'Zardari resisted pressure from Mush, US to go with PML-N

ISLAMABAD, Feb 22: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari overcame pressure and enticement from President Pervez Musharraf's camp and the US to not align with former premier Nawaz Sharif's party, to form a coalition Government with the PML-N, a media report said here today.

Zardari, who yesterday announced along with Sharif that their parties would form a coalition, was offered Governments at the centre and at least three of the four provinces if he distanced himself from the PML-N and allied with the PML-Q and other pro-Musharraf forces.

However, Zardari told members of the President's camp who approached him that he did not consider the PML-Q "a political entity", The News reported today.

Despite reservations of some PPP leaders from Punjab on the issue of aligning with the PML-N, Zardari endorsed the idea of forging a coalition with Sharif's outfit and the Awami National Party.

Zardari also expressed confidence that the PPP and PML-N the two most popular parties would sort out all issues to make a workable coalition both at the centre and in the provinces.

PPP, which has emerged as the single largest party with 88 seats and Sharif's PML-N together have 153 seats with votes counted in 258 out of 272 constituences.

Though Zardari did not talk of pressures from the US at his joint news conference with Sharif yesterday, PPP sources confirmed that the Americans had "brought tremendous pressure on the PPP co-chairperson to make a coalition Government with the likes of the PML-Q and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) but not with the PML-N".

Zardari yesterday ruled out working with the PML-Q but said he wanted to include the MQM in a national consensus Government. (PTI)

Poll rival Makoni a "prostitute"Zimbabwe's Mugabe

HARARE, Feb 22: Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe derided a former ally now challenging him in general elections as a prostitute, and said he would win next month's polls by a landslide and humble the opposition.

Former Finance Minister Simba Makoni was expelled from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF last week after registering to run as an independent in March 29 presidential, parliamentary and council elections.

''What has happened now is absolutely disgraceful. I didn't think that Makoni, after all this experience, would behave like this,'' Mugabe said in an interview broadcast on state television late yesterday to mark his 84th birthday.

''I compared him to a prostitute. A prostitute could have done better than Makoni, because she has clients. Don't you think so?'' said Mugabe.

In his hour-long interview, a relaxed-looking Mugabe also suggested some party officials had lacked the courage to openly express their views within the party.

The remarks were the veteran leader's first public comment on the break with Makoni, a reform-minded technocrat who has long been touted as a possible successor to Mugabe.

Makoni says he is backed by top officials in the ruling party and analysts say he could pose a strong challenge to Mugabe.

On becoming finance minister in 2000, Makoni pledged tighter fiscal discipline to restore relations with donors and he has suggested engaging with Western powers to ease Zimbabwe's economic hardship.

Mugabe has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980 but critics say his economic mismanagement, and contested policies such as seizures of white-owned farms, have ruined the economy.

Annual inflation has surged to over 100,000 percent, the official statistics office said on Wednesday, but Mugabe says the economy has been sabotaged by Western sanctions imposed to punish his land reforms.

The president, who denies opposition charges of rigging past elections, also said he would continue with his anti-British message during the election campaign until London ended what he said were plots for regime change in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe accused the West of funding the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in an effort to topple him and predicted a resounding defeat of the MDC.

He said there would be none of the post-election violence witnessed in Kenya after disputed December general elections there, because there were no ethnic tensions in Zimbabwe.

The government would continue to pursue its programme to transfer majority ownership in mines to locals and focus on full economic recovery after the polls, Mugabe added. (AGENCIES)

This year Oscar is in love -- with a rat

LOS ANGELES, Feb 22: When the producers of ''Ratatouille'' started making their movie, they wondered who in their right mind would pay to see an animated tale about a rat cooking in a high-class French restaurant.

''We are still wondering,'' said producer Brad Lewis, despite the fact that the Disney/Pixar film has grossed 620 million dollar at worldwide box offices and is widely expected to win Sunday's Oscar for 2007's best animated film.

Academy Award pundit Tom O'Neil calls the movie, ''the big cheese in the contest. It has the highest critics' ranking of any film this year -- 93 percent of critics liked it and it should have been nominated for best picture.''

Only one animated film has been nominated for best film, 1991's ''Beauty and the Beast,'' and it lost.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences created a separate category for the world's top film honors to single out full-length cartoon movies starting with nominees for 2001.

While ''Ratatouille'' is the front-runner for this year's Oscar, it has stiff competition from ''Persepolis,'' a French film about a schoolgirl's rebellion against the repression of women in Islamic Iran, and ''Surf's Up'' about surfing penguins.

All three have won critical respect and praise from fellow animators. French officials liked ''Persepolis'' so much they made it the country's candidate for best foreign language film, but it failed to be nominated in that category and wound up as a rare foreign language entry in animation.

A BIRD AND A RAT

''Ratatouille'' producer Lewis credited the success of the film to director Brad Bird, the Oscar-winning animator for ''The Incredibles,'' who was implored by Disney/Pixar to take over a project that was spinning out of control.

Lewis said that when Bird stepped in, ''It wasn't that the film was going nowhere, but that it was going everywhere at once. Brad came in and gave it focus.''

''Ratatouille'' is the latest in a long line of Disney/Pixar <DIS.N> animated hits that includes two ''Toy Story'' movies, ''Finding Nemo'' and ''Cars.'' Many critics believe this newest movie is the best so far.

Maxim film critic Pete Hammond said Bird has a great talent for humanizing his subjects, especially in the case of the hero in ''Ratatouille,'' a rat named Remy who has a knack for preparing fine cuisine and a dream of being a great chef.

''There is something relatable about someone following a dream when he doesn't have a chance, an outsider who knows he is talented and is just looking for a way in,'' Hammond said.

''Even in our Presidential race, where either a woman or an African American is about to win a major party nomination -- just like a rat running a French restaurant -- who would ever have thought that would happen?'' Hammond added.

Despite his four legs, furry body and long tail, Remy is about as human as a rat can be, and he befriends another dreamer -- this one human -- the garbage boy in the restaurant of a once famous chef, Auguste Gusteau.

Together, the pair of unlikely kitchen mates create the best restaurant in Paris. While their journey is not without its perils, eventually the two learn lessons about friendship. (AGENCIES)

US sues two for making tax millions "disappear

KANSAS CITY, Feb 22: The US Government filed lawsuits against two Missouri men accusing them of helping wealthy business owners across the United States avoid paying taxes in actions that cost the Government ''hundreds of millions of dollars.''

Justice Department attorneys said in the complaint yesterday that lawyer A Blair Stover Jr and accountant Allen Davison promoted numerous tax-fraud schemes, including setting up sham companies and helping customers improperly make use of Roth Individual Retirement Accounts to avoid taxes.

Davison, a tax advisor and attorney, was known as ''Dr Poof'' for his ability to make tax liabilities for customers ''disappear,'' according to the government complaint.

He worked in partnership, the Government alleged, with Stover, a 46-year-old Kansas City attorney.

The government is asking for the two to be permanently barred from giving tax advice or representing customers before the Internal Revenue Service.

Neither man could be reached for comment but Davison is currently defending his practices to the IRS on behalf of customers in cases in U.S. Tax Court, the Justice Department said.

The government alleged that since the mid 1990s, the two men have developed a nationwide customer base of wealthy business owners and business operators in the real estate, engineering and automotive sales industries. The two have a particularly large clientele in the Midwest, the government said.

According to one of the complaints, a Kansas insurance broker followed advice from Davison in claiming 1.25 million dollar in deductions related to operating a chicken flock, but ultimately admitted to the IRS he had never been a farmer.

Also according to the complaint, one Stover customer used a sham Roth IRA scheme for four years to evade paying federal income tax on more than 57 million dollar in income, improperly saving more than 20 million dollar in taxes.

''The amount of tax loss caused by Davison's promotions is incalculable but likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars,'' the complaint stated.

The government said it sought to stop Stover and Davison because pursuing each of their customers individually ''may be an insurmountable obstacle.''

(AGENCIES)

Young voters could be deterred by negative campaign

COLLEGE PARK, MD, Feb 22: They may be all fired up and ready to go, but the young voters who have helped propel Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to front-runner status might stay home if the race turns nasty.

Obama has galvanized the under-30 voters who historically have voted at much lower rates than their parents. Young voters have packed the Illinois senator's high energy rallies and turned out at rates up to four times higher than previous election years.

''It really helped him, actually seeing him talking and being there,'' said 19-year-old Chelsea Barham, who attended an Obama rally at the University of Maryland and voted for him in that state's recent primary.

By contrast, Democratic rival Hillary Clinton didn't stop at the 34,000-student campus.

''We all felt a little left out,'' Casey Mason-Foley, a 19-year-old sophomore and supporter of the New York senator.

Young people have been drawn to Obama's campaign by his idealistic message and the strength of his grass-roots organizing, said Peter Levine of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, which studies youth voting.

Turnout among young voters in New Hampshire rose to 43 percent, from 18 percent in 2004, according to the group.

But a negative campaign could stop the surge in its tracks, Levine and other researchers said.

''What could go wrong is if you get a food fight between the major parties,'' Levine said. ''Turnout will be much better if it is positive.''

Obama's rivals are taking aim. Likely Republican nominee John McCain on Tuesday swiped at Obama's ''eloquent but empty calls for change,'' and Clinton was sharpening her attacks as she falls farther behind in the delegate count.

The next state contests in Texas and Ohio, on March 4, are seen as must-win states for the New York senator and former first lady.

Harvard University's Institute of Politics found that many young voters had soured on politics due to bickering of the candidates in the run-up to the vote.

University of Maryland students echoed that opinion while standing in line to vote last week.

Obama supporter Anthony Gregg, 20, said he liked Hillary Clinton but he ''didn't like how she kind of made race a factor'' during the South Carolina Democratic primary in January.

''I feel like there's a lot of mudslinging in politics. I tried to avoid it,'' said Ilana Kelsey, 18, as she stood in line at a University of Maryland polling place.

The under-30 ''millennial generation'' is not a monolithic voting bloc. While young Democrats have favored Obama over Clinton, young Republicans tend to support the same candidates as their parents, said Institute of Politics polling director John Della Volpe.

Republican candidate Mike Huckabee won the Feb. 5 Missouri primary thanks to strong support from young voters. Some 45,000 young Missourians voted for the former Arkansas governor, more than his 23,000-vote margin of victory.

Still, Democrats in general have done a better job of appealing to young voters than Republicans, Della Volpe said.

''It would be wise for McCain to build those relationships now,'' he said.

(AGENCIES)

Obama vows to go after Al-Qaida in Pakistan

WASHINGTON, Feb 22: Disapproving of US' reliance on President Pervez Musharraf in the war against terror, Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, who raised a storm by suggesting unilateral action against Al-Qaida in Pakistan, has vowed to go after the terror network there.

"On the question of Pakistan, we just had an election there. But I have said very clearly that we have put all our eggs in the Musharraf basket. That was a mistake", he said at the Democratic presidential debate in Austin, Texas.

"We should be going after Al-Qaida and making sure that Pakistan is serious about hunting down terrorists, as well as expanding democracy," Obama said.

Promising that as commander-in-chief of the US, he would do everything to keep America safe, Obama said: "My number one job as president will be to keep the American people safe. I will do whatever is required to accomplish that. I will not hesitate to act against those that would do America harm."

The Democratic Senator, who is locked in a tight race with Hillary Clinton for the party nomination for Presidential showdown in November this year, also attacked the former first lady for her decision to support sending of US troops to Iraq.

Terming US military's intervention in Iraq as the "single most important foreign policy decision of this generation", Obama said "I believe I showed the judgment of a commander-in-chief.

"And I think that Senator Clinton was wrong in her judgments on that," Obama said speaking at the University of Texas campus in a debate sponsored by CNN.

The Illinois senator also suggested that sending US forces to Iraq was directly impacting the its military operations in Afghanistan. (PTI)

Scientists find how we see ghosts -- 'it's all in the mind'

LONDON, Feb 22: Do ghosts really exist? Well, if scientists are to be believed, they do but "in the mind" only.

The researchers at the University College in London have found that that when people gaze around in a poorly lit context, it can fool their brains into seeing things that are not really there.

"The context surrounding what we see is all important -- sometimes overriding the evidence gathered by our eyes and even causing us to imagine things.

"Illusionists have been alive to this phenomenon for years. When you see them throw a ball into the air, followed by a second ball, and then a third ball which 'magically' disappears, you wonder how they did it.

"In truth, there's often no third ball -- it's just our brain being deceived by the context, telling us that we really did see three balls launched into the air, one after the other."

"This could also be why monsters tend to lurk in the shadows. In shadows many things are seen vaguely (rather than clearly), thus tending to trigger the filling in," 'The Daily Telegraph' quoted lead researcher Prof Li Zhaoping as saying.

In their study, 18 observers were asked by the team to concentrate on the centre of a black computer screen.

Every time a buzzer sounded they pressed one of two buttons to record whether or not they had just seen a small, dim, grey "target" rectangle in the middle of the screen. It didn't appear every time, but when it did it was displayed for just 80 milliseconds (80 one thousandths of a second).

"People saw the target much more often if it appeared in the middle of a vertical line of similar looking, grey rectangles, compared to when it appeared in the middle of a pattern of bright, white rectangles. They even registered 'seeing' the target when it wasn't actually there.

"This is because people are mentally better prepared to see something vague when the surrounding context is vague. "It made sense for them to see it -- so that's what happened. When the target didn't match the expectations set by the surrounding context, they saw it much less often," said Prof Zhaoping.

The results of the study have been published in the 'PLoS Computational Biology' journal. (PTI)

Hillary sings Obama tune to oppose outsourcing

WASHINGTON, Feb 22: Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has joined party rival Barak Obama in promising an end to tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, playing to the gallery on the hot-button issue of outsourcing as she tries to resuscitate her White House bid.

"... We are going to rid the tax code of these loopholes and giveaways. We're going to stop giving a penny of your money to anybody who ships a job out of Texas, Ohio or anywhere else to another country," Hillary said during a debate with Obama at University of Texas in Austin.

Hillary, who had in the past refused to join the anti-outsourcing bandwagon, has been perceived as a fence sitter on the issue till now.

Taking a cue from Obama, who has been fiercely opposing outsourcing, the 60-year-old, who is banking on March 4 contests in Ohio and Texas to revive her fading campaign, appeared to be joining the hardliners in an effort to attract the blue-collared workers.

" ... You don't need an economist or the Federal Reserve to tell the American people that the economy's in trouble, because they've been experiencing it for years now," Obama said last night.

Promising to restore "a sense of fairness and balance" to the US economy, he said "we've got to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas and invest those tax breaks in companies that are investing here in the United States of America."

Clinton agreed, "... We are going to rid the tax code of these loopholes and giveaways. We're going to stop giving a penny of your money to anybody who ships a job out of Texas, Ohio or anywhere else to another country." (PTI)

China to unveil telecoms revamp soon -state radio

BEIJING, Feb 22: China will announce a revamp of the telecoms sector by early March, which when completed will leave the country with three industry giants able to provide a full range of services, state radio reported late on Thursday.

The long-awaited shake-up, seen as a precursor to the issuance of licenses to operate third-generation services, will be unveiled before the March 5 opening of China's Parliament, the report said without citing sources.

The plan will create companies able to compete in both fixed-line and mobile services, and could also bring changes in top industry positions.

The parent company of Hong Kong-listed China Mobile <0941.HK>, the world's biggest mobile telephone operator, would merge with the national railway's fixed-line unit, China Tietong, the report said.

China Unicom's GSM mobile business would join with China Netcom Group while China Telecom Corp, the country's top fixed-line operator, would acquire Unicom's CDMA mobile telephone business.

China Satcom will be merged into China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, which will quit the civil telecoms market, the report added.

(AGENCIES)

It rains oil on Mars.........

WASHINGTON, Feb 22: Fluctuating prices of hydrocarbons gives nightmares to economic pundits across the world but on Mars it simply rains from the skies.

Saturn's orange moon Titan has lakes and dunes of hydrocarbons has hundreds of times more liquid hydrocarbons than all the known oil and natural gas reserves on Earth and not just that it comes free of exploration costs as it simply rains from the skies, according to new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

''Titan is just covered in carbon-bearing material -- it's a giant factory of organic chemicals,'' said Lorenz of John Hopkins University and team member of researchers, Science Daily reported.

''This vast carbon inventory is an important window into the geology and climate history of Titan,'' he added.

At minus 179 degrees celsius, Titan is a far cry from Earth. Instead of water, liquid hydrocarbons in the form of methane and ethane are present on the moon's surface, and ''tholins'' probably make up its dunes.

Cassini spacecraft has mapped about 20 per cent of Titan's surface with radar.

Several hundred lakes and seas have been observed, with each of several dozen estimated to contain more hydrocarbon liquid than Earth's oil and gas reserves.

The dark dunes that run along the equator contain a volume of organics several hundred times larger than Earth's coal reserves.

Proven reserves of natural gas on Earth total 130 billion tonnes, enough to provide 300 times the amount of energy the entire United States uses annually for residential heating, cooling and lighting. Dozens of Titan's lakes individually have the equivalent of at least this much energy in the form of methane and ethane. (UNI)

Ten year old Indian wins Rs five crore lottery

DUBAI, Feb 22: It came as a parting gift for ten-year-old Mohit Himthani winner of Rs five crore raffle in Dubai as his family was planning to leave for home for good unable to bear the soaring cost of living in the UAE.

Mohit won 5 million dirham last week after his dad, Laxnan, bought 15 tickets of one of the many raffles here during the Dubai Shopping Festival and walked away with the largest prize in the history of the UAE.

''It is such a shock. Mohit knows that he has won but he is very small. We will save the money so my children can continue their studies,'' said Himthani.

He added that he has been buying tickets for the last eight years.

(UNI)

Scientists find how we see ghosts-‘it’s all in the mind’

LONDON, Feb 22: Do ghosts really exist? Well, if scientists are to be believed, they do but "in the mind" only.

The researchers at the University College in London have found that that when people gaze around in a poorly lit context, it can fool their brains into seeing things that are not really there.

"The context surrounding what we see is all important-sometimes overriding the evidence gathered by our eyes and even causing us to imagine things.

"Illusionists have been alive to this phenomenon for years. When you see them throw a ball into the air, followed by a second ball, and then a third ball which ‘magically’ disappears, you wonder how they did it.

"In truth, there’s often no third ball-it’s just our brain being deceived by the context, telling us that we really did see three balls launched into the air, one after the other."

"This could also be why monsters tend to lurk in the shadows. In shadows many things are seen vaguely (rather than clearly), thus tending to trigger the filling in," ‘The Daily Telegraph’ quoted lead researcher Prof Li Zhaoping as saying.

In their study, 18 observers were asked by the team to concentrate on the centre of a black computer screen.

Every time a buzzer sounded they pressed one of two buttons to record whether or not they had just seen a small, dim, grey "target" rectangle in the middle of the screen. It didn’t appear every time, but when it did it was displayed for just 80 milliseconds (80 one thousandths of a second).

"People saw the target much more often if it appeared in the middle of a vertical line of similar looking, grey rectangles, compared to when it appeared in the middle of a pattern of bright, white rectangles. They even registered ‘seeing’ the target when it wasn’t actually there.

"This is because people are mentally better prepared to see something vague when the surrounding context is vague. "It made sense for them to see it-so that’s what happened. When the target didn’t match the expectations set by the surrounding context, they saw it much less often," said Prof Zhaoping.

The results of the study have been published in the ‘PLoS Computational Biology’ journal. (PTI)