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National

‘Enrollment in tech education to be increased to 50% by 2050’

dipu_moni
dipu_moni

Education Minister Dipu Moni has underscored the need to build tech-based skilled human resources and said that enrollment rate in technical education in Bangladesh will be raised to 50 percent by 2050.

“Our government has set a target to increase the enrollment rate in technical education to 50 percent by 2050, to build technology based skilled human resources to cope with the fourth industrial revolution of artificial intelligence,” Dipu Moni said.

The education minister came up with the observation while addressing an online seminar on “the fourth industrial revolution and the importance of technical education” organised by Bangladesh Technical Education Board in Dhaka today.

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National

Major (retd) Sinha murder: OC Pradeep, Inspector Liakat, 5 others sent to jail

coxs_bazar_dc_office

Officer-in-Charge of Teknaf Police Station Pradeep Kumar Das and six other accused in Major (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan killing case were sent to jail this afternoon.

The court of Teknaf Senior Judicial Magistrate Md Helal Uddin passed the order after rejecting their bail petitions during a hearing of the case in presence of seven of the nine accused in the case.

Earlier, six accused, including Inspector Liakat Ali, in-charge of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre and also the prime accused of the case, were taken to the court at Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner’s office around 3:45pm, reports our Cox’s Bazar correspondent.

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National

Killing of ex-Major Sinha: Teknaf OC taken into custody

police_arrest
police_arrest

Police have taken Pradeep Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, into custody this afternoon, hours after an arrest warrant was issued against him in a case filed over killing of Maj (retd) Sinha Md Rashed Khan.

Pradeep Kumar came to know that an arrest warrant was issued against him when he went to Divisional Police Hospital in Chattogram city’s Dampara area for receiving treatment today, said Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mahbubur Rahman.

After getting the information, the OC told police that he wanted to surrender before the Cox’s Bazar court that issued the arrest warrant against him, he said.

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COVID-19

Tests reduce yet cases rise in 5 days

coronavirus-covid19
coronavirus-covid19

Though the number of tests dropped significantly in the last five days, including the Eid holidays, the country witnessed a spike in the rate of daily Covid-19 positive case.

Between July 21 and 30, a total of 1,22,534 samples were tested, and results showed that 22.39 percent were positive.

From July 31 to yesterday, 9,131 were positive out of 37,061 samples tested, taking the infection rate to 24.6 percent.

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National

Killing of Ex-Major Sinha: Cops’ FIR, inquest report contradict each other

ex-major-sinha
ex-major-sinha

The first information report and the inquest report prepared by police over the death of Sinha Md Rashed Khan contradict each other, raising doubts about the precise sequence of events that led to the former army officer’s death.

The FIR, filed by Sub-inspector Nandadulal Raxit of Teknaf Police Station, claimed that Liaqat Ali, in-charge of Baharchhara Police Investigation Centre, fired four shots at Maj (retd) Sinha to protect himself and the lives of his fellow officers.

However, the inquest report said a total of six gunshot wounds were found in the ex-army major’s body after it was brought to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue.

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International World

Massive Beirut blast kills more than 70, injures thousands

Massive Beirut blast
Massive Beirut blast

A massive explosion rocked Beirut on Tuesday, flattening much of the city’s port, damaging buildings across the capital and sending a giant mushroom cloud into the sky. More than 70 people were killed and 3,000 injured, with bodies buried in the rubble, officials said.

It was not clear what caused the blast, which struck with the force of a 3.5 magnitude earthquake, according to Germany’s geosciences center GFZ, and was heard and felt as far away as Cyprus more than 200 kilometers (180 miles) across the Mediterranean. Lebanon’s interior minister said it appeared that a large cache of ammonium nitrate in the port had detonated.

The sudden devastation overwhelmed a country already struggling with both the coronavirus pandemic and a severe economic and financial crisis.

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Business

Breaking records, remittance continues to beat all odds

remittance
remittance

Remittance continues to defy all expectations. It was supposed to take a massive hit due to the economic recession brought on by the global coronavirus pandemic, leaving one of the pillars of strength for the Bangladesh economy wobbling.

In reality, it is thriving.

After sending home a record $18.20 billion last fiscal year that ended on June 30, migrant workers sent in another $2.6 billion in July, which is a record for a single month.

July’s inflows were up 38.5 percent from a year earlier and 42.1 percent from the previous month, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank.

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National

An Eid devoid of joy for laid-off jute mill workers

jute-mill-workers
jute-mill-workers

While the whole country is celebrating Eid-ul-Azha, Khalishpur industrial area of ​​Khulna is in dismal state.

Tens of thousands of jute mill worker families of the area are enduring extreme poverty resulting from sudden job loss. In fear of eviction from the labour quarters, these poor families are passing days in total uncertainty.

Md Shamsul Alam worked at Platinum Jubilee Jute Mills Limited for more than two decades. He is one of the 25,000 jute mill workers who lost jobs due to the government’s decision of shutting down all the state run jute mills effective from July 1.

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Categories
Travel

Study solves mystery origin of Stonehenge’s iconic boulders

robert-kooraenny-iztutgdtiwm-unsplash
robert-kooraenny-iztutgdtiwm-unsplash

Stonehenge, a Neolithic wonder in southern England, has vexed historians and archaeologists for centuries with its many mysteries: How was it built? What purpose did it serve? Where did its towering sandstone boulders come from?

That last question may finally have an answer after a study published Wednesday found that most of the giant stones — known as sarsens — seem to share a common origin 25 kilometres (16 miles) away in West Woods, an area that teemed with prehistoric activity.

The finding boosts the theory that the megaliths were brought to Stonehenge about the same time: around 2,500 BCE, the monument’s second phase of construction, ……….

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Science Tech Technology

Scientists revive 100 million-year-old microbes from deep under seafloor

kiara-sztankovics
kiara-sztankovics

Scientists have succeeded in reviving microbes retrieved from sediment deep under the seafloor in the heart of the South Pacific that had survived in a dormant state for 101.5 million years in research illustrating the resiliency of life on Earth.

The microbes, spanning 10 major and numerous minor groups of bacteria, maybe the planet’s oldest-known organisms. The scientists said on Tuesday the microbes were present in clay samples drilled from the research vessel JOIDES Resolution about 245 feet (74.5 meters) under the seafloor, below 3.5 miles (5.7 km) of water.

Up to 99 per cent of the microbes, dating back to the age of dinosaurs, that were found encased in the sediment survived despite having essentially……..

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