Cover Story

UNDERSTANDING THE BLOGOSPHERE

In a pluralistic society, unresolved matters can be sorted out in black and white through discussions and resolutions. But when it comes to the internet, it becomes challenging to bring those matters out of gray areas. Publishing content over platforms like internet blogs, short for 'web log', can become controversial as people publish information in blogs at their own discretion. The blogosphere, a vast interconnected network of billions of blogs and social networks, is openly accessible on a public internet domain. Experts clarify how the blogosphere is interpreted, the existing legal provisions that regulate publishable blog contents and when blogs can become subject to judicial intervention in Bangladesh.

Zahir Hassan Nabil

Blogosphere: Public or Private? When it comes to facebook accounts, privacy settings determine whether information on that account is public or private. It is a controlled private space but a blog is not in most cases, says Anis Pervez, a…

Current Affairs

Rise of the Third Force?

Shakhawat Liton

Hefajat-e Islam is now a big name in Bangladesh. Established in early 2010 to oppose women’s development policy, the Chittagong-based organisation has consolidated its strength and demonstrated it through the long march and the subsequent rally held in the capital…

Economy

Be More Amicable

For economic reasons US-Bangladesh relations should be as warm as possible

REFAYET ULLAH MIRDHA

Certain disputes have been souring the cordial relationship between the US and Bangladesh, despite the US being an important partner both in strategic and economic issues. This may cause the economy to suffer further in the future. The bickering started…

Endeavour

BRINGING BACK ’71

'Abar Ekattur' is an effort to instil the core values of the Liberation War in the hearts of Bangladeshi youth

Tamanna Khan

It is quite late in the evening. Even after a long tiring court session at the International Crimes Tribunal, a talk show at a private television channel, prosecution member Barrister Tureen Afroz’s face lights up as she begins talking about…

Perceptions

Lungi on Trial

ANIKA HOSSAIN

What can one possibly have against lungis? Compared to war crimes, genocides, vandalism, terrorism and down right dirty politics, the lungi’s alleged offense seems quite innocuous don’t you think? The lungi has after all served as our national outfit for…

Reflections

In Search of the Zoobr

Andrew Eagle

I have indeed, praise be to God, attained my desire in this world, which was to travel through the Earth, and I have attained this honour. — Ibn Battuta …and in the modern world, where lengthy journeys to previously unheard…

MUSINGS

A CROSS TO BEAR

Syed Maqsud Jamil

For some life can be a cross to bear. The journey begins at an early age when the pressure to excel becomes a form of oppression or when an injury lodges in the heart. For the poor, meeting basic needs…

Festival

From Panta Bhat to Protest

Amitava Kar

“And now let us believe in a long year that is given  to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been.” – Rainer Maria Rilke It is widely accepted that the celebration of the Bangla Nababarsha began during…

BOOK REVIEW

A Modern Classic

AM HUSSAIN

Kaiser Haq is Bangladesh’s leading English poet. What is interesting about his works is that they are firmly rooted in the pristine soil of Bengal. Its not that his poems does not deal with urban motifs, which all English Language…

Star Diary

Shocking Behaviour

Afew days ago I was walking towards Lalmatia from Dhanmondi when I noticed a blind beggar asking a woman on a rickshaw for some money. She ignored him at first and held on tightly to her little son as though…

In Retrospect

Origins of Phrases

Megasthenes

Henry Kissinger would certainly find a place near the top of any list of the most cerebral Secretaries of State in American history. He is very much a global celebrity even today, thirty six years after he held high office.…

Travel

A SHERPA STORY LIFE ON THE EVEREST BASE CAMP TRAIL

Hadleigh Fischer

We are sitting in a cold plywood guesthouse in Dingboche, 4000m above sea level, huddling around a heated stove powered by yak droppings.  Layered up against the evening cold that has become a regular part of our lives on the…

Voicebox

“The opposition’s one-point movement could have got pace had Hefajat announced tougher agitation programmes.” BRIG GEN (RETD) ASM HANNAN SHAH a member of the national standing committee of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) about BNP’s expectation regarding Hefajat-e-Islam’s rally. “But…

Remembrance

Remembering My Father

Takir Hossain

My life changed forever on March 28 this year. My father, Md Abdus Satter Sheikh, died that day, and I lost the greatest man I’ve ever known in my life. When he died, a part of me passed away with…

THE BLOGGING PROBLEM

Chintito

If Only…

Chintito

Common scene: A man and his wife are walking harmlessly along a footpath. A rogue loafing on the pavement assumes these are the right kind of ‘soft’ people to attack and so he lets loose a verbal onslaught particularly at…

Impressions

Obama-Michelle Mix-up

Shah Husain Imam

The world’s most celebrated couple, US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, has come under spotlight for a gaffe each of them mouthed out to their audiences. President Obama waxed effusive about Indian-American Kamala Harris, a Democrat top…

Letters

No Corpse, No Compensation, No Justice

In a country of 160 million, human lives are not more valuable than those of ants and we are being reminded of this ‘truth’ again and again. We have almost accepted that people here will die in reckless accidents, fires…

Cartoon Strip

The Conspiracy

Sharier

Postscript

Regressing to the Dark Ages

AASHA MEHREEN AMIN

The news of hundreds of thousands of angry men from Chittagong rushing to Dhaka filled me with an unfamiliar fear. I had never before felt so insecure. Outsiders were coming to town, to seek revenge on those who had apparently…

Photo Feature

AFTERSHOCK BRAHMANBARIA

Sumon Yusuf

At least 35 people, including children, were killed and more than 500 others injured when a powerful tornado ripped through the southeastern district of Brahmanbaria in Bangladesh. The tornado injured people were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Comilla Medical…