Pollens of Past Gardens of Judah bloom

An ancient royal garden has come back into bloom in a way, as scientists have reconstructed what it would've looked like some 2,500 years ago in the kingdom of the biblical Judah.

Their reconstruction, which relied on analyses of excavated pollen, reveals a paradise of exotic plants.

The luxurious garden had been discovered at Ramat Rahel, an archaeological site located high above the modern city of Jerusalem, about midway between the Old City of Jerusalem and Bethlehem. This site was inhabited since the last century of the Kingdom of Judah (seventh century B.C.) until the early Muslim reign in Palestine (10th century), a period that saw many wars and exchanges of power, with the garden evolving under each civilization.

Since excavators discovered the garden, they could only imagine its leafy, flowery inhabitants. That is until now.

The garden relied on an advanced irrigation system, which collected rainwater and distributed it using artsy water installations, including pools, underground channels, tunnels and gutters.

These water installations ended up being the key to the team's new discovery; the researchers found grains of pollen that likely got trapped in plaster when the installations were renovated and the plaster still wet. The result was preserved pollen grains.

In samples dating back to the Persian period (between the fifth and sixth centuries B.C.), the team found grains from local fruit trees, ornamentals and imported trees from distant lands.

"This is a very unique pollen assemblage," study researcher Dafna Langgut, a pollen expert at Tel Aviv University, said in a statement.

For instance, they found evidence of willow and poplar trees, which would have required irrigation to survive in the garden. They also found pollen associated with ornamentals, such as myrtle and water lilies; native fruit trees, including grape vine, common fig and olive; and imported citron, Persian walnut, cedar of Lebanon and birch trees. The researchers think the ruling Persian authorities likely imported these exotics from remote parts of the empire to flaunt their power.

Co2 The Culprit Marine ecosystems threatened

If carbon dioxide emissions don't begin to decline soon, the complex fabric of marine ecosystems will begin fraying and eventually unravel completely, two new studies conclude.

The diversity of ocean species thins and any survivors' health declines as the pH of ocean water falls in response to rising carbon dioxide levels, scientists from England and Florida reported February 18 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. What's more, affected species aren't restricted to those with shells and calcified support structures features particularly vulnerable to erosion by corrosive seawater.

Jason Hall-Spencer of the University of Plymouth, England, and his colleagues have been collecting data from marine sites off Italy, Baja California and Papua New Guinea, where high concentrations of carbon dioxide percolate out of the seabed from volcanic activity below. Directly above these CO2 seeps, pH plummets to at least 7.8, a value that is expected to occur widely by 2100 and which is substantially lower than the normal level for the area, 8.1. These sites offer a preview of what may happen to seafloor ecosystems as CO2 levels continue to rise, causing ocean water pH to drop.

Compared with nearby normal-pH sites, species richness in low-pH zones was diminished by 30 percent, Hall-Spencer reported. “Coral and some algae are gone. And the sea urchins are gone,” he said. Fish may be present, but unlike in areas with a normal pH, they won't deposit their eggs there.

Although seagrasses appear to survive just fine in the low-pH seawater, close inspection showed that fish had nibbled the fronds, Hall-Spencer found. He identified one likely explanation: At low pH, these grasses no longer produced the phenolic defense compounds that typically deter munching by grazing animals.

Did You Know? What does lightning do to the atmosphere?

There are lightning strikes somewhere on earth 100 times a second. And every time lightning strikes, it generates Ozone gas. This strengthens the Ozone Layer in the upper atmosphere you know, the one with the big hole that heightens our need for sunscreen.

A cloud to ground bolt of lightning carries between 100 million and 1 billion volts. It can reach 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit 3-4 times hotter than the surface of the sun!

Water Worlds The wall of globes

Where in the world is all the water vapor? It may be hard to tell at first glance, but this wall of globes represents a simulation of monthly averaged distribution of total column water vapor on the planet. Such simulations are important, because understanding the distribution of water vapor on Earth is critical for understanding our planet's climate.

Going Natural Nepal's biogas success

Nepal is looking to scale up its flagship household biogas programme, which has made forays into other developing countries in Asia and Africa.

Initiated in 1992 with support from the Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV), Nepal has installed over 240,000 household biogas plants with a thermal energy capacity of 444 megawatts and greenhouse gas savings of 367,409 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.

Biogas plants break down biodegradable matter to produce mainly methane. In Nepal, they are fed with cow dung and human waste and the output burned in cooking stoves, while the solid residue is used as farm fertiliser.

Nepal country director for SNV, Rem Neefjes, attributes the success of the programme to simple, uniform biogas technology and coordination among government, private sector and microfinance institutions.

Nepal's model has been replicated in various Asian countries, including Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Bhutan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, according to Khagendra Nath Khanal, assistant director at the Biogas Sector Partnership (BSP-Nepal).

"We are the second largest power generator in Nepal after hydropower," said Khanal.

Several African countries are benefiting from Nepal's experience, said Paul Hassing, senior advisor of the African initiative, Biogas for Better Life. "In terms of the level of marketing of the biogas sector, it is fair to say that Nepal is still some 10 years ahead of developments in certain African countries," Hassing said.

ET Hope Possibility of life on Europa

Scientists are strongly speculating (backed by the 1995 Galileo Spacecraft mission's findings) that Europa, the smallest of the four Galilean satellites and the 6th closest moon of the planet Jupiter house a liquid ocean underneath its solid icy crust. That cosmic mission discovered that underneath the icy crust of Europa, lies salty ocean which is kept warm by tidally generated heat and volcanic activities. It is believed that the biggest of Europa's craters are surrounded by concentric rings and these rings are likely to be filled with ice. And there is a possibility that this outer crust of ice is approximately 100km thick where only the top 10km are frozen solid which ushers the great possibility of the existence of a global ocean in a liquid form and at least 62 miles deep beneath these icy crust. And chances are, wherever there is water, there will be life. But what kind of life it would be in Europa that is a matter of great research. But some ideas are already there.

Since Europa's ocean lies quite a few miles beneath the icy crust, it is perceived that the way oxygen influences our existence here on Earth, is perhaps not the case with Europa due to liquid water's separation from atmospheric oxygen by several miles of chilling ice. But it has been proved that without oxygen, life could conceivably exist at hot springs deep in the ocean floor. Life in Europa could exist in its under-ice ocean, perhaps in a similar fashion to that of Earth's deep-ocean hydrothermal vents or the Antarctic Lake Vostok, the largest of more that 140 sub-glacial lakes found under the surface of Antarctica. Up until 1970's, it was believed that Sun was absolutely essential for the existence of life. But in 1977, during a deep-sea exploration in the Galapagos Rift, scientists discovered flocks of giant tube worms, clams, crustaceans, mussels, and other various creatures gathered around undersea volcanic features known as black smokers and these aquatic creatures were found to have thrived despite having no access to sunlight, depending on an entirely independent food chain! Instead of usual plants, it was found that these unique species depended on a form of bacterium that itself gains its energy from oxidization of reactive chemicals, such as hydrogen o hydrogen sulfide, that bubbled up from the Earth's interior. And all of these provide a great deal of idea regarding how life could survive in Europa's ocean. If life can thrive here on Earth, without the aid of sunlight and in harshest of environments, then why not in Europa?

According to experts, life on Europa could exist clustered around hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, or below the ocean floor, where endoliths (an organism, e.g. lichen, alga or amoeba that lives inside rock, coral, animal shells or in the pores between mineral grains of a rock) are known to inhabit on Earth. Alternatively, it could exist clinging to the lower surface of the moon's ice layer, much like algae and bacteria in Earth's Polar Regions, or float freely in Europa's ocean. On the other hand, if Europa's ocean were too cold, biological processes similar to those known here on Earth, perhaps won't take place. Volcanic activity provides some of the heat necessary to keep the water on Europa from freezing and provides key dissolved chemicals required by the living organisms. If the water is too salty, only extreme halophiles (organisms that thrive in environments with very high concentrations of salt) could survive in its environment.

Researchers used their model to help explain the stresses that act on Earth's tectonic plates. Those stresses result in earthquakes not only at the boundaries between tectonic plates, where most earthquakes occur, but also in the plate interiors, where the forces are less understood.

Stony Brook University researchers have devised a numerical model to help explain the linkage between earthquakes and the powerful forces that cause them, according to a research paper scheduled to be published in the journal Science on Feb. 17. Their findings hold implications for long-term forecasting of earthquakes

William E. Holt, Ph.D., a professor in the Geosciences Department at Stony Brook University, and Attreyee Ghosh, Ph.D., a post doctoral associate, used their model to help explain the stresses that act on Earth's tectonic plates. Those stresses result in earthquakes not only at the boundaries between tectonic plates, where most earthquakes occur, but also in the plate interiors, where the forces are less understood, according to their paper, "Plate Motions and Stresses from Global Dynamic Models."

"If you take into account the effects of topography and all density variations within the plates -- the Earth's crust varies in thickness depending on where you are -- if you take all that into account, together with the mantle convection system, you can do a good job explaining what is going on at the surface," said Dr. Holt.

Their research focused on the system of plates that float on Earth's fluid-like mantle, which acts as a convection system on geologic time scales, carrying them and the continents that rest upon them. These plates bump and grind past one another, diverge from one another, or collide or sink (subduct) along the plate boundary zones of the world. Collisions between the continents have produced spectacular mountain ranges and powerful earthquakes. But the constant stress to which the plates are subjected also results in earthquakes within the interior of those plates.

"Predicting plate motions correctly, along with stresses within the plates, has been a challenge for global dynamic models," the researchers wrote. "Accurate predictions of these is vitally important for understanding the forces responsible for the movement of plates, mountain building, rifting of continents, and strain accumulation released in earthquakes."

Data for their global computer model came from Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements, which track the movements of Earth's crust within the deforming plate boundary zones; measurements on the orientation of Earth's stress field gleaned from earthquake faults; and a network of global seismometers that provided a picture of Earth's interior density variations. They compared output from their model with these measurements from Earth's surface.

"These observations -- GPS, faults -- allow one to test the completeness of the model," Dr. Holt said.

Drs. Ghosh and Holt found that plate tectonics is an integrated system, driven by density variations found between the surface of Earth all the way to Earth's core-mantle boundary. A surprising find was the variation in influence between relatively shallow features (topography and crustal thickness variations) and deeper large-scale mantle flow patterns that assist and, in some places, resist plate motions. Ghosh and Holt also found that it is the large-scale mantle flow patterns, set up by the long history of sinking plates, that are important for influencing the stresses within, and motions of, the plates.

Topography also has a major influence on the plate tectonic system, the researchers found. That result suggests a powerful feedback between the forces that make the topography and the 'push-back' on the system exerted by the topography, they explained.

While their model cannot accurately predict when and where earthquakes will occur in the short-term, "it can help at better understanding or forecasting earthquakes over longer time spans," Dr. Holt said. "Nobody can yet predict, but ultimately given a better understanding of the forces within the system, one can develop better forecast models."

Source: Science Daily

'Our publishers need to have editors'

Anisul Hoque is a versatile author -- with his repertoire covering novels, poetry, plays and even screenplay. Hoque, who is an assistant editor at the daily Prothom Alo, has also amassed a large fan following through his 'Godyo-Cartoon' articles.

This year, the writer has been honoured with the prestigious Bangla Academy Award, conferred on him for his contributions to literature. He received several other awards throughout his illustrious writing career, including the City Bank Anondo Alo Award, Khalekdad Chowdhury Award, Khulna Writers Club Award, Poet Mozammel Hoque Foundation Award, Sukanto Award and the Euro Children's Literature Award. He also received the Bachsas Award and Tenashinas Award as a playwright. The Daily Star caught up with the author.

How many books by you have been published at this year's Ekushey Book Fair?

Hoque: Three novels and a compilation of small stories have been published. Among the novels, Prothoma Prokash published “Jara Bhor Enechhilo”; Somoy Prokash published “Na Manushi Jomin” and “Bhalobasha Dot Com” was published by Pearl Publications. Kakoli Prokashoni meanwhile published the short stories, titled “Oshomapto Chumboner 19 Bochhor Por”. Besides, a selection of my regular newspaper articles under the columns 'Godyo-Cartoon' and 'Oronye Rodon' have been made into books. The titles are “Priyo Pathhok Ektu Hashun” and “Ei Bhalobashar Kono Maney Hoy Na”.

What is your reaction to winning the Bangla Academy Award?

Hoque: I'd say the award should've come earlier. But I can take consolation by looking at the other 9 recipients of the award who are all much senior to me, especially Abdullah Abu Sayeed Sir; Khalikuzzaman Ilias and my teacher from BUET, Ali Azgar Sir. I consider Abdullah Abu Sayeed to be my mentor. When I first started writing, I asked Sayeed Sir why he doesn't get awards. When my books started coming out, I thought to myself “who am I to get an award, when Sayeed Sir hasn't received one yet!”. Then he received the Magsaysay Award for literature -- which we consider to be the Nobel Prize of Asia. But still Bangla Academy did not award him. So I started hoping that maybe Sayeed Sir and I would get the award the same year. It is a dream fulfilled. Having the chance to share the same stage with him while receiving the award is consolation enough.

What do you think of this year's book fair?

Hoque: I've been coming to the fair since 1984-85. Compared to those times, Dhaka city and its population both have grown, but the space inside the Bangla Academy has shrunk. The fair used to stretch near the pond inside; but buildings have been erected at the spot. It is amazing how the authorities are being able to maintain the overwhelming pressure of the ever-growing literate crowd in the capital. I believe a good stall arrangement has given the fair a better vibe.

Do you feel that the fair space should be extended?

Hoque: I feel that such a small venue cannot accommodate a book fair in a city of 20 million. However, Somoy Prokashoni proprietor Farid Ahmed disagrees. I think the fair should be moved to a larger venue -- with better access and car parking facilities. It should be a book fair of international standards. The Bangla Academy premises lack these necessities. We should rise above our sentiments. An alternative can be holding the fair at separate venues simultaneously throughout the month of February. At least two venues -- for North and South Dhaka -- should host the fair.

What is your opinion on the abundance of publishers?

Hoque: I don't know why there are so many publishers in the country. The focus should be on the quality of books. Our publishers also need to have editors, which all international publishing houses have. The publishers in Bangladesh have achieved solvency, now they need to be professional.

Living gets tough Inflation dwarfs wage growth

All's not well when it comes to cost of living and wages in the country.

According to the data of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), due to high inflation the real wages of the working class people have suddenly marked a sharp drop last fiscal year.

As the inflation has exceeded 10 percent this year, the common people should expect more economic misery than any other recent years.

And it is not just the working class that is being affected by the rising inflation and low wage growth. Middle and upper middle class people are also feeling the bite now.

"My salary increased by just five percent last year while my cost of living, I believe, increased by two to three folds," said Kalabagan resident MS Rahman, an employee in a private company.

Rahman said he now works extra to cover the rising living cost.

From essential food items to transport cost, and from personal care products to house rent -- prices of everything have marked sharp rise in the last two years.

The wage growth rate in manufacturing and construction sector fell by 6 percentage point and in the agriculture sector by 10 percentage point.

Around 90 percent of the total labour force is employed in manufacturing, construction, agriculture, and fisheries sectors, according to BBS.

The scenario of wage growth was quite opposite between fiscal years 2008 and 2010. According to the BBS data, general wages of workers in major sectors like manufacturing and agriculture grew at an excellent rate of more than 11 percent back then.

With inflation hitting 8.8 percent, the wage growth rate dropped down to a frustrating 3.95 percent last fiscal year. A Bangladesh Bank official said if the inflation is adjusted with the wage growth rate the real income has decreased in the recent times.

The data for the current fiscal year might be available after June this year.

The recently released Bangladesh Bank annual report (2010-11) observes, "Purchasing power of the poor people has been slower due to lower wage rates against high inflation."

This finding contradicts with the BBS chief's recent remark that while inflation has been on the rise, the peoples' purchasing power has also gone up.

World Bank senior economist, Zahid Hussain, explained the decline in real wages.

"This happens when the labour supply growth exceeds labour demand growth. The labour supply has grown steadily at 3.6 percent per annum during 2006 and 2010. Domestic employment growth during the same period was 3.5 percent per annum. Nominal wages grew at double digit rates in all sectors and far exceeded the inflation rates during fiscal years 2008 to 2010."

He wrote in an email, "This was a period of booming manpower exports which tightened labour supply in our internal labour markets leading to increase in real wages. Manpower exports slowed considerably in FY11 relative to the annual average number exported during FY08-10. Consequently, supply side pressure in the domestic labour market increased, thus lowering real wages."

The wage growth rate fell while general inflation grew by double digits over the last 11 months. In the last two months both food and non-food inflation were in the range of two digits.

Apple testing smaller screen tablet: WSJ

Apple is testing a tablet computer with a smaller screen than the hot-selling iPad, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

The newspaper, quoting unidentified people familiar with the situation, said the California gadget-maker was working with component suppliers in Asia to test the tablet computer with a smaller display.

The Journal quoted officials at Apple suppliers as saying the company has shown them screen designs for a device with an eight-inch (20.3-centimeter) display.

The iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-cm) screen. Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since launching the device in April 2010.

The Journal said Apple was working with Taiwan's AU Optronics Co. and South Korea's LG Display Co. to supply the test panels.

The newspaper cautioned that Apple frequently works with suppliers to test new designs and "could opt not to proceed with the device."

Apple reportedly plans to unveil a new version of the iPad in the first week of March. According to the Journal, the "iPad 3" will have a higher resolution screen than the iPad 2 but will be the same size.

Both Amazon and Samsung offer smaller and lower-priced tablets than the iPad.

Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs once famously dismissed tablets smaller than the iPad saying they were "tweeners" that were "too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad."

He suggested in October 2010 that makers of seven-inch (17.8-cm) screens "include sandpaper so users can sand down their fingers" to be able to tap onscreen keys.

The piracy of online privacy

Online privacy doesn't exist. It was lost years ago. And not only was it taken, we've all already gotten used to it. Loss of privacy is a fundamental tradeoff at the very core of social networking. Our privacy has been taken in service of the social tools we so crave and suddenly cannot live without. If not for the piracy of privacy, Facebook wouldn't exist. Nor would Twitter. Nor even would Gmail, Foursquare, Groupon, Zynga, etc.

And yet people keep fretting about losing what's already gone. This week, like most others of the past decade, has brought fresh new outrages for privacy advocates. Google, which a few weeks ago changed its privacy policy to allow the company to share your personal data across as many as 60 of its products, was again castigated this week for the changes. Except this time, the shouts came in the form of a lawsuit. The Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the FTC to compel it to block Google's changes, saying they violated a privacy agreement Google signed less than a year ago.

Elsewhere, social photography app Path was caught storing users' entire iPhone address books on their servers and have issued a red-faced apology. (The lesser-known app Hipster committed the same sin and also offered a mea culpa.) And Facebook's IPO has brought fresh concerns that Mark Zuckerberg will find creative new ways to leverage user data into ever more desirable revenue-generating products.

This is the way we're private now. It's ludicrous for anyone who loves the Internet to expect otherwise. How else are these services supposed to exist let alone make any money? Theft or misuse of private user data is a crime, certainly. But no social web app not one can work without intense analytics performed on the huge data sets that users provide to them voluntarily (you did read the terms of service agreement…right?).

And the issue compounds when people connect one site to another. By linking their Twitter to their Facebook to their Google+ to their Foursquare to their Zynga to their Instagram to their iOS, users are consolidating their lives, and in the process making them more attractive to marketers. While Facebook, Twitter and other services have made attempts to warn users about hitting the “connect” button, many of us hit that button with reckless abandon, without a thought of who's slavering on the other side.

The reason social media and digital information companies want that data is because of what we refuse to give them: money. No one wants to pay for the privilege of chatting with their friends or using a coupon, and to this day, no one has to: Go ahead, ring their doorbell or pick up the free coupon book from your front stoop. But if you want to chat using Facebook or Gmail, or you want to buy a groupon for an 80 percent-off Botox service, you will have to tell those companies who you are. And those companies will use that information to tailor their offerings to you, increasing your value as a user and a customer. They will slice their data sets into a million different pieces and show those pieces to people advertisers who will pay them money for the privilege of using their service. They'll use it to get to you.

This is an update on an old media model. Magazines and newspapers for decades could only guess at the readership of their product and the demographic of their customers. But now social and new media demand to and can know exactly who you are before they agree to let you use their free services. Even email newsletter services like the increasingly hot Thrillist which might innocuously start you on their service by asking only for your simple email address deploy click trackers, pixel trackers and other online data-gathering techniques to start to put together a picture of you as a user, both individually and in aggregate. A deceased magazine like Spy could only dream of that kind of intel.

Without such strategies, social web companies like these couldn't exist. Every user has a choice when it comes to privacy, sure. But the second people sign up for Gmail, Facebook, Mint or Gilt Group, they have reaffirmed their willingness to be a mouse that the cats will chase. And these cats need mice. Otherwise they will starve. So they do their best to hide their intentions. Indeed, as a longtime and well-known advocate for the transformative power of technology recently told me, true believers like Mark Zuckerberg actively stake out radical positions on privacy, then talk about them as if they were natural or normal. It's not too much different from the political process, where the best way to effect a shift in society is to present it as if it were a fait accompli and then expend energy actually moving the levers of power toward the shift rather than wasting time arguing with people about the implications.

That's what the last five years have been about. Mark Zuckerberg, for example, wanted a collection of all our Facebook actions called an Open Graph to be part of our lives. Now, lo and behold, it is.

Today, we straddle two extremes the offline and the online. Each comes with its own expectations and realities of what privacy is.

Mobile devices to outnumber people on planet this year

Smartphones and tablets. It appears that we can't get enough of them. According to the latest research by network firm Cisco, at some point this year there will be more mobile devices on the planet than humans. So that'll be about 7 billion then.

But it won't stop there. Consumers will go on consuming, with those in emerging markets getting connected in ever greater numbers. Many people will soon be carrying with them not just a smartphone, but a tablet too. In fact, Cisco predicts that by 2016 there will be more than 10 billion mobile-connected devices among an expected world population of some 7.3 billion people. Tech companies will be salivating at the very thought.

Of course, such proliferation will bring with it a set of challenges that'll need to be dealt with in a timely manner or else the entire mobile communications system will be in danger of simply seizing up. The more mobile devices there are, the more pressure there'll be on mobile networks, and the companies operating them.

Faster networks
Faster networks will also create a challenge. According to Cisco, 4G currently only accounts for 0.2 percent of mobile connections but is responsible for 6 percent of mobile data traffic. Furthermore, a 4G connection generates 28 times more data traffic than a non-4G connection, Cisco said. So if the next iteration of Apple's expected-soon iPad supports 4G, as some have suggested it will, that'll help push data usage even higher.

Cisco predicted that by the end of this year, 100 million smartphone users will belong to what it calls the 'gigabyte club', with users generating more than 1GB of mobile data traffic each month. And over the next four years, that figure will fly off the charts.

“By 2016, 60 percent of mobile users three billion people worldwide will belong to the gigabyte club,” Suraj Shetty, vice-president of products and solutions at Cisco, told the BBC.

Tablets
The huge popularity of tablets, a device which only came into being two years ago with the launch of Apple's iPad, is also helping to ramp up data consumption, with those devices generating three times more traffic than smartphones. Cisco says that by 2016 tablets will be responsible for over 10 percent of global mobile traffic.

While manufacturers of mobile phones and tablets will be rubbing their hands in eager anticipation of the possible riches that await them in the coming years, one question remains: In 2016, which maker will be dominating the mobile market? Apple? Samsung? Or a company we haven't even heard of yet?

Softexpo 2012 kicks off Feb 22

All is set for the SoftExpo 2012, the largest exposition of software and ICT enabled services (ITES), to be held on February 22-26 in the capital.

Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) is organising the event at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre.

The theme for this year's softexpo's is 'Empowering Next Generation'.

Over 140 exhibitors are taking part at the event with participation of 10 countries. There will be 30 seminars and technical sessions at the 5-day fair.

Organisers are expecting huge crowd at the fair.

Code Warriors' Challenge, IT Innovation Search Programme, BASIS Freelancer of the year award, IT job fair and the gala award night would be the highlights of the SoftExpo

AZIZUL HAKIM @ DS CAFE

Azizul Hakim - once active on theatre with Aranyak - began his journey on television with a small role in the 80s. He earned bigger roles as his career grew more dynamic, dominating the TV screen throughout the 90s. After all these years, Azizul Hakim continues to perform both on TV and the silver screen, along with stints as a director. The veteran artiste recently chatted with The Daily Star (TDS) and his fans at DS Cafe.

TDS: You were once a good football player. Would you choose a career in sports if you did not become an actor?

Azizul Hakim: I had such plans, while it was also my father's dream. He was a football player himself and he always patronized my footballing ambitions. I played football for my school and college as well as taking it to the professional stage by playing for Victoria Sporting Club in Dhaka First Division football. Undoubtedly, I would become a professional football player if I didn't enter the world of acting.

Fardin, Dhaka: Was becoming an actor your childhood dream?

Azizul Hakim: I always had an aspiration of becoming an actor. Cinema was a major source of entertainment at that time, and watching the favorite stars on the screen always inspired me. Anyway, the chance to work on the stage came to me while I was playing football. I joined Arannyak in 1977. Thanks Fardin for your question.

TDS: Does it cause you pain that cricket is more popular than football now?

Azizul Hakim: No there is no such regret. We also had a glorious past in football when players like Salahuddin and Gazi bhai played on the field. They were the star footballers of that time. Football used to be the most popular sport in our country. Cricket earned its place gradually. Hockey also used to be a popular choice before. But I think patronization is a crucial thing in sports. Cricket started drawing more patrons than football at one point. When our cricket team claimed its spot in the international arena, we leaned further towards the game. Football, however is yet to make a major leap. Our football in the global arena has gone stale.

TDS: Are you involved in any social welfare projects?

Azizul Hakim: I'm not directly involved, but I participate whenever I get the chance. Whenever there is a natural disaster, we artistes collect funds for those affected. We collected donations for the Sidr victims.

Lonny, Dhaka: Do you read novels? How would you feel if you had the chance to portray a character from a book?

Azizul Hakim: Reading books is my hobby. I always carry a book with me at shootings. Whenever I get a break, I indulge in the pages of a book. For your information, I've already played roles from a book. I would love to do it again in the future.

Sagar Chowdhury, Sylhet: From a veteran's perspective, how much respect do you think the young actors have for each other?

Azizul Hakim: I feel that the rookies and the veterans in the acting world have a very friendly relationship. Mutual respect is greater in the theaters, as it is the place which teaches the basics of acting.

Towhid, Comilla: Nowadays TV dramas use a mutated form of language like "khaichho, gechho". What is your opinion on this?

Azizul Hakim: I want the use of proper language to be practiced on the dramas and am against the practice of colloquial tones. I strongly believe this practice will not last, as viewers will always want the proper form of language.

Mahbubur Rahman Khan, Brahmanbaria: Do you remember your performance on the drama 'Shomoy Oshomoy"?

Azizul Hakim: Definitely. Thank you for mentioning the play. I played the role of Haradhon in the play - which was written by Mamunur Rashid. Raisul Islam Asad, Hanif Sangket and Chompa acted with me in the drama.

Riaz Khan, Dhaka: You always manage to blend in with the character you play. How is it possible?

Azizul Hakim: Acting is my passion and profession. I always try to blend in with the character and think of nothing else during acting. Thanks for your observation.

TDS: You and Zinat both work in the same field. Does it create any friction?

Azizul Hakim: No it helps us instead. We have a better understanding of each other.

Asif, Rangpur: You were once active with the theatre. Did you go abroad to perform?

Azizul Hakim: I began my journey with Theatre Group Arannyak and I am still a member. I visited England, USA and many other countries to perform on stage.

Ripon, Jagannath University: Where is your native home?

Azizul Hakim: I hail from Comilla.

Tithi, Dhaka: Do you go to the Ekushey book fair?

Azizul Hakim: There was a time when I regularly visited the fair. This year I plan on going even if I just manage a single day for it.

Polly, Barisal: Class Six to Ten, or Intermediate to University, which life do you prefer?

Azizul Hakim: I prefer the former. The time of pure youth and teenage spirit. Those were wonderful times. I often wish of going back to those days. The teenage years are the golden period in a person's life.

Tuli, Rajshahi: How much of a friend can parents be for a child?

Azizul Hakim: Anyone can see their parents as complete friends. Friendly relations with parents is always a good thing. All sons and daughters should remember that there is no one as close to them as their parents.

Kamrul Islam Mamun, Dhaka: Our rivers and environment are under threat. What ways are there to escape the impending dangers?

Azizul Hakim: Thank you for asking such an important question. I'm as concerned as you are about the decaying state of our rivers. The environment is also being polluted for many reasons. However, we can be optimistic regarding the works of some pro-environment organisations. But the fact remains that we all have to be aware and cautious on the issue - for protecting the environment.

Sharmin Sultana, Patuakhali: Is acting your passion or profession?

Azizul Hakim: It is both.

Nazmul Ahmed, Uttara, Dhaka: What is your definition of love?

Azizul Hakim: Everyone has their own definition. The pain of not getting what you want is love.

TDS: What do you do in leisure hours?

Azizul Hakim: I hardly get any time off. The little I get, I choose to spend at home. I give time to my children and wife. I like to watch movies and listen to music. Sometimes I also get the chance to travel.

Ishita turns author

Popular TV actress Ishita is set to make her debut as an author at this year's Ekushey book fair. Her first book “Nirobe” has been published by Shobdo-Shilpo Prokashoni.

On the book, Ishita says it is the story form of a TV drama that she wrote in 2008. The play was aired then and has four to five characters, she adds.

Ishita began practicing her writing skills during her childhood, with teen magazine Kishor Tarokalok featuring several of her stories. However, “Nirobe” is her first serious work, Ishita adds.

Apart from acting, Ishita is busy directing TV dramas and writing new screenplays for TV. So far she has written 11 plays for television and wants to try her hand at more serious forms of writing if she can manage the time. Although the artiste is keen to visit the book fair, she is busy taking care of her ailing grandmother. But Ishita asserted she intends to go to the fair whenever she can get time off.

Manipuri Theatre's Kohe Birangana and Shree Krishna Kirtan go to India

Manipuri Theatre will hold two shows of its productions “Kohe Birangana” and “Shree Krishna Kirtan” at the International Manipuri Literature and Cultural Festival to be held in Guwahati, Assam in India. The Bangladeshi troupe will hold the shows on February 18 and 19. Moreover, the troupe will hold a couple of more shows of the plays in other places in Assam and Tripura during its ten-day tour.

Chief of the troupe Shuvashis Sinha informed that the local Bishnupriya Manipuri Writers Forum in Guwahati will organise the festival, where Manipuri communities from Bangladesh and India will uphold their ethnic identity through different cultural performances.

Both the Manipuri Theatre productions have been written and directed by Shuvashis.

“Kohe Birangana” is based on Michael Madhusudan Dutt's “Birangana Kabya”. The play articulates four verses among 11 from the original text. The play features agony of female characters from the epic “Mahabharat”-- Shakuntala, Draupadi, Dushala and Jona.

Jyoti Sinha played the four characters. Other performers, who helped Jyoti in chorus, were Smriti Sinha, Shukla Sinha, Sunanda Sinha and Bhagyalokkhi Sinha.

On the other hand, “Shree Krishna Kirtan” is adapted from medieval period poet Baru Chandidas' writing with the same title.

Chandidas wrote “Shree Krishna Kirtan” to highlight the anthropomorphic aspects of Lord Krishna. It was an arduous process as he had to pore over puran and religious books. In the play, Shuvashis worked on only seven episodes out of 13 from the original piece.

Jyoti Sinha and Aparna Sinha play as Radha and Krishna respectively. Shukla Sinha will do another lead character in the play.

Tangled Fields Earth's magnet dances to the Sun

This image, released this week, shows a computer simulation of the complex and crazy magnetic fields that make up Earth's magnetosphere. The magnetosphere is the result of the interaction of charged particles from the sun and the magnetic field that surrounds the planet. When solar storms send particles flowing toward Earth, the result can be stunning space weather the kind that creates beautiful auroras but also can disrupt satellites, telecommunications and electrical power grids. Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee are trying to understand how these storms work in order to better predict how storms on the sun will influence life on our planet.

Evolved In Pollution Sooty-moth tale stands test

A recently criticized textbook example of evolutionary forces in action, the dark forms of peppered moths that spread with industrialization in Britain, may be on its way back.

Results of an ambitious experiment on the moths (Biston betularia) support the original hypothesis that their dark-colored forms spread in soot-coated landscapes because they are more difficult for hungry birds to spot, says evolutionary biologist James Mallet of Harvard University. He and three colleagues have published the final peppered moth experiment of Michael Majerus, who spent six years monitoring the fates of a total of 4,864 moths, presented his conclusions at a conference but died before publishing them. The study appears online February 8 in Biology Letters.

The moth story not only makes “a compelling example of evolution in action,” but it's “a terrific case history of how science works,” says evolutionary biologist Scott Freeman of the University of Washington in Seattle. “Majerus raised questions; he and his colleagues did the hard work required to answer them.”

The moths, which usually have salt-white wings sprinkled with pepper-black, have long played a role in evolutionary biology. In the early years of genetics, breeding experiments established that a single gene can create a black form. It showed up in Manchester, England, in 1848, and by 1895, 98 percent of the region's moths were dark. Moths went dark in similarly industrializing areas, and when clean-air regulations began to clear the pollution, dark forms went into decline.

Experiments in the mid-20th century supported the idea that industrial grime provided better camouflage for dark wings, but that work drew escalating challenges starting in the 1990s. Majerus and other scientists raised questions about those studies' methods, such as whether the high densities of moths released had altered the results and whether the tree trunks where moths were placed were a normal resting place.

Tuning Home Homesick frog

When wooing females, a type of frog in China describes its home through songconveying the depth and entrance size of the muddy burrow with some accuracy, a study suggests.

Scientists based at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and University of California investigated the frog Babina dauchina, better known as the Emei music frog thanks to its distinctive banjo-like call.

He male frogs build burrows alongside ponds to provide a suitable place for mating, laying eggs and rearing tadpoles. The researchers noticed that they seem to make different calls from inside and outside the burrows.

By analysing the acoustic properties of the calls and examining the way female frogs react to them, the scientists found that the male frogs not only advertise whether they have a burrow or not, but also its characteristics. Female music frogs are then able to choose the male with the most desirable real estate, without having to go through the time-consuming business of waiting to be shown round.

Males inside burrows play higher-pitched notes if the entrance is wider, and longer notes if the hole is deeper, the investigators explained. Also, “Inside-nest calls consisted of notes with energy concentrated at lower frequency [pitch] ranges and longer note durations when compared with outside-nest calls,” they wrote, reporting their findings in Dec. 7 in the advance online edition of the journal Biology Letters.

Did You Know? How fast can a hippo run?

A hippopotamus may seem huge but it can still run faster than a man.

Hippos are the second-largest land animal -- second only to elephants. Male hippos can weigh more than 6,000 pounds. Females are more "delicate," topping out around 3,000 pounds. Despite their massive bulk, hippos can run faster than humans -- up to 30 miles per hour!

After Fukushima Third-generation nuclear reactor designed

The United States has approved construction of new nuclear reactors for the first time in three decades. The two new reactors approved today (Feb. 9) for Georgia would represent the first U.S. versions of next-generation reactor designs that have begun appearing in China.

These "third-generation" reactors are said to be safer, with longer-lasting batteries and passive cooling systems powered by gravity so that they can survive longer during emergencies without outside power.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved construction of the two reactors at an existing nuclear power plant in Vogtle, Ga., in a 4-1 vote.

"The last plant that got to this stage of the [approval] process did so in 1978," said Harold McFarlane, manager of the nuclear science and technology directorate at Idaho National Laboratory. "We think it's a very significant step going forward. It is the first of the new generation."

The U.S. froze construction of nuclear power plants after the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pa., in 1979. Consequently, the 104 nuclear plants still operating in the country have designs dating to the 1960s and 1970s. Meanwhile, the first of the third-generation plants were designed in the 1990s and were updated throughout the new millennium.

Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that led to the meltdown at Japan's Fukushima Plant last March, Germany, Switzerland and Spain halted construction of any new nuclear power plants. However, energy-hungry China has pressed ahead with adding new, third-generation nuclear reactors.

The newly approved AP1000 reactors for the Vogtle plant to be made by Westinghouse have safety features that would give people "days instead of hours" to restore electric power in a Fukushima scenario, McFarlane told InnovationNewsDaily. The Fukushima reactors suffered a meltdown after the lack of electricity knocked out their cooling systems.

In the new models, which Westinghouse already has built for China, "the water needed to cool the reactors is stored inside the containment building rather than outside of containment," explained Robert Buell, a risk analyst at Idaho National Laboratory. "You use physics and natural circulation along the containment walls to cool the reactors instead of relying on mechanical systems."

The Fukushima disaster did not go unmentioned during the Nuclear Regulatory Commission vote. According to the news service Reuters, NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko cast the lone vote against the new reactors, arguing that the commission should delay approval until it requires all nuclear plant operators to include "Fukushima enhancements" safety and operational lessons learned from the meltdown

Engineers build no-waste laser

A team of University of California, San Diego researchers has built the smallest room-temperature nanolaser to date, as well as an even more startling device: a highly efficient, "thresholdless" laser that funnels all its photons into lasing, without any waste.

The two new lasers require very low power to operate, an important breakthrough since lasers usually require greater and greater "pump power" to begin lasing as they shrink to nano sizes. The small size and extremely low power of these nanolasers could make them very useful components for future optical circuits packed on to tiny computer chips, Mercedeh Khajavikhan and her UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering colleagues report in the Feb. 9 issue of the journal Nature.

They suggest that the thresholdless laser may also help researchers as they develop new metamaterials, artificially structured materials that are already being studied for applications from super-lenses that can be used to see individual viruses or DNA molecules to "cloaking" devices that bend light around an object to make it appear invisible.

All lasers require a certain amount of "pump power" from an outside source to begin emitting a coherent beam of light or "lasing," explained Yeshaiahu (Shaya) Fainman, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UC San Diego and co-author of the new study. A laser's threshold is the point where this coherent output is greater than any spontaneous emission produced.

The smaller a laser is, the greater the pump power needed to reach the point of lasing. To overcome this problem, the UC San Diego researchers developed a design for the new lasers that uses quantum electrodynamic effects in coaxial nanocavities to alleviate the threshold constraint. Like a coaxial cable hooked up to a television (only at a much smaller scale), the laser cavity consists of a metal rod enclosed by a ring of metal-coated, quantum wells of semiconductor material. Khajavikhan and the rest of the team built the thresholdless laser by modifying the geometry of this cavity.

The new design also allowed them to build the smallest room-temperature, continuous wave laser to date. The new room-temperature nanoscale coaxial laser is more than an order of magnitude smaller than their previous record smallest nanolaser published in Nature Photonics less than two years ago. The whole device is almost half a micron in diameter -- by comparison, the period at the end of this sentence is nearly 600 microns wide.

These highly efficient lasers would be useful in augmenting future computing chips with optical communications, where the lasers are used to establish communication links between distant points on the chip. Only a small amount of pump power would be required to reach lasing, reducing the number of photons needed to transmit information, said Fainman.

The nanolaser designs appear to be scalable -- meaning that they could be shrunk to even smaller sizes -- an extremely important feature that makes it possible to harvest laser light from even smaller nanoscale structures, the researchers note. This feature eventually could make them useful for creating and analyzing metamaterials with structures smaller than the wavelength of light currently emitted by the lasers.

Fainman said other applications for the new lasers could include tiny biochemical sensors or high-resolution displays, but the researchers are still working out the theory behind how these tiny lasers operate. They would also like to find a way to pump the lasers electrically instead of optically.

Co-authors for the Nature study, "Thresholdless Nanoscale Coaxial Lasers," include Mercedeh Khajavikhan, Aleksandar Simic, Michael Kats, Jin Hyoung Lee, Boris Slutsky, Amit Mizrahi, Vitaliy Lomakin, and Yeshaiahu Fainman in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. The nanolasers are fabricated at the university's NANO3 facility. The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the NSF Center for Integrated Access Networks (CIAN), the Cymer Corporation and the U.S. Army Research Office

Border killings irk PM She reassures Blake of Dhaka's anti-terror stance

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has noted with regret that despite assurance from India's highest political level of putting an end to the killing at border, stray incidents of killing and torture of Bangladeshi nationals by the Indian BSF continued.

She expressed her annoyance while talking to US Assistant Secretary of State Robert O Blake, who asked Hasina whether the recent killings by BSF deteriorated Bangladesh-India relations.

The US envoy was talking to the premier at her Sangsad Bhaban office in the capital yesterday evening.

“We are trying to stop such incidents, we are repeatedly requesting them to keep their words that were given by their highest level at different times,” Hasina told Blake.

About the issue of terrorism and counter-terrorism, the premier informed the US envoy that Bangladesh soil will not be allowed to be used for any terrorist and extremist activities.

She mentioned various laws adopted by parliament to combat terrorism. “We are showing zero tolerance to terrorism and extremism.”

Hasina also mentioned that in the last three years no bombing incident had occurred in the country, which was normal during the BNP-Jamaat regime.

She said there is no boundary for terrorists. “If it is nurtured in one corner of the world, this will be a big problem for the rest of the world.”

As Blake requested Hasina to send a letter to the US government to deploy US Peace Core in Bangladesh, the premier declined.

She said the US Peace Core came to Bangladesh during the previous tenure of Awami League government in 1998. But, the US government withdrew them during the BNP-Jamaat regime on security reason.

Regarding regional connectivity, Hasina said Bangladesh already had taken steps to establish a regional connectivity with India, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal.

“India gave green signal to set up communication link among Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan over India,” she said.

The premier requested Blake to extend his cooperation to allow duty free and quota free access of Bangladeshi apparels to the US market.

She mentioned that there are four million people employed in the RMG sector, and more than 50 percent of them are women.

Hasina said the duty free and quota free access of Bangladeshi apparels to the US market will help the RMG sector a lot. Moreover, the women workers will be directly benefited by this.

When Blake asked the premier about Bangladesh's plan to set up an embassy in Afghanistan, she said that in principle Bangladesh has agreed to set up an embassy there.

M Nazrul Islam, deputy press secretary to the premier, briefed reporters after the meeting.

Ambassador-at-Large M Ziauddin and US Ambassador in Dhaka Dan Mozena were present.

No rumour, please Urges Home boss; says probe result any time

Home Minister Shahara Khatun yesterday hinted at a positive result any moment in the investigation into the journalist couple murder and urged the media not to spread any rumour regarding the killing or suspects.

She said, “You [journalists] will perhaps get a result any moment as there have been remarkable developments.” She, however, refrained from disclosing any information about the probe findings.

On the other hand, after claiming about “substantial progress” in the murder probe on Monday, police and Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) yesterday said no mentionable progress has been made yet.

Meherun Runi, senior reporter of private TV channel ATN Bangla, and her husband Sagar Sarowar, news editor of another private TV station Maasranga, were murdered in their West Rajabazar apartment early Saturday.

The home minister yesterday also declined to set further deadline for the murder investigation. She was talking to journalists after addressing the 17th founding anniversary of the Coast Guard at Aagargaon.

Asked about her initial 48-hour ultimatum to law enforcers over finding out the killers, Shahara said she had mentioned the time frame so that the law enforcers give importance to the investigation.

She urged journalists to keep from spreading any rumours regarding the killing or suspects.

Meanwhile, three days past the incident, police said they are yet to find any proof of any journalist's involvement in the murder.

“We have not arrested or detained any journalist. We have not even interrogated any media associates on the murder,” Imam Hossain, deputy commissioner of Tejgaon division, said yesterday at a press briefing in the media centre of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

He, however, said police do not know whether other law enforcement agencies, like the Criminal Investigation Department or the Detective Branch of police or Rab, have arrested or interrogated any journalist.

Asked about the newspaper reports on arresting six people, he said, “If you [the media] talk about detention, I would say we have picked up two security guards and the caretaker of the building the slain couple used to live in.”

He said police yesterday collected documents and information on what Sarowar and Runi had been working on from their offices to see whether there had been any professional issue behind the killing.

They are also collecting the book written by Sarowar, he added.

Rab, however, remained tight-lipped about their progress in the investigation.

Commander M Sohail of Rab's legal and media wing said they are yet to dig out any information “that can be reported”.

“We don't want to comment on anyone's detention unless we have adequate information about their involvement,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) at a meeting yesterday condemned the gruesome murder demanded arrest of the assailants.

The meeting also appealed to all editors and journalist of print and electronic media to adhere to the highest ethical standard of journalism while reporting on the incident, and refrain from making any speculative comment.

Minister pulls for extortion

It was none but a minister who before a parliamentary sub-committee yesterday demanded extortion be made legal to stop rampant corruption in the transport sector.

Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan, who heads Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Sramik Federation, made the mind-boggling demand before the committee yesterday. Transport leaders led by him did not stop there; they placed a 17-point demand before the committee, in which they chalked-out how the “legal toll collection” would be made from buses, trucks, auto-rickshaws and labours working in the sector.

In defence of their demands, Shajahan Khan and Khandaker Enayet Ullah, a top transport owners' leader, yesterday said illegal money collection would stop on the country's roads once “toll collection” was legalised.

The controversial minister became the talk of the country last year when he suggested that professional drivers did not need education.

The parliamentary sub-committee, chaired by M Israfil Alam, yesterday at the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban held the meeting with top leaders of transport labours and owners to find ways to stop raging extortion in the sector. The committee had its first meeting on October 13 last year.

After the first meeting, the sub-committee told reporters that transport workers' leaders, especially a minister-led labour organisation, were running an extortion regime and the minister's organisation was having the largest piece of the pie.

“It collects at least Tk 51 crore a year in the name of raising funds for workers' welfare,” after the October meeting Israfil told reporters quoting other transport leaders.

The committee chief had said the committee findings were only the tip of the iceberg and they were yet to get the full picture.

He had said the rampant “toll collection” results in transport fare hikes by 40 to 200 percent. The people end up paying high fares and also increased prices for all commodities, he said .

According to the sub-committee, more than 23 lakh workers are employed in the transport industry that has over 5 lakh buses. There are 7,490 workers' unions, 510 workers' organisations and 412 bus owners' associations.

Yesterday at the meeting of the committee, Shajahan Khan, Enayet Ullah and others demanded fixing a minimum charge which labours and owners would pay to run their respective bodies.

They said labours and owners organisations of light vehicles and auto rickshaws should be allowed to charge each vehicle Tk 20 a day to run their organisations.

Truck owners and labours organisations should be allowed to collect Tk 20 a day from each member as organisation running cost, said the recommendation placed before the committee.

They also recommended that each bus and truck pay Tk 20 on ferries to meet expenses of labours working there.

At the goods loading and unloading points, every truck would have to pay Tk 10. Trucks would have to pay Tk 10 at the beginning and conclusion of every travel.

Leaders of labours and bus-truck owners recommended that every inter-district bus and truck pay Tk 20 each to labours and owners union.

The leaders want payment of Tk 20 for each vehicle requisitioned for the labours' and owners' union and to compensate the vehicle's owners and meet daily expenses of the respective labours.

Shajahan Khan, labour leaders and Enayet Ullah-led transport owners' leaders yesterday also recommended formation of a committee comprising all stakeholders to implement policies on running their organisations and different bus terminals.

The committee yesterday did not make any observation regarding the 17-point demand that was placed before it.

Megh reeling from trauma

"Are you a policeman? “ Megh asked this correspondent.

The five-year-old looked hesitant and curious when he saw this reporter at their living room yesterday. After a while, he stepped forward and started talking to this correspondent.

Before asking the question, Mahir Sarowar Megh, the only son of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Mehrun Runi, took the notebook of this correspondent and sketched a number of things including a revolver.

"They [the killers] threatened to shoot me. They had a bullet [gun]," he said, pointing the revolver he drew.

He then abruptly changed the topic and started talking about something else.

"They set fire and ate my egg."

Overcome by fear and trauma, Megh has apparently lost his balance: he says things relevant to the incident and also things that are not relevant.

"Obviously he is shell-shocked and we are not discussing anything in front of him,” said Roman, one of Runi's brothers.

Megh is refusing to eat since the incident, he added.

Thirty-six hours after the incident, Sagar and Runi's West Rajabazar residence, where the couple was killed, wore a dark, gloomy look yesterday afternoon.

“Do you know they've killed my father and mother?” Megh said, very feebly.

Asked where he slept on the night, he said, “I slept at mimmis [he calls his mother mimmy] room.”

Showing a photo of his father wearing a black suit, he said he has a similar suit.

When asked if there were "one or three people" in their house that night, he said two.

"They hit in papa's leg and papa fell down. Blood was welling out," he said.

Nokia cuts 4,000 jobs in struggle to win smartphone market

World-leading mobile phone maker Nokia will cut 4,000 jobs at its smartphone manufacturing facilities in Finland, Hungary and Mexico by the end of 2012, it said on Wednesday.

"The expected headcount impact by country is 2,300 in Komarom (Hungary), 700 in Reynosa (Mexico) and 1,000 in Salo (Finland)," company spokesman James Etheridge told AFP.

The job cuts follow a review of smartphone operations announced in September 2011, when the company warned jobs may be cut at the plants in question.

The factories in Komarom, Reynosa and Salo will in the future focus on software-heavy smartphone customisation, while manufacturing will shift to Asia to shorten the time it takes for products to get to market, the company said in a statement.

"But these planned changes are all about speed and responsiveness and ultimately, our competitiveness," Etheridge said.

Nokia's shares edged up 0.05 percent on Wednesday to 3.89 euros while the Helsinki market added 1.4 percent overall.

The job cuts come as Nokia struggles to secure a foothold in the fiercely competitive smartphone market, with its newly-launched flagship line Lumia failing to correct falling sales in its overall smartphone business.

Nokia's comeback fight comes amid a dynamic and differentiated market, with many players offering consumers a variety of options, said Horace Dedieu of the Helsinki-based mobile industry blog Asymco.

"My initial impression is that it's a good product, but, right now, being good isn't enough," Dedieu told Finnish state broadcaster YLE about the Lumia.

In its 2011 full-year earnings report released two weeks ago, Nokia said it had sold "well over one million" Lumia phones since their launch in October in Europe, Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan.

However, others have noted that while the Lumia has received good grades from users, not enough are buying the new smartphone.

The phone's fledgling reputation has also already been tainted by reports of returns due to battery life problems.

Apple's iPhone hot but Android handsets on fire

An outbreak of iPhone fever made Apple the hottest smartphone maker worldwide at the end of 2011 but handsets powered by Google's Android software were shaping up as true winners in the market.

Worldwide shipments of smartphones soared 54.7 percent in the final three months of 2011 from the same period a year earlier, with California-based Apple making the most popular models, according to an IDC report released Monday.

Smartphone makers shipped 157.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 102 million in the same period the prior year, IDC reported.

A total of 491.4 million smartphones were shipped during the year, up a "strong 61.3 percent" from the 304.7 million units in 2010, according to IDC.

Apple had a 23.5 percent share of the global smartphone market, followed by Samsung and Nokia with 22.8 percent and 12.4 percent respectively.

"So-called 'hero' devices, such as Samsung's Galaxy Nexus and Apple's iPhone 4S, garner the bulk of the attention heaped on the device type," said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker.

"But a growing number of sub-$250 device offerings, based on the Android operating system, have allowed Google's hardware partners to grow smartphone volumes and expand the market concurrently."

While Apple tightly controls iPhone hardware and software, Google makes the Android mobile device operating system available free to smartphone manufacturers who have been building it into ranks of handsets.

Android and iPhone smartphones accounted for slightly more than 90 percent of US smartphone sales in the fourth quarter of 2011, industry-tracker NPD Group reported on Monday.

Android commanded 48 percent of the market compared to Apple's 43 percent, according to NPD.

NPD figures indicated that Android handsets were more popular with first-time smartphone buyers in the United States, with its share of that market at 57 percent compared to Apple's 34 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

Hacker releases Symantec source code

A hacker released the source code for antivirus firm Symantec's pcAnywhere utility on Tuesday, raising fears that others could find security holes in the product and attempt takeovers of customer computers.

The release followed failed email negotiations over a $50,000 payout to the hacker calling himself YamaTough to destroy the code.

The email thread was published on Monday, but the hacker and the company said their participation had been a ruse. YamaTough said he was always going to publish the code, while Symantec said law enforcement had been directing its side of the talks.

The negotiations also might have bought Symantec time while it issued fixes to the pcAnywhere program, which allows customers to access their desktop machines from another location.

"Symantec was prepared for the code to be posted at some point and has developed and distributed a series of patches since January 23rd to protect our users against known vulnerabilities," said company spokesman Cris Paden.

Mysterious Sounds Reported Around the World

Ever wished parenting could be just a tad more civilized? A little less filled with yogurt stains and 2 a.m. wails, perhaps?

A new book has a solution: parenting a la Francais. American mom and Paris resident Pamela Druckerman makes her case in Bringing up Bebe, which comes out Feb. 7.

BLOG: Hugs Help Kids' Brains

Druckerman, an American and former Wall Street Journal reporter, has raised her three children in Paris. Curious as to how French babies slept through the night and toddlers sat politely at the table, she set out to investigate. The book details her findings, most of which stand in direct contradiction to last year's hot momtini-hour topic: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua. For example:

When your 3-year-old screams for snack, American parents tend to throw the nearest tube of squeezable applesauce at her as quickly as possible. Not so in France, where parents delay gratification. "I'm now convinced that the secret of why French kids rarely whine or collapse into tantrums - or at least do so less than American kids - is that they've developed the internal resources to cope with frustration," Druckerman writes.

When a 6-week-old cries, American parents usually sprint to offer comfort. In France, parents pause first.

NEWS: Does a Parent's Gender Impact a Child's Success?

"French parents believe it's their job to gently teach babies to sleep well," Druckerman writes. "They don't view being up half the night with an eight-month-old as a sign of parental commitment. They view it as a sign that the child has a sleep problem and that his family is wildly out of balance."

When American women take a break from their kids, it's often a guilt-ridden hour with cell phone at the ready. French women think it's unhealthy to spend all their time with their kids. "Children -- even babies and toddlers - get to cultivate their inner lives without a mother's constant interference," Druckerman writes.

BLOG: Robot Baby Teaches Parenting Skills

According to a Good Morning America poll, however, not all Americans are buying it: 76 percent said they preferred the hands-on, American style.

Photo: French actress Catherine Deneuve with her son Christian Vadim just a few days after his birth in 1963. Credit: Corbis

Mind-Reading May Be Reality Soon

By looking only at maps of electrical activity in the human brain, scientists were able to tell which words a person was listening to. The discovery is a major step toward being able to “hear” the thoughts of people who can’t speak.

"If someone was completely paralyzed, or if a patient had locked-in syndrome with no movement, but the brain was still active and we could understand it well enough, we could develop devices to take advantage of that and restore communication," said Brian Pasley, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Berkeley.

"It's still very early," he added. "And a lot of work still needs to be done."

For decades, scientists have been trying to understand how our brains manage to process audible sounds and extract abstract meaning from words and sentences. As part of that effort, lots of work on animals has helped narrow in on the brain regions involved in hearing and responding to sounds.

PHOTOS: Better than Transformers: Real-Life Robots

To see how those findings might be applicable in people, Pasley and colleagues enlisted the help of 15 patients with epilepsy or brain tumors who had electrodes attached to the surface of their brains in order to map out the source of their seizures. With electrodes in place, participants listened to about 50 different speech sounds in the form of sentences and words, both real and fake, such as "jazz," "peace," "Waldo," "fook' and "nim."

After mapping out the brain's electrical responses to each sound, the research team found that they could predict which of two sounds from the study set the brain was responding to, and they could do it with about 90 percent accuracy

LG Optimus Sol (LG E730)

The "Sol" in the phone's name means "Sun". In order to make the Optimus Sol visible in sunny conditions, the handset has what LG call an "Ultra AMOLED" display. This 3.8" 800 x 480 pixel panel is the latest iteration of AMOLED technology, and since LG have a strong reputation in display technologies then there's a good chance that it will be every bit as good as they say.

Unlike the not very popular Optimus 3D, the Optimus Sol does seem to address a real market. If you try to use a standard TFT LCD display outdoors then the ambient light does wash it out and make it difficult to read, but even AMOLED displays suffer somewhat when the sun is really bright. Electronic paper displays, such as those found in the Amazon Kindle and Motorola FONE work very well in sunlight, but they are useless in the dark. AMOLED based displays seem to offer the best compromise in these situations.

One side effect of the different technologies is the different power drain characteristics. TFT displays always draw the same amount of power from the battery, no matter what is displayed. AMOLED screens draw more power from the battery when they are brighter and much less when darker, so LG are shipping the Optimus Sol with a specially designed dark UI to maximise battery life.Display aside, this is a fairly typical upper midrange Android smartphone with a 1GHz single core CPU and 512Mb of RAM, a 5 megapixel primary camera plus a VGA video calling camera, WiFi 802.11 b, g and n connectivity plus 3.5G, DLNA, a media player, FM radio, Bluetooth, GPS, a microSD slot (with 2GB in the box) and all the usual Android features. An NFC variant should also be available, although NFC is not installed as standard. The operating system is Android 2.3 with LG's own Optimus UI on top.

nlike the previous PRADA phones, the LG PRADA 3 (we will call it that for the sake of simplicity) is a fully featured smartphone with a technical specification than can rival some of the best in its class.

The LG PRADA 3 is an Android 2.3 smartphone with a bright 4.3" 480 x 800 pixel display, an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p HD video capture and a dual-core dual-channel 1GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM.

The high-end technical specifications are combined with a carefully designed handset that is very much in line with PRADA's design philosophy, plus a unique and very understated user interface that looks distinctly different from other Android devices.

At just 8.5mm thick, the PRADA 3 is a very slim device and some clever trickery by the designers actually makes it appear much thinner. The back of the handset has PRADA's Saffiano pattern on it, and the overall design is quite pleasing although fundamentally this is just another black slabby smartphone.

Samsung Star 3 and Star 3 DUOS

The Star 3 is not a million miles away from last year's Star II or Galaxy Y in terms of features. It's worth pointing out that the Star II though that currently retails for about €80 SIM-free, a lot cheaper than the €120 the Galaxy Y goes for, so we can expect the Star 3 to be under €100 too.

The display is a 3" 240 x 320 pixel panel, on the back is a basic 3.2 megapixel camera. The Star 3 lacks 3G support, but it does come with WiFi and EDGE data instead. There's no GPS and the Star 3 isn't a smartphone, although it does support a range of social media and internet applications.