Intelligence and rhythmic accuracy 'co-related'

LONDON, Apr 21: A new study has confirmed what scientists have long believed -- people who score high on intelligence tests are also good at keeping time.

A team of researchers from Karolinska Institutet and University of Ume in Sweden has found a correlation between general intelligence and ability to tap out a simple regular rhythm, 'The Journal of Neuroscience' reported.

According to the researchers, accuracy in timing is also important to the brain processes responsible for problem solving and reasoning.

"The results suggest that the rhythmic accuracy in brain activity observable when the person just maintains a steady beat is also important to the problem-solving capacity that is measured with intelligence tests.

"We know that accuracy at millisecond level in neuronal activity is critical to information processing and learning processes," lead researcher Fredrik Ulln at the Karolinska Institutet said.

The Swedish team has also demonstrated a correlation between high intelligence, a good ability to keep time, and a high volume of white matter in parts of the brain's frontal lobes involved in problem solving, planning and managing time.

"All in all, this suggests that a factor of what we call intelligence has a biological basis in the number of nerve fibres in the prefrontal lobe and the stability of neuronal activity that this provides," Ulln said.

In fact, in their study, the researchers found that what the task subjects performed had nothing to do with any musical rhythmic sense but simply measured the capacity for rhythmic accuracy.

Those who scored highest on intelligence tests also had least variation in the regular rhythm they tapped out in the experiment.

"It's interesting as the task didn't involve any kind of problem solving. Irregularity of timing probably arises at a more fundamental biological level owing to a kind of noise in brain activity," Ulln said. (PTI)

Pak envoy abductors demand suspects in Bhutto's killing freed

ISLAMABAD, Apr 21: The kidnappers of Pakistani envoy to Afghanistan, Tariq Azizuddin have demanded release of 12 prisoners, including suspects in former premier Benazir Bhutto's assassination, in exchange for his freedom.

The kidnappers wanted release of Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz, Tehreek-e-Nifaaz-e-Shariat Muhammadi chief Maulana Sufi, five Afghan Taliban and three men arrested on charges of allegedly plotting Benazir Bhutto's assassination - Aitzaz Shah, Hussnain and Rafaqat, according to a BBC report.

The militants are holding Azizuddin, Pakistan's ambassador to Afghanistan, his driver and bodyguard since February 11.

The Al Arabiya TV channel aired a video of the envoy two days ago that showed Azizuddin asking the Pakistan government to meet the demands of his abductors, including the release of some Taliban militants.

Those demanded by the kidnappers in exchange for the release of the envoy are all linked to militant commander Baitullah Mehsud.

Maulvi Umar, spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, told the BBC that the organisation had no involvement in the kidnapping of Azizuddin and that they had no knowledge about his whereabouts.

A tribal leader also said that he could not confirm whether the kidnapped ambassador had ever been kept in any tribal area of Pakistan or Afghanistan. He said that they had no information on the identity of the abductors either. (PTI)

Bangladesh explores all funding options for oil import

DHAKA, Apr 21: Bangladesh has sanctioned emergency funds for meeting petroleum imports, while negotiations are on to obtain a foreign loan of USD 200 million as the current fuel stocks in the country were expected to last only a month.

"We now crucially need the loan to import the petroleum," the state-run BSS news agency quoted Finance Adviser Mirza Azizul Islam as saying late yesterday, as officials said they had sought USD 200 million from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for funding petroleum import.

Apart from negotiating with Islamic Development Bank for loans at previously-agreed rate, the government has also provided an emergency fund of Taka 10,000 million (USD 145 million) to the cash-strapped Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) to continue the import of fuel.

Huge amount of import bills have exposed BPC to severe liquidity crisis amid soaring fuel price in the international market.

Energy ministry officials said that the IDB had already signed an agreement for disbursement of USD 200 million with an interest rate of LIBOR (London Inter-Bank Offered Rate) plus 1.75 but recently set a condition that the interest rate could not be below 5.5 per cent.

The IDB apparently fixed the interest rate after the London-based reference rate decreased sharply in the last few months and potential interest rate for the BPC came down to only around 4.3 per cent from around 6.7 per cent it had charged in last year.

IDB provides BPC an annual loan of USD 1.2 billion to USD 1.4 billion.

BPC officials said the current fuel stocks would last another month at the most, forcing the interim government to take loans to fund import of petroleum within the period.

"The standing diesel stock in the country will meet our need for a month, although petrol and octane stocks may last a little longer," BPC Chairman Anwarul Karim said.

The finance adviser said despite the fuel price hike in international market the administration did not have any plan to immediately increase the fuel price as it might have a negative impact on the economy already affected by the devastating flood and cyclone Sidr that hit last year.

"But it appeared to be a matter of concern. In view of the growing international price for how many days government can afford to offer huge subsidies, selling the petroleum at a lesser price and importing it at a higher price," the adviser said.

The country last time re-fixed the oil price in April 2007 when the international price was USD 60 to USD 62 per barrel which now stands at over USD 117 per barrel. (PTI)

Obama, Clinton trade accusations on campaign strategies

PHILADELPHIA, Apr 21: Ahead of crucial Tuesday Democratic primary in Pennsylvania, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have traded accusations relating more to campaigning strategies than policy issues.

A row erupted between the two when Obama remarked that Republican presumptive presidential candidate John McCain will be better than President George Bush but that he and Clinton would be better than McCain.

"You have a real choice in this election. Either Democrat would be better than John McCain," Obama said to cheers from a rowdy crowd in central Pennsylvania.

"And all three of us would be better than George Bush," he added.

The statement did not go well with Clinton who blasted Obama, asserting that the Democrats are looking for a candidate who will take on McCain and not cheer him.

Giving her assessment, Clinton said McCain would follow the failed foreign and economic policies of Bush.

Analysts with access to the party top brass say they too are worried by Obama (rpt) Obama’s remark as it could adversely impact the party presidential campaign after it chooses its own candidate.

Till now, Obama had maintained the position that election of McCain would mean a third term for President Bush as he would continue to follow Bush’s failed policies on Iraq and economy. The calculation of the Obama campaign in changing the line was unclear.

But Clinton pounced upon those remarks which, some analysts say, could undercut his efforts to close the gap between him and Clinton on eve of the primary. (PTI)

Pak test-fires nuclear-capable Shaheen-II missile again

ISLAMABAD, Apr 21: Pakistan today test-fired the Shaheen-II long-range ballistic missile for the second time in three days, which can carry nuclear and conventional warheads and hit targets within India.

The Shaheen-II or Hatf-VI surface-to-surface ballistic missile, which has a range of 2,000 km, was launched for the first time during a field training exercise by the army's Strategic Forces Command, the military said in a statement.

All previous launches of the nuclear-capable missile had been conducted by defence scientists and engineers.

Pakistan Navy chief Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir witnessed today's launch along with senior military officials. The statement did not say where the launch was conducted.

The Shaheen-II is Pakistan's longest range ballistic missile. It is a two-stage solid fuel missile that can carry nuclear and conventional warheads with high accuracy.

The last launch of the missile on Saturday was "part of the process of validation and technical improvements to consolidate and verify various land-based strategic missile systems".

The Shaheen-II was first tested in 2004. Pakistan conducted a series of missile tests between December last year and February in the run-up to the general election that was swept by President Pervez Musharraf's opponents in the Pakistan People's Party and PML-N. (PTI)

Strange things happen when moon gets lashing from Earth's tail

NEW YORK, Apr 21: Behold the full moon. Ancient craters and frozen lava seas lie motionless under an airless sky of profound quiet. Nothing seems to happen there, right?

Wrong, for scientists in the United States have found evidence which they claim indicates that something actually happens every month when the moon gets a lashing from Earth's magnetic tail, the NASA said.

"Earth's magnetotail extends well beyond the orbit of the moon and, once a month, the moon orbits through it. This can have consequences ranging from lunar dust storms to electrostatic discharges.

"Anyone can tell when moon is inside the magnetotail. If the moon is full, it is inside the magnetotail. The moon enters the magnetotail three days before it is full and takes about six days to cross and exit on the other side," according to scientist Tim Stubbs of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre.

In fact, it is during those six days that strange things can happen. During the crossing, the moon comes in contact with a gigantic plasma sheet of hot charged particles trapped in the tail. The lightest of the particles, electrons, pepper the moon's surface and give the moon a negative charge.

On the moon's dayside, this effect is counteracted to a degree by sunlight -- UV photons knock electrons back off the surface, keeping the build-up of charge at relatively low levels. But on the nightside, electrons accumulate and surface voltages can climb to thousands of volts.

"It is important to note that the plasma sheet (where all the electrons come from) is a very dynamic structure. The plasma sheet is in a constant state of motion, flapping up and down all the time. So as the moon orbits through magnetotail, the plasma sheet can sweep across it many times.

"Depending on how dynamic things are, we can encounter the plasma sheet many times during a single pass through the magnetotail with encounters lasting anywhere from minutes to hours or even days.

"As a result, you can imagine how dynamic the charging environment on the moon is. The moon can be just sitting there in a quiet region of the magnetotail and then suddenly all this hot plasma goes sweeping by causing nightside potential to spike to a kilovolt. Then it drops back again just as quickly," co-scientist Jasper Halekas said.

The roller coaster of charge would be at its most dizzying during solar and geomagnetic storms. "That is a very dynamic time for the plasma sheet and we need to study what happens then," he said. (PTI)

Men drivers 'behave like cavemen on roads

LONDON, Apr 21: Ever wondered why most men show more aggressiveness while driving than the fair sex? Well, a study has uncovered the reasons for their different behaviour -- males are cavemen on roads.

Prof Geoffrey Beattie of Manchester University has found that the way in which men and women drive is actually a legacy of their primitive past, British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported today.

According to Prof Beattie, "Our 21st-century skulls contain essentially 'stone-age' brains and this can help to explain the differences between the sexes in terms of their risk-proneness while driving.

"Stone-age man did not drive. But the legacy of his hunting, aggressive and risk-taking past -- qualities that enabled him to survive and mate, thereby passing on his genes to future generations -- are still evident in the way in which he typically drives his car."

Prof Beattie conducted the research at the behest of a leading insurance company in Britain, in a bid to explain why its accident records varied dramatically.

Unfortunately the skills needed to survive in primitive times are not best-suited for the motor car, and male drivers show significantly higher levels of rash driving as well as rule breaking.

However, women have a greater frequency of accidents at bends -- because they are more prone to errors of judgement and perception, the study found. (PTI)

HRW slams Saudi Arabia for discriminating against women

NEW YORK, Apr 21: Criticising the "male guardianship of women" and policies of "sex-segregation" followed in Saudi Arabia, an international human rights watchdog has said women in the Gulf nation were being treated as "legal minors".

"Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship of women and policies of sex segregation stop women from enjoying their basic rights," Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

It asked the Saudi Government to end all discrimination and enable women to enjoy legal rights guaranteed under international and even Islamic law.

The 50-page document, "Perpetual Minors: Human Rights Abuses Stemming from Male Guardianship and Sex Segregation in Saudi Arabia," draws on more than 100 interviews with Saudi women to document the effects of discriminatory policies.

"The Saudi Government sacrifices basic human rights to maintain male control over women," said Farida Deif, women’s rights researcher for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch.

Saudi women often must obtain permission from a guardian (a father, husban, or even a son) to work, travel, study, marry, or even access health care.

The authorities, the report said, essentially treat adult women like legal minors who are not entitled to authority over their lives and well-being.

Women are similarly denied the legal right to make even trivial decisions for their children. They cannot open bank accounts for children, enroll them in school, obtain school files, or travel with their children without written permission from the child’s father.

Women in the country, said the report, are prevented from accessing Government agencies that do not have established female sections unless they have a male representative.

"Male guardianship over adult women also contributes to their risk of confronting family violence, making it difficult for survivors of violence to avail themselves of protection or redress," it said. (PTI)

James Bond's car crashes into Italy's Lake Garda

LONDON, Apr 21: It's a big blow to Bond! The Aston Martin sportscar to be used in the next James Bond flick has plunged into Italy's Lake Garda. Worse, it's the only one available for use in the film.

The 120,000-pounds iconic car crashed into the lake when a stunt driver, who was delivering it to the film scene of 007's latest movie, Quantum of Solace, lost control while negotiating one of Garda's narrow curves in heavy rains.

"Around 6.30 AM (on April 19) under a heavy shower, the car came off the road and ended up in the lake. The driver was slightly hurt and is expected to be released from hospital shortly," the British media quoted the Executive Producer of the movie, Anthony Waye, as saying.

Later, the smashed iconic car was winched out of the Italian lake, he said.

The newest movie in the long-running 007 franchise is to be released in November this year. Filming for the movie starring Daniel Craig as the latest Bond, has already taken the crew to England, Panama, Chile and Mexico. (PTI)

The ‘she factor’ in Bhutan’s tourism sector..

THIMPHU, Apr 21: Bhutan is opening up slowly to the modern world in a fine balance with its traditions and its women are contributing in their own way to make the country one of the most sought-after travel destinations.

Kesang Chedon, a mother of three boys, drives a taxi. It is not that she is the family’s sole bread earner. Her husband works in a government factory.

Two of Kesang’s sons study in India. And the third is planning to join their brothers this year.

"The tourist season (usually November-April) is really hectic. Most of the foreigners need vehicles due to Bhutan’s terrain," she says.

"It’s mostly out to work in the mornings and back in the night. The earnings depend on the route taken." In a patriarchal society that is predominantly Buddhist, Kesang’s feat is all the more adorable because she does not let her passion of driving affect her family life.

"I always make it a point to give as much time to my family," she says, adding he misses her two sons.

For Tshering of Tashi Delek Handicraft in Norzin Lam Street here, the tourist season brings in profit.

In her shop, one can find articles ranging from prayer wheels and flags to incense sticks and antic swords.

"The tourist season normally bring us good returns. Foreigners love ethnic items," she says.

According to Tshering, Indians are normally charged less.

"We have two sets of prices. One for tourists and another for Indians," she says, adding Indians are treated more like neighbours than tourists.

"We charge from Indians what we normally take from the local people," she claims.

In Hotel Jumolhari, which describes itself as a boutique hotel, the staff mostly consists of women.

"Our shift ends at 10 pm," says Karma. She stays at a place that takes wo days to travel from here.

"I could not go home during the (March 24) elections as in that case I had to take at least a week’s leave. So all the staff who have their homes in faraway places opted for postal voting," she says.

According to official records, over 30,000 foreign tourists visited Bhutan last year.

"This does not include the Tata Sumo tourists from India," a tourism department official says.

Indian travellers from bordering states of Assam and West Bengal frequently visit the Himalayan country for picnics and sightseeing hiring Tata Sumos.

The country, with a population of under 750,000, is slowly easing up the rules for foreign tourists.

Earlier, not many tourists were allowed to visit the country annually. Foreigners had to go to Bhutan through sponsored tours that cost almost USD 200 a day.

But tourism officials say these are gradually being relaxed to attract people to have a "unique, deeply spiritual and mystical experience". (PTI)

The ‘she factor’ in Bhutan’s tourism sector

THIMPHU, Apr 21: Bhutan is opening up slowly to the modern world in a fine balance with its traditions and its women are contributing in their own way to make the country one of the most sought-after travel destinations.

Kesang Chedon, a mother of three boys, drives a taxi. It is not that she is the family’s sole bread earner. Her husband works in a government factory.

Two of Kesang’s sons study in India. And the third is planning to join their brothers this year.

"The tourist season (usually November-April) is really hectic. Most of the foreigners need vehicles due to Bhutan’s terrain," she says.

"It’s mostly out to work in the mornings and back in the night. The earnings depend on the route taken." In a patriarchal society that is predominantly Buddhist, Kesang’s feat is all the more adorable because she does not let her passion of driving affect her family life.

"I always make it a point to give as much time to my family," she says, adding he misses her two sons.

For Tshering of Tashi Delek Handicraft in Norzin Lam Street here, the tourist season brings in profit.

In her shop, one can find articles ranging from prayer wheels and flags to incense sticks and antic swords.

"The tourist season normally bring us good returns. Foreigners love ethnic items," she says.

According to Tshering, Indians are normally charged less.

"We have two sets of prices. One for tourists and another for Indians," she says, adding Indians are treated more like neighbours than tourists.

"We charge from Indians what we normally take from the local people," she claims.

In Hotel Jumolhari, which describes itself as a boutique hotel, the staff mostly consists of women.

"Our shift ends at 10 pm," says Karma. She stays at a place that takes two days to travel from here.

"I could not go home during the (March 24) elections as in that case I had to take at least a week’s leave. So all the staff who have their homes in faraway places opted for postal voting," she says.

According to official records, over 30,000 foreign tourists visited Bhutan last year.

"This does not include the Tata Sumo tourists from India," a tourism department official says.

Indian travellers from bordering states of Assam and West Bengal frequently visit the Himalayan country for picnics and sightseeing hiring Tata Sumos.

The country, with a population of under 750,000, is slowly easing up the rules for foreign tourists.

Earlier, not many tourists were allowed to visit the country annually. Foreigners had to go to Bhutan through sponsored tours that cost almost USD 200 a day.

But tourism officials say these are gradually being relaxed to attract people to have a "unique, deeply spiritual and mystical experience". (PTI)

Now, an IVF treatment that could fit into women’s lunch break

LONDON, Apr 21: Scientists are developing a new fertility treatment which they claim would allow women to have a simpler and cheaper form of IVF-a method that could fit into their lunch break.

According to them, the Invocell device is designed to enable IVF to be performed without complex lab equipment and it would also make the whole procedure faster, more convenient and less expensive, ‘The Times’ reported today.

"You don’t need a complex IVF centre, a lab, lots of equipment. You can perform this procedure in an office," lead scientist Claude Ranoux of Massachusetts-based BioXcell, which is planning to launch the device in Britain this year, said.

In standard IVF, eggs are fertilised with sperm outside the body, and any resulting embryos are then left to develop in culture for three to five days before the best ones are transferred to the womb.

But, according to him, the Invocell device is a sealed capsule that allows fertilisation to take place inside the body, in the vaginal cavity.

The procedure-a woman would first be given mild drugs to stimulate her ovaries, and then eggs would be removed from them while she is under sedation. Up to seven eggs are then put into the Invocell capsule, along with washed sperm. The capsule is then placed inside the vagina. (PTI)