Evening dailyIT raids on Mammootty, Mohanlal P 4

Vol. 1, Issue 326 n Friday n July 22, 2011 No. of pages: 8 n Price: Rs 2BangaloreBeat

Longoria learning pole dance P8

HILLS, HOMESTAY &MAGIC OF KODAGU

If you find Ooty, Kodaikanal or Munnar a bit tootouristy and crowded a destination, Coorg is that perfect holiday spot that is sure to please toddlers,youth and the old alike. Not that this hill station needsto be chosen for a sojourn by eliminating other similar destinations in the vicinity. Just a three-hourdrive from Mysore, 150 km away, Kodagu district onits own has much to offer, beyond its coffee, cardamom, pepper and betelnut estates. Page 5

Beyond Beat LOKAYUKTA CONDUCTS MASSIVE RAIDS ACROSS STATE

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Lokayukta sleuths todaycarried out raids across the state, re-covering crores of rupees in illegalwealth from zilla panchayat engi-neers and other officials.

The sleuths who started the raidsacross eight districts started simulta-neous raids around 7 in the morning.Raids were conducted in Bidar, Kop-pal, Bagalkote, Dharwad, Mangalore,Kolar, Davanagere and Bangalore.

PWD secretary MruthyunjayaSwamy’s residence at Kadinrenahal-li in Bangalore too was raided. Thesleuths were going through docu-ments, cash and jewellery hidden atdifferent places in his massive house.He had assumed office only about

three months ago. In Bangalore, Mulbagal taluk zilla

pancayat assistant executive engi-neer Gopal’s house at RT Nagar wasraided. The Kolar Lokayukta police car-ried out the raids. Property docu-ments, cash, jewellery and other valu-ables that have said to been acquiredillegally were seized.

At Mangalore, the residence ofBelthangadi range forest officer Ragha-va Pathali’s was raided. His house issituated in Konchadi. Lokayukta in-spector Uday Nayak led the raid team.Pathali has worked at different placesin Dakshina Kannada district is sus-pected to have amassed illegal wealth.The raids started around 8 am. Eventhe house Pathali is staying in is saidto be worth several crores.

The residence of Abdul Ghani Saabwas raided. He is the gram panchay-at secretary at Dagde Suguru. He hastwo houses in Sindhanur and Koppal.Lokayukta SP Yousuf led the team inthe raids on the house of Ghani.

At Basava Kalyana in Bidar, womenand child welfare department officialBasavaraj Vishwanath was raided.The raid team, led by Lokayuktadeputy superintendent of policeRaikar, carried out the searches si-multaneously at Basva Kalyan and hisfarmhouse on National Highway 9.

At Davanagere, zilla panchayat ex-ecutive engineer Virupakshappa wasraided. His house in SiddaveerappaLayout in the city was searched for il-legal accumulated wealth.

Continued on page 3

Leakage is a big lapse: SidduBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: The leakage of second installment ofthe Lokayukta report on illegal mining is a biglapse, said opposition leader in the assembly Sid-daramaiah here this morning.

The people behind this incident could bethose involved in illegal mining, he said.

A detailed investigation should be con-ducted into the leakage to nab the cul-

prits. The report has not lost its sanc-tity or importance due to its leakage

in the media before it was pre-sented by the Lokayukta to the

government. Some peoplehave indulged in it only to

degrade the institution of Lokayukta, he said. Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has accepted

that the report had got leaked and that chief min-ister is involved in illegal mining. Yeddyurappadoes not have any right to continue after this dis-closure, he demanded.

“Whoever may be behind illegal mining,whichever party they may be from, should be pun-ished. There should be no question of letting go ofthem. I demand that the government accept the re-port and take action on it. If not, the Congresswould hold massive protests against the govern-ment. The chief minister and his cabinet col-leagues, whose names have been mentioned in thereport should quit immediately and face thecharges,” he said.

The Congress party has taken the issue seriously.We urge the chief minister to dissolve the assem-

bly and face the people, he said.The Congress held an emergency meeting to dis-

cuss the fallout of the Lokayukta report at the Kar-nataka Pradesh Congress Committee office in thecity.

Congress state president G Parameshwara, Sid-daramaiah, senior party leaders V S Ugrappa, Al-lum Veerabhadrappa, Rajya Sabha deputy chair-man Rahman Khan and others were present.

The BJP too held a meeting under the leadershipof state BJP president K S Eshwarappa. RSS or-ganising secretary Satish, MP D B Chandre Gow-da, Karnataka representative in Delhi DhananjayKumar and other prominent leaders of the BJP andRSS were present. They discussed the fallout of theLokayukta report.

Gangadhar Pujar

Autos go offthe road to

protest permitsto new vehicles

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Members of Auto Rickshaw Driver’sUnion today took their vehicles off the road toprotest against the government’s decision to givepermits to 40,000 more autorickshaws in Banga-lore.

They put the entire city out of gear as many pas-sengers who rely on autos for their transportationwere hit very badly. Those landing at the railwaystation and bus stand from outside the state suf-fered the most and had to depend on BMTC bus-es and taxis. Some of the autorickshaws from oth-er unions tried to ply in the morning but werestopped by members of ARDU. The protest is alsosupported by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.

Continued on page 3

Amar Singh appears for

questioning incash‑for‑vote

New Delhi: Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh to-day appeared before the Delhi police for ques-tioning in the cash-for-vote scam.

Singh drove to the crime branch’s interstate cellat Chanakyapuri at 10.45 am. He did not speak tothe media persons before entering the complex.

Singh, then general secretary of the Samajwa-di Party, is accused of sending bribe money to winover three BJP lawmakers during the 2008 trustvote.His appearance before the police comes afterthe Delhi police issued summons to him under Sec-tion 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code, askinghim to present himself before the crime branch.

The decision to call Singh for questioningcomes after the arrest of Suhail Hindustani, whoallegedly acted as a liaison between Singh and BJPMPs. Continued on page 4

D L HarishBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: There are pointers now to indicate thatchief minister B S Yeddyurappa is behind the leak-age of the second and last instalment of theLokayukta report on illegal mining.

Before the chief minister left for Mauritius onMonday morning, he assigned top official in

his office to go to Delhi on a specific mission.He was armed with the excerpts of theLokayukta report. He handed it over to amedia-savvy BJP national general secre-tary on Wednesday, sources said.

The BJP representative, who is knownto be close to the media houses in NewDelhi and Mumbai, leaked the infor-mation to his friends who work for thenational news channels. But thesetop well-known journalists could not

believe that they had been handedover the copy of the document that

was being anticipated by people acrossthe country.

To crosscheck, the woman reportercalled Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde in

the city and sought more details of his reporton illegal mining. But Justice Hegde told her thatthe report was yet to be presented and, moreover,it was a document that would go to the gov-ernment and he would have no role in eithermaking it public or keeping it a secret.

But when she read out the excerpts of the report,Justice Hegde was stunned as they were directlyfrom the report he was giving the final touches to.

Sources in the BJP said that the top leaders inthe state, including the chief minister, knew thatthe Lokayukta had taken an appointment withchief secretary S V Ranganath for 12.30 on Satur-day to submit the report. The leak was timed toscuttle that and to make the office of the Lokayuk-ta look weak.

But then, how did the report land in the handsof officials? Sleuths in the state intelligence de-partment had maintained close contacts with someof the officers within the Lokayukta. The un-scrupulous elements in Justice Hegde’s officewere offered better and lucrative posts in other de-partments. They were told that Justice Hegdewould retire by August 2 and then they would beleft to rot at the office of the corruption watchdogwhich is not lucrative at all. That turned the key,and the intelligence department officials got holdof the report. But amidst all the storm followingthe report, law and parliamentary minister SureshKumar, who was supposed to fend off the queriesfrom the media and opposition, was conspicuousby his absence. He in fact left for London on Tues-day morning. That, too, is by design: Suresh Ku-mar had been specifically instructed by the chiefminister to leave the state before all hell brokeloose, the sources told Bangalore Beat.

Yeddyurappa’s move may look suicidal, but withthe leakage he got an important lever to have the

option of rejecting the report as it was camein the media domain before it wassubmitted to the government. Kar-nataka government repre-

sentative Dhananjay Kumar stated as much whiletalking to the media yesterday. He said that the re-port had lost its sanctity now.

At the same time, miner and tourism ministerJanardhana Reddy, who has been indicted by thereport, is said to be in Mauritius holding talks withthe chief minister. He left by helicopter, either viaMumbai or Bangalore, to reach the Maldives as he

has got permit to fly his aircraft onlytill there. From the Maldives, he

took a flight to Mauritius,the sources added.

The chief minis-ter has in the

meantime kept inconstant touchwith 30 of hisclose aides,ministers, offi-

cials and le-gal advisors to

chalk out thenext course of ac-

tion, the sourcessaid.

Report to besubmitted to

govt on July 27Bangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: Lokayukta Justice San-tosh Hegde is submitting the reporton illegal mining on July 27. ‘A fu-rious Hegde, who has taken a se-rious note of the report’s leakagein the media, is now adding moreproof and material to the over8,000-page report. He is all set topush the politicians and officials in-volved in the scandal into a tighter cor-ner, sources said. He has been per-sonally going through the report tomake it even more water tight, theysaid. The report will be submitted tochief secretary S V Ranganath.

CM BEHINDʻLEAKʼGATE?

Even law and parliamentaryaffairs minister

Suresh Kumar is in Londonto avoid the storm after the

report leak. Sources said thechief minister asked him to

go on a London tour.

CITY 2Friday, July 22, 2011

Contact: M : 9900948514

9742918562

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Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore Train No. Train Name Station Arrival B’lore Departure B’lore

TRAIN SCHEDULE

SCʼs fiat to state on BMICNew Delhi: Expressing concern overdelay in execution of the jinxed multi-crore Bangalore-Mysore InfrastructureCorridor (BMIC) project, the SupremeCourt has asked Karnataka to explainwithin six weeks the reasons for non-compliance of its April 20, 2006, order.

The April 2006 order given the go-ahead for land acquisition for the proj-ect.

The apex court asked state advocate-general G N Harnahalli to filean affidavit explaining the obstaclesbeing encountered by the state in allot-ting the required land to the developerNandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises(NICE).

“The advocate-general would be clar-ifying in the affidavit as to what are theimpediments felt by the state governmentin implementing the judgement of thiscourt of April 20, 2006,” said the bench,which consisted of Justices R M Lodhaand T S Thakur.

It said, “The state government in its

affidavit shall also indicate steps takenby it to implement the judgement.”

Directing the matter to be listed aftersix weeks, the apex court further saidthere would be no notification of anyland until its further orders.

The apex court’s direction came whilehearing a contempt petition moved byNICE against the state government fornot complying with the orders of theapex government.

In 2006, the apex court had upheldthe judgement of the Karnataka HighCourt dismissing the petitions filedagainst the projects.

However, the Supreme Court and the High Court continued to beflooded with cases relating to land ac-quisition proceedings in alleged violationof the original framework agreementbetween the state government and thedeveloper.

At the last hearing, the bench hadremarked that the state government wasin a state of “coma” as it had cited pos-

sible law and order problems in acquir-ing further land for the project originallyenvisaged in 1994.

Today, during the hour-long hearing,the bench agreed with the submissionsmade by senior advocate Dushyant Dave,appearing for NICE, that same pointsand arguments are being raised againand again and time of the judicial systemis wasted.

Dave said that as per the May 3, 2011,directives of the Supreme Court, theHigh Court had passed final orders onnumerous cases related to land on June15 after 22 days of continuous hearingand yet same points are again raised.

Agreeing with it, the bench said “MrDave is right that it is sheer wastage ofthe court’s time. It is shameful”.

Addressing the state government andNICE, the apex court said “you all aremaking the matter complicated by rais-ing simple issues which can be easilydecided”.

The apex court also wanted to know

from the state government and the Kar-nataka Industrial Areas DevelopmentBoard the reasons, why NICE has notbeen alloted land in the section B andC of BMICP, which are not the subjectmatter of any dispute.

During the earlier hearing, the benchhad remarked that the Yeddyurappagovernment was in a “state of coma”and has no business to be in power if itcan’t acquire land fearing law and orderproblems.

The apex court had made the scathingremarks while expressing surprise atthe state government’s stance that itwas proceeding slow in acquiring privateland for the multi-crore Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor Project(BMICP) “to avoid law and order prob-lems.”

“Why are you not acquiring the land?Where is the question of law and orderproblem? Then, don’t rule the state ifyou are afraid. You can’t survive if youare afraid,” the bench had said. PTI

OVER 800 DEVELOPERS TO PARTICIPATEIN YAHOO!ʼS OPEN HACK BANGALOREBangalore: Yahoo! India Research &Development announced its fourthOpen Hack in India and 15th globallywhich will take place on July 30-31 inBangalore.

Building on the success of the mostrecent Open Hack in Europe which tookplace in Bucharest in May, Open Hackevents are taking place several times ayear in locations all around the world.Open Hacks provide a platform for thedeveloper community to build appli-cations and product ideas from thescratch, using market-leading tech-nologies from Yahoo! as well as othertechnologies, to develop innovativenew products which leverage the entireYahoo! digital media platform.

Following Open Hack India, Yahoo!will also hold its second ‘InnovationConference’ on July 31 reiterating itscommitment to nurture the open inno-vation ecosystem in India. The themefor this year is “Winning in India –Changing the Game”. It will includepanel discussions on critical topicssuch as mobile & tablet experiences,social entrepreneurship, emerging con-tent consumption patterns and the e-commerce & deals space in India.

While Open Hack brings togethertech innovators, the Innovation Con-ference will provide a platform for VCs,

start-ups and industry bodies to activelyengage with one another and exploreopportunities, challenges and shareexperiences of what it means to unlockIndia’s vibrant potential.

Open Hack India will open its doorsto more than 800 developers from over

20 different states across India, spon-sored by the Yahoo! Developer Network(YDN), the company’s central resourcefor developers and partners to leveragethe Yahoo! platform in their own ap-plications. Developers will be able tohack using everything from best-in-

class content to market-leading adver-tising and consumer products likesearch, communications, media andmobile The global developer communityis an important part of Yahoo!’s busi-ness. The passion of these developersand the opportunity to reach Yahoo!’s

almost 700 million consumers world-wide and technology are what driveglobal innovation and creativity acrossthe Web. Hack events, popularised byYahoo! and its global technology teams,unite programmers, developers and de-signers in an exciting and fun sharedexperience. “It is critical for us to nurturea vibrant developer ecosystem. Overthe years, Yahoo!’s Open Hacks haveturned into a calendar event not tomiss among the tech community, andwe take inspiration from the overwhelm-ing response it has received this yeartoo,” said Shouvick Mukherjee, VP &CEO, Yahoo! India R&D.

The two-day event involves 24 hoursof hacking using a great collection ofnew web tools, services and APIs fromthe YDN, as well as data from aroundthe web. The event will kick off with aseries of hack-related presentations,followed by non-stop 24-hour hacking.This year’s event is at Hotel Lalit Ashok.

All the entries will be judged onSunday, the best of which will be invitedto attend the Hack All Stars Event,taking place in New York City, USA onSeptember 13-14. This event will bringtogether all the winners of Yahoo!’s re-cent Open Hacks and HackU (Universityhack events) for a grand finalHackathon.

About Open Hack DayHack Days started as an internal event that brought Yahoo! developers together andexpanded into regular events inoffices around the globe. Yahoo!began in 2006 in Sunnyvale andsince then has taken it globalwith events in London, Brazil,Taiwan and for the 4th time, inBangalore. Open Hack Days enable talented developers tocreate better, more relevant andmore social experiences on theYahoo! network and beyond.The spirit of Open Hack Days isto leverage Yahoo’s open API’sand developer tools to createnew applications.

Govt school students helped

Bangalore: Wonderla, an amuse-ment park company, distributedfree school uniforms, schoolbags, notebooks and other schoolmaterials to more than 300 stu-dents studying in governmentschools surrounding villages of the amusement parkevery year.

Under its corporate social re-

sponsibility initiative, ‘EnrichingLives’, it is providing a helpinghand to students studying ingovernment schools of Vajara-halli, Jadenahalli, Man-chanayakanahalli, Hirehalli, Bet-thamgere and Hakkipikki Colonysurrounding Wonderla.

Narmada Nanda, deputy di-rector, department of women

and child development, said,“In a country like India, whereeducation is very crucial to chil-dren in rural areas, such initiativeby corporates are very encour-aging. I am delighted to be apart of this initiative by Wonderlaand support and motivate thestudents who are willing to learnand grow in their lives”.

IBM awardsIIT‑K,

DrishteeFoundationBangalore: IBM has announcedthe IBM Centennial Grants forIIT Kharagpur and Drishtee Foun-dation.

These organisations wereamong the 11 shortlisted for the“Smarter Planet” grants aroundthe world.

The IBM Centennial Grantsare both monetary and in-kindawards up to USD 100,000 eachand fund innovative projects inareas such as healthcare, energyand food safety, the companysaid in a statement.

Drishtee Foundation would use this grant for its“Smart Rural Aggregation Platform”, which would helpcreate “Smarter Villages” in ruralIndia by connecting the watersupply with community farm-ers.

IIT, Kharagpur would use thegrant to help fund a ‘Sensor Web For Smarter Cities’ project which would develop sensor software to assist with rainfallmonitoring and flood forecasting, providing floodwarnings to citizens via text message and emails. PTI

IT expo to provide up to100% subsidy

for SMEsNew Delhi: With focus on innovation and weightage to in-digenous IT start-up and Smallscale companies, BangloreIT.bizshow organisers said that theyhave schemes which can provideup to 100 per cent subsidy to astart-up or small sector IT com-pany.

“In this 14th edition of exhi-bition, a start-up or small sectorcompany can avail between 20-100 per cent subsidy,” JagdishPatankar, managing director,MM Activ said.

BangaloreIT.biz, an initiativeof Karnataka government andSoftware Technology Parks ofIndia to promote Indian IT in-dustry, is scheduled to be heldfrom October 18 to 20, 2011 inBangalore.

“We are partnering with otherstates to bring them on board ofthis event where we will show-case and connect IT industry ofIndia with global industry,” saidM N Vidyashankar, principal sec-retary, department of IT, Kar-nataka, said.

Vidyashankar said that 10states, including Gujarat, TamilNadu and Andhra Pradesh, haveconfirmed their participation inthe exhibition.

The three-day event will com-prise mutli-track conferences,international exhibition,Guiness Book of World record

fame rural IT quiz, session onbuilding application based inAadhaar. PTI

GSAT‑12 reaches geostationary orbit

Bangalore: The GSAT-12 com-munication satellite, launchedonboard PSLV-C17, has beensuccessfully placed in geosyn-chronous orbit with a perigee of35,684 km, apogee of 35,715 kmand an orbital inclination of 0.17deg with respect to the equatorialplane.

On July 15, Polar SatelliteLaunch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) in-jected GSAT-12 into an elliptical transfer orbit of 281 kmperigee (closest point to Earth)and 21,027 km apogee (farthestpoint to earth), and orbital in-clination of 17.9 deg.

Critical manoeuvres to raise GSAT-12 Satellite into geo-synchronous orbit were per-formed by firing the 440 NewtonLiquid Apogee Motor of thespacecraft for about 80 minutesin five spells during July 16-20.

The communication antennaonboard the satellite was de-ployed successfully today at 15:30hrs and the spacecraft is in itsfinal orbital configuration, point-ing towards earth, according toan ISRO statement.

GSAT-12 is now located at 63deg East longitude. The satellitewould be moved to reach its des-ignated longitude of 83 degreeEast within the next 16 days (atthe rate of one degree per day).The GSAT-12 would be co-locatedwith INSAT-2E and INSAT-4Asatellites, the space agencyadded.

After parking the satellite atthis location, the communicationtransponders are planned to beswitched on by August 5, fol-lowed by in-orbit testing.

“The GSAT-12 satellite is ingood health and is in continuousradio-visibility from ISRO’s Mas-ter Control Facility, Hassan,” itwas stated. PTI

Narmada Nanda, deputy director, department of women and child development, inaugurates the corporate social responsibility initiative of Wonderla

YOGARAJ BUT...!Bhaathi (11,2.30,6,9.15PM) Govard-han Theatre (11.30 am, 2.30, 6 , 9pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (10.30 am,2,5,8PM) Kamakya (10.45 am, 1.45,5.45, 8.45 pm) Triveni (10.30 am,1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Veeresh (10.15am,1.15 pm)

KRISHNA N MARRIAGE STORY (U)Ganesh, Yami GauthamBalaji (Tavarekre) (11 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Ganesh (11 am, 2, 6, 9pm) Krishna (KR Puram) (10.30 am) Manasa (10.30 am) Maruthi (11.30am, 2.30 pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30 pm)Nandini (11 am, 2, 5, 8 pm) Sagar(10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30 pm) Sid-dheshwara (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Srinvasa (Gowdanapalya)(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Ullas (5.45, 8.45 pm) Vijayalakshmi(Garudacharpalya) (11 am, 2.30 pm)Vajreshwari (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15pm) Inox (Jayanagar) (4 pm) Inox(JP Nagar) (12.50 pm, 6.30 pm) Inox(Malleswaram) (10.15 am, 3.55, 6.40,9.25 pm)

POLICE STORY 3 (U/A)SudeepAdarsh (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Anupama (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,

7.30 pm) Nartaki (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm) Uma (10.15, 1,4, 7pm)

SHRIMATHI (A)Upendra, Priyanka UpendraAdarsh (11.30 am, 2.30, 6, 9 pm)Bharathi (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)Eshwari (11.00 am) Inox (Malle-swaram) (12.30 pm) Manasa (11.30am) Mohan (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15pm) Nartaki (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Prasanna (10.15 am, 1.15,4.15, 7.15 pm) Uma (10.15 am, 1, 4,7 pm) Veerabhadreshwara (10.30am, 1.30 pm) Vaibhav (11.30 am)

BANNA BANNADHA LOKA ANNABANNADHA LOKA BHUMIKABhumika (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30,) Ullas (10.45 am, 1.45 pm)Vishal (11 am, 2.30, 6, 9.15 pm)

KIRATAKA (U/A)Yash, Oviya Helen, T S Nagab-haranaGoverdhan (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Kapali (10.30 am, 1.30,4.30, 7.30 pm)

DHAN DHANA DHAN (U)Prem Kumar, Sharmila MandreBanashankari (Hongasandra) (11am, 2.15, 6.15, 9.15 pm).

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLYHALLOWS (U/A)Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson,Rupert Grint“3D” Cinepolis (10.20 am, 11.40,3, 5.30, 7.40, 10 pm) Fame (Lido)(11.15 am, 1.45, 4.20, 6.55, 9.30pm) Fame (Shankarnag) (9.40 pm)Fun Cinemas (10.30 am, 3.45, 6.30,9.25 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-

nerghatta Road) (10 am, 5.30, 7.30,10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (MysoreRoad) (10 am, 5.20, 7.40, 10 pm)Gopalan (Innovation Mall) (10.20am, 5, 7.30, 10 pm) Innovative Mul-tiplex (11.15 am, 1.45, 6.45, 9.30pm)Inox (Magrath Road) (10.35 am,4.10, 6.50, 9.30 pm) Inox (Malle-swaram( (0 am, 2.05, 7.20, 9.45pm)

LARRY CROWNE (U/A) Tom Hanks, Julia RobertFame Lido (12.35 pm, 7.35 pm) PVRCinemas (10 am, 2.40, 7.20, 10 pm)

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THEMOON (U/A)Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley“3D” Cinemax (2.15 pm, 7.15, 10pm) Fame Lido (10.15 am, 3.25,6.20, 9.15 pm) Fun Cinemas (12.45pm, 3.50, 6.55, 10 pm pm) GopalanCinemas (B’ghatta Road) (10 am,4.30, 7.15, 10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas(Mysore Road) (11 am, 1.45, 9.30)

Movie ListingsKANNADA

ENGLISH

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA (U/A)Katrina, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik,Abhay Deol and Kalki KoechlinAbhinav (10 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Cauvery (11.30 am, 2.30, 6,9.15 pm) Cinemax (10 am, 1, 3.30,4.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Cinepolis (10am, 11 am, 12.55, 3.30, 4.10, 6.25,7.05, 9.20 pm) Eshwari (11.15 am,2.15, 6.15, 9.15 pm) Everest (FraserTown) (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.15, 9.30pm) Fun Cinemas (10 am, 12.45, 4,7, 10 pm) Gopalan Cinemas (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10.15 am, 1.10,4.10, 9.45 pm) Gopalan (LegacyMall) (10 am, 4, 7, 9.15 pm) Gopalan(Mysore Road) (10.15 am, 1.15, 7,9.50) HMT Cinemas (1.30 pm, 7.15pm) Innovative Multiplex (11 am,

1.45, 4.30, 7.15, 10 pm) Inox (Jayana-gar) (10 am, 12.25, 3.20, 6.15, 9pm) Inox (JP Nagar) (10 am, 12, 3,4.35, 6, 9 pm) MURDER 2 (A) Emraan Hashmi, Jacqueline Fer-nandezApsara (11.30 am, 2.15, 5.30, 8.30pm) Abhinay (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Abhiman (Goripalya) (11am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Anand(3.30 pm, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Fame Forum Value Mall (10.30 am, 2.50,4, 7, 9.30 pm) Fame Lido (10 am,2.35, 5, 9.35 pm) Fame (Shankarnag)(2 pm) Fun Cinemas (10.10 am,4.30, 7.30 pm) HMT Cinemas (Jala-halli) (10.45 am, 9.45 pm) Inox(Jayanagar) (10.30 pm) Inox (JP Na-gar) (10 am, 7.30 pm).

HINDI

TELUGU

KANCHANA MUNI 2 Lawrence Raghavendra, Lakshmi Rai

Chandrodaya (11.30 am, 2.30pm)Murali (Gokula) (11 am, 2.30pm)Movieland (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Renukaprasanna (11 am,2.30 pm) Radhakrishna (11.30 am,2.45 pm) Vaishnavi (11.30 am, 2.30,6.30, 9.30 pm) Venkateshwara (KRPuram) (6.30 pm, 9.30 pm)

NAANNA Vikram, Anushka Anjan (10.30 am, 1.30, 4.30, 7.30pm) Chandrodaya (4.30 pm, 7.30pm) Renukaprasanna (6, 9.15 pm)Rajarajeshwari (11 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Tulasi (Marathahalli) (11.30am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Tirumala (10 am, 1.45, 5.30, 8.45pm)

SINGHAM (U/A)Ajay Devgan, Kajal Agarwal

Apsara (KR Market) (11.30 am,2.30, 5.30, 8.30 pm) Cauvery(Sankey Town) (11.30 am, 2.30,6, 9.30 pm) Cinepolis (Ban-nerghatta Road) (10.40 am, 12.45,1.20, 3.50, 6.35, 9.20, 10 pm)Everest (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Gopalan (Arcade Mall)(10 am, 12.30, 4.50, 7.25, 10 pm)Gopalan Cinemas (BannerghattaRoad) (10 am, 12.25, 3.10, 7.10,9.50 pm) Gopalan (Legacy Mall)(10.15 am, 1, 3.45, 6.30, 10 pm)HMT (Jalahalli) (10.45 am, 4.15,9.45 pm) Innovative (10.15 am,

12.45, 5, 7.30, 10 pm) Lakshmi(10.15 am, 1.15, 5.15, 8.15 pm)Manasa (11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm) Radhakrishna (11.30am, 2.45, 6.30, 9.30 pm) Rex(2.15, 7.10 pm) Navarang (10.15am, 1.15, 4.15, 10 pm) Srinagraja(11 am, 2, 5, 8 pm) Sri Srinivasa(11.30 am, 2.30, 6.30, 9.30 pm)Tribhuvan (10. 30 am, 1.30, 4.30,7.30 pm) Vaibhav (11.30 am, 2.30,6, 9.30 pm) Varjeshwari (4.30,7.30 pm) Veeresh (10 pm) Vinayaka (11.15 am, 2.30, 6.30,9.30 pm)

CITYFriday, July 22, 2011 3CITY EVENTSGeneralThe National Association forthe Blind: Distribution of cer-tificates to trainees of MobilityTraining Centre, PraveenVishakantaiah President IN-TEL, NAB, CA 4, NAB Road, JB Nagar, 4 pm.

Udayabhanu Kala Sangha:Inauguration of classes inAditya Hrudaya and Shanthi-mantra, by seer Harshananda,Sangha premises, opp Gavipu-ram Salu Chatragalu, Ramakr-ishna Mutt premises, K G Na-gar, 5.15 pm.

Rotary Bangalore, Hanuman-thanagar: Installation of of-fice-bearers for Rotary 2011-12, by Rtn Badari Prasad, TheBangalore City Institute, 8,Pampa Mahakavi Road,Chamarajpet, 6.30 pm.

Citizen Society of India: 12thanniversary of Kargil Victory,Rashtriya Sainik Smarak, oppJaawaharlal Nehru Planetari-um, 4 pm.

India China Friendship As-sociaiton, Karnataka: A sem-inar on ‘Software and ServiceOutsourcing,’ Zhang Funning,Deputy Mayor of Xuzhou toparticipate, Hotel Lalith Ashok,Kumara Krupa Road, 6.30 pm.

ReligiousSri Shankara Jayanti Mandali:Discourse on ‘Bruhadarnay-opanishad,’ by RamachandraSharma, Sri Shankara Krupa,45, 16th Cross, 3rd Block,Jayanagar, 6.30 pm.

Srimadananda Theerta Prav-achana Samithi: Discourse on‘Dwadasha sthotra,’ by Am-bareeshacharya, Sri Raghaven-dra Swami Mutt, Amar-jyothinagar, 7 pm.

Rama Pravachana Mandir:Discourse on ‘Bhagavad Gita,’by Aralumallige Parthasarathi,Rama Pravachana Mandir, 795,5th Cross, 7th D Main Road,Koramangala, 4th Block, 6.30pm.

Sri Rama Mandiram Associ-ation: Discourse on ‘BhagavadGita,’ by Keshavamurthy, SriRama Temple, Model HouseBlock, Basavanagudi, 6.30 pm.

ExhibitionsCultural Connections: Friday,July 22nd, 2011. 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Gallerie Third Eye, No A-1 Epsilon Office Block, YemalurMain Road, Yemalur An exhi-bition of contemporary Indianpaintings by Parmesh D Joladand Sudeep Mukerjee, curatedby Jasmine Khanna.

Recorder of Life, Beauty andTruth: Friday, July 22nd, 2011.10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tasveer, No26/1, Kasturba Cross Road,Tasveer presents an exhibitionof photographs by TS Satyan,one of India's first photojour-nalists.

Tête-à-tête @ Apparao: Friday,July 22nd, 2011. 10 a.m. to 8p.m. Apparao Galleries, No 82The Presidency, St Marks Road,Apparao Galleries presents'Tête-à-tête', an exhibition ofpaintings and sculptures byeleven artists including Altaf,Anjolie Ela Menon, FN Souza,George K, K Muralidhar, LaxmaGoud, Shipra Bhattacharyaand Sunil Padwal.

Cartoon Exhibition: Friday,July 22nd, 2011. 11 a.m. to 8p.m. Indian Cartoon Gallery,Midford House, Midford Gar-den, MG Road, An exhibitionof cartoon illustrations byAmerican cartoonist MelvinMathew.

A Slice of Life @ Veda: Friday,July 22nd, 2011. 11 a.m. to 6p.m. Veda Art Gallery, PalaceView Builidng, Sankey Road,Kumara Park West Veda ArtGallery presents 'A Slice ofLife', an exhibition of art workby JMS Mani, Laxman Aelay,Kishan Kappari and Muruge-san.

Group Show @ Sumukha:Friday, July 22nd, 2011. 10:30a.m. to 6 p.m. GallerySumukha, No 24/10, BTS DepotRoad, Wilson Garden An ex-hibition of sculptures, etch-ings, woodcuts and photo-graphs by various artists fromdifferent parts of the country.

Food

Kerala Food Festival: Bon-South presents its first Keralafood festival, Kerala cuisinehas a lot of varieties from dif-ferent regions of the State.From the Moplah and the Syr-

ian Christian specialities tothe vegetarian delicacies ofNamboodiri cuisine. Each ofthese regional varieties has adistinctive taste and flavour.The cuisine is a delight forfood lovers, for both vegetari-ans and non vegetarians. Avail-able both at lunch and dinner,the Buffet is priced at Rs. 350plus taxes. BonSouth, No 1Sampige road, Mantri Square,3rd Floor next to Oval bar. call: 080 22667377 & for Homedelivery 080 22667378.

Mama Mia! Introduces theIce-cream Cakes: which aregreat for any celebration ditchthe regular creamy cake onyour next birthday for a deli-cious frozen icecream cake.These yummy cakes are greatas a party dessert as well! Cur-rent Flavours available by theslice or whole Fererro RocherCake, Cookie Crumble Cake,After Eight Cake, WildberriesCake, Chocolate Marble Cake,Belgian Chocolate Hoopla!Price: Rs 389 for 1 kg and Rs699 for 2 kg and Rs 59 perslice. Indiranagar Call 4114-9423, Koramangala. Tel: 93794-16398, Jyoti Niwas CollegeRoad. Koramangala Tel:40981868.

ShoppingCrimson's Annual MonsoonSale: Friday, July 22nd, 2011.11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Crimson ArtGallery, The Hatworks Boule-vards, No 32, CunninghamRoad, Vasanthnagar Paintingsat discount rates, along withan additional offer where pa-trons get 50% off every secondpurchase.

Lifestyle presents Watch Fest:Friday, July 22nd, 2011. 10 a.m.to 9 p.m. Lifestyle, AdarshOpus, Campbell Road,Austin Town Offers and dis-counts on a wide range ofwatches.

Pepe Sale: Friday, July 22nd,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pepe,No 2, Brigade Road, Dis-counts of up to 60% on allmerchandise.

Sale @ Esprit: Friday, July22nd, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Esprit, No 10 Ananda Bhavan,Vittal Mallya Road, Esprit an-nounces a sale where patronscan avail discounts of up to50% on apparel and acces-sories, and a flat 25% off watch-es.

Lee Sale: Friday, July 22nd,2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Lee,Royal Meenakshi Mall, NoE1/16, Syndicate Bank Colony,1st Cross, Bennerghatta RoadLee merchandise at discountsof up to 50%.

3 for 2 offer: Friday, July 22nd,2011. 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.Landmark, The Forum Mall,No 21, Hosur Road, Koraman-gala Landmark presents the 3for 2 offer, where readers canchoose from a collection ofover 200 best sellers and newreleases and get three bookswith the offer sticker for theprice for two.

Sale @ French Connection:Friday, July 22nd, 2011. 10 a.m.to 9 p.m. French Connection,Adarsh Opus, Campbell Road,Austin Town Men get a flat30% off, while women are en-titled to discounts up to 50%on all merchandise at FrenchConnection’s end of seasonsale across all outlets.

Van Heusen Sale: Friday, July22nd, 2011. 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.Van Heusen, No 194, BrigadeRoad, Discounts of up to 40%on all apparel. The sale is onacross all outlets.

Happiness Sale: Friday, July22nd, 2011. 11 a.m. to 9:30p.m. Bangalore Central, No47/48 Victoria Embassy, Resi-dency Road, Bangalore Centralannounces the HappinessSale, featuring apparel andaccessories at discounts of upto 61 percent. The sale is onacross all outlets.

Eating OutPower Lunch: Friday, July22nd, 2011. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.City Bar Karaoke + Grill, UBCity, No 24, Vittal Mallya Road,Now be connected even duringthe quick business lunch. Freewi-fi access while you fill upin the middle of the day.

Weekday Lunch Buffet @ManU: Friday, July 22nd, 2011.noon to 3 p.m. ManchesterUnited Restaurant Bar, TheManchester United Restaurantand Bar launches a weekdaylunch buffet priced at Rs 350plus taxes right from startersto desserts.

Prez in city on August 7 for NLSIU convocation

D L HarishBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: President of India PratibhaPatil is arriving in the city on August 7.

She will confer degrees on passing outgraduates of the prestigious National LawSchool of India University that day.

The convocation of the university isbeing held at the Banquet Hall of VidhanaSoudha. Officials at NLSIU told BangaloreBeat that Vidhana Soudha has been chosenbecause of the security reasons.

NLSIU examination officer M Padmavatisaid that the convocation would begin at11 am and would get over by 1 pm.

More than 140 graduating students wouldbe presented with degrees that day. ThePresident will also give away 38 goldmedals.

Padmavati said the list of gold medalistshas been kept a secret and would be re-

vealed only on August 6, the day prior tothe convocation. Chief Justice of the Kar-nataka High Court Justice J S Khehar Singh,university vice-chancellor Dr R Venkat Raoand other dignitaries would be present atthe convocation.

The Chief Justice of India will not bepresent, but he is sending a representativefor the event, she said. The graduatingstudents have been strictly instructed aboutthe protocol and will have to flash theirinvitation cards before entering the con-vocation venue, she said.

Two persons will be allowed along withthe invitation card holders.

The students would be given the hoodand the gown the day previous to the con-vocation and they have to wear them beforeentering the venue, she said.

The Banquet Hall can accommodate 800persons and is expected to be full thatday, Padmavati said.

Canara Bank plans to set up offices in 5 countries this fiscal

New Delhi: In a bid to expandits overseas footprint, CanaraBank plans to open offices infive countries, including Ger-many and Japan, during the cur-rent fiscal.

“We plan to set up offices inJapan, Germany, South Africa,Bahrain and Saudi Arabia,” saidCanara Bank executive directorArchana S Bhargava.

A wholesale banking branchshould come up next month inBahrain, she said, adding thatthe bank has already got ap-proval from regulators from bothIndia and Bahrain.

The bank is also pursuing alicence from the US authoritiesto set up banking operations.The US application is at a verypreliminary stage, she said afterinaugurating a specialised gov-ernment business branch here.

Currently, the bank has over-seas branches in the UK, HongKong and China. In the UK, thebank has one branch each inLondon and Leicester. The totalbusiness of these four overseasbranches aggregated USD 4,376million for the financial yearended March, 2011.

It also has a joint venture withSBI in Moscow, Russia.

The bank opened a represen-tative office at Sharjah, in the

UAE, last fiscal.As far as domestic branch ex-

pansion is concerned, the bankplans to open 300 branchesacross various states in the coun-try during 2011-12.

Currently, the bank has 3,300branches and 2,508 ATMs in thecountry.

Asked about loan growth,Bhargava said the bank expectsto witness credit growth of 18-20 per cent during the current

fiscal, even though it has beenslack in the first four months ofthe current fiscal.

Last fiscal, the Bangalore-based bank witnessed a creditgrowth of 25 per cent.

Deposit growth is expected tobe around 22 per cent during2011-12, she added.

On net interest margins (NIM),she said the bank will try andkeep this above 3 per cent duringthe current financial year. PTI

Vishwanath: HDKsolely responsiblefor illegal mining

Bangalore Beat Bureau

New Delhi: Former chief ministerand JD(S) state president H DKumaraswamy is solely respon-sible for the flow of illegal moneythrough illegal mining, allegedMysore MP H Vishwanath heretoday. He said, “Kumaraswamyshould bear the entire burdenof the present crisis because ofillegal mining. He joined handswith miners and brought downthe coalition government withthe Congress. He then went alongwith the BJP and failed to passon the power to his coalitionpartner.”

“The entire money to form thegovernment, brought about bythe ‘dirty and swift revolution’,came from the illegal mining.He was the first chief ministerto collude with the miners andto bring in dirty money into pol-itics,” he said.

The entire controversy that isnow boiling over is due to theunscrupulous methods used by

Kumaraswamy, he alleged.He went to the extent of charg-

ing Kumaraswamy with beingthe progenitor of illegal miningin the state.

The curse that the former chiefminister forced on the state pol-itics continues to haunt, he said.“Kumaraswamy has to own upthe responsibility for that.”

H Vishwanath

Coffee Day: Wechanged coffeeculture in India

L RaghunandaBangalore Beat Bureau

Bangalore: It was 15 long yearsago that first Café Coffee Day(CCD) was set up on BrigadeRoad. What started as a smalloutlet has now spawned thou-sands of such cafes across thecounty, capturing the imagina-tion of the youth.

They have ventured out of theborder too. Coffee Day now has11 outlets in Czech Republic thereand four in Austria.

“The culture of sipping coffeein a café was something thatwas nonexistent 15 years agowhen Café Coffee Day was start-ed. It was a culture limited toold cafes along some majorstreets of the cities and townsacross the state. But Café CoffeeDay changed all that with its of-fering of espresso, latte and otherexotic varieties of coffee. Thepresent generation, which hadan affluent lifestyle lapped itup,” said K Ramakrishnan, pres-ident (marketing), Café CoffeeDay India operations, while talk-ing to Bangalore Beat.

Asked about the competitionfrom brands like Starbucks andBarista, he said, “Yes Barista hasalready made a footprint in India.

Starbucks so far has notevinced any interest in makinga foray into the country. Even ifthey make an entry, we will notbe taken by surprise; we knowhow to deal with it,” he said.

“So far, Café Coffee Day has1,185 outlets in the country, ascompared to 600-odd such out-lets from all other companiesput together. Our target for 2015is to increase the number of out-lets to 2000,” he said.

At present, the company hasthe maximum number of outletsin the NCR region of Delhi, fol-lowed by 160 in Bangalore and135 outlets in Mumbai. “Acrossthe country, we have set up out-lets wherever we feel there is apotential.”

“At CCD, we want to seize theopportunity for business growthby setting up more outlets. Weconstantly track the trends as towhat customers look for andhave an upper edge comparedto others in this business,” hesaid.

But he refused to reveal theholding pattern, profits and otherfinancials of the company.

He said, “CCD has enoughblended coffee for our outletssupplied from our own estatesspanning over 10,000 acres atChikmagalore, Hassan, andMadikeri districts. We grow va-rieties of coffee to cater to theneeds of our outlets.”

“Customers in our countryprefer to drink strong blendedcoffee that comes through Ara-bica and Robusta variants. Wejust don’t offer coffee, we alsoserve sandwiches, muffins andother eatables.

Every year, we refresh themenu, and of late we have addedVegan shake, with no milk in it.We have also tried to innovatewith channa sandwich andstrawberry chocolate muffin,etc.”

He said the company has notdone much marketing as thecustomers are busy with theirfriends. “But we are keen to col-lect the customer responses. OurFacebook page has got over 8.5lakh fans. What more do youwant?”

Autos go off the road to protest permits to new vehicles

Continued from page 1“We are taking out a huge protestand planning to meet the con-cerned government officials. Thegovernment is saying that it isgoing to add another 40,000 ex-tra autos as the BBMP has ex-tended its wings reaching up to198 wards.

They claim that it is for thegood of the people. I do notknow why the government is sokeen on adding more autos,when it has left many wishes ofthe people unattended, like en-suring basic amenities, providingjobs for the unemployed etc. Thepeople have not asked for anyextra autos. It is a lobby workingfor the autorickshaw manufac-turers which has pulled stringsand pressured the governmentto issue more permits,”Meenakshi Sundaram, state pres-ident, Auto Rickshaw Driver’sUnion, told Bangalore Beat.

“We have already submittedmany memoranda. The govern-ment can ask renowned institu-tions like the Indian Institute ofManagement or Indian Schoolof Economics to conduct an ex-

tensive survey on the number ofautos present in the city, andhow many number of autos thecity may need as compared to

its population. The governmenthas not yet issued permits tomany existing autos. It shouldget the information and a proper

database before arriving at theright number of autorickshawsneeded for the city,” Sundaramadded.

Members of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers’ Union protest at the Freedom Park today. They demanded withdrawal of government’s decision to allow 40,000 three-wheelers in the city.

Home and transport minister R Ashok tries his hand at volleyball while inaugurating the 27th state-level volleyball championship at Corporation Stadium

in Jayanagar 4th Block today.

See, I can serve too!S Rashakrishna Lokayukta

conducts raidsacross state

Continued from page 1He also has houses in Shimoga andBangalore.

The Lokayukta officials have alsofound a lot of documents of benamiresidential properties.

A whopping Rs 50 lakh cash wasfound in his residence. His office hasbeen seized and documents regardingillegal contracts and other official doc-uments have been recovered. At Bagalko-re, Hunagund zilla panchayat assistantexecutive engineer Suresh NingappaGoudar’s house was raided.

His office in Badami too was searchedby the Lokayukta team led by SiddaLingannanavar. Rs 4 lakh cash, propertydocuments, jewellery and other valuableswere recovered.

He has another house in Dharwadwhich too has been raided. The houseis estimated to cost Rs 50 lakh.

KRS dam levelreaches 111ft

Bangalore Beat Bureau

Mysore: Due to the heavy downpour atBhagamandala and other catchment ar-eas of river Cauvery, the KRS dam hasreached 111 feet.

The inflow into the dam has beenrecorded at 20,452 cusecs and the outflowis 6298 cusecs.

The dam is just short of 13 more feetto reach the capacity level of 124 feet.

Yesterday, the dam level was 108.85feet, said the Kaveri Niravari Nigam Ltd.

S Radhakrishna

The latest Cafe Coffee Day outlet opened at Barton Centre onMG Road.

Gangadhar Pujar

Printed and published by B M Arun Kumar vide RNI Registration No. KARENG/2010/33126. Published by SAM Global Media, # 37, 1 Floor, 2nd Main, N. R. Colony, Bangalore - 560 019. Editor: B M Arun Kumar Printed at Lavanya Mudrana, #19, 15th Cross, Thyaarajanagar, Bangalore – 560 028. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation in any language in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for the return of unsolicited material or for material lost or damaged in transit. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Bangalore only.

NEWSFriday, July 22, 2011 4

Apple topples Nokia to become top smart phone seller

New York: Apple has toppledNokia to become the world’snumber one smart phone sell-er.

In its second-quarterly resultsyesterday, the Finnish cellphonecompany reported shipment of16.7 million smart phones.

But during the same periodApple shipped 20.3 millioniPhones, the Cupertino, Califor-nia-based company had an-nounced in its quarterly resultsTuesday.

According to the analyst firmInternational Data Corporation(IDC) which tracks informationtechnology markets, Nokia nowaccounts for just 16 percent ofsmart phone sales globally -down from 37 percent last year.

However, Nokia still continuesto dominate the basic-featurecellphone market even thoughSamsung is now breathing downits neck in that market also.

In both smart phone and ba-sic-feature cellphone markets,Nokia’s share of the global mar-

ket has slipped to 25 percentfrom 34 percent a year ago.

But Nokia beat forecasts topost a net profit of $551 millionduring the period.

“These disastrous results showhow quickly bad a business canbecome for a company that doesnot understand the trends aheadof competitors or is too slow toreact to those trends, in a suchfast moving industry,’’ says theIDC as quoted by mobiletoday.

“Nokia is bleeding on all

fronts. On the smartphone seg-ment its portfolio is not attractivein terms of user experience,ecosystem and even price. Sincethe company started strugglingin 2009, a price differentiationstrategy was pursued to keepvolumes high, but even this isnot working anymore. Con-sumers can already find betterAndroid devices at lower pricesthan Nokia smart devices.

“This could even get worse inthe next quarters as Apple is ru-moured to be launching a cheap-er iPhone in September. If thisis true, Nokia will continue losingmarket share until the new plat-form from Microsoft is fully de-ployed. From the feature phonesperspective, the high volumedriver for Nokia, the situationwon’t get any better,’’ accordingto the analyst firm. The onlyhope for Nokia to reverse its declinenow lies in the new Microsoft Win-dow Phone 7 platform it is adoptingfrom next year as its main smartphone strategy. IANS

SC allows Sanjay to travel abroadNew Delhi: The Supreme Courttoday allowed Bollywood actorSanjay Dutt, convicted in the1993 Mumbai serial blast case,to go abroad till January 10 nextyear.

A bench of justices P Sathasi-vam and B S Chauhan asked theactor to surrender his passportwithin a week after coming backto the country.

The court passed the orderson a petition filed by the actorseeking the court’s permissionto go abroad for shooting of afilm till June 2012.

A special TADA court in Mum-bai had in November 2006 ac-quitted Dutt of TADA chargesbut held him guilty under theArms Act for possessing aweapon illegally. He was sen-tenced to six years’ imprison-ment.

Dutt was granted bail in 2007on his appeal challenging his

conviction in the Mumbai serialblasts.

Dutt has been approachingthe apex court since then forpermission to go abroad for com-pleting his film assignments. PTI

A massive utsava was held on top of the Chamundi Hills in Mysore on the occasion ofAshada Friday today. It is also Chamundi Jayanti today.

Chamundi UtsavS Rashakrishna

Ex‑aides question James Murdoch testimony over phone hacking

London: Putting News Interna-tional chairman James Murdochin a tight spot, two of his formerexecutives have questioned histestimony to a parliamentarycommittee where he pleaded ig-norance to the wider practice ofphone hacking at his now de-funct newspaper News of theWorld.

Raising doubts about the ve-racity of the phone-hacking ac-count given by Murdoch beforethe Commons Culture, Mediaand Sport Committee, his formeremployees have said they hadinformed him of a critical pieceof evidence in the scandal.

Murdoch, who was quizzedthis week, had told the committeethat he was not “aware” of anemail suggesting the practicewent wider than a “rogue” Newsof the World reporter.

But former NOTW editor ColinMyler and ex-News Internationallegal manager Tom Crone lastnight said they “did inform” himof the email.

In a statement issued by NewsCorporation, Murdoch respondedby saying: “I stand by my testi-mony to the select committee”.

The testimony in questionrefers to the April 2008 paymentauthorised by Murdoch as part

of an out-of-court settlement ofmore than 600,000 pounds toGordon Taylor, chief executiveof the Professional Footballers’Association, over the hacking ofhis phone.

He said at that time he didnot know the full extent of hack-ing that may have been goingon at the tabloid.

The paper’s royal editor CliveGoodman and private investiga-tor Glenn Mulcaire had bothbeen jailed for hacking intophones of the royal householdin 2007. At the committee hear-ing, Labour’s Tom Watson askedMurdoch: “When you signed off

the Taylor payment, did you seeor were you made aware of thefull” email suggesting hackingwas more widespread than hadbeen admitted.

To which, Murdoch replied:“No, I was not aware of that atthe time... There was every reasonto settle the case, given the like-lihood of losing the case andgiven the damages – we had re-ceived counsel – that would belevied”.

In their statement, Myler andCrone said: “Just by way of clar-ification relating to Tuesday’sCMS Select Committee hearing,we would like to point out that

James Murdoch’s recollection ofwhat he was told when agreeingto settle the Gordon Taylor liti-gation was mistaken.

“In fact, we did inform himof the ‘for Neville’ email whichhad been produced to us by Gor-don Taylor’s lawyers”.

In an editorial titled ‘NewsCorp and phone hacking: Wilfulblindness at the very top’, TheGuardian said: “If Mr Murdoch’sevidence was wrong, it under-mines all the clean broom as-surances he and his father gaveto parliament on Wednesday. Avery great deal hangs on sortingout who is telling the truth”. PTI

Indo‑Pakties priority:Pak ministerIslamabad: Days ahead of hervisit to New Delhi for crucialtalks with her Indian counterpart,Pakistan’s new foreign ministerHina Rabbani Khar has said herpriority in the parleys with Indiawould be to set a future directionfor the bilateral relationship.

Khar said it is a “positive step”that India is serious in the talksand is moving to institutionalisethe process of negotiations withPakistan.

There was forward movementin recent talks between the twocountries, she said.

The Pakistani position for theupcoming talks is that it wantsto “look at the entire picture andat the root causes of problems”,Khar said in an interview withstate-run PTV.

It was the success of Pakistanto bring India back to the nego-tiating table, and the priority forthe upcoming talks would be toset a future direction for bilateralrelationship, she added.

During her talks with externalaffairs minister S M Krishna, thetwo sides will take stock ofprogress made at secretary-leveltalks, said Khar, who will travelto India on July 26 and hold talkswith Krishna the following day.

She said Pakistan is pro-ac-tively engaging with neighbour-ing countries, particularlyAfghanistan and India, toachieve sustainable peace andstability in the region.

Asked about the arrest ofKashmiri separatist leader Ghu-lam Nabi Fai in the US on chargesof working for Pakistani intelli-gence agencies, Khar said Fai isa US citizen and “he will be ableto resolve his present problemwithin the available system”.

Khar, 34, became Pakistan’syoungest and first woman For-eign Minister on Tuesday whenshe was elevated to the statusof a full-fledged cabinet minister.She was earlier the Minister ofState for Foreign Affairs.

She said peace and stabilityin Afghanistan is critical for Pak-istan and the destinies of thetwo countries are inter-linked.

Pakistan desires thatAfghanistan should be peacefuland stable, she added.

“The only role of Pakistan asa neighbour is to help stabiliseAfghanistan... We insist that thereconciliation process inAfghanistan must be Afghan-led and Afghan-owned,” Kharsaid.

Afghanistan should be a sov-ereign country and due consid-eration should be given to whatthe Afghan jirgas, governmentand parliament say, she said.

“Many countries have the viewthat any foreign presence in theregion will create problems inthe long run,” she remarked.

Asked about her upcomingmeeting with US Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton on the side-lines of an ASEAN conferencethis week, Khar said Pakistan is“reviewing its terms of engage-

ment with the United States”.She stressed the need to bring

clarity on issues between theUS and Pakistan.

Her job, she said, is to bringmore clarity on issues and lookat convergences with other coun-tries.

“Our relationship with the UShas suffered because of lack ofclarity on issues... We shouldbe more pro-active in the en-gagement with the US and tryto minimise grey areas, so thatthere are no misperceptions,”she said.

The Pakistan-US relationshipis based on convergence of in-terests. “Pakistan is a very im-portant country in the region.Why we should be apologetic?”she added.

Khar was hopeful that bothcountries would continue withtheir Strategic Dialogue basedon diplomatic, economic, trade,military and intelligence coop-eration.

She noted that the govern-ment has taken full ownershipof the resolution passed by par-liament after the covert Americanraid that killed Osama bin Ladenin May and told the United Statesthat drone attacks are counter-productive.

“The drone attacks are con-tracting the political spacegained by the democratic lead-ership,” she said.

Despite the fact that Pakistanhas various challenges, it alsohas numerous opportunities fordevelopment and prosperity,Khar said.

Pakistan’s economy is “notdependent on foreign assistanceand there is a need to come outof the dependency syndrome”,she said.

Those who are killing innocentpeople in mosques and at publicplaces and attacking law en-forcement personnel are not thewell-wishers of Pakistan, she re-marked.

The current law and order sit-uation is hampering the progressof Pakistan, she said. PTI

TIME TO HAVE SEPARATE INDIA OFFICE AT US STATE DEPT: REPORT

Washington: With the rapid expansionof India-US ties, which are expected todeepen in the coming years, it is timeto upgrade the India Desk at the Southand Central Asia Bureau of the StateDepartment to a full-fledged India Office,an official report has said.

In its latest report, the State Depart-ment's Inspector General has also rec-ommended the reunion of the Southand Central Asia Bureau with that Office of the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP)that was carved out when US President Barack Obama appointedRichard Holbrooke as his point manfor Afghanistan and Pakistan. But, sucha move only created duplicity, it said.

Currently the India desk is combinedwith the desks for five other countries,including Bangladesh. But, the report

said it is the practice of the Departmentof State to provide a separate office forthe countries with which the UnitedStates has robust, complex relation-ships.

"Nations of comparable importanceand with important bilateral relation-ships, such as China (including Mon-golia), Russia, Cuba, Canada, Japan,Korea, Mexico, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, have their own offices," itsaid.

The Inspector General concludedthat time has come to give serious con-sideration to creating a separate officefor India and Bhutan, alongside a sep-arate office for the other countries inSCA/INSB office.

"Over the last 15 years, the US rela-tionship with India has both expandedand deepened, but no action has been

taken to adjust the design of organisa-tional units to accommodate thechanged situation," it pointed out.

"Currently, no single office directoris focused entirely on the goal of ex-panding the relationship with India,despite this goal's priority in US foreignpolicy. The office director must dealwith five other countries, whose rela-tionships with the US are also complex,"the report said.

Making a case for the reunion of theSouth and Central Asia Bureau withthat Office of the Special Representativefor Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP),the report said communications betweenthe two branches have not been as ef-fective as they could be.

"With a likely transition of the(Afghanistan and Pakistan) desks andother S/SRAP responsibilities back to

SCA in the next several years, SCAneeds to begin to be more broadly en-gaged in or aware of S/SRAP pro-grammes and activities that it may in-herit at that time," it said.

When the global repositioning exer-cise was conducted from 2005 to 2007,US embassies in India and other Asiancountries gained positions, but SCAdid not receive adequate correspondingincreases.

Increased work in the embassies hascreated more work in SCA/INSB, butthe Bureau of Human Resources didnot authorise new positions for thedesk to accommodate this factor, thereport said.

In middle of 2009, when a new As-sistant Secretary arrived, there wereonly two officers to conduct the businessof the India desk, it said.

"The office director spends aboutthree quarters of his time on Indian af-fairs, and the deputy office director andsecretary spend half of their time onIndian affairs.

"In comparison, offices for such coun-tries as China and Mongolia, Korea,Haiti, Cuba, Mexico, Afghanistan, andPakistan have staffs in the range of 15to 25 employees.

"Workload for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka,and Maldives has also increased, par-ticularly since the Department hassought to deepen the US relationshipwith Bangladesh," it said.

The staffing for the entire office comes to a total of a total of 21.5 em-ployees, including part timers and the non-full-time equivalent posi-tions are vulnerable to cuts, the reportsaid. PTI

IT raids onMammootty,

Mohanlal

Thiruvanthapuram: Income taxofficials today carried out simul-taneous raids on the residencesand offices of Malayalam super-stars Mammootty and Mohanlalin Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Kar-nataka. IT sources said raidswere conducted on complaintsthat the stars had amassedwealth disproportionate to theirknown sources of income.

Raids were conducted at hous-es owned by Mammootty atKochi and Chennai and those ofMohanlal at Bangalore, ChennaiThiruvanthapuram and Kochi.Business concerns and officesconnected with them are alsobeing searched. Raids were car-ried out in a coordinated waywith sharing of information andparticipation of IT officials andsleuths from Kerala, Tamil Naduand Karnataka. A total of 80 of-ficials from different places areinvolved in the raid. PTI

2 Army mendie after

bunker fireSrinagar: Two army officers werecharred to death and four otherswere injured when their bunkercaught fire in Siachen area, offi-cial sources said today.

The officers, both Lieutenants,died when the fibreglass bunkerthey were staying in caught firelate last night, the sources said.

Four jawans, who tried to res-cue the officers, sustained burninjuries on their hands.

A Srinagar-based defencespokesman said details of theincident are being collected. PTI

Amar appears

for grilling Continued from page 1

On Sunday, police had arrestedSanjeev Saxena, once consideredclose to Singh who allegedly de-livered cash to the MPs to votein favour of the UPA during thetrust vote. The arrests and freshinvestigations into the case havecome after Delhi Police wasslammed by the Supreme Courtlast week for its “callous” ap-proach in this case. SamajwadiParty MP Reoti Raman Singhand BJP MP Ashok Argal too arelikely to be questioned.

FLETCHER CRITICAL OF BOWLERSLondon: India coach Duncan Fletcherwas critical of his bowlers for the lengththey bowled on the opening day of thefirst cricket Test against England here.

“With the ball swinging around andthey not being used to it, they struggledto get their lines right. A fuller lengthwould have been better,” opined Fletcheras England, in difficult conditions, didrather well to finish with 127 for 2 on arain-affected day yesterday.

“It didn’t swing against Somerset andsometimes it is pretty difficult to adjust,they probably realise the length wasshort.” The infamous slope of Lord’spitch could also have been a factor in af-fecting his bowlers’ line, conceded Fletch-er. “It can affect. In my stint with England,those who bowled quite often on it werestill affected if they got a break frombowling on it,” he said.

In Fletcher’s opinion, India would havebeen better off with three wickets ratherthan the two they managed on the day.“We missed Zaheer who was our bestbowler since other bowlers lacked theexperience. He bowled very well andcould have got us the third wicket. Hiswas a loss to us,” he said.

“If Zaheer was around, he could havegot us three or even four wickets and itwould have ended as a very good day forus.” . Zaheer went away from the fieldclutching the back of his right thigh whichis now being described as “strain in thehamstring” by the Indian team manage-ment. Zaheer appeared to have set upAndrew Strauss with a clever bouncerand once again affirmed his hold overthe England skipper.

“Zaheer is a quality bowler and hewould be very happy with the way he setit up.” India put down two catches onthe day -- both of Jonathan Trott whenthe batsman was on 8 and 32. “Theywere two difficult chances. One mighthave been taken but it happens on Lord’son numerous occasions. Trott is a qualitybatsman and in the last 6-9 months hasshown that he is a very good Testplayer?unfortunately he was the gentle-man who got away with two chances.”

The Lord’s pitch was viewed by Fletcheras one which aided swing. “It swungtoday more than it seamed. It seamedonly when the ball was new. It happensat Lord’s when the conditions are overcast.

The wicket generally gets flatter and flat-ter?but who knows it might remain over-cast and there be a bit of rain and moisturein the air and the wicket does the sameas it did today.” PTI

Zaheer has hamstring strain,injury extent unknownLondon: In what would come as a mas-sive blow to the Indian cricket team,pace spearhead Zaheer Khan’s leg injuryhas turned out to be a hamstring strainbut it is not yet known how serious theproblem is.

Team manager Anirudh Choudharydeclared at the press briefing on Thurs-day night that Zaheer was sufferingfrom “strain in the hamstring”.

“Zaheer is being looked after by themedical team and is being investigated.He strained his hamstring and the extentof his injury can only be declared to-morrow,” stated Choudhary.

After Zaheer left the field in his 14th

over on the first morning Thursday,and the manager cut the phone off onbeing asked about his fitness, the wordemerged from a few players that it wasonly cramps.

It was later revealed as a “sprain inhamstring” by the manager.

In all likelihood, Zaheer would be apassenger at least in the first inningssince it’s his right foot, the landing footwhich bears the most strain for a fastbowler. The medical reports are beingawaited but if Zaheer is ruled out, itwould be a major blow to India’s hopes,not only in this Test but also in the restof the series. PTI

Itʼs evenlypoised, says

Jonathan TrottLondon: England batsman Jonathan Trott,who lived dangerously en route to acrucial unbeaten fifty in the first cricketTest against India, said the match isevenly poised and the visitors will comeback strongly. “The game is even really.India will obviously try to make inroadsas a bowling unit while we, who playedpretty well today...have a lot of hard worktomorrow,” stated Trott who, includinghis unbeaten 58 yesterday, has 564 runsfrom four Tests at Lord’s at an average of141.00 with two centuries.

Trott got two reprieves from the Indianfielders at 8 and 32 but rather than termhimself lucky, he viewed it as part andparcel of the game. “Sometimes you nickthe first ball and while fielding, sometimesscreamers are accepted and you put downsimple ones. I am really pleased to getthrough. I had a let-off once or twice.That’s cricket,” he said. In order to makeEngland progress smoothly, Trott wasn’twilling to look too far ahead in the presentgame.“Our job is to combat and do whatbest we can, not looking too far ahead.We ought to first get through half anhour, then one hour or somebody’s goodspell. We need to work as a pair andscore as high as possible,” he said.

There is speculation now if Zaheerwould be fit to bowl further in this Testas the initial reports of cramp from thedressing room have given way to suspi-cions of a hamstring strain.

Trott has no doubt that Indian left-arm seamer would be fit on Saturday.

“I would not be worrying about Zaheer– I would rather believe that he wouldbe ready to be bowling tomorrow – that’sthe way we prepare.”

Trott didn’t rule out the chance of thepitch easing out if the next four days arebright and sunny.

Zaheer Khan is congratulated as England’s Andrew Strauss walks out aftergetting out during the 1st day of the first Test match at the Lord’s cricket

ground in London yesterday.

Hina Rabbani Khar

Anganwadi teachers from across the state demanded bettersalaries at Banappa Park today.

We want better pay S Rashakrishna

AP-PTI

Beyond BeatFriday, July 22, 2011

If you find Ooty, Kodaikanal or Munnara bit too touristy and crowded a des-tination, Coorg is that perfect holidayspot that is sure to please toddlers,youth and the old alike.

Not that this hill station needs to be cho-sen for a sojourn by eliminating othersimilar destinations in the vicinity. Just athree-hour drive from Mysore, 150 kmaway, Kodagu district on its own has muchto offer, beyond its coffee, cardamom,pepper and betelnut estates.

There is much to see, admire and soakin at this hill station, on the slopes of theWestern Ghats, what with some pristinetrekking trails, picnic spots, waterfalls,wildlife, woods, forests, valleys and somemouth-watering cuisine.

Situated at a height of 1,525 metre,Madikeri has a nice bazaar, quaint houseswith red-roofs and liberal use of teakwoodfor doors and furniture.

Kodagu has one of the largest settlementsof Buddhists in India, just about 30 kmaway from Madikeri, with their own Nam-droling Monastery built in 1963, whichthe locals call the Golden Temple.

Once you enter the monastery, you feeltransported in time and space, packed asit is with some 5,000 monks in bright yel-low and red robes, with some soothing Bud-dhist chants, smell of incense and breath-taking sights of pagodas.

After seeing those large golden statuesof the Buddha and Tara, the intricate mu-rals and Tangkha paintings, don’t forget totaste some authentic Tibetan food here, es-pecially the delectable momos and thesubtle thugkpa, their noodle soup.

One is told it is the largest teachingcentre of Nyingmapa – a major lineage ofTibetan Buddhism in the world – and thepresent Dalai Lama gave its shorter name,as opposed to Thegchog Namdrol She-drub Dargyeling that this mesmerisingplace was called originally.

Before dwelling further, where to stay isa question that is bound to crop up. Whilethere are plenty of hotels and resorts, it isbest to opt for a home stay.

There are some 35 of them in and around Medikeri in a range of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per day where one gets not justto retire but also taste authentic Coorgi foodand take some refreshing strolls on theirplantations that grow coffee and othercash crops.

As far as the season goes, October toMarch – like most places in India – are thebest months. The weather is pleasant withthat welcome nip in the air. But Coorg dur-ing monsoons can be equally mesmerisingand enchanting.

There are also plenty of places one cango to. There is Abbey Falls, not far, whereone has to make his or her way throughdense woods, dotted with coffee bushes,trees and creepers, to suddenly find a cas-cading gush of water.

Then about 80 km away is the IruppuFalls, right next to Nagarahole NationalPark.

Children, especially, are certain to enjoya visit to Dubare Forest, around an hour anda half from Medikeri. A ferry there takes youacross to an elephant camp where one cansee the pachyderms being bathed and fed,after which they are ready for a joy ride.

Another must-see is Tadiyendamol, thetallest peak in Kodagu and gives a breath-taking view of the entire Kodagu, apart fromthe distant Arabian Sea. There is also theNaalkunaadu Palace built by Kodagu kingDodda Raja Veerendra in 1792.

After all this exploring, a bungalow at theplantation is perhaps the best place to re-tire. Toddlers can chase butterflies, and ahammock and freshly brewed coffee aresure to be at hand!How far: Around 260 km from Bangaloreand 150 km from Mysore. How to reach: By bus or car from Mysore. Cost: Around 35-40 home stays in Coorg ranging Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per day.IANS

Vegetarian diethelps ward offbowel disorder

London: Suffering from irregular bowel move-ments? Turn vegetarian if you want to ward off thedisorder, scientists say.

Researchers led by Dr Francesca Crowe at theCancer Epidemiology Unit of Oxford Universityfound that vegetarians were a third less likely toget diverticular disease -- a condition thought tobe caused by eating too little fibre.

For their study, the researchers looked at 47,033British adults, of whom 15,459 were vegetarian.

After an average follow-up of 11.6 years, therewere 812 cases of diverticular disease, whichcauses cramps, wind, bloating, constipation anddiarrhoea.

After adjusting the factors such as smoking, al-cohol and body mass index (BMI), the researchersfound vegetarians had a lower risk of diverticulardisease compared with meat eaters, the Daily Mailreported.

The reasons, according to the researchers,could be the consumption of meat altering the me-tabolism of bacteria in the colon, which weakensthe colon wall and increases the risk of divertic-ular disease.

The potential protective benefits of vegetari-anism could be obtained even in a short time, thestudy found.

There also seemed to be a link between eatingmore fibre and being at lower risk of the disease.

Patients who consumed the most fibre, morethan 25.5g per day for women and more than 26.1gfor men, had a 42 per cent lower risk than thosewho ate less than 14g per day.

The new findings were published in the BritishMedical Journal. PTI

Allergies mayprotect againstcancer: Study

Washington: Common contact allergies may bea blessing in disguise, as a new study has foundthat those who are afflicted by the itchy rashes ap-pear to have a reduced risk of various cancers.

Researchers at the National Allergy ResearchCentre at Copenhagen University Hospital Gentoftein Denmark found that people who develop rash-es when their skin comes into contact with certainmetals or chemicals have a “significantly lower”risk for certain cancers such as breast and non-melanoma skin cancer compared to those with-out the immune system disorder.

For their study, they focused on nearly 17,000adults with contact allergies which generally de-velop win 24 hours on the area that touched theallergen, LiveScience reported.

About one-third of the participants tested pos-itive for at least one contact allergy, with womenmore likely to test positive (41 per cent) than men(26 per cent). The participants were tested between1984 and 2008.

The researchers then examined cancer casesamong the study participants over the long term.

The results, published in the journal BMJ Open,showed that men and women with contact aller-gies had significantly lower rates of breast cancerand non-melanoma skin cancer.

The study also showed that women with suchallergies had lower rates of brain cancer comparedwith women without the disorder, though that wasnot statistically significant.

However, the researchers found that both menand women with contact allergies had higher ratesof bladder cancer, which “could be due to accu-mulations of chemical metabolites in the bladder”.

The lower rates of brain, breast and non-melanoma skin cancer among those with contactallergies may be the result of how their immunesystems function.

The new findings “might support” the theorythat people with contact and other allergies hadhyperactive immune systems primed to detect andstamp out tumours more quickly as they formed,the researchers wrote.

However, the researchers cautioned that the re-sults showed a correlation between contact al-lergies and lowered rates of some cancers, but donot mean that one caused the other. PTI

Happy teens likely to grow into healthy adultsWashington: Teens with positive outlooksare more likely to grow into healthy adultsand have a better overall state of well-be-ing than their unhappy peers, a new studyhas claimed.

Researchers at Northwestern Universi-ty in the US who studied data of over10,000 teenagers found that those who hada positive outlook were more likely to ratetheir health as excellent in young adult-hood.

“Our results show that positive well-be-ing during adolescence is significantly as-sociated with reporting excellent health inyoung adulthood,” study researcher EmmaAdam was quoted as saying by Live-Science.

For their study, the researchers reviewedthe data collected from 10,147 teenagerswho took part in the National LongitudinalStudy of Adolescent Health, which begansurveying them in 1994.

The teens answered a series of questionsin 1994, 1996 and 2001 regarding their phys-ical and emotional health.

The well-being questions focused on theteens’ sense of happiness, enjoyment of life,hopefulness for the future, self-esteemand social acceptance.

The researchers compared the 1994 re-

sponses with the teens’ 2001 follow-upreplies to see whether a positive outlookcould predict perceived general healthand risky health behaviours in youngadulthood.

It was found that the teens who werehappy with their lives during the beginningof the study were less likely than unhappyteens to engage in unhealthy behaviourslike smoking, binge drinking or eatingunhealthy food as adults.

They were also more likely to rate theirphysical health in 2001 as excellent, the re-searchers said. The study was published inthe Journal of Adolescent Health. PTI

HILLS, HOMESTAY &MAGIC OF KODAGU

Passive smoking may causehearing loss in teenagers

London: Passive smoking has alreadybeen known for causing several serioushealth hazards. Now, a new study hasclaimed that teenagers exposed to sec-ond-hand smoke are twice as likely to suf-fer from hearing loss.

The New York University study, which in-volved over 1,500 people aged 12 to 19years, found that those exposed to second-hand smoke were more likely to have “sen-sorineural” hearing loss, which is causedby problems with the cochlea -- the snail-shaped hearing organ of the inner ear.

According to the scientists, passivesmoking affects the blood supply to the areawhich makes it harder for the person to un-derstand speech and has been linked topoor academic performance and disruptivebehaviour in school.

“It’s the type of hearing loss that usual-ly tends to occur as one gets older oramong children born with congenital deaf-

ness,” said Dr Michael Weitzman, wholed the study. The findings add to the cat-alogue of health problems already attrib-uted to second-hand smoke, including in-creased risks of asthma, heart disease andlung cancer, the Daily Mail reported.

For the study, the researchers carried outextensive hearing tests of the teenagers.They were also given blood tests for thechemical cotinine, a substance producedwhen the body breaks down nicotine.

Those teens exposed to second-handsmoke, as measured by cotinine in theirblood, were found to have sensorineuralhearing loss than those who were not pas-sive smokers.

Results of the study, published in jour-nal Archives of Otolaryngology, also showedthat about 80 per cent of those affected werenot aware of it.

Study co-author Dr Anil Lalwani said:“More than half of all children in the U.S.

are exposed to second-hand smoke, so ourfinding has huge public health implica-tions.”

He added: “Milder hearing loss is notnecessarily noticeable. Thus, simply ask-ing someone whether they think they havehearing loss is insufficient.”

Dr Weitzman added: “The consequencesof mild hearing loss are subtle yet serious.

“Affected children can have difficulty un-derstanding what is being said in theclassroom and become distracted. As a re-sult, they may be labelled as troublemak-ers or misdiagnosed with ADHD.” PTI

Dubare Forest, an elephant campwhere one can see pachyderms beingbathed and fed, after which one can

take a ride on them. (Top)

The large prayer hall at Namdroling-Monastery, with statues

of golden Buddha and Tara in thebackdrop. (Left)

Abbey falls, among the many in Kodagu, with cascading

water. (Between)

NEWS & FEATURESFriday, July 22, 2011 6

Mercedes Grand Prix driver MichaelSchumacher of Germany arrives for

the F1 Grand Prix at the Nuerburgringcircuit in Nuerburg, Germany,

yesterday. The F1 race will be held on Sunday.

AP-PTI

world briefs

Tunisian ex‑prezʼs trial

deferred Tunis: The trial of Tunisia’s ousted presidentZine El Abidine Ben Ali has been postponedfollowing a request from his lawyers, amedia report said.

Ben Ali, along with his daughter NessrineBen Ali and son-in-law Sakhr El Materi,was supposed to be on trial in absentiaThursday, Xinhua reported citing state-runTAP news agency.

The trial has been postponed to July 28.The decision to postpone the trial was

taken at the request of the defendants’lawyers to better prepare the case.

The accused are to be tried for two real-estate corruption cases involving buyingof land for 23 Tunisian dinars (about $16)per square metre, a price well below thereal value.

The plots were later resold at 1,500Tunisian dinars ($ 1,100 dollars) per squaremetre by Ben Ali’s daughter and son-in-law.

Ben Ali was forced to flee to Saudi Arabiaalong with his wife and three children Jan14 after an uprising in Tunisia. IANS

Putin calls fortraining for

adoptive parentsMoscow: Couples who want to adopt Russ-ian children should undergo special trainingin the basics of teaching, psychology andfirst aid, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin hassaid.

“High-quality training must be compul-sory for the adoptive parents,” Putin said.

The classes should be required for bothRussian and foreign couples, he said, addingthat regional authorities should cover thecosts incurred by Russian couples.

Russia and the US have signed an adop-tion deal that stipulates psychologicaltesting of adoptive parents and requiresthem to use only accredited adoption agen-cies.

The new agreement also envisages thatall adopted Russian children will maintaindual citizenship until they become legaladults, after which they may choose theircitizenship.

Russia is one of the largest sources offoreign adoptions for US families. Latestofficial figures show that about 60,000 chil-dren born in Russia have been adopted byfamilies in the US since the adoptionsstarted more than 15 years ago. IANS

China disastersaffected 430mpeople in 2010Beijing: Various disasters in China affectedover 430 million people last year, accordingto a government report.

A total of 7,844 people were dead ormissing, Xinhua reported citing a statementissued by the ministry of civil affairs.

The ministry, however, did not give sep-arate numbers of the dead or missing.

The disasters also resulted in economiclosses of 534 billion yuan (around $82 bil-lion). The country witnessed multiple dis-asters, including a severe earthquake inQinghai’s Yushu and a landslide in Gansu’sZhouqu, the report said.

The central government sent 3.41 billionyuan to help the affected people rebuildtheir homes.

In Zhouqu, every household received re-construction subsidy up to 100,000 yuanfrom the central and local governments,the report said. IANS

Politician becomesfirst to wear anklemonitor in Mexico

Mexico City: A former Mexican mayor, whois facing organised crime charges, has be-come the first person in the country towear an ankle monitor while awaiting theresolution of the case, officials said.

Gregorio Sanchez, former mayor of Can-cun, was fitted with the ankle monitorWednesday after a court prohibited himfrom leaving Mexico City for 20 days whileit decided whether to grant an arrest warrantsought by the federal Attorney General’sOffice.

The ankle bracelet “will allow him to re-main in this jurisdiction and keep him fromleaving the area established for his move-ments, with the goal of preventing himfrom evading justice”, an official said.

Home food may help babies like fruitsLondon: Parents please note: Infantsfed home-cooked food are more likelyto eat fruit and vegetables when theygrow up than those who were givenpackaged food, a new study hasclaimed.

A team of British researchers foundthat babies weaned on home-madecasseroles and puddings develop ataste for what is good for them by theage of seven. Experts from De MontfortUniversity in Leicester and the uni-versities of Bristol and Birminghamanalysed data from 7,866 mothers ofchildren born in 1991 and 1992.

The results showed that youngsterswho were frequently given home-cooked fruit or vegetables aged sixmonths were more likely to be eatinghigher amounts of fruit and vegetables

at the age of seven than those givenhome-cooked meals less often.

There was no positive effect onlater eating habits for babies fed shop-bought meals, the Daily Mail report-ed.

Writing in the journal Public HealthNutrition, the researchers said: “Thefindings support the concept that ex-posure to fruit and vegetables is im-portant in the early weaning period.”Dr Helen Coulthard, from De Montfort

University, said mothers should begiving their infants a home-cookedfruit or vegetable every day.

“The range and type of foods thatyoung children eat is becoming anincreasing cause for concern,” shesaid.

“Fruit and vegetables from packets,jars and tins are likely to have a uni-form taste and texture, whereas thosecooked at home or eaten raw willvary according to the variety of theparticular fruit or vegetable, whetherit is in season and the cooking method.

“These variations in the taste andtexture of fruit and vegetables shouldexpose an infant’s palate to a widerrange of experience, increasing thelikelihood they will accept a widerrange of foods.” PTI

Neanderthals interbred withearly humans

Toronto: Scientists claim to havefound new evidence which con-firms that early modern humans,which left Africa some 300,000to 750,000 years after Nean-derthals, probably interbred withthe physically stronger hominids.

An international team, whichcompared the genomes of morethan 6,000 modern humans withthat of the hominids, found thata small part of the human Xchromosome, which originatesfrom Neanderthals, is presentin about nine per cent of peoplefrom outside of Africa.

“This confirms recent findingssuggesting the two populationsinterbred,” said Damian Labuda,of the University of Montreal,who led the research.

“Our genetic identity as Homosapiens traces back much fartherthan people assumed,” he wasquoted as saying by The Van-couver Sun.

Labuda believes the inter-breeding must have happenedearly on in the evolution of mod-ern humans in and around the

Middle East, where both popu-lations overlapped for a periodof about 30,000 to 50,000 years.

About a decade ago, Labudaidentified a small piece of DNAin the human X chromosome ofnon-African populations thatlooked different from that of sub-Saharan African groups.

He hypothesised the bit ofDNA must have come from anarchaic population – perhapsNeanderthals – but there wasno way of being sure.

When Neanderthal genomesequence was made availablein 2010, Labuda and his teamcompared it to over 6,000 dif-ferent X chromosomes from con-temporary people on all conti-nents.

The findings, published in thejournal Molecular Biology andEvolution, showed that the Ne-anderthal sequence was presentin all sequences except thosefrom sub-Saharan Africa. About9 per cent of all the X chromo-somes studied carried a piece ofthe Neanderthal DNA. PTI

Blood test to detectAlzheimerʼs risk a step closer

London: Scientists claim to beone step closer to developing anew blood test which could de-tect a person’s risk of gettingAlzheimer’s disease at least 10years before its onset.

A team at Australia’s nationalscience agency CSIRO have de-veloped a screening techniquewas able to accurately detectharmful proteins that build upin the brain, causing memoryloss and confusion in dementiasufferers.

If the findings are supportedin larger trials, the test couldoffer a way to identify whichpeople experiencing memoryproblems are at greatest risk ofdeveloping the disease, the re-searchers said.

Brain scans can be used todetect the sticky protein, knownas beta amyloid, but are too ex-pensive and impractical to beused for routine screening.

The new blood test, whichmeasures for nine biologicalmarkers of the plaques, is thefirst to demonstrate a good level

of accuracy when comparedagainst brain scans and otherestablished methods of testingfor the disease, the Daily Mailreported.

In a study of over 1,100 people,the test performed well, re-searcher Dr Samantha Burnhamtold the Alzheimer’s AssociationInternational Conference inFrance.

According to her, they firstused blood samples from 273people to identify nine hormonesand proteins that appeared to

predict of amyloid levels in thebrain. A cut-off level was set forwhat was considered high.

“The belief is that peopleabove that point will go on toget Alzheimer?s disease, and thelag is about 8 to 10 years,” DrBurnham said.

When researchers used thenine-marker blood test on thesesame blood test, it correctly iden-tified 83 per cent of people withhigh amyloid levels and correctlyruled out 85 per cent of peoplewithout this condition.

The test was then trialled suc-cessfully on nearly 900 moresamples of blood.

CSIRO has patented the testand is talking with major com-panies about making it commer-cially available.

Dementia affects one in 20people over the age of 65 andone in five over the age of 80.Worldwide there are an estimat-ed 35.6 million people with thiscondition, and their number isexpected to double within a gen-eration. PTI

Pentagon looks to social media as

new battlefieldWashington: The Pentagon is asking scientists tofigure out how to detect and counter propaganda onsocial media networks in the aftermath of Arabuprisings driven by Twitter and Facebook.

The US military’s high-tech research arm, theDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),has put out a request for experts to look at “a new sci-ence of social networks” that would attempt to getahead of the curve of events unfolding on new media.The program’s goal was to track “purposeful or de-ceptive messaging and misinformation” in social net-works and to pursue “counter messaging of detectedadversary influence operations,” according to DARPA’srequest for proposals issued on July 14.

The project echoes concerns among top militaryofficers about the lightning pace of change in theMiddle East, where social networks have served as anengine for protest against some longtime US allies.

Some senior officers have spoken privately of theneed to better track unrest revealed in social networksand to look for ways to shape outcomes in the Arabworld through Twitter, Facebook or YouTube.

“Events of strategic as well as tactical importanceto our Armed Forces are increasingly taking place insocial media space,” the DARPA announcement said.

“We must, therefore, be aware of these events asthey are happening and be in a position to defendourselves within that space against adverse outcomes,”it said. AFP

Pakistan protestsarrest of Fai in US

Islamabad: The Pakistani governmentyesterday protested to the US over thearrest of Kashmiri separatist GhulamNabi Fai, detained by American au-thorities for working for the ISI, andwhat it described as a “slander cam-paign” against Islamabad.

“A demarche was made to the USEmbassy in Islamabad today to registerour concerns, in particular the slandercampaign against Pakistan. Our Em-bassy in Washington has also beenasked to ascertain details,” said a state-ment issued by the Foreign Office here.

The foreign office statement laudedthe role of Fai, who was arrested in Vir-ginia earlier this week for allegedly fun-nelling at least four million dollars fromPakistan’s spy agency into Americanpolitical activities with the aim of in-fluencing American policy on the Kash-mir issue.

“We appreciate the contributionsmade by the Kashmiri American Counciland Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai for the causeof Jammu and Kashmir,” the statementsaid.

It contended that the Kashmir issueis “one of the oldest disputes on theagenda of the UN” and that there were“several UN Security Council Resolutionson the subject that affirm the inalienable

right of the Kashmiris to self-determi-nation”. .

The foreign office claimed that “up-holding fundamental rights of Kashmirisis the fundamental responsibility of theinternational community and all con-scientious people who value humanrights and values”.

It contended that 62-year-old Fai’sKashmiri American Council “has beenworking towards this end and Kashmirisappreciate and applaud its services”.

It added: “Campaigns to defame thejust cause of the Kashmiri people willnot affect its legitimacy. However, thestatement noted that Fai, who was bornin Jammu and Kashmir and left Indiain the 1980s, was “a US citizen”.

Fai was arrested on Tuesday morning.His preliminary detention hearing washeld today at a court in Alexandria,near the US capital, and it has beenpostponed till next Tuesday.

Fai and Zaheer Ahmad, 63, a US citi-zen and resident of Pakistan, faced fiveyears in prison if found guilty to thecharges they are facing. PTI

Pill poppers invite morecycles of depression

Toronto: Pill popping seems tobe the easiest thing to do in theworld, especially when trying todrive away our blues. But a studysays the habit may backfire.

Evolutionary psychologistPaul Andrews of McMaster Uni-versity points out that patientson anti-depressants are likely toinvite more cycles of depression.

His meta-analysis suggeststhat people not popping pillsare at a 25 percent risk of relapse,compared to 42 percent or higherfor those who have taken andgone off an anti-depressant, re-ports the journal Frontiers ofPsychology.

Andrews and colleaguesanalysed dozens of previouslypublished studies to compare

outcomes for patients who usedanti-depressants against thosewho used placebos, accordingto a McMaster’s statement.

Andrews says anti-depressantsinterfere with the brain’s naturalself-regulation of serotonin andother neurotransmitters, andthat the brain can over-correctonce medication is suspended,triggering new depression.

Neurotransmitters are chem-icals which help transmit signalsfrom one neuron to anotheracross synapses (junctions ofsuch brain cells).

Andrews believes depressionmay actually be a natural andbeneficial – though painful –state in which the brain is work-ing to cope with stress. IANS

Rebels in Libya seek funding from Spain

Madrid: Libya’s rebel group has appealedto Spanish corporates for financial aid tobegin reconstruction of the North Africancountry even as Muammar Gaddafi con-tinues to hang on to power.

Mahmud Jibril of the National TransitionalCouncil (NTC) urged Spanish oil giantRepsol YPF and other companies to renewoperations in Libya, using frozen Gaddafi-regime assets in Spain as a financial guar-antee for new projects.

If Spain and other nations fail to provideaid now, the NTC’s legitimacy in the eyesof the Libyan people “will fade”, Jibril saidat a press conference in Madrid after meetingSpanish foreign minister Trinidad Jimenez.

Jimenez said Spain is considering “allthe possibilities” of allowing frozen Gaddafiassets to be used as collateral for loans tothe NTC or as new investment in rebel-

controlled areas.Libya’s next government will respect the

contracts Spanish firms signed with Gaddafi,“as long as they are in accord with the in-terests of the Libyan people”, Jibril said.

Repsol YPF, whose Libyan operationsare located in Gaddafi-held territory, evac-uated its workers from the country afterthe conflict broke out in February.

Jimenez said they were searching for alegal formula that would allow the NTC toaccess the frozen assets without violatingthe terms of the UN resolutions sanctioningthe military operation in Libya and the em-bargo on Gaddafi’s foreign wealth.

Other countries, including France, Italy,Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, haveextended loans to the NTC, insisting thatthe rebel body is the legitimate represen-tative of the Libyan people. IANS

Pakistani women devotees perform dhamal, a devotional dance involving afrenzied and ecstatic swirl of the head and body. It is a special ritual that is

performed at the rhythmic beat of traditional drums during an anniversary offamous saint Lal Shahbaz Qalander in Sewan Sharif, 250 km from

Hyderabad, Pakistan yesterday. Thousands of devotees attend a three-dayfestival from all over Pakistan and abroad.

AP-PTIAppeasing the saint

Producerwants

Obama in movie

London: American film producerJeremy Pivenhas vowed toconvince USP r e s i d e n tBarack Oba-ma to film acameo rolefor “Entou -rage” if theymake a bigscreen version of the TV series.

The comedy drama has fea-tured many famous faces, in-cluding Martin Scorsese, Christi-na Aguilera, Kanye West, ScarlettJohansson and Mark Wahlberg.

Now Piven and his “En-tourage” co-star Kevin Dillonhave revealed they unsuccess-fully tried to sign up Obama fora cameo.

“We thought maybe there wasa chance we could get him to dosomething. But it didn’t happen,”contactmusic.com quoted Dillonas saying.

“We’ll get him for the movie,”Piven added. IANS

Iran unveilsbiggest solarpower plant

Tehran: Iran has launched itsbiggest solar power plant in thenortheastern city of Mashhad,the IRNA news agency reported.The solar power plant – built bynative experts – would generateenough electricity for RazaviKhorasan province near theAfghanistan border, where Mash-had is situated. The plant aimsto make optimum use of energyfrom natural resources, to de-velop clean energy that help re-duce pollution, the report said.

US supplies toAfghanistan thruPak cut to 35%

Washington: The US has dra-matically reduced its reliabilityon Pakistani supply routes toAfghanistan to 35 percent, giventhe volatile nature of the borderareas where a number of NATOsuppliers have come under at-tack.

America’s reliability on Pak-istan for supplying goods andarms and ammunition for itstroops in Afghanistan has re-duced to just 35 percent, a topPentagon official told US law-makers.

This is a considerable achieve-ment given that till recently itwas more than 70 percent andthis was considered to be one ofthe main bargaining points forPakistan with the United States.

This figure of 35 percent is ex-pected to come further down inthe coming months as the Pen-tagon is working to increase itssupply to Afghanistan throughthe Northern Distribution net-work.

“It’s my understanding thatapproximately 35 percent movesthrough the ground, and the oth-er is moving through the North-ern Distribution Network, cou-pled with also lift as we bring insupplies by air,” General WilliamM Fraser told the senate armedservices committee at his con-firmation hearing to be com-mander, United States Trans-portation Command.

The US officials have statedin recent times that they wereworking on reducing their de-pendency on the supply routesin Pakistan after a series of at-tacks on NATO tankers carryingoil and other goods to westernforces and Afghanistan.

“If you have to, how longwould it take you to make upfor that 35 percent? Suppose to-morrow Pakistan shut off thosesupply routes.

“How long would it take youto adjust to keep the same levelof logistics into Afghanistan?”ranking Republican senator JohnMcCain, asked.

Gen Fraser said if confirmedhe would certainly delve deeplyinto that.

“I have not learned the detailsof that specifically,” he said.

“I have not delved deeply intothe plan. I know ongoing plan-ning is happening. I know therewould be a disruption. But ifconfirmed, I would delve deeplyinto that plan to ensure that anydisruption that we have is mini-mal, to ensure that we continueto provide that effective yet effi-cient support to the war fighter,”Fraser said.

“We would also have the abil-ity to tap into strat airlift fromthe United States, too. So it’s notjust intra-theater, but it’s alsointer-theater. Intra-theater it’salso using ships.

“So it would be a wholisticlook that we would have to ad-dress, and I will delve deeplyinto that,” he said.

Earlier, in response to writtenquestions, Fraser said the pos-sible closure of Pakistan linesof communication would notchange the requirement of about300 organic strategic airlift air-craft.

“Improving throughput at ex-isting airports and expandingcapacity in our surface networkswhich supply Afghanistan hasagain been a centerpiece of ourefforts in 2010.

“The Northern DistributionNetwork (NDN) remains a priorityfor USTRANSCOM,” he said.

“In 2010, two additional routeswere added through the Balticsand Central Asia and continueto improve the processes, facili-tating a faster, less costly cargoflow. PTI

Greek bailoutlifts crude

prices in AsiaSingapore: Crude prices wereup in Asian trade yesterday asUS equities rallied on news thateurozone leaders had clincheda bailout deal for debt-riddenGreece, analysts said.

New York’s main contract,light sweet crude for Septemberdelivery, rose 28 cents to $ 99.41a barrel. Brent North Sea crudefor delivery in September gained23 cents to $ 117.74.

Traders were cheered by a 159billion euro ($ 229 billion) bailoutpackage agreed upon by euro-zone leaders in an emergencymeeting late yesterday to rescueGreece and prevent a global debtcontagion, analysts said.

“News of a concrete actionfrom European Union leaderson how to help Greece deal withits debt troubles helped pushthe stock market higher and inturn firmed up crude futuresprices,” Phillip Futures stated ina report. The bailout included109 billion euros in loans fromthe European Union and Inter-national Monetary Fund and 50billion euros of funding from theprivate sector. US stock marketsjumped after the bailout was an-nounced, with the Dow JonesIndustrial Average surging 152.50points, or 1.21 per cent, to closeat 12,724.41 and the broader S&P500 climbing 17.96 points, or 1.35per cent, to 1,343.80.

Separately, the InternationalEnergy Agency’s declaration yes-terday that it was “not now seek-ing the release of additional”stocks of oil from strategic re-serves in oil-consuming countriesalso “lifted sentiment,” PhillipFutures said. AFP

Ghulam Nabi Fai

Barack Obama

LIFESTYLE 7Friday, July 22, 2011

Actress Helena BonhamCarter is in talks to workwith actor Johnny Depp

in Disney’s “The Lone Ranger”.Depp will play Tonto opposite

Armie Hammer’s Lone Rangerin the movie directed by GoreVerbinski.

If the deal clicks, Carter willplay the madam of a brothelwho deals with both gentlemen

and scoundrels, reports holly-woodreporter.com.

Other actors in talks to jointhe cast are Dwight Yoakam andBarry Pepper.

Tom Wilkinson is already fi-anlised to play a railroad tycoonwith dubious intentions. Theshooting for the film will startmid-October in Texas and NewMexico.

Former “Baywatch”star Pamela Ander-son has launched

her own range of stock-ings.

She teamed up with lin-gerie manufacturing com-pany Secrets in Lace tocreate the hosiery range,which has been named thePamela Couture Collec-tion.

“This collaboration isthe perfect match, asPamela Anderson exudessex appeal, and her stock-ing line is no exception.She knows how to play upher assets. This line exem-plifies just that,” female-first.co.uk quoted aspokesperson from thecompany as saying.

The stockings can bepurchased at SecretsIn-Lace.com. They are pricedbetween $29 to $39. IANS

S inger Elvis Presley has beenimmortalised into a comicbook character.

The comic book will be calledGraphic Elvis. It’s a limited edi-tion comic created by LiquidComics and Elvis Presley Enter-prises to commemorate the 35thdeath anniversary of the singer.

“Comics influenced so muchof his life,” contactmusic.comquoted Sharad Devarajan, theco-founder of Los Angeles-basedLiquid Comics, as saying.

A number of Presley’s hand-written notes, rarely seen by thepublic, will also be included inthe cartoon creation. The bookwill hit the market in December.IANS

Presley turned intocomic book character

RGV apologises to Mahie Gill for intimate scenes

Give elephants theirspace, says Madhuri

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra hasoutrightly denied any similarities betweenKunal Kohli’s next film, in which she

features opposite Shahid Kapoor, and MadhurBhandarkar’s much-in-the-news “Heroine”.Following a news report that drew a comparisonbetween the two movies, a furious Priyankatook to Twitter, and posted: “Woke up thismorning to an amazing piece of fiction... anews story that says my role in Kunal’s film issimilar to that of ‘Heroine’...What a fertileimagination!!! There was no verification madewith anyone before they made this resoundingconclusion.”

While “Heroine”, Bhandarkar’s most ambi-tious project, takes a behind-the-scenes lookat the life and times of a successful Bollywoodactress, Kohli’s untitled film will reportedlyhave Priyanka and Shahid play four sets ofcharacters each.

One of those characters will be set in the1960s, as suggested by an image where Priyankawas seen in a pink fish cut lehenga, a shortblouse and Mumtaz-style draped dupatta, witha classic bouffant hairdo. “Ours is a love story...where is the connect? What say @kunalkohli?”she added.

Kohli too gave his inputs to refute the news.“Well said @priyankachopra, no one asked

us anything,they just printed a baseless story.There’s no similarity between the films,” postedthe filmmaker.

Priyanka, who was recently rumoured to bereplacing Aishwarya Rai in “Heroine”, saysshe doesn’t like being drawn into controversies.

“I don’t appreciate being used to create un-warranted controversy with baseless informa-tion... unacceptable!” added the 29-year-old.IANS

PAMELA ANDERSON launches stockings range

No similarity between Kunalʼsfilm and ʻHeroineʼ: Priyanka

Itʼs fun to look at cuteboys: Vanessa Hudgens

Actress Vanessa Hudgens,who is reportedly enjoy-ing being single again

after splitting from actor ZacEfron, says it’s fun to look atcute guys.

Hudgens separated fromEfron in December last year af-ter five years of being together.

“I think it’s really importantto love yourself and truly justbe happy with yourself and justkind of let the rest of it fall intoplace. It is fun to go look atcute boys. But at the same time,I like being single. I feel like Ihave all this time for myself tobe able to do these roles,” fe-malefirst.co.uk quoted the 22-year-old as saying. IANS

Bollywood diva Madhuri Dixithas become the brand am-bassador for a charity project

for the conservation of Asian ele-phants. She says recent human-ele-phant conflicts would not have hap-pened if the tuskers had their space.

“Elephants are one of my favouriteanimals and I love them. So whatwe need to do today is to see howwe can preserve our animals. I feelvery strongly about this,” the 44-year-old actress said in a statement.

“Many instances of human-ele-phant conflict have been reportedin the country. This would not havehappened if elephants had theirown space and humans had not cutforests for farmlands, settlements,industries, roads or railways,” sheadded.

Gemfields, an emerald miningcompany of Zambia, has collaboratedwith World Land Trust and WildlifeTrust of India to launch Emeraldsfor Elephants, a project that raisesfunds for protection of elephants inAsia. It has appointed Madhuri asthe face of the project.

“What Gemfields is doing is thatthey are not only taking resourcesfrom our land, they mine here foremeralds, but they are also giving itback. That I think every person needsto do,” Madhuri said. IANS

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’smovie “Not A Love Story” has afew intimate scenes. The director

has now apologised to actress MahieGill for making her give those shotsmany times.

“The film required some intimatescenes and I wanted Mahie to do thema couple of times to get the right lighting,sometimes for camera angles and Iknow it’s not very easy to give suchshots in front of the whole unit. So Ijust sent her a text message in a lightervain apologising for that,” Varma said.

“It was not that I was crying withguilt in the message, just a joking mes-sage,” he said.

The filmmaker - along with Mahie -launched the music of the film. Themovie has just two songs, one of whichis a revisited version of the song“Rangeela re” from Varma’s 1995 hitfilm “Rangeela”.

“I have used what this song ‘Rangeelare’ represents in terms of its spirit, itsjoy, its happiness, its attitude and every-thing positive in life in a completelyopposite way and it became the storyof a girl who wanted to be an actressbut went on to a completely differenttrack,” said the 51-year-old director.

“Not a Love Story” is a crime thrillerbased on the gruesome murder of NeerajGrover in 2008 that led to the arrest ofEmile Jerome and Maria Susairaj. It alsostars Deepak Dobriyal and Ajay Gehialong with Mahie. The movie is set torelease Aug 19.

Varma also announced that the filmwas not a biopic but was inspired bythe case. IANS

Bonham Carter in talks for ʻThe Lone Rangerʼ

Friday, July 22, 2011 8LIFESTYLE

Big B, Abhishek watchʻSinghamʼ together

Warner Bros giftsdiamond bracelet to JK

JK Rowling, author of the“Harry Potter” books, wasgiven a diamond bracelet

as a thank you present fromWarner Bros.

The movie studio is gratefulthat the author allowed themto turn her “Harry Potter” bookseries into a film franchise.

Warner Bros. CEO BarryMeyer spent millions of dollarson the stunning piece of whitegold jewellery made with 40diamonds. It was given to theauthor at the after party of theLondon premiere of “HarryPotter and the Deathly Hal-lows: Part 2”, the eighth andfinal instalment of the fran-chise.

According to TMZ.com,Rowling was so nervous aboutwearing the bracelet beforegetting it insured that she wasaccompanied by a mini-secu-rity team at the bash.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his actor son Ab-hishek took time out of their busy schedules to gowatch Ajay Devgn starrer “Singham” together sans

the ladies of the house.“Bachchan boyz night out!!!! Sr and jr off to see Singham.

Let’s see how loud the lion roars,” Abhishek posted on mi-croblogging site Twitter before watching the film.

However, after watching the film Abhishek couldn’t stopheaping praises.

“And the lion roars LOUD!!!!! ‘Singham’ is one film youdon’t want to miss. Go for it and then go again!!!” he post-ed.

Denise: Sheen is very supportive Actress Denise Richards has

praised ex-husband Char-lie Sheen for supporting

her when she recently adopteda baby girl.Richards – who has two daugh-ters with Sheen whom she di-

vorced in 2006 adopted a babynamed Eloise. We talk every day.He’s met her. He knows how much I love, lovekids, so he was very supportive,the 40-year-old told Us Weeklymagazine.

Actor Matt Damon,known for lightbrown locks, has

shaved off his head.The actor revealed his

new look while going toa post office in Vancouver.However, it is still not clearwhether Damon hasshaven his head for amovie role or just like that,reports dailymail.co.uk

The 40-year-old actorwas dressed casually in akhaki green T-shirt andjeans which he pairedwith simple black andwhite trainers while show-ing off his new bald look.

Matt Damongoes bald

Cooper to playthe devil in next

Actor Bradley Cooper isall set to play a devil inhis upcoming film, an

adaptation of John Milton’sepic poem “Paradise Lost”.

The “Hangover” star willembrace his dark side to por-tray Lucifer in the film, whichwill revolve around the biblicaltale of Adam and Eve’s expul-sion from the Garden of Eden,reports dailystar.co.uk.

The movie will be directedby Alex Proyas, who plans toshoot maximum portions inhis native Australia.

“Paradise Lost” is scheduledfor a 2013 release.

Preity Zintaturns babysitter!

Bollywood actress Pre-ity Zinta turnedbabysitter for a day

for her nieces and theirfriends. She says they hadfun together. “Spent thewhole day babysitting mynieces & their friends! It waswonderful (as long as theear plugs were on). Hats offto all babysitters,” Preitywrote on microblogging siteTwitter. Meanwhile, the ac-tress is busy brushing upher French language for herfirst Indo-French productionventure “Ishq In Paris”,where she plays the leadrole.

Actress Eva Longoria istaking pole dance les-sons for her role in the

eighth season of “DesperateHousewives”. The actress, whoplays Gabrielle Solis, has beenpracticising at the S Factorgym in Los Angeles. The 36-year-old says she is not astranger to stripper poles asher former “Baywatch” starfriend Carmen Electra had gift-ed her one in 2009.

“Carmen Electra has thesestripper poles that she sells.She sent me one for Valentine’sDay and told me to have fun.So I set it up myself and it issupposed to fit any ceiling. Igot on it to swing and, ‘Whack!’I fell on the floor so I never re-ally got good at it,” contact-music.com quoted her as say-ing. The eighth season of “Des-perate Housewives” is slatedto return to screens, Sep 25 inthe US.

LONGORIA TAKINGpole dance lessons