Today, July 25, 2021, is not just an ordinary day. It is a new United Nations international day. It is a day of aspiration to prevent drowning, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives every year globally.

The much-awaited Tokyo Olympics 2020 began on July 23, 2021, with few if any spectators from home and abroad due to the Covid related “new normal”.

Tajuddin Ahmad, the prime minister of the provisional government-in-exile, would have been 96 this year. He was born on July 23, 1925 in Kapashia upazila. His life tragically came to an end on November 3, 1975.

August 15, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of US President Nixon delinking the US dollar from gold. Instead of a crisis, the ensuing half century marked the pre-eminence of the US financial system to global dominance.

There has been no part of our personal and professional lives that has been untouched by the Covid-19 crisis, and that includes recruitment.

It was in the era of President Nixon when commercial import and selling of second-hand garments became an obvious alternative to millions of Bangladeshis who could not afford new outfits.

In  “Tintern Abbey”, William Wordsworth, the best known English romantic poet, gives advice to his sister Dorothy Wordsworth to love nature because, “Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.”

We have witnessed yet another factory fire catastrophe but this time it involves a factory which does not cater to international garment retailers—hence, loss of lives of the workers burnt inside the Hashem food factory would perhaps be forgotten even sooner.

As an avid fan of Masterchef Australia, I have been following the show since it aired its second season (which means I am old enough to remember when Andy Allen was my favourite contestant and not a judge like he was in the latest season).

In June, Bangladesh was hit with a second deadly wave of the Coronavirus. The number of infections and deaths due to Covid has increased alarmingly.

The 20-year war in Afghanistan has been abandoned, with the United States announcing in mid-September that it will withdraw its troops from the country.

Over two months after the state assembly elections, which saw Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) returning to power with a thumping majority and its principal rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) making substantial gains in terms of seats, the political landscape in the state is set to be roiled once again on a range of issues.    

A leaked upcoming Assessment Report of the UN climate science advisory body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), scheduled for release in February 2022,

Recently, many parents in Bangladesh are expressing concerns about the behavioural changes of their children and feeling worried about the impacts of Covid-19 related restrictions on their health and wellbeing.

Recently the Chinese government ordered online platforms not to offer ride-hailing giant DiDi’s applications.

The owner of Hashem Foods factory remarked that they were not the ones who set the fire that took 52 lives, including children and adolescents.

There have been many allegations of mismanagement, irregularities and corruption against the health ministry.

In  a rapidly changing world, the youth are typically the first to adapt. They have been at the forefront of change, leadership and entrepreneurship especially since the advent of the Internet, coming up with creative solutions to modern problems.

Amid the ongoing restrictions meant to reduce the transmission of Covid-19, 32-year-old Nasima Begum, living with her husband and two sons in a Hazaribagh slum, has been finding it very difficult to make ends meet.

Bangladesh has long been known for the political activism of its citizens, ready to fight for their rights and defend their freedom.