Shanghai, May 8 (AP/UNB) — The sound of doctors boring through his skull to feed electrodes deep into his brain made Yan tremble. “The drill was like bzzzzzzz,” he later recalled. “The moment of drilling is the most terrible.” Yan…
Category: Science
e-shopping booms in Bangladesh ahead of Eid
Dhaka, May 7 – Online shopping has started gaining momentum in Bangladesh ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr amid its growing popularity with the boom in internet access across the country. An increasing number of people, mostly city dwellers, choose e-shopping to save…
The trilemma of Big Tech
by Karin Pettersson Karin Pettersson says we can have Big Tech’s market domination, business models and democracy—just not all at the same time. Last week Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg took to the stage in San Jose, California, and presented his vision…
NASA’s InSight lander captures sunrise, sunset on Mars
Los Angeles, May 2 (Xinhua/UNB) – NASA’s InSight lander has captured a series of images of sunrise and sunset on Mars recently, according to a release of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California on Wednesday. A camera on the…
Sri Lanka lifts social media ban imposed after Easter blasts
Colombo, Apr 30 (AP/UNB) — Sri Lanka’s president has lifted a nationwide social media ban that was imposed after Easter suicide bomb attacks that killed 253 people. A government statement Tuesday said that President Maithripala Sirisena has lifted the ban…
‘Cyber security capacity increases markedly in Bangladesh’
DHAKA, April 30, 2019 (BSS)-International and local cyber security experts today said that the cyber security capacity of Bangladesh has considerably increased due to take various pragmatic actions to address the fast growing cyber-attacks and threats. But, more efforts have…
Samsung’s 1Q profit slides on falling chip prices
Seoul, Apr 30 (AP/UNB) — Samsung Electronics Co. says its operating profit for the last quarter declined more than 60% from a year earlier because of falling chip prices and sluggish demands for its display panels. The South Korean technology…
Google stock drops amid slowing ad-revenue growth
San Francisco, Apr 30 (AP/UNB) — Google parent Alphabet beat analyst earnings expectations but reported slowing revenue growth amid tougher competition in the online advertising market. Alphabet shares dropped more than 7% in after-hours trading. Google’s advertising revenue, its key…
Multilateralism key to ensuring cyber security: Dhaka at UN
Dhaka, April 29 (UNB) – Permanent Representative (PR) of Bangladesh to the UN Ambassador Masud Bin Momen has said multilateralism is the key to ensuring cyber security and no single government can manage its security on its own. “Our only…
BD cellphone provider GP offers enhanced maritime com
Dhaka, Apr 28 (UNB)- The fishermen and commuters around the Bay of Bengal will be able to communicate with a wider range of mobile network as Grameenphone has recently improved its deep-sea network capacity. Grameenphone is providing this deep-sea network…
New study says universe expanding faster and is younger
Washington, Apr 29 (AP/UNB) — The universe is expanding faster than it used to, meaning it’s about a billion years younger than we thought, a new study by a Nobel Prize winner says. And that’s sending a shudder through the…
Lost in the Cyberworld? The Enigmatic Mr Assange
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Apr 23 2019 (IPS) – Trump´s electoral success was preceded by a rise of chauvinistic politics in most of Europe, paired with electoral triumphs of far-right candidates in several other countries. A development accompanied by revelations of corrupt…
Internet users soar by 11 lakh in March
The number of country’s internet users increased by 11 lakh in a single month to reach 9.31 crore in March. Which is all-time highest, according to the latest statistics of Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC). Mobile phone-based connection has contributed…
4th BPO summit ends with call for wider outsourcing market
Dhaka, Apr 22 (UNB)-The two-day-long 4th BPO Summit wrapped up on Monday with a call on public and private sectors to expand digital markets. Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Division, Department of ICT and Bangladesh Association of Call Centre and…
Sri Lanka blocks social media after Easter Sunday bombings
Sri Lanka, Apr 22 (AP/UNB)- Sri Lankan authorities blocked most social media after Easter Sunday attacks killed more than 200 people, with officials saying the temporary move was meant to curtail the spread of false information and ease tensions. The…
Internet service to be disrupted for 11 days: BSCCL
Dhaka, Apr 20 (UNB) – An ongoing maintenance work in Cox’s Bazar may slow down internet connections and cause disruptions throughout the country between April 20 and May 1. “Two repeaters will be replaced during the period,” said the Bangladesh…
For digital inclusion leaving no one behind
‘Take a risk, challenge yourself and always be positive’ Dhaka, April 21 – Sonia Bashir Kabir, the outgoing managing director of Microsoft Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos, wants to play a role in making technology available for the citizens…
Skilled manpower needed in digital economy era: Speakers
Dhaka, Apr 20 (UNB)- Bangladesh needs skilled manpower possessing technology-based knowledge in the digital economic era, speakers told a seminar on Saturday. They noted that the youths will have to gain technical skills to compete with digital economy of the…
App launched for vehicle parking
A ICT service provider today announced they developed a digital vehicle parking platform to facilitate car users in finding suitable parking places in the capital and expecting the app to ease a little the city’s notorious traffic congestion. Bangla Trac,…
WHO releases first guideline on digital health interventions
Dhaka, April 17 (UNB)- World Health Organization(WHO) on Wednesday released new recommendations on 10 ways that countries can use digital health technology, accessible via mobile phones, tablets and computers, to improve people’s health and essential services. WHO Director-General DrTedros Adhanom…
Industry for review of WIPO involvement in patent database
Geneva, 16 April (TWN): A medicines patent database set up by transnational originator pharmaceutical companies with the involvement of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has come under criticism by the generic industry. The International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association…
Why prosecution of Julian Assange to trouble press freedom
NEW YORK, Apr 16 2019 (IPS) – After a seven-year standoff at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, British police last week arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange–a development press freedom advocates had long feared. For years, journalists and press freedom advocates worried…
Global governance and Information
VIENNA, Apr 16 2019 (IPS) – The past seventy years since the end of the second world war have been marked by profound changes in our international system. Relations between states have become more horizontally structured interactions with a rising significance…
Nuclear fuel removed from crippled Japan plant
The operator of Japan’s crippled Fukushima power plant today began removing atomic fuel from inside a building housing one of the reactors that melted down in 2011. The delicate operation represents the first time the Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO)…
Man ‘close’ to Wikileaks co-founder arrested in Ecuador
A man with close ties to Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been arrested while trying to leave Ecuador, the country’s interior ministry says. Interior Minister María Paula Romo did not name the man but said he had been arrested for…
‘I know nothing’ – Trump changes his tune on WikiLeaks
Washington, Apr 12 (AP/UNB) —President Donald Trump declared that “I know nothing about WikiLeaks” after its disheveled founder Julian Assange was hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to face charges, a stark contrast to how candidate Trump showered…
WikiLeaks’ Assange hauled from embassy, faces US charge
London, Apr 12 (AP/UNB) — British police on Thursday hauled a bearded and shouting Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy where he was holed up for nearly seven years, and the U.S. charged the WikiLeaks founder with conspiring with former…
Black hole named ‘Powehi’ by Hawaii university professor
Hawaii, Apr 12 (AP/UNB) — A language professor has given a Hawaiian name — Powehi — to the black hole depicted in an image produced in a landmark experiment. University of Hawaii-Hilo Hawaiian Professor Larry Kimura named the cosmic object,…
WIPO to cooperate Bangladesh installing IP academy
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) would extend cooperation to Bangladesh to establish Intellectual Property (IP) Academy. WIPO Director General Francis Gurry told Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar, who is also in the chair of the ongoing five-day…
WikiLeaks’ Assange arrested at Ecuador embassy in London
London, Apr 11 (AP/UNB) — Police in London say they’ve arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean embassy on a court warrant dating back to 2012. In a statement Thursday, police said Assange has been taken into “custody at…