THURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017

Priyanka thanks team of ‘Ventilator’ and mother

COMMUNITY | 6 HEALTH | 8 BOLLYWOOD | 11

P | 2-3

Friends of Thrissur’s painting competition

tomorrow

Diabetes influences gum

diseases

Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

For some 600 years the great white oak looked over the people of Basking Ridge. After a season of goodbyes, a giant crane began the slow, careful task of dismantling the town’s most treasured citizen,

THE BIG FALL...

COMFriends

paintingksilator’

D | 11

COVERSTORY THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201702

Amy Ellis Nutt The Washington Post

It was a wonderful life. For some 600 years, the great white oak looked over the peo-ple of Basking Ridge, New Jersey, and the people of Basking Ridge looked after the tree. But when the tree failed to bloom last

spring, dendrologists, arborists and a local his-torian or two were called in to consult. Their final verdict in late 2016: The old oak that was here before there was even a town - or a church-yard cemetery to shade - had succumbed to old age or climate change or just bad luck.

It would have to come down.After a season of goodbyes, a giant crane

moved into Basking Ridge on Monday and began the slow, careful task of dismantling the town’s most treasured citizen. Throughout the day, according to local press, residents snapped pic-tures and shared stories as the workers cut limbs and weighed them. One tipped the scales at 8,000 pounds.

A 600-year-old life comes to an end

CAMPUSTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017 03The oak had been majes-

tic for centuries, as The Washington Post wrote in June:

“The tree still stands close to 100 feet tall, and its branches extend more than 130 feet side to side. It anchors the north end of the centre of Basking Ridge, a postcard-per-fect town about 40 miles west of New York City.

It’s a place where no one pays for parking on the main streets, where locals are used to greeting tourists who’ve come from all over the coun-try specifically to marvel at the age and stamina of the town’s most famous occupant.

“There have been other great oaks. . . . But the Holy Oak, as Basking Ridge’s tree is often called, kept going. It was struck more than once by lightning. It was blasted by Hurricanes Diane, Donna and Dora, then Floyd, Irene and

Sandy. Through tornadoes and derechos, blizzards and floods, it buckled and bent. It swayed and swooned. But it never suc-cumbed. “

Workers will need another day or two to remove the tree’s final remnants and cart them - yes, this is true - to an undisclosed location. But Basking Ridge has found con-solation in the great oak’s progeny.

A New Jersey biologist col-lected acorns from the ancient one in 2001 and grew saplings in a special tree grove. One of those saplings, now 16 years old, was gently uprooted, carted two dozen miles from one county to the next and replanted on the other side of the cemetery of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. The “Baby Oak,” as it has been affectionately nicknamed, has a lot to live up to

CAMPUS THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201704

Hexis Trading WLL is holding a book exhibition at Rajagiri School. It started on April 25

and will continue till April 29. The sole intention behind organ-

ising this was to promote love of books and reading habit among students.

It also provides the students and parents with an opportunity to buy books at a reduced rate.

Students visit the exhibition find how good it is to be with books and how a good book can be a good friend. Parents visit the same to gift their

wards a good book or two and also to buy a few good books for themselves. We are living in a world where read-ing loses its relevance and is being replaced by electronic gadgets.

Often these gadgets steal away the reading habit from our students and pave the way for loss of eye sight, loss of concentration and presenting an attractive unreal world. The exhibi-tion is intended to promote reading habit and replace electronic gadgets with good books.

Book exhibition organised at Rajagiri School

For the first time, students of GEMS Wellington School, Qatar celebrated Interna-

tional Day with the objective of celebrating the many different nationalities at the School.

As many as 52 countries were represented by the students to mark the day. The whole school commu-nity dressed in their respective national costumes and the children proudly participated in a school parade.

A stage show hosted by the head boy and head girl of the school,

celebrated the diversity of cultures in the school. The students were entertained by national dances and songs from around the world.

Jonathan Dey, Principal of GEMS Wellington School, Qatar, said, “GEMS Education truly believes in instilling the core val-uesof Global Citizenship, which is one of our key philosophies. We believe experiences like these will help our children grow, and hav-ing events like this further helps our students appreciate unique quali-ties of people across the world and

enable them to become true global citizens.” This celebration of cul-tures was not only limited to students. The families of GEMS Wel-lington School also got involved, with parents organising different

country stalls. Over 20 colourful and informative stalls were created, giving students, staff and parents the opportunity to sample food, as well as be educated on traditions from a variety of countries.

GEMS Wellington School marks International Day

COMMUNITYTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017 05

The AMU Alumni Association Qatar celebrated its annual ladies cooking competition

“Zaiqa-e-Aligarh” on April 7 at L’etoile Hotel in Doha.

This was the first time that this function was celebrated to an open forum.

Kausar Hassan Choghule, Founding Member of DPS-MIS and Kangaroo Kids and Sophia Bukhari, faculty member at the Qatar Uni-versity, were the chief guests.

Dr Khudsia Begum, one of the leading gynecologist and Khulood Farhan, a famous banker, were the Guest of Honours.

Kehkashan Jawed and Rahat Mansoor were special guests.

Bukhari, Patron AMUAAQ; Mohammed Habibun Nabi Zama; Jawed Ahmed; Shahid Yar Khan; Ali Imran; Ziauddin Ahmad, Advisor; Jawed Ahmed, President of AMUAAQ and Imtiyaz Mallick, Gen-eral Secretory of AMUAAQ graced the occasion. More than 140 peo-ple including children attended the

function. Nadia Rehman and Farah Khan greeted all the attendees. Aalia Mazhar Khan and Fatima Mansoor started the programme with the recitation of ‘The Holy Quran.’

Dr Ashna Nusrat, the coordina-tor for the ladies group of AMUAAQ, presented the welcome speech while Farah Khan took the audi-ence back to their golden memories by her poem “Meri Yaadein”.

Dr Ashna, Kehkashan Jawed, Sadaf, Nazia, Maimoona, Shadma Khan, Anjum Irshad, HinaSarwar, Anjum Haq of AMUAAQ presented bouquet and mementos to Chief Guests and Guest of Honors.

The Chief Guests and Guest of Honours addressed the audience with their kind words, their addresses were very informative and motivational.

The Chief Gustes presented the certificate and memento to Dr Ashna and Nadia Rehman, the coor-dinator of the event. Anjum Ara, Farah Khan and Tabassum Yasin

were the winners and become the apron of the year 2017. Syeda Saj-ida Zaki, Salma Khanam and Anjum Irshad were the first runner up and Tabassum Yasin, Parveen Ansari and Saima Doja were the second runner up in Starter, Dessert and M a i n c o u r s e c a t e g o r y respectively.

All participants received

certificate of appreciation for the participation. Satco International, Al Maya International, Qatari Can-dian Company, Deccan Deewan Restaurant and Great Wall Travels were sponsors for the event while Chef Rajeev Sharma, Chef Mohd Rashid and Chef Mohd Aftab were the Judges.Vote of thanks was pre-sented by Marina Aiman.

AMUAAQ celebrates ‘Zaiqa-e-Aligarh’

Qatar’s Al Arabi and Egypt’s Al Ahli have advanced to the final

of “The 12th Player Tourna-ment” after triumphing in their respective semi-final matches against the fan asso-ciations from QSL’s Al-Gharafa and Italy’s Serie A side, A S Roma.

The first semi-final match between Al Ahli and AS Roma took place on Mon-day at 7:30pm, with Egypt’s Red Devils securing their spot in the final thanks to an easy 6-1 win. In the second game at 8:45, both Al Arabi and Al Gharafa fought hard throughout. Such was the strength of the defensive game that there were no goals in ordinary time and the match was only settled through a dramatic penalty

shootout, with Al Arabi’s goalkeeper vital in securing their 4-3 win. Al Gharafa and A S Roma remain in the com-petition for third place, however, and face-off tomorrow at 7:30pm. The main event - the final of the tournament - will then kick-off at 8:45pm.

To gain access to the final, football fans must purchase tickets at 10 riyals each from the entrance to Aspire Park, near the Burgeri restaurant. In addition to a thrilling game of football, would-be tick-etholders have the added incentive to buy because they will become eligible to par-ticipate in a draw for prizes from carmaker Nissan and a range of other companies. On the sidelines of the 12th Player Tournament

tomorrow, Aspetar will take on Aspire Logistics in the final of the Aspire Zone Foundation Workers Cham-pionship being played on the Aspire Dome indoor pitch at 5:00pm. This will conclude the two-day tournament, which has provided workers with an opportunity to engage in competitive but light-hearted team sports, keeping spirits and health levels high.

It is organised with the backing of Gold Partner Doha Bank, Silver Partner

“Nissan” and Bronze partners Movenpick Al Aziziyah Hotel, Oxygen and Oryx. Qatar Football Association is the Strategic Partner for the event and Qatar Living is supporting the event as Com-munity Partner.

Al Arabi & Al Ahli in final of 12th Player Tournament

COMMUNITY THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201706

Ester Noronha, the lead actress in Konkani feature film

‘Sophiya’, will perform live during the 17th Annual May Queen Ball to be held on May 4 at the Radisson Blu, Doha from 7.30pm onwards. She will perform along with the top live band from Indian state of Goa, Alcatrazz.

The highlight of the event will be the crowning of the 17th May Queen by bollywood celebrities along with Ester Noronha.

Every participant in the con-test will be gifted with cash prizes and the winners will be gifted with fabulous prizes like gold necklace, diamond ring, airline tickets, wrist watches, electronic items, starred hotel vouchers, cosmetic sets and many more valuables, says Goan Welfare Association president, Simon D’Silva.

Luizinho Faleiro, MLA and president of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and former chief minister of Goa has con-sented to be the chief guest. Raj Kumar Singh, deputy chief of mis-sion, Embassy of India, Qatar will be the guest of honour.

A trained dancer in Kathak, Ester has also pursuing training in piano, Bharatnatyam, Carnatic singing and guitar. Apart from per-forming live shows, she went on to be featured and nominated in various countries and film festi-vals around the world including the 2012 South Asian International Film Festival in New York City and the DCIFF (DC Independent Film Festival) in Washington, DC. She has also acted in various movies in regional Indian language. A few of her movies are ‘’Usirigintha

Neene Hattira’ (Kannada), ‘Garam’ (Telugu), ‘Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum’ (Tamil), ‘Nagrik’ (Hindi), ‘Majhi Aashiqui’ (Marathi), and now, she is also acting in

another Konkani new film, pro-duced by her mother, Janet Noronha titled ‘Sophiya’ (A dream girl), to be released on May 12 in India.

Actress Ester Noronha to perform in Doha

Friends of Thrissur office bear-ers has announced its 9th inter-Indian School painting

competition in association with Ministry of Interior to be held tomorrow at MES Indian school.

The Ambassador of India to Qatar P Kumaran will be the “chief guest” of the inaugural function to be held at 4pm. Delegates from the Ministry of Interior will also be present at MES KG Section.

Organising committee expects around 5,000 participants from 16 Indian schools across Qatar.

Competition will start from 2pm to until 6pm. Competition divided into 4 categories, 1st category is 1st standard to 3rd standard, 2nd cat-egory is 4th standard to 6th standard, 3rd category is 7th stand-ard to 9th standard & 4th category is 10th standard to 12th standard. For 1st & 2nd category, the draw-ing theme will be provided by the organising committee and for theme of the 3rd & 4th categories will be given on spot by the Minis-try of Interior.

Trophies and certificates will be

given away for winners of each cat-egory and certificates will be given to all the participants on the same day. MF Hussain memorial trophy will be given away for maximum winners from the school.

Raja Ravivarma memorial tro-phy - trophy will be given away for maximum participating school. Registration will be accepted through schools and registration forms already distributed to all 16 Indian schools. Organising com-mittee also confirmed that this year, first time spot registration is

available at MES Indian school sub-ject to seat availability.

Category 2, 3, 4 ( std 4-12 ) @ 2pm; Category 1( std 1-3) @ 4:30 pm

Participants entry is restricted through gate no. 2 & 11 at MES Indian school. 10 departments from Ministry of Interior such as General Directorate of Traffic, General Directorate of Civil Defense, Gen-eral Directorate of Coasts and Borders Security, Al Fazaa Rescue Police, Community Policing Depart-ment, Juvenile Police Department, Public Relations Department, Police Canine Section, Human Rights Department and Permanent Com-mittee for Drugs and Alcohol Affairs will be presenting various public awareness programs during the event from 2pm. At 4.30pm, police dog show will be conducted at girls section open ground. This is the 4th time, the Ministry of Interior is par-ticipating in the painting competition organized by Friends of Thrissur.

Including India & Qatar, 10 judges specialised in art & painting will be selecting the winners.

Friends of Thrissur’s painting competition tomorrow

CAMPUSTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017 07

Our Earth is the only planet in the Universe where life is possible till date.

It is very necessary to main-tain the natural assets of the earth in order to continue the life on earth. World Earth Day is cele-brated every year as an annual event by the people all across the world on 22nd of April in order to increase the awareness among people about the environment safety as well as to demonstrate the environmental protection measures.

The theme of World Earth Day 2017 is “Environmental and Cli-mate Literacy” which is highlighted

to enhance the public conscious-ness for the air, water and soil pollution.

The Students of Noble Inter-national School conducted a special assembly in which excep-tional dance was displayed depicting the importance of trees.

A significant speech and song on promoting the respect for life on the planet as well as to encour-age awareness of the growing problems of air, water and soil pol-lution was also portrayed in the assembly.

The toddlers of NIS-KG were also involved in hand print activ-ity with passion and enthusiasm.

Noble International School marks Earth Day

DPS-Modern Indian School organised Scholar Badge & All Rounders’ Award ceremony on April 20 to felic-itate a multitude of meritorious students from Grades

V–VIII who proved their mettle in the field of academics and extra-curricular in the academic year 2016-17.

The solemn occasion was graced by the Chief Guests Rocky Fernandes, Director of Administration and Harish Kanjani, Director Facilities.

Principal, Asna Nafees, accorded a warm welcome to the guests and said, “It is indeed a consequential moment for those who have toiled tirelessly to reach to perfection in their pursuits. She appreciated the parents for their constant motivation and urged them to guide their wards to make the judicious use of technology.

Rocky Fernandes said that young achievers for their enthusiasm, commitment and sheer hard work, and encour-aged them to uphold values and share success with others to add value to the world.

The award ceremony was held amidst much joy, cheer and applause. A total of 450 students were awarded with trophies, certificates, blue blazers and blue ties for their out-standing academic and all round performance.

DPS-MIS felicitates 450 meritorious students

HEALTH THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201708

Dr Sumpath Sunder Specialist Periodontist

Naseem Al Rabeeh Medical

Center, C Ring Road, Doha.

Diabetes is a group of meta-bolic diseases in which there are high blood sugar levels

over a prolonged period of time. In diabetes the body’s ability to pro-duce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohy-drates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine.

Since the cells can’t take in the glucose, it builds up in your blood. High levels of blood glucose can damage the tiny blood vessels in your kidneys, heart, eyes, or nerv-ous system. That’s why diabetes

— especially if left untreated — can eventually cause heart disease,

stroke, kidney disease, blindness, and nerve damage to nerves in the feet.

Gum diseases comprises of gin-givitis and periodontitis. Gingivitis is the inflammation of gums which is primarily caused by plaque and calculus. When untreated this inflammation of the gums than leads to destruction of the support-ing structure of the tooth (periodontitis) which includes the supporting bone thus making tooth weak.

Diabetes is considered a risk factor in the progression of perio-dontal disease. Presence of diabetes produces destruction of the sup-porting structures of the tooth at a much faster rate when compared to an individual having periodon-titis without diabetes. This kind of increased destruction of the

periodontium is attributed to increased blood glucose level (hyperglycaemia).

The risk of periodontal diseases increases by almost 3 folds. Perio-dontitis being an infection also known to influence the glycaemia control and hence can have a neg-ative impact. Studies have shown that by just cleaning the teeth, it helps reducing blood glucose levels.

Visit your dentist more often if you are a diabetic to maintain your oral hygiene.

Maintaining your oral hygiene will help you maintain your blood sugar levels. Being a diabetic doesn’t make your teeth weak, it’s a plaque and calculus which makes your teeth weak. Extraction of tooth is allowed and wound healing is as good as a nondiabetic, if you are a

controlled diabetic. In the end, it’s not the dentistry which is expen-sive it’s the ignorance. Visit your dentist to know more about diabe-tes and gum diseases.

Diabetes influences gum diseases

Contrary to popular belief, consuming less sodium may

not lead to lower blood pressure in the long term, show results of a new study that followed more than 2,600 men and women for 16 years.

“We saw no evidence that a diet lower in sodium had any long-term beneficial effects on blood pressure,” said Lynn Moore, Associate Professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine in the US.

The new findings, presented at the Experimental Biology 2017 meet-ing, being held in Chicago from April 22-26, call into question the sodium limits recommended by the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

“Our findings add to growing evidence that current recommendations for sodium intake may be misguided,” Moore added.

The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend lim-iting sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day for healthy people. For the study, the researchers followed 2,632 men and women ages 30 to 64 years old who were part of the Framingham Offspring Study.

The participants had normal blood pressure at the start of the study. However, over the next 16 years, the researchers found that the study participants who consumed less than 2,500 milligrams of sodium a day had higher blood pressure than participants who consumed higher amounts of sodium. The researchers also found that people in the study who had higher intakes of potassium, calcium and magnesium exhibited lower blood pressure over the long term.

Researchers have identified new genetic variants asso-ciated with reduced risks for

cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease, and higher odds of surviv-ing for 100 or more years.

The search for the genetic determinants of extreme longev-ity has been challenging, with the prevalence of centenarians (peo-ple older than 100) just one per 5,000 population in developed nations. Combining four studies of extreme longevity, the researchers of the new study identified rare variants in chromosomes 4 and 7 associated with extreme survival.

The results, published in the Journals of Gerontology: Biologi-cal Sciences, highlight the importance of studying “truly rare survival, to discover combinations of common and rare variants asso-ciated with extreme longevity and longer health span,” the authors said. The research group led by P a o l a S e b a s t i a n i ,

Professor at Boston University School of Public Health, conducted various analyses to discover lon-gevity-associated variants (LAVs), and to characterise those LAVs that differentiated survival to extreme age.

Their analysis identified new “extreme longevity-promoting var-iants” on chromosomes 4 and 7, while also confirming variants (SNPs, or single nucleotide poly-morphisms) previously associated with longevity.

“The data and survival analysis provide support for the hypothe-sis that the genetic makeup of extreme longevity is based on a combination of common and rare variants, with common variants that create the background to sur-vive to relatively common old ages (e.g. into the 80s and 90s), and spe-cific combinations of uncommon and rare variants that add an addi-tional survival advantage to even older ages,” the authors wrote.

Less salt may not lower BP Genetic variants linked to old age identified

FOOD THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201710

Bonnie S Benwick The Washington Post

Pizza-type meals are easy to pull together on a weeknight, as long as you plan ahead for

dough or keep the store-bought, refrigerated bags of it in stock. But this recipe from John Whaite’s new book, “Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredi-ents” reminds us of another way to go.

In it, you make a dough with self-rising flour (which contains baking powder and typically a lit-tle salt). The good news is, this dough rolls out like a summer afternoon and bakes up crisp like

a thin-crust pizza. Pop a pizza stone or heavy baking sheet in the oven, crank up the temperature to 500 degrees and do the most min-imal prep of cutting roasted red pepper strips while the dough naps ever so briefly.

The topping combination deserves a nod of its own. An almost sheer swath of hummus acts as the base for Gorgonzola dolce - a mild blue cheese - and the peppers. Drizzles of sweet chile sauce finish the flatbread upon serving.

It did not escape our notice that the ingredients total eight, not the five promised in the book’s title. We won’t get fooled again.

Hummus, Pepper and Gorgonzola Flatbread

6 servingsA pizza stone works the best

here, but a heavy baking sheet (not rimmed) will suffice.

Serve with a green salad, right on top of the flatbread, if you like.

Adapted from “Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredients: 100 Stunning Yet Simple Recipes From the Winner of ‘The Great British Baking Show,’” by John Whaite (Kyle, May 2017).

Ingredients2 cups self-rising flour, plus

more for dusting1/2 teaspoon sea salt1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon olive oil2 roasted red peppers (from a

jar)2 tablespoons plain hummus3 1/2 ounces Gorgonzola dolce

(sweet)2 teaspoons sweet chile dipping

sauce, for serving

StepsPlace a pizza stone or a heavy

unrimmed baking sheet in the oven (middle rack); preheat to 500 degrees.

Meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, then add the water and a tablespoon of the oil, stirring to form a dough. Knead in the bowl for a few minutes, until smooth. Shape it into a ball and let rest for 18 minutes in warm, draft-free spot.

Meanwhile, lightly flour a work surface. Cut the roasted red pep-pers into long, thin strips.

Roll out the dough on the floured surface to a thin, 10-by-11-inch rectangle, then slide it onto a piece of parchment paper or onto a rimmed baking sheet that’s upside down. Spread the hummus evenly over the flatbread dough base, then scatter the peppers around. Distribute pinches of the Gorgonzola dolce evenly over the surface. Use the parchment or inverted baking sheet to slide the pizza onto the hot stone or baking sheet in the oven; bake for about 10 minutes, until lightly golden and crisped around the edges.

Drizzle the flatbread with the chile dipping sauce just before serving (hot).

Nutrition | Per serving (based on 6): 230 calories, 8 g pro-tein, 32 g carbohydrates, 7 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 920 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugar.

It takes less time to make and bake

BOLLYWOODTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017 11

IANS

Actor Pawan Kalyan and film-maker Trivikram yesterday announced they will facili-

tate the release of 12 handpicked movies of veteran filmmaker K Vishwanath as a limited edition disc in honour of his Dada Saheb Phalke Award.

Pawan Kalyan and Trivikram met and congratulated Viswanath for being conferred country’s high-est award in cinema.

“Really happy for Viswanath sir. It’s a proud moment for every south Indian. Even though I don’t have the experience or stature to com-ment about him, I can’t find any other way to express my happiness for him,” Pawan Kalyan told report-ers here. He said it was through

Viswanath’s films he understood and appreciated classical music.

“As a kid, I listened to a lot of western music. My whole percep-tion about classical music, especially carnatic music changed completely after watching aSanka-rabharanam’. I lost track of the numbers of times I have watched that film,” he said.

Trivikram said his respect for awards grew after this honour for Viswanath.

“Kalyan suggested that we release 12 of his best films in the form of a limited edition disc. We will talk to the respective produc-ers of those films and take necessary permission to make this happen. It should be released this year,” Tri-vikram said.

Winner of multiple National

Awards, Viswanath has directed 50 films, known for their strong con-tent, endearing narrative, honest handling and cultural authenticity. Viswanath’s National award

winning drama “Swati Mutyam” (The White Pearl) was India’s offi-cial entry to the Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Film category in 1987..

Vishwanath’s 12 films to be released as a disc

Actress Priyanka Chopra has thanked the entire team and cast of her maiden produc-

tion “Ventilator” for its win at the 64th National Film Awards, and praised her mother Madhu Cho-pra for being her “rock partner”.

“Ventilator” won in three cate-gories, including Best Director, at the 64th National Film Awards. Rajesh Mapuskar won the Best Director award, while the Best Editing award went to Rameshwar Bhagat and Best Sound Mixing to Alok De for the film.

Priyanka, who is in India now, on Tuesday night took to Instagram to share a photograph of herself along with her mother surrounded by paparazzi.

“Thank you to my Purple Peb-ble Pictures team and everyone who contributed to ‘Ventilator and all my mad endeavours. The cast, the crew, our partners, the media..Thank you all for coming out so strong tonight. We cried we laughed and just made merry...My

gorgeous and incredible team. Without who nothing would be possible and my formidable mother Madhu Chopra you are my rock partner! Here’s to many more by gods grace,” Priyanaka cap-tioned the image.

The Marathi film, produced by Priyanka and her mother Madhu Chopra under their production banner Purple Pebble Pictures, revolves around an ailing senior member of a family who is being put on the ventilator just days before the popular Ganpati festi-val, leading to varied degrees of speculation and panic among the clan he belongs to.

Priyanka thanks team of

‘Ventilator’ and mother Actress Parineeti Chopra, who has lent her voice for

“Maana ke hum yaar nahin” in the forthcoming film “Meri Pyaari Bindu”, says the song has no auto tune.

Parineeti, who will be essay-ing the role of an aspiring singer in “Meri Pyaari Bindu”, shared a short video of herself on Twitter and captioned it: “And this is how it happened! Blessed. And - No auto tune ‘Maana ke hum yaar nahin’, ‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’.”

The 28-year-old actress shared another video captioned: “And

another one! Behind the scenes...’Maana ke hum yaar nahin’

‘Meri Pyaari Bindu,”she said. Parineeti made her singing

debut with the song that has received a positive response from the audience.

Directed by Akshay Roy, “Meri Pyaari Bindu” is produced by Maneesh Sharma under the Yash Raj Films banner. Th film also stars Ayushmann Khurrana. In the film, Ayushmann will be playing a nov-elist. Parineeti has also started shooting for “Takadum” with actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

‘Meri Pyaari Bindu’ song has no auto tune

Actor Kunal Kapoor, who will be seen in National Award-winning f i lmmaker

Tigmanshu Dhulia’s next “Raag Desh - Birth of a Nation” says it has been an incredible movie-making experience.

“This has been such an incred-ible movie-making experience! And such a huge learning! Thank you. Tigmanshu Dhulia, ‘Raag Desh’,” Kunal tweeted. The film

also stars Amit Sadh and Mohit Marwah. On the work front, Kunal will be starring in a multilingual war drama “Veeram”, directed by Jayaraj.

The film is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, and is set in North Malabar region of the south. Since the story revolves around a warrior of that region, various action sequences are part of the film.

‘Raag desh - Birth of a Nation’

an incredible experience’: Kunal

HOLLYWOOD THURSDAY 27 APRIL 201712

AFP

Three years ago, “Guardians of the Galaxy” arrived as a breath of fresh air, a smart

corrective to the self-important pomposity of many superhero mov-ies, and proved a box office smash.

Before the world had heard of “Deadpool,” James Gunn’s ironic, wisecracking contribution to the Marvel universe became the sur-prise critical and commercial hit of the summer of 2014, taking in $770m.

Now his long-awaited encore, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” continues the screwball adventures of the first film’s spacefaring mis-fits as the jolly, B-movie vibe carries them to the outer reaches of the cosmos. The story picks up with the squabbling Guardians fighting to keep their surrogate family together as Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) has daddy issues with a swaggering demigod who happens to be a liv-ing planet known as Ego (Kurt Russell).

“Star Wars” fans are unlikely to be struck by the originality of a father-son space opera, but there is plenty more family drama as Gamora (Zoe Saldana) faces down her malevolent cyborg sister

Nebula (Karen Gillian). Meanwhile, muscleman Drax (Dave Bautista) gets close to a cute little alien with emotion-reading antennae (Pom Klementieff), Bradley Cooper returns to voice the snarky raccoon Rocket, and a star-studded back-up ensemble includes Sylvester Stallone and Glenn Close.

Rocket’s CGI stablemate Baby Groot -- a talking ten-inch seedling voiced by Vin Diesel -- steals the show by shimmying adorably to the Electric Light Orchestra’s “Mr Blue Sky.” “Guardians 2” is expected to enjoy one of the biggest opening weekends ever with critics agreed that its sharp one-liners make it

-- like its predecessor -- a cut above the average superhero fare.

“It’s definitely looking like another massive Marvel performer,” BoxOffice.com chief analyst Shawn Robbins said. “We’ve been sitting around a $160 million domestic opening for a few months and I’m pretty confident in that so far.”

‘Guardians 2’: ‘Not as funny’ but eyeing big

Actor Will Smith is in negotiations to star in “Gemini Man”.

Along with Smith, Ang Lee is also in negotiations to direct the action thriller with Jerry Bruckheimer producing the film, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

“Gemini Man” centers on an aging assassin who has to fight against his clone, who is 25 years younger and in his prime.

Back in 1997, the project was first set up at Disney as a pitch by Dar-ren Lemke, while Don Murphy was set to produce

the movie and Tony Scott was attached to direct. The original concept was to have an actor such as Har-rison Ford to play the older assassin and someone like Chris O’Donnell to play the younger one.

The concept was later revised, with the idea of one actor playing both parts. However, the project was considered impossi-ble to be filmed due to the lack of technology.

Skydance Media, an American film and televi-sion production company, picked up the project in

2016, believing that tech-nology nowadays has caught up to have some-one like Smith playing two people with different ages who fight against each other.

Will Smith in talks to star in ‘Gemini Man’

Actor Jeff Goldblum is returning to the

“Jurassic Park” fran-chise for the next instalment.

The sequel to “Jurassic World” --the fourth instal-ment-- is being directed by JA Bayona, reports variety.com. Actors Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are returning for the sequel which will also star Justice Smith, James Cromwell, and Toby Jones.

Goldblum co-starred in 1993’s “Jurassic Park” and

in 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” but was absent from “Jurassic World.”

He played the quick-witted mathematician Ian Malcolm, who managed to survive in both films.

Jeff Goldblum to return for

‘Jurassic World’ sequel

TECHNOLOGYTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017 13

Reuters

After upending the taxi mar-ket with its ride-hailing service, Uber Technologies

Inc is now aiming for the skies with its flying taxis.

The company expects to deploy its flying taxis in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Dubai by 2020, Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden said at the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas on Tuesday. Uber’s flying taxis will be small, electric aircraft that take off and land vertically, or VTOLs, with zero emissions and quiet enough to operate in cities.

Flying taxis would cut down travel time between San Francis-co’s Marina to downtown San Jose to 15 minutes, compared with the more than two hours it takes by road, Uber estimates. In an early scale operation, the company can

get to $1.32 per passenger mile, a little higher than taking an UberX for a similar distance, Holden said.

In the longer term, Uber expects the cost of taking flying taxis to fall below car ownership.

The company is working with Hillwood Properties to make four vertiports - VTOL hubs with mul-tiple takeoff and landing pads, and charging infrastructure - in Dallas starting next year, Holden said.

Uber, valued at $68 billion, has also teamed up with companies such as Bell Helicopter, Aurora, Pip-istrel, Mooney and Embraer (EMBR3.SA) to make the flying taxis.

The company has also part-nered with US electric vehicle charging station maker ChargePoint Inc. Uber is working on developing an exclusive charger for its network. Uber, which has partnered with the Dubai government, expects to

conduct passenger flights as part of the World Expo 2020 in Dubai.

The ride-hailing service has recently been rocked by a number of setbacks, including detailed

accusations of sexual harassment from a former female employee and a video showing Chief Executive Travis Kalanick harshly berating an Uber driver.

Uber looks to soar with flying taxis by 2020

Google Maps has introduced a new feature that will help you remember where you

parked your car in case you forgot.

All that Android users have to do is tap the blue dot and then tap

“Save your parking” to add their parking location to the map. This will show a label on the map itself identifying where you parked your car.Users can add additional details about their parking spot by tapping the label to open the park-ing card. They can also save an image of their parking spot and

send parking location to friends, Google said in a blog post late on Tuesday.

For iOS users, the steps are similar except that the after the tap on blue dot, the label will read,

“Set as parking location” to the map itself. “This is in addition to the automatic parking detection you might have already noticed in Google Maps for iOS. If you con-nect to your car using USB audio or bluetooth, your parking spot will be automatically added to the map when you disconnect and exit the vehicle,” the blog added.

Google Maps to ‘find’ your parked car

To tackle fake news and hate speech and control Search results that show false, offen-

sive or outrageous information about certain topics, Google has announced some major changes in its Search feature.

The Google update, codenamed “Project Owl,” gives consumers two new ways to report what they per-ceive as problems in the Search results. The company is also using teams of humans as part of an effort to get its algorithms to show more reliable information, Fortune reported on Tuesday. The biggest change that the company did was with Google’s auto-complete func-tion where the search engine suggests options to complete your query.

“With longer-term effort in mind, today, we are taking the next step toward continuing to surface more high-quality content from the web. This includes improvements in Search ranking, easier ways for people to provide direct feedback and greater transparency around how Search works,” Google wrote

in a post. Google has incorporated a way by users can tell the com-pany to tell Google if you encounter something wrong or objectionable. The tool now comes with little line that says ‘report inappropriate predictions’.

If a user clicks on the line, a box pops up that lets the user tell Google that the predictions are hateful or violent and so on.

The other way is telling that if the information boxes contain inac-curate information, users can tell the company to respond whether the information was helpful or they have some problem with it. The third big change coming to Google is the search engine will start giv-ing more weight to “more authoritative” information.

“We have adjusted our signals to help surface more authoritative pages and demote low-quality con-tent, so that issues similar to the Holocaust denial results that we saw back in December are less likely to appear,” the company said. The changes will be rolled out grad-ually, the company said.

‘Project Owl’ to curb fake news

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

Set in Boston in 1978, a meeting in a deserted warehouse between

two gangs turns into a shootout and a game of survival.Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

NOVO — Pearl ROYAL PLAZA

MALL

LANDMARK

The Lost City of Z (2D/Action) 10:30am, 12:00noon, 1:10, 3:50, 6:30, 8:00, 9:10 & 11:00 11:50pm & 12:00midnight Fast & Furious 8(2D/Action)11:30am, 2:30, 5:00, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pm The Boss Baby(2D/Animation) 10:00, 11:00, 11:50am, 1:00, 1:40, 3:00, 3:30, 5:00, 5:20, 7:00, 7:20, 9:00 & 11:00pm The Lost City of Z (Action) 12:00noon & 8:00pmBaahubali2: The Conclusion (Telugu) 11:00am, 5:00 & 11:00pm Hindi 2:00 & 8:00pm The Promise (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 2:40, 7:20pm & 12:00midnight Free Fire (2D/Action) 12:40, 3:00, 5:20, 10:00 & 11:00pm Sniper: Special Ops (2D/Action) 11:30am, 3:30, 7:30 & 11:30pmHeadshot (2D/Action) 1:30, 5:30 & 9:30pm Mine (2D/Thriller) 1:00, 5:10 & 9:20pmUnforgettable (2D/Thriller) 11:00am, 3:10, 7:20 & 11:30pm Ghost In The Shell (2D/Action) 9:30 & 11:45pm Baahubali 2 (2D Hindi IMAX/Action) 10:00am, 2:50 & 8:50pm Fast & Furious 8 (2D IMAX/Action) 12:10, 6:10pm & 12:00midnight

The Fate of The Furiours (2D/Action) 2:30pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Telugu) 5:00pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 4:00 & 8:00pm The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:15 & 3:00pm The Promise (2D/Drama) 5:00pmSniper: Special Ops (2D/Action) 7:00pm Free Fire (2D/Action) 7:30 & 9:30pm The Lost City of Z (2D/Action) 8:45pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 11:00pm Headshot (2D/Action) 11:30pm

The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:00, 3:45 & 5:30pm The Lost City of Z (2D/Action) 2:15 & 11:30pm The Promise (2D/Drama) 4:45pmSmurfs: The Lost Village (Animation) 3:00pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Tamil) 8:00pm The Fate of The Furiours (2D/Action) 7:15pm Sniper: Special Ops (2D/Action) 7:15pm Free Fire (2D/Action) 9:00pm Headshot (2D/Action) 9:30pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Telugu) 11:00pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 11:00pm

The Lost City of Z (2D/Action) 2:00 & 8:00pmThe Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:15pm Smurfs: The Lost Village (2D/Thriller) 3:00pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 4:30 & 10:30pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Telugu) 5:00pm Sniper: Special Ops (2D/Action) 6:00pm The Promise (2D/Drama) 7:30pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Tamil) 8:00pm Free Fire (2D/Action) 9:45pm Headshot (2D/Action) 11:30pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 11:00pm

THURSDAY 27 APRIL 2017

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

CINEMA PLUS14

AL KHORBaahubali (Telugu) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00 8:00 & 11:00pm Baahubali (Malayalam) 11:30am, 5:30 & 11:30pm Baahubali (Tamil) 2:30 & 8:30pm The Baby Boss 2:15, 4:30 & 6:45pm The Fate of The Furiours 11:30am, 9:00 & 11:45pm

FREE FIRE

ASIAN TOWNBaahubali (Telugu) 12:00noon, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00pm & 12:00midnight Baahubali (Tamil) 12:30, 1:00, 3:30, 4:00, 7:00, 9:30pm, 10:00, 12:30, 01:00, 03:00 & 03:30am Baahubali (Malayalam) 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00 & 01:00pm Baahubali (Hindi) 6:30pm

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News08:30 Witness09:00 Taliban Oil 10:30 Inside Story11:30 The Stream12:30 Fault Lines13:00 NEWSHOUR14:00 News14:30 Inside Story15:00 Witness16:00 NEWSHOUR17:00 News17:30 The Stream18:00 Newsgrid19:30 Wukan: China’s

Democracy Experiment

20:00 News20:30 Inside Story21:00 NEWSHOUR22:00 News22:30 The Stream23:00 Sports Doping:

The Endless Chase

13:10 Welcome To The Ronks

14:35 Best Friends Whenever

15:50 Sunny Bunnies

16:45 Elena Of Avalor

17:35 Descendants Wicked World

17:40 Girl Meets World

19:25 Alex & Co. 19:50 Jessie 20:20 Backstage 20:45 Austin &

Ally 21:10 The Next Step21:35 Cracke 21:40 Disney The

Lodge 22:05 Girl Meets

World 22:30 That’s So

Raven

13:45 Gator Boys14:40 North

America15:35 Tanked16:30 Snake

Sheila17:25 Treetop Cat

Rescue18:20 Voodoo

Shark19:15 Tanked20:10 Tigers

Attack21:05 Treetop Cat

Rescue22:00 Voodoo

Shark22:55 Gator Boys23:50 Snake

Sheila00:45 Bondi Vet01:40 Voodoo

Shark02:35 Tanked

13:05 How Do They Do It?

13:30 Storage Hunters

14:20 Gold Rush15:10 Marooned

With Ed Stafford

16:00 Gold Divers17:40 Street

Outlaws18:55 How Do

They Do It?19:20 Ed Stafford:

Into The Unknown

20:10 Storage Hunters

21:00 What On Earth?

21:50 Sydney Harbour

22:40 The Wheel: Survival Games

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSTHURSDAY 27 APRIL 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.

AIRBED, BACKPACK, BATTERIES,

BINOCULARS, CAMPFIRE,

CAN OPENER, CANVAS,

COMPASS, FIRELIGHTER,

FIRST AID KIT, FLASK, FOOD,

FUEL, GRIDDLE, GROUNDSHEET,

HIKING BOOTS, KINDLING,

LANTERN, MAPS, MOSQUITO

NET, PANS, PEDOMETER, POTS,

ROPE, STOVE, TENT, TINDER,

TOOLS, TORCH, WATER.