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Boeing bids farewell to an icon on Tuesday: It’s delivering its final 747 jumbo jet. Since its first flight in 1969, the giant yet graceful 747 has served as a cargo plane, a commercial aircraft capable of carrying nearly 500 passengers, a transport for NASA's space shuttles, and the Air Force One presidential aircraft. It revolutionized travel, connecting international cities that had never before had direct routes and helping democratize passenger flight. But over about the past 15 years, Boeing and its European rival Airbus have introduced more profitable and fuel efficient wide-body planes, with only two engines to maintain instead of the 747′s four. The final plane is the 1,574th built by Boeing in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. A big crowd of current and former Boeing workers is expected for the final send-off. The last one is being delivered to cargo carrier Atlas Air. “If you love this business, you’ve been dreading this moment,” said longtime aviation analyst Richard Aboulafia. “Nobody wants a four-engine airliner anymore, but that doesn’t erase the tremendous contribution the aircraft made to the development of the industry or its remarkable legacy.” Boeing set out to build the 747 after losing a contract for a huge military transport, the C-5A. The idea was to take advantage of the new engines developed for the transport — high-bypass turbofan engines, which burned less fuel by passing air around the engine core, enabling a farther flight range — and to use them for a newly imagined civilian aircraft. It took more than 50,000 Boeing workers less than 16 months to churn out the first 747 — a Herculean effort that earned them the nickname “The Incredibles.” The jumbo jet's production required the construction of a massive factory in Everett, north of Seattle — the world's largest building by volume. The plane's fuselage was 225 feet (68.5 meters) long and the tail stood as tall as a six-story building. The plane’s design included a second deck extending from the cockpit back over the first third of the plane, giving it a distinctive hump and inspiring a nickname, the Whale. More romantically, the 747 became known as the Queen of the Skies. Some airlines turned the second deck into a first-class cocktail lounge, while even the lower deck sometimes featured lounges or even a piano bar. One decommissioned 747, originally built for Singapore Airlines in 1976, has been converted into a 33-room hotel near the airport in Stockholm. “It was the first big carrier, the first widebody, so it set a new standard for airlines to figure out what to do with it, and how to fill it,” said Guillaume de Syon, a history professor at Pennsylvania’s Albright College who specializes in aviation and mobility. “It became the essence of mass air travel: You couldn’t fill it with people paying full price, so you need to lower prices to get people onboard. It contributed to what happened in the late 1970s with the deregulation of air travel.” The first 747 entered service in 1970 on Pan Am's New York-London route, and its timing was terrible, Aboulafia said. It debuted shortly before the oil crisis of 1973, amid a recession that saw Boeing's employment fall from 100,800 employees in 1967 to a low of 38,690 in April 1971. The “Boeing bust” was infamously marked by a billboard near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport that read, “Will the last person leaving SEATTLE -- Turn out the lights.” Read more: Boeing capsule lands back on Earth after space shakedown An updated model — the 747-400 series — arrived in the late 1980s and had much better timing, coinciding with the Asian economic boom of the early 1990s, Aboulafia said. He recalled taking a Cathay Pacific 747 from Los Angeles to Hong Kong as a twentysomething backpacker in 1991. “Even people like me could go see Asia,” Aboulafia said. “Before, you had to stop for fuel in Alaska or Hawaii and it cost a lot more. This was a straight shot — and reasonably priced.” Delta was the last U.S. airline to use the 747 for passenger flights, which ended in 2017, although some other international carriers continue to fly it, including the German airline Lufthansa. Atlas Air ordered four 747-8 freighters early last year, with the final one leaving the factory Tuesday. Boeing’s roots are in the Seattle area, and it has assembly plants in Washington state and South Carolina. The company announced in May that it would move its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, Virginia, putting its executives closer to key federal government officials and the Federal Aviation Administration, which certifies Boeing passenger and cargo planes. Boeing’s relationship with the FAA has been strained since deadly crashes of its best-selling plane, the 737 Max, in 2018 and 2019. The FAA took nearly two years — far longer than Boeing expected — to approve design changes and allow the plane back in the air.    

Former Twitter employees are expected to testify next week before the House Oversight Committee about the social media platform’s handling of reporting on President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. The scheduled testimony, confirmed by the committee Monday, will be the first time the three former executives will appear before Congress to discuss the company's decision to initially block from Twitter a New York Post article on Hunter Biden’s laptop in the weeks before the 2020 election. Republicans have said the story was suppressed for political reasons, though no evidence has been released to support that claim. The witnesses for the Feb. 8 hearing are expected to be Vijaya Gadde, former chief legal officer; James Baker, former deputy general counsel; and Yoel Roth, former head of safety and integrity. The hearing is among the first of many in a GOP-controlled House to be focused on Biden and his family, as Republicans wield the power of their new, albeit slim, majority. Read more: Twitter faces lawsuits over unpaid rent for US HQ, UK office The New York Post first reported in October 2020 that it had received from former President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, a copy of a hard drive of a laptop that Hunter Biden had dropped off 18 months earlier at a Delaware computer repair shop and never retrieved. Twitter initially blocked people from sharing links to the story for several days. Months later, Twitter’s then-CEO Jack Dorsey called the company’s communications around the Post article “not great.” He added that blocking the article’s URL with “zero context” around why it was blocked was “unacceptable.” The Post article at the time was greeted with skepticism due to questions about the laptop’s origins, including Giuliani’s involvement, and because top officials in the Trump administration had already warned that Russia was working to denigrate Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election. The Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 race by hacking Democratic emails that were subsequently leaked, and fears that Russia would meddle again in the 2020 race were widespread across Washington. “This is why we’re investigating the Biden family for influence peddling,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the Oversight committee, said at a press event Monday morning. “We want to make sure that our national security is not compromised." The White House has sought to discredit the Republican probes into Hunter Biden, calling them “divorced-from-reality political stunts.” Read more: Elon Musk defiantly defends himself in Tesla tweet trial Nonetheless, Republicans now hold subpoena power in the House, giving them the authority to compel testimony and conduct an aggressive investigation. GOP staff has spent the past year analyzing messages and financial transactions found on the laptop that belonged to the president's younger son. Comer has previously said the evidence they have compiled is “overwhelming," but did not offer specifics. Comer has pledged there won’t be hearings regarding the Biden family until the committee has the evidence to back up any claims of alleged wrongdoing. He also acknowledged that the stakes are high whenever an investigation centers on the leader of a political party. On Monday, the Kentucky Republican, speaking at a National Press Club event, said that he could not guarantee a subpoena of Hunter Biden during his term. "We're going to go where the investigation leads us. Maybe there’s nothing there." He added, “We’ll see.”

Are you a novice who wants to speak English fluently or improve your communication abilities? Installing English-learning apps on Android phones is a fantastic approach to learning English rapidly. Some schools and institutions throughout the globe urge students to use these applications rather than social media and gaming apps. The English-learning applications may educate kids and adults greatly about what they have learned in schools and training centers. Having said that, continue reading to discover the most effective English-learning apps for android phones. Best Apps to Learn English Vocabulary Ultimate GRE® Vocabulary Prep This program is one of the most popular English vocabulary applications available on Google Play, and for a good reason. Not only is it useful for learning English vocabulary, but its design and game-like features also make it rather addicting. You gain points for accurately defining each word. With these points, you may unlock more words as your fluency improves. The factor of difficulty is a lot of fun! Galvanize Test Prep developed and released the app on PlayStore on 5th May 2017. It requires 10 MB of storage on the phone. The current rating of the app is 4.8 stars. Read More: Everyday Habits to Learn English Successfully Busuu Busuu is an excellent application for joining one of the biggest online learning groups. According to its website, its global network comprises millions of language enthusiasts. The features emphasise community-based learning and include a video chat platform. The app's claim that it covers all aspects of language acquisition suggests that it may be used as an all-encompassing learning tool. In their classes, you will study English vocabulary and get the opportunity to practice writing, pronouncing, and reading each word. The developer company’s name is also Busuu. They released the game on PlayStore on 29th July 2011. It is topping the PlayStore Vocabulary learning app with a 4.5 rating. VocApp English Flashcards Flashcards continue to be popular because they are effective for teaching vocabulary terms! This flashcard tool from VocApp is ideal for all levels of English learners. Within the app, you may set your favourite level of difficulty. Read More: Best Free Websites to Improve English Writing Skill This vocabulary flashcard software is distinctive in that it employs more complicated aspects to teach you every facet of a word, from its sound to its use in sentences to its explanation. For a more personalised experience, you may design your flashcards inside the program. VocApp Flashcards created the app on 19th August 2018. The game has a 4.5-star rating on PlayStore. Word of the Day Incorporating new words into your everyday life is the greatest learning method. Daily exposure to one or two new words will be beneficial in the long term. If you are already occupied with employment and other responsibilities and can only commit a little time to study, there is a simple software that may assist. With Word of the Day, you will learn a new word daily, remember your favourite terms, and browse to see what other users prefer. They also provide a variety of pronunciation choices, allowing you to place accents and stresses correctly! Vocabulary Apps created the app and published it on 6th April 2018. It takes 6MB of storage and is currently available on PlayStore with a 4.4-star rating. Read More: English Writing Skill: How to Start Writing and Improve Continuously Memrise Memrise is a flashcard application. However, this should not lead you to believe that it is straightforward. SRS, or Spaced Repetition System, is a proven technique that helps you recall words and phrases more quickly. The software offers video samples of real-world language use, so you can learn by listening to actual native speakers use their language naturally. The gamified learning style will help keep you amused and motivated to finish your education. The developer company’s name is also Memrise, and this app first came out on 20th May 2013. The app has a 4.4-star rating in PlayStore. FluentU FluentU combines actual content such as music, news, and politics to help you expand your English vocabulary and cultural understanding simultaneously. The films are designed for native speakers to expose you to original and pertinent material. Read More: How to Think in English: Learn some effective ways You may begin by viewing any movie in the vast collection that piques your interest; they are categorised by subject and difficulty level (beginner to advanced). You may click on the interactive subtitles for a quick description, pronunciation, and sample sentences for every word. FluentU has developed the app and released it on PlayStore on 2nd October 2018. The app has a 4.3-star PlayStore rating. Voxy Voxy focuses on offering English instruction to company and organisation personnel. Voxy adjusts to your requirements and provides customised instruction. Whether you require English vocabulary to pass a test or wow a customer, Voxy guarantees you acquire the appropriate terms. It evaluates your educational requirements and presents audio and video information. With the app, you can take your lessons anywhere and enjoy entertaining practice alternatives, such as karaoke-style music lessons. Read More: Best Free English Editing, Proofreading Courses Online Schedule a live, one-on-one tutoring session and get feedback. If you're studying alongside others, such as a team of workers, Voxy is built to facilitate that. Voxy, Inc. has done a tremendous job by creating super user-friendly. The app first came out on 23rd November 2011. English Vocabulary Builder This vocabulary-building application is essential for English learners of all levels. The UI is straightforward and very user-friendly. Choose a word topic and take the test to assess your knowledge of that specific word set. After that, you may evaluate the terms you mistakenly defined and save them to a specific study list. It's a really basic application, but sometimes simple is best! This vocabulary builder is helpful for students of all levels, but novices will profit the most from the terms offered. Praveen Yuva developed the app. It requires 3MP storage and is available on Playstore. The current rating is 4.4-star rating. Read More: Best Native American Podcast Sites to Learn English Alphabear Alphabear is a really entertaining game for people who like puzzle games to learn vocabulary. You must spell new words, and bears will emerge when you pick letters near one another. These bears may raise your score, lengthen your timer, or assist you in another manner. The game's design is adorable and entertaining to guarantee that you like playing. There is also an integrated dictionary for English language learners. This game will help you pick up where you left off in your memorisation of new words if you've grown tired of it. Spry Fox LLC created the app and published it on 4th September 2018. It takes 119MB of storage and is currently available on PlayStore with a 4.9-star rating. Crossword Puzzles Crossword puzzles are a fun way to spend time travelling or waiting for something. If you like crossword puzzles and are eager to increase your worldly knowledge, then Words of Wonders is the game that will push your English vocabulary to the maximum. Read More: Free English-Speaking Mobile Apps for the Non-native Speakers You will be given a few letters as hints. You will utilise them to generate new words and link them to determine the final crossword answer. With each correct response, you will virtually explore new towns and attractions. Conclusion If you are serious about enhancing your English vocabulary, the above-mentioned English vocabulary apps for android can help you. Relevant English phrases and terms should be memorised and occasionally reviewed. Find chances to utilise these newly-learned terms often, and even if you make errors, learn from them and persevere. As long as you stay enthusiastic and dedicated to your studies, you will surely be successful in cultivating a beautiful English word garden. Read More: Best YouTube Channels to Learn English

A leading global provider of information and communication technology solutions has brought its cutting-edge solutions to participate in the Digital Bangladesh Mela 2023 as diamond sponsor, from January 26-28 in Bangladesh. Digital Bangladesh Mela 2023 is the largest exposition aimed at showcasing IT and ITES products and services in Bangladesh. As the country has taken a great leap in Digital Wave, the event which brings together ICT companies, personalities, professionals, key policymakers, industry leaders, and other ICT stakeholders, was organized by the Department of Post and Telecommunication. This time around, ZTE introduced the PowerPilot Pro solution, uSmartNet solution, and Unisite NEO solution for the wireless network situation in Bangladesh. Among them, PowerPilot is the industry's first AI-based service navigation to achieve multi-frequency and multi-standard in-depth collaboration and help optimize network energy efficiency. The uSmartNet autonomous evolution network solution, including wireless autonomous evolution network solution AIVO (AI Insight Value Operation), Athena autonomous evolution wired network solution, and autonomous evolution core network solution. Enables on-demand scheduling of network resources, simplifies management and maintenance, and quickly responds to service changes, helping operators reduce CAPEX and OPEX and increase operating revenue. ZTE also presents its Smart Grid, Broadband, Modular Data Center and uSmart Cloud PC solutions. Broadband and Data center will be serving as the foundation of all kinds of intelligent applications in a smart society, ZTE continuously works on them to make the network faster, and the data center more energy efficient. uSmart Cloud PC is based on virtualization technologies, its flexibility, easy maintenance, guaranteed data security, makes it is suitable for certain occasions, especially for school, large organizations, the finance sector and etc. Reducing commercial losses through digitalization is one of the key factors that have contributed to lower distribution losses, ZTE’s smart grid solutions covering transmission to distribution will certainly help utility clients in building a strong and smart power network. As Bangladesh's digital economy develops, it has brought both opportunities and challenges, accelerating its digital transformation in the 5G era. In the future, ZTE will continue its commitment to technological innovation and conduct in-depth collaboration with operators and industry partners, enabling it to contribute to Bangladesh's strategic growth.

A year after the most destructive wildfire in the state's history scorched nearly 1,100 homes, Colorado lawmakers are considering joining other Western states by adopting artificial intelligence in the hopes of detecting blazes before they burn out of control. A Colorado Senate committee on Thursday unanimously voted to move forward a bill to create a $2 million pilot program that would station cameras on mountaintops, and use artificial intelligence to monitor the footage and help detect early signs of a wildfire. The bill will move to the state Senate Appropriations Committee next. “It can detect just a wisp of smoke and it’s that type of situation in remote areas that could save forests and homes and properties and lives,” Democratic state Sen. Joann Ginal, one of the bill's sponsors, said in the hearing. Read more: ChatGPT by Open AI: All you need to know The deployment of AI is part of an ongoing effort by firefighters to use new technology to become smarter about how they prepare and better position their resources. Fire lookout towers once staffed by humans have largely been replaced by cameras in remote areas, many of them in high-definition and armed with artificial intelligence to discern a smoke plume from morning fog. There are hundreds of such cameras scattered across California, Nevada, Oregon and a handful already in Colorado that allow even casual viewers to remotely watch. Vaughn Jones, who heads wildland fire management for Colorado’s fire prevention agency, said the technology “allows us to take very aggressive early action and keep the impact down... not waiting until the end of the day to start playing catch-up.” A historic drought and recent heat waves tied to climate change have made wildfires harder to fight in the American West and scientists say warming weather will continue to make fires more frequent and destructive. Record-breaking storms that drenched California with more than 11 inches (27.94 centimeters) of rain in recent weeks and big snow dumps in other states have improved conditions in the short-term, but the drought persists across many western states, according to a Tuesday report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Colorado program would support 40 fixed camera stations and six more mobile stations that can be moved to monitor ongoing fires, Ben Miller, the director at the Center of Excellence, which researches technology for firefighting, said at Thursday's hearing. The AI algorithm behind the camera would try to detect a plume of smoke and alert first responders early, said Miller, who pointed to a structure fire caught by AI technology near the city of Boulder in December as an example. Boulder County had partnered with an AI wildfire detection company called Pano AI, and the software had alerted authorities of the fire around the time the first 911 call arrived, Miller said. One home was destroyed and another damaged before the fire was contained — a far better outcome than a year before when the Marshal Fire, also near Boulder, burned over 1,000 structures. Read more: First-ever AI-generated mini-comic book in Bangladesh launched “The more you train the model, the better and better it gets,” said Miller, who added that his agency is very interested in the technology but that it's still burgeoning and that a pilot program is a good place to start. Pano AI began working with cities, including the ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado, and has expanded to cities, counties and even Pacific Gas & Electric in six states. Kathryn Williams, Pano AI’s director of government development who testified at the hearing, said “AI machine learning is new, it’s exciting, it’s glamorous but it isn’t perfect,” adding that the company uses employees to vet alerts from the AI. Their stations include two cameras mounted on a high vantage point, rotating at 360 degrees with 10-mile (about 16-kilometer) radiuses and connected to the company's AI software. Each station costs roughly $50,000 every year. It's unknown whether the company would be hired for the pilot if the bill passes. Arvind Satyam, the chief commercial officer at Pano AI, said in an interview that the artificial intelligence uses a data set of over 300 million images that teaches it what is smoke billowing up from a fire and what isn’t. Once a camera signals that there could be a fire, the photos and information are run through the company’s intelligence center for human vetting — the algorithm could’ve mistaken a tractor’s dust cloud for smoke — before it’s sent along to fire agencies, he said. Satyam added that the benefits go beyond detection, allowing fire agencies to pinpoint a blaze's location and monitor a live feed of the burn. AI has gained notoriety for breaking into a number of fields — from creating propaganda and disinformation to writing essays or cover letters about whatever the user requests. David Blankinship, senior technology advisor for the Western Fire Chiefs Association, said in an interview that fire agencies have come to rely on this type of detection technology, especially in California where the programs have been put to wider use. Still, Blankinship noted that “these cameras, even with AI, are only one component of the actual solution that is working." When a vote was called to send the bill forward, committee member Republican state Sen. Rod Pelton was enthusiastic. "I do not want to be the bucket of water on this bill so I will be a fiery, ‘Yes'," he said.

Israel’s tech industry has long been the driving force behind the country’s economy. Now, as Israel’s new government pushes ahead with its far-right agenda, the industry is flexing its muscle and speaking out in unprecedented criticism against policies it fears will drive away investors and decimate the booming sector. The public outcry presents a pointed challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who champions Israeli technology on the international stage and has long boasted of his own economic prowess. It also highlights how deep and broad opposition to the government’s policies runs, from political rivals, to top members of the justice system and military. Tech leaders say that since the government took power last month, a cloud has emerged over their industry, with foreign investors spooked at what some say is a country regressing rather than striving for innovation. They fear the government's plans to overhaul the judiciary and pledges by some top officials to advance discriminatory laws will imperil the industry that has earned the country the nickname Start-Up Nation and in turn, send Israel's economy into a tailspin. Read more: Hi-tech parks to help Bangladesh become knowledge-based economy: Palak “Investors are asking ‘where is Israel headed? Will it continue to be a country that leads technologically or is it moving two generations backwards? Are political agendas more important than the ability to be global tech leaders?’" said Omri Kohl, CEO of Pyramid Analytics, a company that makes business intelligence software. If the tech industry suffers, he said, “everyone will lose.” Over the last three decades, Israel’s tech industry has become the beating heart of its economy. The sector employs more than 10% of the country’s salaried workforce, according to official figures. And while the industry has struggled this past year like its counterparts abroad, it still accounts for about a quarter of the country's income taxes, thanks to its high salaries, and produces more than half of the country’s exports. During his time as prime minister for most of the past decade and a half, plus another stint in the 1990s, Netanyahu's political fortunes have been linked to the rise of the tech industry. For many in the tech sector, that makes his government’s agenda and the speed with which it is advancing all the more confounding. “Bibi is determined but he also understands that we are a small country that is very dependent on the outside world,” said Eynat Guez, the CEO of human resources software firm Papaya Global, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “With all due respect to Bibi, that determination will hit a wall very quickly” when investors start to pull out, she said. On Thursday, Guez tweeted that the company, which has raised nearly half a billion dollars from investors, would be “removing all of the company's money from the country” because of the proposed changes. The tech industry sees the government’s policies as a warning light for critical foreign investors, who they say are already holding off on investments as they wait for the political developments to unfold. The current government’s plans to accelerate settlement expansion on occupied lands sought by the Palestinians for a state could also impact foreign investment. Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund several years ago ruled out doing business with certain Israeli companies because of their involvement in the settlement enterprise, considered illegal by most of the international community. Last month, Israeli media reports said that the Norwegian fund was again rethinking its investment, in part because of the new government. Read more: Tech entrepreneurs to play important role in economy Maxim Rybnikov, an analyst with the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, told The Associated Press in an email that judicial changes could present “downside risks in the future" that could affect Israel's debt rating. That sentiment was reportedly echoed by Israel's central bank chief in a meeting this week with Netanyahu and voiced publicly by numerous other leading economists and business figures. Many in Israel's tech sector say the circumstances could prompt young Israeli talent as well as global tech giants who have offices in the country to leave. That would be catastrophic for the homegrown industry, they say. Typically silent on politics, hundreds of tech workers walked out of their offices on Tuesday near tech hubs around the country to protest the planned changes. Waving signs reading “there's no high-tech without democracy,” and “democracy is not a bug that needs to be fixed,” they blocked a central Tel Aviv throughway for about an hour. Last month, hundreds of executives, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists signed a letter calling on Netanyahu to rethink his policies for the sake of the economy, calling them “a real existential threat to the illustrious tech industry.” “We call on you to stop the growing snowball, steady the ship and preserve the status quo,” the letter said. Jerusalem Venture Partners, one of the country’s leading venture capital firms, issued a statement against a proposed law allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people, signed by the companies it backs. And leaders of top firms are speaking out on social media, including Barak Eilam, chief executive of the Nasdaq-traded NICE Ltd., one of Israel’s oldest and largest tech companies and Nir Zohar, chief operating officer of the website builder Wix, who have both slammed the proposed changes. Netanyahu has pledged to charge ahead with his policies. At a news conference on Wednesday, he lashed out at his critics, accusing his political opponents and the media of using scare tactics to promote their own agendas. “In recent days, I have heard concerns about the effect of the legal reforms on our economic resilience," he said. “The truth is the opposite. Our steps to strengthen democracy will not harm the economy. They will strengthen it.” Most worrisome to the tech sector is the planned overhaul of Israel’s justice system, which would give parliament power to overturn certain Supreme Court decisions. Critics say the changes would grant the government overwhelming power and upend Israel’s democratic system of checks and balances. Last weekend, an estimated 100,000 Israelis took to the streets against the planned changes. Tech leaders also have spoken out against pledges by Netanyahu’s ultranationalist partners to craft legislation that would allow discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community, seeing it as contradictory to the pluralistic values of the tech sector. Netanyahu has given authority over certain educational programs to Avi Maoz, the head of a radical, religious ultranationalist party who is anti-LGBTQ. Netanyahu has also made promises to his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to strengthen their insular school system that emphasizes religious studies over subjects like math and English. Economists say this will prevent their integration into the modern world, a step seen as necessary to keep the economy afloat. Moshe Zviran, the chief entrepreneurship and innovation officer at Tel Aviv University, a position that encourages youth to navigate the tech world, said the next generation might not have the same opportunities as their predecessors because of the government's policies. “If there won’t be exits and sales and Israeli high-tech it’ll be a real problem. It’s a fatal blow to the Israeli economy," said Zviran, the former dean of the university's business school. “The minute that innovation departs, what are we left with here?”

Facebook parent Meta said Wednesday it will restore former President Donald Trump 's personal account in the coming weeks, ending a two-year suspension it imposed in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection. The company said in a blog post it is adding “new guardrails” to ensure there are no “repeat offenders” who violate its rules, even if they are political candidates or world leaders. “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying — the good, the bad and the ugly — so that they can make informed choices at the ballot box,” wrote Nick Clegg, Meta’s vice president of global affairs. Clegg added that when there is a “clear risk” to real-world harm, Meta will intervene. “In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,” he wrote. Facebook suspended Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, for praising people engaged in violent acts at the Capitol a day earlier. But the company had resisted earlier calls — including from its own employees — to remove Trump's account. Read more: Georgia grand jury ends probe of Trump, 2020 election Meta said Trump’s accounts will be restored “in the coming weeks” on both Facebook and Instagram. Banned from mainstream social media, Trump has been relying on Truth Social, which he launched after being blocked from Twitter. Facebook is not only the world's largest social media site, but had been a crucial source of fundraising revenue for Trump’s campaigns, which spent millions of dollars on the company's ads in 2016 and 2020. The move, which comes as Trump is ramping up his third run for the White House, will not only allow Trump to communicate directly with his 34 million followers — dramatically more than the 4.8 million who currently follow him on Truth Social — but will also allow him to resume direct fundraising. During the suspension, his supporters were able to raise money for him, but couldn't run ads directly from him or in his voice. Responding to the news, Trump blasted Facebook’s original decision to suspend his account as he praised Truth Social. “FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since “deplatforming” your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!” he wrote. Other social media companies, including Snapchat, where he remains suspended, also kicked him off their platforms following the insurrection. He was recently reinstated on Twitter after Elon Musk took over the company. He has not tweeted yet. Civil rights groups and others on the left were quick to denounce Meta's move. Letting Trump back on Facebook sends a signal to other figures with large online audiences that they may break the rules without lasting consequences, said Heidi Beirich, founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism and a member of a group called the Real Facebook Oversight Board that has criticized the platform’s efforts. Read more: Trump says climate change not a hoax, not sure of its source “I am not surprised but it is a disaster,” Beirich said of Meta’s decision. “Facebook created loopholes for Trump that he went right through. He incited an insurrection on Facebook. And now he’s back.” NAACP President Derrick Johnson blasted the decision as “a prime example of putting profits above people’s safety" and a “grave mistake.” “It’s quite astonishing that one can spew hatred, fuel conspiracies, and incite a violent insurrection at our nation’s Capitol building, and Mark Zuckerberg still believes that is not enough to remove someone from his platforms,” he said. But Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University called the reinstatement “the right call — not because the former president has any right to be on the platform but because the public has an interest in hearing directly from candidates for political office.” The ACLU also called it the right move. “Like it or not, President Trump is one of the country’s leading political figures and the public has a strong interest in hearing his speech. Indeed, some of Trump’s most offensive social media posts ended up being critical evidence in lawsuits filed against him and his administration,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. “The biggest social media companies are central actors when it comes to our collective ability to speak — and hear the speech of others — online. They should err on the side of allowing a wide range of political speech, even when it offends." Clegg said that in light of his previous violations, Trump now faces heightened penalties for repeat offenses. Such penalties “will apply to other public figures whose accounts are reinstated from suspensions related to civil unrest under our updated protocol.” If Trump — or anyone else — posts material that doesn't violate Facebook's rules but is otherwise harmful and could lead to events such as the Jan. 6 insurrection, Meta says it will not remove it but it may limit its reach. This includes praising the QAnon conspiracy theory or trying to delegitimize an upcoming election. While Trump has insisted publicly that he has no intention of returning to Twitter, he has been discussing doing so in recent weeks, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. Though it has been eclipsed culturally by newer rivals like TikTok, Facebook remains the world’s largest social media site and is an incredibly powerful political platform, particularly among older Americans, who are most likely to vote and give money to campaigns. Throughout his tenure as president, Trump’s use of social media posed a significant challenge to major social media platforms trying to balance the public’s need to hear from their elected leaders with worries about misinformation, harassment and incitement of violence. “In a healthier information ecosystem, the decisions of a single company would not carry such immense political significance, and we hope that new platforms will emerge to challenge the hegemony of the social media giants," the ACLU's Romero said.

The European Space Agency's director general says it's crucial to rebuild Europe's access to space following the botched launch of a European rocket carrying two Earth observation satellites last year and the delayed introduction of the Ariane 6 launcher. In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Josef Aschbacher said his “priority is to reinstall access to space, guaranteed access to space for Europe. And I will work on that in all dimensions." Until then, he said, Europe must look at alternative solutions outside the continent — including Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Aschbacher said the ESA is working at identifying the causes of the failure of the Vega-C rocket launch in French Guiana, with the results of the investigation expected in less than a month. The launch of Vega C was meant to take two Earth observation satellites made by Airbus, Pleiades Neo 5 and 6, into orbit. The satellites would have been part of a constellation capable of taking images of any point on the globe with a resolution of 30 centimeters (11.8 inches). “Having three failures in two years is not good," Aschbacher said, referring to previous Vega misfirings. “And this is something where we really need to look into how we need to change some of the practices or quality management processes that we have in place in order to make sure when Vega C gets back on the launchpad it is safe, but also as quick as possible." Meanwhile, with Ariane 5 preparing to retire, the delayed launch of Ariane 6 is further denting Europe’s capacity to send satellites into space amid fierce competition from SpaceX and other rocket programs in the U.S. and China. Read more: Bangladesh, France keen to build partnership in aviation, space, aerospace technology The maiden flight of the medium-to-heavy Ariane 6 rocket was planned for mid-2020 but following several delays its first launch is not expected before the fourth quarter of this year. “Of course, top priority is getting Ariane 6 onto the launchpad," Aschbacher said. “We still have some technical issues to resolve and I am not hiding them. They are serious, and we have to really work through." In addition, the Russian space agency has terminated Soyuz launches at the European spaceport in French Guiana, in retaliation for ESA's decision to implement sanctions imposed by its members on Russia over its war in Ukraine, leaving Europe with even fewer options. Until proper access to space is regained, Aschbacher said Europe needs to look at alternative solutions outside the continent. “Could be SpaceX, could also be somebody else," he said. “We may need an interim solution in the next one, or maybe maximum two years." Asked about Musk's competition, Aschbacher said “he is putting facts on the table which you have to take into account in how you develop." Read more: Next US moon landing will be by private companies, not NASA “And in a way, it’s also helping us in our argumentation because you have one clear player who is developing," he added. “In some domains we have to catch up. ... But I think it also energizes and reinforces our engineers and our scientists to make sure that we have good solutions to make progress on this. So overall, I think this really helps the space sector altogether."

The Digital Bangladesh Mela 2023 will be inaugurated Thursday at the Bangabandhu International Conference Center (BICC) in the capital's Agargaon. This three-day fair will introduce the latest innovations and future technological trends with industry partners and visitors. The Huawei pavilion will be equipped with multiple breakthrough innovations in different frontiers like 5.5G, enterprise business solutions, Huawei cloud, and digital power. Read more: Specialised knowledge-sharing centre: Huawei Bangladesh Academy launched in Dhaka Demo sites of smart ports and digital power solutions will also be available for the audience.  Apart from these, the visitors can join quizzes every two hours and win attractive prizes. Huawei Bangladesh Facebook page has also announced a separate quiz campaign.  Majian, chief technical officer of Huawei Bangladesh, said: "Our pavilion, themed 'Stride to 5.5G,' will bring diverse cutting-edge technologies to the fair,  including 5.5G, robotics, smart port, smart education, Huawei Solar PV solution, Cloud service and more."

Bijoy keyboard software installation in all android phones not mandatory, said Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar on Wednesday. Amid criticism over the matter, the minister clarified this while talking to reporters on the 2nd day of Deputy Commissioners Conference 2023 at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital. Read more: 'Environment for 5G rollout already in place': Mustafa Jabbar “I have an explanation that Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has used a word – ‘Mandatory’. This term is misleading,” said the minister. One can install, uninstall, remove and reinstall any software on any Android phone. So there is no need to use the word ‘mandatory’, he  said. Jabbar said, “What we said that the mobile phone set manufacturers or importers will provide software to facilitate Bangla writing. Whether a user uses the software or not is entirely up to him/her.” Regarding the internet service, he said the 4G service has been provided in more than 98 percent area of the country. “Now we are working with 5G which is 10 times more powerful than 4G.” Read more: Mustafa Jabbar wants fixed rate for internet packages across operators Besides, there are more than 10 crore mobile internet subscribers and some fixed internet subscribers too, he said. “We should give more importance to mobile internet.” “But we are not able to install towers for network in different parts of the country. Some people spread propaganda that towers are emitting radiation. We have tested and found that these are propaganda. People should not obstruct the towers installation work.”