PM seeks engineers’ help in attaining 7% GDP growth

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday seeks all-out cooperation from engineers in attaining seven percent GDP growth this fiscal year saying that the key to development is in the hands of engineers. Star file photo

UNB, Dhaka

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today sought all-out cooperation from engineers in attaining seven percent GDP growth this fiscal year saying that the key to development is in the hands of engineers.
"We want to attain seven percent GDP growth and for that we’ve to quickly implement the projects we’ve taken, and only then we’ll be able to reach our target," she said.
The prime minister said this while inaugurating the four-day 56th convention of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB).
The inaugural session of the convention was held at the IEB with its president Engineer M Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan in the chair. The theme of the convention is ‘Engineers for Sustainable Development’.
Sheikh Hasina said her government wants to steer the country towards progress fast and it partly depends on the skills and sincerity of engineers, and quick implementation of projects.
The prime minister urged the engineers to undertake development plans in a planned way to serve the country’s maximum number of people with minimum expenditures. "When you’ll formulate a plan, please make it sure it doesn’t entail high cost…it should be less expensive and serve the maximum number of people."
Hasina said it is her government’s prime aim to change the fate of the country’s neglected people. "And we’re working tirelessly to achieve that goal."

Twitter suspends 125,000 'terrorism' accounts

Twitter says it has suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts". Photo: Reuters

BBC Online

Twitter said it had suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 "for threatening or promoting terrorist acts".
In a blog, the US-based firm said the accounts "primarily related to ISIS" (the so-called Islamic State group).
"We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism," it said, adding that it had increased its report reviewing teams to react faster.
Twitter has more than 500 million users around the world.
"We have already seen results, including an increase in account suspensions and this type of activity shifting off of Twitter," the company said.

Since mid-2015, we have suspended over 125,000 accounts for threatening or promoting terrorist acts. Read more here: https://t.co/FQJeOTtPLz— Policy (@policy) February 5, 2016

It added that it was co-operating with law enforcement bodies "when appropriate" as well as other organisations.Governments around the world - including the US - have been urging social media companies to take more robust measure to tackle online activity aimed at promoting violence.

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Analysis - Dave Lee, BBC North America technology reporter in San Francisco
The negative way of looking at this situation is that Twitter's problem with terrorism-related posts is a lot worse than we thought.
A study towards the tail-end of 2014 estimated that around 46,000 accounts had been used to post extremist material, and so in just over a year that number has rocketed.
But of course, the positive way of looking at it is that Twitter is seemingly on top of the issue and taking it seriously. It's doing what it can to make sure the public knows this, at a time when many in government are hitting Silicon Valley companies with large doses of "surely something can be done" rhetoric.
The big question is what happens next. Terrorists will carry on making more accounts, as well as migrating to other platforms.
And questions will be raised about the removal process. Who decides? Who's keeping watch? The definition and perpetrators of terrorism can change depending on your geography and political views.
Twitter will now be asked: why not fascist tweets? Or anti-Israel? Anti-Palestine? Anti-women? Anti-[insert cause here]?

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In December, US politicians put forward a bill that would force such companies - including Twitter and Facebook - to report any apparent terrorist activity they find.
EU officials have also been calling for talks with major social media firms to discuss the issue.
In March, Facebook revamped its "community standards" to include a separate section on "dangerous organisations".
It said it would ban groups promoting "terrorist activity, organised criminal activity or promoting hate."

How the big names defined 'abstraction'

Promiti Prova Chowdhury

In the section “rewind” of the Dhaka Art Summit, a holistic view was illustrated on how the big names in the history of art have defined “abstraction” in their very own ways.

The section features more than 90 works including tapestry, sculpture, photos and paintings. Thirteen artists associated with Bangladesh (Safiuddin Ahmed, Rashid Choudhury, SM Sultan), Burma (Germaine Krull, Bagyi Aung Soe), India (Monika Correa, Nalini Malani, Akbar Padamsee, Krishna Reddy, Arpita Singh), Pakistan (Zahoor ul Akhlaq, Anwar Jalal Shemza), and Sri Lanka (Lionel Wendt) were present at the section.

Art lovers flock to the third edition of Dhaka Art Summit on Friday    Photo- Syed Zakir Hossain

Curator Amara Anatilla explained how three generations of artists have responded to shifting cultural, political, and social contexts with experiments in abstraction, or the relationship between representation and abstraction.

“If you see the works of artists from the western world, you'll find the dominance of industrialisation there. They have featured buildings, cities which represent an international aspect. On the other hand, the Bangladeshi artists or artists of South Asia are more focused on rural and folk materials,” Amara told the Dhaka Tribune.

Shukla Sawant, a professor of visual studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, who came to visit the exhibition, said: “The motive of such exhibitions is to familiarise people with the languages of art. Although the context differs, any form of art would register some form of emotion anyway. It is a form of communication.”

Sawant is also a speaker at the “Critical Writing Ensemble,” to be held on Sunday as part of the Dhaka Art Summit.

Regarding “Rewind,” she said: “I am much fond of Zainul Abedin and Nisar Hossain. Their paintings mostly project landscapes with the essence of colonialism. Colonialism was re-imagined in the late 19th century; the problems of land shifts and relationship.”

“I also like that they are not 'great big oil' paintings, rather idea based fragile ones. The ones to which you can connect more easily,” she added.