Male birds lose interest in fading females: study

PARIS: Not unlike some among their human counterparts, male blue tits lose interest when their mates` beauty starts fading, staying out longer and neglecting their offspring, a report said on Monday.

Scientists who dulled the bright blue head tinge that crowns the female of the species, subsequently noticed the males skulking off for more alone time and making fewer trips to feed their chicks.

`It seems that they stay around, but not in the nest,` study co-author Matteo Griggio said.`Probably they take a rest.... It is not a joke, probably they keep some energy, maybe for the next breeding season?` Both male and female blue tits, which usually have several mating partners in a lifetime, have feathers on the tops of their heads that reflect UV light.

For the purposes of the experiment, the team from the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology in Vienna waited for chicks to hatch before smearing an oil containing UV-blocking chemicals on the crowns of the females.To confirm that it would not be the smell that put off the males, they applied the same oil, without UV-blockers, to a separate test group of females.

The scientists said they took care not to render the partners unrecognisable to each other.

`The UV reflectance of the crown plumage of female blue tits significantly affected male investment in feeding nestlings,` the team wrote in a study published in the BioMed Central journal Frontiers in Zoology.

`Males made less frequent feeding trips when paired with UV-reduced females.`While much has been written about male posturing and strutting to compete for female attention, this was a rare study to measure male response to female attractiveness in the animal kingdom.

The results showed that female blue tits must invest a lot of time in preening to remain attractive as sexual partners.

In nature, those birds with poorer personal hygiene risk losing their blue lustre under a coating of dust, pollution or parasites.-AFP

Egypt - Morsi won the election

CAIRO, June 24: Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi was declared Egypt`s first freely elected president on Sunday, capping a tumultuous and divisive election.

Morsi, who ran against Hosni Mubarak-era premier Ahmed Shafiq, won 51.73 per cent of the vote after a race that polarised the nation.

`The winner of the election for Egyptian president on June 16-17 is Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-Ayat,` said the head of the electoral commission, Faruq Sultan.

Morsi`s victory marks the first time Islamists have taken the presidency of the Arab World`s most populous nation, but recent moves by the ruling military to consolidate its power have rendered the post toothless.

Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters celebrated in Cairo`s Tahrir Square, waving flags and posters of the Islamist leader, who was jailed during the uprising that overthrew Mubarak early last year.

`God is greatest` and `down with military rule` they chanted as some set off firecrackers minutes after the electoral commission formally declared the result.

Across Cairo, cars sounded their horns and chants of `Morsi, Morsi` were heard.

Morsi won with 13,230,131 votes against Shafig`s 12,347,380, Sultan said.

The election, in which more than 50 million voters were eligible to cast their ballot, saw a 51.8 per cent turnout.

Morsi resigned from his posts in the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedomand Justice Party, which he headed, after he was declared the winner, the Brotherhood announced.

Military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who took power when HosniMubarak was forced to resign in February last year, congratulated Morsi on his win, state television announced.

And the interim head of the Coptic church, many of whose faithful have expressed fears over the rise of Islamists, also congratulated Morsi.

Shafiq`s supporters who had gathered to hear the result with his campaign team in the suburbs of Cairo were devastated by the result.Some women screamed and others cried as several men held their heads between their hands in despair.

`It`s a very sad day for Egypt. I don`t think Morsi is the winner. I`m very sad that Egypt will be represented by this man and this group, Shafiq supporter Maged said.

The capital was tense before the announcement, with the city`s notoriously busy streets deserted and shops and schools closed.

Extra troops and police were deployed as military helicopters flew overhead.

The road to parliament was closed to traffic, and security was tightened around vital establishments as Egyptians waited nervously for the result.

The election has polarised the nation, dividing those who feared a return to the old regime under Shafiq from others who wanted to keep religion out of politics and who fear the Brotherhood would stifle personal freedoms.

Shafiq ran on a strong lawand-order platform, pledging to restore security and stability. He is himself a retired general, but as a Mubarak-era minister he is reviled by the activists who spearheaded the 2011 revolt.

President-elect Morsi was the Islamists` fallback representative after their deputy leader Khairat El-Shater was disqualified.

In campaigning he sought to allay the fears of secular groups and the sizeable Coptic Christian minority by promising a diverse and inclusive political system.-Agencies

Egypt revolution betryaed

THE Egyptian military`s decision to arm itself with sweeping powers as the Muslim Brotherhood claimed victory in the presidential election must shock all those who wanted democracy to flourish in Egypt.

Official results of the second phase of the presidential election will be announced today, but Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi has claimed victory. While the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces reiterated its resolve to hand over power to the new president, the decree it has issued creates new hurdies in the way of the transfer of power. With the newly elected parliament already dissolved, the new president will be a lame-duck chief executive, unable to implement his legislative programme. Scaf has also declared that elections to a new parliament cannot be held till a new constitution is made; the new president will not be the supreme commander of the armed forces and that it is Scaf that will make the budget.

The Scaf decree makes it clear that the military junta, headed by FieldMarshal Mohammad Hussain Tantawi, has no intention of parting with power. Mr Morsi`s ceremonial induction as president may after all take place, but it will be a ceremony and no more. All presidential candidates, with the exception of Ahmed Shafig, the Mubarak lobby`s man, have denounced the Scaf manoeuvre, calling it a coup. But that is unlikely to disturb a military that has enjoyed absolute power in Egypt since 1952.

While the Egyptian people`s revolt did make Hosni Mubarak go after 18 days of street protests, we in Pakistan know from our experience how difficult it is to dislodge the military from power once it has an inebriating taste of it. The Scaf move deserves to be condemned, for it has betrayed the revolution.

What the Egyptian generals should know is that once the genie of revolution is out of the bottle it cannotbe putbackin.The dissolution of the assembly by the court and the assumption of sweeping powers by the military would add to the ongoing confrontation between the people and the Mubarak loyalists and lead perhaps to a bloodier revolution.

Gillani no more- what is next

PAKISTAN no longer has a chief executive, and the most urgent issue now is to have one in place as soon as possible and reactivate the cabinet. Aside from the legal and constitutional vacuum created by a missing prime minister, this is not a country that can afford to muddle along without a set of people monitoring it constantly. Accepting the Supreme Court`s judgment, having Mr Gilani step down quickly and calling a National Assembly session for Friday were the right steps for the ruling coalition to take, paving the way for quickly putting a new government in place.

But the matter doesn`t end there. The new executive thenneedstofocuson whatever governance is possible over the next few months. Disturbing as it has been to watch the judiciary unseat an elected prime minister, the reaction to this development should be a sobering moment for the ruling coalition. The bad-toworse trajectory of the country over the last four years has meant the man on the street was more than happy to see the prime minister go. Bad governance is not, of course, any justification for disqualification by the judiciary, nor was it made out to be that is a judgment that can only bemade in the people`s court. Which is all the more reason the country`s reaction is a warning to the ruling coalition that if it manages to spend the next few months in power, it will need to do whatever it can to at least try to improve the state of the nation. Playing the martyrdom or victim card will only go so far in the face of problems that range from loadshedding and economic mismanagement to poor law and order and limited success in counterterrorism.

Overshadowing all of this is the question of whether the SC will give the new prime minister a chance. This will not be easy to do, given how far the judiciary pursued the matter of the letter to the Swiss authorities during Mr Gilani`s tenure. But it is also important for the SC to consider what going after the issue again will realistically achieve. Institutional and legal concerns have their place, but should not be focused on to the exclusion of the country`s broader needs at a given time, in this case political stability and the need to strengthen the democratic process. At this point, so close to the end of the election cycle, it is best to let the people themselves determine whether or not the ruling coalition deserves to continue in office.

Pakistan - BALOCHISTAN water issue

BALOCHISTAN has many problems besides its fiscal difficulties, but the medium-term viability of the provincial economy depends on some key reform measures. Unf ortunately, where the present provincial government has shown some discipline in restraining provincial expenditures over the last four years, it has not been able to do anything about the most important reform required: the tube well subsidy and the growing water scarcities that are confronting Balochistan.

The latest budget by the Balochistan government is the typical election year budget that all the other provincial governments have also announced.

Discretionary spending is up, with Rs300m given to each legislator to spend in their respective constituency. Spending on education is also up, but more than Rs2bn to spend on building schools is a way of using education funds to make hay with the construction mafia. No new revenue measures were announced, and the devel-opment budget that classic tool for buying votes has been hiked as in all the other provinces.

But Balochistan has one problem that sets it apart from the other provinces.

Water is disappearing from its water tables under the growing use of tube wells, electricity for which is subsidised by the provincial government. Almost twothirds of the electricity distributed in the province is consumed by tube wells that pump water from depths of almost 300 metres in some places. The provincial government has been asking international donors for help in dealing with the water scarcity. But what any potential donor would like to see are the steps the government is taking to help itself.

Unfortunately, the present budget will provide no answers. Elections will come and go, but the coming period of water scarcity requires serious attention from provincial authorities immediately. They have missed an important opportunity to start down that road in this budget.

Pakistan - Malik Riaz and CJ's Son

BOMBSHELL or damp squib? These are early days yet to judge the ultimate impact of the extraordinary accusations levelled by Malik Riaz against Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Today the SC will start to grapple with the contents and fallout of Mr Riaz`s outburst on Tuesday. Also scheduled for today is the next hearing in the case between Mr Riaz and Arsalan Iftikhar, which could shed further light on the alleged nexus between the judiciary, politics and powerful business interests. Only this much is clear so far: both Mr Riaz and Mr Iftikhar are guilty of at least some impropriety.

The claim by the Bahria Town magnate that he shelled out millions of rupees to the chief justice`s son because he was being blackmailed doesn`t appear plausible. It is far more likely that Mr Riaz was hoping his wealth would help bend court judgments in his favour.

Similarly, Mr Iftikhar appears to have no real explanation for the wealth he has accumulated in a short span of time. It seems likely that he did take money from Mr Riaz and what other reason would he have to accept under-the-table payments other than in return for a promise of illegal help to the Bahria Town owner who is fighting on many legal fronts to protect hisbusiness interests? At the very least, having claimed to have never met Mr Riaz, Mr Iftikhar will have to answer why the business tycoon has now claimed to have met him in the presence of the chief justice and others.

There is much more at stake, however, than the accusations and counteraccusations. The credibility of the SC is on the line in an era in which corruption and malfeasance have become the overwhelming norm. This is not a matter for a full court meeting scheduled for Friday but for something far more transparent and capable of cutting through conflicting claims that characterise such tawdry deals made in the shadows. Mr Riaz has claimed and Aitzaz Ahsan has confirmed that the chief justice was aware of the allegations against his son before suo motu action was taken by him after the stories appeared online.

So why the delay? And now that it has been revealed that the chief justice did meet Mr Riaz during the time he was fighting to return to office, the country deserves to know the full truth about the relationship between the country`s top judge and a powerful backroom political player. While we would like to believe that the chief justice had no role in the matter, sunlight is needed whatever the dark secrets kept hidden so far.

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