D C—21 C TODAY LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE PUZZLES Reverie …

DOHA 15°C—21°C TODAY PUZZLES 12 & 13D LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE 11L P

Monday, January 23, 2017Rabia II 25, 1438 AH

CommunityAl-Mirqab Exchange is the first exchange

in Qatar to introduce a multi-platform online remittance solution, the Mirqab Touch.

P7 P16 CommunityThe police force in Marajo,

northern Brazil has been using water buff aloes as part of its active squad for the past 25 years.

COVERSTORY

Reverie interruptedSurvivors recall the edge-of-the-seat flight to Fort Lauderdale airport. P4-6

PLANE TRUTH: During the helter-skelter aftermath of the airport rampage — including a false report of a second shooter – some travellers ended up on the tarmac.

Community EditorKamran Rehmat

e-mail: [email protected]: 44466405

Fax: 44350474

Emergency 999Worldwide Emergency Number 112Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991Local Directory 180International Calls Enquires 150Hamad International Airport 40106666Labor Department 44508111, 44406537Mowasalat Taxi 44588888Qatar Airways 44496000Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 44593363 Qatar Assistive Technology Centre 44594050Qatar News Agency 44450205 44450333Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

Humanitarian Services Offi ce (Single window facility for the repatriation of bodies)Ministry of Interior 40253371, 40253372, 40253369Ministry of Health 40253370, 40253364Hamad Medical Corporation 40253368, 40253365Qatar Airways 40253374

USEFUL NUMBERS

Quote Unquote

Monday, January 23, 20172 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

BallerinaDirected by: Eric Summer,

Éric WarinWritten by: Eric Summer,

Carol Noble and Laurent ZeitounCast: Elle Fanning, Dane

DeHaan, Maddie ZieglerSynopsis: Ballerina is

a 2016 English-language French-Canadian 3D computer-animated musical fantasy adventure fi lm co-directed by Eric Summer and Éric Warin. The screenplay, by Summer, Carol Noble and Laurent Zeitoun, with music by Klaus Badelt, concerns a poor orphan girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina and gets a chance to audition for the celebrated school of the Paris Opera Ballet.

Locations: The Mall, Gulf Mall, Roxy Cinemas, Villaggio, Landmark

The Family FangDirected by: Jason BatemanWritten by: David Lindsay-AbaireCast: Jason Bateman, Nicole Kidman, Kathryn HahnSynopsis: The Family Fang is a 2015 American comedy-

drama fi lm directed by Jason Bateman and written by David

Lindsay-Abaire, based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Kevin Wilson. The fi lm stars Bateman, Nicole Kidman and Christopher Walken. The plot follows a brother and sister, who return to their family home in search of their world famous parents who have disappeared.

Locations: Royal Plaza, The Mall, Landmark

Mall Cinema (1): Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 2.30pm; Sathamanam Bhavati (Telugu) 4:15pm; Bairavaa (Tamil) 6:30pm; Mantaka Mahzoura (Arabic) 9:30pm; Guppy (Malayalam) 11:15pm.Mall Cinema (2): Ballerina (2D) 2pm; Ballerina (2D) 3:45pm; Moana (2D) 5:30pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 7:30pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 9:30pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 11:30pm.Mall Cinema (3): Bye Bye Man (2D) 3pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 5pm; Bye Bye Man (2D) 7pm; Dangal (Hindi) 8:45pm; The Family Fang (2D) 11:30pm.Landmark Cinema (1): Bairavaa (Tamil) 2pm; Guppy (Malayalam) 5pm; Bairavaa (Tamil) 7:15 & 8:45pm; Mantaka Mahzoura (Arabic)

11:30pm.Landmark Cinema (2): Ballerina (2D) 2pm; Surf’s Up 2: Wavemania (2D) 3:45pm; Ballerina (2D) 5:15pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 7pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 9pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 11pm.Landmark Cinema (3): Bye Bye Man (2D) 2pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 3:45pm; Sathamanam Bhavati (Telugu) 5:30; The Family Fang (2D) 7:45pm; Bye Bye Man (2D) 9:30pm; Guppy (Malayalam) 11:15pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (1): Ballerina (2D) 2pm; Surf’s Up 2: Wavemania (2D) 3:45pm; Ballerina

(2D) 5:30pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 7:15pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 9:15pm; Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 11:15pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (2): Guppy (Malayalam) 2pm; The Family Fang (2D) 4:30pm; Bairavaa (Tamil) 6:30pm; Mantaka Mahzoura (Arabic) 9:30pm; Guppy (Malayalam) 11pm.Royal Plaza Cinema Palace (3): Xxx: The Return Of Xander Cage (2D) 3pm; Bye Bye Man (2D) 5pm; Mantaka Mahzoura (Arabic) 7pm; Bye Bye Man (2D) 9pm; The Family Fang (2D) 11pm.Asian Town Cinema: Bairavaa (Tamil) 3, 6:15, 7, 9:30 & 10:15pm; Sathamanam Bhavati (Telugu) 6:30pm; Kirik Party (Kannada) 7pm; Dangal (Hindi) 10pm; Guppy (Malayalam) 9pm.

PRAYER TIMEFajr 5.01amShorooq (sunrise) 6.20amZuhr (noon) 11.46amAsr (afternoon) 2.20pmMaghreb (sunset) 5.13pmIsha (night) 6.43pm

I dream, therefore I exist.

– August Strindberg

3Monday, January 23, 2017 GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYROUND & ABOUT

E-mail: [email protected], Events and timings subject to change

EVENTS

Sri Lanka’s 69th Independence Day celebrations

WHEN: February 10WHERE: Radisson Blu HotelTIME: 5pmThe Sri Lankan community in Qatar will

celebrate the country’s 69th Independence Day (Nidahas Udanaya 2017), which falls on February 4, with a cultural programme on Friday, February 10 at Radisson Blu Hotel. The programme will start at 5pm.

The programme is being organised by the Sri Lankan embassy in collaboration with Sri Lanka Co-ordinating Committee Qatar. Chandana Wickramasinghe and the Dancers Guild are being fl own in from Sri Lanka for the celebrations. Students from the dance academy of Dinu Rangayathanaya will also showcase their talents at the celebrations. Chandanas dancers perform traditional dances and have enthralled audiences across the globe with their scintillating performances on stage.

This is their third visit to Doha and the audience can be assured of an entertaining evening of dance during the celebrations.

Tickets are priced at QR40 and QR60 and are available at all Sri Lankan outlets. Gates open at 4pm. For more information call Ranjith Gurusinghe at 66580392/50409246, Dhammika Jayasena at 55654241 or Viddya Sri Shanthikumara at 77512657.

Writing Workshop with author Alan Durant

WHEN: February 11WHERE: ISL QatarTIME: 8:45am to 4pmISL Qatar is off ering a writer’s workshop

with children’s author Alan Durant on Saturday, February 11. Alan regularly off ers

residential writers’ workshops in France and the UK, so this is an opportunity for people in Doha to attend his course.

The fee for the workshop will be QR350, including lunch and refreshments. The number of participants is limited to 16 and space is confi rmed when payment is received.

The workshop will cover diff erent aspects of children’s writing – getting inside a young mind, character, viewpoint and plotting. The intention will be that everyone will go home with a piece or two of writing after a creative and stimulating fun day with time at the end for questions and social interaction.

For further information and to book a seat, please e-mail [email protected]

Qatar Superstock 600 Championship Round 3

WHERE: Losail International CircuitTIME: 10amWHEN: February 3 & 4Qatar SuperStock 600 is a new road racing

championship organised by Qatar Motor Motorcycle Federation and Losail Circuit Sports Club.

The championship will have 12 races over 6 rounds at the Losail International Circuit.

The riders are competing using one-make bikes that will be used for the rest of the season, a stocked 600cc bike. The organisers bill it as “a great chance for every competitor to test themselves and fi ght for the title in fair racing conditions and in a professional environment”.

Grandstand and Paddock area are open for free to all the spectators.

Spring Festival 2017WHERE: Souq Waqif and Souq Al WakrahWHEN: Until February 3Souq Waqif and Souq Al Wakrah are

organising their Spring Festival 2017 from January 19 to February 3. Visitors can look forward to a number of activities and performances as part of the festival. Attractions include the Kingdom of Snakes at the Al Rayyan Theater in Souq Waqif.

Computer Exhibition 2WHERE: Building 19, KataraWHEN: Until January 25TIME: 10am to 10pmCultural village foundation Katara presents

Computer Exhibition 2, by Abdulrahman al-Snaidi. The exhibition takes you through a journey and to learn about the history of computers and how it has evolved and improved over time, and puts in your hands models of electronic devices that represent the early beginnings of computer devices.

The Great Awakening exhibitionWHERE: Building 18, KataraWHEN: Until January 31TIME: 10am-10pm Cultural village foundation – Katara and

the embassy of the Republic of Ecuador present The Great Awakening exhibition by Maria Veronica. On display are 35 pieces of art by Veronica, who has adopted a highly technical style in her pieces that range across paintings, drawings, photography and video-art.

Hereke Carpet Exhibition WHERE: Maysaloun Hall, Gate MallWHEN: Until January 31The Gate Mall and Salam International

Investment have joined hands with Turkey’s Han Hali, the leading production house of Turkey’s Hereke carpets, to unveil The Hereke Carpet exhibition as a treat for Qatar’s art lovers and collectors.

On full display at The Gate Mall’s Maysaloun Hall is a stunning collection of legendary carpets. Hailing from an ancient town in Turkey and laying claim to a unique artistic heritage of its own, Hereke carpets are historic masterpieces.

From Buckingham Palace, to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the White House to Château de Versailles, the carpets are known to adorn iconic locations celebrating an artistic discipline that is admired by the world.

Trevor Noah live at the Doha Comedy Festival

WHEN: Feb 2-Feb 4TIME: 8pmWHERE: Qatar National Convention

CenterDoha Comedy Festival is returning for a

third time. The line-up includes the world’s top performers from the US, UK, Middle East and the GCC.

The festival will host world-renowned standup comedian and international TV host of The Daily Show – Trevor Noah and the British comedian, ventriloquist, and winner of Season 10 of America’s Got Talent – Paul Zerdin.

These talents will join extremely popular performers from the Middle East and the GCC including Bader Saleh whose YouTube show garnered over 346 million views, Nemr Abou Nassar entitled with ‘Lebanon’s King of Comedy’, the Jordanian comic critic Rajae Qawas, Syrian social media activist and comedian Mohanad al-Hattab, Egyptian standup comedian Mohamed Salem and the fl uent Arabic-speaking comedian from South Korea – Wonho Chung to name a few.

Shop QatarWHERE: Across QatarWHEN: Until February 7Shop Qatar will be the fi rst edition of

Qatar’s month-long shopping festival. As part of eff orts to provide visitors with the complete package, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) has partnered with Qatar Airways to ensure fl ights to Qatar from within the GCC region booked on the airline for the period between January 7 and February 7 will be available with a 25% discount.

In addition, members of Qatar Airways’ Privilege Club will receive double Q-miles on their booking during Shop Qatar.

Retail outlets around the country will be providing discounts of up to 50% on a range of consumer goods including clothes, electronics, cosmetics and accessories for men, women and children.

To fi nd out more, visit www.shopqatar.qa

Color RunWHERE: QNCCWHEN: January 28The 2017 edition of The Color Run returns

on Saturday, January 28 at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) as the Tropicolor World Tour makes its mark on Doha.

Color Runners are promised a lively island-style experience complete with lots more fun and colour, as they run, walk, dance, jog or even skip through the fi ve kilometre course with their family and friends, whilst getting covered head to toe in colour at every kilometre mark. Color Runners are encouraged to arrive at the QNCC on the day by around 7am, with the fi rst wave of runners setting off at 8:30am.

Once they have completed the fun run, the runners will be able to continue on with the festivities at the memorable Finish Festival, a larger than life party, with Rainbow beach, an interactive island featuring music, dancing, photo opportunities, entertainment, sponsored activities, and massive colour throws.

To learn more and register, please visit the event’s offi cial website at www.thecolorrun.qa

Al Gannas(For school students) Until March 31, 20179am-NoonAl Gannas SocietyFree ( For boys only, requires

registration) Al Gannas association is participating in

the “Our culture is a school” programme, by organising many activities for the students every Monday and Wednesday of the week.

These activities include explanations on hunting and related items tools, kinds of falcons and preys, in addition to workshop on how to carry a falcon, set a traditional tent (made of goat & camel heir), prepare traditional Arabic coff ee and start a fi re. For further details, visit katara.net

Muhammad Ali: Tribute to a LegendDATE: Until February 25, 2017WHERE: Eastern Gallery, 4th Floor,

Museum of Islamic Art The temporary exhibition is curated by

Qatar Museums’ 3-2-1 Olympic and Sports Museum and presents a unique collection of artefacts from the boxing legend’s career, including photography from Ali’s outdoor exhibition bout at the Doha Stadium in 1971 and memorabilia spanning his journey to the 1960 Rome Olympics; Ali’s world title winning bout against Sonny Liston in 1964 and his fi nal world title winning fi ght against Leon Spinks in New Orleans in 1978.

Qatar Music Academy(For school students) Until March 28, 201711am-2pmFree (Requires registration) Qatar Music Academy focuses on teaching

its students the principles of Arab and Western music. As part of the “Our Culture is a School” programme, Qatar Music Academy has off ered interested schools the opportunity to attend various workshops. These workshops will include an introduction to Arab and Western music and instruments, as well as the teachers giving a brief overview of the educational music programmes at the Academy. For further details, visit katara.net

FragmentsDATE: Until January 30VENUE: KataraIn this exhibition, Mahmoud Obaidi

retraces the ‘organised chaos’ that led to the destruction of Iraq, and presents a response to witnessing the city of Baghdad fall piece by piece. Obaidi recreates what has been stolen or destroyed to try to piece the city back together again.


COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Drama in real lifeA fizz of chatter rippled through the cabin, but Missouri State student

Upchurch and his friend Gross sat there quietly, transfixed by the surreality

of it all: They were flying into a slaughterhouse, and watching themselves

do it on television. By Kyra Gurney, Alex Harris and Glenn Garvin

REIGN OF FEAR: The scene at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on January 6, where a gunman shot and wounded multiple people.

As their JetBlue fl ight zoomed toward Fort Lauderdale, the fi rst stop on a cross-country quest for the perfect

college-break party town, Missouri State student Jordan Upchurch and his best friend, Brittney Gross, faced what seemed a crucial series of decisions: Which Cuban restaurant to hit fi rst. The best beach. The hottest dance club.

But their reverie was interrupted by a fl urry of activity a few rows in front of them, where one fl ight attendant had just summoned another to look at the small TV screen embedded in the back of a seat, tuned to MSNBC. “Hey, look at this,” the fi rst attendant said. “Oh my gosh!”

Upchurch and Gross, more curious than alarmed, switched their own TV screen to the same

channel and saw panning aerial shots of an airport emblazoned with a “breaking news” chyron. Putting on their headphones, they heard a reporter buzzing excitedly about gunfi re and dead bodies — not at an airport, but their airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International.

Up and down the aisle, other TV screens began clicking over to the news. A fi zz of chatter

rippled through the cabin, but Upchurch and Gross sat there quietly, transfi xed by the surreality of it all: They were fl ying into a slaughterhouse, and watching themselves do it on television.

In an era when mass murder by the deranged or choleric has become sadly common, so many of the words used to describe the scene January 6 when a calmly intent gunman killed fi ve travellers and

wounded six others have a familiar, if no less painful, ring: Terrifying. Bloody. Horror.

But the omnipresence of the wired world, in which social media and cable news not only chronicled but infl uenced events as they unfolded, has unveiled a new bit of common parlance: surreal. Life and death played out on a wave of live feeds across Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms as


COMMUNITYCOVER STORY

victims and survivors alike shouted their fears into cyberspace.

Those spilling out onto the airport runways in fl ight from the killer monitored their own escapes on their cell phones as live feeds sprouted across Facebook and Instagram. Half-crazed friends and relatives desperately sought information on loved ones, their dread sometimes crystallising into awful reality as the world watched. Plaintively tweeted a Chicago man: “My grandparents were victims in the shooting in Fort Lauderdale. If you know anything about where Shirley Timmons is, please contact me.” The heartbreaking answer came at the speed of cyberspace.

Unfounded rumours of a second shooter leaped repeatedly from one distant corner of the airport to another, prolonging the afternoon’s terror long past the 90 seconds in which bullets actually fl ew.

As it continued, many of the people at the airport began to feel that reality was rippling and giving way to something indefi nable, as if they were characters in a movie, their actions less their own than the dictates of an unseen and menacing screenwriter. The feeling persisted well after they left the airport.

Ruthie Bellman, a 53-year-old librarian from Dublin, Virginia, had just fl own into Fort Lauderdale for a Caribbean cruise vacation when bullets started cutting down people around her near a baggage carousel. She escaped unharmed and, miraculously, made it to the ship on time. But she was haunted by the images she saw on her stateroom TV: faces she recognised from the airport, now attached to names and medical status. “How surreal it all is!” she told the Miami Herald by e-mail.

Nobody felt the connectedness of it all like Luis Ortiz-Sanchez, an Arizona postal worker who was trying to board a fl ight for home one level above when the baggage-claim area in the airport’s Terminal 2 turned into a killing fi eld. As shots echoed through the building and TSA workers shrieked “Run! Run! Active shooter!” Ortiz-Sanchez grabbed his wife and bolted for the tarmac, then slipped into an airport hangar to hide.

He stayed there for hours, periodically using his cellphone to broadcast accounts of what was happening on Facebook Live, afraid to leave because of the rumours of another shooter he saw on the Facebook posts of others. In one of his sweeps of social media, Ortiz-Sanchez was stunned to read that he was actually hiding out from one of his old Army buddies. The killer, Esteban Santiago, had served with him in Iraq in the same Puerto Rico National Guard unit.

“He talked a lot about zombies,” the dazed Ortiz-Sanchez would tell reporters later. “He talked about how to kill the zombies.” And maybe that was a better metaphor for the surreality than movies — a bang-bang video game, sprung to sudden, malign life.

However it felt, though, what happened at the Terminal 2 baggage-claim area was mercilessly real. It started just before 1pm. Among the fi rst to understand what

was happening — at least, among those who survived — was Annika Dean, a 42-year-old Broward County school teacher returning from a quick trip to Atlanta to see friends.

Dean had been hanging around the quiet Fort Lauderdale airport for a couple of hours after grabbing an earlier-than-planned fl ight home (she was trying to beat a snowstorm forecast for Atlanta) that her bags missed. As the luggage fi nally began tumbling onto the carousel, she walked over to look for her black Samsonite bag — but turned around instead when she heard a series of sharp, cracking noises that she recognised immediately as lethal.

“I knew it was gunfi re,” said Dean, who just a couple of months earlier had gone through a gut-wrenching training course for teachers on what to do if a gunman broke into her school. “The trainings are not fun, they simulate a real active shooter, so I knew these weren’t fi recrackers or something.” If she had any doubts, the strangled gasps of people being hit by bullets erased them. We’ve got an active shooter, she thought in amazement, right here, right now.

Looking back, she could see the man wielding the gun, about 30 feet away, walking straight toward her from the direction of the bathroom. His route blocked any exit for her.

Her training was to head for the nearest room and lock and barricade the door, but she couldn’t see anything like that.

Instead, she walked behind a large sign advertising luggage carts for rent and dropped to the fl oor, facedown. Around her she could see other passengers doing the same. That was the last thing she saw. Dean, who’s so squeamish about violence she won’t even go to R-rated movies, pressed her face to the fl oor. “I don’t enjoy violent stuff ,” she said. “I did not want to watch what was going on, so I just looked at the carpet.” Then one other bit of training, much older, came to her mind, and she

whispered a prayer: God, don’t make my children grow up without a mother. It stayed in her mind long after it left her lips.

Dean wasn’t exactly trying to play dead, just to keep a low profi le. But nearby, Ruthie Bellman, the Virginia librarian, was doing her best to look like a corpse. When Bellman fi rst spotted the gunman, she immediately dropped to the fl oor, only to see a woman lying at her feet, bleeding to death. Now Bellman was lying motionless, a backpack dragged over her face.

But in one respect, she was exactly like Dean. God, keep my daughter safe, Bellman murmured. That daughter, 20-year-old Rachel Carroll, had left the baggage area a couple of minutes earlier to grab a cup of coff ee at a Starbucks in the terminal. Bellman had no idea where she was now.

Unlike Bellman and Dean, Atlanta school counsellor Steve Frappier didn’t immediately grasp that he was under attack. He heard the shots, but fi gured they were just one more bit undiff erentiated airport noise, a minor companion to the roar of jet takeoff s and the dinging bells of electric carts. Then, the shout: “He’s got a gun! Get down!”

Frappier, like everyone around him, dived for the fl oor. But he still had a clear view as a bullet plowed into a man’s head not far away. As the man’s wife crouched over him, screaming, Frappier felt a muffl ed thud on his back — a piece of the luggage piling up on the carousel toppling onto him. He didn’t bother to check; he was too riveted on the shooter.

“He never said anything the entire time,” Frappier marvelled later. “He was cool, calm and collected. He never grimaced.”

If the gunman was quiet, however, many of his victims weren’t. Dean, her eyes still buried in the carpet, listened in astonishment as a man perhaps 15 or 20 feet away from her rattled off a steady stream of malefi cent curses at the killer. Similar cries came from other directions, hovering in the air like the mating calls of homicidal lovebirds.

“They almost sounded like angry New Yorkers,” the perplexed Dean would say later. “Their attitude was, ‘What are you doing, a--hole,’ just kind of chewing him out. I just couldn’t believe it.” The taunts, she was sure, would only prolong the shootings. Drop down and be quiet, people! she thought, only to be interrupted by something totally unexpected: A large body fell gently atop her and then enveloped her completely.

It wasn’t a corpse but a man, unscathed and acting purposefully. He was heavy, but Dean’s body was pumping so much adrenaline she didn’t notice. What she heard clearly were his murmured words: “I will protect you.”

They didn’t know one another. All the same, Dean was certain who he was: “My guardian angel … the answer to my prayers. God was looking after me.” Now, she was certain, she would survive.

Continued on Page 6HOLIDAY GONE SOUTH: Travellers and airport staff on the edge at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

SURVIVORS: Jordan Upchurch, left, and Brittney Gross.

Ortiz-Sanchez grabbed his wife and bolted for the tarmac, then slipped into an airport hangar to hide. He stayed there for hours, periodically using his cellphone to broadcast accounts of what was happening on Facebook Live, afraid to leave because of the rumours of another shooter he saw on the Facebook posts of others. In one of his sweeps of social media, Ortiz-Sanchez was stunned to read that he was actually hiding out from one of his old Army buddies. The killer, Esteban Santiago, had served with him in Iraq in the same Puerto Rico National Guard unit


COMMUNITY COVER STORY

Continued from Page 5Neither of them said another

word. They lay there together as the shooting continued, the gunman pacing as he fired. From the sound of the shots, Dean thought he was never closer to her than about 10 to 15 feet, but later other passengers would tell her the gunman at one point was standing almost directly over her.

And then the shooting stopped.Esteban Santiago, the wiry,

26-year-old gunman, had not had a change of heart. He just ran out of bullets for his 9 mm Walther pistol after firing a couple of dozen rounds. When a Broward sheriff’s deputy approached him, he dropped to the floor in a spread-eagle position. Whatever he was thinking, Santiago had no intention of dying that day.

Santiago had been decorated for his year of National Guard service in Iraq, but when he returned in 2011, he was a troubled man, withdrawn and bitter. He moved to Alaska, a remote state that’s often a magnet for people trying to remake their lives, but if that was the goal, it didn’t work.

His long string of rough-and-tumble squabbles with his girlfriend repeatedly brought him to the attention of police. He was booted from the National Guard. In November, he visited the FBI in Anchorage to complain that he was hearing voices in his head about the CIA and the Islamic State.

Local cops took his gun away and sent him to a psychiatric facility. But a few days later he was released, penniless. He bought a one-way plane ticket to Fort Lauderdale and checked a single piece of luggage: his gun, in a properly legal lockbox. When he arrived, he retrieved the box, went to the restroom and came out firing.

Waves of fear would continue to wash over the airport for hours after the gunshots ended. The continued reports of other gunmen caused repeated panicky dashes down stairs and across runways, so many that police recorded 37 more injuries, from sprains to broken bones.

Even more common were casualties to dignity as passengers were detained by cops — under bridges, in hangars, on lawns — uncertain about the security situation. Palm Beach County dentist Margie Ngo and her family found themselves seated for hours in a driveway outside the airport, staring at a bloody patch of pavement where a shooting victim had awaited an ambulance. Ngo grew increasingly frantic, though not about gunfire. When she finally asked a cop where she could go to the bathroom, his reply was terse: “Find a bush.”

Jordan Upchurch, who watched TV in disbelief as his plane descended toward a bloodbath, spent the next several hours whipsawing between confusion and terror. He was astonished to learn that airport passengers and employees one terminal over from the shooting didn’t even

know about it. Many of them were confused by emails and texts from loved ones asking — to them, it seemed, completely out of the blue — if they were all right.

In Terminal 2, people got off the floor and tried to resume their business, in varying degrees of post-traumatic stress. Frappier, the Atlanta school counselor, wandered dazedly into a bathroom, where he took off his backpack, only to find a bullet hole in his Macbook Pro computer. What he thought had been a jostle by falling luggage had actually been a deadly accurate shot fired by the gunman.

“If I didn’t have that backpack on, the bullet would have shot me between the shoulders,” Frappier said. “It still doesn’t feel real.”

As Bellman, the librarian, got up, she took one look at the woman at her feet and knew nothing could be done for her. Her anguish accelerated when she went to Starbucks and couldn’t find her missing daughter. Calls and texts to her cellphone went unanswered.

As Bellman was on the verge of completely unraveling, her phone rang: Salvation! Rachel had been able to duck out of the airport just as the shooting started.

Dean’s first act when the police shouted the all-clear was to thank the man she was convinced was her guardian angel. “When you did that it really comforted me in a terrifying situation,” she told him. But their goodbyes were brief. He was anxious to find his wife — who was in another part of the airport — and Dean wanted to leave the shooting scene before she saw anything that would remind her of an R-rated movie, only worse.

A few minutes later, Dean had a sudden attack of what-was-I-thinking? She hadn’t even asked his name, much less his phone number. And there was something more she had to tell him. She started wandering the terminal, looking for him, but realised to her horror that she didn’t really know what he looked like. They hadn’t been lying face to face. All she knew was that he was a big guy with white hair.

Spotting somebody by that description, Dean approached him and tried to explain that she was looking for a man who had lain atop her in the baggage claim area — and was wildly relieved when he replied, “I recognise your sweater.”

That’s how Dean learned her guardian angel had a name and an earthly profession: Tony Bartosiewicz, a retired electrician from Rochester, N.Y. He was in Florida to catch a cruise ship.

This time they exchanged contact information, and then Dean used the word she should have the first time: “You’re a hero.” —Miami Herald/TNS

Miami Herald staff writers Charles Rabin, David Ovalle, Joey Flechas, Julie K. Brown,

Chabeli Herrera, Lance Dixon and Jay Weaver contributed to

this report.GREAT ESCAPE: The Hazelgrove family from Chicago, having made its way safely out of the carnage, takes stock.

“The killer, Esteban Santiago, had been decorated for his year of National Guard service in Iraq, but when he returned in 2011, he was a troubled man, withdrawn and bitter. He moved to Alaska, a remote state that’s often a magnet for people trying to remake their lives, but if that was the goal, it didn’t work”


COMMUNITY

7 Street by Mumbai Spices comes to Qatar

An authentic Indian street food experience is coming to Qatar with the opening of the much-awaited Indian restaurant – 7 Street by Mumbai Spices. The

restaurant brings the street food style, most popular in Mumbai, to foodies in Qatar.

The opening was inaugurated by Sheikh Muhammed Abdulla Jassim Fahad al-Thani along with Chairman Farhan Johar Abdulla al-Suwaidi and restaurant founder Rasheed Puthusseri. This is the sixth outlet of the restaurant which began operations with their fi rst restaurant in Sharjah, UAE, eight years ago, and since have four outlets in Bahrain.

The restaurant can accommodate about 150 guests and off ers a menu that is authentic Indian and features ethnic delicacies from every part of India – from the North to the South.

“After the tremendous success and the positive response of customers that we have witnessed in Sharjah and Bahrain, we are pleased and excited to bring our brand Mumbai Spices to Qatar. Every aspect of the restaurant, the menu, the décor and the ambience has been created to give a true feel and experience of the famed Indian street food. Qatar residents will not only enjoy the culinary delights we present but will also revel in the dining experience and attentive service that is associated with our brand. We import our spices directly from India, ensuring that the dishes retain their authenticity, punch and fl avour. We are very confi dent that customers who try our food once, will keep coming back for more,” said Rasheed Puthusseri.

In keeping with the style of Indian Street Food, 7 Street by Mumbai Spices specialises in chaat items, with Pani Puri, Punjabi Samosa and Vada Pav as the most popular items. Also, a must try on the menu is the Schezwan Dosa – a classical dosa with a Chinese twist. While 7 Street by Mumbai Spices may specialise in chaat, it also off ers a variety of Indian

delicacies with everything from Biriyani to Kebabs and some of the best Indian curries. A favourite is the Laal Maas, a mutton curry from Rajasthan where the meat is cooked in a sauce of yoghurt and hot spices giving it a rich red colour.

7 Street by Mumbai Spices will also have a breakfast menu for guests who want to begin

the day with a lip-smacking meal. Not to miss, is the special Keema Pav – spicy minced meat with soft rolls – brought to you straight from the streets of Mumbai. To be accompanied by the ever-popular Masala Chai.

For those who are familiar with Mumbai-style street food, the restaurant will bring back pleasant memories and for those new to

the concept, it will be an absolutely delightful new culinary experience, according to the restaurant management.

The restaurant will be open on all days from 8am to 11pm. Home Delivery will be available mid-February onwards.

For reservations and inquiry, please call 4487-7795.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony of the restaurant.

Al-Mirqab Exchange introduces multi-platform online remittanceAl-Mirqab Exchange is the first exchange in Qatar to introduce multi-platform online remittance. They off icially launched their online remittance solution named “Mirqab Touch” at Radisson Blu hotel recently. Al-Mirqab is a Money Exchange Company working in Qatar since last two decades. For the new solution off ering, Al-Mirqab Exchange partnered with HiTech Group Turnkey Solutions and Al Ahli Bank.The platform makes remittances as easy as sitting in the comfort of your home, by using Mirqab Touch’s Android, iOS or browser-based remittance solution. Any person working in Qatar with a valid ID will be able to register with Al-Mirqab Exchange Company’s branches. A demonstration of online remittance was done for guests, with the demonstrator explaining the features and functions of the platform. The online system is highly secured with dual-authentication mechanism with two-factor authentication.Any debit card issued in Qatar works with the system. Each transaction, result and login is notified to the customer through an SMS. Customers will also be able to see their past transaction history on the system.The system also has an account blocking facility, which can be enabled with a single touch. Once blocked, an account can only be re-activated after verification by Al-Mirqab support executives. The service will be available 24x7 with round-the-clock support service. A large number of senior off icials from the partnering companies attended the event.


COMMUNITY

Coastal Qatar to manufacture stadium seats in the country

Fifty participants attend training at QatarDebateQatarDebate recently organised its “Training of Arabic Debate Trainers” at QatarDebate Classrooms, Student Centre. The five-day event featured 50 participants from 47 universities, with 36 Arab and non-Arab countries represented. The event brought together coaches of diff erent nationalities from universities around the world to equip them with the necessary skills to select and train students upon return to their respective institutions in order to participate in the 4th International Universities Arabic debating championships 2017 that will be held entirely in Arabic.The five-day event supported the mission of Qatar Foundation to unlock human potential by

fostering a culture of discussion and debate, helping shape the global citizens of the future and create intellectual leaders of tomorrow, according to QatarDebate. Ali al-Muftah, Communications Manager at QatarDebate, said, “QatarDebate aims through this training to upgrade the debate skills [in potential teams] to participate in the 4th International Universities Arabic Debating Championships 2017.“We believe that our role is not just providing trainings and workshops, but it’s continuing to co-operate with all institutions in Qatar to spread the culture of debate in Arabic and enhance the communication channels.”

Coastal Trading and Contracting has entered into an agreement with Forum Seating for the manufacture of

stadium seats in Qatar. Under the agreement, Coastal will setup a manufacturing facility in Qatar for the manufacture of stadium seats with technology transfer form Forum Seating. The company aims to capture the demands for stadium seating in Qatar with exports to Mena region and Asia.

Coastal is a Qatar-based conglomerate and operates companies with varied interests in the areas of construction, steel fabrication, galvanising, trading in architectural products and in healthcare. Coastal steel division has a fully equipped 20,000 sqm fabrication facility capable of fabrication of heavy structural steel. The company’s galvanising facility is the most modern galvanising plant in Qatar compliant with EN standards and has one of the largest zinc kettles in the area.

The company has a full range of products required for outfi tting of sports arenas. The group has been a key player in the Qatar construction sector and has been actively involved in projects like the Qatar National Museum, Aspire Stadium, Hamad International

Airport, Khalifa Stadium, Lusail Multipurpose Hall, and Qatar Foundation, etc.

Forum Seating is a brand owned by Nowy Styl Group – the leading European supplier of comprehensive furniture solutions for offi ces and public spaces. Forum Seating has equipped all Polish stadiums for the 2012 European football Championship, stadiums

for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, two stadiums for the 2016 European Championship in France and many more facilities around the world.

“We are extremely delighted to be the fi rst world class stadium seat manufacturer in the region,” said Nishad Azeem, Group CEO, Coastal Qatar. “Our objective is to make the product sustainable and

reduce our carbon footprint. The ‘Made in Qatar’ seats will source the raw material locally and form the GCC region. The aluminium for the seat frames will be sourced from Qatalum and extruded by a local company, the steel frames will be fabricated at our fabrication facility and galvanised at our plant,” he added.

“The technology partnership

with Forum Seating will allow Coastal to manufacture our award winning spectator seats used in the major stadiums across the world to be manufactured in Qatar and put Qatar on the export map,” said Jakub Rachfalik, Business line director, Forum Seating.

Coastal manufacturing facility is expected to begin production of seats by the fi rst quarter of 2017 and will also manufacture other value-added products for export and products for the local market that are currently being imported into the country.

The three types of seats that will be made.

Under the agreement, Coastal will set up a manufacturing facility in Qatar for the manufacture of stadium seats with technology transfer from Forum Seating.

9GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYMOTORING

Monday, January 23, 2017

2017 Nissan GT-R makes Middle East debut

The 2017 Nissan GT-R.

Nissan has launched the new 2017 GT-R across the Middle East, the latest iteration of Nissan’s fl agship

performance vehicle, boasting a revised look both inside and out as well as major driving performance enhancements and more power. The 2017 models represent the most signifi cant changes made to the GT-R since it was introduced in 2007, with Nissan also announcing the immediate availability of its GT-R NISMO in the region.

Samir Cherfan, Managing Director of Nissan Middle East, said: “The Nissan GT-R is one of the world’s

most iconic supercars, and the Middle East is a key market for it. Motorists in this region love high-performance vehicles and the GT-R embodies every aspect of the word. Its multi-performance character allows the driver to be completely immersed in the GT-R’s capabilities, whether navigating corners on a twisting mountain road or simply running weekend errands in the neighborhood. We are very excited to be introducing the new 2017 model to its fans and customers in the region.”

The new GT-R’s exterior gets a complete makeover across the front end. The new chrome matte fi nish “V-motion” grille represents one of

Nissan’s latest design signatures. It has been enlarged to provide better engine cooling and features an updated mesh pattern. A new hood, which fl ows fl awlessly from the grille, has been signifi cantly reinforced, contributing to stability during high-speed driving. A freshly-designed front spoiler lip and front bumpers with fi nishers situated immediately below the headlamps give the new GT-R the look of a pure-bred racecar, while generating high levels of front downforce.

The GT-R’s familiar wind-cutting shape defi nes its profi le, but the side sills have been pushed out to improve air fl ow. The rear of the car

also received a thorough makeover. While the GT-R’s hallmark four-ring taillights remain, look closely and you’ll notice new bodywork to help improve air fl ow, as well as side air vents next to the quad exhaust tips. Also, the belt line that separates the lower black section from the body panel has been heightened to give the car a wider and more aggressive look from the rear. These exterior changes don’t result just in a sportier-looking car, they create an aerodynamically effi cient vehicle, with less drag but retaining the same amount of downforce as the current GT-R to keep the car stable at high speeds.

Step into the cabin, and you’re greeted by a premium interior that is befi tting a high-performance sports car of this calibre. The entire dashboard and instrument panel are new and covered with high-quality leather artfully stitched together with TAKUMI precision. The shape of the dashboard adopts a “horizontal fl ow” that delivers a sense of increased stability for the car’s front-seat occupants, while the line from the instrument cluster to the centre console provides a distinct driver-oriented environment for those behind the steering wheel.

The centre dashboard layout has also been improved and simplifi ed. Integrated navigation and audio controls reduce the number of switches from 27 in the previous model to only 11 in the 2017 model. An enlarged 8-inch touch-panel monitor features large icons on the display screen to make it easy to operate. A new Display command control on the carbon-fi bre centre console allows easy operation.

The shift paddles are now mounted to the new steering wheel, allowing drivers to change gears in mid-turn without having to take their hands off the wheel. The paddles themselves, along with the ventilation controls, have improved feel and better sound when engaged or adjusted.

The GT-R’s award-winning 3.8-liter V6 24-valve twin-turbocharged engine – each unit handcrafted by its own TAKUMI

technician – now delivers 565 HP (EUR 570 PS) at 6800 rpm and 467 lb-ft of torque. The engines are the defi nition of TAKUMI expertise. The improved output, which are the result of individual ignition-timing control of the cylinders and extra boost from the turbochargers, allow the new GT-R to possess superior acceleration in the mid- to high-ranges (3200 rpm and above). It comes mated to a thoroughly refi ned 6-speed dual-clutch transmission that features smoother shifts and less noise. That familiar GT-R tone also has been upgraded with an engine that has never sounded better. The resonance of the new titanium muffl ers and Active Sound Enhancement (ASE) enhance the driving experience.

The GT-R has always been regarded as one of the world’s best handling machines, and for 2017, its cornering abilities have become even better. A more rigid body structure and new suspension result in better stability through quick lateral transitions and higher overall cornering speed. Providing the grip are sticky 20 inch tires, wrapped around new “Y-spoke” machine-fi nished forged aluminium wheels.

Despite all the performance enhancements, the 2017 GT-R is the most comfortable model to date, with a new sense of elegance and civility that one would rarely fi nd in such a high-performance supercar. The new GT-R exhibits a smoother ride quality than the outgoing model, and its cabin remains much quieter at all speeds and new sound absorption materials.

New for the 2017 GT-R are fresh colours inside and out that complement the car’s sophisticated character. A “Blaze Metallic” with multi layered painting has been added to the exterior paint palate, which the interior of the Premium Edition, which features semi-aniline leather, off ers customers four diff erent options: the newly added Black/Rakuda and Samurai Black, as well as the always popular Black/Amber Red and Black/Ivory.

Chevrolet introduces 2017 TraxB

uilding on its early success and the rapid growth of the segment, the 2017 Trax is now available at select Chevrolet dealership across the Middle East.

Contemporary design elements, including an all-new front-end appearance, and a new premium interior compose the visual updates, while new available active safety features and a new infotainment system – with available Apple CarPlay compatibility – expand its range of customer-focused technologies.

The 2017 Trax is now on sale in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and off ered in LT and LTZ trims.

The Trax’s fresh, contemporary appearance refl ects the modern face of Chevrolet around the globe. A new grille and headlamps echo the styling elements seen in new Chevrolet models.

“It’s a more sculptural, sophisticated design,” said Steve Kim, Chevrolet Trax designer. “There’s also a sporty streak in the new styling that speaks to the Trax’s agile, fun-to-drive personality.”

The front fascia is all-new and incorporates Chevrolet’s new proportioned dual port grille. New, sleek headlamps fl ow around the corners and into the front fenders. Trax LT and LTZ models have halogen projector headlamps with LED DRL signature lighting. Chrome also accents the outboard fog lamp bezels.

At the rear is a new fascia and dual taillamps,

with the LTZ model featuring LED signature lighting. The LTZ is also off ered with new 18-inch aluminum wheels. A modifi ed instrument panel is the foundation for the 2017 Trax’s premium interior enhancements. It interprets Chevrolet’s signature dual-cockpit design more expressively, with an upper dashboard hood that fl ows uninterrupted across the panel to

enhance the perception of spaciousness.The redesigned centre instrument panel

features greater visibility of a new 7-inch-diagonal MyLink colour touch screen and Galvano chrome trim on the instrument panel and console contribute to the Trax’s premium ambiance. The LTZ trim is off ered with contrasting-colour instrument panel trim that matches its leatherette seating trim.

“Customers will really notice the elevation in the Trax’s interior design and attention to detail,” said Kim. “It’s an environment that transcends segment boundaries, off ering rich, premium appointments and seamless integration of the technologies they rely on most.”

Also new for 2017 is the instrument cluster, which features a new gauge display with prominent analog speedometer and tachometer readouts along with digital displays from the standard driver information centre.

The 2017 Trax off ers a new 7-inch diagonal infotainment system designed to support the latest connectivity technologies, including available Apple CarPlay compatibility.


COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC


COMMUNITYLIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE

ARIESMarch 21 — April 19

CANCERJune 21 — July 22

LIBRASeptember 23 — October 22

CAPRICORNDecember 22 — January 19

TAURUSApril 20 — May 20

LEOJuly 23 — August 22

SCORPIOOctober 23 — November 21

AQUARIUSJanuary 20 — February 18

GEMINIMay 21 — June 20

VIRGOAugust 23 — September 22

SAGITTARIUSNovember 22 — December 21

PISCESFebruary 19 — March 20

The Moon shining in your fellow fire sign of Sagittarius today lights

up your ninth house of higher education, spirituality and philosophy.

If you feel like planning your next overseas odyssey, go right ahead!

Unless you really feel you are onto something, don’t go poking

around looking for trouble in all the wrong or right places! Mars and

Venus spend their last week in Pisces, your spiritual zone. Focus on

meditating and being the best possible human being you can be!

There’s no such thing as a sure thing Librans. However, with Jupiter

the planet of good luck, lotto wins and opportunity in your sign

(through October), if anyone is in line for a sure thing, it’s you.

Mercury the planet of communication and clear thinking remains in

your sign (through February 8). It’s important that you use his skill

at communicating, planning and organizing to get all those things

done you didn’t do earlier in the month.

Sometimes you have to forgive yourself bulls. You might be beating

yourself up and wishing you had done something diff erently or not

said anything or said something. Stop it. You’re not perfect. No one

is.

Today’s Moon in your fellow fire sign of Sagittarius lights up your

fifth house of romance, self–fulfillment and creativity. Single? Get out

there and mingle Leos. Sagittarius, Aries and Librans are all perfect

match ups for you.

Enjoy the Mars and Venus energy in Pisces this week, as next week

they depart and move into fiery Aries, whose energy is very diff erent

from Pisces. Single? This is a great week to meet someone worth

meeting.

Today’s Moon in your eleventh house of hopes, wishes and

friendship is a great sign for you that asking for help from friends

is not only fine, it will be welcomed with open arms. You’re so

independent, your friends will be flattered you come to them!

Today’s Moon in Sagittarius shines on your relationship zone. How

you deal with others one on one is highlighted today. While you

might not like a coworker that much, you have to work with them 5

days a week, right?

Enjoy this week with Venus and Mars both joining hands in Pisces,

your relationship zone. It’s the last week, they will do so before

heading into fiery Aries. In your relationship zone, they have made

you a much calmer, easier person to deal with.

The Moon pays you a visit today (through Wednesday). You are

more sensitive and intuitive with the Moon in your sign. What’s on

your mind and how can you use your sixth sense to guide you?

Don’t muck around this week Pisces. Mars the planet of energy and

Venus the goddess of love and money spend their final week in your

sign before moving into your money zone. Use them to spread love

and inspiration to those around you.

Career opportunities in technology continue to expand exponentially: the computer and information technology fi eld is expected to grow 12 percent, adding nearly

half a million new jobs by 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. What’s more, the median wage for people in the fi eld is nearly $50,000 higher than the median for all occupations.

If you’re considering a career in IT, but aren’t sure common jobs like coding or systems maintenance are for you, data

analytics is a growth niche that may be worth a look, industry watchers say. In an industry that’s booming across all disciplines, anticipated demand for data analysts has inspired leading universities like Western Governors University (WGU) to off er new bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes in the fi eld.

What is data analytics?You’ve probably heard the term “big data”

– it’s the next big thing in IT. From social media and public records, to mobile phone apps that track spending habits, companies have more sources of consumer information than ever before. The sheer volume of information constitutes “big data,” and in the competitive business world, companies can gain an edge by using that information to better market their products to consumers.

Data analytics helps companies manage big data and analyse it, so they can better target diff erent audiences, diff erentiate their messages and product off erings, calibrate their market, and formulate sales and fi nancial strategies. Companies that don’t know how to analyze their data risk losing valuable time, money, market share, and customer loyalty.

Using a variety of tools, techniques and strategies, data analysts help companies interpret their big data and fi nd value in the information they gather every day from myriad sources.

Opportunities in data analyticsBecause big data has become so pervasive,

virtually every company needs a data analyst, from retail stores to the service industry, heavy industry to fi nance. A professional with a data analyst degree might work on marketing strategy, marketing management, fi nancial analysis, digital marketing, SEO management, customer experience management, marketing automation, web analytics management, capital and asset planning, property management, and human resources strategy and analysis.

Marketing in particular off ers many opportunities for people with degrees in data analytics. Finance, and capital and equipment management have also historically been data-intensive.

Becoming a data analystIf you already have an interest in

information technology, a career in data

analytics may be for you if you also: Enjoy problem-solving. Data analysis

is like solving a complex puzzle you create yourself from the pieces provided by a number of diff erent sources.

Thrive on challenge. Excel at understanding both macro and

micro patterns. Have good math skills. “Crunching

numbers” is very much a part of the data analyst’s job, and strong math skills can help you better manage and understand the volumes of data you’ll deal with every day.

Have strong communication skills. As a data analyst, you’ll need to be able to eff ectively explain complex concepts and data-derived insights in layman’s terms to executives with varying levels of technical knowledge.

To pursue a career in data analytics, you’ll also need a degree. The fi eld is growing at such a rapid pace that WGU, a non-profi t, online competency-based university with more than 77,000 students nationwide, recently launched bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in data analytics.

©Brandpoint

The next big IT career: Data analytics turns big data into career opportunities


COMMUNITY PUZZLES/CARTOONS

Adam

Pooch Cafe

Garfield

Bound And Gagged

Codeword

Wordsearch

Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Puzz

les

cour

tesy

: Puz

zlec

hoic

e.co

m

BLEMISHBLENDBLOTCLOUDDIRTDYERUST

SLURSMEARSMUDGESOILSPATTERSPECKSPOT

STAINSULLYTAINTTARNISHTINGE

Mark Well

Sudoku

Sudoku is a puzzle based

on a 9x9 grid. The grid is

also divided into nine (3x3)

boxes. You are given a

selection of values and to

complete the puzzle, you

must fill the grid so that

every column, every anone

is repeated.


COMMUNITYPUZZLES

Colouring

Answers

Wordsearch Codeword

DOWN1. Fairness (7)2. Dazzling (7)3. Expedition (6)5. Feeling of well-being (8)6. Shack (6)7. Appeared (6)13. Camouflage (8)14. Eminent (7)15. Gist (7)16. Tremble (6)17. Obtain on trust (6)19. Hue (6)

ACROSS4. Persevere (7)8. Discharge (6)9. Raiment (7)10. Yarn (6)11. Beginning (6)12. Think (8)18. Roomy (8)20. Crowd (6)21. Split (6)22. Exceeded (7)23. Communal (6)24. Slumbered (7)

ACROSS4. Figurative language used in idol worship? (7)8. Making strong demands on team in taste (6)9. Not legally tested? (7)10. Is about transaction showing standards of excellence (6)11. Give ear to silent reform (6)12. Like a buccaneer, for example hijack initially (8)18. Defer mail open to change (8)20. It produces electricity from Monday (6)21. Trivial insult (6)22. Make an appeal thus lawful (7)23. Run one faulty nerve cell (6)24. Stuck in this place with a theologian around (7)

DOWN1. A colt is oddly forbearing in trouble (7)2. Right in leaving out selected passage (7)3. Does he hope for a catch with the right slant? (6)5. Don’t care so much, being unthinking (8)6. Has rig-out style which is showy (6)7. Made an awful smell when made to last again (6)13. Suitable broken pot is swallowed by monkey (8)14. Fake produced by blacksmith? (7)15. Giving permission for hire of premises (7)16. Oral saying? (6)17. Dog returning current number (6)19. Bank employee who can’t keep a secret? (6)

Quick Clues

Cryptic Clues

Yesterday’s Solutions

QUICKAcross: 1 Counterfeit; 9 Pit; 10 Imperious; 11 Risky; 13 Overall; 14 Tremor; 16 Stains; 18 Opulent; 19 Begin; 20 Analogous; 21 Ass; 22 Ceaselessly.Down: 2 Oft; 3 Noisy; 4 Employ; 5 Fervent; 6 Isolating; 7 Operational; 8 Uselessness; 12 Speculate; 15 Onerous; 17 Stroll; 19 Basis; 21 All.

CrypticAcross: 1 Happy medium; 9 Rod; 10 Wallpaper; 11 Elder; 13 Observe; 14 Lovers; 16 Strand; 18 Nurture; 19 Cider; 20 Eliminate; 21 Ego; 22 Investiture.Down: 2 Add; 3 Power; 4 Milton; 5 Deposit; 6 Upper hand; 7 Greenlander; 8 Friend or foe; 12 Diversion; 15 Routine; 17 Repast; 19 Crest; 21 Ear.


COMMUNITY BOLLYWOOD

COMPETITORS: Raees and Kaabil are going to against each other this weekend.

NOT GUILTY: Salman Khan

Clash time

This week, the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Raees and the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kaabil will release together. Rakesh Roshan, the producer of the latter, feels that he has been short-changed because he had fi xed the date much earlier and who wants to clash with a Shah Rukh movie.

However, attempts to avert it by releasing one of the two movies later had not succeeded and so they will eat into each other’s business. Hrithik Roshan however struck a cordial note recently when commenting on the confl ict. He said that his father was hurt because he was always concerned for other people and expected that he would also be similarly treated. And that

he had deliberately chosen January because no other producer had staked claim to it.

But Hrithik added that he could see the point of view of Raees’s makers too because they had already postponed the release and wanted to get it out as soon as possible. But he was only sorry that if they had planned it a little better then they could have avoided releasing at the same time. It makes sense because Shah Rukh needs to angle for a Rs300 crore hit to be in the same league as Salman Khan and Aamir Khan and that will most probably not happen with a Hrithik movie releasing at the same time.

Send your feedback [email protected]

Acquitted againI

t surprised no one when Salman Khan was once again acquitted in one of those many criminal cases that he has against him. This one related to the possession of illegal arms when, in 1998, he and a few others of the crew of Hum Saath

Saath Hain – which was being shot in Rajasthan – had allegedly decided to go hunting.

Altogether there were four cases fi led against Salman from that time. He had already been acquitted in two of those even though at the time the incident had made headlines and no one had been in any doubt as to what had happened.

The wheels of justice grind slowly in Indian courts and now, a little under two decades later, the verdicts are going for Salman. There is one more case of poaching that still hangs over him but he will probably be acquitted in that too going by the fate of the other cases.

Last year, he was acquitted in a 2002 hit and run case and there had been quite a few angry voices in the media and on social networking sites. This time, however, no one really seems to be upset. There were however jokes made online about Salman’s propensity to keep being held not guilty.

Book of revelations

Rishi Kapoor, we know, is a temperamental person and in his online avatar a straight-from-the-hip shooter who tells it like it is. He has often gotten into trouble for this character trait.

What would then happen if he were to write an entire book on his life? How many feathers would he ruffl e? Quite a few, given the extracts from his book that are making the rounds.

In a recent one, he took on even Amitabh Bachchan and blamed him for other stars not getting enough space in movies in the 1970s and 1980s, the hey decades of Amitabh’s angry young man superstardom.

Rishi wrote in his book that producers and directors reserved their best roles for Amitabh who epitomised the age of action movies. Rishi, essentially a romantic hero, thus became something of an anachronism fi nding it tough to hang on.

He also wrote that not just him, all the other big stars of the time found themselves swept under the shadow of Amitabh’s popularity. His only quibble was that in multi-starrers that became blockbusters, Amitabh never gave credit to his co-stars who were equally responsible for the success of the movie. At the time, stars still chose to

work as a side hero to Amitabh, if only because they had little alternative and he added that it wouldn’t happen nowadays.

In the same book, Rishi also had other interesting anecdotes. One was to do with Salim-Javed, the script-writing duo who changed Bollywood with their stories. Once he had rejected a role off ered by them in Trishul and that had not gone down well. Salim cornered Rishi at a club and asked him how he had the guts to turn them down and that they could destroy his career. When Rishi asked him how he would do that, Salim said that they would create a new hero, like they did with

Amitabh after Rajesh Khanna turned down Zanjeer.

As fate would have it, one of their movies bombed and Rishi’s became a big hit. Rishi also candidly writes about meeting the gangster Dawood Ibrahim when he had gone to Dubai for a show in the 1980s. Dawood’s man was at the airport and had handed him a phone with his boss at the other end welcoming him.

Later, Rishi got an invitation to meet him and had a four-hour long chat in which Dawood spoke about how he liked a movie of Rishi’s because his character was named Dawood in it!

Theft allegation

Rati Agnihotri was once upon a time a leading lady of Bollywood. But then in 1985 she got married and decided to let movies take a back seat. For some time she was not seen at all and then resurfaced as a character artiste doing small roles.

Some time ago, when an online gossip magazine did a list of what actresses charge for turning up at events, Rati’s name also featured there. She was apparently getting Rs 2-3 lakhs for making an appearance.

That she should be making such easy money contrasts with her

name cropping up in a police case filed for electricity theft at her posh flat in south Mumbai. Both she and her husband have been accused of stealing electricity for their home by rigging the meter and it is not a small amount.

The electricity department alleges that it runs up to total of Rs48 lakhs. That the couple should both be accused is intriguing. Two years ago Rati came out in public stating that she was getting a divorce because her husband was a wife-beater and she had decided that enough was enough. But then some months later there was news that the two had patched up.

CHARGED: Rati Agnihotri and her husband have been named in a police case for electricity theft.

CANDID: Rishi Kapoor

Monday, January 23, 2017 15GULF TIMES

COMMUNITYSHOWBIZ

Ozzy Osbourne slept through driving test

Singer Ozzy Ozbourne says that he once fell asleep during his driving test.

It took Ozbourne multiple attempts to be allowed to legally drive a car because he was often so “out of it”, and even after he obtained a licence, his wife Sharon kept a careful eye on him, reports femalefi rst.co.uk.

“I last drove four years ago. I’ve got an American driving licence and I bought a Ferrari, then went out on the p**s and Sharon went, ‘Oh no, you’re not having this’. It’s not a good idea is it, Ozzy Osbourne and a Ferrari? I took so many driving tests because I was so out of it. On one occasion, I nodded off during the test,”

Ozbourne told Q magazine.“When I woke up there was a note on the

seat saying, ‘You have failed’,” he added.Ozbourne and his wife split briefl y last year

after he was unfaithful to her, and though they are back together now, the Black Sabbath frontman admits they row all the time but insists that is normal behaviour.

“Sharon last told me off about two hours ago. I’m always saying the wrong thing

and putting my foot in my mouth. But when I hear those couples go, ‘We’ve been married for 35 years and never had an argument’, I go, ‘Sorry, you must be living on a diff erent planet’. The night we got married, we had a row — it’s all part of the deal,” he said. — IANS

Wahlberg turns the pageThe now-respected actor and producer plays the lead as Boston Police Department

sergeant in Patriots Day. In reality, he was arrested about 20 times for dealing drugs,

running with a gang, and visiting cruel violence on fellow citizens in his teens

By Tirdad Derakhshani

There was a time when the sight of a Boston police uniform would have sent Mark Wahlberg racing in the other direction — way back during his troubled teens, when the now-

respected actor and producer was arrested about 20 times for dealing drugs, running with a gang, and visiting cruel violence on fellow citizens.

That was then.This is now: In Patriots Day, Wahlberg

appears in uniform as a Boston Police Department sergeant, playing the lead in director Peter Berg’s epic Hollywood thriller about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

“I certainly prefer being on this side” of the law, Wahlberg, 45, said in a recent phone chat.

A painstakingly researched account of the April 15 attack and subsequent manhunt for Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Patriots Day is an homage to his hometown and its people, Wahlberg said.

The fi lm gave the Hollywood A-lister and his costars, including John Goodman, Michelle Monaghan, Kevin Bacon and J.K. Simmons, an opportunity to spend time with fi rst responders who were on the scene during the attack and with offi cers who scoured the city to fi nd the bombers afterward.

Wahlberg said the city gave cast and crew a king’s welcome. He remembers “being in the (police) commissioner’s offi ce or being in the mayor’s offi ce or being invited to these benefi ts for local law enforcement,” he said. “I have a deep appreciation of being welcomed by that entire community with open arms.”

Wahlberg was in New York on the day of the marathon attack and was shocked to see Boston shut down for the manhunt when he arrived there a day later.

“I remember coming out of the airport and seeing the city basically deserted,” he said. “I’m still processing it.”

He said he would fi nally be able to “sit back and really refl ect on it” now that the fi lm has wrapped.

Patriots Day is the third movie in an ongoing collaboration between Wahlberg and Berg, after 2013’s Lone Survivor (about a deadly Navy SEAL operation in Afghanistan) and 2016’s Deepwater Horizon (about the off shore-drilling-rig explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico).

Wahlberg said each focused on the heroic actions of everyday American men and women faced with impossible situations.

For Patriots Day, which he coproduced, the fi lmmakers had two overriding goals, he said.

“We wanted (the fi lm) to be as accurate as possible and to get in all the details we could. It’s hard. We had two hours to tell a story that unfolded over more than 100 hours,” he said.

“And we wanted to honour the people. … We’ve been able to (screen it) for the victims and their families and the fi rst responders.”

All other questions were pushed to the side, including political second-guessing.

“Did the police do the right thing” after the Boston bombing?, Wahlberg said, repeating a question. “Did the FBI treat Boston police and Boston’s citizens with respect” during the investigation and manhunt?

“We didn’t want to focus on the political … discussions about all the things that went on,” said the actor. “This is just about the people. … Ultimately, it was about the good that people did, all the eff orts they put forward, and the resiliency they showed.” — The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS

ACTION: Mark Wahlberg essays Boston Police Sgt. Tommy Saunders in Patriots Day.

SRK’s three-year-old son ‘promotes’ Raees

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan took his three-year-old son AbRam’s help to promote his forthcoming fi lm Raees.

The 51-year-old posted a black and white image of his son wearing a pair of glasses and

captioned it with a dialogue from the fi lm.“And bola na ‘battery nahi bolne ka’ (Told

you not to call me battery),” Shah Rukh captioned the image on his Twitter account.

The superstar had earlier shared his own photograph wearing the similar pair of glasses that have been donned by AbRam. “And if the glasses are 3D then I guess Battery bol lo... Alas Raees is in 2D but the story is multi-dimensional,” he tweeted.

Set against the backdrop of prohibition in Gujarat, Raees touches upon the way the alcohol industry crumbled and several illegal activities followed. Its trailer gives a glimpse of the story backed by heavy duty action sequences, and many thrilling moments.

In the fi lm, Shah Rukh essays the title role of Raees, a bootlegger. It also marks Pakistani cine queen Mahira Khan’s foray into Bollywood.

The Rahul Dholakia directorial will clash with Hrithik Roshan-Yami Gautam starrer Kaabil at the box-offi ce on January 25. — IANS

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON: Shah Rukh Khan and AbRam.

‘FIGHTER’: Ozzy Osbourne.


COMMUNITY

Asian water buff alo perfect for police patrols on Brazilian islandBy Georg Ismar

After only a minute, sergeant Vitelli Cassiano’s patrol comes to an abrupt stop. There’s nothing

he can do but wait. A huge, black cowpat splatters onto the sandy red track.

Once his Asian water buffalo has relieved itself, however, it immediately returns to duty.

For the last 23 years, the Brazilian policeman has been a proud member of the world’s only water-buffalo-mounted police squad. They use the animals out on patrol.

We are on the Amazon River island of Marajo, northern Brazil. It’s a two-hour boat journey from Belem on the mainland across to the island’s capital, Soure. At around 40,000 square kilometres, the same area as Switzerland, Marajo is the world’s largest river island. It lies in the mouth of the Amazon River, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

The crises of the world seem far away in this remote corner of the Earth, where life plods along at a slower pace. An advert for “Ice Bufalo” can be spotted from the ferry dock in the sleepy capital. The ice cream company’s logo features a laughing black buffalo with elegantly curved horns.

Buffalo ice cream, buffalo milk, buffalo cheese and buffalo meat are also available.

“Buffalo, buffalo, buffalo,” murmurs sergeant Cassano on his patrol, his uniform adorned with the yellow lettering “Policia Militar.”

“Here, this is our life. And our food.”

The incredibly tender, lean steaks, garnished with white cheese, are considered a special

delicacy.On the best beach, Praia do

Pesqueiro, Walter Cardoso earns up to 200 reals (around 50 euros) a day in tips from bathers taking photographs on his buffalo. He has christened the animal “Warrior.” The waves swish away in the background. A buffalo on the beach may seem like an unusual image, but here it is almost normal.

“This is the region with the most buffaloes in the world after Asia,” he says.

According to legend, they arrived by accident. In 1890, a sea-going freight ship laden with Asian water buffalo is said to have been wrecked on Marajo’s Atlantic coast. Most of the animals saved

themselves by making it onto dry land on Marajo, where they multiplied prodigiously.

One policeman speaks of at least 200,000 buffalo on the island, but some estimates go up to a million. The terrain featuring swampy mangrove forests and many rivers might have been designed as a water buffalo heaven.

In the rainy season, when almost everything is flooded, the region is practically impossible to cross with cars and horses. So around 25 years ago, the police hit upon the idea of buffalo patrols. Even the crest of the police in Soure features a black buffalo in a blue river.

Whether it’s as a pet or a

working animal, or as a source of meat, almost every family here owns a buffalo.

The chief of police, commander Oscar Guimaraes, 44, has a very stocky physique. You wouldn’t want him to take you in a headlock at the station house. He is a man of the Amazon, who has been stationed in Santarem und Belem, and trained with the mounted police. The move from horse to buffalo is not difficult – “a little adaptation” he says, grinning.

“You halt a horse by its mouth, a buffalo by its nose.”

The animals are “more basic” than horses, he opines. If a thief flees through one of the rivers, it is easier to catch him using a buffalo.

Guimaraes has heard the story of the shipwrecked buffalo.

“But there are two versions,” he says.

“The other one says that they came here via large landowners, who introduced them from Asia.”

Everything is perfect for them here, he says – the climate, the landscape.

The police have five operational buffaloes, three cars and two motorcycles. The buffaloes stand on the football field neighbouring the police headquarters. Each of them has a name.

What takes some getting used to is that the buffalo are led using reins attached to their nose ring. It hurts just to look at the ring.

Baratchina the 10-year-old buffalo has to be washed first of all – its fur is caked with mud.

In Asia in particular, domesticated buffalo are used for cultivating paddy fields.

There are four varieties on Marajo. The Murrah and Jafarabadi breeds originally come from India and can be recognised by their horns – either sticking out to the sides or curved like sickles.

Vitelli Cassiano sits majestically in the saddle as he chats with a moped rider.

Out in the swamps, the policeman can be fiercely attacked by mosquitoes, while Baratchina simply gets almost completely submerged to escape the bugs.

On stable terrain, a buffalo of this size can gallop at up to 30 km/h on command. You wouldn’t want to be the one running away. So what crimes do they deal with here – murders?

“One per year, at most,” says commander Guimaraes.

“Mainly, there are problems with drug dealing,” the stocky chief of police says.

“And a lot of buffaloes get stolen.” –DPA

Vitelli Cassiano, a policeman, demonstrates how to ride a water buff alo on patrol in Soure, the main town of the Brazilian island of Marajo.

Cassiano demonstrates how water buff alo on patrol easily ford water. Cassiano chats with a motorcyclist near Soure.

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