New mystery on Mars

One of the supposedly best understood and least interesting landscapes on Mars is hiding something that could rewrite the planet's history. Or not. In fact, about all that is certain is that decades of assumptions regarding the wide, flat Hesperia Planum are not holding up very well under renewed scrutiny with higher-resolution, more recent spacecraft data.

"Most scientists don't want to work on the flat things," noted geologist Tracy Gregg of University at Buffalo, State University of New York. So after early Mars scientists decided Hesperia Planum looked like a lava-filled plain, no one really revisited the matter and the place was used to exemplify something rather important: The base of a major transitional period in the geologic time scale of Mars. The period is aptly called the Hesperian and it is thought to have run from 3.7 to 3.1 billion years ago.

But when Gregg and her student Carolyn Roberts started looking at this classic Martian lava plain with modern data sets, they ran into trouble.

"There's a volcano in Hesperia Planum that not many people pay attention to because it's very small," Gregg said. "As I started looking closer at the broader region -- I can't find any other volcanic vents, any flows. I just kept looking for evidence of lava flows. It's kind of frustrating. There is nothing like that in the Hesperia Planum."

"A likely cause of this trouble is the thick dust that blankets Hesperia Planum," she said. "It covers everywhere like a snowfall."

So she turned her attention to what could be discerned on Hesperia Planum: about a dozen narrow, sinuous channels, called rilles, just a few hundred meters wide and up to hundreds of kilometers long. These rilles have no obvious sources or destinations and it is not at all clear they are volcanic.

"The question I have is what made the channels," said Gregg. Was it water, lava, or something else? "There are some lavas that can be really, really runny. And both are liquids that run downhill." So either is a possibility.

To begin to sort the matter out, Gregg and Roberts are now looking for help on the Moon. Their preliminary findings are being presented at the Annual Meeting of The Geological Society of America in Minneapolis.

"On the Moon we see these same kinds of features and we know that water couldn't have formed them there," Gregg said. So they are in the process of comparing channels on the Moon and Mars, using similar data sets from different spacecraft, to see if that sheds any light on the matter. She hopes to find evidence that will rule out water or lava on Hesperia Planum.

"Everybody assumed these were huge lava flows," said Gregg. "But if it turns out to be a lake deposit, it's a very different picture of what Mars was doing at that time." It would also make Hesperia Planum a good place to look for life, because water plus volcanic heat and minerals is widely believed to be a winning combination for getting life started.

"The 'volcanic' part is an interpretation that's beginning to fall apart," said Gregg. "What is holding up is that the Hesperian marks a transition between the Noachian (a time of liquid water on the surface and the formation of lots of impact craters) and the Amazonian (a drier, colder Mars)."

She has found that other scientists are interested in her work because of its possible implications on the Mars geological time scale. Gregg is not worried that Mars history will need to be rewritten, but she does suspect that Hesperia Planum is a lot more complicated than people has long thought.

Nokia N9 offer for Icons

Icon, the premium telecom brand of the country from the house of Orascom Telecom Bangladesh Ltd, has joined hands with Nokia Bangladesh in an exclusive promotion of Nokia's flagship smartphone N9 only for Icon subscribers, says a press release.

The promotion will start from November. The Icon subscribers will be the ones to own the Nokia N9, two weeks prior to everyone else, at only half the recommended retail price.

The first 50 Icon subscribers to preorder the device will be eligible for this concession. In addition, limited number of attractive genuine Nokia accessories will also be available for Icons.

Those who are Icon subscribers for at least two months are eligible for the offer.

The N9 smartphone is fully loaded with blazingly fast mobile browsing, the best free navigation out there and quick fire Carl Zeiss optics 8 megapixel camera.

The Nokia N9 introduces an innovative new design where the home key is replaced by a simple gesture: a swipe.

The phone has 3.9-inch AMOLED screen is made from scratchresistant curved glass.

The Humanist Bard Remembered

A four-day programme was launched on Sunday at the Lalon Akhra in Chheuria, Kushtia to mark Lalon's 121st death anniversary. The programme includes a 'Lalon Mela', rendition of Baul songs and discussion. Speakers at the inaugural programme stressed on the need to uphold the humanitarian and secular philosophy of Lalon by taking greater steps to popularise his songs at all levels of society.

All records 'lost' from drug office

All documents relating to the country's first ever detection of paracetamol syrup adulteration in 1992 have vanished from the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), the public institution responsible for checking drug adulteration and prosecuting those committing the crime.

The disappearance of the files deals a severe blow to three relevant cases that could be pursued if evidence were available. Proceedings regarding two of the cases are currently under High Court stay orders and have been awaiting hearings for seventeen years. The other one is being proceeded with in the Dhaka Drug Court.

Documents available in court indicate clearly that the DGDA deliberately destroyed the cases. Meanwhile, people present during the 1992 drugs test recalled how proper steps regarding the matter had been bypassed since the very beginning.

The disappearance of the documents came to light after The Daily Star in November last year officially requested the DGDA for allowing access to all documents relating to drug adulteration in 1992 in compliance with the Right to Information Act.

"Samples of paracetamol syrups were collected from Shishu Hospital following a verbal order by the then Directorate of Drug Administration director general. Currently there is no record in the department on the samples collected," replied the DGDA in response to the request on March 23 this year.

Responding to a set of ten queries in the request, the DGDA said that except for Dhaka Shishu Hospital no institution had ever reported deaths of children owing to the administering of adulterated paracetamol syrup.

The report from Shishu Hospital was also verbal, said the reply.

The Daily Star retrieved documents from individuals about the drug test. Documents show the drug analysis conducted at a government owned institution under the direct supervision of government analysts and an expert consultant from the World Health Organisation (WHO) detected lethal chemical diethylene glycol in paracetamol syrups manufactured by five companies in 1992.

The test result was accurate beyond suspicion since subsequent independent testing -- undertaken in laboratories in the US and obtained by The Daily Star -- confirmed the results.

A number of doctors from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) and Dhaka Shishu Hospital, involved in the matter at that time, also mentioned that deaths of children from acute renal failure following an intake of adulterated paracetamol syrup actually began in 1972 and by 1992 had killed over 2,000 children by 1992.

In December 1992, detection of the adulteration led to five cases being filed against four companies -- Adflame Pharmaceutical Ltd, Polychem Laboratories Ltd, BCI (Bangladesh) Ltd, and Rex Pharmaceutical.

The fifth company, City Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd, which was tested positive for producing adulterated paracetamol syrup, was spared prosecution for reasons unknown.

The DGDA, however, does not have any idea about the current status of any of the five cases, according to its reply. In an apparent move at self defence, the two-page letter said officials who had dealt with the issue are "either dead or already retired".

The Director General (DG) of the DGDA, Abul Kalam Azad, repeatedly insisted on his ignorance about the matter and admitted having no record protected.

Court records show that proceedings relating to one of the five cases -- one of the two filed against Adflame -- were suspended only two years into its filing, even before charges could be framed against the accused. The complainant, Abul Khair, the then drug superintendent, never appeared before the court with the seized evidence, although the court notified him five times within six months beginning from May 1994 about his appearance before it.

"The prosecution has failed to produce the seized Flamodol syrup [adulterated paracetamol syrup brand produced by Adflame]. As such charges cannot be framed. The proceedings of the case be stopped....and the accused be released," the court finally said in its order of November 2, 1994 in connection with the case.

In a recurrence after sixteen years, when another case filed against Adflame went into the trial process in 2009, Abul Khair gave a deposition in favour of the accused.

"The case was weakened with wrong documentation and specifically wrong presentation of seizure list, apparently an intentional mistake," said Public Prosecutor of Dhaka Drug Court Mahmud Hossain Jahangir regarding the case.

The allegation was substantiated by instances and the experiences of those present during the paracetamol syrup test at Essential Drug Companies Limited (EDCL), an autonomous drug manufacturing company of the government where the test took place.

"We repeatedly told the government high-ups present during the test that we wanted to properly record every step in the logbook of our company, but they said that wouldn't be necessary" said a senior EDCL official, adding, "Steps to have the total process of tests documented and recorded were deliberately avoided."

The only case which saw completion of a trial was against Rex Pharmaceutical, in which the prosecution failed to prove the adulteration charge as government drug analysts themselves raised suspicions over the authenticity of their own modalities of analyses. As a result the case was dismissed and the two accused were acquitted and released in 2003 by the Mymensingh Drug Court. The complainant, again, was Abul Khair.

The fallout is that adulteration of drugs continues to take place. In 2009 adulterated paracetamol produced by Rid Pharma reportedly killed 28 children.

"The government knows everything and sees children die," said Muhammad Ullah, an employee at Bangabhaban, who lost his one and a half year old son Tanvir Ahmed on September 16, 1990, several days after the child had been administered paracetamol syrup following a fever.

Microsoft Targets $400 Million From India

Microsoft is targeting revenue of $400 million from its Indian operations in its FY2011-12 (August to July), a 30 percent growth over the last fiscal.


The software major expects one-third of the revenue to come from the cloud business which in the past 12 months contributed only around 5 percent to its overall revenue.


Microsoft has laid out an aggressive strategy which includes restructuring its entire partner organization by making it more linear and creating dedicated account management teams to drive its cloud business.


The company has created separate teams and appointed regional business development managers (BDMs) for the north (including east), south and west (including central) regions. The regional managers have been empowered to identify their own focus areas and go-to-market for the cloud business. In addition, Microsoft has divided its cloud business into two teams—one for the mid-to-large enterprise segment and the other for SMBs. It has also created a team of cloud specialists who would help both customers and partners in deploying hybrid cloud services.


Partners have welcomed these changes. “Earlier, it was difficult for us to approach executives at Microsoft for any cloud-related difficulty. The cloud BDMs would now help us in drafting business plans and developing a joint go-to-market strategy,” said MP Kini, CEO, Kinfotech, a Bengaluru-based Microsoft partner.


“The strategy is much more focused and partner-friendly. So far Microsoft was treating most of its tier-2 partners as cloud services resellers. However, there is now tremendous focus on involving the partner in creating solutions around its cloud services. All such deals will now be stamped under the solution provider license agreement,” said Sudarsan Ranganathan, CEO, Veeras Infotek, another Bengaluru-based Microsoft partner.


According to partners, Microsoft has close to 1,200 cloud customers in India, most with less than 100 seats each. The company now aims to target customers with up to 1,000 seats for its online offerings—Office 365, Intune, CRM and Exchange Online.


“So far Microsoft was focusing largely on SMBs for its public cloud offerings, but henceforth the company will also focus on mid-to-large enterprises which are strong prospects for Microsoft’s hybrid cloud solutions. In fact we have been closely working on a couple of 500+ seat projects which have a strong element of private and public cloud solutions,” said Paresh Shah, Partner in the Mumbai-based
PH Teknow.


Microsoft is also increasing its training and marketing budgets. “Microsoft has committed a significant increase in marketing spends on cloud computing solutions. They also plan to invest substantially in conducting regular training and hands-on labs. Indian partners would have access to global launches faster than they have had before,” said Suresh Ramani, CEO, Techgyan, a Mumbai-based Microsoft partner.

Birishiri tree felling goes on

Netrakona Zila Parishad and forest department have failed to stop the chopping down of century-old trees beside a road in Birishiri and to comply with the High Court's 10-day status quo order.

Deputy Commissioner of Netrakona Anish Mahmud yesterday told The Daily Star that the chief executive officer of Netrakona Zila Parishad issued a letter to the contractors, the upazila nirbahi officer and the officer-in-charge of Durgapur Police Station to stop the felling of trees.

Chief Executive Officer Md Aftab Ali said a letter was issued to officials concerned of Durgapur asking them to halt the cutting of trees which was being done to make the road wider.

Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Durgapur Kamruzzaman Mia said he sent an official concerned to the contractors to stop the felling of trees but the contractors did not stop.

Officer-in-Charge of Durgapur Police Station Abul Kalam Azad said he did not get any letter from the zila parishad asking him to stop the chopping down of trees.

The High Court on Tuesday directed the government to maintain status quo for 10 days on felling of trees on both sides of a road between Janjail Bazar and Durgapur upazila in Netrakona. The order came following a writ petition filed by Liton Mrong, general secretary of Garo Baptist Convention.

Liton Mrong yesterday said cutting trees is continuing. Two contractors at the spot instructed workers to continue their work.

Lawmaker the 'land-gobbler' His 2 firms filling up water body, forcing locals to sell their lands in 'national interest'; MP Aslamul Haque denies

Two private power companies are indiscriminately filling up a khas (govt-owned) water body and private land by the Buriganga river forcing the local people to sell their land to the companies-- all in the name of setting up two power plants and an amusement park.

Land owners in Looterchar and Waaspur across the Buriganga are too terrified to complain about the matter. They said Awami League lawmaker from Dhaka-4 constituency Mohammad Aslamul Haque is chairman of the two companies that are implementing the project.

“We were first told that we have to sell our land to facilitate setting up power plants in national interest,” said a local land owner asking not to be named. “But we became suspicious as they [companies] started filling up low-lying land one after another not even bothering to ask the owners.”

The local people also alleged that part of the Buriganga has also been grabbed by the companies-- Dhaka West Power Ltd and CLC Power Company Ltd. Besides, they have filled up the mouth of what remained of Atir Khal, a canal that used to connect Buriganga with vast areas of Keraniganj.

The huge water body on the northern side of the project site, which retains water round the year and greatly helps irrigation for farming, has been demarcated with bamboo poles for filling up. Part of the water body has already been filled up with dredging spoils from the project.

“They (companies) started filling up the area and then asked us to see them with land deeds,” said a local man with 10 kathas of land. “They offered me Tk 4 lakh for each katha but when I went to take the money, a dalal [middleman] of the company deducted 20 percent from the payment.”

When this correspondent contacted the companies' office at Dhanmondi, General Manager Anwar Hossain said they require 45 acres of land in the area to set up two power plants and an amusement park.

“The local people have enthusiastically offered their land for the project of such national interest, we have not grabbed an inch there,” said Anwar. “The water body that we demarcated is not khas, we are trying to buy it from the local people."

He also said, “The power plants are expected to be connected to the national grid by June next year.”

Asked, Aslamul Haque said his companies have bought land at fair price from the owners who have willingly come forward to sell that for this national project.

“It is not true that we shall set up an amusement park, and it is out of the question that we have demarcated the water body or khas land on the northern side [of the project]. We do not need any khas land,” said the ruling party lawmaker, contradicting what his companies' general manager said.

“Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority has issued us a certificate mentioning that we have not grabbed any part of the Buriganga. And we are soon obtaining environmental clearance certificate from the Department of Environment (DoE),” Aslamul said.

Mohammad Shajahan, DoE director (technical) and convenor of the Environmental Clearance Committee, told The Daily Star that since power plants are categorised in the red, his office has scrutinised the companies' application and asked them to produce all land documents and clearances from BIWTA and the deputy commissioner's office.

“We have asked them to provide the certificate mentioning that the river or any wetland has not been filled up for the project,” Shahjahan added.

In February this year, a DoE enforcement team filed a case against Aslamul with Keraniganj Police Station accusing him of starting a project for power plant without environmental clearance, filling up and polluting the Buriganga.

DoE sources said they had also seized four bulldozers from the site and put a ban on the project work. Later, the companies procured a certificate from BIWTA which cleared them of occupying the river.

“On the basis of the BIWTA certificate, the companies restarted the work although the ban has not been lifted yet,” said a DoE enforcement official.

Faith, hope and transformation in the scientific age

The first of March 1932 seemed like any other working day for the miners of La Paz in Mexico. They donned their helmets, picked up their shovels and descended the shaft ready to dig.

But on this day disaster struck; the roof fell in burying Espiridon Suniga and Juan Martines.

Fearing the worst their fellow miners desperately dug away at the debris, but when they reached the men Juan Martines was already dead.

Seriously injured, seeing his deceased colleague lying by his side, Espiridon Suniga feared his fate would be the same and he fervently prayed to St Francis of Assisi to save his life.

In 2008 the life of Cristobel Munoz also hung in the balance. Born six weeks early, underdeveloped and weighing less than 3lbs, his parents feared their son would not survive.
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There is a definite contractual element - deliver my needs and I will repay you with a painting”

Antonia Bruce Exhibition Co-curator

Like the miner, 70 years before him, Cristobel's father, Martinez Munoz, fell back on his faith. And like Espiridon Suniga, his prayers were answered and his son survived.

What connects these two tales of life and death across the decades is a rich Mexican Catholic tradition.

Having received divine intervention both Espiridon Suniga and Martinez Munoz repaid the debt by commissioning a retablo, or votive painting - small, colourful depictions of their moments of crisis - to celebrate the saintly intervention and give thanks for that help.

Human 'cloning' makes embryonic stem cells

A form of cloning has been used to create personalised embryonic stem cells in humans, say researchers.

Genetic material was taken from an adult skin cell and transferred into a human egg. This was grown to produce an early embryo.

Stem cells have huge potential in medicine as they can transform into any other cell type in the body.

However, the stem cells formed contained chromosomes from both the adult and the egg cells.

The technique used - somatic cell nuclear transfer - shot to fame in 1997 when Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell, was unveiled to the world.