By: Firas Alkhateeb Today, there are over 500 million Muslims throughout the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), making it one of the largest population centers of Muslims in the world. Since Islam first entered India, it has contributed greatly…
Category: Feature
Historic Nepal sites set to reopen after quake
Nepal is set to reopen all the heritage sites in the Kathmandu valley to the public, in a bid to attract tourists after April’s devastating earthquake. Among those sites set to open are the historic Durbar squares or “noble courts”,…
Breathe in the masters at Galleri Kaya
The exhibition, celebrating 12 years of Kaya’s journey, showed just how closely the gallery has related itself to Bangladesh’s art and their beloved masters.Forty-four works by 23 modern artists — from Zainul Abedin to Shishir Bhattacharjee — amazed viewers when…
Woman cop gangraped in city relative’s house
A female police constable who was gang-raped allegedly by her ex-husband and his five associates in the city’s Khilgoan area was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for medical test on Saturday. A social visit of the young woman to…
Romantic street art replaces love locks on Paris bridge
Panels of street art have been installed on Paris’s Pont des Arts to replace the hundreds of thousands of “love locks” that weighed down the bridge’s balustrade until the city began removing them last week.The temporary exhibition on the theme…
Apple Music faces antitrust scrutiny in NY, Connecticut: NYT
Attorneys general in New York and Connecticut are investigating whether the deals that Apple Inc has struck with music companies for its new streaming service violate antitrust laws, the New York Times reported.Spokesmen for both offices confirmed to Reuters that…
Putin likely to hear Pope’s pitch for peace in Ukraine
By Colleen Curry Pope Francis will host Vladimir Putin this week at the Vatican, playing international diplomat at a time when the Russian president finds himself excluded from the G7 summit and blasted by President Barack Obama and others over…
Gay marriage is legal but abortion still a crime in Ireland
By Sally Hayden At 16 weeks into her pregnancy, Lily, 35, found out that her baby had a fatal fetal abnormality and — once born — would survive only hours outside the womb. “We really wanted the baby,” she told…
Bangladesh urged to combat ‘epidemic of child marriage’
Report by Human Rights Watch says government has not acted on pledges to end child marriage made by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last year Child marriage in Bangladesh is an epidemic and requires the government to act on its promises…
Want to stay together? Don’t mess with the hair budget
Here’s a little marital tip: When financial experts say couples should compromise on absolutely everything, there are times when you just need to split hairs.For instance, just try to tell your spouse how much he or she should spend on…
Apple Watch to hit retail stores on June 26
Apple Inc said it would start selling some models of its watch at its retail stores this month, and also roll out the gadget in seven more countries. The watch has been on display in Apple stores around the world…
Apple recalls Beats Pill XL speakers
Apple Inc said it is recalling some Beats Pill XL portable wireless speakers due to a fire hazard caused by overheating batteries.The iPhone maker will recall about 222,000 speakers in the United States and about 11,000 in Canada, the US…
China to hold live fire drills along tense border with Myanmar
China’s military will hold land and air live fire drills along a part of the border with Myanmar where shells have fallen during fighting between the Myanmar government and ethnic Chinese rebels, the Defence Ministry said on Monday. China has…
How to look good without eye makeup
Eyes are said to be the windows to your soul, so enhance and accentuate them without using makeup.Makeup artist Nirmal Randhawa, owner of Indica Makeover studio, shares a few steps to look great and gorgeous sans the conventional eye beautification:
JU Teacher sacked for sexual harassment
Jahangirnagar University (JU) authorities has sacked a teacher on charges of sexual harassment brought against him by several female students of his department about one and a half years ago. JU registrar Abu Bakar Siddiqe said the JU syndicate on…
Technology replaces schmoosing: the future of private banking
No longer is schmoosing over long lunches and fine wines enough; Swiss private bankers are turning to video games and virtual reality to attract a new generation of sceptical clients and see off digital rivals.Technology is likely to appeal to…
Two youths ‘confess’ to raping girl in running microbus
Two youths, arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a Garo woman in the city, confessed to raping the indigenous woman in a moving microbus in the city on Wednesday, claimed Rab. “Both the accused confessed to raping the 22-year-old…
Irish same-sex vote ‘defeat for humanity’ – Vatican official
A landmark vote to allow same-sex marriage in the Republic of Ireland was a “defeat for humanity”, a senior Vatican official has said. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, said he was “very saddened” by the result.
Muslims ‘dehumanised’ warns Qatar’s Sheikha Moza
By Sean Coughlan A senior member of the Qatar royal family has warned that Muslims are being “dehumanised” by the coverage of violent extremism in the Middle East. “Why do Muslim lives seem to matter less than the lives of…
Narcissist, insecure people post more on Facebook
People who post Facebook status updates about their romantic partner are more likely to have low self-esteem, a new research has revealed.Users who brag about diets, exercise and accomplishments on the social networking site are typically narcissists, it added.
Vienna shakes off fusty image as Eurovision carnival hits town
Vienna hopes the final of the Eurovision Song Contest will show a new liberal and light-hearted side to the opulent Austrian capital when the jamboree of glitter, capes and power ballads hits town this weekend.Tourists associate Vienna with classic architecture,…
Beaten and starving, some Rohingya flee boats, return to camps
Scores of Myanmar’s minority Rohingya Muslims are paying off people smugglers and returning to the squalid camps they used to live in after being held for months on overcrowded ships that were to take them to Thailand but did not…
Apple, Android app makers cool to Microsoft overtures
Microsoft’s plan to make its new version of Windows a mobile hit by letting it accept tweaked Apple and Android apps has met an obstacle: some of the software developers the company needs to woo just aren’t interested. Windows phones…
Why do men exist? Scientific study offers an explanation
Since in many species, sperm is males’ only contribution to reproduction, biologists have long puzzled about why evolutionary selection, known for its ruthless efficiency, allows them to exist.Now British scientists have an explanation: Males are required for a process known…
Aruna, the India nurse whose rape changed euthanasia laws
Aruna Shanbaug lay in a near vegetative state for 42 years in a cubicle in Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, where she had worked as a nurse and where she was sexually assaulted in 1973. Columnist Bachi Karkaria pieces…
Munbai nurse dies after 42 years in coma follwoing rape
A Mumbai nurse who was in a coma for 42 years after being sexually assaulted while working in a hospital has died, hospital authorities said Monday. Aruna Shanbaug suffered severe brain damage and was in a vegetative state after she…
Van Sant not too fazed by harsh reviews on ‘The Sea of Trees’
“The Sea of Trees”, Gus van Sant’s metaphysical tale set in Japan’s ‘suicide forest’, got a harsh reception from the critics at the Cannes Film Festival, but the Palme d’Or winner seemed unperturbed by the few boos that greeted his…
Rihanna’s 25 kg Met dress thrusts Chinese designer Guo Pei into spotlight
Among the opulent outfits on display at last week’s Met Gala, one dramatic design stole the show.Singer Rihanna’s canary yellow cape dress, trimmed with fur the colour of egg yolk and embroidered with flowers, swept behind her in a seemingly…
LUXE City Guides – Heritage Hong Kong
If you think that Hong Kong is just glass and steel, you are very much mistaken.Sure, this pearl of Asia is lustrous, but shuck the husk and you’ll discover profound riches that shine even brighter.
Beyond Black & White: Reflections on Race & Racism
Baltimore is the latest flashpoint involving massive protests and outbreaks of violence in response to police brutality against Black youths in the US. Not too long ago, a similar turn of events unfolded in other American cities as well, like…