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)

Aamer shifted to seaside Prison Portland

(batkhela-movies)LONDON: The teenage bowling sensation Muhamamd Aamer has been shifted from notorious Feltham Young Offenders Institution to a special secure rehabilitation centre for young people in Weymouth known as Her Majesty's Prison Portland, a seaside tourist attraction town in Dorset, England, it can be revealed. 

After being sentenced to 6 months detention (not imprisonment) on Thursday with fellow players Salman Butt and Muhammad Asif, who were both sent to the high security Wandsworth prison in South London, the young bowling genius was sent to Feltham Young Offenders Institution. 

The decision to send Aamer to Her Majesty's Prison Portland, which is located in the village of Easton, came after it was decided by the Prison Services' Youth Justice Board that the young bowlers deserved to be at a better rehabilitation centre with modern educational, recreational and teaching facilities with no stigma such as the one attached to the Feltham Young Offenders Institution. The Weymouth Young Offenders Institution is considered a youth hostel and one of the best rehabilitation centres for the 15-21 years old offenders convicted on various charges. 

A source told Geo News that Aamer will have every kind of facility at the centre where he can play sports, attend education classes, exercise at the gym, use internet and take part in charitable events after a month or so, including collecting money for the local charities. Aamer will, each week, receive up to 25 hours of education, skills and other activities, including programmes looking at improving the behaviour of the young inmates.

A source told Geo News that Muhammad Aamer demonstrated extremely good behavior for the two days he spent at the rehabilitation centre. The news of his arrival at the Feltham Young Offenders Institution had spread like wildfire amongst the more than 750 under 21 years old young inmates at the prison even before he was sent there from the holding cells at the Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. According to a source at the institution, Aamer spent the first two nights in Bittern unit, where the 8 holding units are named after birds. He was given access to TV, games and telephone straight away.

Aamer's quick relocation is a far cry from the notorious Feltham Young Offenders' Institution where a 19 years old Pakistani Zahid Mubarek was killed in March 2000 by a white racist psychopath Robert Stewart. The teenager was sent to Feltham Young Offenders Institution after being found guilty of stealing razors and interfering with a motor vehicle.

Robert Stewart, a prolific offender from the Manchester area, attacked Zahid Mubarek when he was preparing to come home at the end of his sentence. Hours before his release, Stewart took a table leg and batters his cellmate. Seven days later, Zahid Mubarek died in hospital from his injuries. Stewart was charged with his murder and found guilty of murder and sentenced to life.

A report by the Commission for Racial Equality seven years ago found "widespread racism" at the jail, with Black and Asian inmates subjected to bullying and unfavourable treatment by wardens. Sir David Ramsbotham, the chief inspector of prisons, said the prison was "rotten to the core". The report said inmates had not been encouraged to report cases of racial abuse, and only five or six had been reported every month, but since his report the number has increased to 50 or 60 per month.

Pakistan looks to highway to fight militancy

 Deep in Pakistan's unruly tribal areas, army engineers protected by soldiers on mountaintops spend hours every morning combing the earth for Taliban bombs before embarking on a special mission.

After determining there is no danger, they use machinery to cut through rugged terrain to build a highway Pakistan hopes will give it an edge over militants by connecting the underdeveloped region to the central economy.

It is one of several "Quick Impact Projects" designed to win over the population of the restive South Waziristan area, home to some of the most dangerous militant groups in the world.

"When the economy prospers, mindsets change. When there is opportunity for business and commercial activities, people focus on that and less on violence," said Zahid Raja, spokesmen for the army's construction and civil engineering wing.

"That is how there is an overall impact on security."

Pakistan has in the past resorted to military offensives in South Waziristan and nearby areas against militants seeking to topple the U.S.-backed government.

But the operations proved to be stop-gap measures at best, and failed to weaken groups like the Pakistani Taliban who seem to carry out suicide bombings at will.

Now the army seems to be adopting a more comprehensive strategy by investing in the highway that will connect South Waziristan to major cities in Pakistan, as well as Afghanistan.

If the project succeeds, it could help the unpopular government gain influence in a restive border region largely neglected since Pakistan was created in 1947.

The Taliban seem to understand the road could pose a threat. They have dispatched suicide bombers to kill engineers and soldiers working on the highway and regularly stage ambushes.

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), of which South Waziristan is a part, are semi-autonomous and have never been fully integrated into Pakistan's administrative and economic system.

They are governed under a system inherited from British colonialists, with government-appointed political agents ruling through the tribes that observe their centuries-old codes, not Pakistani laws.

"It is only now, after sixty years, that Pakistan has tried to understand the tribal areas," said Mahmood Shah, a former intelligence official in the region who praised the highway project but wondered how committed authorities were to completing it.

"Before, nobody in Islamabad knew about the region."

EMPTY PROMISES

Persuading ethnic Pashtun tribesmen in South Waziristan and elsewhere who have long been suspicious of the state to cooperate won't be easy. They have heard many empty promises of roads, jobs, schools and hospitals before.

This time, officials say, the $81 million in funds mostly from the United States and the United Arab Emirates will be made available soon so the highway can be completed by a target date of 2013.

"Despite security threats, we are working as quickly as we can," said Mohammad Ali, an official involved with the project.

The militants, for their part, have spent years making sure people are too scared to side with the state, beheading pro-government officials and tribal leaders.

Still, the prospects of economic integration are raising spirits among some of the 500,000 inhabitants of South Waziristan, an arid and mountainous region pockmarked with sparse forest and dried up creeks.

"We have wanted this for a long time. It is God's blessing that this road is being built," said Saif-ur-Rehman Wazir, a tribal elder in his 50s wearing traditional baggy trousers and tunic.

A few sections of the highway have already opened and the bustling traffic has fueled optimism in the area.

"If there is a good road there will be business. I own land and it's going to increase in value by ten-fold," said Mir Aman, 26, who owns apple orchards.

"I have already spoken with my father about maybe setting up a petrol pump."

Pakistan has come under immense pressure to tackle militants since U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden in May in a Pakistani town, where he had apparently lived for years.

Stabilizing the border area will become more urgent for the United States as it nears the deadline for withdrawing combat troops from Afghanistan at the end of 2014.

But pacifying the region will take time and lots of investment to erase the conditions that fuel militancy, such as poverty and unemployment.

Pakistan's government is cash-strapped, heavily reliant on foreign aid and is often paralyzed by political squabbling, so coming up with the funds for more projects may be difficult in the face of the harsh realities on the ground.

In a February 21, 2009, diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks, then U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson said defeating a "growing witches' brew" of al Qaeda, the Taliban and local militants would take 10-15 years.

"Unfortunately in Pakistan, continuity is a problem. Priorities change as officials and governments change," said Shah, the former intelligence official.

"But if they stay committed and continue such work for even five years, they will change the face of FATA."

President, PM greet nation on Eid-ul-Azha

 (batkhela-movies)ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani have greeted the nation on Eid-ul-Azha, and called upon them to promote affection, tolerance, patience and brotherhood. 

In their message on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha, the two leaders said these principles were needed to create a society according to the tenets of Islam. 

President Asif Ali Zardari urged the people to adopt values of sacrifice, brotherhood, kindness and charity to create a tolerant and harmonious society.

They also called upon the people not to forget flood-hit people on this occasion. (Geo Urdu/PPI)

Nation celebrating Eid-ul-Azha today

(batkhela-movies) ISLAMABAD: The nation is celebrating Eid-ul-Azha with traditional zeal and religious fervour today (Monday).

The largest Eid Congregation in the federal capital is being held at Faisal Mosque.

In Rawalpindi, main Eid Congregation is being held at Liaqat Bagh while in Lahore, biggest Eid Congregation be held at Badshahi Mosque, Data Darbar, Masjid Shaudha, Masjid Wazir Khan and Bagh Jinnah.

In Karachi, Eid congregations are being held at Memon Mosque, Bagh Jinnah and several other places.

Ulema and khateebs from different schools of thought would deliver special sermons and lectures to highlight the significance of the day.

On the occasion, special prayers will be offered for the progress and prosperity of the country, unity of the 'Ummah'.

Miss Venezuela wins Miss World crown

LONDON:(batkhela-movies) Miss Venezuela, Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colimenares, was crowned the 2011 winner of the Miss World beauty pageant at a glittering final ceremony in London on Sunday.

Miss Philippines, Gwendoline Gaelle Sandrine Ruais, was named the runner-up, while Miss Puerto Rico, Amanda Victoria Vilanova Perez, came third.

Sarcos Colimenares, 22, who works for a broadcasting company and has a degree in human resources, gasped and threw her hands to her face as she was announced the winner.

Some 113 beauty queens from Albania to Zimbabwe took their place on the stage, with the show being broadcast live to an estimated audience of more than one billion viewers in 150 countries. (AFP)

New Miss International to be picked today

 (batkhela-movies)SICHUAN: The new Miss International will be chosen here today (November 6) at the Sichuan Opera Theater in Chengdu, China.

At the contest the Philippine bet Dianne Necio is aiming for the country’s fifth crown, which is a tall order keeping in view the fact that we have already four winners - Gemma Cruz in 1964, Aurora Pijuan in 1970, Melanie Marquez in 1979 and Precious Lara Quigaman in 2005 - all of whom have eventually ventured into 

A potential attack on Iran, Israeli President

   JERUSALEM(batkhela-movies): Israeli President Shimon Peressays that Iran is much more likely to attack.Israel's President Shimon Peres, Israeli TV saidwhile kuantruyu thakh attack on Iran by Israel andother countries likely it is the intelligence agencies of various countries khnathakh kuayrannuclear program is prtsuys. khnathakh theintelligence agencies of these countries aretelling their leaders that Iran will acquire nuclearweapons to be warned to stop.

         Karachi (BATKHELA-MOVIES)... Governor calls on President Asif AliZardari tyly is contacted three times. Nmawn bethe case in which both agreed to resolve bymutual consultation. Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan, Asif Zardari, who has contacts on the phone tyly both nmawn in the Sindhgovernment to discuss and resolve issues in consultation kubahmy agreed.