TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016

Rock On 2: Not rocking enough

MARKETPLACE | 6 HEALTH | 9 BOLLYWOOD | 11Grazia Style Awards now

in Qatar

Vitamin D deficiency is widely overestimated,

doctors warn

Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

GREEN CARE AT HOMESCertain indoor plants reduce airborne toxins, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and benzene, from the air we breathe in our homes and offices.

P | 4-5

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM OD | 11

CAMPUSTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 03

Students of DeBakey High School – Qatar recently completed two programmes of INJAZ Qatar. INJAZ’s goals are to link youth with successful role models from the private sector, enhance the skills of youth and their participation in the economy, introduce students to innovation, critical thinking and new business concepts and give corporations an opportunity to develop the skills of youth. Grades 9 – 11 students completed the Steer Your Career and Be Entrepreneurial programmes.

The Qatar Transportation and Traffic Safety Center (QTTSC) at Qatar University College

of Engineering (QU-CENG) recently hosted a workshop on road safety in Malaysia in collaboration with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS).

The event brought together experts from CENG, QTTSC, MIROS, the National Traffic Safety Com-mittee, Qatar Ministry of Interior (MOI), Public Works Authority (Ash-ghal), and Mowasalat. It aimed to exchange information in policies,

strategies and technologies of traf-fic safety. QU President Dr Hassan Al Derham was joined at the event by CENG Dean Dr Khalifa Al Kha-lifa, Traffic Department Director Brigadier Mohammed Saad Al Kharji, and General Secretary of the National Committee for Traffic Safety Brigadier Mohamed Al Malki, as well as CENG faculty and staff, and representatives from the Traf-fic Department. The programme included a presentation delivered by MIROS Director General Dr Shaw Voon Wong on Malaysian

traffic safety rules, conditions and developments. He also provided statistics of road accidents fatali-ties around the world. Dr Khalifa Al-Khalifa said: “The event comes in line with CENG’s efforts to raise community awareness of the importance of traffic safety.”

Brigadier Al Kharji expressed his gratitude to QU for its continu-ous support in providing communication and consultations with the Traffic Department, and in developing various road safety initiatives.

QTTSC hosts workshop on road safety

PIS organises

parent-teacher

meeting

Pakistan International School (PIS) Doha organised a parent-

teacher meeting at its premises. The meeting was held in line with the decla-ration of the result of first-term Examination, held in October, 2016. A large number of parents along with their wards turned up for the meeting. They col-lected the report cards of their wards and discussed their academic performance with the concerned teachers.

The meeting was held in the beautifully decorated Kindergarten section of the school. Colorful boards bear-ing the enviable photographs of the position holders in all the classes along with their marks obtained had been a great fascination for the proud achievers and their parents.

Nargis Raza Otho, Princi-pal, PIS, interacted with the parents of the students. She also listened to their propos-als regarding the improvement in the learning process. Later, she stated the constructive steps taken by the school man-agement for the further improvement of the academic level at school. Otho felicitated the successful students and their parents who stole the day by notching top slotsin their respective classes and also expressed her commiserations to those who couldn’t make up the day due to one or the other reason. The parents admired the arduous efforts of the school management and the teaching faculty for holding the parent-teacher meeting on regular basis. They gave a pos-itive feedback regarding academic as well as co-curric-ular activities.

DeBakey students complete INJAZ programmes

COVER STORY TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 201604

Megan McDonough The Washington Post

It should come as no surprise that plants play a vital role in maintaining our atmos-phere by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen through the well-known process of photosynthesis. (Thanks, high

school earth science class.)But certain plant varieties go a step further

by reducing airborne toxins, including carbon monoxide, formaldehyde and benzene, from the air we breathe in our homes and offices.

“With all the synthetic building components and furnishings found within a modern build-ing, there usually exist myriad chemicals in the indoor air,” B.C. “Bill” Wolverton, an environ-mental engineer and retired senior research scientist at Nasa, said in an email. While at Nasa, he was the principal investigator of the Clean Air Study, which discovered that certain house-plants had the ability to remove airborne chemicals and help purify the air in space sta-tions. Many household items, such as carpets, draperies and stoves, contain pollutants, and lots of commonly used goods, including glue, detergent, grocery bags, toilet paper and even

facial wipes, emit toxic compounds.“These chemicals are often found in low lev-

els but combine to produce a chemical soup,” Wolverton said.

That doesn’t sound very appetising.Prolonged exposure to these pollutants, such

as formaldehyde, can lead to health problems such as sore throats, scratchy eyes and nose-bleeds, and long-term, serious ailments, including decreased lung function and an increased risk

of asthma and cancer, according to the Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry.

Luckily for us, several common houseplants double as natural air purifiers, efficiently and effectively absorbing and filtering out toxic agents from our indoor air. With winter on the horizon (and the Environmental Protection Agen-cy’s estimation that Americans spend on average a whopping 93 percent of their lives indoors), it’s a great time to consider investing in one of these detoxifying plants.

These plants can improvea room’s decor and your health

Several common houseplants double as natural air purifiers, efficiently and effectively absorbing and filtering out toxic agents from our indoor air. With winter on the horizon, it’s a great time to consider investing in one of these detoxifying plants.

COVER STORYTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 05

We asked Wolverton, author of “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 House Plants That Purify Your Home or Office” and “Plants: Why You Can’t Live Without Them,” to provide his top recommen-dations for houseplants that are readily available, easy to maintain and efficient at cleaning the air in your home.

Lady palmAn adaptable, green

plant known for its fan-shaped foliage, the lady palm can thrive in dry or humid environments, requires lit-tle sunlight and is resistant to pests. If you have pets, this might be your best bet, as it’s the only one on Wolverton’s list that is nontoxic to ani-mals. (The others should be kept out of reach.) It filters out formaldehyde, xylene, toluene and ammonia.

Rubber plantThe rugged rubber plant

does well in dim lighting, prefers humid conditions, and is resistant to pests and diseases. The easy-to-grow plant, known for its large, glossy green leaves, also absorbs toxins such as for-maldehyde, xylene and toluene from the air.

Golden pothosCommonly displayed as

a hanging plant, this fast-growing vine, distinguishable by its heart-shaped, gold-tinted leaves, can survive in

low lighting and thrives in colder temperatures (great for chilly offices). It also fights nitrogen dioxide, car-bon monoxide and formaldehyde.

Peace lilyWith its lance-shaped

leaves and striking white blossoms, these shade-lov-ing evergreen plants will brighten any home or office while also ridding the air of acetone, ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, trichloroeth-ylene, xylene and toluene.

Snake plantThis perennial is a great

pick for first-time plant

owners, as it requires little sunlight or maintenance to keep it alive. Known for its textured, upright, swordlike leaves, the potted plant also filters formaldehyde, xylene and toluene.

As a rule, Wolverton rec-ommends one plant per 100 square feet of home or office space, provided there isn’t a serious indoor air quality problem.

He also recommends a mixture of houseplant vari-eties, as plants have different affinities for various toxins. At his home, he displays 12 plant varieties, with 25 to 30 plants indoors at any given time.

MARKETPLACE/ COMMUNITY TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 201606

Grazia Style Awards now in QatarG

razia magazine, the only international women’s monthly in Qatar and one of 25 international editions of the leading

fashion title, will be holding the Grazia Style Awards in Qatar for the first time ever next month.

Celebrating everything that is great in fashion — from the best design talent, to your favourite shopping destinations — Grazia will recognise regional and global achievement at a special awards night on November 21 held at The Westin Doha Hotel & Spa in asso-ciation with Exclusive Fashion Partner Salam Stores, Exclusive Automobile Partner Mercedes-Benz, and Exclusive Fragrance Partner Amouage.

The theme for the inaugural Grazia Style Awards is “From Cat-walk to Qatar” and invitations feature a drawing of a model wear-ing a couture creation against the Doha skyline, designed by legen-dary fashion illustrator Shamekh Bluwi.

Grazia will be showcasing the best that Qatar has to offer and wel-coming the who’s who of the international industry to an awards ceremony held in Doha to honour the standout style stars from the

past 12 months. Guests can expect the industry’s most influential and style-savvy personalities from Qatar, the Middle East, and beyond.

Grazia Arabia Editor-in-Chief Bianca Brigitte Bonomi says:

“There are moments that shape the fashion landscape and carry their imprint long into the future. This

month, Qatar is having one such moment. We’re making history by bringing the Grazia Style Awards to Doha for the first time ever and inviting the public here in Qatar to be part of this moment by voting for the style stars that have shone over the past 12 months in Qatar, across the region, and beyond.”

This historic occasion demands an iconic host and Grazia wel-comes one of the world’s most celebrated designers, Alice Tem-perley, founder of Temperley London, to lead the fashion pack on what is set to be the most glam-orous fashion event ever held in Qatar.

Alice Temperley with models at her SS17 show at London Fashion Week.

Patients hails Paediatric Emergency Center expansion at Al Sadd

As one of the leading health-care providers in the Middle East, Hamad Medical Cor-

poration (HMC) is continuing to expand and improve its facilities and services to provide the safest, most effective and compassion-ate care to its patients.

The Paediatric Emergency Center (PEC) in Al Sadd went through some remarkable changes in late 2015 as part of HMC’s expansion programme. This saw an increase in its capacity and improved service delivery as part of a comprehensive expansion and

refurbishment programme. PEC Al Sadd is now 25% larger than it used to be before the refurbish-ment. It has 22 extra beds distributed across 13 treatment rooms, as well as six triage rooms, an emergency procedure room, and an isolation unit.

Patient feedback about the expansion has been extremely positive with a noticeable increase in the number of patients visiting PEC particularly among nationals after the expansion. Majeed Al Aquidi, a recent visitor to the PEC Al Sadd since its expansion, has

spoken of his own experiences of the quality of care his daughter received at the facility. Majeed Al Aquidi brought his three-month old daughter Adari (pictured) to

PEC Al Sadd seeking urgent care. Preliminary tests and a chest x-ray revealed that she had acute bron-chitis. After six days of treatment at PEC Al Sadd, Adari was admit-ted to Hamad General Hospital where she spent another 18 days before making a full recovery leading to her subsequent dis-charge. Talking about his experience at both PEC and HGH, Majeed said: “The nurses and staff were superb. They took great care of Adari at every stage of her treat-ment, constantly keeping a very close eye on her.”

MARKET PLACETUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 07

Twin triumph for Lexus RC F in Autobacs Super GT

The WedsSport ADVAN Lexus RC F driven by Yuhi Sekiguchi and Yuji Kun-imo emerged victorious in the GT500 race class after

leading from start to finish in the sev-enth round of the 2016 Autobacs Super GT series, which took place recently at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand. Lexus RC F earned a second podium finish in the much anticipated race of the sea-son with the Wako’s 4CR Lexus RC F team comprising Kazuya Oshima and Andrea Caldarellisecuring third place. For the Lexus RC F, it was the second win of the season and sec-ond in a row following its victory in the last round at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

According to Takayuki Yoshit-sugu, Chief Representative, Middle East and North Africa Representa-tive Office, Toyota Motor Corporation, “This triumph adds to our proven record in motorsports

and we emphasize on using the experience gained on the race track to build ‘ever-better cars’.”

The keenly-anticipated race got off to an exhilarating start as the pole-starting No. 19 Lexus RC F,with Yuhi Sekiguchiin the driver’s seat, led the pack into the first corner. The speed of the No. 19 Lexus RC F was evident as Sekiguchi pulled away from the rest of the field rapidly, repeatedly clocking quick lap tim-ings and extending his lead to nearly four seconds within four laps.

The teams began to make their pit stops around lap 28. With prep-arations underway for the No. 19 Lexus RC F to come in for a pit stop in a couple of laps, the left rear tire of car burst when completing lap 32, however, Sekiguchi was able to con-trol his Lexus RC F and get it into the pit without any serious damage to the car and the team was able to change the tires and get the car back in the race still in the lead with Yuji

Kunimoto in the driver’s seat. Although the second-place compet-itor car No.15 was closing in fast, Kunimoto made sure a sufficient margin was maintained to lead his team to a comfortable victory.

Meanwhile, the competitor car No. 12 that had been running in 2nd place was called in for a drive-through penalty on the 49th lap for violating pit-work rules during its pit stop, allowing the competitor car No. 15 to reclaim 2nd position, while the No. 6 WAKO’S 4CR Lexus RC F moved into 3rd position. The tri-umph at the state-of-the-art Chang International Circuit marked the

long-awaited first win in the GT500 class for Yuhi Sekiguchi. For co-driver Yuji Kunimoto, too, it was his first win since the final round of the 2013 season and the second of his GT500 career. With two podium fin-ishes in the seventh round, Lexus RC F claimed four out of the top five positions in the overall series rankings.

The No. 6 Wako’S 4CR Lexus RC F moved into second position with 46 points followed by the No. 38 Zent Cerumo Lexus RC F, No. 39 Denso Kobelco Sard Lexus RC F and win-ners of the seventh round, the No. 19 WedsSport Advan Lexus RC F.

M. Micallef celebrates 20 years with new fragrance at Blue Salon

Blue Salon hosted the 20th anniversary celebration of one of the most promi-nent perfume houses, M. Michallef. M.

Micallef brand is now a signature in the world of high end luxury perfumes. Renowned for its perfumes crafted in the finest French arti-sanal tradition and with almost 900 retail outlets in 60 countries.

For its 20th anniversary, the House of M. Micallef has chosen to reintroduce its prestig-ious “Les Exclusifs” perfume range. With its exceptionally shaped flacon it is a true herit-age of the brand and an iconic signature of a French luxury product. In the renewed edition, a very contemporary “20 years” is adorned with a stylish decor in warm, golden colours that enhance the very first avant-garde per-fume of the House M.Micallef.

FOOD TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 201608

The Washington Post

This is simple to put together and not too sweet, even with that last sprinkling of sugar. MAKE AHEAD: The

assembled bread pudding needs to rest in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Adapted from “Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes From My Cor-ner of the South,” by Vivian Howard (Little Brown, 2016).

Ingredients4 to 6 servings (makes a gener-

ous 5 cups)14 ounces sourdough bread

(crusts trimmed, if desired), cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)

2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary leaves

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon2 cups whole or low-fat milk1/2 cup heavy cream4 medium eggs (may substitute

3 large eggs)1/2 cup sugar, plus 1/3 cup for

sprinkling1 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

MethodGrease a 9-by-13-inch baking

dish with cooking oil spray.Toss together the bread cubes,

blueberries, rosemary and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Spread in the baking dish.

Whisk together the milk, heavy cream, eggs, 1/2 cup of the sugar, the vanilla extract and salt in the same bowl you just used, until well blended.

Pour over the mixture in the baking dish and stir gently to

moisten all the bread cubes. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Stir together the remaining 1/3

cup of sugar and the nutmeg in a bowl, then sprinkle that mixture over the bread pudding. Bake for 1 hour or until nicely browned.

Serve warm.Nutrition | Per serving (based

on 6, using low-fat milk): 470 cal-ories, 15 g protein, 77 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat, 7 g satu-rated fat, 145 mg cholesterol, 670 mg sodium, 3 g dietary fiber, 40 g sugar

Blueberry-rosemary breakfast pudding

HEALTHTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 09

Marilynn Marchione AP

Doctors are warning about vitamin D again, and it’s not the “we need more” news you might expect. Instead,

they say there’s too much needless testing and too many people tak-ing too many pills for a problem that few people truly have.

The nutrient is crucial for strong bones and may play a role in other health conditions, though that is far less certain. Misunderstandings about the recommended amount of vitamin D have led to misinter-pretation of blood tests and many people thinking they need more than they really do, some experts who helped set the levels write in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Correctly interpreted, less than 6 percent of Americans ages 1 to 70 are deficient and only 13 percent are in danger of not getting enough.

That’s concerning, “but these

levels of deficiency do not consti-tute a pandemic,” the authors write.

Yet people may think there is one.

Blood tests for vitamin D levels — not advised unless a problem like bone loss is suspected — are soar-ing. Under Medicare, there was an 83-fold increase from 2000 to 2010, to 8.7 million tests last year, at $40 apiece. It’s Medicare’s fifth most common test, just after cholesterol levels and ahead of blood sugar, urinary tract infections and pros-tate cancer screening.

“I’m not sure when it got popu-lar to check everybody for vitamin D deficiency,” but patients often ask for it, especially baby boomers, said Dr Kenny Lin, a Georgetown Uni-versity family physician and preventive medicine expert.

Vitamin D pill use also grew, from 5 percent of Americans in 1999 to 19 percent in 2012.

That may be due to many reports suggesting harm from too little of “the sunshine vitamin,” called that because our skin makes

vitamin D from sun exposure. It’s tough to get enough in winter or from dietary sources like milk and oily fish, though many foods and drinks are fortified with vitamin D and labels soon will have to carry that information.

Too much vitamin D can lead

to high levels of calcium in the blood, which can cause nausea, constipation, kidney stones, an abnormal heart rhythm and other problems.

“We’re not saying that moder-ate-dose supplements are risky, but more is not necessarily better,” said Dr JoAnn Manson of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She and several other advisers to the Institute of Medicine, which set the RDA, or recommended dietary allowance, wrote the journal article.

People vary, biologically, in how much of any vitamin they need. The institute estimated this by comparing various intake and blood levels with measures of bone health. They estimated that, on average, people need about 400 international units of vitamin D per day, and 600 for people over 70.

To be safe and ensure that eve-ryone gets enough, they set the RDA at the high end of the spectrum of the population’s needs — 600 to 800 units, depending on age. So by definition, nearly everyone’s true requirement is below that.

Many people and their doctors regard the RDA and its correspond-ing blood levels as a threshold that everyone needs to be above, the authors write. As a result, people often are told they are inadequate or deficient in D when, in fact, they’re not.

“If you’re chasing a lab number, that will lead to many people get-ting higher amounts of vitamin D than they need,” and labs vary a lot in the quality of testing, Manson said.

The bottom line: Get 600 to 800 units a day from food or supple-ments and skip the blood test unless you have special risk factors, Man-son said.

A big study she is helping lead is testing whether higher levels lower the risk of cancer, heart dis-ease, stroke, memory loss, depression, diabetes, bone loss or other problems. Nearly 26,000 peo-ple have been taking 2,000 units of D-3 (the most active form of vita-min D, also known as cholecalciferol) or dummy pills every day for five years. Results are expected in early 2018.

Blood tests for vitamin D levels — not advised unless a problem like bone loss is suspected — are soaring. Under Medicare, there was an 83-fold increase from 2000 to 2010, to 8.7 million tests last year, at $40 apiece.

Vitamin D deficiency is widely overestimated, doctors warn

FASHION TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 201610

AFP

Centuries ago, Spanish colonizers forced their Bolivian servants to wear the puffy skirts that have come to symbolize the country’s “cholitas,” or indigenous women.

Today, one local designer is turning the tables with plans to export high-end cholita fashion -- blossoming skirts, bowler hats and intricately woven shawls -- to Madrid, Paris and beyond.

Fresh off her first show at New York Fash-ion Week, Eliana Paco, a 34-year-old indigenous Aymara designer, is ready to bring her take on a once-stigmatized style to the world.

“Cholitas” -- a diminutive of “chola,” a some-times derogatory world for a woman from Bolivia’s indigenous majority -- were once seen here as a silent underclass of maids and man-ual laborers.

But in a changing Bolivia currently governed by its first indigenous president, Evo Morales, Paco said she sees the traditional women’s cos-tume as a symbol of “identity and pride.”

She has already made her mark on the local fashion scene, where TV presenters and cabinet ministers now regularly sport the indigenous look, updated and embellished.

Her mission now is to “use that sophisticated touch to cross borders,” she told AFP.

She took a big step in September in New York, where she made headlines with her latest col-lection, “Pachamama” (Mother Earth, in the Quechua language).

“It’s the first time a chola women’s suit has arrived on the runway. There were 12 interna-tional models wearing our designs,” she said.

Turning heads

Paco’s exuberant dresses, vibrant shawls and gravity-defying bowlers captured industry insid-ers’ attention.

“I love cholita clothing. It reminds me a lot of Yves Saint Laurent and the best era of Armani,

when he used bowler hats,” said Spanish designer Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.

“I would love to take (Paco’s designs) to Madrid, to Paris,” she told AFP in Lima, Peru, where she was presenting her own collection.

“Until now there had never been a cholita with the marketing sense she has.”

Paco said she sees an international market for her designs.

“I think it’s possible European women could use the shawls or hats for everyday wear,” said the soft-spoken designer with her ever-present smile.

She envisions her shawls accessorizing West-ern dresses or jeans, she said.

10-kilo skirts

Paco, the daughter of two artisans, takes pride in the quality of her designs.

Her colorful “aguayo” shawls are hand-woven with naturally dyed alpaca or vicuna wool. The best ones take a team of three people two weeks to finish.

The below-the-knee skirts have three or four layers, each using up to six meters (yards) of fab-ric. They can weigh up to 10 kilos (22 pounds).

A full outfit can cost 1,500 to 30,000 boliv-ianos ($200 to $4,300).

For special occasions, members of Bolivia’s newly wealthy “cholita elite” add gold or silver pins, brooches and jewels that can add thou-sands of dollars to the price tag.

“To me (the outfit) symbolizes culture, iden-tity, pride and work, because chola women work long and hard,” said Paco, who has three children.

“It’s also about the empowerment of inde-pendent and professional women,” she said, sporting an outfit of her own design.

Bolivian designer exports high-end indigenous fashion

BOLLYWOODTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 11

Troy Ribeiro IANS

Film: “Rock On 2”Director: Shujaat SaudagarCast: Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Shraddha Kapoor, Prachi Desai, Shashank Arora, Kumud Mishra Rating: **

A sequel to the 2008 film, “Rock On!!”, which was about the coming together of a band called Magic, this one is more than the reinforcement of the band.

The narrative begins with the band being dismantled once again not because of differ-ences between the team members, but because each one of them has their own demons to deal with.

Aditya (Farhan Akthar) hounded by the guilt of a suicide case, settles in Meghalaya with his solitude and the villagers, helping them have a better life.

Joe Mascarenhas (Arjun Rampal), concerned about who is going to pay his bills, becomes a club manager and a reality show judge. Kedar Zaveri or KD (Purab Kohli) is still trying to find a balance between his friends and himself.

The trio and their families reunite in Megha-laya for Aditya’s birthday and they decide to reassemble their once famous band.

Meanwhile, as deus ex machina, Aditya’s path

crosses with Jiah Sharma, a music enthusiast recording local talent in Meghalaya. And in Mum-bai, Uday, Jiah’s friend sends her CD to the trio.

It is only when the five of them assemble at Joe’s office, that there is an instant acceptance, but not without their own hurdles.

Meanwhile, disaster strikes in the form of a forest fire and destroys the village Aditya had adopted. So, he goes back to Meghalaya to sal-vage the villagers from their miseries. And what better way to raise funds than a rock concert.

The story credited to Abhishek Kapoor and Pubali Chaudhari is interesting, but the plot is staid and formulaic with each scene packed with conflict, making the entire tale seem dramatic and forced. Also, the blatant plot holes due to the cinematic liberties taken make viewing a dreary fare.

With no memorable lines and the use of staid imagery, the dialogues written by Farhan are lame and run-of-the-mill.

The characters too don’t grow organically and thus there is a dissent with the viewers.

Farhan with his weak coarse voice as the lead singer is not imposing. Though he strives to put his heart into the character, he fails mis-erably while internalising his pain and his forlorn, unkempt look further accentuates his clumsiness.

Purab, though suave, is perfunctory and so is Arjun.

Prachi Desai as Sakshi, Aditya’s wife, with her blunt haircut and sedate outfits looks like

she has just emerged from the Hollywood films of the 1960s.

Shraddha Kapoor as Jiah Sharma, and the talented Shashank Arora as Uday, who we had witnessed in the noir film “Titli” are good, but limited.

In supporting roles, topping the list is Kumud Mishra in a restrained performance as Pandit Vibhuti, Jiah’s father. He is unfaltering when he sermonises, “Kya, yeh sangeet hai?”, (Is this music?) to his son Rahul or when he is silent when Jiah argues with him in a tele conversation.

The others who have their moments of onscreen glory are the characters who play Rahul Sharma, Jiah’s brother and Manjot - a reality show contestant. They both show promise.

Mounted with excellent production values, the film is visually glossy and vibrant. The locales and the massive sets are beautifully exploited by cinematographer Marc Koninckx’s camera work.

The snappy edits by Anand Subaya keep in tune to the genre of the film.

Music by Shankar-Eshaan-Loy is well inte-grated into the narrative, but they do not propel the narrative. The title track that plays often is effectively used to pump adrenaline. The cho-reography in some songs is clumsy though.

Unfortunately, unlike the prequel, this film is not made with a passion for music. Instead, it is made with the intent of exploiting the fran-chise and it fails miserably.

Rock On 2: Not rocking enough

HOLLYWOOD TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 201612Reuters

US rockers Aerosmith, together for some 45 years, will embark on a

“farewell” European tour next year, the group said, kicking off the series

of shows in Israel.One of the biggest rock bands in the United

States, the award-winning group, often called “The Bad Boys from Boston” in reference to the city where they formed in 1970, is known for songs like “Back in the Saddle” and “Walk This Way”.

The group consists of lead singer Steven Tyler, guitarists Joe Perry and Brad Whitford, drummer Joey Kramer and bassist Tom Hamilton.

“Aerosmith will return across the Atlantic with one of the greatest rock shows ever seen and will undoubtedly be the ultimate must see event of 2017 as the band embark upon this, their ‘farewell’ tour, saying ‘Aero-Vederci Baby!’,” a statement from the group said.

In a spoof news sketch video posted on the band’s Twitter feed, Tyler and Perry announced the European tour, with Tyler asking “Any truth to the rumours that this could be the last hur-rah?” to which Perry replies: “Who the hell knows”.

The tour will kick off in Tel Aviv in May, with the band then heading to Georgia, Russia, Germany and performing across Europe until

early July. During the tour, Aerosmith will also play music festivals such as Sweden Rock, France’s Hellfest and the Download Festival in Britain.

There were no immediate details for dates outside Europe.

Aerosmith recently played a series of con-certs in Latin America.

A filephoto of vocalist Steven Tyler (L) and guitarist Joe Perry of Aerosmith.

Anousha Sakoui Bloomberg

Walt Disney’s “Doctor Strange” led the box office in North America

for a second weekend, turning back challenges from three new releases.

The superhero tale from Dis-ney’s Marvel studio collected an estimated $43 million in weekend sales in the US and Canada, Com-Score said Sunday in an e-mailed statement. “Arrival,” a sci-fi movie from Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, landed in third place while the comedy “Almost Christ-mas” placed fourth and the thriller

“Shut In” opened in seventh place.Though Dr. Strange isn’t as

well-known a character as Iron Man or Captain America, the movie is showing staying power. The film, which some analysts expected to add $40 million this weekend, is helping Disney pad a

record year at the box office. To date, the studio has crossed $6 bil-lion in worldwide ticket sales, according to Disney, and still has another potential blockbuster with

a “Star Wars” movie set for December.

“Arrival,” featuring Amy Adams, opened with weekend sales of $24 million, beating Hollywood Stock

Exchange’s $16 million estimate. The film scored 93 percent posi-tive reviews.

Adams plays a linguist who is recruited by the government to communicate with aliens that have landed on Earth. The movie cost $47 million to make, not including marketing costs, accord-ing to Box Office Mojo. Mock traders on website Hollywood Stock Exchange pegged the debut of “Arrival” at $22 million.

“Almost Christmas” collected $15.6 million for Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures, missing the $16.5 million prediction of ana-lysts at BoxOfficePro.com. The third new wide release, Europa-Corp’s thriller “Shut In,” features Naomi Watts as a widowed child psychologist who is trying to save a young boy while both are caught in a deadly winter storm. It gen-erated sales of $3.7 million, just topping a $3.5 million estimate at BoxOfficePro.

Dr. Strange beats three new films to hold box-office lead

Aerosmith to say ‘Aero-Vederci’ with 2017 European tour

TECHNOLOGYTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 13

By Brian Fung The Washington Post

Earlier this year, researchers’ arti-ficial intelligence beat a human in the dazzlingly complex board game known as Go. Not just once, but four times. It was a milestone

in machine learning.Now, the same Google-backed research-

ers who designed AlphaGo have their sights set on dominating a new game: Starcraft, the classic computer strategy game that has attracted millions of fans, some of whom duel online in professional tournaments hosted by real-life sports leagues.

Researchers from UK-based DeepMind want to train a bot that can play StarCraft II in real time - making decisions about which military units to send on scouting missions, and how to allocate resources and ultimately conquer other players.

Beginning next year, the game will serve as a research platform for any AI researcher who wants to use it, potentially allowing myr-iad player-algorithms to train off of the same game. And joining the effort is the game’s publisher, Blizzard, which is working with DeepMind to set up the platform.

Unlike Go, StarCraft represents an entirely different challenge. Whereas play-ers of the ancient board game take turns

putting down stones to control physical ter-ritory, StarCraft players have to manage a constantly shifting digital economy to achieve victory. They have to mine minerals and gases, build defensive structures and offen-sive troops, survey the terrain and, finally, close with and engage the enemy.

The best players have to know not only what’s going on at their home base but also what may be happening in distant corners of the battlefield. Efficiency of motion is key; commentators talk of “actions per minute” as a way of measuring a human player’s pro-ductive capacity.

“StarCraft is an interesting testing envi-ronment for current AI research because it provides a useful bridge to the messiness of the real-world,” DeepMind wrote in a blog post Friday. “The skills required for an agent to progress through the environment and play StarCraft well could ultimately transfer to real-world tasks.”

At this point, you may be wondering what kind of “real-world tasks” a computerized military genius might put its mind to - hope-fully, that doesn’t include sending siege tanks or space marines after us.

The reality is that we’re nowhere near to building the kind of “general” artificial intel-ligence that science fiction has trained us to fear. Our most sophisticated machines tend to be strong at pattern recognition but

relatively weak at logic and deductive reasoning.

DeepMind is not the first to think of using StarCraft as a training tool. In fact, AI researchers have spent years thinking about StarCraft precisely because of the unan-swered problems for AI created by the game’s open-ended style of play. And all joking aside, the implications are enormous.

“Optimizing assembly line operations in factories is akin to performing build-order optimizations” in strategy games, according to one paper by an international group of researchers in 2013. “Troop positioning in military conflicts involves the same spatial and tactical reasoning used in [real-time strategy] games. Robot navigation in unknown environments requires real-time path-finding and decision making to avoid hitting obstacles.”

Since at least 2011, one annual competi-tion has pit dozens of bots against one another in games of StarCraft. And that’s increasingly true of other games: Last month, developers of the turn-based strategy game “Civiliza-tion VI” unleashed eight computer players on one another to see what would happen. You can watch that here.

Until a few years ago, “computer gam-ing” used to mean sitting down in front of a keyboard and mouse yourself. Now, it seems to mean teaching the computer to play, too.

After mastering Go, now computers are learning to play StarCraft

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

As a math savant uncooks the books for a new client, the Treasury Department closes in on his activities and the body count starts to rise.Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

THE ACCOUNTANT

NOVO ROYAL PLAZA

AL KHOR

ASIAN TOWN

MALL

LANDMARK

Operation Chromite (2D/Action) 11:15am, 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15 & 11:45pmShut In (2D/Thriller) 10:10am, 12:00noon, 2:00, 2:30, 4:00, 6:00, 7:00, 8:00, 10:00, 11:30pm & 12:00midnightTrenk, The Little Knight (2D/Animation) 10:00, 11:40am, 1:20 & 3:00pmThe Accountant (2D/Action) 4:45, 7:10, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2D/Action) 10:15am, 2:45, 7:15 & 11:35pmOuija: Origin of Evil (2D/Horror) 12:45, 5:15 & 9:35pmAndron (2D/Action) 11:30am, 1:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 11:30pmAsal Abyad (2D/Arabic) 10:00am, 12:15, 2:30, 4:45, 7:00, 9:15 & 11:30pmTrolls (2D/Animation) 11:00am, 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 & 7:00pmBoo! A Madea Halloween (2D/Comedy) 9:00 & 11:15pmDoctor Strange (2D/Adventure) 12:00noon, 4:30 & 9:00pm Doctor Strange (3DIMAX/Adventure) 10:00am, 12:20, 2:40, 5:00, 7:20, 9:40pm & 12:00midnight

Achcham Yembadh (Tamil) 2:30pm Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo 5:15pmRock On 2 (2D/Hindi) 2:00 & 11:00pmTrenk, The Little Knight (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 4:00pmAssal Abyad (2D/Arabic) 7:30pm Puli Murugan (2D/Malayalam) 8:00pm Doctor Strange (2D/Adventure) 5:00pm Trolls (2D/Animation) 5:30pm Shut In (2D/Thriller) 7:15pmLahore Se Aagey (2D/Urdu) 9:00pmOperation Chromite (2D/Action) 9:30 & 11:30pmAndron (2D/Action) 11:30pm

Trenk, The Little Knight (2D/Animation) 2:30 & 5:45pmRock On 2 (2D/Hindi) 2:30 & 10:30pmShut In (2D/Thriller) 3:00 & 7:15pm Trolls (2D/Animation) 4:00pmPuli Murugan (2D/Malayalam) 5:00pm Sahasam Swasaga Sagipo 8:00pmAssal Abyad (2D/Arabic) 5:00 & 9:00pmDoctor Strange (2D/Adventure) 7:00pm Operation Chromite (2D/Action) 9:00 & 11:00pm Andron (2D/Action) 11:00pm

Trenk, The Little Knight (2D/Animation) 2:00 & 6:00pmAndron (2D/Action) 2:00 & 9:30pm Rock On 2 (2D/Hindi) 2:30 & 8:15pmShut In (2D/Thriller) 3:30 & 11:30pm Trolls (2D/Animation) 4:00pmPuli Murugan (2D/Malayalam) 5:15pm Assal Abyad (2D/Arabic) 5:30 & 9:30pm Rock On 2 (2D/Hindi) 8:15pmDoctor Strange (2D/Adventure) 7:30pm Operation Chromite (2D/Action) 7:30 & 11:30pm Achcham Yembadh (Tamil) 11:00pm

Trolls (Animation) 10:30am & 12:30pm Achcham Yembadh (Tamil) 12:30, 3:15, 6:00, 8:45 & 11:30pm Puli Murugan (Malayalam) 11:45am, 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 & 11:30pm

Shut In (Thriller) 2:45, 5:00, 7:15, 9:30 & 11:45pm

Puli Murugan (Malayalam) 4:30, 6:30, 7:30, 9:30 & 10:30pmAchcham Yembadh (Tamil) 7:00 & 10:00pmSahasam Swasaga Sagipo 4:30pm

TUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

CINEMA PLUS14

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News08:30 Counting the

Cost09:00 Al Jazeera

Investigates10:30 Inside Story11:00 News11:30 The Stream12:30 Rewind13:00 NEWSHOUR14:30 Inside Story15:00 Boko Haram16:00 NEWSHOUR17:00 News17:30 The Stream18:00 newsgrid19:00 News19:30 TechKnow20:00 News20:30 Inside Story21:00 NEWSHOUR22:00 News22:30 The Stream23:00 Al Jazeera World

13:05 Ax Men13:55 Ozzy

& Jack’s World Detour

14:45 Aussie Pickers

15:35 Pawn Stars

16:00 American Pickers

17:15 Storage Wars Miami

17:40 Mountain Men

18:30 Billion Dollar Wreck

21:50 Forged In Fire

22:40 Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour

13:50 Wild Animal Repo

14:45 Gator Boys15:40 Weird

Creatures With Nick Baker

16:35 Tanked17:30 My Wild

Affair: The Elephant Who Loved Too Much

19:20 Lone Star Law

20:15 Tanked22:05 Weird

Creatures With Nick Baker

23:00 Lone Star Law

23:55 Gator Boys

13:05 Deals, Wheels And Steals

13:30 Storage Hunters

14:20 Alaskan Bush People

15:10 Gold Divers

18:30 Deals, Wheels And Steals

19:20 Gold Divers

21:00 Survive That!

21:50 Dive Wars Australia

22:40 Running Wild With Bear Grylls

23:30 Fast N’ Loud

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSTUESDAY 15 NOVEMBER 2016 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.

AGES, ATTOSECOND,

CALENDAR, CENTURY, CLOCK,

DATE, DAYS, DECADE, EONS,

EPHEMERA, ERAS, ETERNITY,

FEMTOSECOND, FOREVER,

FORTNIGHT, FUTURE, HOUR,

HOURGLASS, INFINITY,

INSTANT, LEAP YEAR,

MICROSECOND, MILLENNIUM,

MILLISECOND, MINUTE,

MOMENT, MONTH,

NANOSECOND, OLYMPIAD,

PAST, PERIOD, PICOSECOND,

PRESENT, SECOND, SUNDIAL,

TIME, WATCH, WEEK,

YEAR, YORE.