Friday, February 25, 2011

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

A dog may be man's best friend but a cat is woman's!

Posted:

While dogs are considered ever-friendly ready to follow you all over the place, cats are thought of as haughty creatures -- but that may not be true -- according to a new study, which claims cats attach to humans, and particularly women, as social partners.

Researchers at Konrad Lorenz Research Station and the University of Vienna have found that this attachment, especially with women, is not just for the sake of food.

"Food is often used as a token of affection, and the ways that cats and humans relate to food are similar in nature to the interactions seen between the human caregiver and the pre-verbal infant," Discovery News quoted Jon Day, a researcher at Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, as saying.

A study of interactions between 41 cats and their owners over lengthy four-part periods revealed that cats and their owners strongly influenced each other, such that they were each often controlling the other's behaviours.

Extroverted women and young active cats enjoyed the best bond with cats in these relationships only having to use subtle cues, such as a single upright tail move, to signal desire for friendly contact.

"In response, the cats approach female owners more frequently, and initiate contact more frequently (such as jumping on laps) than they do with male owners," said co-author Manuela Wedl of the University of Vienna, adding that, "female owners have more intense relationships with their cats than do male owners."

Dennis Turner, a University of Zurich-Irchel animal behaviorist, told Discovery News the he's "very impressed with this study on human-cat interactions, in that it has taken our earlier findings a step higher, using more modern analytical techniques to get at the interplay between cat and human personalities."

The study will appear in the journal Behavioural Processes.

Rahat case fallout: Pakistani artistes need NOC to go abroad

Posted:

Pakistani artists and students would now need to have a no-objection certificate from the interior ministry, a decision that was "supposedly taken after the embarrassing episode in which singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained by Indian authorities," said a leading Pakistani daily.

Calling it an 'ominous development', the editorial in the Dawn on Friday said Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the National Assembly that students wanting to go abroad on scholarships - as well as artistes - would have to obtain an NOC from his ministry before they can leave the country.

"Malik did not give a reason for this bizarre decision, yet it was supposedly taken after the embarrassing episode in which singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained by Indian authorities at Delhi's airport as he attempted to board a flight with a hefty amount of undeclared cash," the editorial said.

Rahat was detained at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport on February 13 for carrying undeclared foreign currency worth more than $124,000. India's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) investigated him for more than a week before returning his passport and fining him and his manager Rs 1.5 million each.

Rahat, the nephew of legendary singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is popular both in India and Pakistan. Several of his hit songs from Indian films are a rage on both sides of the border, for which he has won several awards, including the recent Filmfare Award for 'Dil to Bachcha Hai Jee'.

The Dawn editorial cited reports as saying that intelligence agencies "would see which country was providing scholarships (to students) and for what purpose".

It asked: "Why are such steps - more suited to police states - being taken during the tenure of a democratic government? If such a move had been made during a military dictatorship, perhaps it would have been unsurprising...Why does the government seem intent on limiting Pakistanis' contacts with the world?"

Highlighting the problem, the daily said that "already numerous foreign scholarships are wasted as the relevant ministries fail to advertise and inform students about them".

"For those students who manage to secure scholarships on their own, this step will only add a bureaucratic hurdle in their way. NOCs can be difficult to obtain even for government employees, so one can imagine the hassle a student will have to put up with in order to get the document.

"As for artists, performers already have to go through a complex procedure to secure foreign visas. Why make things more complicated?"

It wrapped up saying, "In essence, the NOC will serve as a permit to leave the country with the interior ministry having the final say about who can and cannot travel abroad".

There "are very serious questions the rulers need to consider before implementing this bad idea." it added.

"It should be nipped in the bud before it is allowed to impinge on people`s rights and restrict free travel. Such questionable measures have no place in a democratic society."

Arun Nayar 'enjoys with new girlfriend as Hurley tries to forget Warne'

Posted:

Indian textile tycoon Arun Nayar, who recently parted ways with wife Liz Hurley, looked pretty pleased as he stepped out in Soho with his new girlfriend, model Kim Johnson.

The couple enjoyed an evening out at The Groucho club and looked happy and relaxed as they left the London hot spot, reports the Daily Mail.

The Indian textile tycoon and the 25-year old model were introduced at a jewellery launch in September and are believed to have been dating for several weeks.

But while Nayar's love life is blossoming, his estranged wife Liz Hurley's romance has seemingly come to an end after Australian cricket ace Shane Warne was accused of cheating on her with a porn star.

'Totally natural' human breast milk ice cream on sale in London

Posted:

A shop in London is selling ice cream containing human breast milk.

The shop in Covent Garden used milk donated by a UK mom to make the "totally natural" treat.

According to UK website Parentdish, Victoria Hiley, 35, a mother of one from Leeds in northern England, has already donated a liter of her breast milk to Icecreamists parlor for the dish it calls Baby Gaga.

"What''s the harm in using my assets for a bit of extra cash?" Fox News quoted Hiley as saying, who responded to an advert for milk suppliers on another parenting website, Mumsnet.

"What could be more natural than fresh, free-range mother''s milk in an ice cream?"

The new parlor pays 15 pounds (24 dollars) for every 10 ounces of milk and has already had 15 mothers become donors. Each lactating woman undergoes the same health checks used by the UK''s National Health Service to screen blood donors.

Matt O''Connor, 44, who runs Icecreamists, makes the dish by blending the breast milk with Madagascan vanilla pods and lemon zest.

"No-one''s done anything interesting with ice cream in the last hundred years," he said.

"Some people will hear about it and go, ''yuck,'' but actually it''s pure, organic, free-range and totally natural," he added.

Gaddafi's son seeks friend Tony Blair's 'diplomatic' assistance

Posted:

Colonel Gaddafi's son has urged former British Prime Minister Tony Blair to utilise his "diplomatic skills" in helping his father's regime in 'crushing their enemies'.

A close ally of Saif Gaddafi has reportedly urged Blair to help Libya to attain stability.

"He is peacemaker in the Middle East, and should be able to use his talents for peacemaking here. We need his diplomatic skills now as we set about crushing our enemies," the Daily Mail quoted the official, who is also a senior figure in the Libyan regime, as saying.

"It is time for the international community to bring peace to Libya and Tony Blair could be at the forefront of this process. Tony Blair is a good friend who would put the country on a stable footing," he added.

The official's statement has come amid warnings by MPs and critics that Blair, who is reportedly still a 'good friend' of the Libyan dictator, could be severely embarrassed if the Gaddafi regime collapses.

The families of Lockerbie bombing victims have also warned that the former Pr'ime Minister would be left with a 'dirty bib' when full details of the trade deals between Libya and Western companies, some of which were engineered by Blair, are revealed, the paper said.

Earlier, Saif had claimed in an interview that Blair was a friend of the Gaddafi regime, adding that he was a consultant to the Libyan Investment Authority, the sovereign fund responsible for the country's 50 billion pounds oil wealth. Blair, however, has denied the claims of Gaddafi's son.

Since the end of Blair's tenure, the former Prime Minister has reportedly received fees of up to two million pounds a year as an adviser to JP Morgan, which has important business interests in Libya.

On being asked if Blair was in touch with Colonel Gaddafi or any members of his regime through telephone or email, the source said: "If he was it would be a secret. Their recent negotiations have all been a secret."

Yesterday, former Libyan Justice Minister Mohamed Mustafa Abud al-Jalil had claimed of having proof that Gaddafi had 'personally given the order for the Lockerbie bombing''.

New Zealand earthquake survivor trapped in 'foetal position' marries

Posted:

A New Zealand woman who miraculously survived Tuesday's 6.3 magnitude earthquake after being trapped "in a foetal position" for a terrifying seven hours married her fiance in Christchurch today.

Emma Howard recounted how she was trapped after she was thrown from her chair.

She said that her decision to not crouch under her desk saved her life as a section of the concrete floor from above crashed down on to her work station.

"I'm so lucky I didn't get under my desk. My desk was crushed by the corner of the concrete floor roof above me that came down," Stuff.co.nz quoted Howard, as saying.

The accountant further said that she and her six co-workers talked to each other and used the lights on their mobile phones to see in the darkness.

"There were so many things in between us, but we could see each other and we heard each other perfectly," Howard said.

Trapped in the rubble, Howard texted her fiance, fellow accountant Chris Greenslade, who raced to the building from his nearby workplace.

"He just ran to me, expecting to find me standing on the street, ready to take me home," she said.

Greenslade dug among the remains, pulling out other people as he searched for his bride-to-be.

He was photographed carrying an injured woman to safety in one of the first images that emerged of rescue efforts after the quake.

'I'm just like the Queen'

Posted:

Libyan leader Gaddafi maintains he is a figurehead like Queen Elizabeth, who has been in power for 57 years

The embattled dictator said he was like the Queen, who he says has not been overthrown for 57 years.


Protesters chant 'Libya is free and Gaddafi will leave' during a protest in Tobruk yesterday

"You need to listen to your parents. If people disobey their parents they end up destroying the country," he said.

"The same case as in Britain (where) for 57 years the Queen has been ruling. I have been in the same situation."

"I am not in the same position to be able to impose rule on the people. I have become more of a symbolic leader.

I have no power, it's the people themselves who have the prerogative."

Gaddafi, speaking by telephone to Libyan television, offered his condolences for those who were killed in the bloodshed and called for calm amongst people he said were fighting amongst themselves and taking hallucinogenic drugs.

Saying Osama bin Laden was "the real criminal", Gaddafi urged Libyans not be swayed by the al-Qaeda leader.

"Bin Laden... this is the enemy who is manipulating people," Gaddafi said, adding, "Do not be swayed by bin Laden," he said.

Ten people were reportedly killed yesterday and dozens wounded when forces attacked the rebellious
Az-Zawiyah, around 30 miles from the capital.


Posted by Harshad at 7:15 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)