'No irresponsible free speech'

Dhaka, Dec 20 — The editor-in-chief of bdnews24.com has launched call for guidelines to set the standards for public discourse on social media alongside regulating news media, who are perceived to be frequently testing the limits.

"Speech must be responsible to be free. There is a social and cultural necessity for freedom of responsible speech," Toufique Imrose Khalidi said at a programme to celebrate the Internet newspaper's fifth anniversary.

"(But) there has to be some discipline in the way the state manages the media. The decision makers must be guided by reason," he added at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday evening.

Besides presenting bdnews24.com's current activities and future plans, he also spoke about crisis and possibilities of presenting news on the Internet.

Policymakers in the government, judges, lawyers, politicians, businessmen, entrepreneurs, poets, sportsmen, top army officers, cultural activists — leading personalities from the entire spectrum of society attended the programme.

Organiers say it is "a fantastic opportunity" to reflect on bdnews24.com's role as a pioneer and innovator.

It offers a range of real-time news coverage for online readers replete with critical information to pick and click; it gathers and delivers news, based on accuracy and consistency on the web 24 hours, with the highest standards of professionalism, integrity and ethical journalism.

bdnews24.com says their newsroom never sleeps.

JSC, JDC results on Dec 28

Dhaka, Dec 21 — Results of Junior School Certificate (JSC) and Junior Dakhil Certificate (JDC) examinations will be published on Dec 28.

"The results are being published within 37 days after the exam ended," education secretary Kamal Abdul Naser Chowdhury told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

The education ministry earlier announced that it would publish the results within Dec 31.

JSC and JDC examinations started from Nov 1 and ended on Nov 21.

A total of 18,61,113 students took part in the exams --15,37,422 students for JSC and the rest 3,23,691 students sat for JDC.

The examination is being held since 2010 for the Grade-VIII students. This year, the exams were held at 2009 centres simultaneously.

All the papers saw creative questions except for Bengali second paper, English first and second paper and Mathematics.

Like the previous year, students failing in three subjects would be allowed to get themselves admitted to Grade-IX but they would have to take part and pass in the next examination, according to the education ministry.

This year, the physically challenged students were given extra 20 minutes. Moreover, those who cannot see or write were allowed to have a writer.

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Fog continues to hamper ferry services

Dhaka, Dec 21 – Fog has continued to disrupt ferry services on Daulatdia-Paturia route.

Like previous nights, ferry services were hampered for nearly 11 hours until Wednesday morning.

Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) Daulatdia pier assistant general manager Zillur Rahman told bdnews24.com that ferry services resumed around 9:30am on Wednesday.

Ferries Shah Paran, Amanat Shah, Shah Jalal and Matiur Rahman got stranded in Daulatdia pier while Khan Jahan, Keramat Ali, Hamidur Shah Ali and Kumari in Paturia pier, leaving hundreds of passengers into severe trouble.

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Hasina meets grand alliance leaders

Dhaka, Dec 20 — Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has met the leaders of the 14-party grand alliance ahead of the government's third anniversary.

The meeting took place at her official residence Ganabhaban on Tuesday evening.

The leaders said the meeting reached an understanding on programmes to prevent bomb attacks and terrorism and strengthening the alliance's unity.

Of the grand alliance leaders, Jatiya Somajtantrik Dal (JSD) president Hasanul Haque Inu, Bangladesh Workers' Party president Rashed Khan Menon, Samyabadi Dal general secretary Dilip Barua and Workers' Party leader Bimal Biswas were present at the meeting.

Of the ruling Awami League leaders, presidium members Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Matia Chowdhury, advisory council member Amir Hossain Amu and Tofail Ahmed attended the meeting, among others.

This is the first meeting of the 14 parties with Awami League since Feb 6.

The alliance leaders had long been asking for the meeting, and Inu even made a request at a programme earlier in the day.

After the meeting, Inu told reporters that the BNP-Jamaat coalition is trying to destabilise the country through bomb blasts and terrorism across the country, including the capital. "We need to be united to prevent that."

The alliance would also announced programmes to fasten the process of trial of the war criminals, said Inu and Tofail.

Tuesday's meeting follows the ruling party president Sheikh Hasina's meeting on Monday with the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

bdnews24.com

2011 sees 43 journos killed, globally

New York, Dec 20 - Political conflicts and unrest proved fatal for journalists in 2011, while governments failed to prosecute those who targeted reporters for their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists' year-end survey of journalists killed in the line of duty.

At least 43 journalists were killed worldwide in direct relation to their work this year, according to a CPA media release.

Seven deaths occurred in Pakistan, where 29 journalists have been killed in the past five years. Libya and Iraq, each with five fatalities, and Mexico, with three deaths, also ranked high worldwide for journalism-related fatalities.

First Earth-sized planets found beyond solar system

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida, Dec 21 - Astronomers have found a pair of Earth-sized planets orbiting a star similar to the sun, though neither are believed to be suitable for life, scientists on NASA's Kepler telescope team said on Tuesday.

The discovery follows confirmation earlier this month of a super-Earth sized planet, called Kepler-22b, that circles the right distance from its parent star for liquid water to exist on its surface. Water is believed to be a key ingredient for life.

"Kepler-22b has the right temperature, but it is too big. (The planets) we're announcing today are just the right size, but too hot," astronomer David Charbonneau with Harvard University, told reporters during a conference call.

"But you can bet that the hunt is on to find a planet that combines the best of both worlds, a true Earth twin," he said.

The newly discovered planets, called Kepler-20e and 20f, have at least three gas-giant siblings, one of the larger planetary systems found to date.

But the family is nothing like our solar system, where rocky worlds like Venus, Earth and Mars are grouped together closer in toward the sun while gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn are segregated in the outer regions.

The two Earth-like and three Neptune-sized planets in the Kepler-20 family are interspersed and all orbit closer to the parent star than our solar system's innermost planet, Mercury.

"Rocky planets and gas giants happily mingle together. This is the first time we've seen anything like this," Charbonneau said.

Kepler-20e and 20f, which are believed to be too hot for liquid water, probably are not habitable - at least not today.

"If Kepler-20f was formed with water, which I think is likely, then it could have held on to its water for several billions of years ," said astronomer Linda Elkins-Tanton with the Carnegie Institute in Washington DC.

"And that means that this planet could have been habitable in the past for a long period," she said.

The system is located about 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Lyra.

Light travels at about 299,337 km per second.

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