WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017

Looking to get back to happiest days: Hrithik

CAMPUS | 7 HEALTH | 10 BOLLYWOOD | 11QU Department

celebrates renewal of ISO accreditation

Green tea may help fight bone marrow

disorders

Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

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celebrateIISO a

back ys:

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Honey bee national project aims to promote indigenous honey production in Qatar by providing support to farmers.

BEAUTY &THE BEES

CAMPUSWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 03

Al Ahli Hospital hosts children from The Next Generation School

ACS Doha to hold ‘open morning’ on February 11

ACS Doha is one of the leading inter-national schools in Qatar, providing American and Interna-tional Baccalaureate (IB) education programmes to children aged in

between 3 to 18. The school will be holding an ‘open morning’ on February 11 from 9am to 11am, for lower, middle and high school stu-dents (aged in between 6-18).

Interested parents are invited to register

to attend the ‘open morning’, where they will be able to meet with staff, tour the facilities, and find out more about the school. Please register online at: www.acs-schools.com/open-mornings-acs-doha

Al Ahli Hospital hosted yes-terday, the children from

“The Next Generation School” at its auditorium, to help educate the children and teach-ers on the importance of nutrition, healthy eating and active living.

“The purpose of this pro-gramme was to encourage children to make healthy choices in food and life style by highlighting importance of each”; said Dr Atiya Bashir,the Consultant Paediatrician at Al Ahli Hospital. “I feel so privi-leged and excited about this programme “Eat Right Live

Bright” launched by Al Ahli Hos-pital. It has always been my passion to help families and kids live a healthy life so we can pre-vent diseases like obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia and heart disease even before they start,” she said. She added that the beauty is that, all above are life style diseases that are totally preventable by eating healthy and living an active life. “It ensures health and emotional wellbeing not only for kids but entire family, commu-nity and nation.”

“We, paediatricians, teach-ers and parents, have the

responsibility, along with the rest of the food industry, to help address public health issues especially dietary issues con-cerning children. This campaign will help educate people on the role of healthy eating and exercise”

“It’s important to teach kids to eat healthy from a very young age and expose them to a vari-ety of fruits and vegetables and healthy sources of carbohy-drates and fats. When good eating habits are formed early in life, they tend to continue through entire childhood and into adulthood as well.”

CBSE pre-exam counselling to begin from tomorrow

CBSE will provide Pre-Examina-tion Psychological counselling for students and parents from

February 9 to April 29. The CBSE annual counselling is an outreach pro-gramme which caters to the heterogeneous students’ population and vast geographical network of schools.

This year 90 Principals, trained Counsellors and private schools, few Psychologists and special educators will participate in the Tele-Counsel-ling and address exam related problems of students; 68 of them are available in India while 22 are located in Nepal, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Ara-bia, Sultanate of Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Singapore and Qatar.

Children from The Next Generation School at Al Ahli auditorium,

COVER STORY WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 201704

Huda N V The Peninsula

Beelicious honey is made painstakingly; the trans-formation from nectar, produced by plants, to a few drops of golden

sweet honey requires teamwork. Industrious honey bees work

relentlessly to make their food-the honey- which for us is something delectable.

Harvesting honey is an ancient craft that begins with honey bees.

In Qatar, much has been invested to promote this sector by

helping apiaries in different parts of the country to tremendously increase their production. Through the national honey bee project the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment has been facilitating the sector since 2012.

Honey bee national project aims to promote indigenous honey production in Qatar by providing financial and technical support to farmers.

Since the launch of the national project in 2012, the ministry has set up a programme to support and popularise bee farming. Around 10 beehives and apiaries were

distributed to 30 farms in the first part of the project in 2013.

In the second phase of the project in 2014, some 50 farms were given the supplies. Currently there are some 130 farms in honey production, according to experts

“The project aims to support farms producing honey and many farms have doubled their output over the past years, with support from the ministry. We also have experts to assist farmers in every phase of honey production who train workers and follow-up honey production with routine farm vis-its. The ministry is providing

guidance and training to farmers on the best methods for the pro-duction of honey, and this year we have also included packaging train-ing so that the honey can be marketed locally in best possible way,” Yousuf Al Khulaifi, Director, Agricultural Affairs Department at the ministry, said.

“There is much support from the government to promote bee keep-ing. They also have the annual honey festival which does bring the local farmers an additional profit,” Engineer Mohammed Abu Zeid of Al Taher Farm in Qatar told The Peninsula.

From Beehive to bottle!

COVER STORYWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 05Honey is made from nec-

tar, gathered by bees from flowering plants. The nectar thus collected is regurgitated and passed around among the bees in the hive, until it gets thicker. The partially digested nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb cell. Together with the warmth of the hive and bees’ fanning their wings, the water content is further evaporated . When it gets thick enough, the bees seal the cells with beeswax. This way, cutting air and moisture, honey can be stored indefi-nitely for eating during times of scarcity.

The honey comb frames are placed in a centrifuge extractor that spins the frames, extracting the honey. The resulting honey is filtered to remove any particles and is kept intact for few days. One beehive box can produce 8kg of honey in a season.

“ With more than 50 boxes, we have been able to produce 400kg twice an year. The honey is kept untouched for few days after filtering and then packaged. We do not do any extra processing like heat-ing and so all the nutrients are kept intact,” Abu Zeid said.

“In Qatar, most of the farms harvest honey twice a year. Honey is classified according to the flower from which the bees extract nectar. The colour and flavour of the honey are determined by the type of plants visited by the bees. It can be either mono-floral , coming from a single type of flower or poly-floral,” he said.

Depending on the time of the year and which flowers are available, the colour and taste of honey will be different.

“In Qatar, the poly-floral honey is produced in Novem-ber, when the flowers begin to bloom. Usually the flowers, including the vegetable flow-ers in the farms and also the wild ones that bloom during this season provide the nec-tar needed for the poly-floral

honey,” said Abu Zeid.However, the most popu-

lar honey in the Arab region as a whole is the Sidr honey. The honey is considered to be one of the finest and most expensive honey in the world.

“Honey bees feed them-selves exclusively on the nectar of the Sidra trees . It is darker and thick honey with a rich buttery sweet taste. Sidra flowers bloom in late autumn and hence the har-vesting of the mono-floral honey begins in late Septem-ber or October,” said the expert.

Some 750gm of Sidr honey was sold at rates start-ing from QR200, at the recently concluded honey fes-tival. High price of Sidr honey is because of its medicinal properties and limited avail-ability. It is the most expensive honeys due to its believed healing properties that include rejuvenating proper-ties in addition to its cosmetic and aphrodisiacal qualities.

The flavour, purity, qual-ity and medicinal value, have increased the demand for the locally produced honey. “An important factor affecting honey’s curative qualities is purity. Only crude, unproc-essed and unadulterated honey is shown to be effec-tive. People also have a trust in the purity of locally pro-duced honey, which are do not go any treatment unlike the ones available in shops,” he said.

However, wrong weather can affect the honey yield. Bees can detect changes in air pressure. If it’s going to rain and air pressure drops, they stay in their hives. When it is cold or windy, they cluster in their hive to stay warm. They use the honey that they make for food during the cold months when nectar is scarce.

“Honey bees will not fly in extreme weather conditions. Windy weather, extreme tem-perature and rain takes its toll on honey production,” Abu Zeid said.

Pics : Abdul Basit

COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 201706

Two medical camps were organised for workers in Asian Town last weekend.

On February 2, Atlas Poly Clinic and Ibn Ajayan Projects jointly organised the monthly regular med-ical checkup inside plaza mall in Asian Town and on February 3 another medical camp was

organised by Indian Doctors Club, an Indian medical association in Qatar, with the support of Ibn Ajayan Projects.

The medical camp organised by Indian Doctors Club was in the Cricket Stadium Complex in Asian Town. Doctor’s consultation was available to the patients in the

camp. They have checked blood pressure, blood sugar and BMI of patients. Indian Doctors Club is an association of health care profes-sional from India. They conduct regular free medical camps for the general public, health awareness lectures to organisations and pro-moting awareness of health issues.

The regular medical camp in plaza mall organised by Ibn Ajayan Projects and Atlas Policlinic was the seventh free medical camp. This regular medical checkup is conducted every month first Thursday from 4pm to 9pm. These monthly medical camps are successful.

Two medical camps held for workers in Asian Town

On the occasion of the National Sport Day and in line with its diverse initia-

tives to support Qatar National Vision 2030, Youth Forum organ-ised ‘sports meet’ for Indian expatriates.

Around 400 sports persons rep-resenting 33 teams from different areas of Qatar participated in the sports event that was chiefly spon-sored by Oscar Car Accessories.

The one-day sports meet wit-nessed variety of sports activities including track and field

competitions. Three teams namely Luqtha, Umguwalina and Yarmook were share-crowned the overall champions of the meet. Asmakh and Ain Khalid teams grabbed sec-ond and third places respectively. The team Industrial Area was elected as best disciplined and Fuad Ibrahim of Barwa City was marked as best team manager.

The event in Al Wakra was inaugurated by Firoze S A, Youth Forum President. Indian Islamic Association General Secretary. Abdul Salam, received the

honorary salute from parade teams during the opening ceremony of the event. The parade was remarka-ble with colourful and artistic processions showcasing diverse aspects of the Indian culture and marking support to Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. Indian Islamic Associ-ation Secretary R S Jaleel, Cultural Forum Secretary Yasir M Abdullah, Sports Activist ShiyasKottaram also attended the ceremony.

The closing ceremony was inaugurated by Firoz S A, Youth Forum President. Youth Forum

Vice-Presidents Shanavas Khalid and Saleel Ibrahim, General Secre-tary Muhammad Bilal, Secretaries Thoufeeq Abulla and Aslam Eeratu-petta gave away the trophies and prizes to the winners. Youth Forum executive members Rabih Zaman, Anoop Ali, Muneer Jalal, SubairKa-dannamanna and Anwar Sadath also attended the ceremony. Sports Meet General Convener Ameen Thaseen, Conveners Suneer Puthi-yottil and Noushad Vaduthala supervised and controlled the sport activities of the meet.

Youth Forum organises sports meet

CAMPUSWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 07

Qatar University’s (QU) Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) yesterday celebrated renewal of its ISO/IEC 27001:2013 accreditation cer-tificate for Information Security

Management System Standard for three addi-tional years. This achievement reaffirms QU’s commitment in protecting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of its information assets.

The certificate was presented to the Presi-dent of QU, Dr Hassan Al Derham, by the British Ambassador to Qatar, Ajay Sharma, in the pres-ence of officials and dignitaries from QU, the UK Embassy to Qatar, and the British Standards Insti-tution (BSI) Group Qatar.

Dr Hassan Al Derham said:, “Qatar Univer-sity sought to achieve the ISO certificate for Information Security Management System Stand-ard through adhering to information privacy and security management while ensuring its com-pliance with the adopted procedures and regulations. In this context, the ITS Department at Qatar University achieved the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Accreditation Certificate

for Information Security Management System Standard in December 2013. Three years later, the Department has been awarded renewal of its ISO accreditation certificate for three addi-tional years. This achievement is a testament of the high quality services that QU offers to its members.”

He added that Today’s achievement is not the first to Qatar University. “The University has notched up a number of ISO certifications over the last 5 years for its research labs, IT systems, quality management, and environmental, health and safety management systems. This comes in line with the University’s ongoing efforts to enhance its services and develop a knowledge-based economy in line with the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.”

Ajay Sharma said, “I am pleased to be here at Qatar University to see the dynamic learning environment that sets the University apart. It has a proud track record of achievement and offers numerous academic programmes to the community. It is always a pleasure to meet stu-dents and faculty members especially to celebrate successes like this achievement. I would like to thank Qatar University for

selecting the British Standards Institution (BSI) Group, which underlines the contribution of the UK government, institutions and business in shaping the future in Qatar and in realizing the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030.”

QU ITS Department Acting Director Moha-mad Eljazzar said, “The need to access information from anywhere at any time intro-duces various challenges such as protecting our privacy and maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of our information and systems. Today’s event is a testament that Qatar University has risen to the challenge.”

BSI Qatar Business Development Manager Jamal Dalli said: “I am delighted to celebrate this achievement with Qatar University today. On behalf of BSI, I offer my congratulations on their certification to ISO/IEC 27001:2013 for an Infor-mation Security Management System. To achieve certification to this standard, an organisation must show a continuous structured commitment towards assessing security risks, managing sen-sitive information and ensuring a holistic plan is in place to respond to any potential disruptions. I applaud Qatar University for leading by exam-ple with their commitment to best practice.”

QU Department celebrates

renewal of ISO accreditation

SCIENCE WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 201708

AFP

Long before European settlers arrived in the Americas in 1492, the Amazon rainforest

was transformed for thousands of years by indigenous people who carved mysterious circles into the landscape, researchers said.

While the purpose of these hun-dreds of ditched enclosures, or geoglyphs, remains unclear, scien-tists say they may have served as ritual gathering places.

Modern deforestation -- cou-pled with aerial photographs of the landscape -- helped reveal some 450 of these geoglyphs in Acre state in the western Brazilian Amazon.

“The fact that these sites lay hid-den for centuries beneath mature

rainforest really challenges the idea that Amazonian forests are ‘pris-tine ecosystems,’” said lead author Jennifer Watling, a post-doctoral researcher at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Uni-versity of Sao Paulo.

Archeologists have found very few artifacts from the areas, and scientists suspect the structures -- which span 5,000 square miles were not built as villages or for defensive reasons.

Rather, they believe humans altered the bamboo forests and built small, temporary clearings “con-centrating on economically valuable tree species such as palms, creating a kind of ‘prehistoric supermarket’ of useful forest prod-ucts,” said the study in the

Proceedings of the National Acad-emy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed US scientific journal.

The research is based on state-of-the-art techniques used to reconstruct some 6,000 years of vegetation and fire history around two geoglyph sites. Watling, who did the research while studying at the University of Exeter, said the

findings show the area was not -- contrary to popular belief

-- untouched by humans in the past. “Our evidence that Amazonian for-ests have been managed by indigenous peoples long before European contact should not be cited as justification for the destruc-tive, unsustainable land-use practiced today,” she added.

The longest-living fish in a zoo-logical setting, a lungfish known as Granddad acquired

by the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago in 1933, has been euthanised after suffering failing health well in his mid-90s, aquarium officials said on Monday.

Granddad, who came to Shedd from Australia in anticipation of the 1933-34 Chicago World’s Fair, was seen by more than 104 million peo-ple during his time in Chicago, aquarium president Bridget Cough-lin said in a statement announcing his death.

“For a fish who spent much of his time imitating a fallen log, he sparked curiosity, excitement and wonder among guests of all ages who would hear his story and learn about the incredible biology that makes his species a living fossil and one of the oldest living vertebrate genera on the planet,” Coughlin said. According to the aquarium, lungfish, which can live to be more

than 100 years old and are a pro-tected species in Australia, have existed for nearly 400 million years and fossils show they have remained unchanged for over 100 million years.

A Shedd spokeswoman said Granddad’s exact age was unknown but that he was believed to be in

his mid-90s. The aquarium said Granddad was euthanized after los-ing interest in food and showing signs of organ failure.

Lungfish, which are native to the Mary and Burnett rivers in Queensland, Australia, have a sin-gle primitive lung and are among the few fish that can breathe air.

IANS

An international team of researchers has identified 83 new DNA changes that

strongly determine human height as well as also help pre-dict a person’s risk of developing certain growth disorders.

Height is mostly determined by the information encoded in the human DNA -- children from tall parents tend to be taller and those from short parents are shorter. “Of these 83 genetic variations, some influence adult height by more than 2 cm, which is enormous,” said Guillaume Lettre, Professor at Montreal Heart Institute in Canada.

The genes affected by these genetic variations modulate, among other things, bone and cartilage development and growth hormone production and activation.

Oldest captive fish euthanised in mid-90s by Chicago aquarium

83 new DNA

changes affecting

height identified

Study: Amazon forest was transformed by ancient people

FOODWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 09

Joe Yonan The Washington Post

The first time I made truffles from chocolate ganache, it was a revelation: How could just two ingredients, chocolate and cream, set

up to form such a perfect texture? It almost felt like a cheat; this shouldn’t be so easy. Scoop, roll, coat, done. It wasn’t until I cooked with two of my favourite vegan chefs, Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby, a few years ago that my truffles evolved further. Jacoby showed me how to make a pot de creme using little more than dark chocolate, beet juice, coconut milk and cornstarch. I loved it warm

- and then noticed that when I refrigerated it, guess what happened? Yep, just like ganache.

I figured a simple coconut milk-chocolate combo would do the same thing, so I tried it, and sure enough, magic. Since then, I’ve seen plenty of other recipes that play with the same ingredi-ents - and often add several others - but I’ve never found a good enough reason to branch out beyond that effective one-two punch.

I have experimented with lots of coatings, though: Plain cocoa, unsweetened coconut, pecans or other nuts, chipotle or other ground chiles for the brave-hearted. I love them all, but the best coating of all came to me when I was rooting around the pantry for inspiration. I found a bag of

freeze-dried strawberries and blitzed them to a powder in a mini food processor, and the truffles I rolled in them turned out to be my favorite. (Freeze-dried raspberries would be a natural, too.)

The best thing about these is that if you use dairy-free chocolate, they’re vegan, and just as tasty as traditional ones, which broadens their appeal to include just about anybody who loves chocolate.

The second-best thing? The fact that, unlike ones made with heavy cream, they’re built on shelf-stable ingredients I happen to always have around. That means I can melt, scoop, roll and coat them on little more than a whim.

Vegan Chocolate Truffles24-30 piecesWith just high-quality dark chocolate and

coconut milk, you’ve got deeply flavored truffles that you can roll in your choice of coatings. Below are suggestions for making a box or plate that includes five varieties, but feel free to mix and match, or choose other favorite possibilities.

You’ll need paper candy cups. A #100 size disher is helpful for making consistently same-size truffles.

Make Ahead: The ganache needs to be refrig-erated for 1 to 2 hours before you form and coat the truffles. The finished truffles can be

refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days. From Food and Dining Editor Joe Yonan.Ingredients

1 cup full-fat coconut milk, stirred well10 1/2 ounces dairy-free dark chocolate (pref-

erably 75 percent or higher cacao), finely chopped1/2 cup freeze-dried strawberries (about 1/2

ounce)1/4 cup unsweetened, dessicated (dried)

coconut2 tablespoons chopped pecans or nut of your

choice1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder1 tablespoon chipotle powder

StepsHeat the coconut milk in a small pan over low

heat until it’s just starting to bubble.Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof

bowl. Immediately pour the warm coconut milk over it, whisking to form a smooth ganache. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set, 1 to 2 hours.

Grind the dried strawberries to a fine powder in a mini food processor or clean spice grinder, then transfer the powder to a small bowl. Place the coconut, pecans, cocoa powder and chipotle powder in separate small bowls.

Once the truffle mixture has set, uncover it. Grease your hands with cooking oil spray and use a tablespoon-size scoop or #100 disher to scoop out a ball, then roll it lightly between your palms. Place on a tray, and repeat to create balls using the remaining truffle mixture. (Your palms will become covered in chocolate as you work, and the balls will soften on the outside, but that’s okay.)

Use a fork to help lift and toss the truffles. Roll some of them in strawberry powder, some in coco-nut, some in pecans, some in cocoa powder, some in chipotle powder (for those who don’t mind something fiery) or in a mix of chipotle and cocoa (for a kick that’s a little milder) until well coated. You may need to use your fingers to press in the coconut and the pecans. Set each one into a paper candy cup as you finish.

When all the truffles are made, pack them into an airtight container (being careful not to stack them) and refrigerate until ready to serve -- or give. Nutrition Per serving, calories per piece (based on 30): 80, total fat: 6gsaturated fat: 4g, cho-lesterol: 0mg, sodium: 0mg, total carbohydrates: 6g, dietary fiber: 2g, sugar: 3g, protein: 0g

Spectacular

chocolate truffles

from just a few

ingredients

HEALTH WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 201710

QNA

New research reaffirms that sleep is essential for learn-ing and memory function in

the brain, based on findings with mice.

The study from Johns Hopkins Medicine suggests that a key pur-pose of sleep for mice is to recalibrate the brain neurons that help solidify lessons learned and use them the next day.

“Our findings solidly advance the idea that the mouse and presuma-bly the human brain can only store so much information before it

needs to recalibrate,” says Graham Diering, a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins who led the study.

“Without sleep and the recalibration that goes on during sleep, memo-ries are in danger of being lost”.

The researchers focused on a process known as “homeostatic scaling down” that has been well-studied in lab neurons but not before in living animals.

This process helps prevent neu-rons in the brain from firing constantly and reaching their max-imum load. When a neuron maxes out, it loses capacity to convey i n f o r m a t i o n , w h i c h

stymies learning and memory. “Homeostatic scaling down” weak-ens the synapses that connect neurons but in a uniform way and by a small degree, so the relative strength of the synapses remains intact, and learning and memory formation can continue,” Science Daily reported.

The researchers confirmed that sleep is a necessity for this scale-down process that can’t be substituted. “The bottom line is that sleep is not really downtime for the brain,” Diering says. “It has impor-tant work to do then, and we in the developed world are shortchang-ing ourselves by skipping it”.

A compound found in green tea could have life saving potential

for patients who face often-fatal medical complications associated with bone mar-row disorders, says a study. The compound epigallo-catechine-3-gallate (EGCG), a polyphenol found in green tea leaves, may be of partic-ular benefit to patients struggling with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis - both related to bone marrow disorders, accord-ing to the researchers.

Patinets with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis are susceptible to a fre-quently fatal condition called light chain amyloido-sis, in which parts of the body’s own antibodies become misshapen and can accumulate in various organs, including the heart and kidneys.

“The idea here

is twofold: We wanted to better understand how light chain amyloidosis works, and how the green tea com-pound affects this specific protein,” said Jan Bieschke, Assistant Professor at Wash-ington University in St. Louis.

Bieschke’s team first isolated individual light chains from nine patients with bone marrow disor-ders that caused multiple myeloma or amyloidosis, then ran lab experiments to determine how the green

tea compound affected the light chain protein.

In bone marrow patients, the findings pub-lished in the Journal of Biological Chemistry showed that the green tea compound transformed light chain amyloid, pre-venting the misshapen form from replicating and accu-mulating dangerously.

“In the presence of green tea, the chains have a different internal struc-ture,” Bieschke said.

If you are suffering from chronic low back pain, yoga may offer some relief. Researchers have found that patients practicing it for three and six months

are likely to experience improvements in back-related function and pain.

“We found that the practice of yoga was linked to pain relief and improvement in function,” said the study’s lead author Lisa Susan Wieland, Assistant Pro-fessor at University of Maryland School of Medicine.

“For some patients suffering from chronic non-specific low back pain, yoga may be worth considering as a form of treatment,” Wieland noted. Wieland and her co-authors reviewed 12 separate studies looking at yoga for low back pain.

The trials, which included more than 1,000 par-ticipants, compared yoga to a non-exercise intervention, such as educational material given to a patient, or to an exercise intervention such as physi-cal therapy.

Medical study reaffirms

importance of sleep

Green tea may help fight bone marrow disorders

Yoga can help relieve your back pain

BOLLYWOODWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 11

Mumbai IANS

Amit Roy’s Bollywood film “RunningShaadi.com”, star-ring Taapsee Pannu and

Amit Sadh, will hit the screens in Pakistan on February 17, the same day as its release in India.

The news comes right after the release of much-anticipated Bolly-wood film “Raees”, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan, was on Monday banned in Pakistan due to its

“objectionable” content.Director Roy said in a state-

ment: “I think it’s a good way forward because just banning all things that the two nations enjoy about each other is not going to move our relationship forward.”

“We enjoy many of the same things and the people of both our nations are made from the same grain. So why let the politics cho-sen by the select few determine the common man’s desire on either side to communicate and enjoy each other’s cultures. I completely wel-come this decision by our friends in Pakistan to release our film and I hope they enjoy it.”

After the self-imposed ban on Bollywood films in Pakistan ended on February 1, Karachi’s Atrium Cinemas screened Hrithik Roshan-starrer “Kaabil”. And now,

“RunningShaadi.com” is set to release in Pakistan.

Vikram Malhotra, co-producer of “RunningShaadi.com”, said: “We are delighted that ‘RunningShaadi.com’ will release in Pakistan.”

‘RunningShaadi.com’ to release in Pakistan

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia, who has an interesting line-up of films in her kitty this

year, is very excited to team up with actor Vikram for the first time in an upcoming yet-untitled Tamil actioner.

“I’m thrilled to be finally join-ing hands with Vikram. Although I can’t talk about my role yet, I can say that was blown away when I heard the story. I will join the sets from March,” Tamannaah, who has the Tamil remake of “Queen”

and Telugu film “Pellichoopulu” in the offing, said.

To be directed by Vijay Chan-der, the film starts rolling from Friday. Interestingly, Vikram will be juggling this project and Gau-tham Menon’s “Dhruva Natchathiram”.

Popular Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan will be making his indus-try debut in an antagonist’s role with this project.

S S Thaman has been roped in to compose music for the film. Hrithik Roshan says he is

looking back to get back to his “happiest days” --

those when he was concentrating on the creative process of film-making. The “Kaabil” actor, who is celebrating the positive response to his latest release, said here: “As an artiste, we should concentrate on the cre-ative process of filmmaking. So, when I was in the creative genre, those were my happiest days. Currently, I am looking to get back in my happiest days.”

“I was confident that ‘Kaabil’ is a good film and would get a good response. But the way peo-ple have showered love for the film, is unexpected.”

The heart-warming, real-life story of Indian-Australian businessman Saroo Brierley

is being celebrated globally through the film “Lion”, that has been win-ning awards and has earned several Oscar and BAFTA nominations.

He says the success of the homecoming story is unimagina-ble and wants it to bring hope to those who may be going through what he did. “I am humbled and

touched that the film has been cho-sen for six Oscar nominations. I never imagined my story would get that (an Oscar nomination).”

“More than winning awards, I want the film to penetrate as much as it can for those kids and parents who are going through the same situation. I want those kids to be motivated and inspired, who are vulnerable, not knowing where they are coming from,” he added.

Thrilled to be teamed up with Vikram: Tamannaah

Never imagined of Oscar nomination: Saroo

Looking to get

back to happiest

days: Hrithik

HOLLYWOOD WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 201712

AFP

The divisive political climate in America hung over the Oscar nominees luncheon on

Monday as Academy Awards pres-ident Cheryl Boone Isaacs opened the gathering with a call for toler-ance and freedom of expression.

“Today we celebrate you, your work and your achievement, but each and every one of us knows that there are some empty chairs in this room, which has made Academy artists activists,” Isaacs told some 160 Oscar nominees attending the annual affair in Beverly Hills.

She was referring to artists expected to miss this year’s Acad-emy Awards as a result of President Donald Trump’s controversial exec-utive order temporarily banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. A federal court has sus-pended the decree, for now.

“There is a struggle today over artistic freedom that feels more urgent than at any time since the 1950s,” Isaacs said to loud applause.

“We stand up in support of art-ists around the world, we stand up to those who would try and limit our freedom of expression and we

stand up for this fundamental prin-ciple: That all creative artists around the world are connected by that unbreakable bond and more pow-erful than nationality and politics.

“And just as our work does not stop at borders, borders cannot be allowed to stop any of us.”

Among artists affected by Trump’s travel ban are

Oscar-winning Iranian director Ashghar Farhadi, nominated for best foreign language film for “The Salesman.”

Also set to miss the upcoming Oscars ceremony later this month are the subjects of “The White Hel-mets,” a documentary about the volunteers who rescue victims in war-torn Syria.

‘Art has no borders’: Oscars president

Octavia Spencer is up for her second Academy Award this year, but

the star said that she has even bigger plans.

“The role I’m destined to play is to be one of the biggest producers in Hollywood,” Spencer said at the 3rd annual Makers Conference, a wom-en’s empowerment event sponsored by Verizon. The actress shared her aspirations during a conversation with Gloria Steinem that kicked off the two-day conference at Terranea Resort in Rancho

Palos Verdes, California.Spencer received a sup-

porting actress Oscar nod for playing Dorothy Vaughn, a black mathematician who worked at NASA, in the crowd-pleasing best picture nominee

“Hidden Figures.” The actress celebrated her nomination earlier Monday at the film academy’s annual Oscar Nom-inees Luncheon. Spencer said she is working on a project about the Jonestown Massa-cre for HBO and developing a story about pioneering entre-preneur Madam C.J. Walker.

Octavia Spencer announces plans

to become Hollywood producer

Grammy Award-winning singer Justin Bieber was reportedly paid $1.75m more than the New England Patriots star Rob

Gronkowski for the Super Bowl commercial.The pop star was paid an estimated $2m

for his appearance in T-Mobile’s Super Bowl advertisement, in which he donned a tuxedo

and urged fans to share their best touchdown celebrations, reports pagesix.com.

Meanwhile, sources say Gronkowski, who appeared as a partially clad caveman in Bie-ber’s advertisment, asked for a cheaper $250,000 fee even though he was on the win-ning team.

Actress Haley B e n n e t t seems to sug-

gest that she would appear as Cat-woman aka Selina Kyle in “Gotham City Sirens”.

Bennett recently posted a photograph of Catwoman with-out any caption, raising speculation that she would play the DC character,

reports aceshowbiz.com. She also uploaded an image of herself with short hair, which resem-bled Kyle’s traditional short cut. Bennett captioned it: “This is me now.”

Bieber paid $2m for commercial

Haley Bennett may

appear as Catwoman

TECHNOLOGYWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 13

A healthy baby boy has been born from an embryo frozen 16 years ago, a hospital in south China announced

yesterday.A 46-year-old woman gave birth to a

son at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong Province in early February, Xinhua news agency reported. Her other first son, already 16-years-old, was from the same batch of embryos frozen in 2000.

“I’m just really ecstatic to have another child,” said the woman. She gave birth to her first child through IVF in 2000, when the hospital froze her 18 other embryos.

Last year, the mother came to the hos-pital asking to get pregnant again, after China lifted the one-child policy. “There were a few issues to handle when she asked to unfreeze her embryos,” said Xu Yanwen, director with the reproductive centre of the hospital.

“It was not easy to awaken the frozen embryos because of freezing techniques and there were also problems with her womb.” Xu added that risks were also high for women of advanced maternal age.

Both the baby and mother are doing well and will be discharged from hospital soon.

Baby born from frozen embryo

IANS

Nearly 250,000 jobs in Brit-ain’s public sector could be replaced by websites and

artificially intelligent “chat bots” in the near future, leading to higher efficiency in the sector, a new report said.

With the advancement of technology, many jobs in the pub-lic sector could be efficiently completed by machines, replac-ing some 130,000 administrators in the government, 90,000 administrators in the National Health Service and 24,000 gen-eral practitioner reception jobs by

2030, Xinhua quoted the report by the London-based think tank Reform as saying. The authors believed that the move to auto-mation in the sector could help save over four billion pounds a year. There is also a possibility that doctors would be affected by the new trend, as machines have made significant progress in diag-nosing some diseases and even carry out surgical procedures, the report pointed out.

Meanwhile, public sector workers who hold strategic and cognitive roles can enhance their decision-making through data analytics, the report noted.

From collaborating with engi-neers at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for design-

ing a next-generation space exploration device to cut the dis-tance barrier between cities, the global 3D design company Dassault Systemes is busy working on ideas to herald a new era for millennials.

According to Gian Paolo Bassi, CEO, Dassault Systemes, new space

exploration devices will further expand our knowledge about the universe. “We are working closely with JPL engineers to build a space exploration device that will be faster than any other machine of its kind of previous generation and will be able to carry heavier pay-loads,” Bassi addressed the jam-packed Los Angeles Conven-tion Centre as he kicked-off the four-day SOLIDWORKS World

2017 conference here on Monday.“In order to safeguard our Earth

from an asteroid impact in the future, we are also working with Nasa to develop a planetary space defence system that can alert us in such threat in advance,” Bassi told the gathering in the city of

entertainment which was inun-dated with rain since morning.

wDassault Systemes is also working with the California-based aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX on an ambitious hyperloop trans-portation project.

US tech giant Apple is planning to introduce a new connector type for accessories for the iPhone, iPad and other devices through its

official Made-for-iPhone (MFi) licensing pro-gramme. “Called ‘Ultra Accessory Connector’ (UAC), the eight-pin connector is slightly less thick than USB-C and near half as wide as both USB-C and Lightning,” tech website 9to5mac.com reported. Apple will allow accessory manufacturers to make Lightning to UAC, USB-A to UAC, and 3.5mm head-set jacks to UAC cables which will allow headphones with an UAC port to connect to various Apple devices.Apple’s next generation iPhone 8 is rumoured to sport a bold new design.

Robots could replace 250,000 jobs in Britain

Eyes on space exploration to

cut distance between cities

Apple to introduce new connector for accessories

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

A happy-go-lucky man accidentally falls in love with a woman whose

father despises him. To further complicate matters, his lover has

another suitor, who is deemed more worthy of her.

Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

NENU LOCAL

NOVO ROYAL PLAZA

ASIAN TOWN

MALL

LANDMARK

Split (2D/Horror) 11:30am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30, 10:00pm, 12:00midnight & 12:15amKung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnightLive By Night (2D/Crime) 11:00am, 1:30, 2:15, 4:00, 6:30, 7:15, 9:00 & 11:30pmArsenal (2D/Thriller) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnightRaees (2D/Hindi) 10:30am, 3:45 & 9:00pm Monster Trucks (2D/Animation) 1:30, 6:45pm & 12:00midnightJackie(2D/Drama)10:10am, 2:00, 5:50 & 9:50pm Pet(2D/Horror)12:10, 4:00, 7:50 & 11:50pmSing (2D/Animation) 10:15am, 12:15, 2:15 & 4:15pmLa La Land (2D/Musical) 6:15, 8:45 & 11:15pm Split (2D/Musical) 4:50pm XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (2D/Action) 10:30am, 2:45, 7:00 & 11:15pm Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2D/Action) 12:45, 5:00 & 9:15pmResident Evil: The Final Chapter (3D IMAX/Action) 10:30am, 2:45, 7:00 & 11:15pm XXX: The Return of Xander Cage (3D IMAX/Action) 12:30, 4:45 & 9:00pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:00pmJackie (2D/Drama) 2:00pm Kung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 2:15, 7:15 & 9:15pm Nenu Local (2D/Telugu) 3:45pm Pet (2D/Horror) 4:15pm Ballerina (2D/Animation) 4:15 & 6:00pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 9:45pm Raees (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm Live By Night (2D/Crime) 5:00 & 8:45pm Kung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 7:15 & 9:15pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pmSplit (2D/Horror) 11:30pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:00pmNenu Local (2D/Telugu) 2:00pm Jackie (2D/Drama) 2:15pm Kung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 5:15, 7:15 & 9:15pmMoana (2D/Animation) 4:30pm Pet (2D/Horror) 5:45pm Live By Night (2D/Crime) 8:45pm Split (2D/Horror) 7:30 & 9:30pm Raees (2D/Hindi) 6:15pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 4:00 & 11:30pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm

Jomonte Suvisheshangal (2D/Malayalam) 2:15 & 11:15pmEnakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (2D/Tamil) 2:15pmKung Fu Yoga (2D/Action) 2:15, 7:15 & 9:15pmRaees (2D/Hindi) 4:30pm Live By Night (2D/Crime) 5:00 & 8:30pm Jackie (2D/Drama) 8:00pm Split (2D/Horror) 6:00 & 11:30pm Pet (2D/Horror) 7:00pm Arsenal (2D/Thriller) 4:15 & 9:45pm Bogan (2D/Tamil) 10:45pm

Jomonte (Malayalam) 5:00, 6:30, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 & 11:15pm Nenu Local (Telugu) 6:45pm Bogan (Tamil) 9:30pm Raees (Hindi) 6:30pm Enakku Vaaitha Adimaigal (Telugu) 8:45pm

WEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

CINEMA PLUS14

AL KHORJomonte (Malayalam) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm Bogan (Tamil) 11:15am,

2:15, 5:15, 8:15 & 11:15pm Nenu Local (Telugu) 10:45am, 1:45, 4:45, 7:45 & 10:45pm

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News08:30 The Listening

Post09:00 The Caliph10:30 Inside Story11:00 News11:30 The Stream12:00 News12:30 Rewind13:00 NEWSHOUR14:00 News14:30 Inside Story15:00 Al Jazeera World16:00 NEWSHOUR17:00 News17:30 The Stream18:00 newsgrid19:00 News19:30 Witness20:00 News20:30 Inside Story21:00 NEWSHOUR22:00 News22:30 The Stream23:00 Witness

13:00 Welcome To The Ronks

13:15 Gravity Falls

13:40 Hank Zipzer

14:35 Jessie 15:00 Bunk’d 16:15 Sunny

Bunnies 17:10 Stuck In

The Middle 17:40 Girl Meets

World 18:05 Bizaardvark 19:25 The Next

Step 19:50 Austin & Ally 21:10 Liv And

Maddie 21:35 Cracke 21:40 The Next Step22:05 Best Friends

Whenever 22:30 Jessie

13:50 Up Close And Dangerous

14:45 Gator Boys15:40 Great

Animal Escapes

16:05 Great Animal Escapes

16:35 Tanked17:30 River

Monsters19:20 The Pool

Master20:15 Tanked21:35 Great

Animal Escapes

22:05 Australia Doesn’t Just Want To Kill You

23:00 The Pool Master

13:14 Mythbusters14:02 How Do

They Do It?14:26 Food

Factory14:50 Alien

Encounters15:38 Future

Weapons16:26 Da Vinci’s

Machines17:14 Mythbusters18:02 Alien

Encounters18:50 Da Vinci’s

Machines19:40 Mythbusters20:30 How Things

Work21:45 Food

Factory22:10 Alien

Encounters23:00 How Things

Work

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSWEDNESDAY 8 FEBRUARY 2017 15

Yesterday’s answer

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku

is a number-placing puzzle based on a

9×9 grid. The object is to place the

numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each

3×3 box contains the same number

only once.

ALBENIZ, BACH, BARTOK,

BEETHOVEN, BELLINI, BERLIOZ,

BIZET, BORODIN, BRAHMS,

BRITTEN, BRUCKNER, BYRD,

CHOPIN, COUPERIN, DEBUSSY,

DELIUS, DVORAK, ELGAR,

FAURE, GRIEG, HANDEL, HAYDN,

HOLST, LISZT, MAHLER,

MENDELSSOHN, MONTEVERDI,

MOZART, PAGANINI, PROKOFIEV,

PUCCINI, PURCELL, RAVEL,

ROSSINI, RUBINSTEIN,

SCARLATTI, SATIE, SCHUBERT,

SCRIABIN, SIBELIUS, VERDI,

VIVALDI, WAGNER.