The National Center for Meteorology in Saudi Arabia says that on Sunday, heavy thunderstorms and rain fell in some parts of the country. Videos have been posted online of Makkah’s streets flooded during the heavy rain in the area. The NCM says that some parts of the country are on a yellow alert.
The weather service for the whole country says that it will rain, storm, and dust storm until Wednesday. Through Arab Storms videos, we can see cars trying to get through flooded streets near parked cars where the water is up to the window level.
In a different video, rituals are being done by pilgrims near the Kaaba while strong winds and heavy rain rage around the area. Some people could be seen moving around in search of safety.
Meta just released a deal breaker feature: the ability to change messages that have already been sent. Users can now change any message they sent within 15 minutes of sending it thanks to this new update. To change something in a Messenger message, all you have to do is tap on it. When the first choice comes up, click “More.” Then, click “Edit,” which is next to “Forward,” “Bump,” and “Remove.”
The ‘Edit’ feature will be available only to messages sent in the last 15 minutes. Messages sent before 15 minutes from now will not have this feature available when you tap on that message.
In the official announcement, Meta also said that users can still report edited messages. Moreover, even after editing, Meta can see the previous editions of the message.
A study by Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) found that at least 74% of the students in the country who are trying to get into university are depressed. Two-fifths of the students are depressed, with 26% having mild depression, 26% having moderate depression, and 22% having serious depression.
A group of researchers led by Dr. Jamal Uddin, a professor in the statistics department at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology in Sylhet, did a study called “Prevalence of depression and its associated factors among undergraduate admission candidates in Bangladesh: A nation-wide cross-sectional study.” They asked about 5,000 people in Bangladesh’s divisional cities who were applying to universities for the 2021-22 academic year.
Through this poll, the researchers were able to divide the level of depression among people applying to college into three groups.
Australia said on Monday that it would make it more difficult for foreign students and low-skilled workers to get visas. This could cut the number of migrants coming to Australia in half over the next two years, as the government tries to fix what it calls a “broken” migration system. Under the new rules, foreign students would have to get better scores on English tests, and their applications for a second visa, which would allow them to stay longer, would be looked at more closely.
Over the weekend, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the number of people moving there needed to be lowered to a “sustainable level.” He also said that “the system is broken.”
O’Neil said that the government’s targeted changes were already lowering net overseas migration and will help the expected drop in the number of migrants even more.
It was thought that net immigration would reach a high point of 510,000 in 2022–23, when the choice was made. Official numbers showed that it was expected to drop to about a quarter of a million in 2024–25 and 2025–26, which is about the same amount as before COVID.
Today, four traders were given a Tk 40,000 fine for selling onions for more than they were worth and keeping them in the port city. They were given fines during different drives in Chattogram’s Khatunganj wholesale market and Pahartali kitchen market.
A group from the Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection (DNCRP) went on a drive through the Pahartali food market this morning and found that a store called M/s Bachamia Sawdagor had written “no onion” on their price list of goods. Rana Dev Nath, assistant director of the DNCRP’s Chattogram division, said that the team searched a godown of the shop and found 36 sacks of onions stacked inside that weighed 1.7 tonnes.
Nasrul Hamid, the State Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources, said today that oil reserves have been found at the Sylhet-10 well.
He said that a total of four layers of fuel reserves had been found. In the first layer, oil was found in Jaintiapur and Mainatghat in Sylhet. On the first day, 70 barrels of crude oil were found. The state minister told reporters about it on Sunday (December 10), when he was at his staff office.
Nabil Islam had his picture taken while on his bike in front of the “Welcome to Bangladesh” sign. He has a big smile on his face in that picture, even though he is very tired from riding so far. When he got close to the border, he said, “I had this feeling that this country is something special for me. My family lives here.” Nabil, 30, had lived in France all his life.
Nabil decided to make his dreams happen. He had the dream of travelling the Earth on a bicycle, so he saved up money for 5 years, quit his engineering job and headed out with his bicycle. He has already travelled to more than 12 countries in Europe and Asia. After 9 and a half months of starting his journey, he’s now in Bangladesh, his parents’ homeland. He had to take flights only 2 times on his way to travel all these countries.
Nabil’s last trip to Bangladesh was when he was a teenager, in 2006. He saw that this place had changed a lot in the last 17 years.
“Most of the roads are wide and smooth,” he said. There are now more buildings than before. It’s easy to get a cell phone signal because everyone has one. “Now there are engines in rickshaws too (easybike). Several of his friends are married and have children. The kids he saw last time are now all grown up, he said.
Denmark’s government has passed a law that makes it illegal to burn the Quran in public places. The goal was to calm things down with Muslim countries after a series of protests in Denmark in which the holy book of Islam was burned, which caused a lot of anger. Anti-Islam campaigners burned or otherwise damaged copies of the Quran at a number of public protests in Denmark and Sweden this year. This led to calls for the Nordic governments to ban the practice.
Peter Hummelgaard, the minister of justice, says that since July, there have been more than 500 protests where the Quran or flags were burned.
“Such demonstrations can hurt Denmark’s relations to other nations, our interests and ultimately our safety,” said Hummelgaard.
Denmark has tried to find a balance between national security and legally protected freedom of speech, which includes the right to criticize religion. This is because they are afraid that Islamists will attack if Qurans are burned.
The Dhaka University and Bijoy Sarani stations of the metro rail will be open for public from December 13. MAN Siddique, managing director of Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), confirmed the development to reporters today.
PM Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the country’s first-ever metro rail on December 28, 2022 and it was opened to public the following day.
Businesses in Bangladesh that make readymade clothes were concerned about the new US labor policy that was made public on November 16. Now the worries are even bigger because a US clothing company put a condition in the letter of credit it sent to a Bangladeshi clothing factory. The condition says that it won’t receive the goods or pay the money if Bangladesh is hit with any kind of sanction.
As proof, Faruque Hassan, President of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told Prothom Alo on Wednesday that a buyer organization put a general condition in its LC. It said they wouldn’t get any goods if Bangladesh was sanctioned.
He also said that the company made it clear that it would not receive the goods if the sanction is put in place after it has been shipped, nor would it pay any money for that. The head of the BGMEA did not say the name of the buyer organization that included this condition, though.
Iftaar, the traditional meal that marks the end of the daily Ramadan fast, has recently been named an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. A joint application from Iran, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan to UNESCO showed how important iftaar is in the Muslim world and led to this approval. Iftaar is a time when Muslims break their fast after the call to prayer at sunset during Ramadan. It is known for bringing people together, being kind, and making friends.
In some Muslim countries, iftaar is done in different ways, but eating a date to break the fast is a popular practice. The meals and baked goods made for iftaar are very different from one country to the next. This shows how diverse Islamic societies are. This range shows how the iftaar meal is different in different parts of the world in terms of the food that is served.
UNESCO stressed that families play a big part in passing on the tradition of iftaar, with kids and teens often helping to make traditional meals. Not only does this help keep the food customs alive, but it also builds stronger bonds between generations and keeps the culture alive. UNESCO’s listing of iftaar as an intangible cultural heritage shows how important it is as a social and cultural activity with deep roots in the Islamic faith and community life.
Starlink is a satellite internet connection which provides broadband connections to people in 60 plus countries. “In principle, I have told the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to give Starlink a license,” Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for telecom and ICT, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Starlink is a satellite internet service from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The Bangladeshi government is going to give it a license, which could change the country’s internet sector. Starlink offers high-speed internet in more than 60 countries. It is possible that this will bring competition to both urban and rural internet markets. The decision was made public by State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak, who emphasized the goal of improving internet access in rural places.
After talking with the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), Palak made the news, which shows that the country wants to offer more types of internet services. Starlink’s arrival is likely to put standard phone and cable internet services to the test, which could lead to better service quality and access.
Starlink might not be as popular in Bangladesh, though, because it costs a lot more than other internet services in the country. Local ISPs offer much lower rates than Starlink, which costs about $120 a month plus $599 for the gear. Along with the fact that mobile internet and broadband are already widely available, this cost factor could affect Starlink’s ability to make an effect in the Bangladesh market.
Meta is launching a new generative AI experience on the web, Imagine with Meta, that lets users create images by describing them in natural language.
Imagine with Meta, which is based on Meta’s current Emu image generation model, turns text into high-resolution images in a way similar to OpenAI’s DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion. For now, people in the U.S. can use it for free, and each prompt makes four images.
Many people have told us that they enjoy using imagine, Meta AI’s text-to-image feature, to make creative and fun chat material. “Today, we’re making it easier for people to use imagine outside of chats,” Meta writes in a blog post that came out this morning. “Our messaging app is made for more casual back-and-forth conversations, but you can now make free pictures on the web as well.”
Taylor Swift ends 2023 on a high note by being named Time Magazine’s person of the year. The singer follows the likes of Barack Obama, Greta Thunberg and Volodymyr Zelensky. She told the magazine that she is the proudest and happiest she has ever felt. The award is given to an event or person considered to have had the most influence on international events over the past year.
Right now, Taylor Swift is having a gap before launching the Asian and Australian legs of her Eras tour in February of 2024. The shows arrive at Europe in May of the same year, and Swift is also set to release a re-recorded version of her album Reputation in the new year.
Her wish to re-make all of her first 6 albums came after her old record label, Big Machine, sold her master tapes to music mogul Scooter Braun in 2019. Braun later sold the tapes to an investment company. Speaking to Time, Swift said she had initially recoiled at the idea, which had been suggested by both her father and fellow pop star Kelly Clarkson. “I’d look at them and go, ‘How can I possibly do that?’ Nobody wants to redo their homework if on the way to school, the wind blows your book report away.”
In the end, she took up the project. “It’s all in how you deal with loss,” she says. “I respond to extreme pain with defiance.”
At the 18th meeting of UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which is currently taking place in Botswana, rickshaws and art on rickshaws were recognized as intangible cultural heritage.
UNESCO has named Dhaka’s rickshaw paintings as the fifth cultural heritage. The other four are the Jamdani and Shital Pati weaving industries, Baul songs, and the Mongol Shobhajatra.
Faisal Hasan, who is the senior information officer for the Ministry of Culture, confirmed the story.
Starbucks Corp’s market value has dropped by $10.98 billion because of staff strikes, boycotts, and a lackluster holiday promotion. As Starbucks deals with complicated social problems, the stock market has put a lot of pressure on the company. Investors have pulled their money out, and Starbucks’ shares have been losing value for the longest time since their initial public offering in 1992.
Starbucks stock has dropped 8.96% since its November 16 Red Cup Day promotion, which is equal to a loss of almost $11 billion. There are deep roots to the boycotts, which touch on touchy global issues. The company got into trouble after a tweet from Starbucks Workers United, the union that represents many of its baristas, showing support for Palestinians.
The union’s lawsuits against the company have heated up the discussion, leaving Starbucks to run its business while dealing with political speech. Even though the economy is bad and people’s habits are changing, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan is still confident in the company’s many ways to reach customers and keep them interested.
The government plans to bring nearly half of the country’s population to electric car facilities within two decades. This will result in a major change in fuel consumption and a huge amount of money saved. According to the “Integrated Energy and Power Masterplan 2023”, by 2050, 50 percent of the country’s population will be covered by electric vehicles.
The government has started taking initiatives to implement that plan. Dhaka Electric Supply Company (DESCO) has developed a charging station for the use of electric vehicles. It is expected that implementation will be easier if other investors gradually join the initiative.
DESCO Managing Director Kawsar Amir Ali said that if the use of electric vehicles increases, the number of charging stations will be increased gradually. Apart from easybikes and battery rickshaws, there are no electric vehicles in the country yet. The government plans to electrify 40% of private cars and 10% of buses and trucks by 2050.
Recently, Dhaka North City has emphasized on importing electric buses. Now there are buses in the market that can travel up to 300 km on a single charge. Again in case of private car it is possible to go up to 300 to 500 km.
The government is about to start a Health Card system that will use a patient’s unique ID number to store information about them. This card, which you can get for free by signing up online, is part of a special system that was made to protect patients’ privacy and safety.
It is a big goal for the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to reach 60 million people in the next five years. From anywhere in Bangladesh, doctors and patients can use the number on the health card to log in and get specific information. The DGHS says that giving patients health cards with unique IDs is in line with efforts to digitize the healthcare industry around the world.
This plan, which is like national ID cards, will include a lot of details about health care.
The DGHS’s Management Information System (MIS) department is in charge of improving the health system. They started the Shared Health Record to make it easier for all public and private healthcare institutions to share health information with each other. This will create a single place where all of Bangladesh’s citizens’ health information can be stored.
According to sources inside the ministry, automation has already been put in place in 62 hospitals. It will be slowly put in place in all government hospitals, and a project in the Planning Commission is waiting for approval so that it can be put in place within the next three years.
It is the goal of the DGHS to have Health ID at all schools, including private ones, by 2041. By 2030, Health ID will be at all government hospitals in the country.
One in three women around the world are victims of violence against women, which is still a societal problem. In 2022, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) released a study that showed 450,000 murders related to female intimate partners or family members around the world. In 2021, about 17,800 of these victims were in Asia.
An Action Aid report in 2015 which covered 7 cities in Bangladesh revealed that women faced 84% verbal abuse, including insulting comments and sexually abusive language, 57% experienced sexual harassment, and 22% lived in fear of rape in the past year. Shahnaj Parvin, a nursing officer at the Directorate General of Nursing and Midwifery (DGNM), asserted that there are around 44,000 nurses in health complexes all over the country, with 26,000 providing maternal and child health services. A study following a year of the Covid-19 pandemic on workplace violence against Bangladeshi registered nurses on 1,264 nurses from 2 divisions revealed that 70% of them were victims of workplace violence, and 14.8% were verbally harassed.
Mushfiqur Rahim became the first Bangladeshi player to be out obstructing the field on the first day of the second Test against New Zealand in Dhaka today. Tamim Iqbal is making his international debut as a commentator the same day, and he said that a player who has played 80+ Tests should have known better than to handle the ball.
Mushfiqur had scored 35 when he fended off a delivery which dropped close to his feet. Even when the ball was moving away from the stumps, he shoved the ball away with his gloves leading to the umpires going upstairs to verify for obstructing the field dismissal. “A cricketer who has played over 80 Tests, should know he can’t do that,” Tamim said from the commentary box. Tamim asserted that net practice can sometimes form the bad habit of handling the ball.
“Practice habit can make this happen. In the nets, batters often take the ball in hand and return it back to the bowler. Maybe Mushfiqur did it unconsciously and extended his hands. But this obviously can’t be an excuse,” Tamim further added in commentary.
Forbes has named Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the 46th most powerful woman in the world in 2023. In 2023, she was named ninth among the 18 most powerful women in politics and policy. The list was topped by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, came in second. US Vice President Kamala Harris, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and US pop star Taylor Swift were ranked third, fourth, and fifth, respectively.
“Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the longest serving prime minister in the history of Bangladesh, is currently serving her fourth term,” Forbes wrote in Hasina’s Forbes profile. “She is also the world’s longest-serving female head of government.”
Amin Uddin Mollah has been dead for 2 years and 10 months. But according to a surprising case statement, police officer in Gazipur “clearly saw” him and 21 other people on October 28 when the they were fleeing after throwing a crude bomb at a police team.
The supposed incident took place in Targaon Medical Intersection area at 11:30 PM, and the sub inspector said in the case statement that he could clearly see the suspects under the street lights. Mozammel Haque, Amin’s son-in-law, and Md. Saifullah, the man’s neighbor from Khirati village, said the man died on January 25, 2021, while getting care at a hospital in the capital. He was 65 years old.
The local union parishad member Mostafa Kamal said that Kapasia police even got Amin’s death certificate for a case after he died in 2021. Three people in the area and a Jamaat leader said that Amin quit as the education officer for Narsingdi’s Monohordi upazila and then joined the Jamaat-e-Islami party.
The officer in charge of the Kapasia Police Station, Md Abu Bakar Mia, said they would look into it.
Leaders of the BNP and Jamaat have long said that the government is using the police and other parts of the government to silence the opposition by putting their leaders and workers on false charges.
Time Magazine named Lionel Messi Athlete of the Year for 2023. This comes after he moved to the US to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer. Some other people who have won the award are Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, LeBron James, and the US women’s national team. Aaron Judge, who plays right field for the New York Yankees, won the award in 2022.
Messi played his first game for Inter Miami in July. He made a big impression by scoring a free kick in the last few minutes to give his team a 2-1 win. He has made a huge difference in the MLS since then.
Before Messi joined Inter Miami, they had never won a big trophy. But after he joined, they beat Nashville in the final and Messi scored the winning goal. At the end of the season, the Argentinean scored 11 goals in 14 games across all categories. He was also nominated for MLS MVP.
When he led Argentina to win at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he won his record-setting eighth Ballon d’Or in October.
On Tuesday, Britain suggested new age-check guidelines to keep kids from accessing pornography online. One idea was to use AI-based technology to check if a viewer seems to be of legal age. In Britain, you have to be at least 18 years old to watch porn.
The regulator said that its advice for figuring out someone’s age by looking at their features using AI. To do that, you’d probably need to take a selfie and share it.
The government watchdog said its suggested rules would include credit card checks and photo identification matching, where a user would have to upload a photo ID like a passport or driver’s license to show their age. Open banking was another idea. This means that people can agree for their bank to share information with online porn sites to make sure they are over 18.
A free-market think tank called the Institute of Economic Affairs said that making people prove their age would violate their privacy and leave them open to abuse because third parties would have more private information about them.
US officials told the Wall Street Journal on Monday that Israel has put together a big network of pumps that could be used to flood Hamas’s tunnels under the Gaza strip to get rid of the fighters. The story said that around the middle of November, Israel’s army finished setting up at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp. These pumps could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour, which would flood the tunnels within weeks.
The story said it wasn’t clear if Israel would think about using the pumps before all the prisoners were freed. Hamas has said in the past that it has hidden prisoners in “safe places and tunnels.” If the US government was asked about the story, they said it made sense for Israel to make the tunnels useless and that they were looking into a number of ways to do that.
When asked for feedback, Israel’s defense ministry did not answer right away.
A Wall Street Journal report said that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) official wouldn’t say anything about the flooding plan but did say, “The IDF is working to break down Hamas’s terror capabilities in a number of ways, using a range of military and technological tools.”
Actor Dinesh Phadnis died on Tuesday at the age of 57. He was best known for his part as Fredericks on the hit TV show CID. His co-star on the show CID, Dayanand Shetty, who played Daya, told indianexpress.com that he had died. He said, “Dinesh died at 12:08 a.m.” The star was in his late 50s and was getting medical care at Tunga Hospital in Mumbai.
Shetty said that Dinesh died because many of his organs stopped working. What he said was, “There were many problems, and he was taken off the ventilator last night.” The star will be laid to rest in Mumbai at 10:30 am. According to earlier reports, Dinesh had a cardiac attack on Sunday and had to be taken to the hospital. Later, Shetty confirmed that it wasn’t cardiac death but damage to the liver.
The long-running TV show CID, which started on Sony TV in 1998 and ran for twenty years, made Dinesh famous. He played Fredericks on the show. He was in a few movies and TV shows, including the popular sitcom Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah and the movie Sarfarosh’s supporting roles.
The Oxford Dictionary word of the year 2023 is ‘rizz’, an internet slang for romantic appeal or charm, mostly used by young people. It was 1 of 8 words on a shortlist, all chosen to reflect the mood, emotions or vibes of 2023. The shortlist came from a public poll, after which Oxford lexicographers made the ultimate word of the year decision.
If you’re not from Generation Z, the word might not mean anything to you.
But a lot of people use it online. For example, the word “rizz” has been seen billions of times on TikTok.
Oxford University Press [OUP], which puts out the Oxford English Dictionary [OED], says it means style, charm, or attractiveness, as well as the ability to get a sexual or love partner.
It is thought that the word comes from the word “charisma” shortened.
UEFA has commenced an investigation after sex noises hampered the Euro 2024 draw broadcast on Saturday. Lewd noises were being played as Switzerland were drawn in Group A with Scotland, Hungary and hosts Germany.
Host Giorgio Marchetti, the deputy general secretary of European football’s governing body, tried to take control of the matter by saying, “There is some noise here that… has now stopped. No noise anymore.” England manager Gareth Southgate, who was there at the draw, said he could somewhat hear the noises while being in the audience. “I’m assuming it was some sort of a prank, but it was hard to really make out what it was,” he said.
YouTube prankster Daniel Jarvis took responsibility for the latest prank. Jarvis broadcast himself live on X, formerly Twitter, calling a mobile phone to trigger the noises as the Euros draw, which was broadcasted on the BBC, occured in Hamburg, Germany.
The Bangladesh Islamic Foundation (BIF) now requires local businesses to receive their approval before making and selling halal or shariah-compliant goods.
According to a new policy from the Islamic Foundation, companies that make and sell foods, medicines, and cosmetics will need to get certification and a halal badge from the foundation. This certification is good for one year. It is possible to refresh the certification in line with the rules after the validity period is over. The rule was written in 2015 by the Bangladesh Islamic Foundation, which is part of the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Local news websites say that it recently made the first policy after making the necessary changes. According to the policy, the officials will check and inspect to make sure that safety standards are being followed correctly. Every year, a plant has to be checked out. What manufacturers and owners of food processing shops have to pay each year for halal certification will depend on their size and ability.
A small factory with an investment of Tk 10 million to 50 million will have to pay a fee of Tk 5,000 every year. Manufacturers who spend between Tk 50 million and Tk 500 million will have to pay a fee of Tk 10,000.
A factory that has invested more than Tk 500 million will have to pay Tk 20,000 a year to get halal approval. Based on how many animals they can handle, slaughterhouses will have to pay a yearly fee of Tk 5,000 to Tk 20,000. Hotel and eating fees will go up to Tk 2,000.
According to reports by IWM Buzz, the actor had a heart attack and is receiving treatment at Tunga Hospital, Mumbai. The report also imcluded, “Dinesh Phadnis has been fighting for his life with ventilator support.” The actor’s condition has shown somewhat of an improvement in comparison to his critical state on Friday.
Reports also said that the entire cast and crew of “CID” were informed about Dinesh’s health issues on Friday night. Many of them visited the hospital on Saturday to ask about the actor’s health. Dinesh has also featured in “Sarfarosh” alongside Aamir Khan and “Super 30” alongside Hrithik.
In India, the University Grants Commission has asked all Indian universities and colleges to set up selfie booths with images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the background, the directive coming in the run-up to next summer’s general election. The higher education authority has pushed the campuses to inspire students and visitors to click selfies at these points and share them on social media, essentially turning them into unofficial supporters of the BJP.
The idea is to start a trend around what the UGC has described as “India’s victories in various fields”, thus “growing a sense of national pride”. Several academics accused the UGC of bringing in academic institutions into a “cult-building” exercise they should “have nothing to do with”. A professor at a renowned institution said that the government was making every small accomplishment look like a big deal and giving the Prime Minister all the credit. “What is going on is full-on propaganda to make a cult figure.” He said, “The State is doing it with public institutions that have nothing to do with these things.” “There is nothing in the law that lets the government or the UGC tell schools to spread this kind of propaganda.”
“I’m not worrying about the World Cup and I’m not saying 100 percent that I won’t be there because anything can happen. Due to my age, the most normal thing is that I won’t be there. We’ll see when that happens,” said Messi in an interview with Argentina’s Star+. Messi went on to say that his focus is on June’s Copa America which will be held in the United States.
“Maybe we’ll do great at the Copa America and everything will fall in place for us to continue. Maybe not. Realistically it’s hard,” he said of the chance of a 6th consecutive World Cup appearance.
“As long as I feel I’m doing well and can continue to contribute, I’m going to do it. Now all I’m thinking about is reaching the Copa America. After that, time will tell if I’m there or not.”
“I’m going to be at an age that normally doesn’t let me play in the World Cup. I said I don’t think I’m going to be there. It seemed like after the World Cup I was retiring and it was the opposite. Now I want to be there more than ever,” he added.
Everyone was shocked when Farhan Akhtar announced in August that Shah Rukh Khan would not be playing Don in the third movie in the series. After this was made public, a preview with Ranveer Singh as Don was shown. Fans had a range of reactions to the news. Some were happy that the series was coming back, while others thought Shah Rukh Khan should keep playing the stylish criminal that police are after in 11 countries. This led to criticism for Shah Rukh Khan and the movie’s directors, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani.
In an interview with Deadline, Ranveer Singh stated, “I’m looking forward to make Don my own and give it my spin. It is the handing over of the baton of one of the most loved and revered franchises of Hindi cinema. The significance of that is not lost on me. When the announcement was made, as expected, it came with its share of scepticism. But throughout the history of cinema, this has happened. Even as recently as perhaps when the Bond franchise changed hands and they announced Daniel Craig as the new Bond, it came with its fair share of scepticism. So, this is only natural.”
Talking about the upcoming 3rd instalment of the Don franchise, Ranveer shared, “Taking the baton forward in this franchise and continuing the legacy of two of our greatest film stars – the weight of that is not lost on me. So, I will give it my best and you will see the very best of me and I will put my best foot forward for ‘Don’ without a doubt.”
The Weeknd (who now goes by his real name Abel Tesfaye) is well known for his work with charities. The musician, who is also a goodwill advocate for The World Food Program, recently gave $2.5 million from his XO Humanitarian Fund to help the WFP’s work in Gaza. According to the organization, the gift, which is equal to four million emergency meals, will help send out 820 metric tons (about 1.8 million pounds) of food parcels, which will feed over 173,000 Palestinians for two weeks.
The ongoing crisis is rooted in weeks of intense bombardment by Israeli defense forces in retaliation to a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
WFP Regional Director Corinne Fleischer emphasised, “Our teams require stable and continuous humanitarian access, along with constant support from benefactors, to reach as many people as possible. We express gratitude to Abel for this significant contribution to the people of Palestine and hope others will emulate Abel’s example by supporting our ongoing efforts.”
The situation escalated to such an extent that an aircraft had to make an emergency landing before reaching its destination. Due to the trouble caused by the two passengers, the Lufthansa flight from Munich to Bangkok had to make an emergency landing in Delhi on Wednesday. Police said a 53-year-old German citizen started shouting with his wife on the plane. At one stage of the fight, he tried to burn a blanket with a lighter. Later the flight made an emergency landing and the couple was taken off.
According to airport sources, the German citizen’s wife is a Thai citizen. When an argument broke out between them mid-air, the pilot sought permission to land at New Delhi’s IGI airport. The wife sought the cabin crew’s intervention after an argument with her husband started on the plane. The woman alleged that her husband was threatening her. Both of them were sent back to Munich after the charges.
A source said the man was drunk. Crews reported that the man was having a shouting match with his wife. He threw food at his wife. The airline staff failed to intervene in the matter. Due to this the aircraft had to make an emergency landing.
Professor Dr. Muhammad Alamgir, Chairman (Additional) of the University Grants Commission (UGC), said that the admissions test for public colleges will be held in a cluster system instead of the single entry system that was planned before. This will happen during the academic year 2023–24. He said these things as the main speaker at a meeting with partners on Wednesday as part of putting UGC’s integrity strategy action plan for the financial year 2023-2024 into action.
“The UGC took the initiative to set up a single entrance exam for all public universities,” Professor Alamgir said. In this case, a committee was set up, and after a lot of talk, an ordinance was also written.
“However, for reasons that couldn’t be helped, it hasn’t been possible to set up a single admissions test for the next school year.”So, just like last year, the admissions test will be given in groups during the next school year. Earlier, the UGC told all public universities that starting with the next school year, they would have to use a single government-run admissions test to accept students.
The University Grants Commission said that having only one test will make it easier for people to get into college and save them time and money.
During the meeting, the head of the UGC asked universities that are not in the cluster system, such as Dhaka University and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), to join this year.
The chairman said that the commission is now going to figure out what subjects each university will teach and how many students each university will have, taking into account both the domestic and foreign situations. He said that the UGC’s main job is to keep higher education high-quality, make sure there is a good place to do study, and give universities the money they need.
The Boys’ world might be getting bigger again soon. Variety says that another show based on The Boys is being planned, and Mexico City is likely to be the scene. The Spanish-language spin-off would be Amazon’s third try to make a localized version of one of Prime Video’s popular shows, after Citadel and Comicstaan.
The story says that Blue Beetle writer Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer will be writing the new spin-off. It’s also possible that Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal would be involved as executive producers.
Amazon wouldn’t say anything.
If it goes ahead with the movie, the unnamed spin-off would join Gen V and the animated show The Boys: Diabolical as the newest characters in the growing world of The Boys. A lot of people really like this series, and Gen V got great reviews for showing “modern teen sex comedies, ruthless The Boys tomfoolery, and ambitious shock-and-awe excellence that fans deserve.”
The main show, which is based on the comic book series of the same name, came out in 2019. The fourth season is set to come out in 2024. Erik Kripke, who created the show, is said to be an executive producer on the new show. At this point, not much else is known, and the exact story is still being worked on.
Sakib Jamal, who was born in Bangladesh, has been chosen to Forbes’ prestigious 30 Under 30 list for North America for 2024. Forbes makes this list every year of the most impressive and promising people in North America under the age of 30. They come from business, science, the arts, and other fields. Jamal was put in the Venture Capital group.
This May, seven Bangladeshis were named to the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2023 list. Forbes says that Jamal, who was Crossbeam Ventures’ first employee, has been very important to the company’s fast growth since becoming a member in 2020. The firm’s assets have grown to an amazing $280 million across two core funds, thanks in large part to his work.
Crossbeam Ventures has made nine investments with Jamal personally, and he has also been the main contact for 14 others. Because of his skills and hard work, Jamal was promoted to vice president in June 2023, which was his second advance within the company.
Jamal was born in Bangladesh and went to Cornell University. He has a Bachelor of Arts/Science degree. He has also crowdsourced a book for junior investors. The money from the sales will go to helping schoolchildren in Bangladesh with their schooling.
Sakib Jamal was also on the 20 under 20 list from Crain’s New York Business earlier this year.
A press statement from the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) said that they have set up a special committee of 3 people to look into how the Bangladesh national team did in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup India 2023.
The group is made up of BCB directors Akram Khan (member), Enayet Hossain Siraj (convenor), and Mahbubul Anam (member).
The goal of the committee is to look into the reasons why the team did poorly in the tournament, and they will then report their findings to the board, the release said.
Bangladesh came in eighth out of ten teams, winning just two of their nine games. The team’s management had hoped to make it to the playoffs, but they didn’t make it that far.
Before the World Cup, there were a lot of problems with Tamim Iqbal’s exclusion and his public conflict with leader Shakib Al Hasan.
Harvard University and the University of Florida are both planning to offer new classes that will look at how Taylor Swift has changed music and society today. A course at Harvard called “Taylor Swift and Her World” will be taught by Professor Stephanie Burt and will look at the singer’s music, lyrics, and societal significance.
The University of Florida’s Melina Jimenez will teach “Musical Storytelling with Taylor Swift and Other Iconic Female Artists,” which will look at the stories of famous singers like Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, and Dolly Parton. This isn’t just happening with Taylor Swift. Harry Styles, who used to be in One Direction, had his own course at Texas State University. Nicki Minaj had her own class at UC Berkeley, and Bad Bunny had her own course at San Diego State. It’s becoming more and more popular in academia to break down the influence and artistry of modern music stars.
English