WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017

I take my social responsibility seriously: Priyanka Chopra

CAMPUS | 3 HEALTH | 10 BOLLYWOOD | 11DeBakey-Qatar

holds Science Fair

Decoded: Why you turn bald or have

grey hair

Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

ously:

1

PRINTS OF PALESTINE

P | 4-5

Palestinian fashion

designer Natalie Tahhan,

who studied in Doha and

at the London College

of Fashion, is among the

few to bring new life into

traditional designs in

Jerusalem.

CAMPUSWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 03

DeBakey-Qatar holds Science Fair

DeBakey-Qatar held a Science Fair where students displayed and presented their projects to their classmates and parents. To add

to the engagement and excitement of the day, there was an interactive presentation led by the Mad Science Performance Group.

Bhavan’s Public School celebrates World Press Freedom Day

World Press Freedom Day was cele-brated on May 3 in all three campuses of Bhavan’s Public

School to mark the fundamental principles of press freedom. The theme for the day was ‘Critical minds for critical Times’.

Keeping the same message in mind, spe-cial assembly was conducted in which students spoke about the importance of the day and also portrayed the young reporters from the mainstream newspapers who high-lighted the collective responsibility to assess the status of press and to uphold the Right to Freedom of Expression by their press conference.

Principal M P Philip entreated the stu-dents to stand for the right to truth and to counter misinformation by being proactive inselecting reliable and accountable news and to pay homage to the journalistswho had to pay a high toll for the expression of truth.

COVER STORY WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 201704

Jerusalem

AFP

Palestinian fashion designer Natalie Tahhan is hard at work in her Jerusalem studio, replac-ing the painstaking

processes of cross-stitching and embroidery with a laptop compu-ter and printed fabric.

Taking inspiration from tradi-tional Palestinian patterns, Tahhan designs patterns digitally and then has them printed on satins and silks before piecing together her gar-ments. Her modern take on generations-old designs has attracted a keen following both locally and abroad, particularly in the Gulf, where she sells her clothes via the web.

“I wanted to do something new, modern, never seen on the market,” the 27-year-old said, as she meas-ured out fabric at her studio in her family home in Ras al-Amud, east Jerusalem.

Palestinians have for centuries painstakingly sewn long black dresses and adorned them with red embroidery, in designs still worn today in rural areas and at mar-riages and other celebrations.

The designs vary from region to region and tend to say something about the wearer.

“We can tell where the woman who wears it is from and if she is

married or single,” Tahhan said.Several young Arab designers

have sought to modernise tradi-tional wear and bring the dresses of their ancestors — an increasingly rare sight today — to a new gen-eration. Tahhan, who studied in Doha and at the London College of Fashion, is among the few to do so in Jerusalem. She believes she is the only one to have abandoned

traditional embroidery for her new method. As the Palestinian terri-tories lack the equipment she needs, she has her fabrics printed in Dubai.

They are then delivered to Jeru-salem via Qatar and Jordan to circumvent the lack of direct ship-ments from the Gulf countries to the Palestinian territories.

‘Proof of existence’ Maha Saca, director of the Pal-

estine Heritage Centre in the occupied West Bank city of Bethle-hem, says she supports efforts to breathe new life into traditional designs.

As the Palestinian territories lack the equipment she needs, she has her fabrics printed in Dubai. They are then delivered to Jerusalem via Qatar and Jordan to circumvent the lack of direct shipments from the Gulf countries to the Palestinian territories.

Palestinian fashion designer breathes new life into tradition

COVER STORYWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 05

“Adding Palestinian motifs to modern wear is very important. It means we can wear a modern dress with Palestinian embroidery on it,” she said.

The centre, established in 1991, boasts the largest collection of tra-ditional Palestinian dresses.

“Embroidery is part of our iden-tity and our proof of our existence in every Palestinian city and village,” Saca said. “It shows the beauty and richness of our Palestinian heritage.”

She is lobbying for traditional embroidery to be incorporated into Palestinian school uniforms.

Saca said top-end handmade dresses can cost between $1,500 and $2,000 because of the long hours of labour involved and the cost of materials.

She stresses the need to pre-serve hand embroidering techniques, but accepts that clothes are being produced in new and more modern ways. “We support it 100 percent,” she said.

Tahhan’s first collection, con-sisting of five white and violet satin capes with shimmering geometric patterns, sold out completely in less than three months at a price of $550 a piece.

Most of the sales were to Gulf clients who bought the items online.

‘Really worth it’ One of Tahhan’s signature

works is a cape inspired by designs from the West Bank city of Hebron, occupied by Israel for 50 years. The garment bears a succession of blue and pink squares over black fabric,

and is open at the shoulders.Tahhan’s light fabrics work well

in the Gulf market, where heavy black felt or thick cotton can become unbearable under the burning sun.

Her latest collection is called “Prints of Palestine.”

Tahhan’s location in Jerusalem, a city holy to many religions, is also a plus for sales “despite the obsta-cles and difficulties” imposed by Israel’s occupation, she said.

Israel seized the West Bank and east Jerusalem in 1967. It later annexed east Jerusalem in a move never recognised by the interna-tional community.

Palestinians see the eastern sec-tor as the capital of their future state, while Israelis consider the entire city of Jerusalem their unified cap-ital. “I wanted to do something as a girl from Jerusalem,” said Tahhan, her long black hair falling over her shoulders. “Why not create fashion here?”

“People love the idea of owning something made in Jerusalem, especially Palestinians abroad,” she said.

“When they buy something they feel they are taking with them a small piece of the city.”

MARKETPLACE/COMMUNITY WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 201706InterContinental Doha The City welcomes James Young as new GM

InterContinental Doha The City welcomed James Young as the new General Manager effective

from May 1. In his position, Young will oversee the operation of 525 rooms — 176 of which are apart-ments ranging from one to four bedrooms, seven food and bever-age outlets, a meeting and events centre with five meeting rooms as well as a grand ballroom of 1,100sqm, and a Health and Fit-ness Club. He will also be responsible for managing a team of over 300 people.

James Young joins the hotel from IHG South East Asia, where he previously held the post of Area General Manager Indochina and General Manager of InterConti-nental Saigon Hotel and Residences in Vietnam, awarded Asia’s Leading Business Hotel at the 2015 World Travel Awards.

Young brings a wealth of inter-national leadership experience in the hotel industry and has been with the InterContinental Hotels

Group for over 20 years since he joined the InterContinental Park Lane London, with 16 of those years spent in executive management.

Young said: “I am delighted to be taking over the reins for Inter-Continental Doha The City. With the country gearing up for FIFA 2022 and the number of new developments in the country, it is an exciting time to be working here.”

No stranger to the country, or the region, Young is pleased to be back in Doha again, having worked in Qatar from 2001 until 2004 where he was Resident Man-ager of InterContinental Doha.

ICC celebrates Karate Tournament Prize distribution ceremony

Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) cel-ebrated its 4th Karate Tournament Prize distribution

ceremony in ICC Ashoka Hall. The function was inaugurated by K S Dhiman, Second Secretary of Indian Embassy, and Khalid Saad Al Dosari, Manager of Qatar Table Tennis Federation, was the Chief Guest.

He congratulated ICC for suc-cessfully conducting Karate Tournament and appreciated the efforts ICC taking to conduct pro-grammes that help to improve the physical fitness. He also offered all support from Qatar Sports Author-ities for ICC programmes.

ICC President Milan Arun deliv-ered presidential address and she

explained the activities being con-ducted at ICC. Sultan Masoud F S Al Merikhi, Chairman, Al Madha Group, and Shakeed K Abbas also addressed the gathering.

Qatar-fame illusionist Jam-sheed Kecheri conducted Magic performance during the event.

Prizes to the winners from yel-low belt to black belt were handed over by Dhiman, Milan Arun, Kha-lid Saad Al Dosari, Sultan Masoud Al Merikhi, Shakeed Abbas and Abdulla. Girish Jain, Head of Finance, welcomed the guests and audiences and Anjan Kumar Gan-guli proposed Vote of Thanks. Adv. Jaffarkhan M, Head of Sports, con-ducted the programme. K S Dhiman presented a memento to Khalid

Saad Al Dosari, Sultan Masoud F.S Al Merikhi and Shakeed K Abbas.

Mementos were given to sponsors, Samir Hassanein, Qatar Karate Association Chief Referee, C K Abdul Jaleel, Chief Karate Coach and NM Ashraf, Chief Karate Referee. The pro-gramme organised by ICC General Secretary Juttas Paul, Vice President A P Manikandan, K S Prasad, Dr Nayana Wagh,

Vishal J Mehta along with ICC Man-agement Committee members and Community Representatives Farhas Muhammed, Musthafa Enam and Abdulla.

The sponsors of the event were One two Zone, World Games, Dan-ubie Contracting, Mastermind, Qatar Trissur KMCC, Helpline Printing, Savoury Restaurant, Enam Doha, Studio22 and Snehatheeram.

InterContinental Doha The City gets new director of sales & marketing

InterContinental Doha The City welcomed Saheb Sadaghiani as the new Director of Sales

and Marketing. In her new role, she is responsible in overseeing three main drivers: sales strate-gies and initiatives, marketing and public relations, and maximising revenue growth for the property through room bookings, meetings and conventions, and events.

Joining the team from Inter-Continental Kiev, with over 18 years of experience in the hotel industry particularly with IHG, Saheb Sadaghiani possesses great leadership skills, a passion for developing talent, and true brand-hearted loyalty.

Prior to her most recent role at InterContinental Kiev, Sadaghiani was also Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing in Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express Istanbul – ORA. In addition, Sadaghiani has held positions as the Director of Sales and Marketing of Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Istanbul and as Gen-eral Manager of L’OccitaneEn Provence in Turkey. Pascal Egger-stedt, Outgoing General Manager of

InterContinental Doha The City, said, “With a solid background in sales and marketing as well as the InterContinental and IHG brands, Saheb will be a valuable asset to the hotel.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Saheb to the family,” said James Young, Incoming General Manager of InterContinental Doha The City.

A Turkish national, originally from Istanbul, Sadaghiani holds a degree in Hotel Management from Marmara University, Istanbul, and has also accomplished a bachelor’s degree in International Business and Financial Management as well as her MBA in Business Adminis-tration from the Schiller International University in London.

CAMPUSWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 07Oil & gas workshop

held for Rufaidah

Preparatory

School for Girls

A workshop was given to the seventh grade stu-dents from Rufaidah Preparatory School for Girls by three young

professionals from the Society of Petroleum Engineers-Qatar Section. Petroleum Engineers: Maryam Al Bishri, Abeer Abuhelaiqa and Mona Jemaishi started by showing the stu-dents the personal protective equipment (coverall, gloves, safety boots, goggles and helmet) neces-sary on the worksite. They then walked the girls through the proc-ess of producing oil and gas; from exploration to drilling and produc-tion and finally refining and transportation.

The engineers also emphasised the importance of protecting the environment and our role as indi-viduals. Finally, they concluded their presentation by talking about the alternative and renewable

energy sources. Various experi-ments were conducted with the students in the school’s science lab-oratory. The experiments simplified concepts like fluids’ densities, cor-ing (geological sampling), rock porosity …etc. At the end, the Soci-ety of Petroleum Engineers – Qatar Section gave each student an Ara-bic book titled “What is the Secret Behind the Importance of Oil?” in

order to encourage the students to continue learning, reading and researching about the Oil and Gas industry.

The main objectives of the workshop are to encourage stu-dents to pursue a career in the oil and gas by relating the subjects they are taught at schools with the indus-try and to empower young female students to excel in mathematics

and science. The workshop started with the science teacher Eman Alshamri’s welcome speech in which she stressed the importance of learning from the experiences of engineering professionals in Qatar. The school’s principal Hissa Al Nasser thanked the guests and thanked the Society of Petroleum Engineers in Qatar for accepting the school’s invitation.

Earth Day and Labour Day celebrated at DPS-MIS

The academic year 2017-18 started on a positive note for the children of Nursery

and Preparatory as they began their journey with full enthusi-asm participating in many activities related to Labour Day and International Earth Day. Stu-dents of Nursery and Preparatory along with their parents cele-brated Labour Day by giving

cards and gifts to the support staff as a token of their love and grat-itude. A special breakfast was also arranged for the support staff by the teachers of Nursery.

Class Preparatory actively participated in colouring and palm printing activities. They also indulged in sponge painting and thumb printing activities where they designed their own mats.

FOOD WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 201708

a distinctly hipster vibe, with young office workers enjoying dishes that cost the equivalent of about two to four dollars under an image of late Apple founder Steve Jobs.

Gourmet street foodWhile the “Mammamie” cafe

uses Indonesian ingredients to spice up Western dishes, Jakarta chef Dade Akbar is taking local dishes as his starting point, and seeking to make them more classy.

In his brightly-decorated kitchen, the 34-year-old carefully placed two blocks of tempe — a tra-ditional soybean patty — onto a plate. He blowtorched a hard-boiled egg, and added small flowers as a garnish before artistically drip-ping sauce across the dish.

Satisfied with his creation, he took out a camera and snapped pic-tures from various angles, before uploading them to Instagram. It was his popular Instagram account

“Warteg Gourmet”, which currently has about 40,000 followers, that catapulted him to fame.

Wartegs are modest stalls or kiosks selling cheap food, often cramped spaces on street corners where blue-colour workers stop for a bite and to smoke a cigarette. But rather than drab dishes for people earning low incomes, Akbar said he celebrates warteg food as it has “different textures and a wide range of colours that we can play with”.

Akbar was inspired to make

haute-cuisine, warteg-style food after becoming annoyed at the careless presentation of dishes at the traditional streetside eateries.

What started off as a hobby became an obsession, and eventu-ally Akbar found he was receiving so many invites to be a “food styl-ist” at events that he quit his day job as an advertising agency art director to become a full-time chef.

He hopes his efforts can help raise the profile of humble Indo-nesian street food, which is not as well-known as local cuisine from other parts of Asia, such as Thai-land. “I want to make Indonesian food more appreciated by Indone-sians in general and recognised internationally,” he said.

Dessy SagitaAFP

From a restaurant serving burgers and pizzas made with local noodles to a social media star giving street food a touch of

haute cuisine, a new wave of inno-vative chefs are putting a modern twist on Indonesia’s traditional fare.

New eateries have sprung up rapidly in recent years in the capi-tal Jakarta offering a wide array of foreign foods to cater to a growing consumer class which has emerged after a long economic boom. But rather than focus entirely on cui-sine from overseas, some chefs decided to fuse the new influences with age-old Indonesian foods.

One eatery offering fusion food is “Mammamie”, whose name is a playful take on an Italian expres-sion of shock combined with the local word for noodles, “mie”.

It uses the country’s favourite instant noodles, Indomie — cheap blocks of fodder in colourful pack-aging that are sold at almost every grocery store and supermarket — to make Western dishes.

Among the most popular are the “mizza”, a pizza whose base is made out of noodles, and a “merger”, a burger which has buns fashioned from Indomie. It also serves burr-ito, quesadillas and sushi dishes made with the noodles.

Cafe owner Muhammad Luq-man Baehaqi said he was trying to appeal to young Indonesians who were keen to try Western foods but still enjoyed Indomie.

“There isn’t a single Indonesian person that doesn’t know Indomie,” the 39-year-old said. “It’s tasty and familiar to all of us.”

The small cafe can seat about 20 people on chairs designed to look like Indomie packing cases and has

Fancy a noodle burger? East meets

West in Indonesian fusion food

Indonesian food stylist Dade Akbar displaying some of his food in Jakarta.

FOODWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 09

Swamp Water Punch

Carrie AllanThe Washington Post

This is a delicious and intrigu-ing fusion of sweet, summery pineapple and funky, herbal Chartreuse.

Some recipes are a little more heavy with the booze-to-juice proportions; we’ve trimmed this one back to highlight the juice and make for a light, tart summer sip.

Fresh pineapple juice is best; even if you have to use a bottled/canned variety, you may want to run it through a fine-mesh strainer to eliminate the pulp. If you have blue curacao on hand and want a drink that looks especially tropical, consider adding an ounce or two to punch up the color; if you don’t have it, skip it.

12 servings

Ingredients4 1/2 cups pineapple juice,

preferably fresh1 cup fresh lime juice (from 4

limes)1 3/4 cups green Chartreuse2 to 3 ounces blue curacao Large ice cubesMint sprigs, for garnish

StepsCombine the pineapple juice,

lime juice, Chartreuse and the curacao (to taste), if using, in a large pitcher, stirring to blend well.

Add the large cubes of ice; once the punch is chilled, stir it again.

Serve in ice-filled highball glasses, garnish with mint sprigs.

Nutrition | Per serving: 170 calories, 0 g protein, 26 g carbohydrates, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 0 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 23 g sugar.

HEALTH WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 201710

Drinking even a small amount of caffeinated energy drinks may trigger serious cardiac events in some people with a genetic heart condition that can cause rapid,

irregular heartbeat, a study has warned.The researchers assessed the risk of cardiac

events following consumption of energy drinks in patients diagnosed with congenital long QT syndrome (LQTS), a condition that affects one in 2,000 and that can cause rapid, irregular heartbeat that can lead to sudden death.

The study, published in the International Jour-nal of Cardiology, showed that even small amounts of energy drinks can cause changes in the heart that can lead to life-threatening arrhyth-mias or improper beating of the heart.

“The potential cardiovascular risk of energy drinks continues to emerge as an important pub-lic health issue,” explained lead investigator Christopher Semsarian of University of Sydney and Centenary Institute, Australia.

The study was designed to assess the acute

cardiovascular responses to energy drink con-sumption in patients with familial LQTS and to discover whether any identified cardiovascular effects correlate with changes in blood levels of the active ingredients - caffeine and taurine.

Investigators recruited 24 patients aged 16 to 50. More than half were symptomatic before diagnosis and receiving beta-blocker therapy.

Participants were assigned to energy drink or control drink groups for the first study visit.

The energy drink consisted of two sugar-free cans totaling 160mg of caffeine and 2000mg of taurine, totaling 500ml. The control drink was a cordial-based 500ml drink with no caffeine or tau-rine. The results of the study showed that three patients exhibited dangerous QT prolongation fol-lowing energy drink consumption and two of the three had sharp increases in blood pressure.

“Some individual patients may be at a higher risk,” Semsarian said. “We therefore suggest caution in allowing the consumption of energy drinks in young patients with LQTS,” Semsar-ian noted.

Absence of testosterone in women may explain why females are doubly likely to

develop asthma post-puberty, a finding that could lead to new treatments for the lung condition among women, research has showed.

The results of research in France revealed that the primary male sex hormone suppresses the production of a type of immune

cell that triggers allergic asthma and acts as a barrier against males developing the inflammatory air-way condition. “Our research shows that high levels of testoster-one in males protect them against the development of allergic asthma,” said Cyril Seillet at the Physiopathology Centre of Tou-louse-Purpan in France.

“We identified that testoster-one is a potent inhibitor of innate

lymphoid cells, a newly-described immune cell that has been associ-ated with the initiation of asthma,” Seillet said.

These innate lymphoid cells — or ILC2s — ‘sense’ testosterone and respond by halting production of the cells. “Testosterone directly acts on ILC2s by inhibiting their proliferation. So in males, you have less ILC2s in the lungs and this directly correlates with the

reduced severity of asthma,” Seil-let said in a report published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

ILC2s are found in the lungs, skin and other organs. These cells produce inflammatory proteins that can cause lung inflammation and damage in response to com-mon triggers for allergic asthma, such as pollen, dust mites, ciga-rette smoke and pet hair.

The presence or absence of a group of cells may be behind your balding, or greying hair, as well as the cause for

those lush tresses, researchers say. The findings showed that a protein called KROX20 — commonly associated with nerve development — turns on in skin cells that become the hair shaft.

These hair precursor, or progenitor, cells then produce a protein called stem cell factor (SCF) — essential for hair pigmentation.

In the study, when researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Med-ical Center, deleted the SCF gene in the hair progenitor cells in mouse models, the ani-mal’s hair turned white.

When they deleted the KROX20-pro-ducing cells, no hair grew and the mice became bald. The results, published in the journal Genes and Development, could one day help identify possible treatments for balding and hair greying.

If cells with functioning KROX20 and SCF are present, they move up from the base, or bulb, of hair follicles, interact with pigment-producing melanocyte cells, and grow into pigmented hairs. But without SCF, the hair in mouse models was grey, and then turned white with age. Without KROX20-producing cells, no hair grew, the study said.

“With this knowledge, we hope to cre-ate a topical compound or to safely deliver the necessary gene to hair follicles to cor-rect these cosmetic problems,” said Lu Le, Associate Professor at the university.

Why women are more prone to asthma

Decoded: Why you turn bald or have grey hair

Energy drinks could be deadly for people with heart disease

BOLLYWOODWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 11

After news that Shekhar Kapur will co-produce and direct an authorised biopic

of Bruce Lee, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has said he will make a movie too due to his

“obsessive fascination” with the martial arts legend and actor.

Varma also said he will release it at the same time as Kapur’s movie titled “Little Dragon”. Varma tweeted: “Just because of my devotional wor-ship of Bruce Lee I am going to make his biopic and release it same time as Shekar Kapur’s authorised one.” The filmmaker says he has nothing against Kapur, whom he admires immensely. “I have nothing against Shekhar Kapur who I admire immensely but it’s just my obsessive fascina-tion for Bruce Lee,” Varma added. He also shared a link of his arti-cle titled “Bruce Lee is the one and only who I loved more than sex”, posted on his Facebook page.

Varma feels he can do justice to Lee’s biopic. “Inspite of close-ness of family and brilliance of Shekhar Kapur, I believe only I can do justice to his biopic,” he tweeted. Varma claims he knows

“tremendously more” about Bruce Lee than his daughter Shannon Lee, his wife Linda Lee and Kapur.

Meanwhile, “Little Dragon” will be a contemporary dramati-sation of the 1950s Hong Kong social and political forces that shaped Bruce Lee into the most famous martial arts star and a sig-nificant modern day philosopher, reported variety.com.

She savoured overnight popularity and visibility as wrestler Geeta Phogat in

“Dangal”, but actress Fatima Sana Shaikh says

she had to start from scratch when it came to landing a role in “Thugs of Hindostan”, a Yash Raj Films (YRF) production starring Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan.

“It feels unreal,” Fatima gushed with excitement in a conversation over phone from Mumbai, on get-ting to play a YRF heroine so early in her career.

“It is a huge project and with one of the best production houses. And plus there’s Amitabh sir and AK (Aamir). I feel very fortunate,” added the actress, who feels this new opportunity is “God-sent”.

She admits nothing came with-out her share of struggle — even though she has been working with

the best of talent since childhood. She played the baby girl Bharti in

“Chachi 420” with Kamal Haasan, and then in “Dangal”, she had Aamir play her onscreen father.

“Thugs of Hindostan” gets big-ger with Amitabh and Aamir sharing screen space for the first time. And for Fatima, getting the film was “as difficult” as getting “Dangal”.

“’Chachi 420’ happened when I was a child, and then I had to strug-gle again, I gave so many auditions. All this has come to me, but it came to me with a lot of effort... The struggle never ends.

“After ‘Dangal’, I was back to square one. For ‘Thugs...’ also, I had to go through multiple rounds of auditions till I got the film. So, we can do several films, but every film will be like a first -- at least it is so for me because you start from scratch,” added the 25-yar-old.

That’s why, she says, the effort is always to give one’s 100 per cent.

“For me, this life... Acting and films... is very sacred. I have struggled for long and so, I value things. Even if I have to give multiple auditions, it is okay,” said Fatima.

Fatima’s look in her new project will be different — as one can see

from some leaked images from her look test for the movie.

“It is somewhere around it. But the final look is yet to be locked... They will sharpen it,” said the actress, who will be seen playing a warrior in the movie.

Naturally then, action hasn’t left her after “Dangal”. “Oh yes! I am ready for it. My body says work harder. I am doing a lot of training because ‘Thugs...’ demands a dif-ferent kind of action from wrestling. I will need to look tall, be light on my feet, jump and be agile.

“I have to learn sword fighting and archery because she is a war-rior,” Fatima said. Does the dream of being a typical YRF heroine then remain? “I am thrilled to be a YRF heroine. But I also want to do the typical YRF heroine... where the sari (pallu) flies, and there’s running around the trees,” she said.

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who always takes out time from her busy schedule for social

causes, says she likes to take her social responsibility as a “human being” seriously.

From promoting regional cin-ema with her production house, promoting Assam Tourism, and becoming Unicef’s Global Good-will Ambassador to advocating for girls around the world -- there are several causes that she addresses in her own way. Asked if she ever feels burdened by all the work or social responsibilities, Priyanka said: “Not at all.” “It’s what I have chosen to do and every one of them is something I am passion-ate about. Using my time and influence to do good is a human being’s social responsibility and I take mine seriously,” Priyanka said.

After making a mark in Bolly-wood, Priyanka started her international career with music singles. She got more visibility as FBI agent Alex Parrish in

“Quantico”, which is aired in India on Star World and Star World HD.

For now, the actress is looking forward to her Hollywood debut

“Baywatch”. The film, directed by Seth Gordon, is based on the tele-vision series of the same name. The film, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, will release in India on June 2. Talking about stories in Bol-lywood, Priyanka said: “I’m amazed by the variety of stories that filmmakers are conceptualis-ing today... The audiences are changing and so is the storytelling. It’s quite an experience reading the scripts or hearing a narration.”

After ‘Dangal’, I was back to square one: Fatima

I take my social responsibility seriously: Priyanka Chopra

I will make biopic on Bruce Lee: RGV

HOLLYWOOD WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 201712AFP

Warner Bros released the official full-length trailer for long-anticipated

sci-fi sequel “Blade Runner 2049” at an event in Los Angeles with stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford.

Denis Villeneuve’s follow-up, set some 30 years after the events of cult classic “Blade Runner” (1982), sees Ford reprise his role from Rid-ley Scott’s original as Rick Deckard, a Los Angeles cop who hunts rogue androids.

“The character is woven into the story in a way that intrigued me. There’s a very strong emotional context... I think it’s interesting to develop a character after a period of time, to revisit a character,” said Ford, 74, at a discussion panel at the IMAX headquarters.

Gosling, 36, leads a cast of new-comers including Robin Wright and Jared Leto, who appears to be a manufacturer of the androids—or

“replicants” — of future Los Ange-les, and opens the trailer caressing a newborn, naked android.

“Every civilization was built off the back of a disposable workforce, but I can only make so many,” says Leto, 45, wishing the android a “happy birthday”. Wright, 51, appears to be some kind of authority figure, laying down the law. “There is an order to things. That’s what we do here—we

keep order,” she says. The footage was praised by

movie websites, which noted Vil-leneuve’s success in emulating the gritty, dust-covered cinematogra-phy of the original.

But it reveals nothing of the plot beyond the official set-up from the studio publicity, which says a new

“blade runner,” LAPD Officer K (Gos-ling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos.

K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Deckard, who has been missing for 30 years. The trailer fol-lows an early teaser released in

December, and more extensive footage shown at CinemaCon, the Las Vegas convention for theater operators, in March.

“Prepare to start going steady with edge of your seats,” Gosling joked as he introduced bleak scenes from Los Angeles and a snow-bound Las Vegas, all of which were filmed in Budapest. Gosling who was two when the original came out, told the panel in Los Angeles he didn’t see it for at least another 10 years.

“The first film made me ques-tion what it meant to be a human being. It made me question my abil-ity to recognize the hero from the

villain,” Gosling said.The trailer also offers a fleeting

glance at US wrestling champion turned action hero Dave Bautista, 48, who said in a recent interview he thought the new movie was bet-ter than the original.

“And I’m saying that because I think the script is better, it’s deeper,” said Bautista, whose own contribu-tion remains a tightly-guarded secret. “I think it’s a better story, I think it’s told in a better way, and I think it just answers a lot of ques-tions. It’s going to be great.” “Blade Runner 2049” is due for release on October 6.

Gere wants to work with

director Oren Moverman

Veteran actor Richard Gere is so impressed with the way director Oren Moverman works that he wants to

team up with him again in at least five projects. “Oren’s a very clever guy. He cer-tainly made his movie the way he wanted to,” Gere told vulture.com.

The actor can currently be seen in the film “The Dinner”, which revolves around two couples who are dining at an upscale restaurant and during the course of their meal their polite discourse disguises the fact that they are all struggling with fam-ily issues. The film also stars Laura Linney, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall.

I’ll fight for good: Gadot

“Wonder Woman” actress Gal Gadot may play an otherworldly warrior, but in

real life, she is not a fighter. However, she says she won’t back out from fighting for good.

“I don’t enjoy conflict in my life,” the actress told Marie Claire magazine for its June cover story, reports usmagazine.com.

“Unlike Wonder Woman, I’m not a fighter (but) I will fight for good.” She said her mother raised her and sister to be confident women with aspirations.

“And I always felt capable. I’m not saying that I’m stronger than most men... but we all have the same brains and we can achieve the same things.”

Evans to tell superhero’s

tale on TV show

Chris Evans is best known as Captain America, and now the American actor will be seen reading a story about

superheroes during his appearance on TV show “Bedtime Stories”. The first look at Evans in action has been released by the channel CBeebies, showing the actor surrounded by soft toys clad in miniature superhero costumes.

Evans will read “Even Superheroes Have Bad Days” by Shelly Becker and Eda Kaban, which contains ideas on how to help children when they are feeling overwhelmed. The epi-sode with Evans will air internationally on May 10.

Stunning trailer of ‘Blade Runner 2049’ released

TECHNOLOGYWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017 13

While touch sensing is common on small, flat surfaces such as smartphone or tablet screens,

researchers have now developed a tech-nology to turn surfaces of a wide variety of shapes and sizes into touchpads using tools as simple as a can of spray paint. The technology, called Electrick, can turn walls, furniture, steering wheels and even toys into touch sensors, the researchers said.

The “trick” is to apply electrically conductive coatings or materials to objects or surfaces, or to craft objects using conductive materials. By attaching a series of electrodes to the conductive materials, researchers showed they could use a well-known technique called elec-tric field tomography to sense the position of a finger touch. “For the first time, we’ve been able to take a can of spray paint and put a touch screen on almost anything,” said Chris Harrison, Assistant professor

in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US.

The group is scheduled to present Electrick at CHI 2017, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, this week in Denver, Colorado.

Until now, large touch surfaces have been expensive and irregularly shaped, or flexible touch surfaces have been largely available only in research labs.

Some methods have relied on com-puter vision, which can be disrupted if a camera’s view of a surface is blocked. The presence of cameras also raises privacy concerns. With Electrick, conductive touch surfaces can be created by apply-ing conductive paints, bulk plastics or carbon-loaded films, among other mate-rials. Like many touchscreens, Electrick relies on the shunting effect — when a finger touches the touchpad, it shunts a bit of electric current to ground.

Chipmaker Qualcomm has introduced two new mobile platforms, Snap-dragon 660 and 630 which are designed to

support advanced photography and enhanced gaming in addition to long battery life and fast LTE speeds.

Both platforms use a 14nm Fin-FET process and provide 4K video capture and playback capabilities, along with 8GB maximum memory and Vulkan API support.

“With the introduction of the Snapdragon 660 and 630 mobile platforms, we are thrilled that fea-tures such as improved image quality and fast LTE speeds will now be available in a wide array of devices without sacrificing per-formance or quality,” Kedar Kondap, Vice President, Product Management, Qualcomm Technol-ogies Inc, said.

The Snapdragon 660 mobile plat-form is the successor to the Snapdragon 653 and features a 20 per cent improvement in the

Qualcomm Kryo 260 CPU and 30 per cent improvement in the Qualcomm Adreno 512 GPU performance.

The Snapdragon 630, which succeeds the Snapdragon 625, offers a 30 per cent increase in the Adreno 508 GPU performance over its predecessor, as well as a 10 per cent increase in CPU performance over its predecessor.

The Snapdragon 660 and 630 mobile platforms focus on camera,

audio/visual processing, connec-tivity, improved CPU and GPU, security, machine learning and sup-ports Quick Charge 4 which provides five hours of talk time in just five minutes of charging.

The Qualcomm Spectra 160 premium camera ISP supports improved photographic image quality for more natural skin tones, superior low light photography, as well as better power efficiency and

higher throughput for dual camera smartphones.

The Qualcomm Hexagon 680 DSP featuring vector extensions (HVX) on the Snapdragon 660 mobile platform enables high per-formance, power efficient processing of imaging, computer vision, and machine intelligence workloads. The Snapdragon 660 and 630 both feature a Snapdragon X12 LTE modem, paired with the new SDR660 RF transceiver, which support peak downlink data rates of 600Mbps to the 600-tier lineup of SOCs for the first time.

Original equipment manufac-turers (OEMs) and developers can also power immersive and engag-ing user experiences with machine learning on the Snapdragon 660 and 630 mobile platforms using the Snapdragon Neural Processing Engine SDK.

The Snapdragon 660 mobile platform is now shipping and the Snapdragon 630 platform will begin shipping towards the end of May.

Two new Snapdragon mobile platforms unveiled

New technology can turn any surface into touchpads

Researchers in Belgium have developed a device which, when exposed to light, can purify air and at the same time generate power. “We use a small device with

two rooms separated by a membrane”, explained Profes-sor Sammy Verbruggen from the University of Antwerp and KU Leuven (University of Leuven).

“Air is purified on one side, while on the other side hydro-gen gas is produced from a part of the degradation products. This hydrogen gas can be stored and used later as fuel, as is already being done in some hydrogen buses, for example,” Verbruggen said. The heart of the solution lies at the mem-brane level, where the researchers use specific nanomaterials.

“These catalysts are capable of producing hydrogen gas and breaking down air pollution,” Verbruggen said. “In the past, these cells were mostly used to extract hydrogen from water. We have now discovered that this is also possible, and even more efficient, with polluted air,” Verbruggen added. The device must only be exposed to light to function, accord-ing to a study published in the journal ChemSusChem. The researchers said their goal is to be able to use sunlight more efficiently, as the processes underlying the technology are similar to those found in solar panels.

Now an air purifier that also generates power

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

In a bad turn of events, Joshua and Banu’s life is shaken when Joshua

becomes the convict in a court case. This is when Annie John Tharavadi,

a reputed advocate becomes part of these happenings.Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

NOVO — Pearl ROYAL PLAZA

MALL

LANDMARK

The Boss Baby(2D/Animation) 10:00. 11:00am, 12:00noon, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 10:00 & 11:50pm Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (Action) 3D 11:00am, 5:00 & 11:00pm 2D 10:00am, 12:45, 2:00, 3:30, 6:15, 8:00, 9:15pm & 12:00midnight Fast & Furious 8 10:00am, 12:45, 3:30, 6:15, 9:00 & 11:45pm Revenger (2D/Action) 11:30am, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pm Vincent N Roxxy (2D/Drama) 10:00am, 2:40, 7:20pm & 12:00midnight The Lost City of Z (2D/Action) 12:00noon, 4:40 & 9:20pmBank Alhaz (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 2:30, 6:50 & 11:30pmBashtery Ragel (2D/Arabic) 12:20, 4:40 & 9:10pm Mine (2D/Thriller) 9:00 & 11:15pm Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (3D IMAX/Action) 11:30am, 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pm Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (2D 7 Star/Action) 12:00noon, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 & 11:45pm

Guardian of The Galaxy 2 (2D/Action) 2:15 & 6:00pm The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:15, 4:00 & 4:45pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 2:15 & 10:30pm The Fate of The Furiours (2D/Action) 5:15pmRevenger (2D/Action) 6:45pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 7:30pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Tamil) 8:30pm Bank El Hazz (2D/Arabic) 8:30pmSaira Banu (2D/Malayalam) 11:00pm Vincent N Roxxy (2D/Drama) 11:30pm

The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:00, 3:45 & 7:15pm Saira Banu (2D/Malayalam) 2:15pmThe Fate of The Furiours (2D/Action) 2:30 & 4:45pmGuardian of The Galaxy 2 (2D/Action) 2:15 & 11:15pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm Vincent N Roxxy (2D/Drama) 5:30pm Revenger (2D/Action) 7:15pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 8:00 & 11:00pm Bank El Hazz (2D/Arabic) 9:00pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Tamil) 11:00pm

Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Tamil) 2:00 & 10:30pm Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 10:30pm The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 2:15, 4:00 & 7:00pm The Fate of The Furiours (2D/Action) 5:00pm Guardian of The Galaxy 2 (2D/Action) 5:00 & 11:00pm Bank El Hazz (2D/Arabic) 5:45pmBaahubali 2: The Conclusion (2D/Malayalam) 7:30pm Vincent N Roxxy (2D/Drama) 9:15pm Revenger (2D/Action) 8:00pm

WEDNESDAY 10 MAY 2017

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

CINEMA PLUS14

AL KHORBaahubali (Hindi) 11:00am, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 & 11:00pm Baahubali (Tamil) 11:45am Baahubali (Malayalam) 2:45 & 8:45pm Baahubali (Telugu) 5:45 & 11:45pm The Baby Boss 10:30pm Guardians 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45 & 11:30pm

ROXYThe Baby Boss 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pm Saira Bhanu 8:30 & 11:20pm Guardians of The Galaxy 2 2:00, 4:50, 7:40 & 10:30pm Baahubali (Mal) 2:00 & 5:20pmRevenger 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Baahubali (Hindi) 8:50pm & 12:20am

SAIRA BANU

ASIAN TOWNBaahubali (Hindi) 6:30pm Baahubali(Tamil) 7:00, 10:00pm Saira Banu 9:30pm Baahubal (Malayalam) 3:30, 5:00, 7:00, 8:00, 9:30, 10:00, 11:00pm

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News08:30 The Listening

Post09:00 Digital

Dissidents 10:30 Inside Story11:00 News11:30 The Stream12:30 Wildlife Warzone13:00 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

13:05 Star Darlings

15:45 Elena Of Avalor

16:10 Liv And Maddie

16:35 Descendants Wicked World

18:25 Alex & Co. 19:20 Binny And

The Ghost19:45 Austin & Ally 20:10 Jessie 20:35 Cracke 20:40 Disney The

Lodge 21:05 Bizaardvark 21:30 That’s So

Raven21:55 Star Darlings 22:00 Shake It Up 22:25 Sabrina

Secrets Of A Teenage Witch

12:50 Pit Bulls & Parolees

13:45 Big Fish Man

14:40 Untamed China With Nigel Marven

15:35 Tanked16:30 Swimming

With Monsters: Steve Backshall

18:20 From WAGs To Riches

19:15 Tanked20:10 Dogs/Cats/

Pets 10121:05 Dr. Jeff:

Rocky Mountain Vet

22:00 From WAGs To Riches

13:05 How Do They Do It?

14:20 Gold Rush16:00 Gold Divers16:50 Sacred

Steel Bikes17:40 Street

Outlaws18:30 How Do

They Do It?19:20 Treasure

Quest: Snake Island

20:35 Storage Hunters UK

21:00 Abandoned Engineering

21:50 You Have Been Warned

22:40 Deadliest Job Interview

23:30 Sacred Steel Bikes

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSWEDNESDAY 10 MAY 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.

ALTO, ANTHEM, ARIA,

BALLAD, BAND, BARITONE,

BASS, BLUES, CHOIR,

CHORISTER, CLASSICAL,

COMBO, CONTRALTO,

COUNTRY MUSIC, DUET,

ETUDE, FOLK SONG,

GOSPEL MUSIC, GROUP,

OPERA, HIP HOP, HYMN,

JAZZ, KARAOKE, LULLABY,

MADRIGAL, MUSICAL, NEW

WAVE, POP SONG, PSALM,

RAPPER, REFRAIN,

RHAPSODY, ROCK,

SERENADE, SONATA,

SOPRANO, SWING,

SYMPHONY, TENOR.