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Stephanie

This week's fitness profile features former Miss Sri Lanka Stephanie Siriwardena

How and when did you adopt training and a healthy lifestyle? 

I always did kick boxing and dancing back in Canada and that’s intense training, two hours a day. Like about a month before winning the title I hit the gym.

How do you stay motivated?

It’s really important to have a goal. A goal in terms of how you want to look, feel and how healthy you want to be. Fitness is about beinghealthy.

What types of cardio have worked best for you?

Dancing – it’s really good for your heart and works every single muscle in your body. Cross trainers are really great too. They give you a complete, full workout.

How do you deal with cravings for junk food, sweet and salty foods?

Mae

Model Profile

 

· Full name : Methavinee Butsarn

· Nick name : Mae Vichii

· Birth location : Thailand 

· Bust : 36D

· Waist : 23"

· Height : 5'1

· Eye colour : Black Brown 

· Life’s biggest achievement :  The chance of  travelling around Asia 

· Life’s motto : To achieve goals that people think you can't 

· Model profile : Swimsuits - Lingerie - Fitness - Glamour 

On our journey exploring fashion models around the world, we stop by Thailand to meet Mae. She is a popular fitness and glamour model in her country and she has worked in our neighbouring India as well. 

Mae, you are at the highest point of your career, how did you get into the industry? Was this your childhood dream?

I never expected myself to be a model as I never thought that I had the ability, beauty or looks to be a model. I wanted to be a reporter for international news when I was a child. But today, I am also an interpreter for English Language. 

 

As a glamour model, what are the biggest challenges one faces in the ever evolving fashion industry? 

I never go for bad quality work. I always make sure every job that I choose to work is for quality and not for quantity. Sometimes people steal my photos and use them for their own benefit.

How do you keep in touch with the latest fashion trends as a model? 

I work out all the time, 3-4 times a week. I always keep myself healthy with good food and good environment and always work with professional people and I don't lower my standards.

 

And how important is this to your career? 

I don't want my career to end just because of a wrong decision. It's important to be patient and be careful how to deal with international work outside of Thailand. I don't change my standards and always try my best in my career.

What about maintaining your physique? What is your diet like? Challenges?

I love to get up at 6 am in the morning and exercise for an hour before I have breakfast and I always eat healthy foods. I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke. I don't have a diet as I don't believe in this. I love eating and I love taking food supplement to help me control my weight. It's working fine with my lifestyle.

How hard is to have and maintain a family with your schedule?

My family is the most important thing in my life. I never have problems connecting with my family when I am overseas as everything right now is so High-Tec. I can contact my family anytime I want through Skype or phone calls. Working overseas is not a problem for me at all.

 

 

Interview by Jayantha Fernando

Swimwear images by Neil Grake / India and others by Mae

No time for marriage: Jackie

After the success of 'Housefull 2', Sri Lankan beauty Jacqueline Fernandez is on a new high. With success finally coming her way, Jacqueline, who was recently in Ahmedabad to promote her upcoming film 'Race 2', seems enthusiastic about the days to come.

 

Jacqueline, who has visited the city a number of times in the recent past, says she finds Ahmedabad very charming and would like to explore more of it at leisure. 

 

She says, "I haven't got a chance to explore Ahmedabad yet because we come with packed schedules. But I am eager to take a trip to the historical structures. Hopefully I'll be able to do it the next time."

 

Talking about her being part of the multistarrers, Jacqueline feels that it would be wrong to say that she has only done films where there was a multi-starcast. She says, "I started off with films that had only me as the lead. If you cross check I have done only two multi starrers till now."

 

But what about the challenges of doing such multi starrers and the competitiveness on the sets considering the fact that two heroines would vie for more screen time? She says, "All the people I have worked with are brilliant actors. I got to learn so much from them. It would have been silly of me to pass on these films because I wouldn't have rejected them for any reason."

 

And even though she's from Sri Lanka, Jacqueline seems to be doing great with her language skills. Ask her about it and she says with a laugh, "It's like going back to the school. I practice Hindi everyday and I am getting better."

Not just that, she also greeted everyone with a warm 'kem cho' when she could. So is she a good student of the language? She grins, "I am a very good student. I might be lazy at times, but my teacher makes sure that I get back to studies immediately."

 

In the wake of the recent Delhi case, how does she feel living alone in a metro city as a single woman? She says, "One has to be one's own person and take charge of life. I have stayed in different countries and have always stayed alone. So I have learnt to safeguard myself. You need to be aware of your surroundings and be on your toes all the time irrespective of the gender."

 

Rumours about her relationship with Sajid Khan has been doing the rounds. Ask her about them, "Rumours are not meant to be taken seriously, there is very little I can do about them. I always take charge of my decisions, whether they are professional or personal. Actors are easy targets and the media is quick to fling random accusations."

 

And what about marriage? She quips, "Since the media knows more about my love life than I do myself, they should know it better. But seriously, there are no such plans in the near future. There is a lot that I want to do and I'm not even thinking about it."

Obama's limo breaks down in Israel

Barack Obama’s heavily armoured limousine, dubbed ‘The Beast’, broke down in Israel even before the U.S. President landed as it was apparently refuelled with petrol instead of diesel.

The U.S. Secret Service was forced to fly another vehicle in from Jordan on Wednesday where it was waiting for the U.S. leader, who will travel to the neighbouring country on Friday.

“The Beast” failed to start, and was towed to Jerusalem but Mr. Obama, who landed at Ben-Gurion International airport on Wednesday afternoon, was not in the country at the time the vehicle broke down, Fox News reported.

A second presidential limo was brought to transport Mr. Obama from the airport.

“We experienced mechanical trouble with one of the cars,” Edwin Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service was quoted by the Jerusalem Post as saying. “We don’t know the cause”.

Mr. Donovan couldn’t confirm reports the limo was refuelled using petrol rather than diesel.

The presidential limousine is a specially built Cadillac that’s estimated to weigh 8 tonnes.

Although the Secret Service does not disclose details about the vehicle, it reportedly features several inches of armour and bulletproof glass, special suspension to absorb blasts and doors and windows that hermetically sealed in the event of a gas attack.

Most of the specifications of “The Beast” are classified as top secret, including whether or not it has one of those stickers on the fuel filler that says “diesel fuel only”.

Biggest cyber-attack in history' slows down internet worldwide

A cyber attack, believed to be the biggest yet, slowed down the global internet yesterday, leading to ripple effects felt by millions of users worldwide.

An argument between two computer groups triggered a revenge attack — a strike on such a scale that it could take down the websites of many of the world’s leading governments, companies and banks, say to security experts.

The size of the online barrage meant that other internet users felt its affects, slowing access to many websites and popular services such as Netflix, the film and television player. Experts said that if the attacks continue to escalate, e-mails, messaging and banking services could be disrupted.

The target is believed to be Spamhaus, a not-for-profit organisation based in London and Geneva that helps e-mail groups filter spam and other malicious content. The group has created enemies by creating “blacklists”, a database of organisations that it accuses of being malevolent actors.

Recently, Spamhaus put a company called Cyberbunker, a Dutch internet hosting company, on its blacklists. Cyberbunker, named after its headquarters at a five-storey former Nato bunker, is known as a “black hat” host — offering hosting services to any website “except child porn and anything related to terrorism”, according to its website. Spamhaus alleges that Cyberbunker launched the attack in retaliation. Attempts were made by The Times to contact Cyberbunker but it did not respond.

Steve Linford, the chief executive of Spamhaus, told the BBC that the attack had been taking place for “well over a week”, but that its defences had held so far, with the attackers unable to take its services down. Five national police forces were investigating the incident, he said.

Experts said Spamhaus was undergoing a special type of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, where a victim is flooded with large amounts of traffic to bring down its internet services.

Rik Ferguson, a senior analyst for Trend Micro, the computer security specialists, said the attackers were using a “DNS reflection attack”.

In this method, perpetrators pretend to be their victim. The attacker uses the victim’s IP address to send a question to a DNS server, vital to run the internet. These questions demand a big response, resulting in data flooding the victim with huge amounts of traffic.

Spamhaus claims that the attacks are peaking at 300 gigabits per second. “That would take down most Fortune 500 companies,” said Mr Ferguson. “It would even take some countries offline. It’s a big, big attack, which is why it’s had repercussions across the rest of the web. I can’t think of an attack bigger than this.”

The cyber attack is being felt by other users because the traffic flows through the global internet infrastructure — the same pipes that physically connect the world’s computers.

The attacks were first reported last week by CloudFlare, a Californian internet security company that was trying to defend against the attacks. Instead, it too became a target. “These things are like nuclear bombs,” Matthew Prince, chief executive of CloudFlare, told The New York Times. “It’s so easy to cause so much damage.”

Saudi threatens to ban WhatsApp, Viber and Skype

Internet messenger applications such as Skype, Viber and WhatsApp, used by many migrant workers including Sri Lankans, face being banned in Saudi Arabia if operators fail to allow authorities in the kingdom to censor them, industry sources said.

Local telecommunication providers have been told to ask the operators of the services to furnish means of control, an official at the kingdom's Communications and Information Technology Commission said, requesting anonymity.

Another source at telecom operator Saudi Telecommunications Co. (STC) said the commission gave service providers one week ending on Saturday to respond, warning it would "take measures to ban them" if they failed to comply.

An industry source said telecom operators were behind the move, accusing the STC, along with Mobily and Zain, of asking the commission to impose censorship due to the "damage" caused by the free-of-charge applications.

In neighbouring UAE, most Skype applications and Viber are blocked but WhatsApp messenger remains accessible.

The two countries in 2010 threatened to ban BlackBerry instant messaging and demanded installing local servers to censor the service. The services remain uninterrupted but it was not clear how far the RIM Canadian maker did comply. (Source: Bangkok Post)

India-SL stalemate hurt auto companies

India's diplomatic stand on Sri Lanka on human rights violations in the island nation has costed domestic vehicle manufacturers dearly.  

Companies including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, TVS Motors, Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki for whom Sri Lanka formed one of the key export destinations are experiencing a significant slowdown in demand following series of hikes slapped on imported vehicles.

Sri Lanka raised import duty on cars to 200-350% from 120-291% on three-wheelers to 100% from 51-61% and two-wheelers to 100% from 61%. Another round of excise duty hike came into effect five months ago making vehicles further expensive.

Sri Lanka, with a gross domestic product increase of 6.3% in the quarter ended December, is one of the promising markets for automobile players. Indian auto labels have a lion's share of the Sri Lankan automotive market like for instance Bajaj Auto which had a 60% share.

The hike is a set back for newly launched Tata Nano whose price has nearly doubled from its launch price. With last week's India vote against Sri Lanka on the US-sponsored UNHRC resolution, industry leaders are fearing a knee jerk reaction perhaps resulting in another round of duty hikes.

A Tata Motors spokesperson said, "We cannot express a view, except to say that for Tata Motors, Sri Lanka was the first country, after India, starting in 1961. For the last 50 years, the company has had an uninterrupted association with Sri Lankan customers. In the last year, increase of excise and customs duties in Sri Lanka (in April and November 2012) has impacted exports of automobiles – passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles - out of India. In some cases, prices have doubled. Tata Motors too has been impacted."

From the launch price of LKR 9.25 lakh (Rs 3.8 lakh) cost of the Nano has gone upto LKR 15.50 lakh (Rs 6.63 lakh) in Sri Lanka. Similarly the Tata 207 used to cost LKR 14 lakh (Rs 5.98 lakh) but after the tax increase the price has increased to LKR 25 lakh (Rs 10.69 lakh).

"Import of Tata cars is happening but ever since the taxes were increased sales of Tata 207 and the Tata Nano have gone down substantially. Enquiries are still very healthy but when consumers discover the price their enthusiasm goes down", said an executive of Dimo Lanka, the exclusive dealer and importer of Tata Motors vehicles in Sri Lanka.

Last year, when India voted against Sri Lanka, we saw import duties going up and exports (of Bajaj Auto) to Sri Lanka dropping from 20,000-22,000 per month in last quarter of last financial year to around 8,000-10,000 a month by end of first quarter of this financial year, said a report from Morgan Stanley.

Pawan Goenka, president (automotive and farm equipment service) Mahindra & Mahindra said, "Our volumes have been affected very badly because of the increase in import duty. And it has impacted a certain specific models not across the board."

Last year, India had exported vehicles worth $6 billion, out of which automobiles worth $800 million had been sold in the Sri Lankan market. (business-standard)

No Sri Lankan players in Chennai IPL matches: Jayalalithaa

As protests in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils continued, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said IPL matches would be permitted in the state only if there were no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff in these matches.

“In view of the popular antipathy and anger in Tamil Nadu against the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that IPL matches involving Sri Lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu”, she said.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said BCCI may be advised by the Centre to prevail upon the IPL Organizers not to allow Sri Lankan players, officials, umpires and support staff to take part in the tournament in the state.

“The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches”, she said.

Jayalalithaa said the recent continous agitations in the state during the debate in the UNHRC have revealed the “great angst and anguish” among the people with regard to the highly emotive Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

“In this surcharged atmosphere, the IPL cricket tournament is scheduled to be held at various locations, including Chennai from April 3 onwards and will go on for over a month till May 26”, she said, noting that almost all participating teams have in their ranks Sri Lankan cricketers as their team members.

Observing that the civil strife in Sri Lanka was a “lamentable saga of an ethnic pogrom” launched by the Lankan government against Tamils, she said, “These painful events of genocide of innocent Sri Lankan Tamils have had a deep impact amongst the people of Tamil Nadu...”.

“Recently, against the background of increasing and credible evidence of continuing atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil Nadu witnessed mass agitations, hunger strikes, self-immolations and large-scale spontaneous involvement of many sections of society, including the student community, protesting against the Sri Lankan action against the Tamils”, she said.

Recalling her letter to him on the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, she said, “Understandably, their sentiments, too, have been hurt by these brutal and hostile acts of the Sri Lankan Navy”.

“All political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced their grave concern regarding these issues. The atmosphere is, therefore, already surcharged with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri Lankan Government”, she said.

“In such a hostile and tense environment, we apprehend that the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people”, Jayalalithaa said.

Today’s decision on IPL matches comes close on the heels of attack on Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in the state, allegedly by pro-Tamil activists. - PTI