joining Preparation in NASA graduating in MS Computer Science Engineering

Hi Every Body !!
I am planning to do a masters in computer science from a US university. I am not sure which field I should specialize in. I have my interests, but job prospects are also important to consider, which I have little idea of. I am listing the specializations I know of, and the corresponding kind of jobs. Please add/correct these :) :

1. Software Engineering

Typical software company like IBM, SAP, Adobe, Microsoft, etc.

1. Databases

Companies like Oracle?

1. Networking/ Wireless networking

companies like CISCO...?

1. Artificial Intelligence / Robotics

No idea about companies. The only thing that comes to my mind is Honda's ASIMO and Research.

1. Neural Networks

No idea about companies. Only good if you want to do research?

1. Software Testing

Typical software companies like IBM, SAP, Adobe, Microsoft, etc.

1. Computer Architecture

Intel, AMD, Research ??

1. Operating Systems

Microsoft, research ?

1. Bioinformatics

Pharma companies?

1. Game development/ graphics

EA, Blizzard, Ubisoft, Bioware, etc.

1. Distributed systems / Parallel computing

No idea.
I have two more questions:

1. How much does specialization matter? For example, say if I major in bioinformatics (and lets assume that later I change my mind and want to be in a typical software company like microsoft), then how much will that get in my way of getting a job at a regular company, like Microsoft?
2. Upon preliminary readings on internet, I somewhat like bioinformatics, game development, Distributed systems / Parallel computing. Could you elaborate specifically on these on what kind of jobs there are, working conditions, payscale, job security, and if possible prospects of findind a job in US and back in India?

Thank you Every body in advance !!

Publish Your Research Article In International Journal:IOSR JOURNALS  

 #Artificial Intelligence / Robotics:

The Asimo doesn't have much A.I. at all, most of its motions are scripted and/or remote controlled, and most of the intelligence in it (and there is a lot of it) is in the hardware design (mechanical and electronics) and in control software.
For the moment, there is much more job prospects in research (with AI, you could call it "intelligent robotics"). There are many companies that develop hardware and software for robotics directed towards university research. And then there is defense research (DARPA and the like in other countries). Currently, most private companies in this field are young start-ups, but there are a few bigger ones like Boston Dynamics (Big Dog, and Rumba), Quanser (mostly research-grade software tools), and Willow Garage (PR-2, X-8, and the ROS platform). But most of these companies look for people that have experience in AI and robotics, and that have an engineering background in addition to programming skills (because it takes more engineering knowledge than it takes programming skills for most of the tasks in robotics software development), and this pretty much excludes anyone without quite a bit of university research experience (i.e., a PhD).
Moving away from artificial intelligence and more into robotics, then there are tons of big companies. The industrial robotics sector with multi-nationals like ABB, Kuka, FANUC, Bosch, General Electric, General Motors, Adept Tech., and just about every car company too, which all need custom software tools for their industrial robots and often invest quite a bit in R&D projects involving new types of robots and stuff (car manufacturing is almost entirely robotic these days, about 70% to 90% robotics, the rest is human operated, and many car companies keep the human jobs only to be able to say that they employ people, because they could easily to up to 95-98% of their operations with robots only). Artificial intelligence in industrial robotics settings is growing, and will be pretty big pretty soon. But, by and large, these companies want engineers with strong skills in software development.
To a large extent, in robotics, the job market for software guys is in the software tools for engineers designing, building, testing, operating and programming robots. Doing this requires a large amount of specialized software, and most engineers in this field (like me), acquired most of their programming skills by writing custom software tools for their own projects. So, there are a lot of companies involved in trying to create software like that. Engineers used to only need crude CAD software (like AutoCAD) and do the rest in pen and paper. Now, to develop a robot from scratch (professionally, not in your garage) you will need several hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of specialized commercial software (e.g., FEA/FEM, CAD, CAM, Multi-body Dynamics Software, Control software, multi-field simulation software, circuit layout design tools, etc., etc.). There are big companies and big money behind these software tools.
Emerging fields are really all about putting more intelligence into robotic systems. For the most part, much of the mechanical and electronics designs are very mature now, but there are very few applications for intelligence in robotics. Most robots out there move just by following a pre-programmed script or by some form of tele-presence of a human operator. And just about every robotics project in universities is focusing on the artificial intelligence aspects (not so much in Japan, which do mostly hardware designs). This is an emerging market, where Boston Dynamics is pretty much the leading figure, but there are more to come for sure.

#Neural Networks:
Well, neural networks is way too narrow. It is like saying "I'm an expert in Newton-Raphson root-finding." You can't specialize in one algorithm with limited applications. ANNs are just one small, and rather insignificant, part of the area of machine learning. And that is a big area for computer science and software engineering. This field might lead to work in image processing with applications ranging from fault-detection by visual inspection (with high-speed cameras) for products in an assembly line, to robot autonomy applications like localisation and mapping in a world using cameras. Speech recognition, natural language comprehension and synthesis are the kinds of software with very wide applications. Then there are tons of fields in which machine learning techniques can be used as part of a bigger setting. Like predictive models for data-mining in databases. Very hard simulation problems like climatic models and economic models (and you can imagine the salaries there) require very advanced algorithms, including a lot of machine learning ones. Not to mention the classified applications, like cryptography and surveillance systems.
The problem in this area is not so much the number of applications or job prospects, but the level of competence needed to deal with these complex and highly mathematical methods.

 #Game development/ graphics:
Don't forget 3D animated movies and CGI, or the software tools used by these industries, which require very similar skills to game-dev and graphics.

#Distributed systems / Parallel computing:
You'd be surprised how many things run on super-computers or computer clusters. Anything that requires any kind of aerodynamics or hydrodynamics simulations will require parallel computing, and many of the companies that need this have their own software tools, and need developers to work on them. Think Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer, Lockheed Martin, just about every car company out there, and then all the high-end scientific applications, like CERN or climate modeling, etc.. And that's just the people who have been using parallel and distributed computing for decades now. I can't imagine all the needs for this that will emerge in the near future, because we have pretty much reached the maximum CPU power, the future is in parallel computing.

 

Innovation Challenge NASA Selects Five Universities X-Hab 2013

 May 30, 2012 WASHINGTON, -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Five universities have been selected to participate in the 2013 Exploration Habitat (X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge led by NASA and the National Space Grant Foundation. These universities will design habitat systems, concepts and technologies that could be used in future deep space habitats

Read more now: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/30/4526054/nasa-selects-five-universities.html#storylink=cpy

The selection is the first milestone in a year-long process for these five teams. Throughout the 2012-2013 academic year, the teams will meet a series of milestones to design, manufacture, assemble and test their systems and concepts in cooperation with the NASA Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Program's Habitation Systems Project team.

"The X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge is an exciting opportunity to engage university teams in the design process for NASA's next generation space systems," said Jason Crusan, NASA's AES Program manager at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The agency benefits from the fresh and innovative perspective of these university teams, and they learn about deep space human exploration and the systems engineering approach from an experienced NASA team."

The challenge is  university-level participatory exploration effort designed to encourage studies in spaceflight-related disciplines. The challenge encourages multidisciplinary approaches, further outreach efforts and partnering with experts and industry. This design challenge requires undergraduate students to explore NASA's work on development of deep space habitats while also helping the agency gather new ideas to complement its current research and development. NASA selected these five teams from among a group of proposals received in May 2012.

The X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge 2013 teams are:

- California State Polytechnic University: Vertical Habitability Layout and Fabrication Studies

- Oklahoma State University: Deep Space Habitat, Horizontal Habitability Layout Studies

- Texas A&M University: Wireless Smart Plug for DC Power

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/30/4526054/nasa-selects-five-universities.html#storylink=cpy
The X-Hab Academic Innovation Challenge 2013 teams are:

- California State Polytechnic University: Vertical Habitability Layout and Fabrication Studies

- Oklahoma State University: Deep Space Habitat, Horizontal Habitability Layout Studies

- Texas A&M University: Wireless Smart Plug for DC Power

- University of Alabama in Huntsville: Design and Development of a Microgravity Random Access Stowage and Rack System

- University of Colorado at Boulder: Remote Plant Food Production Capability

The National Space Grant Foundation will fund design costs, development and delivery of the systems to the AES Habitat Systems team during the summer of 2013.

NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate's Advanced Exploration Systems Program, via the Habitat Systems Project team, is sponsoring the technology challenge. NASA is dedicated to supporting research that enables sustained and affordable human and robotic exploration. This educational challenge contributes to the agency's efforts to train and develop a highly skilled scientific, engineering and technical workforce for the future.

For information about competition registration and requirements, visit: http://www.spacegrant.org/xhab

For more information about the Advanced Exploration System Program Habitation Systems Project team, visit: http://go.nasa.gov/L37Ymq

SOURCE NASA

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/05/30/4526054/nasa-selects-five-universities.html#storylink=cpy

Science Nugget: Solar Particles Infiltrating Earth Atmosphere Catching

NASA: Science nuggets are a collection of early science results, new research techniques, and instrument updates that further our attempt to understand the sun and the dynamic space weather system that surrounds Earth.

On May 17, 2012 an M-class flare exploded from the sun. The eruption also shot out a burst of solar particles traveling at nearly the speed of light that reached Earth about 20 minutes after the light from the flare. An M-class flare is considered a "moderate" flare, at least ten times less powerful than the largest X-class flares, but the particles sent out on May 17,2012 were so fast and energetic that when they collided with atoms in Earth's atmosphere, they caused a shower of particles to cascade down toward Earth's surface. The shower created what's are called a ground level enhancemen.

Ground level enhancemen are quite rare – fewer than 100 events have been observed in the last 70 years, since instruments were first able to detect them. Moreover, this was the first GLE of the current solar cycle--a sure sign that the sun's regular 11-year cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum system.

This ground level enhancemen has scientists excited for another reason, too. The joint Russian/Italian mission PAMELA, short for Payload for Antimatter Matter Exploration and Light-nuclei Astrophysics, simultaneously measured the particles from the sun that caused the GLE. Solar particles have been measured before, but PAMELA is sensitive to the very high-energy particles that reach ground level at Earth. The data may help scientists understand the details of what causes this space weather phenomenon, and help them tease out why a relatively small flare was capable of producing the high-speed particles needed to cause a GLE.

Usually we would expected this kind of ground level enhancement from a giant coronal mass ejection or a big X-class flare, says Georgia de Nolfo, a space scientist who studies high speed solar particles at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt. So not only are we really excited that we were able to observe these particularly high energy particles from space, but we also have a scientific puzzle to solve.

This path are observation began on Saturday, May 5, when a large sunspot rotated into view on the left side of the sun. The sunspot was as big as about 15 Earths, a fairly sizable active region, though by no means as big as some of the largest sunspots that have been observed on the sun. Dubbed Active Region 1476, the sunspots had already shown activity on the back side of the sun—as seen by a NASA mission called the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) -- so scientists were on alert for more. Scientists who study high-energy particles from the sun had been keeping their eye out for just such an active region because they had seen no ground level enhancement since December of 2006.

In addition, they had high hopes that the PAMELA mission, which had focused on cosmic rays from outside our galaxy could now be used to observe solar particles. Such "solar cosmic rays" are the most energetic particles that can be accelerated at or near the sun.


But there was a hitch the satellite carrying the PAMELA instruments were not currently usable since they were in calibration mode. Scientists including de Nolfo and another Goddard researcher, Eric Christian, let the PAMELA collaboration know that this might be the chance they had been waiting for and they convinced the Russian team in charge of the mission to turn the instruments back on to science mode.

And then the active region pretty much did nothing for two weeks, says Christian. But just before it disappeared over the right side of the sun, it finally erupted with an M-class flare.

Bingo Neutron monitors all over the world detected the shower of neutrons that represent a ground level enhancemen. Most of the time the showers are not the solar system energetic particles themselves, but the resultant debris of super-fast particles slamming into atoms in Earth’s atmosphere. The elevated levels of neutrons lasted for an hour.

Simultaneously, PAMELA recorded the incoming solar particles up in space, providing one of the first in-situ measurements of the stream of particles that initiated a GLE. Only the early data has been seen so far, but scientists have high hopes that as more observations are relayed down to Earth, they will be able to learn more about the May 17 ,2012 onslaught of solar protons, and figure out why this event triggered a GLE when earlier bursts of solar protons in January and March, 2012 didn't.

PAMELA is a space-borne experiment of the Wizard collaboration, which is an international collaboration between Italian (I.N.F.N) – Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Russian, German and Swedish institutes, realized with the main support of the Italian (ASI) and Russian Space Agencies.


Visit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Former Liberian president Charles G. Taylor sentenced to 50 years in war crimes case

Charles Taylor, 64, listens to a judge deliver his sentence Wednesday. The 50-year term was one of the longest by an international court. / Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

 

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands - Charles G. Taylor, the former president of Liberia and a once-powerful warlord, was sentenced Wednesday to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed in Sierra Leone during its civil war in the 1990s.

In a watershed case for modern human rights law, Taylor is the first former head of state convicted by an international tribunal since the Nuremberg trials in Germany after World War II.

Taylor was found guilty of “aiding and abetting, as well as planning, some of the most heinous and brutal crimes recorded in human history,’’ said Richard Lussick, the judge who presided over the sentencing here in an international criminal court near The Hague.

He said the lengthy prison term underscored Taylor’s position as a government’s leader during the time the crimes were committed.

“Leadership must be carried out by example, by the prosecution of crimes, not the commission of crimes,’’ the judge said in a statement read before the court.

If carried out, the sentence is likely to mean that Taylor, 64, will spend the rest of his life in prison. He looked at the floor after he was asked to stand as the sentence was read.

His legal team said it would file an appeal.

“The sentence is clearly excessive, clearly disproportionate to his circumstances, his age and his health, and does not take into account the fact that he stepped down from office voluntarily,’’ said Morris Anya, one of Taylor’s lawyers.

The prosecution, which had sought an even longer sentence of 80 years, said it was considering its own appeal, to raise the level of responsibility attributed to Taylor for crimes committed under his leadership.

Two rebel commanders tried earlier were handed similar prison sentences of 50 and 52 years respectively, and a prosecutor said that Taylor’s overall responsibility was considerably greater. The court must set a precise prison term; it is not allowed to impose a life sentence or the death penalty.

The chief prosecutor, Brenda Hollis, said that Taylor did not freely leave office but was pushed by a rebel offensive and by a delegation of African leaders urging him to prevent further bloodshed.

“The sentence today does not replace amputated limbs; it does not bring back those who were murdered,’’ Hollis said. “It does not heal the wounds of those who were raped or forced to become sexual slaves.’’

Outside the courthouse, Salamba Silla, who works with victims’ groups in Sierra Leone, pleaded for more help for former child soldiers, orphans, people whose limbs were hacked off and other victims of the country’s war.

“You can see hundreds of them begging on the streets of Freetown,’’ the capital, she said. “Many who suffered horrendously need help to return to the provinces, they think they cannot survive there.’’

Ibrahim Sorie, a lawmaker from Sierra Leone who had been seated in the court’s public gallery, said the sentence was fair. “It restores our faith in the rule of law, and we see that impunity is ending for top people,’’ Sorie said.

By previous agreement, Taylor will serve his sentence in a British prison, but since the appeals process is expected to last at least a year, he will remain in the relative comfort of the United Nations’ detention center at The Hague.

After more than a year of deliberations, the Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty in late April of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his part in fomenting mass brutality that included murder, rape, the use of child soldiers, the mutilation of thousands of civilians and the mining of diamonds to pay for guns and ammunition.

Prosecutors have said that Taylor was motivated in these gruesome actions not by any ideology but rather by “pure avarice’’ and a thirst for power.

The UN-backed tribunal began its work in Sierra Leone, where it tried its other cases, but out of concern that hearings in West Africa would cause unrest among those who still support Taylor, his trial was moved to this town in the Netherlands.

In Liberia, where Taylor began a civil war and amassed a record of human rights atrocities during his dictatorial rule, there has not been the political will or the resources to set up a tribunal.

The mandate of the Special Court for Sierra Leone covers only crimes in that country between 1996 and 2002, and because the tribunal is to be shut down, critics say that a number of people close to Taylor have escaped prosecution.

Eight other leading members of different forces and rebel groups have already been sentenced by the tribunal. Taylor is the special court’s last defendant. His trial began in 2006, and since then, 115 witnesses have given testimony.

"What lesson does that send to President Assad?" Griffiths said. "Maybe the lesson is: If you are a sitting leader and the international community wants to get rid of you, either you get murdered like Col. (Moammar) Gadhafi (of Libya), or you hang on until the bitter end."

Olympic Games ticketing timeline Confirms London 2012

 The London 2012 Olympic Games Organising Committee has confirmed details for the sale of 900,000 contingency tickets for the Olympic Games, going on sale from 11:00am on 11 May 2012.
The Olympic Games take place from 27 July – 12 August this summer.

Reflecting the promise made by LOCOG Chair Sebastian Coe and CEO Paul Deighton last year, tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis exclusively to approximately one million people who applied in previous rounds of Olympic games ticket sales and were not successful in securing a ticket.  

Exclusive pre-sale period:
First priority will be given to the 20,000 people who were unsuccessful in the initial Olympic ballot application and then again unsuccessful when they applied in the second chance sales. They would have received a notification on 26 June 2011 that their second chance sales application was unsuccessful.


From 11am on 11 May to 6pm on 12 May, an exclusive pre-sale for these individuals will see tickets available for all events, including limited tickets for Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

Five-day sales period:
The one million people who applied in the initial ballot but were unsuccessful will then have an exclusive five-day sales period.

13 May 2012 – Volleyball, Football, Hockey, Tennis and Wrestling.

14 May 2012 – Athletics (Race Walk and Marathon), Canoe Slalom, Canoe Sprint, Shooting, Swimming, Track Cycling, Volleyball and Weightlifting

15 May 2012 – Diving, Equestrian, Handball, Swimming (Marathon), Synchronised Swimming, Table Tennis and Water Polo

16 May 2012 – Badminton, Basketball (North Greenwich Arena sessions), Boxing, Fencing, Gymnastics, Judo, Sailing and Taekwondo

17 May 2012 – Archery, Basketball (Basketball Arena sessions), BMX, Modern Pentathlon, Mountain Bike, Road Cycling, Rowing, Triathlon and Olympic games Park tickets.

All tickets visit the London 2012 will be available froms 11:00am on the London 2012 ticketing website

Customers will be limited to applying for one session and a maximum of four tickets, with those eligible for the sales set to be contacted directly via email by LOCOG on 8 May.

By purchasing tickets on any of these days, customers will not be eligible to purchase any more tickets in this sales period. Unsold tickets on each day will be carried forward to the next day’s sales, with any tickets unsold during this period going back on general sale from 23 May at 11am. 

Olympic Park tickets:
LOCOG has also confirmed that Olympic Park tickets will be available as part of this sale, allowing ticketholders to experience the atmosphere of the Park and watch sport on the big screens primarily in the first week before the Athletics starts. Approximately 70,000 of these tickets are available in this sale, with full price tickets at £10 and tickets for people aged 16 or under and seniors aged 60 or over at £5. LOCOG Chair Seb Coe said: 'We know thousands of sports fans were disappointed when they missed out in the initial sales period because of the massive demand for tickets. We promised we would prioritise these fans when we released the contingency tickets, which is exactly what we are doing.'

New tickets to help more people get to the Games will be available on 29 May. These tickets include Cycling Road Race at Box Hill, in Surrey; Cycling Individual Time Trial at Hampton Court Palace; and tickets for Wimbledon, which will provide access to The Hill and the big screen only.

Paralympic Games tickets:
It has also been announced that remaining tickets for the Paralympic Games will go on sale from 11am on 21 May 2012 – exactly 100 days before the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

In further news, LOCOG has confirmed its ‘babes in arms’ policy. Children aged 12 months or under will be permitted access to all London 2012 venues without a ticket other than Wembley Stadium, St James’ Park, Old Trafford and North Greenwich Arena.    

Visit the London 2012 ticketing website 

5th time Vishwanathan Anand wins world chess for championship

5th time Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand beat his Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand in a tense rapid chess tiebreaker  win his fifth World Championship title and fourth in a row in Moscow on Wednesday.

Anand overcame a stiff challenge from Gelfand by 1 point in the tiebreaker to seal the coveted title. They had drawn level  6 points each after the regulation 12-round series were locked in an intense battle in  tiebreaker.

However, it was who Anand  held  nerves in  four-round tiebreaker. After the first round ended in a draw, Anand sealed the crucial advantage by wining the second round to take the all important lead of 1 point.

They then played out two more draws before Gelfand conceded  challenge handing Anand another world crown with the final 2.5-15score being .

It was a moment of joy for Anand and his family, but the champion himself seemed modest of his latest achievement.

"It was incredibly tensed. When I woke up this morning, I knew it would end one way or the other but I did not know how it will go. It was so even that I did not know how the tiebreaker will turn," a relieved Anand said after retaining the title.


 

Shyamnagar upazila under Satkhira district Life still goes on in Aila-hit 'Bangladesh'

 SATKHIRA:Very sad Life still remains a misery for the people in two upazilas of Satkhira district as it used to be three years ago, when the cyclone Aila left a trail of devastation.

About 30 percent of the Aila victims are still living on upland and embankments without any job, pure drinking water and safe sanitation facilities.

They cannot return home, as they are yet to receive a grant from the government announced in 2010 in a bid to help them rebuild their houses.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Shyamnagar on July 23 in 2010 and committed to allocate Tk 20 thousand per family in the form of grant for house building.

But the affected people said they had not yet received a single penny of the money due to some legal complexities, though the money is lying idle with two banks in Satkhira.

However, Shyamnagar Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Md Doulotuzzaman Khan told daily sun that the legal complexity had been removed and that the victims would get the money soon.

On May 25 in 2009 the cyclone battered the coastal area in the south, including Satkhira.

The worst-affected unions are Gabura and Padmapukur under Shyamnagar upazila and Protapnagar under Assassuni upazila.

A total of 117 km embankments were damaged. Of them, 64 km were damaged fully. On the other hand, 73 people were killed in the natural disaster.

Besides, three lakh or 300 thousand people were rendered homeless in the district and shrimp on 32 thousand hectares of land and crops on 2 thousand hectares of land were washed away.

Hundreds of thousands of people took shelter on upland and embankments.

Government and non-government organisations stood beside the victims with humanitarian aid, including food, clothing, medical service and shelter for about two years.

The damaged embankments have also been reconstructed. But people of the affected areas have no work as agricultural and shrimp lands are totally affected. Crops cannot be grown on the agricultural land because of the high salinity of soil. So they are jobless.

Hundreds of them have already left the area and settled elsewhere.

SCARS OF AILA

# Salinity leaves cropland barren triggering a job crisis

# No supply of drinking water

# Victims yet to receive govt grant for house building

‘Laden doctor’of Washington cuts aid over jailing

WASHINGTON: A US Senate panel has cut $33m (£21m) in aid to Pakistan in response to the jailing of a Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama Bin Laden.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has said it will cut US aid by $1m for each year of Shakil Afridi’s sentence.

Dr Afridi was tried for treason under a tribal justice system for running a fake vaccination programme to gather information for US intelligence. Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May 2011.

The move from the Senate panel follows earlier cuts to the White House’s budget request for Pakistan. The cuts would be part of a bill that would send $1bn in aid to Pakistan in the next financial year.

“We need Pakistan, Pakistan needs us, but we don’t need Pakistan double-dealing and not seeing the justice in bringing Osama Bin Laden to an end,” said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, calling Pakistan “a schizophrenic ally”.

Meanwhile Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said: “It’s Alice in Wonderland at best. If this is co-operation, I’d hate like hell to see opposition.”

Correspondents say the cuts reflect mounting frustration in Congress over Pakistan’s role in fighting terrorism on its soil.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday denounced as “unjust and unwarranted” the treatment of a Pakistani doctor who was jailed for 33 years for helping in the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

A tribal court in Khyber, a lawless district and extremist hotbed, on Wednesday convicted Shakeel Afridi of treason after he agreed to collect DNA for US intelligence to verify the presence of the most-wanted al-Qaeda leader.

“We regret both the fact that he was convicted and the severity of his sentence,” Hillary told a joint press conference with New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully. — BBC Online/AFP

Second Bangladeshi Woman Wasfia Nazrin Congrasulation to Mount Everest

 DHAKA: Congrasulation Wasfia Nazreen, second Bangladeshi Woman mountaineer on Saturday reached the summit of the Everest, world’s highest mountain, as part of the Bangladesh Seven Summit Campaign.

Korvi Rakshand, spokesperson of the Campaign informed media, “Wasfia reached the summit at 6:41am Bangladesh time today.”

She is the fourth Bangladeshi mountaineer who hoisted country’s Bangladeshi  Red and green national flag at the top of the mountain just a 7 day after Nishat Majumder conquered the world’s highest peak as the first Bangladeshi woman. Nishat conquered the Everest on May 19 and now on way back home.

Wasfia started her effort for the summit of Mount Everest on May 21.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia congratulated Wasifa on her success.

Earlier on May 24, 2010, Musa Ibrahim became the first victor to hoist Bangladesh’s national flag on the globe’s summit.

Muhit is the first Bangladeshi to scale the mountain twice. He first scaled the mountain peak on May 21 last year and he accompanied Nishat May 19 this year.

trajaty accedent ferry sinks in Bangladesh Ten dead, 150 missing a

 27.05.2012  03.04am

least 10 people died and about 150 people  missing after a ferry sank  Bangladesh in the early hours of Tuesday morning, officials said, adding that 35 survivors  found.

surch beauti LUX Channel i Superstar 2012 for Registrations Open 24 hours

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President Obama campaign unleashes digital ad blitz in bid to see off Romney challenge

 Sunday, May 27,2012
Barack Obama is vastly outspending his challenger for the White House Mitt Romney on internet advertising, pouring millions of dollars into attempting to sway online voters in a move that his campaign strategists hope will give him an edge in November.

New data compiled by the internet marketing research firm comScore shared with the Guardian shows that in April the Obama for America campaign placed more than 30 times as many digital ads as Romney's equivalent operation. Though Romney's digital team has promised to up its game as the presidential election approaches, their presence in the online political battlefield remains negligible.

ComScore records that Obama paid for 865m online display ads across the web last month. By contrast, the Mitt Romney for President campaign mustered barely 26m ads.

Romney's online presence is running at a level that the Obama campaign surpassed a year ago. By May 2011 Obama was already placing 70m online ads, and this January it vamped up its digital investment to almost 800m ads where it has remained ever since.

The new figures are surprising because April was the first month in which Romney was clearly the presumptive Republican candidate for the presidential election. Observers had expected to see a more aggressive attempt on Romney's part to play catch up now that the nomination was in the bag, but it has failed to materialise.

"We expected that Romney's activity would have ratcheted up at this point, but we are not seeing that. The early indication is that there isn't any major closing of the gap," said Andrew Lipsman, a comScore analyst specialising in political and digital advertising.

While the Romney campaign is managing to make serious inroads into Obama's overall fundraising advantage, most of the extra firepower it is accumulating appears to be going towards traditional campaigning techniques. In particular, Romney's team, flanked by several well-funded partisan Super Pacs led by Karl Rove and the Koch brothers, are gearing themselves up to unleash a blitzkreig of negative TV ads on the American electorate.

Obama is also expected to devote most of his warchest to traditional TV advertising. But he has also set aside a substantial portion of the 2012 coffers for more innovative attempts to involve and engage online voters.

Already in the 2012 election cycle, the Obama For America team, headquartered in Chicago, has spent $19m on online advertising – more than the entire amount spent by Obama in this area in 2008. The interactive marketing news site ClickZ calculates that at current rates OFA will spend $35m on digital advertising by November, though that could prove to be an underestimate.
A training session for Obama campaign staff Experts say online advertising has the power to transform the nature of the 2012 election. Photograph: Ed Pilkington for the Guardian

Obama's online advertising strategy is being masterminded by Andrew Bleeker and Nathaniel Lubin, who are veterans of Obama's first run on the White House four years ago. After 2008, Bleeker set up his own private consultancy, Bully Pulpit Interactive, where he was joined by Lubin who has now circled back to lead the on-the-ground work on online marketing in the Obama re-election HQ in Chicago.

Bleeker and Lubin have set out how they see the challenge for digital media in the 2012 presidential election in a new book of essays that explores the way that political campaigns are changing in the face of technological innovation. They predict in Margin of Victory , edited by Nathaniel Pearlman, that 2012 will "blow prior campaigns out of the water".

As more money and staff are devoted to online marketing, they say, the 2012 cycle will finally achieve the aspirations of previous campaigns. The authors identify three ways in which online advertising has the power to transform the battle.

First, messages can be targeted much more tightly than TV ads to core gropus of voters, reaching down they say to the level of the "zip code or even, in some cases, the individual level, bringing custom solutions to the table that will match the distinct messages to specific audiences."

Second, campaigns will this year move their online marketing away from desktop computers and on to cell phones. That will be particularly important in reaching certain demographics, such as Hispanic voters, who spend a disproportionate amount of their online time on mobile devices.

Third, online video advertising is going to be huge this year. Unlike TV advertising, which can only be targeted to a city or region, an online video can be served to a voter with his or her precise geolocation and behavioural interests, greatly enhancing the relevance and the impact of the message.

"The 2012 election is very likely to be incredibly tight. Winning messages are going to be the ones that cut through the clutter – not just with memorable creative work but alos by being tailored to key segments," Bleeker and Lubin write.

Social media is also going to be an important part of the jigsaw. Obama again has a massive headstart in this area, having already amassed more than 26.7m Facebook fans to Romney's 1.8m followers.

A comScore study of the uses of social media by the presidential campaigns highlights the value of social media as a way of amplifying the candidate's message. In January, for instance, Obama bought 800m online display ads at a cost of more than $4m.

In addition, though, comScore calculates, Obama leveraged an extra 66m display ad impressions as a result of Obama followers passing on messages to their friends.

Shahrukh Khan Banned from Wankhede Stadium for the next 5 Years

Sunday, May27,2012
Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan was today banned by the Mumbai Cricket Association for five years from entering the Wankhede Stadium for misbehaving with its officials in an IPL match here.

Shahrukh Khan reportedly got into an argument with Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials during the MI Vs KKR match on May 16, 2012. Post this incidence, MCA decided to ban Shahrukh Khan from entering Wankhede Stadium for the next 5 years.

According to Sharukh Khan, he was provoked by a racial slur. There is no place for racism in sports. If a MCA official did indeed utter a provocative racial statement, then strong action should be taken against that official. If the racial insult is found to be true, then this website suggests that Wankhede Stadium should be banned as a cricket venue for some time, so that a strong message is sent to all that racism will not be tolerated in cricket

Take the example of the football English Premier League (EPL) in England. English football used to be beset with hooliganism and racism. The EPL authorities took a strong zero tolerance policy against racism. Even the English captain, John Terry, was not spared. The BCCI too should follow a similar zero tolerance policy.

"The ban is a message to every one that if anyone behaves like that, action will be taken," Deshmukh said, adding more than 50 per cent of members in the MCA managing committee were present when the unsavoury incident took place on Wednesday night.

First Bangladeshi woman to Mount Everest Bangladeshi flag atop the 8,848-metre-high peak

Saturday,May 26,2012,03:14pm

DHAKA: Congratulation Nishat Majumder A 31-year-old Bangladeshi accountant Saturday became the first Woman from her country to climb Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain.

Nishat Majumder, who began her adventure April 9, hoisted the Bangladeshi flag atop the 8,848-metre-high peak, an official of the Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club.The Daily Star over the telephone yesterday after returning safely to the base camp with her fellow mountaineer MA Muhit.
Wasfia expects to reach the summit sometime Friday morning, according to her last facebook update on Sunday.

Nishat and Muhit both expect to be back in Dhaka by June 1 or 2.

NIC for cyber cafe users Police for mandatory

26 May 2012. 01:15pm

DHAKA : The Police have proposed amendments to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Act, 2006, keeping provision for mandatory use of national identity card (NIC) and registration of user's name and address for using cyber cafe to check growing incidence of cyber crimes.
Under the Police Reform Programme (PRP), Bangladesh police have urged the government to bring some amendments to the Act to bring all Internet providers-cyber cafes and mobile phone companies - under the law, a cyber crime expert affiliated with PRP said.
After amendments to the Act the use of national identity card will be made mandatory for the cyber cafe users, he said adding that registration of the names and addresses of the users will also be mandatory for using cyber cafe,, as criminals usually use cyber cafes for committing such crimes, he said.
The Internet providers will have to close all the pornographic websites by using a centrally monitored server after the amendments, he said. Anyone failing to operate business abiding the law would face exemplary punishment, he added. Justifying the amendments he said the governments in Europe and the USA bring amendments to the information technology related Acts in every three months with the changed trend of such crimes.
In this regard Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Barrister Shafique Ahmed said, "A process is underway to amend the ICT Act-2006 to make the law effective in preventing the growing trend of cyber crimes."
Asked about the mobile phone crimes, the cyber crime expert said that police could easily identify the mobile used in crimes by its IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number and according to law import of mobile phones without IMEI number is prohibited.
Cyber crimes are increasing every day and such crimes have no boundary as one can hack website of a country. a criminal residing in London can withdraw money from a bank account in Bangladesh using modern technology.
"Cyber crime is not an issue that will go away, it will continue and, with new technologies emerging, it will remain a constant challenge for both the internal and international law enforcing agencies," high officials of the police said.
A cyber crime squad was set up in the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in 2008 but even after four years of its formation it is failing to work smoothly due to lack of trained officials, necessary equipment and logistic support, they said.
International economic security will be vulnerable and online hacking will also increase, if we fail to introduce the mechanism of busting the digital crimes", they said.
"There are some information more valuable than money and areto be protected.
It is possible to nip a high-tech crime, if we get to know it before it is committed. It is impossible to fight against firearms with bows and arrows, they added. "BSS Reports"

New Delhi’s commitment Justice and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid reassures of Teesta River on Friday.

Dhaka : Indian Minister for Law, Justice and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid on Friday reassured New Delhi's commitment to resolve the tangle over the signing of an agreement on sharing the water of Teesta River.
In an informal conversation with journalists at Sonargaon Hotel in the city, he said Indian Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal is working hard to sign the deal as quickly as possible.
However, Khurshid said there are some domestic issues that take precedence on international relations. There has been a little bit of mismatch between the central and the state government.
"We consider this (Teesta) issue not only a concern for Bangladesh, but also the highest priority of the Indian government," he told a correspondent.
The Indian Law Minister said: "We want to take all stakeholders on the boat. And I can tell you with authority that this is very high priority for us and we are working on it."
Asked if the Teesta deal will be signed during the current tenure of the UPA government, he said the government commitment to sign the deal is the commitment of India to Bangladesh.
Lok Sabha member Bhola Singh of BJP said that if the government is changed in New Delhi, Indian Foreign Policy enjoys the national consensus. Asked about the ratification of the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement, the Indian Minister said it would require an amendment of the Indian constitution and it would be done.
About the unabated killing of Bangladesh nationals at the border despite repeated assurance by the Indian leadership to stop this, he described the killings as extremely unfortunate.
Khurshid said whatever provocations are there behind the incidents, killing is never expected. He said Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram is doing utmost to make sure there is no repeat of the incidents of killing at the border. The situation is now better. "UNB Reports"

The observance of in the Memorial holiday Day,TexasISD.com will not post on Monday, May 28. Posting will be resume on Tuesday, May 29.

  May 26, 2012, 11:17am

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