7th Day of Ramadhan: Oh! Allah, on this day, help me with its fasts and prayers, and keep me away from mistakes and sins of the day, grant me that I remember You continuously through the day, by Your assistance, Oh! The Guide of those who stray.

On Wednesday, Evans will fire up the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light. Built by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern), the collider lies beneath the French-Swiss border, near the institution’s headquarters in Geneva, at depths ranging from 170 feet to 600 feet.

The aim of the 4.4 billion-pound (over $7.7 billion) experiment is to recreate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang — the birth of the universe — and provide vital clues to the building blocks of life. It will track the spray of particles thrown out by collisions in a search for the elusive Higgs Boson, a theoretical entity that supposedly lends weight, or mass, to the elementary particles. So important is this mysterious substance that it has been called the “God Particle”.

Scientists also hope to shed some light on the invisible material that exists between particles — dubbed “dark matter” as no one knows what it really is — which make up most of the universe. But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could “eat” the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.

One of them, Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar, a mass of energy fuelled by black holes, inside the earth. Jets emanating from it would grow and catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis would occur at the points they emerged from the earth. “The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario — if you could watch it from the moon. A Biblical Armageddon. Even cloud and fire will form, as it says in the Bible.”

He said that attempts were still being made in the European Court of Human Rights to halt the experiment on the grounds that it violated the right to life. The court has, however, already rejected calls for a temporary delay in the project. Walter Wagner, an American scientist who has been warning about the dangers of particle accelerators for 20 years, is awaiting a ruling on a lawsuit he filed a fortnight ago in his home state of Hawaii. Evans, however, is dismissive of the “doom-mongers”. “There are thousands of scientists around the world who have been preparing this machine and they know what they are talking about, unlike these guys,” he is quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. — IANS

“Darren Aronofsky came here a couple of years ago and fell on his ass,” Rourke told the packed Sala Grande theatre on Saturday where the awards were given out. He was referring to the director’s critical flop The Fountain which premiered in Venice in 2006. “I am glad he had the balls to come back. I don’t think he wanted to come. I said, ‘You’ve got to come’.”

German director Wim Wenders, president of the seven-member jury, added: “This is for a film with a truly heartbreaking performance in the very sense of the word, and if I say heartbreaking, you know I am talking about Mickey Rourke.” Wenders suggested Rourke, who looked dishevelled with his collar open, tie undone and cigar in hand, could have also won the best actor prize in Venice, but the festival does not allow a Golden Lion winner to pick up best acting awards too.

The Wrestler, for which Rourke said he was not paid, was one of 21 films in the main competition lineup, and the awards ceremony wound up 11 hectic days of screenings, interviews, press conferences and red carpet glamour. Rourke was accompanied on Saturday by his ageing dog, which posed for photographers alongside the star. “I brought my dog because my dog is very old, she is 16 and she is not going to be around for long so I want to spend every moment with her.”

The 51-year-old star of 1980s hits 9-1/2 Weeks and Angel Heart said that The Wrestler was “the best ... movie I’ve ever made”. Asked at a post-awards press conference what he thought about people who came back from the brink, Rourke replied: “Well I had a lot of time, I was out of work for about 15 years so I had a lot of time to think about things.” Aronofsky added: “It shows how simple a movie can be, when you have someone who is honest in front of the lens.” The Silver Lion for best director was won by Russia’s Alexei German Jr for Paper Soldier, set on the windswept steppes of Kazakhstan and centring on the 1960s Soviet space programme.

The best actor award went to Italy’s Silvio Orlando for his role in Il Papa di Giovanna (Giovanna’s Father), the story of an overprotective father and his mentally deranged daughter. The best actress prize was won by France’s Dominique Blanc in L’Autre (The Other One), a haunting tale of a woman who becomes dangerously obsessed with a young ex-boyfriend. Teza, by Ethiopian director Haile Gerima, picked up two prizes — the special jury award and best screenplay.

The story chronicles the life of an Ethiopian intellectual who flees his country during the Marxist “red terror” in the 1980s, only to be attacked in Germany by racist youths. US actress Jennifer Lawrence was named best emerging actress for her role in The Burning Plain, in which she appears alongside Kim Basinger and Charlize Theron.

Venice was criticised this year for a main competition lineup that some said was generally weak, but a trio of popular US productions towards the end helped lift spirits. As well as The Wrestler, The Hurt Locker by director Kathryn Bigelow impressed critics with its portrayal of the perils faced by a bomb disposal unit in Iraq, while actress Anne Hathaway generated awards buzz in Rachel Getting Married. — Reuters

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