monday 10 december 2012 • plus@pen.com.qa • www ... · 8/10/2016 · 2 plus | monday 10...
Post on 08-Oct-2020
1 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
COMMUNITY
CAMPUS
HEALTH
MOTORING
TECHNOLOGY
LEARN ARABIC
P | 4
P | 5
P | 7
P | 10
P | 12
P | 13
• US-based artist’ssolo exhibition atAl Markhiya Gallery
• MES lifts overall trophyin CBSE interschoolathletic competition
• Knee replacementlinked to weight gain
• Feeding problems:Food allergies
• New ContinentalGT V8 convertiblearrives in Doha
• China’s Appletakes slice ofsmartphone pie
• Learn commonly used Arabic words and their meaning through the pages of the Peninsula Plus.
insideMONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 • plus@pen.com.qa • www.thepeninsulaqatar.com • 4455 7741
Twenty-five years after his death, iconic Palestinian cartoonist Naji Al Ali continues to live in people’s memories through his political caricatures. They are being shown for the first time in the Middle East at ‘The Witness’ exhibition in Katara – a humble homage to his admirable life and exceptional achievements.
P | 2-3
in memory of...
20122012BEST MOVIES OFBEST MOVIES OF
P P | | 8-98-9
2 COVER STORYPLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012
Homage to Naji Al Ali
On a lazy afternoon on July 22, 1987, iconic Palestinian politi-cal cartoonist Naji Al Ali was walking towards the offices of the Kuwaiti newspaper Al
Qabas in southwest London when he was gunned down.
He was holding a cartoon he had just drawn illustrating the image of a fatally wounded man along with Handala — a ten-year-old Palestinian boy, barefoot and dressed in rags — a figure he had created to represent Palestinian defiance.
The crumpled cartoon, bearing the
harrowing memory of that fateful day, along with dozens others is displayed at ‘The Witness’ – an exhibition recently opened in Katara.
“The look on the man’s face in this draw-ing bears quite a resemblance to his when he was shot. In a way he already knew that he was going to be killed,” said Iraqi artist Hani Mazhar, Al Ali’s colleague and close friend. The exhibition is also showcasing some of Mazhar’s paintings inspired by Al Ali and his works.
Twenty-five years after his death, Al Ali continues to live in people’s memories through his political caricatures, which have now become works of art, thanks to Katara’s recently opened exhibition that pays homage to his admirable life and exceptional achievements.
But who else can best tell about Al Ali’s illustrious life cut short by an assassin than Mazhar.
“We worked together in Al Qabas news-paper and he was a very close friend,” Mazhar told The Peninsula before the open-ing of the ‘The Witness’, where dozens of Al Ali’s caricatures are being showcased
alongside Mazhar’s paintings.Asked about his best memory of Al Ali,
Mazhar said: “Many things. We talked about many things. But because we are both artists, we always talked about art.”
For the first time in the Middle East, a huge number of Al Ali’s cartoons are being showcased along with 20 newly commis-sioned paintings by Mazhar, in the month-long expo at Katara Gallery Building 18.
The exhibition is being held by Katara with support from Al Markhiya Gallery and Bissan Gallery.
The exhibition intersperses the wide range of cartoons with paintings by Mazhar, breathing new life and meaning into the caricatures not merely at the polit-ical level but at the aesthetic level as well.
“These paintings are aimed at paying homage to Naji Al Ali. I want to show the people the aesthetic side of his cartoons, not only the political message, which is very important to me because Naji Al Ali’s image in the media was limited to being a cartoonist only, not as an artist. For me it is very important to show his other side,” said Mazhar.
For the first time in the Middle East, a huge number of Naji Al Ali’s cartoons are being showcased along with 20 newly commissioned paintings by Iraqi artist Hani Mazhar, in the month-long expo at Katara Gallery Building 18 in Souq Waqif.
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 3
Inspired by Al Ali’s life and works, Mazhar’s acrylic paintings on display sometimes resemble the cartoons themselves, just in a different way. He paints in bold colours highlighting the symbolic quality of the images, result-ing in the emergence of new layers of meaning.
Born in Iraq in 1955, and of British nationality, Mazhar draws inspira-tion for his work from diverse sources, including Mesopotamian myths as well as Arab and Andalusian litera-ture. He has also been inspired by Latin American and Japanese literary sources. His use of colour along with the repetition of oriental motifs reflects his cultural background in a sophisti-cated and cosmopolitan manner.
Mazhar has held solo exhibitions in galleries across the world over the past few decades, and his works are included in the collections of the British Museum, Mexico National Print Museum and Modern Art Museum of Cartagena, Columbia.
Naji Al Ali’s career started in 1963 as a caricaturist for the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Tali’a, and eventu-ally included over 10,000 drawings published in newspapers through-out the Arab world. In his lifetime, and posthumously, he was awarded many prizes, including the prestigious “Golden Pen of Freedom” award from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers. Naji was the
first ever caricaturist and Arab jour-nalist to have won this prize.
Al Ali died five weeks after he was shot in the face. Three years before his death, he was described by The Guardian as “the nearest thing there is to an Arab public opinion”.
Mazhar said Al Ali would always occupy a place in the hearts and minds of people in the Arab world through his thousands of cartoons, which effectively helped crystallize public opinion dur-ing his time and remain an inspiration to journalists and media practitioners across the Arab region.
“To this day, his cartoons are still published in the Arab media. You can see many newspapers still publishing his cartoons and people are looking at them as if he just died yesterday,” said Mazhar.
Al Ali’s cartoons, according to Mazhar, would remain political, but they are also valued for their artistic quality.
“The political message is still there,
but looking closely one can see his artis-tic side. Normally, cartoons are created only to send a particular message, but in the case of his cartoons, they can be taken as fine art also, that’s why his cartoons are alive till now,” he added.
Naji’s iconic cartoons focus mostly on the plight and resistance of the Palestinian people. His cartoon char-acter Handala is now an icon for Palestinian defiance.
“The Palestinian struggle was the number one subject for him, but of course he drew about many other things from other parts of the world, like Latin America, Far East, everywhere. But in general, Palestine was foremost for him. Nothing has changed for many years now; Palestinians still struggle,” he said.
Compared to Naji’s times, the impact and influence of caricatures is now somewhat diminished, Mazhar noted.
‘The Witness: An Exhibition by Naji Al Ali and Hani Mazhar’ is open until January 12 at Katara Art Gallery Building 18. The Peninsula
PIC
S: S
haiv
al D
alal
Hani Mazhar explaining the cartoon (top left) Naji Al Ali was holding when he was gunned down.
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 COMMUNITY4
Hilton Doha partners with Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs
Members of the Hilton Doha spent a day with chil-dren from the Shafallah Center recently, as part
of Hilton’s Blue Energy programme.Around 20 members of Hilton
Doha’s Blue Energy programme joined 40 children at the Shafallah Centre, which provides a range of educational and recreational services for children with special needs.
Andreas Searty, General Manager at Hilton Doha, said: “We are delighted to be working with such an impor-tant organisation that provides such an essential service to the society. The Shafallah Center empowers these chil-dren so that they can fully participate in their communities and we are very proud to be a part of this initiative.”
After a round of introductions, members of the Hilton Doha and the children at the Shafallah Centre
settled down to participate in various fun-filled activities. Children learnt to make their own cupcakes with a range of decorations and condiments, teamed up to create beautiful flower arrange-ments and to construct towering build-ings out of cards and pins. The Blue
Energy team further entertained the kids with hilarious impressions using wigs, hats and bowties.
The children also participated in a series of entertaining competitions and games, including Stop-Light and musi-cal chairs. The Hilton Doha team gifted
the children Blue Energy t-shirts and commemorated the enjoyable day with a group photo. The best was saved for last as the Hilton Doha surprised the kids with a brand new plasma TV and Wii gaming system as a special dona-tion from the hotel. The Peninsula
All seven winners of ‘Mercedes Benz Car Dream Drive with Lulu’ Promotion – Ma Celica Ramos, Master Moses Mathew Alexander, S Preethi Prasanna, Master Muhammad Nabil Abdul Rahim, Cherry Carambas Victorino, Vaishakhi Anil and Seba Renny – collected their prizes from Shaijan M O, Regional Manager of Lulu Hypermarket Group, on Thursday, in the presence of Mohd H Z Aabideen, General Manager, Chacko K Samuel, Commercial Manager, Naseer Ali, Manager-Lulu Center, and other offi-cials of Lulu Hypermarket Group.
Works by US-based artist Mohammed Al Shammarey are on display at a solo exhibition at Al Markhiya Gallery in Souq Waqif. Titled Longing, the exhibition showcases images in giclee art print which are inspired by the religious dance of Sufi Mawlawis and reveal the artist’s yearning for his home country Iraq.
Exhibition at Al Markhiya Gallery
‘Mercedes Benz Car Dream Drive with Lulu’ winners get their prizes
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 5CAMPUS
Georgetown SFS-Q bioethics research recognised as best at QF forum
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) faculty member
Ayman Shabana received the Research Excellence Award in recognition of the Best Arts, Behavioural and Social Sciences, Humanities and Islamic Studies Research Programme of the Year during the awards distribu-tion ceremony of Qatar Foundation’s Annual Research Forum held at the Qatar National Convention Centre recently.
Dr Shabana, Visiting Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at SFS-Q, won the prestigious prize for his presentation titled ‘Sustaining Islamic Bioethics Research.’ The presentation highlighted the main features of the Islamic bioethics research project that he has led at SFS-Q for more than two years.
Commenting on receiving the award for the best research pro-gramme in the fourth track of the Annual Research Forum, Shabana said, “The project has been a won-derful collaborative effort and this award recognises all the hard work and dedication of the project’s team members. This is definitely a great honor and responsibility and we are determined to exert our best effort to sustain this exciting research venture and accomplish its goals.”
The project began with a successful three-year grant proposal (2009-2012), titled Islamic Medical and Scientific Ethics, which was submitted to the National Priorities Research Program of Qatar National Research Fund by Doris Goldstein, former Director of the Kennedy Institute of Ethics Library at Georgetown University’s main cam-pus, and Frieda Wiebe, Director of the SFS- Q Library.
This proposal aimed to expand the scope of the reputable KIE Library col-lection of bioethics resources to include Islamic bioethical resources.
The Peninsula
TNG celebrates Annual Day
The Next Generation Kindergarten and Primary School celebrated its third
anniversary and first Annual Day on Thursday. Mohammed Sarfaraz Khanzada, Pakistan Ambassador and his wife Farzana Khanzada were the Chief Guests. Embassy officials Dr Mansoor Abbas Rizvi, Mohammed Afzal Sheikh, Asim Khan and par-ents of the students attended the programme.
For the last three years, TNG has expanded its wings to include students from 15 different nationalities. Having opened its doors to only 15 students initially, TNG has now more than 350 students. The school has plans to move further by opening up grades 7 and 8. TNG will continue with certification programmes such as Young Learners Exam from Cambridge University and ICDL training computer certification.
Meanwhile, Qudsia Asad rejoined as Principal of the school.
TNG also announced “TNG Education Awards”, which were pre-sented to personalities and organisa-tions serving in Qatar for the cause of education. The awards were presented to Dr Shaukat Chandna, Professor Muqeem Khan, Syed Abid Hussaini, Nadeem Bahseer, Ahmed Hussain, Raheel Khan, Faisla Velimi and Dr Mazhar Monga for their outstanding support and services to the community.
Shagufta Bakali, CEO of TNG, spoke of the progress and the future path of
TNG. She also mentioned the change of name from TNG Kindergarten and Primary School to TNG Group. TNG, she said, also has plans to introduce
a nursery (for less than two-and-half years old), a training center and a purpose-built campus.
The Peninsula
TNG students taking part in Annual Day festivities. Below: Parents and other guests watching the show.
MES Indian School won the overall trophy in the Qatar Cluster CBSE interschool athletic competition held at the MES synthetic track recently, with an unbeaten 305 points. Seven CBSE Schools in Qatar participated in the event and MES emerged the overall champions in all the categories — under-14 boys, 14 girls, 16 boys, 16 girls, 19 boys and 19 girls — with 60 medals (41 gold, 14 silver and 5 bronze). The first runner-up was Al Khor International School, with 92 points. The winners are qualified to participate in the interschool CBSE national championship, to be held in Chennai, India from December 27 to 30. Seen in the picture are the winning athletes and school officials.
MES lifts overall trophy in CBSE interschool athletic competition
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 COMMUNITY6
Dolphin Energy Limited has announced the launch of the first annual Dolphin Energy Doha Dash, in celebration of
Qatar National Sport Day on February 12, 2013.
The Dolphin Energy Doha Dash will take place at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, giving runners the chance to run on the circuit and follow in the tracks of Moto GP stars.
The community event aims to encourage a healthy lifestyle and raise money for charity by donating a per-centage of the entrance fee charged, and will feature a 5km run for partici-pants aged 12 and over, a 3km run for all ages, a 1km run for children and a 1km ladies walk.
Commenting on the event, Adel Ahmed Albuainain, General Manager, Dolphin Energy, Qatar said: “This is a wonderful opportunity for the com-munity to get involved. The Dolphin Energy Doha Dash is a family fun run that supports Qatar National Sport Day and carries an important message about the benefits health and fitness have on people’s personal and profes-sional lives.
All runners will receive an official race T-shirt, medal and gift bag as well as enjoying a great family day
out in the Festival Village. The first three runners across the line in the 5km, 3km and 1km runs will receive a trophy and a special prize.
A range of activities will be on offer including live music, children’s activi-ties, have-a-go sports areas and food and beverages.
The Dolphin Energy Doha Dash has been created by Professional Sports Group, who will manage the sporting operations on the day.
Jamie Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer of Professional Sports Group, said: “Mass participation running events are growing in popularity every year in the Gulf Region and we have identified a great opportunity here in Doha.
“We hope that the Dolphin Energy Doha Dash will become a key event in the calendar for Qatar National Sport Day.
“Ware delighted to partner with Dolphin Energy and look forward to working with them to make the event a success.”
Registration is now open for the Dolphin Energy Doha Dash 2013. Participants can visit www.dohadash.com to register or to find out more about the event.
The Peninsula
Dolphin Energy launches inaugural Doha Dash
Officials at the announcement of Doha Dash.
Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) took part in ILTM, the International Luxury Travel Market held at the
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France, from December 3 to 6.
Hosted by QTA, the Qatar pavilion featured a large number of strategic partners including the Ministry of Culture; hotels W Doha, Ritz-Carlton and Sharq Village & Spa; tour opera-tors Qatar International Tours and Qatar International Adventures; as well as Katara Cultural Village and Souq Waqif.
Staged annually in Cannes, ILTM is the leading ‘by invitation only’ event for the global luxury travel commu-nity and each year brings together the world’s most sought after collec-tion of luxury resorts for the most selective international luxury VIP travel buyers.
QTA’s attendance at ILTM is one of the many initiatives to position and promote Qatar as a top luxury des-tination that can match any in the world. By showcasing Qatar amongst the world’s best luxury resorts to the top international VIP buyers, QTA is exploring one of the best opportuni-ties to promote Qatar as a leading luxury tourist destination.
\Luxury and leisure go hand in hand and they underpin why Qatar
is attracting more tourists every year. The QTA is thus pro-moting Qatar for its 21st century upscale facilities, luxury and leisure amenities and award-winning spas to appeal to the global luxury market.
Luxury travel con-tinued to show a strong recovery dur-ing 2011. A key driver of growth was the ris-ing number of wealthy individuals worldwide, the “experiential” travel and sustainabil-ity now playing a more important role.
The QTA recently announced its inter-est in promoting eco-tourism and responsible tourism at the recent COP 18 UN Climate Change Conference in Doha, lever-aging sustainability as a key pillar in the country’s new developments.
With a wide choice of luxury hotels and resorts, Qatar offers the perfect retreat for business travelers want-ing to mix business with leisure, and experience luxurious hospitality to
international standards in a coun-try with a unique cultural heritage. The QTA is thus promoting Qatar as a winning combination of the fin-est in modern day luxury side by side with the country’s age old traditions to appeal to the seasoned luxury traveller.
As UNWTO forecasts the Middle
East region is expected to capture 8 percent of the 1.8 billion international tourists worldwide, the QTA plans to attract the largest number of these visitors to Qatar, as it promotes the country as a luxury destination ready to welcome the world’s most discern-ing travelers.
The Peninsula
QTA showcases Qatar as a luxury destination at ILTM
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012HEALTH 7
Health Tipsfrom DOCTOR
What is a food allergy?An estimated 6 percent of children suffer from
food allergies. If your baby has a food allergy, his body’s immune system reacts to a particular food as an intruder. When he eats an offending food, his body releases antibodies that cause allergic reactions.
If your baby has an aller-gic reaction to something he eats, it may be rapid (within half an hour to an hour) or it may develop hours or even days later. Symptoms may be seen on the skin — including hives, red patches, chronic eczema, or swelling — or they may be gastroin-testinal, such as vomit-ing, abdominal pains, or diarrhoea.
Symptoms that occur quickly can be more severe. When a child has a severe allergic reac-tion, he may have wheezing, swelling of the tongue and mouth, and trouble breathing. This reaction, called anaphylaxis, is life threatening.
The most common food allergens for young children are eggs, milk, peanuts, wheat, soy, tree nuts, fish (like tuna, salmon, and cod), and shell-fish (like lobster, shrimp, and crab).
If you or your partner has a family history of food allergies, then it may be twice as likely that your baby will have allergies. The good news: Most kids outgrow food allergies by age 5, although certain allergies — to peanuts or tree nuts, for example — are much more likely to persist.
What can be done?When starting your baby on solids, introduce
a new food every three to five days at most. If he’s going to react to the food, chances are the symptoms will show up within this time. And if you buy baby food, start with single-ingredient varieties rather than combinations, to make it easier to identify any offending foods.
If your baby has been diagnosed with a food allergy, you’ll want to learn all you can about it — including which foods to avoid, how to read labels, and how to recognize the early signs of an allergic reaction.
Work with your baby’s doctor to establish an action plan in case your baby does have a reaction. Be sure to keep epinephrine (a medication that will stop an anaphylactic reaction) on hand and know how to use it.
Also make sure that everyone who is ever responsible for taking care of your baby — sit-ters, relatives, daycare workers — knows about his allergy and what they may not give him to eat. Also make sure they know exactly what to do if he has an allergic reaction.
by Kerry Grens
Being overweight is known to increase the risk of needing a knee replacement, but a new
study finds that knee replace-ment surgery may also raise a person’s risk of gaining weight.
Analyzing the medical records of nearly 1,000 knee-replacement surgery patients, researchers found that 30 percent of them gained five percent or more of their body weight in the five years following surgery.
One possible explanation for the counterintuitive results, experts said, is that if people have spent years adapting to knee pain by taking it easy, they don’t automatically change their habits when the pain is reduced.
“After knee replacement we get them stronger and moving better, but they don’t seem to take advantage of the functional gains” and become more active, said Joseph Zeni, a physical ther-apy professor at the University of Delaware, who was not part of the study.
“I think that has to do with the fact that we don’t address the behavioural modifications that have happened during the course of arthritis before the surgery,” he added.
Hundreds of thousands of people in the US undergo knee replacement surgery each year.
The goal of putting in a new knee is to alleviate pain and get people moving around more, but Daniel Riddle, lead author of the new study and a profes-sor at Virginia Commonwealth University, said his team had noticed that patients tended to gain weight after surgery.
To see whether this was com-mon, Riddle’s group used a patient registry from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, which collected information on 917 knee replacement patients before and after their procedures.
The researchers found that five years after surgery, 30 per-cent of patients had gained at least five percent of their weight at the time of the surgery. That’s 10 pounds or more on a 200-pound person, for example.
In contrast, less than 20 per-cent of those in a comparison group of similar people who had not had surgery gained equiva-lent amounts of weight in the same period.
Riddle’s team explains in their
report, published in Arthritis
Care & Research, that this degree of weight gain can lead to “meaningful effects on cardiovas-cular and diabetes related risk as well as pain and function.”
Part of the explanation for the weight gain the research-ers observed could be the age at which patients get surgery, Riddle said. People in their 50s and 60s tend to gain weight anyway.
Still, in light of the lower rates of weight gain in the compari-son group, which was also middle aged and older, Riddle said some-thing else may also be at work among knee surgery patients.
“There’s something going on in these patients that predisposes them above and beyond their peers to weight gain,” Riddle told Reuters Health.
Indeed, the team also found that patients who had lost weight before their surgery were slightly more likely to gain weight afterward.
Riddle said that could be because when people lose weight in anticipation of an event, such as knee surgery, they are more likely to put on weight after they’ve achieved that goal.
Zeni said that to help people
stave off the pounds after sur-gery, health care providers need to address the sedentary lifestyle people often adopt to accommo-date their arthritis.
“We need to encourage patients to take advantage of their ability to function better and get them to take on a more active lifestyle,” he told Reuters Health.
Riddle agreed that the habit of being sedentary before knee replacement may carry over after surgery.
He said it will be important to develop and study weight loss interventions for these patients, and to target them to those who are most at risk of getting heavier, like relatively younger patients in their 50s and 60s and those who have lost weight before knee surgery.
In the meantime, Riddle said, patients can also take some action on their own by talking with their doctors about main-taining a healthy weight and con-sulting with a nutritionist and physical therapist about lifestyle changes.
SOURCE: bit.ly/TJTz24 Arthritis Care & Research, online November 30, 2012.
Dr. Nabeel Saif Hussein Shaif GP-Paediatrics
Healthspring World Clinic
Feeding problems: Food allergies
Knee replacement linked to weight gain
PLU
S |
MO
ND
AY
10
DE
CE
MB
ER
2012
PLU
S |
MO
ND
AY
10
DE
CE
MB
ER
2012
HO
LLY
WO
OD
NE
WS
MO
VIE
89
Sin
ger M
ela
nie
Brow
n s
ays
argu-
men
ts betw
een
h
er an
d h
er
Spic
e G
irls
bandm
ate
Vic
toria
B
eckham
are l
ike t
he o
nes
betw
een
sist
ers.
Mel
B an
d V
icto
ria
are said
to
be o
n d
iffe
rent
wavele
ngth
s but
the
form
er s
ays
the b
and m
em
bers
are
like s
iste
rs a
nd o
n-a
nd-o
ff t
ussle
s have n
ever h
arm
ed t
hem
.“I
t is
lik
e a
ny r
ela
tionsh
ip w
ith h
er
and m
e. W
e fi
ght,
we a
rgue, w
e m
ake
up...
it h
as
alw
ays
been l
ike t
hat.
It
has
been l
ike t
hat
wit
h a
ll fi
ve o
f us
over t
he y
ears,
” m
irror.
co.u
k q
uote
d
Mel B
as
sayin
g.
“Obvio
usl
y, t
here h
ave b
een s
torie
s sa
yin
g s
om
e o
f us
hate
each o
ther
and t
here a
re f
all-o
uts
. B
ut
we’r
e lik
e s
iste
rs,
” sh
e a
dded.
Mel
B s
ays
her f
ellow
band m
em
bers
Mel
C,
Vic
toria
Beckham
, G
eri
Halliw
ell a
nd E
mm
a B
unto
n a
re w
ith e
ach o
ther a
t th
e e
nd o
f th
e d
ay.
“I’v
e h
ad p
unch-u
ps
wit
h M
el C
in t
he p
ast
. B
ut
we h
ave u
ncondit
ional
love f
or e
ach o
ther u
nder neath
it
all,” M
el B
said
.“W
e m
ight
not
speak for a
week o
r s
o b
ut
then w
e g
et
back o
n S
kype a
nd
sort
it o
ut.
It
is a
ll n
ice r
ight
now
. B
ut
the fi
ve o
f us
definit
ely
have b
een
through it
over t
he y
ears,
” sh
e a
dded.
Spic
e G
irls
cam
e b
ack t
ogeth
er t
o p
erfo
rm
at
the c
losi
ng c
erem
ony o
f th
e 2
012
Oly
mpic
s in
London.
Sin
ger C
heryl
Cole
has
sued t
he U
S v
ersi
on o
f si
ngin
g r
eality
show
T
he X
Fa
ctor
for £
1.4m
- f
or n
ot
payin
g d
ues
aft
er s
ackin
g h
er a
s a
judge last
year.
Cheryl, 2
9, w
as
dum
ped b
y s
how
boss
Sim
on C
ow
ell a
fter s
he s
hot
for
just
tw
o a
udit
ions
epis
odes.
She w
as
repla
ced b
y s
inger N
icole
Scherz
inger.
The law
suit
file
d b
y C
heryl again
st C
ow
ell a
nd t
he t
eam
inclu
des
£62,0
00
each y
ear f
or c
loth
es
and £
16,0
00 f
or h
air
and m
ake-u
p.
She a
lso w
ants
£9,4
00-a
-month
for r
ent
whic
h s
he s
ays
was
prom
ised
and £
1,600-a
-month
for liv
ing e
xpense
s, r
eports
thesu
n.c
o.u
k.
“Everyon
e i
s su
rpris
ed b
y t
he l
aw
suit
. N
o j
udge w
ould
be p
aid
for a
se
aso
n t
hey d
idn’t
appear o
n,” a
source s
aid
.C
heryl cla
ims
they p
rom
ised £
1.1m
for s
easo
n o
ne a
nd £
1.25m
for s
easo
n
two -
- and e
xpense
s, s
he s
ays,
weren’t
paid
for e
ither s
erie
s.
Actr
ess
Cath
erin
e Z
eta
-Jones
is s
ick o
f answ
erin
g q
uerie
s about
her
bip
ola
r d
isorder a
nd h
as
warned r
eporte
rs
again
st q
uiz
zing h
er o
n
the s
am
e.
The n
ew
s of
the a
ctr
ess
’ healt
h i
ssues
em
erged l
ast
year,
when
she
checked i
nto
a m
edic
al
facilit
y i
n C
on
necti
cut
to s
eek t
reatm
en
t fo
r a
se
rio
us
bout
of
depress
ion.
When a
sked a
bout
how
she’s
copin
g w
ith t
he c
ondit
ion d
urin
g a
n inte
r-
vie
w o
n U
S b
reakfa
st s
how
Good M
ornin
g A
meric
a, Z
eta
-Jones
snapped
back, sa
yin
g “
You k
now
what?
I’m
sic
k o
f ta
lkin
g a
bout
it b
ecause
I n
ever
wante
d t
o b
e t
he p
ost
er c
hild f
or t
his
. I
never w
ante
d t
his
to c
om
e o
ut
publicly
. It
cam
e o
ut,”
dailyst
ar.
co.u
k r
eporte
d.
“I d
ealt
wit
h i
t in
the b
est
way I
could
and t
hat
was
just
sayin
g t
hat,
‘L
ook, hey,
I’m
bip
ola
r’. E
veryone h
as
thin
gs
goin
g o
n a
nd w
e’r
e d
oin
g t
he
best
we c
an. W
e c
an’t
jum
p f
rom
the r
ooft
ops
shouti
ng a
bout,
‘I
have t
his
, lo
ok a
t m
e, vic
tim
’ -
no. W
e a
ll h
ave i
ssues
in l
ife a
nd I
’m r
eally h
appy I
have g
reat
frie
nds,
great
support
and t
hat’s
all I
can d
o.”
BO
LLY
WO
OD
NE
WS
Vict
oria
, Mel
B fi
ght l
ike
sist
ers
Cher
yl C
ole
sues
US
The
X Fa
ctor
Zeta
-Jon
es fe
d up
of t
alki
ng
abou
t bip
olar
dis
orde
r
1) Z
ER
O D
AR
K T
HIR
TY
Kath
ryn B
igelo
w’s
taut
thrille
r a
bout
the h
unt
for O
sam
a b
in L
aden e
xem
pli-
fies
the O
scar-w
inn
ing d
irecto
r a
t th
e
top o
f her g
am
e, w
ork
ing w
ith a
scrip
t by
Mark
Boal
that
not
only
allow
s vie
wers
to m
ake s
ense
of
the c
om
plicate
d i
nte
l-ligence, m
ilit
ary a
nd foreig
n p
olicy iss
ues
that
have an
imate
d th
e past
decade,
but
als
o c
reate
s a b
rand-n
ew
cin
em
ati
c
genre: th
e r
eporte
d fi
lm.
2)
LIN
CO
LN
Ste
ven S
pie
lberg a
nd T
ony K
ush
ner’s
his
toric
al
dram
a a
bout
the 1
6th
presi
-den
t le
aves beh
ind fu
sty
, great-
man
portr
ait
ure, in
stead e
ngagin
g in a
liv
ely
gam
e of
politi
cal
cat
an
d m
ouse th
at
bears un
can
ny con
tem
porary ech
oes
and l
eaves
vie
wers
feeling a
s if
they’v
e
just
spen
t tw
o h
ours
wit
h t
he s
hrew
d,
fun
ny,
mela
ncholy
— a
nd y
es,
great
—
man h
imse
lf.
3)
TH
E W
AIT
ING
RO
OM
Pete
r N
icks’
magn
ificen
t docum
en
-ta
ry s
pends
a d
ay i
n t
he l
ife o
f an o
ver-
crow
ded a
nd u
nder-r
eso
urced h
osp
ital
em
ergency r
oom
in O
akla
nd, C
alifo
rnia
, w
here a
sta
ff o
f com
pass
ion
ate
profe
s-sio
nals
provid
e care to
a sta
rtl
ingly
div
erse
popula
tion o
f pati
ents
. T
his
sub-
tle,
com
pass
ionate
table
au l
ifts
the v
eil
on a
world
oft
en d
esc
rib
ed i
n t
erm
s of
squalo
r a
nd d
esp
air
, findin
g t
he inherent
dig
nit
y a
nd p
erse
verance t
herein
.
4)
MO
NS
IEU
R L
AZ
HA
RP
hilip
pe F
ala
rdeau’s
aff
ecti
ng d
ram
a
about
an
Alg
eria
n i
mm
igran
t te
achin
g
in a
Montr
eal
ele
menta
ry s
chool
could
have g
one w
rong in s
o m
any s
appy,
sen-
tim
en
tal
or m
audlin
ways.
Than
ks t
o
Fala
rdeau’s
cle
ar-e
yed dir
ecti
on
an
d
a quie
tly galv
an
isin
g perfo
rm
an
ce by
Moham
ed F
ellag in t
he t
itle
role
, it
goes
straig
ht
an
d s
imply
for t
he h
eart,
an
d
its
aim
is
unerrin
gly
true. P
int-
size
d c
o-
stars
Sophie
Neliss
e a
nd E
milie
n N
eron
join
ed P
ierce G
agn
on
(L
oop
er)
, Jared
Gilm
an
an
d K
ara H
ayw
ard (
Moon
rise
K
ingd
om
), an
d
Th
e Im
poss
ible
’s T
om
H
olland, O
akle
e P
endergast
and S
am
uel
Johnso
n a
s young a
cto
rs
deliverin
g p
er-
form
ances
of
ast
onis
hin
g m
atu
rit
y.
5)
MID
DL
E O
F N
OW
HE
RE
Ava
DuV
ern
ay’s
fi
nely
cali
brate
d
dram
a a
bout
a w
om
an
navig
ati
ng l
ife
while h
er h
usb
and i
s in
pris
on f
eatu
red
a b
reakout
perfo
rm
ance b
y lead a
ctr
ess
E
mayatz
y
Corin
eald
i;
its
un
forced,
restr
ain
ed t
on
e w
as e
nhan
ced b
y t
he
express
ive c
inem
ato
graphy o
f B
radfo
rd
Youn
g,
who a
lso s
hot
two 2
012
10-b
est
runners-
up,
Rest
less
Cit
y and P
ari
ah.
6)
TH
IS I
S N
OT
A F
ILM
Jafa
r P
anahi’s
ess
ay fi
lm a
bout
liv-
ing u
nder h
ouse
arrest
in I
ran u
ses
Brech
tian
sta
gin
g,
blu
rred
lin
es
betw
een
docum
en
tary an
d dram
a,
and a
n iP
hone t
o e
xplo
re t
he n
oti
on o
f physi
cal and p
oliti
cal boundarie
s, t
he
aest
heti
c a
nd t
echnolo
gic
al
conto
urs
of cin
em
a, and t
he e
ndurin
g p
ow
er o
f se
lf-e
xpress
ion.
7)
AR
GO
Ben A
ffleck’s
abso
rbin
g, th
oroughly
en
terta
inin
g t
hrille
r a
bout
a l
ittl
e-
kn
ow
n c
hapte
r o
f th
e I
ran
host
age
cris
is s
trik
es
a t
ric
ky t
on
al
bala
nce
betw
een
his
tory l
ess
on
, adven
ture-
acti
on a
nd s
how
biz
sati
re. A
long w
ith
such r
unners-
up a
s T
he G
rey,
Loop
er
and M
agic
Mik
e, it
proved t
hat
genre
pic
tures
don’t
have t
o b
e d
isposa
ble
but
can
ch
an
nel
genuin
e th
ough
t-fu
lness
, in
genuit
y a
nd o
ld-f
ash
ioned
chops.
8)
MA
RG
AR
ET
Ken
neth
L
on
ergan
’s
epic
com
-in
g-o
f-age t
ale
, about
a M
an
hatt
an
te
en
ager sen
t in
to an
eth
ical
tail
-sp
in a
fter b
ein
g i
nvolv
ed i
n a
tragic
bus
accid
ent,
took y
ears
to a
rriv
e o
n
the s
creen
. W
hat
turn
ed o
ut
to b
e
a s
praw
lin
g,
pass
ion
ate
, st
ubborn
ly
dig
ress
ive m
ast
erw
ork
was
worth
the
wait
.
9)
AN
NA
KA
RE
NIN
AD
irecto
r Joe W
rig
ht
took
a big
chan
ce w
hen
he s
taged t
he a
dapta
-ti
on
of
a b
elo
ved l
iterary c
lass
ic a
s light
opera,
largely
wit
hin
the c
on
-fin
es
of
a t
iny t
heate
r. T
he c
on
ceit
w
orked,
wit
h t
he i
nheren
t th
eatr
i-cality
of
Tols
toy’s
sto
ry a
nd i
mperia
l S
t. P
ete
rsb
urg s
ocie
ty c
om
ing t
o t
he
fore, as
well a
s th
e n
ovel’s
alt
ernate
ly
rig
orous
an
d p
oeti
c m
oral
sen
sibil-
ity.
An
na j
oin
ed s
uch s
imilarly
ris
ky
fare a
s C
lou
d A
tla
s and H
oly
Moto
rs in
suggest
ing t
hat
cin
em
ati
c a
mbit
ion
, audacit
y a
nd v
isio
n a
ren’t
dead y
et.
10)
AM
OU
RM
ichael H
aneke’s
technic
ally fl
aw
-le
ss,
em
oti
onally d
evast
ati
ng d
ram
a
about
an e
lderly
couple
facin
g illness
and d
eath
was
part
of
an e
ncourag-
ing t
ren
d t
his
year i
n s
urpris
ingly
h
on
est
depic
tion
s
of
agin
g,
from
th
e fr
an
k sexuali
ty of
the adm
it-
tedly
uneven H
op
e S
pri
ngs
to D
ust
in
Hoff
man’s
dir
ecto
ria
l debut,
Qu
art
et.
On b
ehalf
of
grow
n-u
ps
everyw
here,
to an
in
dustr
y oth
erw
ise obsessed
wit
h y
outh
: T
hanks
for c
arin
g. M
ore,
ple
ase
! W
P-B
loo
mb
erg
Film
: Khi
ladi
786
Cas
t: A
ksha
y Ku
mar
, Asi
n, M
ithun
Cha
krab
orty
,H
imes
h Re
sham
miy
a, R
aj B
abba
r an
d Ra
hul S
ingh
Dir
ecto
r: A
shis
h R
Moh
an
Kh
ila
di
786 is
th
e kin
d of
com
edy don
e
in s
hades
of
green
, oran
ge a
nd p
ink,
whic
h
doesn
’t r
equir
e u
s to
str
ain
our b
rain
. T
he
kic
ks
and g
runts
, guff
aw
s and c
hortl
es,
the
an
tics
raille
ry a
nd t
om
foole
ry fl
ow
out
un
stoppered l
ike a
n u
ncapped
tooth
past
e t
ube.
The form
ula
is
sim
ple
. A
nd s
tark
. G
et
the a
udie
nce t
o laugh a
t any c
ost
. A
nd s
om
e o
f it
does
work
quit
e w
ell.
We h
ave a
hero. N
o, m
ake t
hat
a s
uper-d
uper-h
ero, w
ho fl
ies
across
the
air
, pounds
auto
mobiles
to a
pulp
wit
h h
is b
are fi
sts,
breaks
dow
n a
jail
cell’s
sto
ne w
alls
wit
h a
flic
k o
f his
manly
fist
, gets
goofy
or g
ooey-e
yed
dependin
g o
n h
is c
o-s
tar o
n s
creen.
Aksh
ay’s
crazi
ly i
mprovis
ed p
erfo
rm
ance a
s a s
ham
cop b
orrow
s dol-
lops
from
Salm
an K
han’s
Da
ba
ngg a
nd A
ksh
ay’s
ow
n R
ow
dy
Ra
thore
. T
he
deriv
ati
ve d
errin
gdo d
oesn
’t d
imin
ish t
he i
mpact
of
the i
talicis
ed a
nti
cs
that
range f
rom
the a
rrest
ing t
o t
he e
xasp
erati
ng.
Asi
n (
back in fetc
hin
g form
for t
he fi
rst
tim
e s
ince G
ha
jin
i) loves
a lout
who is
chronic
ally incarcerate
d. E
ach t
ime t
he jailed loverboy (
Rahul S
ingh,
well-c
ast
eff
ecti
vely
pla
yed)
is a
bout
to b
e r
ele
ase
d, he’s
sent
back p
ackin
g
for s
om
e u
nin
tenti
onal crim
e o
r t
he o
ther.
The s
crip
t se
em
s to
be w
rit
ten b
y s
om
eone w
ho loves
Aksh
ay’s
hum
or-
ous
heroic
s and h
is e
mphati
c b
ut
spoofy
hijin
ks.
Both
the t
rait
s are a
mply
accentu
ate
d in t
he s
crip
t. K
hil
ad
i 78
6 u
ltim
ate
ly b
ecom
es
a s
how
case
for its
in
sanely
success
ful su
perst
ar h
ero’s
tale
nts
. A
ksh
ay,
as
we a
ll k
now
, lo
ves
to p
lay t
he P
unja
bi D
evdas.
He d
id it
eff
ecti
vely
in V
ipul S
hah’s
Na
ma
stey
Lon
don, w
here h
e s
tepped b
ack g
allantl
y t
o let
his
wif
e K
atr
ina K
aif
make
a f
ool of
herse
lf w
ith a
n u
ndese
rvin
g b
oyfr
iend.
Exactl
y t
he s
am
e t
ria
ngula
r s
ituati
on
crops
up i
n t
he s
econ
d-h
alf
of
Kh
ila
di 78
6, w
hen m
idw
ay t
hrough t
he a
narchic
hilarit
y, A
ksh
ay d
ecid
es
to
pla
y t
he b
leedin
g t
eary-e
yed m
arty
r “
gif
ting”
Asi
n t
o t
he a
forem
enti
oned
jailed jerk
.M
am
ta K
ulk
arni in
the e
arly
Kh
ila
di film
Sa
bse
Ba
da
Kh
ila
di had d
one
the a
irheaded lovergir
l runnin
g a
fter t
he w
rong m
an. B
ack t
hen, A
ksh
ay
stood g
uard o
ver M
am
ta w
ith t
he s
am
e s
teadfa
st loyalt
y a
s he d
oes
for A
sin.
Som
e t
hin
gs
never c
hange i
n o
ur c
inem
a. H
eroin
es
may c
om
e a
nd g
o.
Heroes
live o
n f
orever.
A s
en
se o
f con
tinuit
y r
un
s th
rough a
ll o
f A
ksh
ay K
um
ar’
s com
edie
s.
He d
oesn
’t d
o a
nyth
ing h
ere t
hat
he h
asn
’t d
one b
efo
re. T
he t
radem
ark
goofy
grin
and t
he s
elf
-deprecati
ng h
um
our a
re b
ack.
Here,
the h
ero i
s desp
erate
to g
et
marrie
d . T
hat’s
a s
porti
ng p
art
whose
subte
xt
scream
s,
‘Look, I
am
such a
big
sta
r a
nd I
pla
y a
characte
r w
ho c
an’t
get
a w
om
an
to m
arry m
e, ha h
a.’
It’s
all d
on
e i
n f
un
, w
ith p
len
ty o
f un
zippered z
est
an
d a
com
forti
ng
abse
nce o
f vulg
arit
y. T
he e
nse
mble
cast
, parti
cula
rly M
ithun C
hakraborty
and R
aj
Babbar,
catc
hes
on t
o t
he s
hrill
sur o
f a m
usi
c t
hat
suggest
s a
ble
nd o
f parody a
nd h
om
age t
o t
he F
orm
ula
Cin
em
a. S
o, w
e h
ave long-l
ost
broth
er o
f th
e h
ero s
how
ing u
p in t
he c
lim
ax w
ith a
mockin
g m
aw
kis
hness
th
at
Manm
ohan D
esa
i w
ould
have a
pproved o
f.T
he m
usi
c b
y H
imesh
Resh
am
miy
a is
sple
ndid
ly in-s
ync w
ith t
he fi
lm’s
w
acked-o
ut
mood.
He o
ften u
ses
standard b
ackground e
ffects
from
old
H
indi
film
s to
rem
ind u
s th
at
we a
re l
aughin
g a
t conventi
ons
that
never
grew
outd
ate
d in o
ur c
inem
a.
Oh y
es,
Resh
am
miy
a a
lso p
lays
an im
porta
nt
part
in t
he fi
lm a
s a h
ope-
less
inept
weddin
g p
lanner.
It’s
good t
o s
ee R
esh
am
miy
a d
oin
g a
Gujju a
ct.
H
e w
as
born t
o p
lay M
ansu
kh.
As
for A
ksh
ay K
um
ar’s
Kh
ila
di
act,
he c
an d
o t
he p
arodic
paces
blind-
fold
ed. A
ddin
g a
drenaline t
o t
he a
nti
cs
are t
he c
rash
ing, tu
mbling s
om
er-
sault
ing c
ars,
whic
h p
rovid
e t
hrills
in a
very R
ohit
Shett
y w
ay.
Incid
enta
lly,
one c
haracte
r p
layed b
y S
anja
y M
ishra t
hin
ks
he looks
like
Am
ol Pale
kar.
And b
urst
s in
to A
an
ew
ala
pa
l ja
an
ew
ala
ha
i fr
om
Hris
hik
esh
M
ukherje
e’s
Gol
Ma
al.
Wonderin
g i
f M
ishra g
ot
the w
rong G
ol
Ma
al. A
nd d
id h
e m
ean A
jay
Devgn inst
ead o
f A
mol P
ale
kar?
Kh
ila
di
786 is
an o
ddball o
f a d
ham
aka t
hat
ble
nds
slapst
ick w
ith s
tunts
. It
is
farcic
al fu
n f
rom
first
fram
e t
o t
he last
. G
o, have a
bla
st.
Khila
di 7
86: E
nter
tain
er,
Aksh
ay K
umar
sty
leM
ovi
e-w
ise,
2012 w
as
ab
out
a lo
t o
f th
ing
s, f
rom
girl-
po
wer
in T
he H
ung
er
Gam
es,
Bra
ve a
nd
Beast
s o
f th
e S
outh
ern
Wild
to
Ho
llyw
oo
d d
isco
vering
acto
rs a
nd
aud
iences
old
er
than 3
5 (
see s
urp
rise
success
of
Best
Exo
tic
Marig
old
Ho
tel).
Mo
stly
, tho
ug
h, 2
012 w
as
mark
ed
by
a c
onsi
stent d
evo
tio
n
to q
ualit
y, w
heth
er
in i
nd
ie p
recin
cts
occu
pie
d b
y B
ern
ie,
Th
e S
essio
ns a
nd
Silv
er
Lin
ing
s P
layb
oo
k o
r th
e m
ore
main
stre
am
univ
ers
e o
f S
kyf
all.
Big
or
small,
hap
py
or
sad
, sw
ing
ing
fo
r th
e f
ences
or
drilli
ng
do
wn d
eep
, th
e m
ovi
es
carr
ied
the s
am
e m
ess
ag
e:
It’s
all
go
od
.
Best
movi
es o
f
2012
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 MOTORING10
Bentley Qatar set to open new showroom in January 2013
Al Wajba Motors organ-ised a road show for the new Continental GT V8 Convertible at the Admiral Club, Ritz
Carlton Hotel. More than 100 guests gathered over the three day event to see the spectacular new convertible and the rest of the magnificent Bentley range.
The new 4.0 litre, twin turbo-charged Continental GT V8 convert-ible, and its coupe counterpart the Continental GT V8, achieve excep-tional standards for power-to-emis-sions in the high luxury sports car sector. Now the cooler weather has reached Qatar and the new Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible offers the perfect climate to enjoy driving with the roof down.
This remarkable, new Bentley V8 engine delivers maximum power of 500 bhp (507 PS / 373 Kw) at 6000 rev/min. With a new close-ratio 8-speed auto-matic transmission, this translates into a 0-100 km/h sprint time of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 188 mph (303 km/h). The instantly recognisable growl of the new 4.0 litre Bentley Continental GT V8 engine sets it apart from its Bentley stablemates.
Chris Buxton, Bentley Middle East Regional Director said: “With the new 4.0 litre V8 engine we are widening
the appeal of the latest generation of Continentals, introducing a com-pletely new driving experience. Qatar is an extremely important market for Bentley and we are 12 percent up in sales volume thanks to the hard work and dedication of our Qatar Parnter, Al Wajba Motors, as more and more people in Qatar appreciate the excep-tional performance and handcrafted beauty of a Bentley.”
Guests were invited to the Admiral Club at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Doha to experience the New Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible as well
as the Continental Coupe GT V8, the Continental GT W12 Coupe, the Flying Spur and the Mulsanne.
Over 20 Bentley customers joined together to form a convoy of Bentley vehicles that enjoyed a drive together to the Corniche in Doha. Here, wit-nesses were able to see the entire range and many different variations of Bentley vehicles.
Saher A Baaj, the General Manager of Bentley Qatar, said that “It is always a pleasure to get so many proud Bentley customers together like this to drive in convoy. They love to talk together
about their cars and it gives us the chance to show off our new Bentley Continental GT V8 convertible. It is certainly a sight to behold!”
The owner of Al Wajba Motors, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Ahmed M Al Thani, believes that to offer test drives is the best way to convert pros-pects into a brand owner. And so, Al Wajba Motors will carry on doing more dynamic driving events in the future for its customers and prospects.
Bentley Qatar will be opening a new showroom in early 2013.
The Peninsula
Rolls-Royce expandsPearl-Qatar showroom
Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha celebrated the launch of its newly-expanded show-room at the Pearl-Qatar yesterday. The new facility is a culmination of an
impressive first three quarters of the business for the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars importer in Qatar, and will mark an exciting new era for the luxury car brand in Qatar.
The redeveloped facility, which was initially inau-gurated in 2009, has been expanded from 580sqm to cover a total area of 750sqm. This is a 30 per-cent increase in space to fit seven cars in display, including a new dedicated area for the Rolls-Royce Provenance Programme cars, the approved pro-gramme for pre-owned Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. The new showroom also has a customer lounge, refreshments bar, and a configuration area to ena-ble Rolls-Royce Motor Cars clients to customise and tailor their vehicles.
Commenting on the landmark opening, Geoff Briscoe, Regional Director, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Middle East, Africa & Latin America, said: “The Middle East is a crucial market for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, and the excellent performance and support of our partner in Qatar compliments this unprecedented success drive in the region. The investment in this impressive facility is testament
to the continued opportunities that lie ahead in Doha.”
Commenting on this occasion, Mohamed Kandeel, General Manager of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Doha Showroom, said: “This new facility will not only allow us to match our sales growth with our physical growth, but also underlines our ambition to achieve greater results in the com-ing years with even greater focus on customer convenience.”
Latest results from the importer reveal sus-tained growth in the first three quarters of 2012, with an 18 percent increase in sales of
Rolls-Royce vehicles compared to the same period last year.
“Our business is not only about selling luxurious cars, but also investing on many different levels to ensure we have the right facilities and staff to sell new and Rolls-Royce Provenance Programme pre-owned cars, to service them and provide a very high level experience throughout the car ownership period,” he added. Located in Porto Arabia in the Pearl-Qatar, the showroom is open from Saturdays to Thursday from 10am to 10pm and 5pm to 10pm on Fridays.
The Peninsula
New Continental GT V8 convertible arrives in Doha
Geoff Briscoe and Mohamed Kandeel at the new showroom.
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 11BOOKS
by Elaine Lies
Andrew, in a daring leap to freedom from an overbearing mother, moves in with a friend whose ramshackle house is the one blight on a gorgeous neighbourhood - and promptly is attracted to his next door neighbour, the
friendly Harlow.Welcomed by a plate of homemade cookies and admir-
ing of the picture-perfect home where she lives with her husband, Red, it is a while before Andrew starts to suspect there is something a little off about this woman, who seems just too good to be true.
The Neighbors, Ania Ahlborn’s second novel, was inspired by a battered house and a fallen-over mailbox she passed every day, making her think of a perfect house on a perfect street that in fact is “where all the darkness is.”
Ahlborn, whose first book was self-published but became such a success she then picked up a conventional publish-ing contract, spoke about neighbours, horror and her book.
What inspired the book?“I’ve always been pretty fascinated with serial killers,
but not in the sense that I read about them and I’m like, let’s see how they kill all their victims. I’m more interested in the fact that someone could be living right next door to you, and they might be the nicest person that you had ever met, but they’re really not. There’s something about that that really intrigues me. Of course it terrifies me, it freaks me out, but just that concept was what spurred my writ-ing The Neighbors. That, and I do have a little bit of a love affair with the atomic age and the perfect sort of Americana thing that was going on. That to me is also a little creepy. It’s so perfect that it’s almost plastic, it’s Stepford Wives. Every time something is super cool and happy and nice, I always find something really creepy going on with it. If you meet the one person who’s always happy, always smiling and always laughing, I’m going to be the person who’s sitting back thinking, what’s this person hiding?”
How did you bring this idea to life?“I knew that I wanted to have an everyman character
that readers could relate to, so I put that into Andrew. He’s just a regular guy. He has a lot of issues that he’s dealing with, and he really is looking for that whole grass is greener on the other side concept. Then he steps into a life that he thinks is going to be great, oh look how nice these new neighbours are - they’re going to give him a job, they’re really sweet, they invite him to dinner. And he couldn’t be happier, only it’s ‘oh my God, what have I gotten myself into.’
“As far as Red and Harlow go, I had to rewrite this thing three times. The concept was there, but there was some-thing off about it. I actually started writing Harlow as a really nice old lady, kind of like your grandma, and there was something about it that just wasn’t working for me. So I let her go and said, ‘Do whatever you want.’ I let her run with it, and figured I’d just see what happened in the next couple pages. And she turned into this really retro, cougary vixen. I thought ‘whoa, we’ll run with that.’ I had to rewrite the whole thing. I just loved that - it just feels so wrong. A really sweet woman who ends up being almost like a dominatrix, in a way.”
You sound like that surprised you. Do you have that kind of experience a lot when you write?
“Yes. When it comes to writing, I think there’s two dif-ferent ways that you can approach it. You can either plot it out and do it by an outline and make the characters do
what you want them to do, or you can basically let the characters carry the story and see where it goes. I like to do both techniques. Of course I want to have a beginning, middle and end where I don’t feel I’m just writing and writ-ing and writing and it’s not going anywhere, because that’s horribly frustrating.
“On the other hand, you always want it to be kind of organic, so it doesn’t feel forced. When you allow those characters to step up to the plate and say ‘here’s what I would do.’ You learn a lot about yourself that way. You don’t know that you’ve got these ideas in your head, and they come out by way of these fictional characters. It can get a little bit weird, especially when you’re writing horror and thrillers. You’re like, ‘oh my God, what’s wrong with me?’”
What is the function of scary stories?I think that scary stories are the most truthful. I think
that the honesty behind a lot of stuff that you read in horror is really what’s scary. In The Neighbors, one of the things that I tried to do was make Harlow as likable as possible even after I revealed the fact that she is this monster. The reason why I did that is because if your neighbor is some crazy psychopath but you don’t know that, you might like that person. That in itself is terrifying because you don’t know, they’re so good at hiding what they are.
“I think that there’s bits of humanity that come out in horror and thrillers that are really uncomfortable for us to otherwise think about. Could I relate to the monster next door? Could I care about them? Could I be the monster next door?
“That’s the way that I think that horror became so popu-lar - it really reflects who we are and who we hide. It also reflects our worst fears. We want to explore those fears and it’s a safe way to explore those fears... But forget it, when I have to be alone by myself in a locked house at night, I sleep with all the lights on and the dogs in my room, where otherwise I wouldn’t care if my husband was home... It’s just funny how those tiny little differences make us interpret things in a totally different way. If he’s here I’m fine, but if he’s not a serial killer is definitely going to knock on my door and this is the last night of my life. That’s just the way that our minds work. I think that horror makes us reflect on our fears, and on who we say we are - but are afraid to say we are.” Reuters
Do you really know who lives next door?
Co-author of Three Cups of Tea commits suicideby Teresa Carson
Journalist David Oliver Relin, co-author of the controversial best-selling book Three Cups of Tea, took
his own life last month in the Columbia River town of Corbett, Oregon, east of Portland, authorities disclosed yesterday.
The cause of Relin’s death on November 15 was listed as suicide by blunt force head injury, said Tom Chappelle, Multnomah County deputy medical examiner, but he declined to give further details. Relin, who lived in Portland, was 49.
Relin, a freelance journalist who wrote for several magazines, became best known for his work with Greg Mortenson on the wildly successful memoir Three Cups of Tea, which was first published in 2006 and spent four years on the New York Times bestseller lists.
The book, which sold over 4 million copies, chronicled Mortenson’s failed attempt to climb the mountain K2 in South Asia and his encounter with impoverished Pakistani villagers whom he credited with inspiring him to build schools for young girls and other humanitarian projects in the region.
However, the credibility of the book came under fire in 2011 when the CBS television news programme 60 Minutes aired an expose accusing Mortenson of fabricating or embellishing key details of his story, and using his charitable institute to promote sales of the memoir.
CBS News, for example, disputed Mortenson’s account of being kidnapped in Pakistan’s Waziristan region in 1996.
Mortenson later acknowledged in an interview posted on his institute’s website that the book contains “discrepancies” that resulted from “omissions and com-pressions” done for the sake of literary expediency. But he insisted the abduc-tion story was “pretty much” true and defended the book overall, saying, “I’m not a journalist. I don’t take a lot of notes.”
Relin said in a 2008 interview with a University of Oregon professor that in addition to interviewing Mortenson extensively, he conducted more than 200 interviews with people tied to Mortenson’s story and travelled three times to north-ern Pakistan. Relin said he objected to Mortenson getting a co-author credit on the book.
Relin later wrote Second Suns: Two Doctors and Their Amazing Quest to Restore Sight and Save Lives, which is scheduled to be released by Random House in June.
A graduate of Vassar College and the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, Relin focused for two decades on reporting about social issues and their effect on children, according to an Iowa Writers biography. Reuters
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 TECHNOLOGY12
by Melanie Lee
China’s Xiaomi Technology is a fairy tale for nerdy entrepreneurs.
Less than three years after its founding, the smartphone maker is valued at $4bn and evokes Apple-like adoration from its fans, some of whom are desperate enough to skip work for a shot at buying the latest product the day it goes on sale.
Founder Lei Jun dresses like the late Steve Jobs, in jeans and a black top. He has created a fervent fan base for Xiaomi’s moderately priced high-end smartphones by mimicking Apple Inc’s marketing tactic of attaching an aura of exclusivity around its products.
Before Xiaomi, the 42-year-old Lei was a key investor in China’s early Internet scene, co-founding startups including Joyo.cn, which was eventu-ally sold to Amazon.com Inc, and the recently listed YY Inc.
Born in Xiantao, a small city in China’s central Hubei province bet-ter known for breeding Olympic gym-nasts than billionaire technocrats, Lei brushes off comparisons to Jobs but concedes that the Apple visionary was an inspiration.
“China’s media say I am China’s Steve Jobs,” Lei said.
“I will take this as a compliment but such kind of comparison brings us huge pressure,” said Lei, who grew up assembling radios as a hobby. “Xiaomi and Apple are two totally different companies. Xiaomi’s based on the Internet. We are not doing the same thing as Apple.”
HOT SALES AND FANSXiaomi has already sold 300,000 of
its latest phone model, launched in October. The Xiaomi phone 2 has spec-ifications similar to those of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S3 and Apple’s
iPhone5 but a top-of-the-line model sells for about $370, half the price of an iPhone5.
Unlike the big domestic smartphone players, such as Lenovo Group, ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies, which work with telecom carriers to sell a large volume of smartphones, Xiaomi sells most of its phones online and in small batches.
This small volume strategy creates pent-up demand that gives Xiaomi free marketing buzz. The first batch of 50,000 phones released on October 30 sold out in less than two minutes. Subsequent larger batches have also sold out in minutes.
Lei, who has nearly 4 million follow-ers on China’s popular microblogging platform, Weibo, feeds the buzz by dan-gling teasers about new products and launch dates.
“We’re not a company that chases sales volume. We chase customer sat-isfaction. We look for ways to give the customer a great surprise,” Lei said.
His vision for an exclusive mid-tier brand that builds up incrementally, rather than swamping the market, has found financial backers. In June, Xiaomi raised $216m from Singapore’s sover-eign wealth fund, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, and a few of Lei’s friends, local media reported, giving it a valuation of $4bn.
“China is ripe for its own Apple, HTC or Samsung,” said Hans Tung, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, a venture firm backing Xiaomi. “The country is big enough, there are enough mobile Internet users and mobile phone consumers. Therefore having its own mobile eco-system built up by a domestic brand makes sense.”
Xiaomi, which was founded in April 2010 and only started selling smart-phones in October 2011, is on track to sell 7 million units this year, exceeding
Lei Jun, founder and CEO of China’s mobile company Xiaomi, speaks at a launch ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 2 in Beijing.
its target of 2 million.Xiaomi is already profitable and is
expected to rake in sales of up to 13bn yuan ($2bn) this year.
“Our product only sold for a year and hit sales of $2bn. That is pretty impres-sive,” Lei said, adding Xiaomi was not considering an initial public offering within the next five years.
Tung said Xiaomi’s net margins were 10 percent. This suggests its net profit could hit $200m this year.
Mo Xiaohua, a 24-year-old account-ant, is a proud Xiaomi fan who only recently bought her first Xiaomi phone. For many who use Xiaomi phones, the customisable themes and the weekly updates are a big draw.
“I like Xiaomi because among China’s brand smartphones, its value is the best,” Mo said. “Now that we have such a good China branded phone, we need to support it.”
‘BLACK BACK FLATS’Xiaomi has its fair share of detrac-
tors who doubt it will have a happy ending. They say the smartphone game in China can only be won with wide distribution and high volume or a big brand with distinctive designs.
Xiaomi, whose attraction is its price and high technical specifications, does not win points for cutting-edge design.
“This is a world where people are now cranking out ‘black back flats’, that’s what all these phones are when you put 10 on the table... Xiaomi is not going to stick out,” said Michael Clendenin, managing director at RedTech Advisors. “In this world, the
market is driven by two things: one is massive volume and two huge brands.”
ZTE and Huawei have set smart-phone sales targets for this year at about 30 million and 60 million respec-tively. The firms have traditionally dominated the cheap low-end smart-phone segment but have been pushing into the mid-price range.
ZTE said it launched 11 types of smartphones in the mid-price range of 1,500-2,500 yuan this year, up from six last year. Apple released its mid-range tablet, the iPad Mini, in China on Friday.
“Xiaomi had great headline appeal a year ago... but the problem is now you have got guys like ZTE and Huawei and Meizu with phones that are priced in a similar range,” Clendenin said.
China is expected to surpass the United States as the world’s largest smartphone market this year with 165-170 million unit sales, up from 78 million last year, Gartner said.
Analysts said Xiaomi had to ramp up volume and address technical prob-lems and a shortage of customer serv-ice centers if it wanted a shot at the big league.
“One of the challenges of being in the middle is that you can get squeezed,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of Beijing-based consultancy BDA.
Lei is resolute that he will prove the naysayers wrong.
“In this industry, I think the most important thing is to get love from your customers,” he said. “If you are popular with your customers, you suc-ceed.” Reuters
China’s Apple takes slice of
smartphone pie
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012COMICS & MORE 13
Hoy en la HistoriaDecember 10, 2007
1901: The first Nobel Prizes were awarded on the fifth anniversary of the death of industrialist Alfred Nobel1921: Albert Einstein received the Nobel Physics Prize in Stockholm, Sweden1967: Otis Redding, one of the most influential soul singers of the 1960s, was killed in a plane crash in Wisconsin1982: The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea was signed by 119 countries
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner assumed office as Argentina’s first woman president following her election victory in October. She succeeded her husband
Picture: Getty Images © GRAPHIC NEWS
ALL IN THE MIND Can you find the hidden words? They may be horizontal,vertical, diagonal, forwards or backwards.
AMUNDSEN, BARBOSA, BASS, BOONE, BURKE AND WILLS, CABOT, CARTIER, COLUMBUS, COOK, CORTES, DIAS, DRAKE, ERIKSSON, FAWCETT, FLINDERS, FROBISHER, GRAY, HAWKINS, HERIOLFSSON, HUDSON, KINGSLEY, LIVINGSTONE, MAGELLAN, MARCO POLO, PARK, RALEIGH, SCOTT, SHACKLETON, STURT, TASMAN, TENZING, VANCOUVER, VASCO DA GAMA, VESPUCCI.
Baby Blues Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman
Zits Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman
Hagar The Horrible Chris Browne
SALUTATIONS AND GREETINGS
Masculine Feminine English
1- Assalamu alaikum Peace be upon you
2- Wa alaikumu assalam peace be upon you too
IN THE MORNING
1- Sabahul khair Good morning
2- Sabahun noor Morning of brightness
1- Naharak sai’d Have a nice day
2- Naharak As’ad A nicer day to you
IN THE EVENING
1-Massa ul khair Good evening
2-Massa un’noor Evening of brightness
3-Laila saida Good night
Tosbih ala khair Tosbih ala khair Good waking up
Wa enta min ahlu The same to you
SAYING GOODBYE
1- Ma’assalama Goodbye
2- ilal liqa See you later
COLLOQUIAL GREETINGS:
Marhaba/ Ahlan wa sahlan Welcome
1- Kaif Halak (M) Kaif Halich (f) How are you?
2- Bikhair wal Hamdu LiLLAh fine, thanks to God
1- Hayyak Allah Hayyach Allah May Allah Greets you
2- Allah yebguik Allah Ihayeech(f) May Allah Greets you too
LEARNARABIC
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012
HYPER SUDOKU
CROSS WORD
CROSSWORDS
YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
How to play Hyper Sudoku:A Hyper Sudoku
Puzzle is solved
by filling the
numbers from 1
to 9 into the blank
cells. A Hyper
Sudoku has
unlike Sudoku
13 regions
(four regions
overlap with the
nine standard
regions). In all
regions the numbers from 1 to 9 can appear
only once. Otherwise, a Hyper Sudoku is
solved like a normal Sudoku.
ACROSS 1 “That’s lame, dude” 6 ___ Minor10 Letters starting an
address14 ___ Heep15 Staffs16 Indiana’s smallest
county or the river it touches
17 Imagination, metaphorically
20 Part of a nuclear reactor
21 Zellweger of “Miss Potter”
22 Perform on “Glee,” perhaps
23 Featuring top players25 Gets special attention27 Sneak a look28 Investigator of family
problems, say32 Suffix with fool34 League: Abbr.35 “Here ___ Again”
(1987 #1 hit)36 Hispaniola’s western
half
39 Remove the insides from
40 Alternatively42 Article in Austria43 Like the food Jack
Sprat eats45 Suffix with confident46 It’s seen in shop
windows49 Opposite of sans53 Monarchy in the South
Pacific54 Yellowhammer State56 Very dry, as
Champagne57 Three-masted sailing
ship59 Subtraction game60 One who’s favorably
looked upon63 Fairy tale start64 Dullea of “2001: A
Space Odyssey”65 Funny Fields66 Harmonica part67 Quotes, as a price68 Observe secretly
DOWN 1 Trumped-up charge
2 Orange-and-black bird
3 Waist reduction aid
4 Nasser’s fed.
5 There has been one with every Pixar film since 1998
6 King of gods, in Egyptian myth
7 Burglary target
8 Hobby
9 Pompeii’s downfall?
10 More comfy
11 What an easily offended person has
12 High tone?
13 Peas’ keeper?
18 Be rude at the dinner table, in a way
19 Its Internet addresses end in .ee
24 Theater playlet
26 Sympathetic syllables
29 Finnish hot spot
30 One of a Freudian trio
31 Balderdash
33 Start of every hour?
36 Up on things, in the ’40s37 Not feel so good38 Very quickly39 Andromeda and others41 Spare tire material44 Humpty Dumpty, e.g.45 Marooned, in a way47 Took the show on the
road48 Duelers’ swords50 Unappealing personal
trait … or a word that can precede
the start of 17-, 28-, 46- or 60-Across
51 Estevez of “The Breakfast Club”
52 City across the Delaware River from Philadelphia
55 Bank nos.56 Source of ruin58 Composer Satie
60 Supporting
61 Alias letters
62 Move like a bunny
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16
17 18 19
20 21 22
23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31
32 33 34 35
36 37 38 39 40 41
42 43 44 45
46 47 48 49 50 51 52
53 54 55
56 57 58 59
60 61 62
63 64 65
66 67 68
B A H A E R A S E S G T SE B O N L O R N A T O R OG O H A L F S I E S A H E MU V U L A A D E E R A K EN O M O R E Z L O T Y
G A L A X Y K I W I SO R G Y I R E C A N I N EN E O G O C R A Z Y R N AT A B L E T O L E B E S TO D E O N E X A C T A
L A T E R H E D G E SG O L F D R A G R H I N OA S Y E G O C O M M A N D OS L U R A R T O O I S E EP O P S R S V P S R U D Y
How to play Kakuro:
The kakuro grid, unlike in sudoku, can be
of any size. It has rows and columns, and
dark cells like in a crossword. And, just like
in a crossword, some of the dark cells will
contain numbers. Some cells will contain two
numbers.
However, in a crossword the numbers
reference clues. In a kakuro, the numbers
are all you get! They denote the total of the
digits in the row or column referenced by the
number.
Within each collection of cells - called a run
- any of the
numbers 1
to 9 may be
used but,
like sudoku,
each
number
may only be
used once.
YESTERDAY’S ANSWER
14
EASY SUDOKUEasy Sudoku PuzzlesPlace a digit from 1 to 9 in each empty cell so everyrow, every column and every 3x3 box contains allthe digits 1 to 9.
Cartoon Arts International / The New York Times Syndicate
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012CINEMA / TV LISTINGS
SHOWING AT CITY CENTER1145 Italian League
Palermo V
Juventus
1330 Champions
League
Magazine
1400 English Sports
News
1415 Basketball Nba
Toronto @ La
Clippers
1615 French League
Psg V Evian
1800 English Sports
News
1815 Short
Programme
1830 Champions
League 1900
Basketball Nba
Indiana @
Oklahoma City
2130 The Football
League Show
2200 The Global
Game
7:00 News
7:30 Listening Post
10:30 Inside Story
11:00 News
11:30 South2North
12:00 News
12:30 People &
Power
13:00 NEWSHOUR
14:00 News
14:30 Inside Story
15:00 Witness
16:00 NEWSHOUR
17:00 News
17:30 Talk to Al
Jazeera
18:00 NEWSHOUR
19:00 News
19:30 Counting the
Cost
20:00 News
20:30 Inside Story
21:00 NEWSHOUR
22:00 News
22:30 The Stream
23:00 Al Jazeera
12:20 American
Chopper
14:35 Dirty Money
15:05 Auction Kings
15:30 Ultimate
Survival
18:15 Mythbusters
19:10 How Stuff’s
Made
19:40 How It’s Made
20:05 Border Security
20:35 Dirty Money
21:00 Auction Kings
21:30 Outback
Truckers
10:10 World’s
Deadliest GPU
12:00 Sharkville
13:00 Big Blue
14:00 Swamp Men
16:00 Planet
Carnivore
17:00 Puma!
18:00 Untamed
Americas
19:00 Untamed
Americas
20:00 When Crocs
16:35 Powerpuff Girls
17:00 Angelo Rules
17:20 Young Justice
17:40 Hero 108
18:50 Johnny Test
19:15 Adventure Time
19:40 Regular Show
20:05 Green Lantern:
The Animated
Series
20:30 Ben 10:
Omniverse
12:00 The Hitchhiker’s
Guide To The
Galaxy-PG
14:00 Elf-PG
16:00 Prom-PG15
18:00 The Ladykillers-
20:00 Super-18
22:00 Dinner For
Schmucks
15
13:20 Wild Africa
Rescue
14:15 Bondi Vet
15:40 Wild France
16:35 Going Ape
17:00 The Really Wild
17:30 Must Love Cats
18:25 Animal
Planet’s Most
Outrageous
19:20 Dogs 101
20:15 Monkey Life
20:40 Bondi Vet
21:10 Call Of The
Wildman
11:30 Carry On
Columbus
13:00 Frankie And
Johnny
14:30 The Tempest
16:00 Mannequin
17:30 The Calendar
Girl Murders
19:05 The Initiation Of
Sarah (2006)
20:35 Love And
Death
22:00 Vanished
10:55 On The Town-
12:30 Beau
Brummell-PG
14:20 Easter Parade-
16:00 Kiss Me Kate-
FAM
17:45 Captain Nemo
And The...-FAM
19:30 Adam’s Rib-
21:10 Bhowani
Junction-PG
23:00 Poltergeist
11:30 Emilie Jolie-PG
13:00 Hoodwinked
Too! Hood vs.
Evil-PG
14:30 Horrid Henry-
16:00 Princess Lillifee-
18:00 Marley & Me:
The Puppy
Years
GULF CINEMA
1
Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2D) (Tamil) – 2.00pm
Khiladi 786 (2D) – 5.15 & 11.00pm
Face to Face (2D) – 8.30pm
2
Khiladi 786 (2D) – 2.00 & 8.00pm
Face to Face (2D) – 5.15 & 11.15pm
MALL CINEMA
1
The Whistle Blower (Thriller) – 2.30 & 11.15pm
Jab Tak Hai Jaan (Hindi) – 4.30 & 8.00pm
2
So Undercover (2D) (Comedy) – 2.30 & 4.30pm
Killing Them Softly (2D) (Drama) – 6.30& 11.00pm
Anna Karenina (2D)– 8.15pm
3
Rise of the Guardians (3D)– 3.00pm
Mr. & Mrs. Ewyes (Arabic)(2D) – 5.00 & 9.15pm
Universal Soldier 4 (3D)(3D) – 7.00 & 11.15pm
ROYAL PLAZA
1
So Undercover (2D) (Comedy) – 2.30 & 4.30pm
Killing Them Softly (2D) (Drama) – 6.30pm
Universal Soldier 4 (3D)(3D) – 8.30 & 11.00pm
2
Rise Of The Guardians (Animation) – 3.00 & 5.00pm
Mr. & Mrs. Ewyes (Arabic)(2D) – 7.00, 9.00 & 11.15pm
3
The Whistle Blower (Drama) – 2.30, 7.00 & 11.30
Anna Karenina (2D)– 4.30 & 9.00pm
LANDMARK
1
So Undercover (2D) (Comedy) – 2.30 & 6.30pm
Mr. & Mrs. Ewyes (Arabic)(2D) – 4.30pm
Anna Karenina (2D) – 8.30 & 11.00pm
2
Rise Of The Guardians (3D/Animation) – 3.00, 5.00 &
7.00pm
Killing Them Softly (2D) (Drama) – 9.00 & 11.30pm
3
Mr. & Mrs. Ewyes (Arabic)(2D) – 2.30 & 9.15pm
Universal Soldier 4 (3D)(3D) – 4.45, 7.00 & 11.15pm
P
PLUS | MONDAY 10 DECEMBER 2012 POTPOURRI16
Editor-In-Chief Khalid Al Sayed Acting Managing Editor Hussain Ahmad Editorial Office The Peninsula Tel: 4455 7741, E-mail: plus@pen.com.qa / editor@pen.com.qa
Today in Qatar
Tea with NefertitiWhen: Till March 31, 2013; 11am-6pmWHERE: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art WHAT: Offer a critical perspective on how to perceive an artwork, particularly in and from the Arab world. Free entry
Yan Pei-Ming“Painting the history”When: 9am-8pm, Till Jan 12, 2013Friday 3pm to 9pmWHERE: QMA Gallery, Bldg 10 WHAT: Curated by Francesco Bonami, this exhibition profiles three types of history-makers and highlights the power of painting as a medium for recording historical events. Free entry
Forever NowWhen: Till March 31, 2013; 11am-6pmWHERE: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art WHAT: Forever Now proposes new readings based on the works of five artists from Mathaf’s permanent collection. This exhibition unpacks new narratives that posit a unique understanding of five diverse artists: Fahrelnissa Zeid, Jewad Selim, Saliba Douaihy, Salim Al–Dabbagh and Ahmed Cherkaoui. Free entry
Art of Travel WHEN: Till Feb 11, 2013(Sun, Mon, Wed: 10:30-5:30; Tue: closed; Thu, Sat: 12noon-8pm; Fri: 2pm-8pm)WHERE: Al Riwaq Hall next to the Museum of Islamic Art WHAT: A watercolour album dated 1590 was commissioned by Bartholomäus Schachman, mayor of Gdansk in 1604. It documents what he saw during his travels through the Ottoman Empire in 1588-89, depicting costumes and people, scenes of everyday life, festivals and ceremonies. The pages of the album are on display along with related artworks and documents providing visitors with a fascinating and vivid view back in time to the 16th century. Entry: Children Free, adults QR:25
Record of Images in Algerian Film Exhibition WHEN: 15 Dec 201210am-10pmWHERE: Katara Art Center, Bldg 5 WHAT: Posters have long been a visual tool of politics. In the world of cinema this medium is the still representation of a series of plans, plots, moving images, scripts and protagonists. This exhibition explores the relationship between selected posters of key films that made Algerian film history and stills from the films themselves, framing the aesthetics of its socio-political context that has evolved through the years to form a thriving independent cinema that has demarcated itself in the region. Entry: Free
If you want your events featured here mail the details to plus@pen.com.qa
MEDIA SCAN
IN FOCUS
• Public relations offices of some institutions and companies have been criticized for not dealing properly with the media and the public.
• Complaints against an outlet in Villaggio Mall for playing English songs containing objectionable words.
• Some drivers suddenly slow down their vehicles near radars without caring for the vehicles behind them.
• Discussion about why Qatari teachers are quitting Independent Schools.
• Demand for review of exorbitantly high fees of private schools.
• Some Independent Schools are punishing students for being late in the morning. The
students are made to stand several hours in the school compound.
• Some commercial centres and organi-sations allocate small parking spaces for cars in order to accommodate more vehicles.
• The salary of Qatari doctor is lower than that of administrative employees in sev-eral organizations in Qatar.
• Traffic violations are increasing due to lack of strict action by the Traffic Department. The department is only collecting fines.
• The Central Municipal Council’s role and its relations with the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning are similar to that of Palestine at the United Nations -- without any power or authority.
A summary ofissues of the daydiscussed by the Qatari communityin the media.
A poodle wearing a jacket to keep warm in the snowy weather stands next to its owner who wears big fur boots in Schneeberg, Germany.
by Hendrik Schmidt
Hong Kong dogs seek tooth-brushing world record
More than 300 dogs had their teeth brushed in Hong Kong yesterday in an attempt to
set a new world record for the most canines having their pearly whites cleaned at the same time.
Owners of the 312 pooches scrubbed the animals’ teeth for three minutes using a special brush and gel, as they sought to set a new Guinness World Record in the cat-egory “most people brushing dogs’ teeth simultaneously”.
Organisers said the event, held in Stanley on the south coast of Hong Kong Island, was aimed at promot-ing a hygienic lifestyle for dogs and raising funds for a dog rescue centre.
“A lot of people take care of their dogs’ hair and their diet but not so much their teeth,” Hilda Wong from The Link real estate firm, which organised the event, said.
“Brushing teeth is crucial for dogs, it’s just like brushing their hair. You don’t have to do it every day but it’s good to do it once a week because they eat and chew,” she added.
Wong said it will take three to four months for Guinness officials to certify whether the event is a new Guinness World Record.
AFP
top related