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Posted
on 05-Apr-02 08:32 AM
By Dr David Whitehouse
BBC News Online science editor
Scientists have found "intriguing" new evidence that may indicate there is life on Mars.
An analysis of data obtained by the Pathfinder mission to the Red Planet in 1997 suggests there could be chlorophyll - the molecule used by plants and other organisms on Earth to extract energy from sunlight - in the soil close to the landing site.
Researchers stress their work is in a very preliminary state and they are far from making definite claims.
Even so, the work is attracting much attention in the scientific community and will come under intense scrutiny when it is presented to an astrobiology conference in the US next week.
Chlorophyll on Earth
A pigment found in plants, some algae, and bacteria that allows these organisms to catch sunlight
This energy is used to drive photosynthesis, a process that converts carbon dioxide and water into the simple sugar glucose
Photosynthesis is the starting point for nearly all life on Earth
It is the great abundance of chlorophyll in leaves and other tissues that makes plants appear green
Dr Carol Stoker, from the American space agency's (Nasa) Ames Research Center, confirmed the findings to BBC News Online but cautioned that they were "not ready for the big time".
Early data
Mars Pathfinder mission touched down in the Ares Vallis region of Mars in July 1997. It took many images of the surrounding area and released a small rover to sample rocks.
A detailed analysis of the images of the landing site now reveals two areas close to Pathfinder that have the spectral signature of chlorophyll.
According to experts it might be highly significant - or could be just a patch of coloured soil.
Dr Stoker's team scrutinised the so-called Superpan, which is a high-resolution, highly processed series of superimposed images produced by Pathfinder's camera.
It is a multispectral panorama of the landing site recorded in 15 regions of the spectrum, and contains a wealth of information about rock types, colours and textures.
Sojourner: A rover was used on the mission to take a closer look at the surroundings
Knowing the spectral signature of chlorophyll, the researchers wrote a computer program that systematically scanned the Superpan for any pixels of interest.
Specifically, the program looked for the spectral signature associated with red light absorption by chlorophyll.
Previous searches for evidence of chlorophyll in Pathfinder's pictures were carried out shortly after it landed.
Some tentative indications were seen but they were later dismissed as "possible image misregistration".
Two patches
In Dr Stoker's study six regions of the Superpan matched positive for the chlorophyll signature.
For each of the regions, a full spectrum was plotted out and their exact position in the Superpan was then carefully examined.
All of the detections occurred close to the camera. This is to be expected say the researchers, as these are the areas where the camera has the highest sensitivity and resolution.
Close examination revealed that four of the cases occurred on the Pathfinder spacecraft itself. But two regions showed a chlorophyll signature in the soil around Pathfinder.
Given the controversial nature of their findings and the early stage of the research, the scientists want to hold back any claims about what they may have found until they have done more work and prepared a detailed paper for submission in a scientific journal.
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| Maina |
Posted
on 05-Apr-02 08:34 AM
By Daniel Lak
BBC correspondent in Kathmandu
The government in Nepal has eased restrictions on the media and political parties imposed last November as part of a national state of emergency.
The Nepalese monarch, King Gyanendra, has approved a set of directives that spell out details of the emergency regulations.
Two of them allow slightly more scope for reporting by the media and for protest and public meetings by legal political parties.
The state of emergency is aimed at quelling a violent Maoist rebellion that has claimed three thousand lives in the past six years.
Amnesty report
The new regulations were imposed as the human rights group, Amnesty International, issued a report strongly condemning both the Nepalese security forces and the Maoists for alleged human rights violations.
Some arrested journalists had Maoist links
But it is doubtful there was any link between the Amnesty International report and these new regulations that relax restrictions on the media and political parties.
But in the past weeks, Amnesty and other groups have been harshly critical of the suspension of freedom of the press and the arrest of journalists in the months since the emergency was declared last November.
Local human rights activists say around 100, some affiliated with now banned Maoist publications, have been arrested.
Most, including a regional reporter for the BBC, were released after questioning.
Lack of access
Of more concern to human rights groups, aid donor countries and the press is the lack of access to areas where the security forces and the Maoists have been fighting and the almost total reliance on official statements from the government about casualties.
There are many unconfirmed reports of civilians being hurt or killed by both sides or in cross fire but the authorities have yet to allow independent reporting from war zones.
One editor said the new regulations might allow for such reporting but it was not clear.
While the government has relaxed some restrictions, it still explicitly bans anything that might encourage the Maoists or lower moral in the security forces.
A prominent Nepalese journalist commented there still appeared to be plenty of scope for officials to try to control reporting.
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| Maina |
Posted
on 05-Apr-02 09:06 AM
ASEAN Upbeat on Recovery, but Lacks Masterplan
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April 5
— By David Brunnstrom
YANGON (Reuters) - Southeast Asian finance ministers expressed optimism on Friday that regional recovery was at hand after years of trauma, but said this needed to be consolidated and protected from outside shocks through further reform.
While calling for closer cooperation to boost recovery, the ministers from the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations conceded that the different levels of development and market conditions in their diverse bloc meant no one economic formula would fit all countries.
After the gloom of the 1997 Asian crisis compounded by last year's global downturn, the mood at their meeting in Yangon was at last more upbeat.
"With the economic recovery, I think we have to be a bit careful, but I think we have seen the light at the end of the tunnel," said Haji Abdul Aziz Umar from tiny oil-rich Brunei, a country benefiting from the recent price surge in the commodity. "I am very optimistic."
Other officials, including Indonesian Finance Minister Boediono, concurred. "The overall mood is toward the better at the moment, so I think we all feel that positive sentiment," he said.
Last year's global downturn led to a big export slump in Asia, particularly hitting hi-tech producers such as Singapore and Japan and ministers said the general focus was now on boosting domestic demand. But varying market conditions meant individual approaches must differ.
"This is one of the challenges facing us, because ASEAN is a very diversified region," Singapore's Second Finance Minister Lim Hng Kiang told Reuters. "No one solution fits us all perfectly, so there must be some adaptation and some variation."
"Many of us have to overcome the drop in external demand through some domestic boosting," he said, but countries were being very careful not to create long-term structural problems.
"They do see this need to bring down the fiscal deficits and try to achieve balanced budgets within two three or four years depending on the specific circumstances in each country."
FOREIGN INVESTMENT CHALLENGE
Lim said that as well as boosting domestic demand, ASEAN -- Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei -- needed to compete better with China to woo back foreign direct investment (FDI).
"I think all the ASEAN countries realize that FDI is a crucial component of the strategy for development. We cannot just grow based on domestic demand alone.
"We know that over the last two years the FDI to the ASEAN region has gone down sharply compared to what is going into China and Northeast Asia. We have to work out schemes to try to reattract FDI back here."
Thai Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, whose country's balance of payments crisis sparked the Asian crisis, said ASEAN needed to develop into a strong network to keep its economies strong. "They should not only depend on external economy, they should develop themselves," he said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) delivered some good news this week, saying the region was expected to see a "moderate" rebound this year helped by "very encouraging signs of recovery" in the United States and partial recovery in Europe.
But Pradumna Rana, the ADB's director for regional economic monitoring, warned that risks remained, given serious imbalances in the United States and high world oil prices. And he said the extent of the upturn would vary from country to country.
"Last year, all the countries went down, this year they will come up, but it will not be a mirror image. The countries that are more open will come up faster than others."
Rana said countries had been adopting expansionary monetary or fiscal policies depending on their individual circumstances but some had less room for maneuver than others.
"They have been implementing reforms, to varying degrees and extent, not uniformly," he said.
The ministers are to sign protocols on tariffs and on further liberalizing financial services, but an ASEAN official said the latter would recognize that countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar were likely to move more slowly in certain areas.
In meetings on Thursday with Japanese, Korean and Chinese dialogue partners, ASEAN countries discussed expanding a regional currency swaps network Tokyo has championed, which some see as a precursor to an Asian Monetary Fund -- a prospect that makes some Western countries, particularly the United States, uneasy.
It now involves agreements worth $15 billion to provide rapid help if a currency comes under speculative attack as in 1997.
But Japan made clear on Thursday that an Asian Monetary Fund was still on the back burner.
"Maybe it's kind of some target, but within one or two years it is very difficult to have that," Hiroshi Watanabe, deputy director-general of Japan's Ministry of Finance, told Reuters.
"Still the level of economic stages is quite different. It's quite different from the European area, so in order to have some kind of multilateral institution, it will take some time."
Watanabe said delegates had urged Japan to restore growth and pursue structural reform and he had replied that Tokyo was working hard to restore growth by the second half of the year.
Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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| MAINA |
Posted
on 05-Apr-02 11:09 AM
Dobbs says he has been doing voice-overs for a number of ads for more than a year and insists there’s no conflict of interest. He declined to say how much he was being paid for the spots or which other companies he touts, but he says he does the commercials as part of his syndication deal. “I’m the talent,” Dobbs told The Scoop. “I read the ads.”
When asked if he thought he might be compromising his integrity or objectivity, Dobbs said, “That is a silly, silly question. Would I do it if I thought I were compromising anything? I’ve got to run now.” And he hung up.
A CNN spokeswoman defended Dobbs’ actions, saying, “It’s standard procedure in radio. Howard Stern does it.”
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That doesn’t make it OK, some media watchdogs say. “I think it’s a terrible idea,” says Marvin Kalb, executive director of Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy. He says that anchors including Dan Rather have refused even to read the name of a show’s sponsor on radio shows. “Journalists are supposed to be journalists. Not read commercials. They are two separate things.”
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Britney, Marlboro Girl?
Was that Britney Spears or some impersonator smoking up a storm earlier this week?
Sources report that someone looking a lot like the belly-baring singer was puffing away on Marlboro Lights at Joseph’s, the hot Los Angeles restaurant where she was also spotted tearing up the dance floor.
Spears’ publicist didn’t respond to requests for comment, but in the past, the singer has spoken out against smoking. She has, however, also spoken out against drinking and premarital sex, and has been hounded by rumors that she doesn’t abstain from those either.
Notes from all over
Paparazzi in Sydney, Australia, walked out of a press conference for “Spider-Man,” complaining that they weren’t given decent photo ops. The lensmen were asked to come photograph celebs such as Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and Willem Dafoe, and left in a snit, complaining that they were called in only to make the scene look busy for Entertainment Tonight, which was filming the whole thing.
Kleptomaniacs and Shoplifters Anonymous has a suggestion for Winona Ryder, according to PeopleNews.com. The group thinks that in order to combat her alleged problem with sticky fingers, the “Heathers” star should give up acting and instead become a farmer because she’s in need of solitude and a peaceful environment. . . . . Bono says he’s getting flak from his rock and roll buddies for cozying up to George W. Bush and Jesse Helms. The lead singer for U2 has been meeting with the President and the North Carolina senator to plead for help in fighting global poverty and AIDS. “[U2 guitarist] Edge was pleading with me not to hang out with the conservatives,” Bono told the London Guardian. “He said, ‘You’re not going to have a picture with George Bush?’ I said I’d have lunch with Satan if there was so much at stake. I have friends who won’t speak to me because of Helms.”
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Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop appears Monday through Thursday in MSNBC Living.
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