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Give DB, CTTC authority to probe
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The demands were made at a closed-door meeting with Law Minister Anisul Huq, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, and State Minister for Housing & Public Works Sharif Ahmed on the sixth day of Police Week-2023.
At the meeting, the DMP chief requested the enactment of a law and a speedy tribunal to maintain religious harmony.
A highly placed source has disclosed the meeting minutes to The Daily Star.
Gazi Mozammel, additional deputy inspector of police, at the meeting said the existing residence of the Inspector General of Police does not go with his status. He demanded a bigger residence for the police chief and requested that the IGP’s residence be allocated to the DMP commissioner.
Meanwhile, an additional inspector general demanded an act specifically for the prevention of river-related crimes, such as river grabbing or the dumping of bodies.
A high official of the Police Headquarters has demanded that the budget for the police be increased in keeping with the national budget.
Farooque Ahmed, additional deputy inspector general (Organisation and Management) of the PHQ, demanded the formation of a separate police unit to deal with cybercrimes.
He also demanded the creation of 10 additional inspector general posts for grade 1.
Presently, the Special Branch chief and additional inspector general (admin) of the PHQ are holding grade-1 designations.
At the meeting, a CID high official demanded amending the gambling act and increasing the penalty.
Section 3 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867, stipulates punishment for owning or keeping, or having charge of a common gaming house with a fine not exceeding Tk 200, or with the imprisonment of either description for any term not exceeding three months
The CID official further demanded making a digital prosecution system, according to a meeting source.
Speaking to the ministers, a district superintendent of police requested financial aid for civil witnesses in court.
The officer further said that some police officers have to appear in court as witnesses even after the end of their tenure.
He also requested financial aid for retired police officials.
Satkhira SP Kazi Sharifuzzaman demanded a separate building on court premises to preserve evidence.
Again, an increase in the IGP’s expenditure limit to Tk 50 crore from the existing Tk five crore was also sought since the post is equivalent to a senior secretary.
After police officials placed their demands, all three ministers, in their speeches addressing the officials, said the demands were logical and they will look into them.
Police high officials then held a meeting with the new Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain at the Rajarbagh Police Auditorium.
They asked him for a separate division to expedite police work and demanded that all the additional inspector general posts be elevated to grade-1, according to sources.
In response, Mahbub said he joined only five days ago (January 3). “I do not know about these issues too clearly … I will look into them.”

Stay alert
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He asked the Bangladesh missions to be prompt and proactive in dealing with rumours and misinformations and report any such activities to the ministry in Dhaka.
Masud also asked the Bangladesh missions to take strong measures to curb hundi (a cross-border money transfer method that bypasses the legal banking system) so that remittance inflow increases, and to attract foreign direct investments and promote Bangladesh’s exports.

Webb reveals Milky
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researchers, including those from the University of Texas at Austin.
These bars play an important role in the evolution of galaxies by funnelling gas into their central regions and boosting star formation, according to a study accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.
In the research, scientists highlight examples of several such barred galaxies, with some from over 8 billion years ago.
While prior research has shed light on the existence of barred galaxies, researchers say images from the older Hubble Space Telescope had never detected these stellar features at such young epochs.
Citing an example, they say, one barred galaxy – EGS-23205 – whose image was captured using the Hubble Space Telescope appeared as “little more than a disk-shaped smudge,” while in a corresponding Webb telescope (JWST) image taken of the galaxy it was revealed as a “beautiful spiral galaxy with a clear stellar bar.”
The latest discovery was possible, researchers say, thanks to the larger mirror in JWST which gives it more light-gathering ability, allowing it to see further and with higher resolution.
They also visually reviewed “hundreds of galaxies” searching for those that appeared to have bars – helping narrow the list to a few dozen to analyse with more intensive approaches.
“The bars hardly visible in Hubble data just popped out in the JWST image, showing the tremendous power of JWST to see the underlying structure in galaxies,” study co-author Shardha Jogee, professor of astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, said.
“Bars solve the supply chain problem in galaxies. Just like we need to bring raw material from the harbour to inland factories that make new products, a bar powerfully transports gas into the central region where the gas is rapidly converted into new stars at a rate typically 10 to 100 times faster than in the rest of the galaxy,” Dr Jogee explained.
The new findings of stellar bars during such early time periods of the Universe “shakes up” galaxy evolution scenarios, scientists say.