Koirala wants SPA unity for 10 years

KATHMANDU, Mar 16: Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has said that there is a need to keep the ruling Seven Party Alliance (SPA) united for another 10 years even after the Constituent Assembly election for long term peace, prosperity and development of the nation.

Talking to artistes at his official residence at Baluwatar in Kathmandu yesterday, he said: "the SPA unity must be kept intact for the next ten years to institutionalize democracy."

He underlined the need for congruity among democratic forces in order to maintain national unity and integrity.

Unveiling the 32-page manifesto last week Koirala, said even if Nepali Congress gets clear majority in the 601 seat Constituent Assembly it will form a coalition government continuing the current Seven Party Alliance.

He asked every body to consider the election as a victory of nation and its people, rather than taking it as the victory of a single party and individual. "I do not ask people to vote for NC alone, I just ask for support. Election is to strengthen the democratic system, not for win or loss of somebody.

Altogether 2,219 candidates have filed nominations from 240 constituencies for the crucial April 10 Constituent Assembly polls.

Koirala also asked artistes to play their role for making the historical CA elections a success as their role is more important during the polls. (PTI)

Adolescent girls with ADHD may develop 'eating disorders

NEW YORK, Mar 16:Adolescent girls with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at an increased risk of developing eating disorders than their peers without the condition, a new research has revealed.

Many children with ADHD suffer through a range of problems, from poor grades to poor relations with parents as well as teachers, and more than half have serious problems making friends.

According to lead researcher Amori Yee Mikami of the University of Virginia, "Our finding suggests that girls may develop a broader range of problems in adolescence than their male counterparts.

"Adolescent girls with ADHD frequently develop body image dissatisfaction and may go through repeating cycles of binge eating and purging behaviours. We know that eating disorders occur ten times more often in girls than boys."

Because ADHD is more common in boys, the researchers said that many girls with the disorder might go undiagnosed and untreated.

"Girls with ADHD may be more at risk of developing eating problems as adolescents because they already have impulsive behaviours that can set them apart from their peers.

"As they get older, their impulsivity may make it difficult for them to maintain healthy eating and a healthy weight, resulting in self-consciousness about their body image and the binging and purging symptoms," Mikami said. (PTI)

Two Romanians sentenced for credit card skimming operation

LONDON, Mar 16: Two Romanian nationals were sentenced to various terms in jail for their involvement in stealing credit card details of commuters buying tickets at railway station machines here.

Judge Andrew Goymer of Southwark Crown court here, said that the operation represented "huge potential for loss" to unsuspecting travelers.

Goymer sentenced Ion Tanese (28) for a year while Ioan Filip (36) Filip for six months.

The judge, however, said he could not recommend deportation as Romania was now in the EU and their sentences were under two years.

Metropolitan police said that the gang used a miniature camera and a magnetic strip reader to record pin numbers and card details, which were used to create fake cards, The Sunday Telegraph reported today.

The fraud may have netted hundreds of thousands of pounds.

An estimated 144.3 million pounds were stolen from British accounts last year, through counterfeit card fraud - up 46 per cent on 2006.

The bulk of the loss - 113 million pounds - came through foreign withdrawals.

The operation was unearthed last month at Paddington underground station here.

A British Transport Police officer saw that an electronic card-reading device known as a "skimmer", had been attached to the card slot of a ticket machine, and a tiny camera had been fixed above the number pad.

CCTV showed that a few hours earlier, as people queued behind them, Tanese and Filip used double-sided tape to attach the devices. (PTI)

New method for successful pregnancy after IVF developed

NEW YORK, Mar 16: In vitro fertilisation (IVF), a medical procedure to produce embryos outside the mother's womb, today is gaining ground but it does not always lead to successful pregnancy.

Now, an international team of researchers claims to have developed a new method which could not only increase the success rate of single embryo transfer but also diminish the risk of multiple pregnancies.

In fact, they have identified genetic markers that selects eggs with the best chance of leading to successful pregnancy after in vitro fertilisation.

"Eggs recovered in the course of the IVF process are surrounded by follicular cells that are removed before the actual fertilisation procedure begins. While in the ovaries, these cells and the eggs are in very close interaction.

"A first experiment we conducted on bovine follicular cells led us to believe that these cells might possess specific markers that would be able to give us information about the quality of an egg.

"By selecting the embryo with the best potential, it would be possible to limit the number of embryos transferred, and thus the number of multiple pregnancies, while maintaining good success rates," according to lead researcher Marc-Andr Sirard of Universit Laval in Canada. (PTI)

Pandit will have to pay for personal use of Citi corporate jet

NEW YORK, Mar 16: If you thought heading the world's largest bank brings with it unimaginable perks and freebies, think again!

Citigroup, which is going through its worst-ever financial crisis, allows its India-born CEO Vikram Pandit to fly anywhere in its corporate jet, but he will have to pay the company back for any personal use of the aircraft.

In an annual meeting notice being sent to all its shareholders, Citigroup has revealed that Pandit signed a pact on December 12, under which, he would have to reimburse the company for any personal use of the Citi's corporate aircraft.

The agreement was signed just a day after Pandit assumed office as CEO of Citigroup with effect from December 11.

However, his busy official schedule ever since taking over from his predecessor Charles Prince charge of the embattled Wall Street giant does not seem to have given Pandit any chance for a personal use of the aircraft, as he has not made any such reimbursement as yet.

Pandit was recently on a visit across Asia, but it was an official trip as part of an exercise to bring Citigroup out of its current trough. In the last quarter, the bank reported the biggest-ever loss in its close to two centuries of history.

According to Citigroup's notice to the shareholders for their annual meeting on April 22, the company has similar agreements in place with its Chairman of the Board Winfried Bischoff and its Executive Committee Chairman Robert E Ruben as well.

Rubin, formerly Treasury Secretary of the US during the Presidential tenure of Bill Clinton, entered into the Aircraft Time Sharing Agreement with Citiflight Inc, a subsidiary of Citigroup Inc, on August 10, 2006. During 2007, Rubin reimbursed Citi USD578,889 for personal use of corporate aircraft. (PTI)

Astronauts go out on spacewalk to plug in robot's arms

CAPE CANAVERAL, Mar 16: With Dextre the robot's power problem solved, astronauts ventured outside the international space station to put together the bulk of the gigantic walking and working machine.

The robot's hands were attached to its 11-foot arms during the first spacewalk of Endeavour's space station trip. This time, astronauts aimed to connect the arms to the shoulders. First, though, the robot was going to sit up on its transport bed, rising like Frankenstein as one astronaut put it.

Yesterday spacewalkers Richard Linnehan and Michael Foreman had to use brute force and a pry bar to get one of the robot's arms off the transport bed, where it had been latched down for launch. Two of the bolts wouldn't budge, even when the astronauts banged on them and yanked with all their might.

"We're really having to get medieval on Mr Dextre," Foreman observed.

Finally, the bolts gave way. But by then, the astronauts had fallen an hour behind in their work.

The nighttime spacewalk - in the wee hours today - came close to being drastically altered or even delayed. For nearly two days, a cable design flaw prevented NASA from getting power to Dextre, lying in pieces on its transport bed.

It was not until the astronauts gripped Dextre with the space station's mechanical arm Friday night that the robot got the power it needed to wake up and keep its joints and electronics from freezing.

"Dextre is doing much better," said astronaut Garrett Reisman, who performed the first spacewalk with Linnehan on Thursday night. (AGENCIES)

Alitalia board approves Air France-KLM takeover deal

ROME, Mar 16: The board of Italian airline Alitalia today approved a formal takeover offer put forward by Air France-KLM after a marathon meeting, the group announced in a communique.

The operation is seen as critical to the troubled Italian airline's survival and a key first issue for the new government to be elected next month.

The Alitalia board meeting started in mid-morning yesterday and did not wind up until the release of a press statement at 0655 IST today.

"Alitalia's board of management deliberated unanimously" and decided to "accept the offer by Air France-KLM and to conclude the said contract," the statement said.

The Franco-Dutch airline on Friday unveiled its formal bid for Alitalia, which it said would be conditional on union support, after eight weeks of negotiations.

Alitalia management was expected to seek the opinion of the economy ministry, which holds a 49.9 per cent stake in the financially-strapped airline.

Under the deal, Air France-KLM would launch a public exchange offer covering 100 per cent of Alitalia's shares under which 160 Alitalia shares would be exchanged for one share in Air France, the statement said.

The Italian company also accepted "the public offer of an acquisition of 100 per cent of Alitalia convertible bonds, at a unitary price of 0.3145 euro, in relation to the market price on March 14."

The board went on: "The contract is not immediately applicable as it is subject to several suspensive conditions which must all be validated by March 31, 2008."

The new Alitalia would keep "its Italian identity" as well as its own brand and logo. (AGENCIES)

Haneef may seek compensation: lawyer

SYDNEY, Mar 16: Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef, who was falsely implicated in a failed UK terror plot, might seek ompensation from the Australian government, his lawyer Peter Russo said.

Mr Russo yesterday said a law firm with expertise in compensation bids had been appointed to investigate seeking restitution for Dr Haneef over his treatment by authorities last year, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Dr Haneef was employed as a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital when he was arrested in July last year at the Brisbane Airport after his mobile phone SIM card was linked to car bomb plot in London and Glasgow.

He was held for 12 days before being charged with recklessly giving support to a terrorist organisation.

The Federal Government last week appointed former NSW Supreme Court judge John Clarke, to head the inquiry into the bungled terrorism case and to report by September 30.

Former immigration minister Kevin Andrews has agreed to co-operate with the inquiry.

(UNI)

G20 backs climate fight, argues over industry caps

MAKUHARI, JAPAN, Mar 16: A grouping of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters today backed UN-led efforts to forge a global pact to fight climate change but disagreed on a sectoral approach to curb emissions from industry.

G20 nations ranging from top carbon emitters the United States and China to big developing economies Brazil, Indonesia and South Africa held three days of talks near Tokyo to discuss ways to tackle rapidly rising emissions.

''It's not so much these two groups are at loggerheads with each other, they are also thinking of how they can cooperate collectively,'' Halldor Thorgeirsson of the UN Climate Change Secretariat told Reuters.

The developing world is demanding rich states do more to curb their own emissions and help poorer countries pay for clean technology.

Both sides managed to bridge differences in Bali last December to launch two years of talks on a pact that binds all nations to emissions curbs to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

''The whole debate on climate change is moving away from just being an issue of targets to being an issue of how to reduce emissions,'' said Thorgeirsson, who was pleased with the G20 talks that were billed as a dialogue, not a negotiation.

''This is a very good sign that the good spirit of Bali will prevail in Bangkok as well,'' he said, referring to the March 31-April 4 meeting in the Thai capital, the first U.N.-led climate meeting of nations that backed the ''Bali roadmap''.

But some G20 members and delegates voiced concern over Japan's proposal for sectoral caps for polluting industries.

Japan wants top greenhouse gas emitting nations to assign near-term emissions targets for each industrial sector which, added up, would then form a national target.

But it was unclear if this target was mandatory or voluntary and developing nations said the scheme needed to take into account their individual circumstances.

''It is clear that developed and developing countries are still far apart on sectoral approaches,'' South African Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk told Reuters.

DIFFERENCES

Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, was more guarded.

''We all agree that a sectoral approach is needed,'' said Andrej Kranjc of Solvenia's Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning.

''Only this Japanese proposal is a little different from the understanding of others, including the European Union. Let's say it has potential, we all agree on that.''

Indonesia called for more funding and the transfer of clean energy technology. Otherwise a sectoral approach would not work.

''The goal is the same for developed and developing countries, but there are big differences in thinking,'' said Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari.

The talks in Chiba, near Tokyo, also sparked a row over big developing nations being labelled ''major emitters'', a term US officials used at the gathering.

South Africa, Indonesia, India and Brazil told the meeting they objected to the label since on a per-capita basis, their carbon emissions were a fraction of the roughly 24 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent produced by the average American.

Developing nations also called for more clarity on the funding and management of schemes to pay for clean energy technology projects in their countries.

Van Schalkwyk said yesterday it was crucial developing nations had greater involvement in the management of clean technology funds, particularly recently announced funds to be managed by the World Bank with money from Japan, the United States and Britain.

About 190 nations agreed in Bali to try to find a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2009. Under the Bali roadmap, all nations would be obligated to curb carbon emissions under Kyoto's successor from 2013.

Kyoto first phase ends in 2012 and binds only rich nations to emissions curbs.

But rapidly rising emissions from developing nations means the pact is no longer effective in trying to limit dangerous climate change that scientists say will cause rising sea levels and greater extremes of droughts and floods.

(AGENCIES)

Further glacier loss will be chaotic for India: UNEP

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 16: Further shrinking of Himalyan Glaciers can have dramatic consequence In India disrupting everything from farming and power generation to winter sports, the UN Environment Programme has warned.

The UNEP in its report yesterday stated that world’s glaciers were shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades. Data from 30 glaciers in nine mountain ranges indicated that average rate of melting and thinning reached record levels in 2006.

Further ice loss could have dramatic consequences, particularly in India, whose rivers were fed by Himalayan glaciers, and the US west coast, which gets water from glaciers in the Rocky Mountains and Sierra Nevada.

The most severe loss had till now been recorded at Norway’s Breidalblikkbrea glacier, which shrank 3.1m. On average, glaciers shrank by 1.5m. "The figures are part of what appears to be an accelerating trend with no apparent end in sight," said Wilfried Haeberli, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service, which conducted the study.

Professor Haeberli said between 1980 and 1999 glaciers lost an average of 0.3m of ice a year. But since 2000 the average loss has increased to about 0.5m.

UNEP’s director Achim Steiner urged Governments to agree stricter targets for emissions reductions.

(UNI)

Par resolution enough to restore sacked judges: Ex-SC Justices

ISLAMABAD, Mar 16: Eight former judges of Pakistan’s Supreme Court-including three Chief Justices-have said "a simple resolution" in Parliament will be enough to reinstate the Judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf during last year’s emergency rule.

"A simple resolution in the National Assembly (lower house of Parliament) reflecting the intention of the people’s representatives to deny affirmation to the purported amendments would provide more than sufficient backing for the executive to do the needful," the former Judges said in a joint statement.

"The removal of Judges, which was admittedly unconstitutional being in defiance of Article 209 of the Constitution, could not be validated by the unilateral act of one individual through the so called introduction of Article 270-AAA and purported amendments to 270-C in the Constitution nor could it be validated by the Supreme Court," they said.

Musharraf’s legal aides, including Attorney General Malik Qayyum, have insisted that the President’s actions during the emergency, including the sacking of the Judges, can be reversed only through a constitutional amendment passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament.

But the former Judges said: "Since Article 270-AAA and 270-C (2) have not been adopted by two-thirds majority of Parliament, they are not part of the Constitution."

"The power to make permanent amendment in the Constitution does not vest with the President. Nor can any court confer such a power, particularly a bench appointed through an unconstitutional instrument and acting in defiance of order dated November 3 passed by the Supreme Court established under the Constitution," the ex-Judges said.

The statement was signed by former Chief Justices Ajmal Mian, Sajjad Ali Shah and Saiduzzaman Siddiqui Nasir and former judges Aslam Zahid, Kamal Mansour Alam, Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, Deedar Hussain Shah and Mamoon Qazi.

The former Judges said no "principle of state necessity" allowed an individual to "make permanent changes in the supreme law".

"Even if an individualised power to amend were to be conceded, such power can only be (made) available during the period of deviation/emergency and, upon restoration of the Constitution, the power to make changes as well as the effects thereof stand completely effaced unless duly indemnified by the parliament."

The statement recalled that amendments introduced in the Constitution by Gen Ziaul Haq in 1985 and by Gen Pervez Musharraf in 2002 had become part of the Constitution only after they were adopted by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. (PTI)

Men, women and the secrets of skin colour

LONDON, Mar 16: Have you ever wondered why men are attracted to fair-complexioned females while women prefer the dark and brooding types? Well, the attraction is driven by preferences based on moral assumptions, says a study.

Researchers have found that men are subconsciously attracted to fairer skin due to its association with purity, innocence, modesty and goodness, while women feel that darker complexions are associated with sex, virility and danger.

"What the research shows is that our aesthetic preferences operate to reflect moral preferences. Within our cultures, we have a set of ideals about how women should look and behave.

"Lightness and darkness have particular meanings attached to them and we subconsciously relate those moral preferences to women," ‘The Independent’ quoted the study’s lead author Dr Shyon Baumann of Toronto University as saying.

The researchers came to the conclusion after they analysed over 2,000 advertising photographs of men and women. They found that the skin of white women was 15.2 per cent lighter than the skin of white males while the skin of black women 11.1 per cent was lighter than the skin of black men.

According to the researchers, many judgements about beauty are made at a conscious level, such as about leg length, height, weight and the shape of the nose as well as the mouth. "In contrast, other physical attractiveness ideals, including complexion... Are made at the subconscious level."

When the researchers analysed adverts featuring white women only, they found that females with darkest complexions were more likely to be in an advanced state of undress. They were also more likely to have a bared midriff, and only they are shown with bared feet or are implied to be totally nude.

The darkest-complexioned women in this group were also likely to be provocatively dressed, wearing underwear or similar clothing. Women with the lightest complexion are more likely to be conservatively dressed and portrayed as friendly, happy and honest.

According to the researchers, the scale of the differences between male and female skin colour selected for their attractiveness is too big to be explained by pure biology.

"I contend the complexion findings should be understood as a product of deeply rooted and enduring cultural values. My argument to explain the findings has two key features.

"First, it is based on the meanings that lightness and darkness have in our culture. Second, it highlights the links between moral and aesthetic judgements. Physical lightness and darkness are aesthetic characteristics that... Exemplify the link between aesthetic and moral judgements.

"On average, fair complexions in women are the dominant aesthetic ideal as sexual modesty and conventional femininity are the dominant behavioural ideal for women," Dr Baumann said. (PTI)