Moderate quake shakes Chile

WASHINGTON: A moderate earthquake measuring 5.9 shook central Chile late Friday, US researchers reported.
  
The epicenter of the tremor, which occurred at 11:58 pm local time (0258 GMT Saturday), was located 52 kilometers (32 miles) south southwest of the city of Concepcion, according to the US Geological Survey.
  
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
  
The reading was based on the open-ended Moment Magnitude scale used by US seismologists, which measures the area of the fault that ruptured and the total energy released. AGENCIES

‘Avatar’ robot made in Japan

YOKOHAMA: A Japanese-developed robot that mimics the movements of its human controller is bringing the Hollywood blockbuster “Avatar” one step closer to reality.

Users of the TELESAR V don special equipment that allows them not only to direct the actions of a remote machine, but also to see, hear and feel the same things as their doppelganger android.

“When I put on the devices and move my body, I see my hands having turned into the robot hands. When I move my head, I get a different view from the one I had before,” said researcher Sho Kamuro.

“It’s a strange experience that makes you wonder if you’ve really become a robot,” he told AFP.

Professor Susumu Tachi, who specialises in engineering and virtual reality at Keio University’s Graduate School of Media Design, said systems attached to the operator’s headgear, vest and gloves send detailed instructions to the robot, which then mimics the user’s every move.

At the same time, an array of sensors on the android relays a stream of information which is converted into sensations for the user.

The thin polyester gloves the operator wears are lined with semiconductors and tiny motors to allow the user to “feel” what the mechanical hands are touching — a smooth or a bumpy surface as well as heat and cold.

The robot’s “eyes” are actually cameras capturing images that appear on tiny video screens in front of the user’s eyes, allowing them to see in three dimensions.

Microphones on the robot pick up sounds, while its speakers allow the operator to make his voice heard by those near the machine.

The TELESAR — TELexistence Surrogate Anthropomorphic Robot — is still a far cry from the futuristic creations of James Cameron’s “Avatar”, where US soldiers are able to remotely control the genetically engineered bodies of an extra-terrestrial race they wish to subdue.

But, says Tachi, it could have much more immediate — and benign — applications, such as working in high-risk environments, for example the inside of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, though it is early days.

“I think further research and development could enable this to go into areas too dangerous for humans and do jobs that require human skills,” he said.

Japan’s famously advanced robot technology was found wanting during the crisis at Fukushima, where foreign expertise had to be called on for the machines that went inside reactor buildings as nuclear meltdowns began.

Tachi said a “safety myth” had grown up around atomic technology, preventing research on the kind of machines that could help in the wake of a disaster.

But he said his kind of robot technology could help with the long and difficult task of decommissioning reactors at Fukushima — a process that could take three decades.

A remote-controlled android that allows its user to experience what is happening far away may have more than just industrial applications, he added.

“This could be used to talk with your grandpa or grandma living in a remote place and deepen communications,” he said. AGENCIES

Cricket Australia in India tobacco ad row

SYDNEY: Cricket Australia has pulled Hindi adverts displayed during the series with India after being alerted that they could be promoting tobacco, which would attract big fines for breaching local laws.

Cricket bosses said they were assured by the Indian government that the signage was advertising a brand of mouthwash, but decided to take them down due to their apparent similarity to a brand of chewing tobacco.

“We asked (the Indian government’s) advice because we are not familiar with the Hindi language,” a Cricket Australia spokesman told reporters on Tuesday.

“They came back and said it’s an Indian mouthwash — or at least they said it’s not a tobacco product. We don’t have one million percent certainty about all of the detail.

“It appears that there is a tobacco company with the same or similar brand name to the product that is being advertised. We have just become uneasy about it and said, let’s withdraw this,” he added.

“It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

The boundary-line adverts, aimed at the massive TV audience in India, were reportedly worth thousands of dollars and displayed during seven games.

But they will not be seen at future matches, starting with the one-dayer between India and Sri Lanka at Perth on Wednesday.

Cricket Australia acted after Health Minister Tanya Plibersek warned they faced fines of up to Aus$66,000 (US$70,000) for each breach of the 1992 tobacco advertising ban.

“The Gillard government has received a number of complaints alleging that advertisements for tobacco products have been displayed at cricket grounds,” she told News Limited newspapers.

“The government is taking the allegations very seriously and has written to Cricket Australia seeking detailed information about the advertising.”

Magnitude 6.8 earthquake strikes off Philippines

SINGAPORE: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake, at a depth at 29 miles, struck off the Philippines Monday, northeast of Dumaguete, Negros island, at 0349 GMT, the US Geological Survey reported.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that based on all available data a Pacific-wide tsunami is not expected. AGENCIES

Snow traps thousands in Bosnian villages

SARAJEVO: Bosnian authorities on Sunday used helicopters to evacuate sick people and deliver food to thousands of people who have been cut off by the heaviest snow the country has ever recorded.

More than 100 remote villages are cut off by snow over two meters (6 1/2 feet) high in the mountains. More than a meter (three feet) has fallen in the capital Sarajevo.

Three helicopters cruised over eastern Bosnia Sunday, delivering food and picking people who needed evacuation.

Sarajevo has been paralyzed since Friday evening and authorities have ordered all schools closed. Residents have volunteered to remove snow and ice from the trams that are stuck along the city’s tracks.

Bosnia’s government declared a state of emergency in the capital on Saturday after a weeklong cold snap that has killed scores of people across Eastern Europe.

The snow also hit in Western Europe on Sunday. Britain was digging out after heavy snow grounded planes and snarled roads and railways.

Up to 16 centimeters (6.3 inches) fell overnight Saturday. Some motorists spent the night in their cars amid treacherous highway conditions, and officials urged drivers on Sunday to stay off the icy roads.

London’s Heathrow Airport — Europe’s busiest — canceled a third of Sunday’s flights and warned of delays amid heavy fog.

Stansted, Birmingham and Luton airports suspended operations overnight as snow piled up on runways, but resumed operations Sunday.

Rome is struggling under its first heavy snowfall in 26 years, and snow has also fallen on Spain’s Balearic islands in the Mediterranean. AGENCIES

Roger Moore, Brigitte Nielsen to be stars of Vienna ball

VIENNA: Former James Bond star Roger Moore and Danish actress Brigitte Nielsen will be Austrian entrepreneur Richard Lugner’s special guests at this year’s Opera Ball in Vienna, Lugner revealed Wednesday.

The 79-year-old Lugner makes headlines in Austria every year by inviting celebrities to the ball, the highlight of Vienna’s social calendar with tickets starting at 250 euros ($327) and boxes going for as much as 18,500 euros.

His previous guests have included actresses Andie MacDowell and Faye Dunaway, although in recent years, Lugner has favoured starlets and scandal-sheet regulars like party girl Paris Hilton.

Last year Karima El Mahroug, the teenage Moroccan woman known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer” who was at the centre of a sex scandal involving former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, was on his arm.

“I look forward to coming to Vienna,” Nielsen, 48, said in a video message at a press conference in the Austrian capital, confirming she would attend the February 16 ball.

The former wife of action star Sylvester Stallone, Nielsen appeared in films like “Rocky IV” and “Beverly Hills Cop II” in the 1980s and most recently in the German production of the reality show “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here”.

British actor Moore, 84, and his wife will also join Lugner in his box, the Austrian said, adding that “lots of women go crazy for him.”

Top model Helena Christensen, 43, will also attend the ball as a guest of lingerie company Triumph. AGENCIES

Pakistan to limit US unilateral actions: Hina Rabbani

KABUL: Pakistan will tell the United States it cannot take unilateral actions such as the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and that parliament will determine military priorities, the foreign minister told a US magazine.

A Pakistani parliamentary committee is reviewing the troubled relationship with the United States amid outrage over a NATO raid in November that mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers near the Afghan border at Salala.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, in an interview with Time magazine released Wednesday, said that the upcoming report would recognize the importance of US ties but “will redefine what is uncompromisable for Pakistan.”

“It is the parliament of Pakistan that must decide whether it is time for military action in one area or not,” she said.

Asked what Pakistan’s red lines would be, she said: “No unilateral action at any level, of any type. Like Abbottabad. Like what happened in Salala.”

Khar, on a visit to Kabul on Wednesday, rejected the accusations and said that Pakistan has “no hidden agenda” in Afghanistan, where Western forces aim to pull out most combat troops by 2014.

In the interview with Time, Khar said that Pakistan will support “whatever path the Afghans choose for themselves.”

“Pakistan’s desires and hopes for Afghanistan are nothing more than a peaceful, stable Afghanistan,” she said.

Khar also urged an end to US drone attacks in lawless areas of Pakistan. US President Barack Obama said Monday that drones have killed Al-Qaeda militants, but Pakistan says the unmanned attacks fuel bitterness and create more extremists.

Khar said that the United States, despite its public support for democracy, has ignored criticism of the drones from Pakistan’s parliament expressed “at the top of its lungs.”

“So is very difficult to explain why the US would choose to ignore the will of 180 million people and think it knows better,” she said.

According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistan’s tribal belt in 2009, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011.

The New America Foundation think-tank in Washington says drone strikes in Pakistan have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in the past eight years.

US diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks in late 2010 showed that Pakistan’s civilian and military leaders privately supported US drone attacks, despite public condemnation in a country where the US alliance is hugely unpopular. AGENCIES

Four legal experts advised PM against letter, Aitzaz tells SC

TrendPK.com
ISLAMABAD: A seven-member Supreme Court (SC) bench headed by Justice Nasirul Mulk is currently hearing the contempt case against Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, TrendPK reports Thursday.

The PM Gilani’s counsel, Aitezaz Ahsan is giving arguments before the court. The former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader has been directed to complete his arguments in the preliminary hearing by tea break.

Aitzaz said acting upon the Rules of Business is a constitutional pre-requisite and under the Business Rules, it is Law Ministry which is to advise the PM on legal affairs.

The PM’s Counsel stressed the power of decision will rest with the Prime Minister, in case Attorney General of Pakistan is at variance with the law ministry over the advice.

Furthermore, he informed the court that as many as four legal experts advised the PM Gilani in National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case not to write the letter; only the then Attorney General Anwar Mansoor voiced difference of opinion.

Justice Mulk remarked besides Anwar Mansoor, Law Secretary Aqil Mirza also expressed opposition and both of them resigned from their offices over the issue.

Justice Mulk queried as to how much weight to be given to the opinion of legal experts in presence of clear-cut court instructions.

Ahsan submitted the court in grade 22 promotion case, bound the Prime Minister to implement the summary.

Justice Athar Saeed remarked the Prime Minister is authorized also to dismiss the advice. However, Ahsan said the court held the rejection of advice as incorrect in Grade 22 promotion case.

Ahsan said it is not criminal not to use the power to reject the advice. TrendPK

Doctors, paramedical staff on roads in protest

TrendPK.com
KARACHI: Doctors and paramedical staff of the city’s Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Institute of Heart Diseases are on roads to protest over the salaries, TrendPK reports Thursday.

The crew of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital kept main thoroughfare of Nazimabad-7 till the filing of this news post, causing the traffic holdup. Meantime, Institute of Heart Diseases, in protest against the non-payment of their salaries for four months now, is all protest at Waterpump Chowrangi, causing massive gridlock on all converging roads.

The doctors and paramedical staff, after closing down the OPD, are demanding for the raise in salaries, posing serious troubles to the patients and their attendants with frequent scenes involving exchange of hot words being witnessed.

Demonstrators warned to continue their strike until they are assured by the high-ups over the issue. TrendPK

Riko Diq goldmine case: CJ critical of bid to move ICJ

TrendPK.com
ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry Thursday said the Riko Diq gold mines belongs to Pakistan.

Heading a three-member bench hearing Riko Diq Goldmine case, the Chief Justice Chaudhry noted taking recourse to the International Arbitration Court is an attempt to undermine the authority of the national institutions.

Raza Kazim, the counsel of petitioner and former Punjab MPA Ehsanullah Waqas told the court that the apex court’s ruling delivered on May 25 was an exhaustive verdict which was agreed upon by all parties; but, now, Tethyan Copper Company Pakistan (Pvt.) Limited (TCC) took the matter to world arbitration court i.e. International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The petitioner said the case cannot be taken up simultaneously by two forums.

The CJ queried if no one cares for the judicial system of the country, stressing this is an apparent attempt to curtail the stature of the Supreme Court (SC). TrendPK

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