Hungry mosquitoes fly farther than you think

 (batkhela-movies)RODERWOLDE: How far does a mosquito fly? Harry Boerema wants to know.

Boerema lives near a drainage project, where Dutch authorities are dredging a huge meter-deep (3-foot) basin in the northern rural landscape to head off flood waters and protect towns and villages from disaster.

The project threatens to inflict hordes of mosquitoes on people living around the water retention area, so scientists set out to calculate how to keep the boundaries of the ditch far enough from human habitation to protect residents from pest infestation.

The question they needed to find out: How far does a common European human-biting mosquito fly?

What they found surprised them: A hungry female looking for a "host" will fly at least 150 meters (yards), three times farther than previously thought, said Piet Verdonschot, who conducted the research.

The 1,700 hectare (4,200-acre) basin, begun in 2003, is designed to collect heavy rainwater that will slowly be channeled to the North Sea. But frequent wet-dry cycles will be perfect breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

Buzzing pests are nothing new for Boerema, a retired professor of architectural history who has lived for 36 years in his quiet cottage set amid dairy farms.

"I don't mind them to a certain extent. But not in surplus," he says. "I'm a nature lover, and mosquitoes are part of nature - although not the most likable ones."

Not everyone took the prospect of living on water's edge with such equanimity, and local complaints led authorities to commission the mosquito research, said project manager John Tukker.

At the outset, Verdonschot believed mosquitoes stay within about 50 meters (yards) of their breeding ground. The biggest nuisance for humans often originates in flower pots, buckets of collected rainwater or any kind of water left stagnant in the back garden or barnyard.

"The assumption in the literature is that people who suffer bites have bred their own specimens in their own gardens," he said.

Hundreds of mosquito species exist around the world - 36 in the Netherlands alone - but Verdonschot concentrated on the two species most common in the Dutch climate: the culex pipiens, which prefers birds to people but will still keep you awake at night during the summer, and the Culiseta annulata, larger, more aggressive insects active year-round. Neither normally carries dangerous diseases.

Verdonschot, an aquatic ecologist working for the private environmental research institute Alterra, hatched 40,000 mosquitoes in large tents in a grassy field. The tents were surrounded by concentric circles of traps set at 50 meters, 100 meters and 150 meters. Around the edges of the field were ditches with tall reeds and wild grasses on the banks.

The traps drew mosquitoes into smoke from dry ice then instantly froze them. At the end of each day researchers collected the corpses and counted them one-by-one, using tweezers under a microscope.

Verdonschot expected most mosquitoes to be caught in the closest traps. Instead, about 80 percent were found in the farthest, meaning most flew at least 150 meters from the tent where they were hatched.

Verdonschot then refined his experiment, placing evergreen shrubs within the inner circle of traps. The numbers caught in the closest ring of traps shot up by one-third. The bushes offered both shelter from predators and moisture evaporating from the leaves.

That discovery led Tukker, working in the north, to create small raised islands of vegetation in the middle of the retention area, which becomes a swamp after a heavy rain. Those islands deflect mosquitoes from nearby farms.

The experiments produced a few other surprises, too.

Mosquitoes are mostly quiet during the day, preferring to concentrate on the edge of a body of water. When females hunt for blood - necessary for reproduction - they move for about an hour at dusk or at dawn, staying close to the ground.

"They move differently than we thought, they move farther than we thought," Verdonschot said.

Verdonschot believes his team's research adds to scientific knowledge about mosquitoes. Tomes have been written about mosquito bites and the effects on human health, but little research has been done on their habits, he said.

Verdonschot's simple experiments this summer have value for others building catchment areas around Europe and for housing developers.

"The whole northwestern European climate is becoming more dynamic because of climate change, because of wetter summers. And all this urban infrastructure has to be protected from water excess," he said.

Boerema also has a mosquito trap in the hedge around his cottage, helping to keep track of the mosquito population during wet and dry periods. He is anxious to see the water storage project completed, recalling that he was ordered to evacuate his home during a 1998 flood.

"I think it will ease the danger," he said, even though he's likely to have more mosquitoes.

"We've always been bitten. I don't react very much, but my wife hates them - but not to the extent that we find it unbearable to live here."

Reconciliation being misconstrued as weakness: PM

(batkhela-movies)MANDI BAHAUDDIN: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that some people had mistaken the politics of reconciliation for 'weakness', Geo News reported.

Addressing a public gathering here, PM Gilani said 'whether one is Prime Minister or not is insignificant but the democracy must prevail'. "Those who don't want to see me as Prime Minister, have an option to bring a no-confidence vote', he added.

Gilani said the parliamentary system should continue to function in the country, adding that some 'forces' did not want PPP's success in the upcoming Senate elections. We will not allow any un-parliamentary move, he asserted.

The Prime Minister said: "We don't believe in politics of revenge, but some people have misconstrued our politics of reconciliation as weakness". PPP, he added, had rendered great sacrifices to win elections and had not come in power through back door.

CM takes notice of torture on boy, 2 suspended

 (batkhela_movies)LAHORE: Two police officials of Sabzazar police station blamed for torture on a boy have been suspended after Geo News broke the story.

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif also took notice of the report regarding torture on a 15-year-old boy by Lahore police and instructed Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ahmad Raza Tahir to present a detailed report into the incident.

Lahore police tortured the boy after arresting him in connection with kidnapping children and later released him declaring innocent when he fainted.

Mohammad Syed, a resident of Khaarak, blamed Friday that Sabzazar Police took his son and tortured him for six hours forcing him to confess kidnapping allegations.

The police later called upon boy's father and handed over him the fainted boy. The police also instructed Syed to keep his mouth shut regarding the issue.

Syed said that he got the medical examination of his son from Ganga Ram Hospital certificate of which took away by the police. CCPO Ahmad Raza Tahir was also requested to take notice but to no avail. 

Father of victim had appealed to the Chief Minister Punjab for justice.

Berlusconi resigns, Italians celebrate

(batkhela-movies)ROME: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned on Saturday, ending one of the most scandal-plagued eras in recent Italian history amid the jeers of thousands of protesters gathered in central Rome to celebrate his departure.

Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a crucial vote on Tuesday, handed in his resignation after parliament passed a package of measures demanded by European partners to restore market confidence in Italy's strained public finances.

President Giorgio Napolitano accepted Berlusconi's resignation after a meeting in the presidential palace, his office said.

Former European Commissioner Mario Monti is expected to be given the task of trying to form a new administration to face a widening financial crisis which has sent Italy's borrowing costs to unmanageable levels.

More than a thousand demonstrators waving banners mocking Berlusconi flocked to the president's residence at the Quirinale Palace and shouted "clown, clown, clown" as the motorcade carrying the billionaire media entrepreneur who has been Italy's longest serving prime minister entered.

The crowd grew so unruly that Berlusconi was forced to leave secretly via a side entrance and return to his private residence.

Cheers broke out when they heard that Berlusconi had resigned and the square broke out into a party atmosphere. They sang, danced and some broke open bottles of champagne.

An orchestra near the palace played the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah. "We are here to rejoice," one said.

Demonstrators chanting "resign, resign, resign" also gathered outside the prime minister's office and parliament, heckling ministers as they walked between the two buildings.

A small group of pro-Berlusconi demonstrators gathered outside his residence but were outnumbered by opponents.

"This is something that deeply saddens me," the Italian news agency Ansa quoted Berlusconi as telling aides.

The presidential palace said Napolitano would begin consultations with political figures at 0800 GMT on Sunday morning. He was expected to formally ask Monti for form a government on Sunday night.

Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, came close to disaster this week when yields on 10-year bonds soared over 7.6 percent, the kind of level which forced Ireland, Portugal and Greece to seek an international bailout.

Berlusconi, who failed to secure a majority in a vote on Tuesday, promised to resign once parliament passed the package of economic reforms demanded by European partners to restore confidence in Italy's battered public finances.

Monti, named by Napolitano as a Senator for Life on Wednesday, is expected to appoint a relatively small cabinet of technocrat specialists to steer Italy through the crisis.

With the next election not due until 2013, a technocrat government could have about 18 months to pass painful economic reforms but will need to secure the backing of a majority in parliament and could fall before then.

With a public debt of more than 120 percent of gross domestic product and more than a decade of anaemic economic growth behind it, Italy is at the heart of the euro zone debt crisis and would be too big for the bloc to bail out.

Financial markets have backed a Monti government and as prospects of Berlusconi going became firmer last week, yields dropped below the critical 7 percent level, although they remain close.

"We don't yet have a new government in Italy and we have to wait, but I'm sure if Mario Monti will be appointed he will do whatever is necessary in order to restore the confidence of the financial markets in Italy," Alessandro Profumo, former head of Unicredit, Italy's largest bank, told Reuters.

SIGNS OF OPPOSITION MOUNT

Berlusconi, fighting an array of scandals and facing trials on charges ranging from tax fraud to paying for sex with an under-aged prostitute, had been under pressure to resign for weeks as the market crisis threatened to spin out of control.

International leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde have expressed hopes a new government can be in place quickly.

Talks with Italian political parties are expected to begin on Sunday with hopes that a new government can be in place in time for the opening of financial markets on Monday.

However, even as preparations for a transition begin, signs of opposition have appeared, with Berlusconi's PDL party split between factions ready to accept a Monti government and others deeply opposed.

Berlusconi had a working lunch with Monti before the vote, suggesting the outgoing government will not try to block a quick handover, but the attitude of the centre-right as a whole remains unclear.

The PDL's main coalition ally, the regional pro-devolution Northern League, has declared it will go into opposition, underlining the risk that the new government will lack the broad parliamentary support it will need to pass deep reforms.

"The convulsions in the centre-right at the prospect of a government led by Mario Monti signal a danger: that a divided coalition may be tempted to unload its divisions on the country," the daily Corriere della Sera said.

The centre-left Democratic party and smaller centrist parties have pledged support to Monti. Italy's main business and banking associations and some of the moderate trade unions have also called for a government of national unity. (Reuters)

Milk prices up by Rs.2 per litre in Karachi

 KARACHI: Milk sellers have increased prices of fresh milk by Rs.2 per litre, Geo News reported. Fresh milk is being sold at Rs.70 per litre in the metropolis.

The retailers are selling milk Rs.10 per litre higher the prices set by city government. CDGK had fixed the milk prices at Rs.60 per litre.

Karachiites complained that the government had failed to fix the milk prices and it seemed there was no institution to control the prices.

Meanwhile, milk sellers said dairy farmers and wholesalers had raised prices, therefore, retailers were selling it at higher price.

Australia kicked out of kabaddi 'World Cup' for drugs

NEW DELHI: The Australian national team was on Sunday thrown out the kabaddi "World Cup" in India after failing multiple drugs tests as the tournament struggles to overcome a series of doping scandals.

The event, being held in the northern state of Punjab, has brought 14 teams together from across the world to play the popular and highly physical South Asian game, which mixes tag with wrestling.

The "World Cup" -- which is not officially recognised as there is no international governing body for the sport -- has so far seen 29 players test positive for banned substances since it began on November 1.

Five Australians failed dope tests and two others refused to give urine samples, leaving the country unable to field a team for their match against Afghanistan on Saturday.

"Five of Australia's players tested positive in anti-dope tests and two absconded maybe out of fear of facing such a test," organising secretary Pargat Singh told AFP.

"Since eight players have to be on the ground, Australia failed to have a quorum at a group stage match yesterday and so have been disqualified. They are out of the tournament."

Afghanistan were awarded the match in a walkover. Kabaddi players from Canada, Britain, the United States, Norway, Spain and India have been among those to have failed drug tests.

US team member Manjinder Singh allegedly tried to substitute his urine samples with water and verbally abused National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) staff when he was caught, the Times of India reported.

"With so many players caught in (the) doping net, it will be set a good precedent for next year," NADA director general Rahul Bhatnagar told the Times.

"But at the same time it leaves many questions unanswered on the fair play in the tournament. Doping is nothing but cheating. I don't know what organizers are going to do about it in this year's event."

Officials declined to identify the banned substances but press reports said some were for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.

Kabaddi involves an individual player raiding the opposition team's territory while chanting "kabaddi, kabaddi, kabaddi" until he runs out of breath. His opponents, who generally hold hands, try to snare him and stop him from returning to his home base.

Group stages of the World Cup are due to be completed on Wednesday, with 
India among the favourites to win the finals at the Guru Nanak stadium in 
Ludhiana on November 20.

Arch-rivals Pakistan lodged a complaint last week after members of the US team -- that they lost to 39-43 -- gave positive tests. The tournament is also running a women's event involving four national sides.

Pak Army Is The Best Iranian Military Domestic Technology

Iranian Military Domestic Technology, Surface to sea missiles, S 300, hidden silos Shahab 3

China says sanctions 'cannot solve' Iran issue

(batkhela.tk)BEIJING: China's foreign ministry said Thursday that sanctions could not "fundamentally solve" the issue of Iran's nuclear programme.

"Sanctions cannot fundamentally solve the Iran issue," said ministry spokesman Hong Lei, after the UN atomic watchdog said it had broadly "credible" intelligence suggesting the country had done work towards building nuclear warheads. (AFP)

Throw out differences for regional growth, urges Gilani

(batkhela-movies)ADDU: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday urged SAARC countries to throw out all the differences for the development in the region.

Addressing a SAARC summit here, Prime Minister said that he stressed upon the implementation of decisions taken in last two SAARC summits.

Gilani said that there was a need to fulfill all the promises that had been made during the conferences.

He also advised the summit to establish Regional Development Bank for building close relationship among the countries in banking sector.

PM said that terrorism is one of the biggest challenges for the world, adding that Pakistan supported to extend its cooperation for the elimination of the menace.

Sindh govt seizes all previous CDGK accounts

(batkhela-movies) KARACHI: Sindh Government has seized all the accounts maintained by City and/or District governments under the previous administrative system, Geo News reported Thursday.

Under the new system, the financial affairs will be carried out through divisional commissioners.

According to the Notification issued by Sindh Finance Department, the accounts being maintained under the previous local bodies system including those of city, district, towns, taluka and union councils had been seized.

It further said that as a result of the restoration of Local Government Ordinance 1979, funds would now be provided to commissioners for running the affairs at division and district levels.

The Local Bodies Department has also issued orders for scraping all the administrative set up of the previous city government along with all the district, town and taluka governments.

Indian Army not happy with Omar

 (batkhela-movies)SRINAGAR: Talks between the government of Indian Occupied Kashmir and Indian Army over controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) have collapsed.

The Indian Army is against the removal of the Act and insisted it must stay. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is strongly pitching for removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) "in areas where the Army has not operated for years". 

At the Unified Headquarters meeting called to review the overall security scenario and attended by top Army commanders, heads of various security forces and intelligence agencies, the CM said AFSPA had to be partially withdrawn from the state. 

Omar is facing stiff resistance from the army for removing the Act from some parts.

"What is the problem in removing AFSPA from those areas where the Army has not worked for years? When did they (Army) work in Srinagar or Budgam the last time?" he asked.

Private sector to run Shalimar Express train

(batkhela-movies)KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has decided to restore Shalimar Express train service between Karachi and Lahore from January next year through private sector.

The PR officials in Lahore told PPI on phone that ticket reservation and checking system of the train would be the responsibility of the private sector however he said that it could not be decided to whom the responsibility would be given. He said that a decision would soon be reached.

Meanwhile, sources in PR say that the department would earn Rs510 million annually from the deal. The train would depart to and from Lahore and Karachi at 6:30am on daily basis.

In Karachi, Chairman Pakistan Railways Workers' Union Chairman Manzoor Ahmed Razi criticized the decision and said that the move would further increase the deficit of Pakistan Railways. He said that if the private sector is interested in running trains then it should also bring its own locomotives, coaches and staff and use the tracks of the department.

"What kind of a deal is this when PR would be providing diesel, locomotives and staff and they would make profit only by selling tickets", he questioned.

He said that the proposal must be reconsidered and warned that if any agreement is reached then a nationwide protest will be launched by the employees of Pakistan Railways.

Australia all out for 47 in bizarre Newlands Test

(batkhela-movies)CAPE TOWN: Australia crumbled to 47 all out in their second innings of the extraordinary first Test against South Africa on Thursday. 

The lowest Test total ever was 26 by New Zealand against England in 1955 while Australia's lowest was 36 against England in 1902. 

A last-wicket stand from Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon avoided Australia beating those unwanted records.

Hosts South Africa had earlier been bowled out for 96 on a remarkable day two and a reasonable-looking wicket after the tourists had made 284 in their first innings with captain Michael Clarke scoring 151.

All four innings will take place on the same day with Australia leading by 235 and with a decent chance of winning the first match of the two-test series despite their woeful second innings effort.(Reuters)

Brangelina visit Japan to promote 'Moneyball'

(batkhela-movies)TOKYO: Actor Brad Pitt praised the "tenacity" of Japan in its post-quake recovery efforts Thursday, as the star brought his partner Angelina Jolie and family to a nation still confronting a nuclear crisis.

"You are bringing everything forward to rebuilding and reclaiming the lives for yourselves and for others. It's valued and inspiring to us," Pitt told a news conference ahead of the Japan release of his new movie "Moneyball."

"Your tenacity and perseverance and survival has a great effect on us, to the world community, and I applaud you all for that," he said.

Pitt's visit to Japan, together with Jolie and their six children comes nearly eight months after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake triggered a devastating tsunami that left 20,000 dead or missing, while sparking the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl 25 years ago.

The global community is "greatly and painfully aware of the cataclysmic catastrophe," Pitt said. "Our hearts and thoughts are still with you who have been touched by this event."

In the film directed by Bennett Miller, Pitt plays the Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane who turns to a statistician with a radical new system to evaluate players and put together a competitive team at a quarter of the cost.

Baseball is hugely popular in Japan both as a professional sport and among children, and the nation has exported stars to US Major League Baseball such as Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners and Hideki Matsui of the Oakland A's.

At the film's preview Wednesday, Pitt gave autographed balls to 10 teenage baseball players from the quake-hit northeast. (AFP)

Big chink found in malaria's armour

(batkhela-movies)PARIS: Researchers said Wednesday they had discovered a unique microscopic channel through which malaria parasites must pass to infect red blood cells, a finding that opens up a highly promising target for a vaccine.

The doorway mechanism is common to all known strains of the deadliest mosquito-borne pathogen, Plasmodium falciparum, which means that a future vaccine could in theory work against all of them, according to the study published in the journal Nature.

The death toll from malaria has declined by a fifth over the last decade, but the disease still claims some 800,000 lives every year, mostly children under five in sub-Saharan Africa.

"Our findings were unexpected and have completely changed the way in which we view the invasion process," said Gavin Wright of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the study's senior co-author.

The breakthrough "seems to have revealed an Achilles' heel in the way the parasite invades our red blood cells."

Up to now, scientists assumed that P. falciparum had several options for piercing the defences of blood cells.

But in experiments, Wright and colleagues showed that intrusion depends on the interaction between a specific molecule on the parasite, called a ligand, and a specific receptor on the blood cell.

Blocking this interaction repels the pathogen's attempt to breach the cell's protective wall, they found.

"By identifying a single receptor that appears to be essential for parasites to invade human red blood cells, we have also identified an obvious and very exciting focus for vaccine development," said co-author Julian Rayner, also from the Sanger Institute.

Early results from clinical trials in Africa showed that the world's first malaria vaccine, reported in a study last month, cut infection rates by roughly half. The vaccine, made by the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, works by triggering the immune system.

"These reports are encouraging," said Adrian Hill, a researcher at Oxford's Jenner Institute. "But in the future more effective vaccines will be needed if malaria is ever to be eradicated."

Hill added: "The discovery of a single receptor that can be targeted to stop the parasite infecting red blood cells offers the hope of a far more effective solution." 

Cave painters were realists'

(batkhela-movies)LOS ANGELES: Cave painters during the Ice Age were more like da Vinci than Dali, sketching realistic depictions of horses they saw rather than dreaming them up, a study of ancient DNA finds.

It's not just a matter of aesthetics: Paintings based on real life can give first-hand glimpses into the environment of tens of thousands of years ago. But scientists have wondered how much imagination went into animal drawings etched in caves around Europe.

The latest analysis published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences focused on horses since they appeared most frequently on rock walls. The famed Lascaux Cave in the Dordogne region of southwest France and the Chauvet Cave in southeast France feature numerous scenes of brown and black horses. Other caves like the Pech Merle in southern France are adorned with paintings of white horses with black spots.

Past studies of ancient DNA have only turned up evidence of brown and black horses during that time. That led scientists to question whether the spotted horses were real or fantasy.

To get at the genetics of equine coat color, an international team led by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Germany analyzed DNA from fossilized bones and teeth from 31 prehistoric horses. The samples were recovered from more than a dozen archaeological sites in Siberia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and the Iberian peninsula.

It turned out six of the horses had a genetic mutation that gives rise to a spotted coat, suggesting that ancient artists were drawing what they were seeing. Brown was the most common coat color, found in 18 horses.

Researchers who were not part of the study praised the use of genetics, saying it supports their observations.

Paleoanthropologist John Shea of Stony Brook University in New York said he was not surprised that cave artists were in tune with their surroundings since they needed to know all they could about their prey to hunt them.

"These artists were better observers of their natural environment than many humans are today," Shea said in an email.

Just because cave art was rooted in reality doesn't mean Ice Age painters lacked creativity.

Archaeologist Paul Pettitt of the University of Sheffield in England said ancient artists were "immensely creative," using techniques such as charcoal shading that are still found in modern art. (AP)

parang ba na chayre telar

Quandary of the kilo triggers a weighty reflexion

(batkhela-movies.)PARIS: The guardians of the world's most important standards of weights and measures have turned to the weird universe of quantum physics to try to resolve a dilemma.

To the bafflement of scientists, a cylinder of metal sitting in a closely-guarded strongbox that is the global benchmark for the kilogram is changing mass.

The enigma doesn't affect anyone who wants to buy 500-milligramme tablets of aspirin, half a kilo of carrots or a 50,000-tonne cruise ship.

But it poses a hefty theoretical challenge to physicists, and complicates the work of labs which need ultra-precise, always-standard measurement.

Since 1889, the kilogram has been internationally defined in accordance with a piece of metal kept at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (known by its French acronym of BIPM), in the Paris suburb of Sevres.

Ninety-percent platinum and 10-percent iridium, the British-made cylinder was proudly deemed at its founding to be as inalienable as the stars in the sky.

It is kept under three glass cases in a safe in a protected building, the Pavillon de Breteuil.

In 1992 came a shock: the famous kilo was no longer what it should be.

Measurements made over a century showed that the prototype had changed by around 50 microgrammes -- the equivalent of a tiny grain of sand 0.4 millimetres (0.015 inches) in diameter -- compared to six other kilos also stored in Sevres.

"Actually, we're not sure whether it lost mass or gained it," Alain Picard, director of the BIPM's Mass Department, told AFP.

"The change may be to due to surface effects, loss of gas from the metal or a buildup of contaminant."

The skinnier (or fatter) kilo became more than a scientific curiosity.

-- Kilo will still be a kilo --

It is a bedrock of the International System of Units (SI), the world's most widely-used system of measurement units for daily life, precision engineering, science and trade. 

The SI has seven "base units" -- the kilo, metre, second, ampere, kelvin, mole and candela -- from which all other units are derived.

But unlike its counterparts, the kilo is the last unit that is still defined by a material object.

There used to be a platinum ruler that was the world's standard metre until its role was replaced by a fundamental constant, the time that light takes to travel 100 centimetres. The metal metre still resides in Sevres, but as a museum piece.

Moving at a pace best described as ponderous, the masters of the SI have now decided to phase out the kilo cylinder.

If all goes well, it will be replaced by a fixed value based on the Planck Constant, named after Max Planck, the granddaddy of quantum physics, who 
discovered it in 1899.

The Planck Constant, which uses the letter "h" in equations, corresponds to the smallest packet of energy, or quanta, that two particles can exchange.

On October 21, the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) agreed to use the constant to calculate the value of the kilo.

But adopting this "will not be before 2014," after experiments to assess the accuracy of measurement techniques to ensure accuracy to within 20 parts per billion.

If the Planck Constant is adopted, nothing in everyday life will change. The kilo will still be a kilo.

"However, the changes will have immediate impact in the excruciatingly accurate measurements carried out by highly specialised laboratories," the conference said in a press release. (AFP)

America's poor population up at 49 million mark

 (batkhela-movies)WASHINGTON: The number of poor Americans hit a record 49 million in 2010, or 16 percent, according to new data released on Monday that showed poverty rates for the elderly, Asians and Hispanics higher than previously known.

The figures were calculated by the Census Bureau under a broad new measure intended to supplement the official standard with a fuller picture of poverty in the United States. Results contrast with official poverty data, released in September, that put the number of poor Americans at 46.2 million.

The biggest rise occurred among people aged 65 and older who are being driven into poverty by out-of-pocket medical expenses, including premiums and co-pays from the federal government's Medicare program for the elderly.

The poverty rate for the elderly jumped to 15.9 percent, or a roughly 1 in 6 senior citizens, versus 9 percent under the official count.

The findings highlight the challenges facing Republicans and Democrats on a special congressional "super committee" charged with cutting at least $1.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next 10 years.

Both sides have proposed hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, which threatens to explode the U.S. debt burden, despite intensive lobbying against reductions by groups that represents beneficiaries and healthcare providers.

"People will say this shows how crucial it is not to cut a penny out of Medicare spending. And that's unfortunate, because it's an argument against solving the deficit," said Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution.

Like the government's Social Security pension system for the elderly, Medicare is also expected to be a hot-button issue in 2012 election politics for both parties as they vie for control of the White House and Congress.

INADEQUATE SAFETY NET

Unlike the Census Bureau's official poverty measure, which focuses on the food budgets and cash wages of the poor, the new calculation includes government benefits such as food stamps as well as household expenses like taxes, medical costs, housing and regional differences in the cost of living, the Census Bureau said in a report.

It will now supplement official poverty estimates, which have been used to determine eligibility for programs that help the poor since the mid-1960s.

The broader formula generates an overall U.S. poverty rate of 16 percent, versus an official 15.1 percent, with an annual poverty income threshold of $24,343 for a family of four, compared with $22,113 under the official measure.

"This shows that the social safety net is helping but not doing as much as we'd like to see," said Dave Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute. "The programs we have right now are, if anything, inadequate."

The new formula also showed poverty rates increasing for whites, Asians and working-age adults but falling for blacks and children.

For the first time, the poverty rate for Hispanics eclipsed the rate among blacks, by 28.2 percent to 25.4 percent, partly as a result of less participation in social programs, like housing subsidies, among immigrant groups.

As an indication of the benefits of government assistance, Census officials said the poverty rate would have risen to 18 percent if not for earned income tax credit for people with low to moderate incomes.

The broader measure was developed in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Academy of Sciences, Census officials said. (Reuters)

Doctor found guilty of causing Michael Jackson’s death

(Batkhela-movies) LOS ANGELES: Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter Monday over the King of Pop's death in June 2009, the court clerk said.

Cheers erupted outside and someone cried out in the court room, but a grim-faced Murray himself gave no reaction when the long-awaited verdict was announced after a six-week trial in Los Angeles.

Jackson's family -- led by mother Katherine and father Joe -- were in court to hear the verdict, having braved their way through a huge media and fan scrum outside the court.

Murray faces up to four years in jail and could be banned from practicing medicine after his conviction in connection with Jackson's death from an overdose of propofol on June 25, 2009.

Since opening on September 27, the trial at Los Angeles Superior Court has heard from 49 witnesses -- 33 for the prosecution, and 16 for the defense.

In his closing arguments last week, Deputy District Attorney David Walgren said Murray caused the star's death through negligence and greed, depriving Jackson's children of their father and the world of a "genius."

Walgren, summing up an "overwhelming case" against Murray, claimed the medic concocted lies to cover his tracks -- specifically about the timeline on the day Jackson died, and not telling paramedics what drugs he had given.

He alleged that Murray above all wanted to protect his $150,000 a month salary for looking after Jackson, describing how the doctor agreed to treat the star's insomnia with the anesthetic propofol against all medical advice.

"Conrad Murray in multiple instances deceived, lied, obscured, but more importantly, Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence," the prosecutor told the jury.

The defense, meanwhile, argued that Jackson was a desperate drug addict who caused his own death by taking more medicines while 

Murray was out of the room at the star's rented mansion in Los Angeles.

Defense attorney Ed Chernoff claimed that Murray was "a little fish in a 
big dirty pond," alleging that key witnesses conspired to agree on a story after Jackson died.

Shortly before the verdict announcement, Jackson's sister La Toya tweeted that her brother was watching over the proceedings.

"Michael's spirit will be with us in the court room and he will make sure 
the right verdict is made," she tweeted.

Jackson's former dermatologist broke his silence to deny the singer was a drug addict, or that he had given him massive doses of painkillers in the months before his death.

"Michael was not a drug addict. .. Michael Jackson did not have a problem with pain killers," said Dr Arnold Klein, whose office Jackson visited several times a week in the months before his death.

Specifically he denied having treated Jackson with large doses of the painkiller Demerol -- 900 mg over three days in one case -- during the month of May 2009, as suggested by records from his office shown in evidence in the last week of the trial.

Klein said he was away in Paris for most of the month of May, and other doctors worked from his office.

"I would never give a person those doses attributed to me," he told the HLN television channel. 

"Those doses they said in trial are not my doses," he added. (AFP)