Bush signs economic stimulus package

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: Seeking to give a "booster shot" to the ailing US economy, President George W Bush has signed a legislation that will put more than USD 152 billion into the pockets Americans.

Under the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, rebate cheques to more than 130 million taxpayers and low-income groups will go out beginning May, and businesses would get tax breaks for investing in new plants and equipment.

"I know a lot of Americans are concerned about our economic future. Our overall economy has grown for six straight years -- but that growth has clearly slowed," Bush said yesterday.

Showing bipartisanship in the face of a looming recession, the Democratic-controlled Congress swiftly approved the measure within weeks.

And Bush said the bill proved "we could come together to provide a booster shot for our economy -- a package that is robust, temporary, and puts money back into the hands of American workers and businesses."

"Helping our economy requires us to take action, it is equally important that we not overreact. Our economic success is not the result of the wisdom of politicians in Washington, D.C. -- but of the collective wisdom of the American people," Bush said during a signing ceremony at the White House.

The president said that over the past seven years, the economy had absorbed shocks such as recession, corporate scandals, terrorist attacks, global war, and it was capable of emerging "even stronger". (PTI)

Music on the net: Groundbreaking software developed

NEW YORK, Feb 14: You like a certain song and want to hear other tracks like it, but don't know how to find them? Well, don't fret. Ending the needle-in-a-haystack problem of searching for music on the Internet is a new audio software.

A team of international researchers developed the groundbreaking audio software that could help music lovers jump to the hidden beats the new Mpeg-7 specification will automatically extract and classify audio signals.

According to the researchers, such metadata, as it is called, can be used to tag audio files so they can be more accurately picked up by search engines equipped to handle this kind of information.

"Such software would be useful not only for delivering a new generation of musical instruments, but also for designing special effects for cinema and TV, or for the management of databases in specific applications, such as sounds of animals, engines and boats," lead researcher Vinet said.

Vinet, who is scientific director at the Paris-based Institute for Music/Acoustic Research and Coordination (IRCAM), was part of the team that included researchers from universities in Spain and Israel, along with companies such as Oracle and Sony. The EU-funded project was called Cuidado.

The packages they developed consisting of a music browser, an online sound palette and sound authoring software

Can analyse and index sound according to the digital patterns displayed by each particular song.

To do this, the researchers developed a number of techniques for capturing specific qualities from audio files, such as timbre, energy and rhythm. This system goes far beyond the methods used online by the music industry. (PTI)

Iran tests advanced centrifuges with gas-diplomats

VIENNA, Feb 14: Iran has introduced small amounts of uranium gas into advanced centrifuges it is testing at its main nuclear complex, diplomats said, in a further step towards gaining the means to develop atom bombs if it chooses.

A European Union diplomat said the move was a ''stunning rejection'' of repeated UN Security Council demands that Iran suspend sensitive nuclear activity, and could hasten passage of broader sanctions drafted by six world powers.

Iran says it wants to enrich uranium only to produce electricity so that it can export more oil. But it is under sanctions for hiding the programme until 2003, preventing UN inspectors since then from verifying it is wholly peaceful, and refusing to suspend it.

Diplomats familiar with UN nuclear watchdog inspections disclosed last week that Iran had begun ''dry runs'', without nuclear material, of a more efficient, durable centrifuge to replace an erratic old model it now uses to enrich uranium.

They said Iran had now begun test-feeding token quantities of uranium ''UF6'' gas into a few of the ''new generation'' centrifuges in the pilot wing of the Natanz enrichment complex. No further details were immediately available.

International Atomic Energy Agency officials had no comment, saying details would come in a report IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei will deliver to the Vienna-based agency's 35-nation Board of Governors and the UN Security Council next week.

The ''IR-2'' centrifuge, an adaptation of a Pakistani model whose design Iran obtained in the 1990s from the A Q Khan nuclear smuggling network, could refine uranium 2-3 times as fast as the antiquated model Iran has used to date.

START-UP DIFFICULTIES

Tehran's quest to produce usable amounts of nuclear fuel has been hampered by problems getting its existing ''P-1'' line of centrifuges to spin nonstop at maximum speed. Iran had 3,000 P-1s working by November, a basis for launching industrial-scale enrichment, but only at an estimated 10 per cent of capacity.

Three thousand P-1s could yield enough highly enriched uranium for one bomb in about a year if run at full capacity, but it would take only 1,200 of the IR2s to do so, US nuclear analyst David Albright said in a commentary last week.

Diplomats tracking the IAEA's Iran file said last week that Iran had decided to install no more P-1s in Natanz's vast underground production hall and to expand capacity using only their more advanced successor.

Iran revealed in 2006 that it was developing supposedly state-of-the-art centrifuges at workshops put off-limits to IAEA inspectors in retaliation for steps by Western powers to impose initial sanctions on Tehran.

The IAEA got a first, one-off look at the advanced centrifuge effort when Iran allowed ElBaradei to visit a workshop in Tehran last month in a gesture of transparency, diplomats close to the Vienna-based UN watchdog said.

A US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) said in December that Iran stopped trying to devise a nuclear warhead in 2003, shortly after Iranian exiles exposed secret enrichment activity.

But the NIE also said Iran would gradually acquire the latent ability to assemble nuclear weapons through its considerable expansion of enrichment infrastructure since then. (AGENCIES)

Germany may increase Afghanistan troops:Paper

BERLIN, Feb 14: Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition plans to discuss raising the upper limit on the number of troops Germany can send to Afghanistan under its parliamentary mandate, a paper reported today.

The Frankfurter Rundschau cited unnamed coalition sources as saying an increase of at least 500 troops was expected and that Germany's parliamentary mandate would definitely be changed.

The existing mandate, which expires in mid-October allows Germany to send up to 3,500 soldiers to Afghanistan.

The paper said a meeting to discuss the increase would include senior figures in Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD), with whom she shares power.

The paper gave no further details.

Germany is under mounting pressure from its NATO allies to boost the number of soldiers it has in Afghanistan and to send them to the more dangerous southern part of the country.

The government denied a magazine report at the weekend which said it was planning to expand the number of soldiers it could send to Afghanistan by 1,000 to 4,500 and broaden their base of operations from the north to the west.

The mission is unpopular among most Germans. (AGENCIES)

Rice hopes UN resolution on Iran will pass soon

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped the United Nations would vote within weeks to slap more sanctions on Iran and she urged allies to be more aggressive in punishing Tehran.

Foreign ministers from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, agreed last month on the draft of a new sanctions resolution against Iran over its nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at building an atomic bomb and Tehran says is for power generation.

That draft is now being circulated among the other members of the 15-nation UN Security Council, but countries like South Africa and Libya are balking at the new resolution and would like to wait.

''I would hope that within a few weeks, at least, we would be able to get a vote, an affirmative vote,'' Rice told the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday.

Washington had wanted the resolution passed at the latest before mid-March parliamentary elections in Iran.

The United States had been pushing for a tougher third round of sanctions against Iran, but gave in to Russian and Chinese objections and finally agreed to a watered-down version of the original draft, which targeted more Iranian banks.

''They are not as strong as the United States would have liked, but they have the effect of reminding Iran that it is isolated from the international community,'' Rice said.

She pointed to a new provision in the latest resolution that demanded the inspection of Iranian cargo as well as additional asset freezes on some Iranians.

''Again, it is not as strong as we would want, but it opens a new direction, which would be very important,'' she added.

Rice urged US allies to take their own unilateral punitive measures outside of the UN Security Council, pointing to US sanctions that have targeted the finances of key Iranian officials involved in the nuclear program.

''We are going after the finances and we are going to keep going after their finances. We want our friends around the world to be more aggressive on that side,'' she said.

But international appetite to punish Iran further for its nuclear program lost some momentum after a US National Intelligence Estimate, or NIE, last December found that Iran had halted its weapons program in 2003.

Rice conceded the intelligence report caused people to ''relax a little too much.''

''But that should never have been the reading of the NIE because the piece of this that is really dangerous is the enrichment and reprocessing activity and we have gotten people gathered again around that recognition.'' (AGENCIES)

Bush expands US sanctions on Syria officials

WASHINGTON, Feb 14: US President George W Bush ordered expanded financial sanctions against senior Syrian officials and their associates in his latest bid to step up pressure on Damascus.

The measures are intended to freeze US assets of those believed responsible for actions that ''undermine efforts to stabilize Iraq'' or have benefited from public corruption in Syria, the White House said.

Bush also reasserted US accusations that Syria was meddling in neighboring Lebanon and fomenting problems for Beirut's pro-Western government.

''I wish to emphasize ... My ongoing concern over the destabilizing role Syria continues to play in Lebanon, including its efforts to obstruct, through intimidation and violence, Lebanon's democratic processes,'' Bush said in a statement yesterday.

Damascus has repeatedly denied the allegations by Washington, which has long tried to isolate Syria diplomatically.

Syrian forces ended a 29-year presence in Lebanon under international pressure after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik al-Hariri, but the United States says Syria has continued to interfere in Lebanon.

Washington imposed economic sanctions on Syria in 2004, mainly over its support for the Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. It has since blacklisted several Syrian officials.

The US Treasury Department in November imposed sanctions against four people it said were linked to Syrian efforts to undermine Lebanon's sovereignty, including a general dealing with security and a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Damascus dismissed those US measures as ''pitiful.''

Bush's latest order expanding sanctions on Syrian officials and their associates did not name names. The White House said the list was still being finalized.

US commanders have acknowledged that Syria has stepped up efforts to restrict the flow of militants across its border into Iraq, where U.S. Forces are nearing the five-year mark since an invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

But US officials say Damascus must take further action.

''While the Syrian Government has taken some steps against terrorists aimed at ensuring Syria's internal stability, Syria remains the primary route for terrorists crossing into Iraq,'' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

''There are many verifiable actions Syria could take in this regard -- such as strengthening its visa requirements -- that would demonstrate a willingness to assist the efforts of the Iraqi government and the international community to stabilize Iraq,'' he added.

(AGENCIES)

Iran sanctions draft to be revised:Britain

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 14: Key world powers will revise a draft resolution on new sanctions against Iran over its atomic program and call a vote after a UN nuclear report on Iran is issued, Britain's UN envoy said.

Washington had been pushing for a swift vote on the third sanctions resolution against Iran.

But South Africa and other elected members of the UN Security Council have been pressing the five permanent council members -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- to wait for a new progress report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran due next week.

The permanent members met with the 10 elected members to discuss the resolution. After the meeting, Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, John Sawers, was asked when a vote on the resolution could be expected.

''I don't think this resolution's going to be adopted before the IAEA report comes out,'' Sawers told reporters yesterday. The IAEA report is expected to be released around February 20-22.

''We received various views on the text that we circulated,'' he said, referring to a draft sanctions resolution obtained in full by Reuters. ''We're going to incorporate the views into a revised text next week and introduce it next week.''

Western countries say the Vienna-based IAEA's investigation of Iran's past nuclear activities is important but has little relevance to the future of Tehran's atomic program, which they fear may one day be used to make nuclear weapons.

They say Iran's refusal to comply with Security Council demands that it stop enriching uranium supports their suspicion that Tehran is seeking atomic weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and enrichment a sovereign right.

South Africa and other members of the Non-Aligned Movement insist that the IAEA's investigation is relevant and want the council to wait until it has as much information as possible.

South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo repeated this view after the meeting and was backed by Panamanian Ambassador Ricardo Alberto Arias, currently Security Council president.

''We have to wait for the report of the IAEA because it's a factor to have to consider in this, it's not the only factor but it's a factor to consider,'' Arias told reporters.

OBJECTIONS

The draft resolution calls for asset freezes and mandatory travel bans for specific Iranian officials and vigilance on all banks in Iran. It also repeats the council's demand that Iran halt nuclear enrichment activity.

It was not clear what parts of the draft would be revised. South Africa has objected to a section urging states to inspect suspicious cargo to and from Iran transported by the firms Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line.

Libyan Ambassador Giadalla Ettalhi told reporters he had reservations about the draft but gave no details. Diplomats say Tripoli, which until recently was itself the target of U.N. sanctions, opposes the idea of sanctions in general.

Washington had hoped that the vote could come before the IAEA report, which diplomats say will announce that the agency has resolved most outstanding questions about Iran's past nuclear activity.

But US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed more modest expectations on Wednesday.

''I would hope that within a few weeks, at least, we would be able to get a vote, an affirmative vote,'' Rice told the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. (AGENCIES)

Number of homeowners in England drops in 2007:Ssurvey

LONDON, Feb 14: The number of homeowners in England fell by a record 83,000 last year while the number of households in rented accommodation shot up by 107,000, a survey by Britain's biggest mortgage lender showed.

The figures from HBOS Plc's Halifax suggest affordability constraints and fears of house price falls are deterring people from stepping on to the property ladder.

House prices in Britain have trebled over the last decade but have recently begun to slip in many areas.

''The fall in the total number of owner-occupied households in England in 2007 largely reflects the increasing affordability difficulties faced by many potential purchasers as a result of the rapid rise in house prices in recent years,'' said Martin Ellis yestrday, chief economist of Halifax.

He noted affordability issues were most pronounced amongst young people and in southern parts of England, where price-to-income ratios are most stretched.

The rate of owner-occupancy dropped during 2007 to 69.8 percent from 70.3 per cent in 2006 -- the lowest rate since 1998, the survey showed.

The rate was lowest among 16 to 24 year-olds, at just 18 per cent.

(AGENCIES)

Woman's Internet sex auction sparks paternity row

BERLIN, Feb 14: A woman in Germany who became pregnant after an online sex auction has won a court battle to force the Web site that hosted the sale to reveal the names of the winners, so she can find out who's the father.

Six different men won Internet auctions to have sex with the woman in April and May last year. They were only known to her by their online names, a spokesman for a court in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said yesterday.

''The woman wanted to discover which one of the men had made her pregnant,'' the spokesman said. ''So she needed their contact details. Of course, if they're not willing to go along with the gene test, she'll have to take them to court.''

The woman asked the site's operator to reveal the true identity of the men, but it refused, citing a confidentiality clause in its terms and conditions.

The court ruled in her favour, saying the child's right to know who its father was took precedence.

The court declined to give the woman's age and nationality. (AGENCIES)

Darfuris happy with new UN-AU force

ARDAMATA CAMP, SUDAN, Feb 14: Dusty Darfuri children dashed after the UN and African Union vehicles laughing and copying new Philippino police who gave good-natured peace signs.

''They used to throw stones at us,'' said one former African Union officers who was on patrol.

The joint peacekeeping force took over from a struggling African Union mission on December 31 and the verdict from thousands of Darfuris is they are doing a good job with more interaction, day and night patrols and a new vigour about their work.

While they are far short of the 26,000 police and troops eventually due to deploy in the world's largest UN-funded peacekeeping operation, the change has been received well.

''Before we would see the cars moving but would never meet them (the AU),'' said Ardamata camp spokeswoman Mariam Abdullahi Bakhiet. ''There is a big difference and they help us out a lot.''

She said new night patrols from the UN force had stopped militia, locally called Janjaweed, from coming into camps like Ardamata in West Darfur at night and shooting or beating people.

''They (the UN-AU patrol) sometimes come at night and they (the Janjaweed) are afraid of them and don't come,'' she said.

The Philippines have sent 42 new civilian police to the mission who on Wednesday went on their first patrol into the camps. Bangladeshi police have also been deployed.

They received a warning from the officer in charge to ensure they have an exit strategy during patrols as camp residents may mistake them for Chinese engineers, who many reject as they view Beijing as supporting Khartoum's counter-insurgency campaign.

While they looked slightly concerned, they still threw themselves into the task with fervour, waving at everyone they passed in the car and greeting everyone in the dirt streets.

PEACE SIGNS

Instead of the thumbs-up and ''okay'' which aid workers from the world's largest humanitarian operation taught children in the camps, the Philippinos taught them the ''peace'' sign.

The AU was viewed with suspicion by many Darfuris as they mediated a 2006 peace deal which most people rejected. That coupled with its inability to stem attacks on civilians pushed frustrated people to burn AU bases in several camps.

But many in the new joint force, called UNAMID, voiced concerns about high expectations Darfuris had that they could protect them. Since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing government of neglect, 2.5 million have been driven from their homes and experts estimate 200,000 have died.

The force's composition is still only at 9,000 strength and is almost entirely the old AU mission with new blue caps. But UN systems are being put into place and there is a revived energy around the camps of soldiers under new leadership.

''The people here have a very high expectation for UNAMID even though it is just one month and two weeks old,'' said UNAMID Ardamata Camp Coordinator Dembo Trawally. He used to work for the African Union but has now changed his hat to a blue beret.

He said Darfuris were happy when the AU was taken over but warned until armed police units came they would not be able to fully protect the people at night when most attacks happen.

''Once the formed police units are on the ground then we will not only patrol but we will live with the IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) in their localities with protection,'' he said. The mission would then have a 24-hour presence.

Deployment of the hybrid force has been long and arduous. It took months of persuasion, threats and talks for Khartoum to accept a compromise joint peacekeeping force.

Then discussion continued over its operational rules and how many African troops could be part of the force. On Saturday Khartoum finally signed off on the force's operational rules and additional forces hope to begin to deploy next month. (AGENCIES)

Oldest bat hunted without sonar

LONDON, Feb 14: The most primitive bat found to date lived around 52 million years ago, but did not have the ability to echolocate-- hunting and navigating using sonar-- a unique feature shared by its modern counterparts.

For long, scientists have debated on the issue whether bats learnt to fly first or echolocate first. But, according to new findings published in journal Nature, evidence from the fossils of Onychonycteris finneyi species suggest that bats learnt to fly first and develop the feature of echolocating later to navigate in darkness. The fossil was unearthed in the US state of Wyoming in 2003.

''The three main theories have been that they developed the two abilities together, that flight came first, or that sonar came first. Based on the specimen described in this paper, we were able to determine that this particular animal was not capable of echolocating, which then suggests that bats flew before they developed their echolocation ability,'' said one of the researchers Dr Gregg Gunnell from the University of Michigan.

''It's clearly a bat, but unlike any previously known. In many respects it is a missing link between bats and their non-flying ancestors,'' lead author Dr Nancy Simmons of the American Museum of Natural History said.

Onychonycteris has several surprising features. Crucially, its skull lacks features in and around the ear seen in bats that use echolocation to navigate and hunt.

The primitive bat had claws on all five of its fingers, whereas modern bats have, at most, claws on only two digits of each hand. The limb proportions are also different from all other bats-- the hind legs are longer and the forearm shorter-- and more similar to those of climbing mammals that hang under branches, such as sloths and gibbons, the Daily Telegraph reported.

It had short, broad wings, which suggest that it probably could not fly as far or as fast as most bats that came after it. Instead of flapping its wings continuously while flying it may have alternated flapping and gliding while in the air. Onychonycteris's teeth indicate that its diet consisted primarily of insects, just like that of most living bats.

(UNI)

Russian businessman pays top price for rare violin

LONDON, Feb 14: A Russian businessman paid a record price for an 18th century violin that had not been played in public for more than 70 years.

Maxim Viktorov, who bought the instrument by master violin maker Guiseppe Guarneri, paid ''well in excess'' of the previous world auction record for a musical instrument of 3.54 million dollars, auction house Sotheby's said yesterday.

It said Viktorov bought the violin privately, and did not disclose the price.

Viktorov promised that the instrument, dating from 1741 and at one stage owned for 15 years by Belgian composer Henri Vieuxtemps, would now be played regularly in public.

Violinist Chloe Hanslip gave reporters a brief demonstration of its qualities by playing Paganini's 24th Caprice after the sale was concluded.

''Its first concert appearance in Moscow will be on March 22, in the Grand Hall of Moscow State Conservatory,'' Viktorov said in a statement.

''The great virtuoso Pinchas Zukerman will perform concertos of J S Bach, M. Bruch and W.A. Mozart. I hope it will be as inspirational to the artists who play it as it was to its first owner, Vieuxtemps, who composed real masterpieces on it,'' he said.

Instruments by Guarneri, also known as del Gesu, are considered to be on a par with those of the more famous Antonio Stradivari, a contemporary.

The 3.54 million dollars auction record for a musical instrument was paid at Christie's in New York in May 2006 for Stradivari's 1708 ''Hammer'' violin.

The auction record for a Guarneri violin is 572,000 pounds paid for the 1743 ''Baron Heath'' at Sotheby's in London in 1988. (AGENCIES)

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