Dhaka, Oct 23 (AP/UNB) -Twitter has removed some accounts thought to be used to circumvent a ban on conspiracy-monger Alex Jones and Infowars, the company said Tuesday.

A Twitter spokesman confirmed that the accounts had been removed but provided no additional comment. The company says it usually does not discuss specific accounts.

Twitter permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope in early September. It said it based that action in reports of tweets and videos that violated its policy against abusive behavior.

The company said it would continue to evaluate reports regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and would take action if it finds content that violates its rules or if other accounts are used to try to circumvent their ban.

Other tech companies, including PayPal, YouTube, Apple and Spotify, have limited or banned Jones' activities on their sites.

Infowars has said the moves are intended to sabotaging the site just weeks before the midterm elections.

On Twitter and elsewhere, Jones has done such things as describe survivors of a shooting in Parkland, Florida, "crisis actors" and saying the mass killing at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 was fake. He had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000.

Dhaka, Oct 22 (UNB) – The highest number of call drop incidents (103,43,00,000) have been occurred in the country largest mobile phone network Grameenphone (GP) in last 12 months, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).

The statistics of the call drop incidents of all the mobile operators from September 2017 to September 2018 were disclosed by the telecomm regulator on Monday.

According to the report, telecommunication operator Robi recorded around 76,18,00,000 calls drop incidents while the number in Bangalink network was 36,54,00,000 and 6,00,00,000 times in the network of the government-run operator TeleTalk.

On Monday, the BTRC also issued letters to all the mobile operators seeking explanation on the issue and asked them to submit reports within next five working days.

Terming the call drop incident as a major problem, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Mustafa Jabbar told UNB, “We have recently approved a Quality of Service (QOS) Policy and directed the BTRC to monitor all the networks.”

The BTRC was also asked to send letters to the mobile operators to ensure quality services, he added.

He also said the operators do not have sufficient spectrum. “As the Mobile Number Portability services have been introduced recently, the operators will be bound to ensure quality services,” he hoped.
 

Dhaka, Oct 21 (UNB) – Huawei is working on wireless broadband to ensure ‘Digital Home’ in Asia-Pacific. It helps to create a sustainable industry environment for the development of fixed wireless broadband. 

Recently, GTI, Informa and Huawei successfully held the Asia-Pacific WTTx (fixed wireless access) summit, said a press release on Sunday.
 
The theme of the summit was ‘Bring Affordable and Fast Fixed Wireless Broadband to Every Household’. 

At this summit, Huawei together with Asia-Pacific ICT regulators, leading operators and industry organizations launched a joint declaration called ‘Bridge the Digital Divide, Accelerate Broadband to Households’.

In this summit, Huawei signed a MoU with Grameenphone to develop the WTTx business in the next step. 

Michael Patrick Foley, CEO of Grameenphone said, “WTTx is a complementary technology for Home Broadband (HBB) in Bangladesh. As the leading operator in Bangladesh, we are committed to improving the quality of mobile broadband in Bangladesh and continuously investing to ensure a quality experience for our valued customers. Moreover, we see that the ease of deployment of this technology in our market will enable our customers to access current and future digital lifestyle services".

Tide Xu, Chief Strategy Office of Wireless Product Line, Huawei, said in his opening speech, “Huawei will keep customer-centric, continuous Innovation to provide best experience, cost effective solution for a better connected intelligent Asia-Pacific.”

With more diversified mobile applications happening in the home, fixed wireless access will be a crucial ingredient in bringing wide coverage and low cost in broadband services. WTTx is a home broadband technology using 4G/4.5G technologies to deliver cost-effective broadband access to unconnected households. 

Low deployment costs and operating expenses are among WTTx’s greatest advantages. Meanwhile, WTTx is making huge progress in terms of speed and in a number of countries, the results of 4G speed tests are already surpassing those of fixed broadband, with growing numbers every day.

By 2017, the accumulated WTTx user numbers had reached 50 million globally. With WTTx, wireless broadband connectivity to unconnected households can be achieved 75% cheaper and 90% faster when compared to fixed-line deployments, delivering a return on investment to operators in less than three years.
 

Tokyo, Oct 20 (AP/UNB) — European and Japanese space agencies said an Ariane 5 rocket successfully lifted a spacecraft carrying two probes into orbit Saturday for a joint mission to Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.

The European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said the unmanned BepiColombo spacecraft successfully separated and was sent into orbit from French Guiana as planned to begin a seven-year journey to Mercury.

They said the spacecraft, named after Italian scientist Giuseppe "Bepi" Colombo, was in the right orbit and has sent the first signal after the liftoff.

ESA says the 1.3 billion-euro ($1.5 billion) mission is one of the most challenging in its history. Mercury's extreme temperatures, the intense gravity pull of the sun and blistering solar radiation make for hellish conditions.

The BepiColombo spacecraft will have to follow an elliptical path that involves a fly-by of Earth, two of Venus and six of Mercury itself so it can slow down before arriving at its destination in December 2025.

When it arrives, BepiColombo will release two probes — Bepi and Mio — that will independently investigate the surface and magnetic field of Mercury. The probes are designed to cope with temperatures varying from 430 degrees Celsius (806 F) on the side facing the sun, and -180 degrees Celsius (-292 F) in Mercury's shadow.

The ESA-developed Bepi will operate in Mercury's inner orbit, and JAXA's Mio will be in the outer orbit to gather data that would reveal the internal structure of the planet, its surface and geological evolution.

Scientists hope to build on the insights gained by NASA's Messenger probe, which ended its mission in 2015 after a four-year orbit of Mercury. The only other spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA's Mariner 10 that flew past the planet in the mid-1970s.

Mercury, which is only slightly larger than Earth's moon, has a massive iron core about which little is known. Researchers are also hoping to learn more about the formation of the solar system from the data gathered by the BepiColombo mission.

"Beyond completing the challenging journey, this mission will return a huge bounty of science," said Jan Wörner, ESA Director General, in a statement.

JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa, who earlier managed the project, said, "We have high expectations that the ensuing detailed observations of Mercury will help us better understand the environment of the planet, and ultimately, the origin of the Solar System including that of Earth."

It is the second recent cooperation between the Europeans and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. JAXA's Hayabusa2 probe dropped a German-French rover on the asteroid Ryugu earlier this month.

Khulna, October 20 (UNB) – The government has taken a project to reestablish telecommunication structures in the remote areas of the Sundarbans, aiming to strengthen monitoring in the world’s largest mangrove forest and protect the forest resources.

Forest Department sources said the project will be implemented involving Tk 3.48 crore under Climate Change Trust Fund and 56 telecommunication structures will be set up across the Sundarbans.

Among those points, 28 will be established in the Sundarbans East Division, 27 in the West Division and one in the district forest conservator’s office.

Once implemented, the project will help the officers and staff of the Forest Department to maintain constant communication and exchange information.

Telecommunications was destroyed in the forest due to various natural disasters, especially after Cyclone Sidr. The remote areas of the Sundarbans remained out of telecommunication network since then.

Under the project, 50 Very High Frequency (VHF) towers and six other supporting towers will be established. Besides, 50 VHF sets, six supporting sets, 50 solar batteries and 100 walkie-talkie sets will be purchased.

Md Yusuf Hawlader, a forest guard Sundarbans East Division, said that they have to perform their duties in the deep forest where network is mostly unavailable and emergency contact cannot be made.

Forest officers hope that this initiative will also strengthen patrolling activities and help in forest conservation as well.

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of East Sundarban, Mahmudul Hasan said administrative  duties have become difficult to carry out, hence the decision has been taken to reestablish telecommunications in the Sundarbans.