Hollywood revives awards season with Academy Awards today

LOS ANGELES, Feb 24: Hollywood stars will parade across the red carpet for today's Academy Awards after weeks of debate over whether a writers' strike that had derailed other award shows would be settled in time for the Oscars.

However, the Oscars competition itself appears to hold little suspense, with clear favorites generally expected to win.

Joel and Ethan Coen, screenwriting winners for 1996's "Fargo," look to come away as the night's big winners for their crime story "No Country for Old Men," which has dominated at earlier film honors.

The Coens could make Oscar history if they sweep all four categories in which they are personally nominated: best picture as producers on the film, director, adapted screenplay and editing, for which they were nominated under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes.

It would be the first time anyone has won four Oscars for the same film, and it would tie the record of four Oscars in a single year held by Walt Disney, a quadruple winner for 1953 as producer of three winning short films and a documentary for the 1953 awards.

No matter who wins, one key prediction from Academy Awards overseers already has come true: The show will go on.

It was a nail-biter for weeks as a Hollywood writers strike threatened to decimate the Oscars, with stars and filmmakers indicating they would not cross picket lines if the labour quarrel remained unsettled.

In the wake of the Golden Globes, whose celebrity bash was stripped down to a pitiful mid-January news conference because of the strike, Oscar organizers insisted their ceremony would go on as planned. (AGENCIES)

Bhutan to need Rs 56.014 bn external aid in 10th Plan period

THIMPHU, Feb 24: Bhutan will need external aid of around Rs 56.014 billion to help meet its capital expenditures in the Tenth Plan, which aims at reducing the poverty rate from one in four to one in six in the next five years.

According to the draft document, the focus of the plan will be to stimulate a faster growth in productive sectors, particularly agriculture and industry, in conjunction with continued investments into further development of hydro-power.

The outlay of the Tenth Plan (July 2008June 2013) is estimated at Rs 141.727 billion, according to the document released by the Gross National Happiness Commission this week.

Of this, Rs 62.075 billion has been allocated for current expenditure and Rs 79.649 billion for capital investments, the state-run Kuensel reported.

For capital investments, external resources of around Rs 66.416 billion is expected to be mobilised through grants and loans, leaving a resource gap of Rs 13.203 billion.

Domestic revenues, including other receipts, are expected to be sufficient to fund only around 46.3 per cent of the total plan outlay or around Rs 65.616 billion.

"The country will still require external assistance grants of around Rs 56.014 billion to help meet its capital expenditures in the Tenth Plan," the report said.

The overall goal of the Tenth Plan is to reduce the poverty rate of 23.2 per cent from the baseline year in 2007 to below 15 per cent in 2013.

As in past plans, major investment projects for hydro- power development, such as Punatsangchhu and Dagachu, are not included within the budget framework of the current plan. (PTI)

No duty cut on Harley Davidson bikes, India tells US

CHICAGO, Feb 24: Having relaxed emission norms for import of Harley Davidson motorcycles, India has informed the US that it cannot cut duties but will allow the American cult bike to be sold through dealers network.

The US Trade Department raised the demand for a duty cut on the Harley Davidson bikes at the meeting of the India-US Trade Policy Forum here early this week, but the Indian side did not agree to it, a high level official said.

"After all, the bike is going to be imported by rich people. Let them pay duty," the official said. India imposes 60 per cent duty on import of motorcycles.

However, Davidson Inc, the biggest motorcycle maker in the US, facing slackening growth in the home market, will now be able to stock and sell its bikes in India. "This means, instead of delivering its bikes to individual buyer, the company can appoint dealers in India," the official said.

The India-US Trade Policy Forum is co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and US Trade Representative Susan Schwab.

India had liberalised the emission norms for Harley Davidson last year but the high end motorcycle could not really take off its sales operations in the country, since the rules allowed it to sell only to individual buyers.

Harley Davidson was hoping to get a breakthrough in the Indian market on low duties at a time when the market expansion in the US is slackening in the face of worsening consumer confidence. (PTI)

Oz party wants closed-door probe in Haneef case

MELBOURNE, Feb 24: Terming a judicial inquiry into the Mohamed Haneef case as a "tremendous overreaction" by the new Australian Government, the Federal Coalition has said that while it had "nothing to fear", it preferred a closed-door probe.

The previous Federal Coalition Government had received flak over handling of the case involving the Indian doctor, who was wrongly accused of terror charges last year in connection with the failed UK car bombings.

The new Labour administration had said it will hold a full judicial inquiry to examine the Australian Federal Police's (AFP) role in the case.

Opposition justice spokesman Christopher Pyne said a public inquiry could jeopardise ongoing police investigations and expose sensitive information that should be kept under wraps.

"In the Haneef case, obviously, it didn't go nearly as well as the AFP and others would have wanted," he said.

"But a judicial inquiry into the Haneef case, I think, would be a tremendous overreaction by a new Labor Government.

"If there is to be an inquiry it should be conducted by the Australian Law Enforcement Integrity Commission. That was set up for this express purpose," Pyne was quoted as saying by news.Com.Au.

Pyne said the Coalition had nothing to fear from an upcoming Haneef inquiry, despite intense criticism of the police's handling of the case and former immigration minister Kevin Andrews' move to cancel Haneef's work visa even after the terror charges against him were dropped. (PTI)

Japan defence minister denies cover-up on collision

TOKYO, Feb 24: Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba, under fire after a warship collided with a fishing boat, leaving two men missing, denied today that his ministry was covering up the facts behind the accident.

Opposition parties have called for Ishiba, widely seen as one of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's most competent ministers, to resign over the accident in which the destroyer Atago collided with the fishing boat in crowded waters near Tokyo last Tuesday.

''One thing that I want to say is that we are not in any way dribbling out, hiding or manipulating information,'' Ishiba told public broadcaster NHK in one of three TV appearances today.

Asked if he would resign over the accident, Ishiba said relatives of the victims had told him his responsibility was to find out the cause of the accident and prevent reoccurences.

''That is what is engraved most in my heart,'' Ishiba said.

''I must consider how to respond to their feelings, to the feelings of those with the bitterest thoughts, and I will decide myself how to do that.''

The accident has sparked outrage, partly because scant and seemingly conflicting information has prompted speculation of a possible cover-up and partly because of the strong streak of pacifism in Japan since the end of World War Two.

The collision also comes at a time when Fukuda's public support ratings have already slipped due to doubts about his leadership and public trust in defence officials has been dented by a bribery scandal involving a former top bureaucrat.

''The basic approach recommended for any organisation that has erred and wants to restore its public trust is to accurately grasp what happened and promptly make public a report on those findings,'' said a weekend editorial in the Asahi newspaper.

''Yet, the response of the Self-Defense Forces (military) to Tuesday morning's collision ... Shows a complete breakdown in upholding this essential tenet,'' the paper said.

''Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba bears a heavy responsibility in this incident.''

Japan's coast guard is investigating the cause of the collision, which occurred while the destroyer was on autopilot and soon after a change in the lookout crew.

Opposition Democratic Party leaders have suggested they might submit a censure motion against Ishiba in parliament's upper house, where they and smaller opposition parties have a majority.

The motion would be non-binding, but adoption of a similar resolution in 1998 forced the defence minister at the time to resign.

Japanese cabinet ministers have resigned in the past over affairs in which they were not personally involved, while Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, was weakened by the loss of several ministers over scandals and gaffes quitting last year.

''He (Ishiba) is trusted by the Americans and is clearly the right man for the position,'' said Brad Glosserman, executive director of Hawaii-based think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.

''The question is, will the dictates of Japanese rituals take precedence over sheer capability?''

(AGENCIES)

Pervez Musharraf 'to step down in days, not months'

TOKYO, Feb 24: Japanese Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba, under fire after a warship collided with a fishing boat, leaving two men missing, denied today that his ministry was covering up the facts behind the accident.

Opposition parties have called for Ishiba, widely seen as one of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's most competent ministers, to resign over the accident in which the destroyer Atago collided with the fishing boat in crowded waters near Tokyo last Tuesday.

''One thing that I want to say is that we are not in any way dribbling out, hiding or manipulating information,'' Ishiba told public broadcaster NHK in one of three TV appearances today.

Asked if he would resign over the accident, Ishiba said relatives of the victims had told him his responsibility was to find out the cause of the accident and prevent reoccurences.

''That is what is engraved most in my heart,'' Ishiba said.

''I must consider how to respond to their feelings, to the feelings of those with the bitterest thoughts, and I will decide myself how to do that.''

The accident has sparked outrage, partly because scant and seemingly conflicting information has prompted speculation of a possible cover-up and partly because of the strong streak of pacifism in Japan since the end of World War Two.

The collision also comes at a time when Fukuda's public support ratings have already slipped due to doubts about his leadership and public trust in defence officials has been dented by a bribery scandal involving a former top bureaucrat.

''The basic approach recommended for any organisation that has erred and wants to restore its public trust is to accurately grasp what happened and promptly make public a report on those findings,'' said a weekend editorial in the Asahi newspaper.

''Yet, the response of the Self-Defense Forces (military) to Tuesday morning's collision ... Shows a complete breakdown in upholding this essential tenet,'' the paper said.

''Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba bears a heavy responsibility in this incident.''

Japan's coast guard is investigating the cause of the collision, which occurred while the destroyer was on autopilot and soon after a change in the lookout crew.

Opposition Democratic Party leaders have suggested they might submit a censure motion against Ishiba in parliament's upper house, where they and smaller opposition parties have a majority.

The motion would be non-binding, but adoption of a similar resolution in 1998 forced the defence minister at the time to resign.

Japanese cabinet ministers have resigned in the past over affairs in which they were not personally involved, while Fukuda's predecessor, Shinzo Abe, was weakened by the loss of several ministers over scandals and gaffes quitting last year.

''He (Ishiba) is trusted by the Americans and is clearly the right man for the position,'' said Brad Glosserman, executive director of Hawaii-based think tank Pacific Forum CSIS.

''The question is, will the dictates of Japanese rituals take precedence over sheer capability?''

(AGENCIES)

Indian schools hunting for new teachers

DUBAI, Feb 24: The schools which follow Indian curriculum in the emirate are looking for replacements for their teachers as many are expected to quit their job after this academic session.

Schools are even sending recruiting teams to India to hire ''good and experienced teachers''. But even that was not easy in the face of better pay packets and working conditions for teachers in the subcontinent, who, sources said, are difficult to recruit as pay scales for teachers in the subcontinent are getting better as compared to same syllabus schools in the UAE, Khaleej Times reported.

Most of the Indian-syllabus schools in the UAE pay teachers between 2,000 dirham and 3,000 dirham.

Schools in India are on an average offering more than Rs 10,000 a month, which teachers say is more attractive than the remuneration in the UAE.

The minimum qualification for teachers, according to the UAE Ministry of Education (MoE), is Bachelor of Education (B.Ed). Schools affiliated to the Indian Central Board of secondary Education (CBSE) require trained teachers, who are graduates and have completed B.Ed to teach up to Grade X, while teachers of higher classes require a postgraduate degree besides B.Ed.

The Indian schools are facing the crunch also due to exodus of qualified teachers to international curricula schools who lure them with better pay packages, the paper quoted sources as saying.

Sources estimate Indian-syllabus schools under the Gems group alone in the UAE require at least 100 teachers for the next academic year and principals had been to different Indian cities recently to recruit new teachers.

''It is increasingly becoming very difficult to find good, qualified teachers. Salaries have gone up in India and it is not very attractive for teachers to come here anymore. We are looking for teachers from abroad as well as in the UAE,'' said executive principal Aziz Akhtar of Our Own Indian School, Dubai, which hopes to find replacements for ten teachers this year and added that ''this was a regular exercise for most Indian schools.''

''Finding substitutes for lower classes may not be difficult. However, finding good teachers for secondary classes could pose a problem,'' Sharjah Indian School principal KNN Pillai said.

''The fact that pay scales have increased in India is certainly a contributing factor that makes finding good teachers difficult. Schools in the UAE, specially those offering Asian syllabi, are not so attractive anymore,'' executive principal Shobhana Verghese, of Our Own English High School, Dubai said. (UNI)

Worker killed in wall collapse

DUBAI, Feb 24: A 24-year-old Indian construction worker was killed on the spot when a concrete wall fell on him near Dubai Investment Park.

''Ten people were working near the collapsed wall. Nine of them were able to escape without injury, but one failed to escape and was killed instantly,'' informed Head of Dubai Police's Land Rescue Section Captain Ahmad Bu Rqibah, told Gulf News yesterday.

''The report of the accident came at 1105 hrs local time and at the same time, there was another report of a serious road accident,'' he said.

He said rescue teams were also rushed to Shaikh Zayed Road near Jebel Ali where a pick-up van and a truck had collided. (UNI)

Lankan researchers develop indigenous medicine for AIDS

COLOMBO, Feb 24: Raising new hopes for HIV positive patients, Sri Lankan researchers claimed they have developed an Ayurvedic formula which increases the life span of AIDS patients and lessens their sufferings.

Researchers at the Bandaranaike Memorial Ayurvedic Research Institute (BMARI) in Nawinna said research conducted so far proved that indigenous medicine lessened the sufferings of AIDS patients to a great extent, a local media reported.

Senior BMARI Research Officer Dr Pushpa Wickramasingha claimed experimental treatment carried out on HIV positive patients have brought positive results, according to the tabloid Daily Mirror.

The BMARI has also found an effective therapy to cure vitiligo or leukoderma, a chronic skin condition resulting in irregular pale patches of skin, she said.

Experiments conducted by the BMARI since 1969 had established that vitiligo could be cured using traditional prescriptions.

Hundreds of vitiligo patients have been fully cured through Ayurvedic treatment which involves the use of medicinal oil and essence of leaves, the report said.

(UNI)

Lady from Venus has better memory than lad from Mars

LONDON, Feb 24: He does not remember where his wallet is, forgets taking the car keys along, needs to be reminded time and again about a prior dinner date and above all does not care to remember birthdays.

Ladies, who have similar complaints with their partners, would be proud to know that women were better off in keeping episodic memory-- a type of long-term memory based on personal experiences.

Findings of a recent study revealed that women excelled in verbal episodic memory tasks, such as remembering words, objects, pictures or everyday events, and men outperformed women in remembering symbolic, non-linguistic information, such as remembering way out of the woods.

However, women were better than men on tasks involving both verbal and symbolic processing. They were also good in tasks requiring little to no verbal processing, such as recognition of familiar odors.

The study published in 'Sex Differences in Episodic Memory' published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science stated that while the probability of genetically-based differences between the quality of male and female memory remains unknown, the results suggested that females currently held the advantage in episodic memory.

(UNI)

The great 'invisible' wall of China..

LONDON, Feb 24: Though it may break many a Chinese heart, but the fact that the Great Wall of China was the only artefact on Earth visible from the moon, is just a myth.

According to astronauts and remote-sensing specialists, even as the Great Wall runs some 7,200 kilometers long, it is constructed from material that makes it difficult to discern from space. The bitter truth that experts believe is that it was only visible from low orbit under a specific set of weather and lighting conditions such as when the sun was low on the horizon. It caused the wall to cast extended shadows that made it possible to discern its silhouette.

The 'fable' about the barrier's visibility dates back to a 1932 Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon that claimed ''the mightiest work of man'' was visible to the human eye from the moon.

When Neil Armstrong returned from the moon in 1969, he admitted that he could not make out any man-made structures from the lunar surface.

''The problem is that the human eye is most sensitive to contrast, and the color of the wall is not that different from the ground on either side of it,'' Journal Scientific American quoted former NASA astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman, who could not spot the Wall during his five space shuttle missions, as saying.

He, however, was able to identify roads, airport runways and irrigation ditches simply because they stood out in their environments.

''Moderate-resolution satellites could pick up the structure under specific weather conditions such as when snow covers the fields near the wall and snow has been cleared on the wall, and that allows us to see the wall,'' Ronald Beck of the USGS's Land Remote Sensing Programme said, adding, ''The key is contrast.''

Since China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, returned in 2003 and admitted not seeing the Great Wall, scholars have asked for more research and improve astronaut training.

''Some astronauts have said that they didn't see it, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. A shuttle passes by so quickly,'' Wei Chengjie of the Sciences Institute of Remote Sensing Application said.

Meanwhile, industrialisation and pall of pollution is further forcing the Wall to fade from view.

(UNI)

"Hair today, Coin tomorrow"

WASHINGTON, Feb 24: Four hair strands believed to be of the first US President George Washington have sold for USD 17,000 at an auction.

Jamie Bates, owner of auction house Thompson & Riley in Kentucky, had hoped that the strands pressed beneath glass in a locket and accompanied by a watch would bring at least USD 75,000.

"I've never sold George Washington's hair before; I don't know," he added.

The strands were owned by Christa Allen, a Colorado woman, who got them from her father, an attorney, the Herald Reader reported.

Presidential hair is rarely available for purchase and if you are desperate to get some, Allen says she has retained a few strands of Washington's hair.

The buyer would not give his name. "I bought it and that's it," he said. "I don't want to publicise I have it."

Bates said celebrity hair sales are tough as establishing that the tresses were indeed the product of famous follicles is an arduous exercise, the reader reported.

Allen established how the hair was handed down from person to person. The Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, looked at Allen's evidence and gave her its backing.

The hair were taken when Washington was briefly disinterred and his hair snipped in 1837.

Philadelphia's Academy of Natural Sciences last weekend displayed hair from the first four presidents. (PTI)