on this page in Sunday’s edition.
KAKURO 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 refer-
QUICK CROSSWORD enced 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.
Play & Win
voucher from VENKEY’S VEG Restaurant, Nampally
ACROSS
SCRIBBLING PAD
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SUDOKU
PREVIOUS PUZZLE ANSWER
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1 ‘Over here!’ noise 5 Hagar the Horrible's lady 10 ‘A’ in ‘AD’ 14 Vase-shaped pitcher 15 Indian, for one 16 Panetta or Spinks 17 Sixth of an inch 18 Deliver in person 19 Fairy tale baddie 20 Diamond, for one 23 Respected tribe member 24 Bass, for one 25 Under the weather 28 Bread or whiskey type 29 Pickaxe cousin 33 Slower than andante 35 Like a horse 37 Snorkeling site 38 Doing a Biblical no-no 43 Stat! 44 How some are missed 45 ‘Woman’ singer John 48 Toy on a string 49 Three-point shot's trajectory 52 Terhune's title dog 53 Gun at a red light 55 Break off, as relations 57 Comeuppance for Shakespeare?
62 Null and ___ 64 Have some catching up to do 65 Feel antipathy toward 66 Not inept 67 Caterpillar or grub 68 Standing on the summit of 69 Menswear selections 70 Paula's ‘American Idol’ replacement 71 Scottish monster's loch
DOWN 1 Effervescent ‘Dr’ 2 Like soft-serve ice cream, say 3 Leave the union 4 Wee bit 5 Rail-riding wanderer 6 Light-brown shade 7 Luau souvenirs 8 Slang for ‘marijuana’ 9 Jessica of ‘Murder, She Wrote’ 10 Common lotion ingredient 11 Feminine at-home attire 12 Negative conjunction 13 Single 21 Kirkuk native 22 United in holy matrimony
26 Mortgage company's claim 27 Hipster's rental 30 Plague for payment 31 Turns on a jagged course 32 Have a blast with 34 Military force 35 Home of ‘Monday Night Football’ 36 Current currency, for many 38 Gloomy atmosphere 39 Voyaging 40 Common thing on a public beach 41 ‘LA Law’ co-star Susan 42 Kisser coating 46 It's found in veins 47 Get under one's skin 49 Fly a 747 50 Odd-numbered pages 51 Heebie-jeebies 54 Like some Internet videos 56 Frome of literature 58 Lyrical tributes 59 Jung or Reiner 60 ‘___ Talkin'’ (Bee Gees hit) 61 ___ Bator, Mongolia 62 Winery tub 63 ___-Wan Kenobi
Chai Time WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013 Thiruvaikumar
STAR POWER for 7-2-2013
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As per Hindu panchang thiruvaikumar@yahoo. co. in, 040-27177230 / 9177596118
ARIES
TAURUS
GEMINI
CANCER
LEO
VIRGO
LIBRA
SCORPIO
SAGITTARIUS
CAPRICORN
AQUARIUS
PISCES
Avoid unwanted arguments or disputes with anyone, especially your spouse as it might bring you a bad name. Pregnant women need to be careful and avoid journeys to extent possible. You might face a dilemmatic situation in a few issues.
STRIP TEASE AGNES
Changes likely in a planned trip. Those deprived of children will get a favourable news soon. You experience happiness in the wake of support you get from maternal relatives. Artists likely to perform well. New schemes will bring in customers.
Ego clashes between couples will be over and they will start leading a happy life. Those working abroad will get a chance to come to their native place on holidays and enjoy. Though income is good expenses too will be go up, thus upsetting you.
Drastic changes likely to take place and meeting with VIP friends will be beneficial. Those in a depressed mood will feel cheerful as situation will change in their favour. Real-estate deals likely to bring good gains. Expenses likely to go up.
Delayed marriage talk will resume end in finalisation. Employees are overburdened with extra work, which results in more travel and exhaustion. Expenses and joy through grandchildren likely. Businessmen need to be careful of their partners.
Good news form your daughter or son on the cards. Influx of close relatives and wellwishers will keep you and all family members cheerful. You will sell property at the expected price. Confusions will get cleared. Women will taste success.
Couples will be more affectionate towards each other and a happy atmosphere will prevail at home. Loan for purchase or construction of own house will get sanctioned. Your self-confidence and willpower levels are at their high; you achieve a lot.
Employees get recognition and rewards at workplace for their sincere and hard work. Unwanted apprehension and worries will get cleared and you will be in a relaxed mood. Good and constructive thoughts come to you; implement them quickly.
More expenses towards fulfilling children’s demands are likely. Friends and wellwishers will extend support. Some are likely to undertake pilgrimage with family. Employees will feel happy as atmosphere at workplace changes for the better.
TAROT READ
Sumaa Tekur
tarotreadhyd@gmail. com
ARIES:
GEMINI:
Five of Wands – Not everything is as hunky dory as it looks on the outside. You may be projecting a certain image to the world outside. At least do not lie to yourself.
LEO:
Nine of Swords – You’re anxious about something and need to resolve it. Think meditation and spending time with loved ones to reduce stress. They help.
LIBRA:
PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
Knight of Pentacles – You’re all set to move to the topmost rung of the career ladder. The difficult part is to think ahead and plan your future course of action.
SAGITTARIUS:
Ten of Cups – Everything’s going well, especially on the family front. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. You’re getting closer to your family members in this.
TAURUS:
Three of Swords – For ages, your file has been sitting in a corner. Now, when it finally moves, you feel like everything is happening too soon. Watch your diet.
CANCER:
Six of Pentacles – A close family member, especially a sibling, will give you a hard time. He/ she is finding it difficult to deal with your need for space and freedom.
VIRGO:
Four of Swords – Finances are in focus. Money is getting in good shape. Review all documents and make sure they’re all in order. Check of renewals.
SCORPIO:
Six of Swords – A foreign trip is in the offing. Bosses are mighty pleased with you and this is a way of giving you a perk. You meet interesting people along the way.
CAPRICORN:
Queen of Wands – There is a creative thought process that needs tackling. You may not be thinking what is expected of you. Think that way to get ahead.
PREVIOUS SOLUTIONS
PISCES:
Seven of Swords – There is conflict and some amount of competition for your position. Don’t react to anything. Rein in your pride and everything will fall in place.
NUMBER GAME
A senior in your office is giving you a hard time but you know how to handle it. Ego clashes will be common. Don’t take anything too seriously.
SCRABBLE
AQUARIUS: The Emperor –
POOCH CAFE
Plan to purchase land or house will materialise soon. Court verdict pending since long is likely to go in your favour. Drastic and favourable changes likely to take place which will keep you in good spirit. Delayed works will resume.
for 7-2-2013
The Devil – You want that dress you’ve been eyeing for a long time. It’s beyond your budget and you have to bend over backwards to afford it. Is it all worth it?
NON SEQUITUR
Vehicle maintenance expenses will go up. Travel, increased expenses and tension inevitable. Stay cool and get works done with patience and without taking any hurried decisions. News from daughter about arrival of offspring cheers you.
SUDUKO
Your attitude will change and clearcut decisions will be taken by you rather than getting confused as before. You might have to raise new debts on an urgent basis as your requirement of funds goes up. Hurdles in marriage of your child will go.
Boggle SEA POND LAKE OCEAN LAGOON HARBOR Vol: 2, No 201 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
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
Barfi! didn't make it to the final list of Oscar nominees for the Best Foreign Film; however, with films like Amour and A Royal Affair vying for the Academy award, the committee has made its preference loud and clear. Here are five films from Europe and North & South America which made it to the Oscar nominations list.
Voices of the World HEMANTH KUMAR hemanth.k@postnoon.com
A ROYAL AFFAIR
Nikolaj Arcel's historical drama A Royal Affair, set in the 18th century in Denmark, is based on the real story of King Christian VII of Denmark, his queen Caroline Mathilde and the royal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee. The romance between Caroline and Struensee is a major subplot in the film which narrates how Struensee tried his best to change the course of the nation's destiny by advocating freedom of expression and better health care. The film stars Mads Mikkelsen, Alicia Vikander and Mikkel Følsgaard in lead roles.
AMOUR
Michael Haneke's Amour, a gut-wrenching drama about an old couple, has been one of the most talked about films in 2012. The film is Austria's official entry to the Oscars and it stars veteran French actors Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva as Georges and Anne, who are both retired music teachers in their eighties. When Anne is partially paralysed, Georges takes the onus of taking care of her upon himself and what follows is a perfect example of great acting and the art of storytelling in its finest form. The impact in the end is profound, to say the least.
KON-TIKI
For the first time, a Norwegian film has been nominated for an Oscar award and if that's not reason enough, it's premise certainly is. Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, Kon-Tiki is inspired from the real story of Thor Heyerdahl, an explorer and writer who, in 1947, set out prove his theory that people from South America could have settled in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times. Kon-Tiki is reportedly the most expensive film ever made in Norway and it was the highest grossing film in the country in 2012.
NO
Pablo Larraín's remarkable Chilean drama No is about an advertising executive who plans to put an end to Pinochet’s dictatorship through his innovative ad campaign in 1988. The film is based on the play El Plebiscito, which was written by Antonio Skármeta. No is one of the few Latino films in recent times that has got rave reviews in the film festival circuit. The film stars Gael Garcia Bernal in the lead role and it's the first film in his career which has been nominated for Oscars in this category.
WAR WITCH
Directed by Kim Nguyen, War Witch (Rebelle), Canada's official entry to Oscars, delves into the life of a young girl who's kidnapped and inducted into the rebel army in Congo. The film is based on the actual stories of child soldiers in Congo and it was entirely shot in real locations in Congo. The young girl named Komona, played by Rachel Mwanza, recounts her life to her unborn child and gives an insight into the atrocities she was forced to commit including killing her own parents. It's a harrowing film to say the least.
sports
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
POWER STRUGGLE
NBA
Specialist Rockets match record impresses with 23 3-pointers
Specialist, Ein Ein Ein, Emerald Reef and Winning Strides pleased when the horses excercised this morning.
SAND TRACK 800 METRES:
Bloody Mary (Kuldeep Singh) Scubarioo (rb) 57.5, 600/42.5 They moved together. Sushen (rb) 57.5, 600/43 Urged. Garcia Marquez (S.Nayak) Ice Lolly (Kuldeep Singh) 55, 600/42 They moved well. Azaiba (Joshi) 1-0, 600/45 Moved freely. Magical Punch (S.Nayak) Prince Prashant (rb) 57.5, 600/43 They moved together. Vijays Pride (Joshi) 57, 600/42 Moved on the bit. Art Connoisseur (rb) Romantic Champ (rb) 56.5, 600/43 Former finished a length in front. Ein Ein Ein (rb) 56.5, 600/42 Pleased. Prince Of Arabia (S.nayak) Oceanside (Kuldeep Singh) 56, 600/42 A fit pair. Emerald Reef (K.Alam) 55.5, 600/41 Pleased. Exclusive (rb) Ann Arbor (Kuldeep Singh) 56.5, 600/42 Former finished in front. Babas Gift (Ravinder Singh) 57, 600/42 Pushed. Senorita (Ajit Kumar) 59.5, 600/44.5 Moved freely. Winning Stirdes (rb) 57, 600/42 Moved well. Dancing In The Rain (Kiran Naidu) Tico Tico (Chary) 1-0, 600/45 Former finished in front. 3y.Multidimensional /Cacophony (S.Nayak) Green Bay (Kuldeep Singh) 57, 600/42 They moved together.
SAND TRACK 1000 METRES:
Par Excellence (S.Nayak) Perfect (rb) 1-15, 800/59, 600/43.5 They moved together. Flowers Of Music (Ramana) 1-17.5, 800/1-3, 600/48 Easy.
SAND TRACK 1200 METRES: Specialist (Tograllu) 1-27, 800/55.5, 600/42 Pleased.
1000/1-10,
WINTER OUTER GRASS 1200 METRES:
Original Gladiator (K.Alam) Swet O Child Mine (Sreekant) 1-21.5, 1000/1-5, 800/52, 600/38 latter pushed and finished 4lengths behind.
WINTER OUTER RACE GRASS 1400 METRES:
Golden Rule (Kuldeep Singh) Rosemead (S.Nayak) 1-38.5, 1200/1-23, 1000/1-6.5, 800/51.5, 600/38 They finished together.
GATE PRACTICE 1200 METRES:
Victorous Sally (app) Gold Medal (Dileep) Colorful Trip (Anil) Smashing Beauty (rb) 116, 1000/1-2, 800/50, 600/38 They finished together. Lady Of Grace (Chary) Nano Star (Ajit Kumar) 3y.Princely Heir/Equal Right (N.Rawal) Royal Opportunity (Ravinder Singh) Palace Affairs (rb) 1-17.5, 1000/1-3.5, 1000/51.5, 600/38 Royal Opportunity slowly off. Racing Ahead (Joshi) Combined Force (app) 1-26.5,1000/1-9.5, 800/55, 600/341.5 Former missed the jump. Rave Debut (Deep Shanker) Bel Ami (K.Alam) Lonely Princess (app) 1-19, 1000/1-5, 800/52, 600/40 They took a level jump. El Paso (Kuldeep Singh) Queen Of The Star (S.Nayak) Skander (Deep Shanker) Moghul Emperor (Harinder Singh) Classic Emerald (rb) 1-20, 1000/1-5, 800/52.5, 600/40.5 They jumped out well.
HOUSTON, TEXAS: Jeremy Lin drained five of Houston’s record-equalling 23 three-pointers on Tuesday as the Rockets romped to a 140-109 NBA victory over the Golden State Warriors. The Rockets matched the NBA record with their 23 from beyond the arc, the long-range barrage lifting them to a fifth win in six games. Lin finished with 28 points as the Rockets notched their highest-scoring game of the season. Their 14 three-pointers in the first half also tied an NBA record — even though their best three-point shooter, Carlos Delfino, was sidelined by a right elbow injury. James Harden and Chandler Parsons had four three-pointers apiece.
Jeremy Lin drained five of Houston’s record-equalling 23 three-pointers as the Rockets romped to a 140109 NBA victory over the Golden State Warriors. Harden finished with a total of 18 points and Parsons scored 16. The Rockets tied the record of 23 three-pointers set by the Orlando Magic in a 139-107 victory over Sacramento on January 13, 2009. With the game in hand, Houston coach Kevin McHale sent in his reserves
for the final minutes. Marcus Morris made three treys off the bench over the course of the game. Toney Douglas added two and James Anderson had two as well. Patrick Beverley delivered their 22nd three-pointer with 4:20 left and Donatas Motiejunas added the 23rd with 3:41 remaining. The Rockets had a couple more chances to break the record before Golden State began to intentionally foul them down the stretch. Things got heated in the final minute, with both Morris and Golden State’s Draymond Green ejected. Green was whistled for a flagrant foul for a hard shot on Beverley, which led to a shoving match that saw Morris tossed. AFP
Bryant scores 21 to lead Lakers NEW YORK: Kobe Bryant scored 21 points to help the Los Angeles Lakers overcome the absence of Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace, and a late injury to Pau Gasol, in a 92-83 NBA victory over the Brooklyn Nets. Howard missed the game as he continues to recover from a torn labrum in his right shoulder while World Peace was suspended by the NBA for the game after an incident in Sunday’s contest at Detroit in which he grabbed the Pistons’ Brandon Knight around the neck and struck him in the jaw with the back of his open hand.
Even so, the Lakers managed to post their sixth win in their past seven games as they battle to reach playoff contention. “We’re more of a team, we’re sharing the ball, we’re playing better defensively,” said Lakers point guard Steve Nash, who scored 17 points with eight assists. “It was a good win for us.” Earl Clark added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers, who are currently 10th in the Western Conference. The game was tied 80-80 when Bryant drove for a dunk that put the Lakers ahead with just over three min-
utes remaining. Brook Lopez, who finished with 30 points for the Nets, responded with a three-point play to restore the Nets’ lead, but Antawn Jamison’s layup with 2:22 to play put the Lakers ahead for good. Bryant followed with another basket and Clark drained a jump shot to build the Lakers’ lead to 88-83 with 1:11 to play. Nash added four more free throws to complete the scoring. “A lot of guys played really hard,” said Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni. AFP
COMEBACK TIME
Barber set for return
PARIS: Two-time world champion Eunice Barber (right), who turned 38 in November, announced Tuesday that she will make her comeback to the track in the upcoming indoor season. “I am very excited to announce that I will be competing in the 2013 indoor season,” she wrote on her website. Barber won the world heptathlon title in 1999 and won long jump gold at the 2003 world championships. She has not taken part in competition since 2010, although only an injury prevented her from returning last year. Now she is expected to participate at a meeting in Eaubonne in the Paris suburbs on Thursday. “I can’t wait to measure myself
against the other competitors and enjoy myself. “I am in good shape mentally and physically, but now my performances will do the talking,” added Barber, who was born in Sierra Leone but obtained French nationality in 1999. Apart from Eaubonne, she has not yet confirmed what other events she will take part in this season. Barber had hoped to end her career in the long jump at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona, but failed to qualify. Earlier in 2010 Barber tried unsuccessfully to qualify for the French bobsleigh team for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
sports
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
VINA DEL MAR
Nadal wins on comeback
Rafael Nadal launched his return from a seven-month injury break by teaming with Argentina’s Juan Monaco for an emphatic doubles victory in the ATP clay court event. VINA DEL MAR, CHILE: Rafael Nadal launched his return from a seven-month injury break by teaming with Argentina’s Juan Monaco for an emphatic doubles victory in the ATP clay court event here on Tuesday. The return of the world number five, playing his first tournament since he was beaten in the second round at Wimbledon by Czech journeyman Lukas Rosol in late June, is the focus of attention at the $410,200 tournament. In a warm-up for his long awaited singles match on Wednesday, Nadal teamed with Monaco to post a 6-3, 6-2 victory in just 65 minutes over second seeds Frantisek Cermak and Lukas Dlouhy in the first round of the doubles. As the top seed, the 11-time Grand Slam champion enjoyed a first-round singles
RESULTS:
Rafael Nadal returns the ball next to Juan Monaco (R), during their doubles match against Frantisek Cermank and AFP/MARTIN BERNETTI Lukas Dlouhy on Tuesday.
bye and will open his singles campaign with a second-round clash against Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis. Delbonis beat
FORMULA ONE
Singles: 1st rd: Horacio Zeballos bt Diego Schwartzman 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 Federico Delbonis bt Guido Pella 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) Tommy Robredo bt Pere Riba (ESP) 6-2, 6-2 Carlos Berlocq bt Andrey Kuznetsov 6-2, 6-1 Guillaume Rufin bt Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo 6-3, 6-4 Christian Garin bt Dusan Lajovic 6-3, 6-4 Albert Montanes bt Nicolas Massu 6-7 (6/8), 63, 6-4 Doubles: 1st rd: Juan Monaco/Rafael Nadal bt Frantisek Cermak/Lukas Dlouhy 6-3, 6-2 Guillaume Rufin/Filippo Volandri bt Juan Sebastian Cabal/Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 1-6, 107
compatriot Guido Pella 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1). “It was a great feeling to play again and I’m very happy for
doing it with a friend like Monaco in a great atmosphere that we had on the court,” Nadal said. “In doubles the effort is
always less. We will see how it goes in singles and how my physical condition is.” Nadal, who will be 27 in June, has been careful to play down expectations, saying he still has some pain from his troublesome knees and doesn’t expect to immediately rediscover his old winning ways in his first tournament back. The Vina del Mar event is a starting point for a clay court season that culminates with the French Open in Paris starting in May. “My aim is to compete courageously and hopefully the knee will stand up to it,” Nadal said this week. Nadal had been due to return to action at the notoriously physical Australian Open in January, but pulled out due to a viral condition.
JOBURG OPEN
Button sets pace on Charl favoured for third title first day of tests
Former US Masters champ Charl Schwartzel starts as favour ite to win a third Joburg Open title in four seasons this week.
JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA: Former world champion Jenson Button overcame a morning spent largely in the pits by setting the fastest time on the first day of Formula One testing a month ahead of the opening Grand Prix in Australia. The 33-year-old Englishman - world champion in 2009 -- overcame problems with his McLaren as he roared back in the afternoon session to record a fastest time of 1min 18.861sec over 34 laps. “It was an up and down day,” said Button. “It is best to have this type of problem at the beginning of testing rather than the first day. We’ve had the problem, and I hope that we can work well this week.” AFP
Best timings n Jenson Button (GBR/McLarenMercedes) 1min 18.861sec 37 laps n Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull Renault) 1:19.709 73 n Romain Grosjean (FRA/LotusRenault) 1:19.796 54 n Paul di Resta (GBR/Force IndiaMercedes) 1:20.343 89 n Daniel Ricciardo (AUS/Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:20.401 70 n Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) 1:20.536 64 n Nico Hulkenberg (GER/SauberFerrari) 1:20.699 79.
JOHANNESBURG: Former US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa starts as favourite to win a third Joburg Open title in four seasons this week. After victories in 2010 and 2011 at the two-course Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, Schwartzel suffered in dreadful weather conditions last year and failed to make the cut. And the weather could play a major role again with traditional South African summer storms drenching the financial hub this week and more predicted, especially during the latter stages of the final round. Pencil slim and dark haired, 2011 Masters champion
Schwartzel grew up playing the west and more challenging east courses where the Joburg Open will be staged, and has had
more practice rounds than any rival. “I am feeling really nice and refreshed after a long break,” says the winner of eight European Tour events, “and I have been practising hard to get my game as sharp as it was at the end of last year.” Sharp, indeed. The South African had a combined winning margin of 23 shots as he finished first in the Thailand Championship in Bangkok and the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Leopards Creek bordering the famous Kruger National Park. “It is enjoyable competing in the Joburg Open on courses I played many times as a junior and an amateur.” AFP
BFOOTBALL RIEFS BRIEFS Marussia unveil new car, driver, for 2013 JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA, SPAIN: Russian outfit Marussia on Tuesday unveiled their new MR02 car for the 2013 season, and a new driver, during testing at the Jerez circuit in southern Spain. The Cosworth-powered car boasts KERS, the kinetic energy recovery system that was missing from last season’s version as Marussia missed out on a precious top-ten finish in the constructors’ standings. The team, who are based in Banbury in England, have signed up 21-year-old English driver Max Chilton, who will make his Formula One debut this season in place of departed German Timo Glock.
“It took me a little while to get to sleep last night and now I can’t wait to get going,” Chilton, who is expected to team up with another novice in the shape of Brazilian Luiz Razia, told Sky Sports News before starting testing. “We’re really excited to see our performance out on track.” Marussia team principal John Booth believes the addition of KERS -which is thought to be worth as much as 0.3 seconds per lap -- will vastly improve their chances of breaking into the top ten, after they missed out in 2012 by a narrow margin to Caterham.
Caterham latest team to make public this season’s car JEREZ, SPAIN: The Caterham F1 racing team unveiled their new car for the 2013 season on the first day of pre-season testing in Jerez on Tuesday, alongside new drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde. “CT03 is the first car we have produced in the (Oxfordshire-based) Leafield Technical Centre so it marks an important milestone in the development of our team,” said technical director Mark Smith. The nascent British-based, Malaysianowned outfit, which entered Formula One as Team Lotus in 2010 before being rebranded last term, have failed to register a single point
in their three seasons, finishing 10th out of 12 manufacturers last year. Financial hardship also led to the departure of experienced cockpit duo Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli, both former Grand Prix winners, after last season with the relatively untested duo of Pic and Van der Garde stepping in as replacements. Frenchman Pic, who will turn 23 later this month, has already impressed in his rookie campaign last year with back-of-the-grid rivals Marussia, while longtime Dutch test driver Van der Garde, 27, will be in his first season.
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WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
ICC WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
BRIEF SCORES
INDIA CRASH OUT
India were knocked out of the tourney after suffering a 138-run defeat against Sri Lanka. MUMBAI: India were on Tuesday knocked out of the ICC Women’s World Cup after suffering an upset 138-run drubbing at the hands of Sri Lanka in a crucial Group A encounter here. Chasing a challenging total of 283, the hosts put up a pathetic show to be bowled out for 144 in 42.2 overs at the Brabourne Stadium. Incidentally, this was India’s first defeat to Sri Lanka in 18 matches, having won their previous 16 encounters with one ending in no result. India lost three wickets for 38 runs in the 13th over, which included opener Poonam Raut, skipper Mithali Raj and last
Deepika Rasangika plays a shot during her 84 runs knock against India on Tuesday. ICC
match centurion Harmanpreet Kaur. Kaur failed to score a run, while Raut , Raj were trapped leg before by Kaushalya and Prabodhini, respectively. The India skipper shone
Incidentally, this loss happened to be India’s first defeat to Sri Lanka in 18 matches, having won their previous 16 encounters with one clash ending in no result. briefly with the bat, striking four fours in the 35 minutes she spent in the middle. The hosts reached 50 in 17 overs and it was always goingto be an uphill task from there on,
ENGLAND’S TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
and they lost left-handed opener Thirushkamini Murugesan at the same score, adding to the woes. The middle-order failed to forge a partnership and things plummeted for India as they kept losing wickets in quick succession. India's best partnership was for the sixth wicket between Jhulan Goswami and Reema Malhotra, who added 37 runs. Malhotra was the top scorer for India with her 38 coming off 51 balls, and which included two fours. India needed at least 251 runs to edge out the West Indies by virtue of having a better net run-rate and enter the Super 6 stage. PTI
In Mumbai Group A West Indies 101 all out in 36.4 overs (Anya Shrubsole 4/21, Arran Brindle 3/0) lost to England 103/4 in 35 overs (Deandra Dottin 3-20) Sri Lanka 282-5 in 50 overs (Yasoda Mendis 55, Deepika Rasangika 84, Shashikala Siriwardene 59, Eshani Kaushalya 56 n.o., Jhulan Goswami 3/63) bt India 144 all out in 44.2 overs.
IN CUTTACK Group B New Zealand 227-6 in 50 overs (Suzie Bates 102, Megan Schutt 3/40) lost to Australia 228/3 in 38.2 overs (Meg Lanning 112, Jess Cameron 82) South Africa 207-5 in 50 overs (Marizanne Kapp 1) bt Pakistan 81 all out in 29.4 overs (Marizanne Kapp 318).
SPOT FIXING
Broad treble cheers Cook Asif, Butt fight bans
LONDON: England’s Alastair Cook was heartened to see Stuart Broad show something like his best form after the pace-bowling all-rounder took a hat-trick on Tuesday.
Broad, England’s T20 skipper, struck as his side enjoyed a convincing 46-run win over a New Zealand XI in their first match of a tour where Cook will take charge for the subsequent one-day and Test series against the Black Caps. Injuries cut short Broad’s tour of India but he showed no signs of fitness problems on Tuesday and Cook, who is currently in Britain, was delighted ahead of a packed programme of international cricket, including away and home series against New Zealand before England defend the Ashes against visitors Australia. “He’s a very important player for us,” Cook told Sky Sports News. “It was great for me to see him back playing,” the opening batsman added. “He had a tough tour of India where it was just a case of trying to get him on the park, he had a few niggles and
was trying to play through niggles, but it’s great that he’s now fit and leading the T20 side out in New Zealand. AFP
New Zealand XI beat England WHANGAREI, NEW ZEALAND: A New Zealand XI beat England by three wickets in a tight finish to their second Twenty20 warm-up game on Wednesday. England, who won the first game by 46 runs, made 170 for five in their 20 overs. The New Zealand side replied with 171-7, with the winning runs coming from a boundary off the final ball of their innings. The opening T20 international between England and New Zealand takes place in Auckland on Saturday. AFP
KARACHI, PAKISTAN: Pakistan cricketers Salman Butt (right) and Mohammad Asif left for Switzerland Tuesday to fight to overturn bans imposed two years ago for spot-fixing. Captain Butt and fast bowlers Asif and Mohammad Aamer were banned by the ICC for contriving to bowl deliberate noballs during the Lord’s Test between Pakistan and England in August 2010. Butt was banned for 10 years, with five suspended, Asif for seven years with two suspended and the then teenager Aamer for five years. The trio were also jailed by a British court over the scandal in November 2011. All three were released last year after completing half of their sentences. Aamer, now 20, decided not to pursue his appeal to the Swissbased Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after pleading guilty to the charges in Britain. But Asif’s appeal will be heard in the Lausanne court on
Thursday, exactly two years and a day after they were banned, and Butt’s on Friday. “It’s a high-profile case of two world-class players with the whole cricket world focused on it and we will fight to get the ban overturned,” Asif’s lawyer Ravi Sukul told AFP from London. AFP
CFOOTBALL RICKET BBRIEFS RIEFS Gibson signs new contract
Sehwag out of Irani Cup
Oz win toss, elect to bat
Proteas comfortable at top
ST JOHN’S, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, Ottis Gibson is set to remain as coach of the West Indies for a further three years after it was announced Tuesday he had a signed a new contract. Gibson had been linked with a move to English county champions Warwickshire, following Ashley Giles’s appointment as England one-day coach, before the Midlands side promoted Dougie Brown from within their existing set-up. However, Gibson — who is presently overseeing the West Indies’ tour of Australia — has now clarified his future by signing a new three-year contract.
MUMBAI: The Rest of India cricket team suffered a massive blow just before the start of its Irani Cup match against Mumbai as skipper Virender Sehwag was ruled out due to an upset stomach here today. Sehwag was replaced by senior off-spinner Harbhajan Singh as captain. The match would have been a good opportunity for the struggling Sehwag to prove his worth for the upcoming high-profile home Test series against Australia. For Mumbai, Ajit Agarkar would be missing the tie. Rest of India were put in to bat first by Mumbai.
CANBERRA: Australia captain Michael Clarke won the toss and chose to bat in the third oneday international against the West Indies which is being played at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on Wednesday. Fit-again Shane Watson is back in the team and will open the Australian innings with Aaron Finch but it has been learnt that he will not be bowling. If Australia win this match, then they will clinch the best of five-match one-day international series after they won the opening two games in Perth by nine wickets and 54 runs respectively.
JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s cricketers are increasingly comfortable as they look down on the rest of the cricketing world from their number one spot in the Test rankings. A 211-run win in the first Test against Pakistan at the Wanderers Stadium was their fourth win in a row and it extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches, going back more than a year. Not only are South Africa on top of the Test team rankings, they dominate the individual categories too. Hashim Amla tops the batting list, with AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis also in the top ten, while Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander are the two top-ranked bowlers.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
sports
ENGLAND PLAYERS OFFER SUPPORT TO GASCOIGNE
Manager Roy Hodgson and captain Steven Gerrard revealed that England's players have offered help to former star Paul Gascoigne in his battle with alcoholism. Gascoigne, who won 57 caps for England, has admitted himself to a treatment centre in the United States.
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Lahm bemoans corruption
Police believe a crime syndicate based in Singapore was liaising with criminal networks throughout Europe, adding that match-fixing has taken place in 15 countries. BERLIN: Germany captain Philipp Lahm (right) has said the current corruption scandal rocking European football is damaging the game’s image with politicians here calling on FIFA boss Sepp Blatter to act. European police announced on Monday that they have uncovered the biggest betting scandal in football history with 380 professional games having been manipulated world wide and 425 referees, players and
officials involved. Europol has been investigating for 18 months and said World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, plus Champions League and several top matches in European leagues have been affected. Police believe a crime syndicate based in Singapore was liaising with criminal networks throughout Europe, adding that match-fixing has taken place in 15 countries and 50 people have
Europol has been investigating for 18 months and said World Cup and European Championship qualifiers, plus Champions League and several top matches in European leagues have been affected.
so far been arrested. Lahm, who will captain Germany in Wednesday’s friendly against France in Paris, said the squad was shocked by the scale of the coruption. “Of course that surprised us,” said the Bayern Munich star. “Something like that is obviously bad [for the sport]. “Any fan who goes to the stadium expects to see two teams meet who will do anything to win.”
FOOTBALL FRIENDLIES Roy confirms Cole to start LONDON: Roy Hodgson has confirmed that Ashley Cole will start in Wednesday’s friendly against Brazil, on the night he becomes the seventh player to win 100 caps for England. Cole, 32, will join Peter Shilton, David Beckham, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Steven Gerrard in making a century of appearances for his country. Asked if Cole will start against Brazil, Hodgson said: “Yes, he will. “It’s important, with Steven here, that they’ll be able to go out onto the field together. He [Cole] will start and I’ll have to see what I do with Leighton Baines.” However, the England manager dismissed suggestions that Cole would be allowed to lead the team out as captain. “I don’t think there’s any reason why the captain should let someone else lead the team out,” he told reporters at Tuesday’s pre-game press conference.
Gerrard backs Wilshire
The pair have only spent 13 minutes on the pitch together during the tenure of manager Roy Hodgson. TOM WILLIAMS LONDON: Steven Gerrard says he is excited about playing alongside Jack Wilshere, as England prepare for the resumption of their World Cup qualifying campaign with a friendly against Brazil on Wednesday. The pair have only spent 13 minutes on the pitch together during the tenure of manager Roy Hodgson, largely due to an injury lay-off that kept Wilshere out of action for 17 months. However, Wilshere is now fit and firing for Arsenal, and
with Gerrard having been named England’s player of the year for 2012 on Sunday, they could be handed an opportunity to establish an understanding against the Brazilians. Wilshere was just eight years old when Gerrard made his England debut, in 2000, and already appears destined for an international career that could one day see him surpass the Liverpool midfielder’s current tally of 100 caps. “He’s a great talent. From playing against him, what
AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
Mali drop shootout star Mali coach Patrice Carteron said France-based goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa will start ahead of the more experienced Diakite DURBAN: Mali have dropped penalty shootout star Soumaila Diakite for Wednesday’s Africa Cup of Nations semi-final against Nigeria. Mali coach Patrice Carteron said France-based goalkeeper Mamadou Samassa will start ahead of the more experienced Diakite, from Bamako club Stade Malien, who saved two penalties in the quarter-final triumph over South Africa.
Guingamp goalkeeper Samassa missed the South Africa game last Saturday because of a one-match ban after picking up two bookings in the group stage. Carteron has praised Samassa, 22, who represented France in age-group sides, but opted for Mali at full international level, making his debut last October. Mali are hoping to beat Nigeria and qualify for only their second Africa Cup final.
I’ve seen in training, and playing alongside him, he’s a one-off,” says Gerrard. “He’s a lot better than your average Premier League midfielder.” Gerrard, though, says that for all the 21-year-old’s undoubted ability, it would be unwise to expect too much from him, too soon. “I think it’s vital we don’t put too much pressure and expectation on him,” he said. “One man can’t be expected to carry a whole nation on his own.”