COLOMBO: Sri Lanka teamed up on Tuesday with Google to bring high-speed Internet access

to the island using balloons, aiming to become the first country in the region with complete
coverage. Foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera said officials signed an agreement with
Google in the capital Colombo to launch the helium-filled, high-tech balloons above the Indian
Ocean island in coming months. Google announced Project Loon in 2013 aimed at delivering
Internet connections to remote or rural areas worldwide using gear floating from thousands of the
balloons. The entire Sri Lankan island - every village from (southern) Dondra to (northern)
Point Pedro - will be covered with affordable high speed Internet using Google Loons balloon
technology, said Samaraweera, who is also IT minister. Officials said local Internet service
providers will have access to the balloons, reducing their operational costs. Muhunthan Canagey,
head of local authority the Information and Communication Technology Agency, said he
expected Google to have finished sending up the balloons by next March. Service providers will
be able to access higher speeds and improve the quality of their existing service once the balloon
project is up and running, Canagey told AFP. We can also expect prices to come down, he
said after he signed the agreement with Michael Cassidy, a Google vice president . The balloons,
once in the stratosphere, will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the
naked eye, Google has said. Google plans to keep the balloons aloft in the stratosphere for 100
days, transmitting Internet signals to the ground, and with their movements guided by an
algorithmic formula. Tests were carried out in New Zealand in 2013. Official figures show there
are 2.8 million mobile Internet connections and 606,000 fixed line Internet subscribers among
Sri Lankas more than 20 million population. Sri Lanka became the first country in South Asia to
introduce mobile phones in 1989 and the first to roll out a 3G network in 2004. It was also the
first in the region to unveil a 4G network two years ago. --AFP
ABU DHABI: An Australian woman was deported from the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday
after being arrested and fined for insulting social media posts, according to a judicial source in
Abu Dhabi. Jodi Magi, 39, appeared in an Abu Dhabi court and was taken into custody on July
12 before being placed on a flight to Bangkok her destination of choice on Tuesday
evening, the same source said. The trouble began in February, when she posted on her Facebook
page a photo of a car illegally parked between two places reserved for disabled drivers near her
apartment in Abu Dhabi. The picture was accompanied by insulting, degrading remarks, said
the source. Following a complaint from the cars owner, a European, Magi admitted having
posted the photo online but not the incriminating text, the source added. In April, the Australian
was sentenced in absentia to pay a fine of 10,000 dirhams (US2,720) and deportation. She
appeared in court with a lawyer and interpreter to appeal against the verdict the following month,
but to no avail and her sentence was confirmed in June. Magi posted on her personal website late
Tuesday that she was going to decompress in Laos after being in custody for 53 hours. She
said she had been shackled at the ankles, strip-searched, blood tested, forced to sleep on a
concrete floor without a mattress or pillow and having no access to toilet paper or eating
utensils. Obviously, I think a (Aus$3600) fine and deportation with a complimentary

incarceration period was an extreme reaction to a jpg (image) of a car posted to a closed
Facebook page, when I did not swear or mention a single name and blocked the registration
plate, Magi added in a long post on her website. Magi said she was pretty traumatised by the
experience, but added to being forever heartbroken by stories of the other women she met
while in jail. -AFP
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ated
PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF
Directed by Chris Columbus (also director of Home Alone, Mrs Doubtfire, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and
Chamber of Secrets)
Starring Logan Lerman, Brando T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve
Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Melina Kanakaredes, Catherine Keener, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, Uma Thurman,
Julian Richings
This lightweight teeny-bopperish film is suitably, well, lightweight. The first of a few films to come our way under the
Percy Jackson and The Olympians tag, this one sees magic, mayhem and modernity all sitting pretty next to one
another.
The Greek gods are seen presiding over humanity and, sometimes, coupling with humans and creating demigods in
the process (yup, like in the good old mythical days!), and on the other you have the humans living oblivious to the
existence of these supernatural entities and their powerful offsprings amongst them.
Like all films targeted at teens today, the film is spot on in the crucial looks department -- both that of its cast as well
as the realistic rendition of special effects.
Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is the son of Poseidon and his best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) is actually a
myhthical beast assigned to guard him.
When Zeus' (Sean Bean) thunder is stolen -- ok, ok, it will sound a lot better (and not make Zeus seem like a petty
loser) if we say that Zeus' favourite mother-of-all-lightning-bolt is stolen, the Greecian chief god confronts Poseidon
(Kevin McKidd) and accuses his son Percy of having stolen the bolt of lightning. Harsh words are exchanged and
deadlines delivered for the return of this weapon of destruction.
This forces Percy's teacher Mr Brunner (Pierce Brosnan), mother Sally Jackson (Catherine Keener) and Grover to
rush him over to a special school for demi-gods so that the young lad would be safe and prove his innocence.
At this school for demigods, he befriends the attractive Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), who is the daughter of
Athena (Melina Kanakaredes) and Luke (Jake Abel).
Hades (the funny Steve Coogan) also wants the lightning bolt so that he can dethrone Zeus and take over. This
results in Hades capturing Sally and taking her to the underworld.
As Percy springs into action to save his mother and prove his innocence. a whole lot of magical creatures are
unleashed. If you like your sword and sandal movies with heaps of magic and cute young actors and actresses in the
lead, then this is the perfect movie for you.
In this film, the adults gamely play second fiddle to the cast of young ones. It's obvious everyone working on this film
is seriously hoping the Percy Jackson films will be a gigantic franchise!
Also on the plus side, it is hilarious to see the ultra flirty Persephone (Rosario Dawson) who is Hades' companion and
the super-campy Medusa (Uma Thurman) hamming it up on the big screen.
This harmless movie, where everything ends happily-ever-after, is a nice antidote to a stressful day at school or