United News of Bangladesh

The Grand Mosque of Paris marked its 100th anniversary on Friday, with worshippers and religious leaders celebrating its history while calling for greater unity, religious tolerance and understanding in France. Built a century ago to honour Muslim soldiers from France's former colonies who fought and died in World War I, the mosque has become one of Paris' best-known landmarks and an important place of worship for the country's Muslim community. Chems-eddine Hafiz, rector of the Grand Mosque, described the mosque as a symbol of France's diversity and interfaith dialogue. However, he expressed concern over growing religious tensions linked to conflicts in the Middle East and the country's increasingly polarised political climate ahead of next year's presidential election. "It is everyone's responsibility to see Muslims as part of the national community," Hafiz told The Associated Press. People from across the Paris region attended the centenary prayers, including French-born Muslims and families with roots in Algeria, Senegal and other former French colonies. Located in the historic Latin Quarter, the mosque is also a popular tourist attraction. Inspired by Spain's Alhambra Palace in Granada, it features an ornate prayer hall, a 33-metre-high minaret overlooking the Seine River, a traditional tea room and a hammam. Built to honour Muslim soldiers Hafiz said the mosque was built to recognise the sacrifices made by Muslim soldiers who fought for France during World War I, particularly those who died in battles such as Verdun. He noted that when the mosque opened in 1926, then French President Gaston Doumergue described France's diversity as a source of national strength. While he believes that message remains relevant today, Hafiz said prejudice against Muslims continues. "Anti-Muslim acts are still committed, and Islam is often misunderstood," he said. Calls for greater acceptance Islam is the second-largest religion in France, which has Western Europe's biggest Muslim population. However, many Muslims say they still face discrimination and negative stereotypes, especially after a series of extremist attacks over the past decade. The issue has become more prominent as campaigning begins for France's 2027 presidential election, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party continuing to focus on immigration and Islam. Volunteer Fatma Chouchane said Muslim women should be free to choose whether to wear headscarves without restrictions in schools or workplaces. "I ask France to leave these people alone and let them make their own religious choices," she said. Despite those concerns, Chouchane said the mosque's centenary should be a celebration of unity. "It is a symbol. It is the Paris museum for Muslims. We must all stand together," she said. For Ibrahima Seye, who moved to France from Senegal, the Grand Mosque was one of the first places he visited after arriving in the country. "It's always open," he said. "It is important for the Muslim community, and many tourists also appreciate it."

Paris Haute Couture Week ended on Thursday after four days of dramatic fashion shows that highlighted three major themes — the human body, fantasy and technology — as designers unveiled creations blending traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. One of the week's biggest highlights was designer Pierpaolo Piccioli's first haute couture collection for Balenciaga, presented on Wednesday before celebrities including Demi Moore, Cynthia Erivo and Gigi Hadid. Piccioli's collection featured oversized gowns, hooded feather designs and a dramatic finale with Hadid wearing a creation covered in rooster feathers. He received a standing ovation after appearing on the runway with his entire atelier dressed in white coats. The show marked Balenciaga's biggest haute couture presentation since the fashion house revived its couture line in 2020. Around 30 fashion houses, including five making their couture debut, explored different ways of presenting the human form. Some designs revealed the body, while others hid or reshaped it with dramatic silhouettes and sculptural garments. At Armani Privé, designer Silvana Armani presented a collection titled "Boudoir" that focused on elegance rather than revealing clothing. The show featured embroidered garments, tailored jackets and subtle details that balanced modesty with style. Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett attended the show alongside Rosamund Pike and **Anna Wintour>. At Schiaparelli, designer Daniel Roseberry experimented with body-inspired creations, including sculpted corsets, silicone details and inflatable elements, giving the collection a futuristic appearance. Piccioli at Balenciaga and Dutch designer Iris van Herpen took a different approach by using oversized shapes and delicate handcrafted materials that almost completely concealed the human figure. Fantasy was another major theme throughout the week, with designers presenting collections inspired by fairy tales, classic Hollywood and nature against the backdrop of a summer heat wave and global uncertainty. Elie Saab showcased glamorous evening wear inspired by Truman Capote's famous 1966 Black and White Ball and old Hollywood stars such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Zuhair Murad presented richly decorated designs inspired by gardens, flowers and butterflies, while Stéphane Rolland paid tribute to late singer Dalida with an almost entirely white collection. At Chanel, new designer Matthieu Blazy transformed the Grand Palais into a fairy-tale setting with giant beanstalks, pea-pod-shaped heels and golden eggs. At Dior, Jonathan Anderson presented sculptural designs inspired by American artist Lynda Benglis. Technology also played a central role during the week as designers explored new materials while emphasising the value of hand craftsmanship. Schiaparelli used unusual handmade materials including baked fish scales, painted surfaces and hand-shaped silicone. Van Herpen experimented with science by exposing one dress to a particle accelerator before the show. The garment was intended to produce electrical effects on the runway, although the experiment affected the fabric before the presentation. Balenciaga also introduced garments made with laboratory-grown Amsilk silk, which the fashion house says is stronger than steel. Despite the growing use of technology, designers across Paris couture week stressed that traditional handcraft remains at the heart of haute couture, combining innovation with the artistry that defines the world's most exclusive fashion collections.  

A striking cave-like installation has opened on Paris’ oldest bridge, temporarily turning the historic structure over the River Seine into a dark, immersive art space filled with sound, scent and light. For weeks, a black, mountain-like structure had covered the Pont Neuf, raising curiosity among passers-by. It finally opened on Monday evening, allowing the public to step inside the artwork. Once inside, visitors are met with a dramatic shift in atmosphere. The air carries the smell of damp earth, stone and smoke, while the sounds of low electronic pulses echo through the structure. Beneath it, the bridge’s old cobblestones remain visible underfoot, reinforcing the sense of walking through another world. The installation, called the Pont Neuf Cavern, has been created by French street artist JR (artist), often described as the “French Banksy.” It is open free of charge and will remain accessible 24 hours a day until June 28. Built mainly from printed fabric and air, the work rises about 18 metres above the Seine, transforming the centuries-old bridge into a temporary artificial cave. Visitors described the experience as disorienting yet captivating. “It feels like the city has disappeared,” said one visitor, noting that although the river remains just outside, the interior feels like stepping into an ancient landscape. A key feature of the installation is its carefully designed scent environment. Olfactory artist Sarah Bouasse created shifting smells inspired by compounds found in rain-soaked soil. The scent changes as visitors move through the space, from wet earth to warmer, smokier tones. Many visitors said the experience changed the way they moved across the bridge. “Today I felt the stones under my feet. And smelled them too,” said one retiree, adding that it made him feel like a child again. The sound design was created by Thomas Bangalter, known from the electronic duo Daft Punk. His audio installation adds deep rumbles, echoes and rhythmic pulses that intensify the cave-like effect. Completed in 1607, the Pont Neuf — ironically meaning “New Bridge” — is the oldest standing bridge in Paris. The installation encourages visitors to experience the landmark not just visually, but through smell, sound and touch. The project also pays tribute to artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who famously wrapped the bridge in fabric in 1985, attracting millions of visitors. Unlike that earlier bright installation, JR’s version explores darkness, guiding visitors through a shadowed passage before they re-emerge into daylight on the other side. The experience can also be enhanced through a smartphone-based augmented reality feature developed with tech company Snap, which adds digital bats, visual traces and a virtual dancer to the space. JR has linked the concept to Plato’s allegory of the cave, suggesting modern people are similarly influenced by digital screens and algorithms shaping perception. Visitors said the installation offers a rare pause in daily urban life. “Paris needs things that make people stop,” said one visitor. When the exhibition ends, the structure will be dismantled and its materials reused or recycled, returning the bridge to its normal state as traffic flows again over the historic Seine crossing.

France’s former Culture Minister Jack Lang has stepped down as head of a Paris cultural center following allegations of past financial ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that led to a tax investigation. He is the most prominent figure in France to be affected by the release of the Epstein files on Jan. 30 by the U.S. Department of Justice. He is widely known for serving as culture minister under Socialist President François Mitterrand during the 1980s and 1990s. Lang, 86, was summoned to the French Foreign Ministry, which oversees the Arab World Institute, on Sunday, but he instead submitted his resignation. “He is very sad and deeply hurt to be leaving a position he loves,” his lawyer Laurent Merlet told RTL radio on Sunday. “He placed the interests of the Arab World Institute above all else,” Merlet said, adding that his client denied the allegations and described them as inaccurate. The Foreign Ministry confirmed his resignation on Saturday evening. Read More: Starmer faces mounting pressure over Mandelson-Epstein saga The financial prosecutors’ office said it has opened an investigation into Lang and his daughter, Caroline, over alleged “aggravated tax fraud laundering.” French investigative news website Mediapart reported last week on alleged financial and business links between the Lang family and Jeffrey Epstein through an offshore company based in the U.S. Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea. Jack Lang’s name appeared more than 600 times in the Epstein files, indicating intermittent correspondence between 2012 and 2019. His daughter was also named in the released documents. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has “taken note” of Lang’s resignation and has begun the process of seeking his successor, the foreign ministry said. Lang has led the Arab World Institute since 2013.

Two climate activists hurled soup Sunday at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum in Paris and shouted slogans advocating for a sustainable food system. This came amid protests by French farmers against several issues, including low wages. In a video posted on social media, two women with the words "FOOD RIPOSTE" written on their t-shirts could be seen passing under a security barrier to get closer to the painting and throwing soup at the glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece. How genocide officially became a crime, and why South Africa is accusing Israel of committing it "What's the most important thing?" they shouted. "Art, or right to a healthy and sustainable food?" "Our farming system is sick. Our farmers are dying at work," they added. The Louvre employees could then be seen putting black panels in front of the Mona Lisa and asking visitors to evacuate the room. Paris police said two people were arrested following the incident. Protests against Germany's far right draw hundreds of thousands — in Munich, too many for safety On its website, the "Food Riposte" group said the French government is breaking its climate commitments and called for the equivalent of the country's state-sponsored health care system to be put in place to give people better access to healthy food while providing farmers a decent income. Angry French farmers have been using their tractors for days to set up road blockades and slow traffic across France to seek better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports. They also dumped stinky agricultural waste at the gates of government offices. On Friday, the government announced a series of measures that farmers said do not fully address their demands. Those include "drastically simplifying" certain technical procedures and the progressive end to diesel fuel taxes for farm vehicles. Some farmers threatened to converge on Paris, starting Monday, to block the main roads leading to the capital. German citizenship to become easier; here are the details New Prime Minister Gabriel Attal visited a farm on Sunday in the central region of Indre-et-Loire. He acknowledged farmers are in a difficult position because "on the one side we say 'we need quality' and on the other side 'we want ever-lower prices'." "What's at stake is finding solutions in the short, middle and long term," he said, " because we need our farmers." Attal also said his government is considering "additional" measures against what he called "unfair competition" from other countries that have different production rules and are importing food to France. He promised "other decisions" to be made in the coming weeks to address farmers' concerns.

In a stunning display of fashion and charisma, Bollywood actress Ananya Panday recently marked her international runway debut at the prestigious Haute-Couture Spring/Summer 2024 Fashion Week in Paris. Ananya walked the ramp for renowned designer Rahul Mishra, as reported by NDTV. Gracing the runway in a captivating black and gold ensemble, Ananya’s presence was a sight to behold. She added an artistic touch to her appearance by carrying a giant sieve, a bold and unique accessory that complemented the haute-couture vibe of her outfit. Expressing her exhilaration, Ananya shared on her Instagram story, “Walking for Rahul Mishra at Paris Couture Week,” capturing this milestone moment in her career. Read more: How to Identify an Authentic Bangladeshi Jamdani Saree? Designer Rahul Mishra also took to social media to welcome Ananya into the world of high fashion. He posted, “Hello baby girl. Welcome to the world of couture. Ananya Panday for Rahul Mishra at Paris Couture Week,” celebrating her successful debut. Away from the runway, Ananya continues to make waves in the Bollywood film industry. She recently starred in “Kho Gaye Hum Kahan,” a film directed by Arjun Varain Singh, featuring Siddhant Chaturvedi, Adarsh Gourav, and Kalki Koechlin. Her fans eagerly await her upcoming ventures, including “Control” and “The Untold Story of C Sankaran Nair.” Additionally, she is set to appear in the upcoming show “Call Me Bae.” Since her acting debut in 2019 with “Student Of The Year 2,” Ananya has carved a niche for herself in Bollywood. Her filmography includes notable titles such as “Dream Girl 2” with Ayushmann Khurrana, “Pati Patni Aur Who” alongside Kartik Aaryan and Bhumi Pednekar, “Khaali Peeli” with Ishaan Khatter, and “Gehraiyaan” featuring Deepika Padukone and Siddhant Chaturvedi. Ananya Panday’s ascent illustrates her versatile talents and her growing influence. Read more: "Khadi Fest 2024" begins in Dhaka showcasing its immense potential in shaping future of textile industry

Protesters opposing President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age to 64 marched again Thursday in cities and towns around France, in a final show of anger before a crucial decision on whether the measure meets constitutional standards. Demonstrators targeted the Central Bank offices in Paris and briefly invaded the headquarters of luxury conglomerate LVMH — but their attention increasingly centered on the Constitutional Council, which is to decide Friday whether to nix any or all parts of the legislation. Activists dumped bags of garbage outside the council's columned façade in the morning. Later, another crowd holding flares faced off with a large contingent of riot police that rushed to protect the building.Paris police banned all gatherings outside the council from Thursday evening through Saturday morning, in an attempt to reduce pressure on the council members as they make their decision. Police said some 380,000 people took part in the protests across France Thursday. The number was down from recent weeks, but unions still managed to mobilize sizable crowds. The demonstrations were largely peaceful, though dozens of injuries were reported among police and protesters. Unions had been hoping for a strong turnout Thursday to pressure both the government and the members of the Constitutional Council tasked with studying the text of the pension reform plan. Critics challenged the government’s choice to include the pension plan in a budget bill, which significantly accelerated the legislative process. The government’s decision to skirt a parliamentary vote by using special constitutional powers transformed opponents’ anger into fury. The trash piles signaled the start of a new strike by garbage collectors, timed to begin with the nationwide protest marches. A previous strike last month left the streets of the French capital filled for days with mounds of reeking refuse. Polls consistently show a majority of French people are opposed to the pension reform, which Macron says is needed to keep the retirement system afloat as the population ages. Protesters are also angry at Macron himself and a presidency they see as threatening France's worker protections and favoring big business. Fabien Villedieu of the Sud-Rail Union said LVMH “could reduce all the holes" in France's social security system. ”So one of the solutions to finance the pension system is a better redistribution of wealth, and the best way to do that is to tax the billionaires.” Bernard Arnault, head of LVMH, "is the richest man in the world so he could contribute,” Villedieu said.Security forces intervened to stop vandals along the Paris march route, with 36 people detained, police said. Like in past protests, several hundred “radical elements” had mixed inside the march, police said. Thousands also marched in Toulouse, Marseille and elsewhere. Tensions mounted at protests in Brittany, notably in Nantes and Rennes, where a car was burned. “The mobilization is far from over,” the leader of the leftist CGT union, Sophie Binet, said at a trash incineration site south of Paris where several hundred protesters blocked garbage trucks. “As long as this reform isn’t withdrawn, the mobilization will continue in one form or another.”CGT has been a backbone of the protest and strike movement challenging Macron's plan to increase France's retirement age from 62 to 64. Eight unions have organized protests since January in a rare voice of unity. Student unions have joined in. Macron had initially refused a demand to meet with unions, but during a state visit on Wednesday to the Netherlands proposed “an exchange” to discuss the follow-up to the Constitutional Council decision. There was no formal response to his offer. “The contention is strong, anchored in the people," said Laurent Berger, head of the moderate CFDT union. If the measure is promulgated, “there will be repercussions,” he warned, noting the “silent anger” among the union rank and file. Protests and labor strikes often hobble public transportation in Paris, but Metro trains were mostly running smoothly Thursday. The civil aviation authority asked airports in Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes to reduce air traffic by 20%.

A big day has come for French high school student Elisa Fares. At age 17, she is taking part in her first protest. In a country that taught the world about people power with its revolution of 1789 — and a country again seething with anger against its leaders — graduating from bystander to demonstrator is a generations-old rite of passage. Fares looks both excited and nervous as she prepares to march down Paris streets where people for centuries have similarly defied authority and declared: “Non!” Two friends, neither older than 18 but already protest veterans whose parents took them to demonstrations when they were little, are showing Fares the ropes. They’ve readied eyedrops and gas masks in case police fire tear gas — as they have done repeatedly in recent weeks. “The French are known for fighting and we’ll fight,” says one of the friends, Coline Marionneau, also 17. “My mother goes to a lot of demonstrations ... She says if you have things to say, you should protest.” For French President Emmanuel Macron, the look of determination on their young faces only heralds deepening crisis. His government has ignited a firestorm of anger with unpopular pension reforms that he railroaded through parliament and which, most notably, push the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.Furious not just with the prospect of working for longer but also with the way Macron imposed it, his opponents have switched to full-on disobedience mode. They’re regularly striking and demonstrating and threatening to make his second and final term as president even more difficult than his first. It, too, was rocked by months of protests — often violent — by so-called yellow vest campaigners against social injustice. Fares, the first-time protester, said her mother had been against her taking to the streets but has now given her blessing. “She said that if I wanted to fight, she wouldn’t stop me,” the teen says. Critics accuse Macron of effectively ruling by decree, likening him to France’s kings of old. Their reign finished badly: In the French Revolution, King Louis XVI ended up on the guillotine. There’s no danger of that happening to Macron. But hobbled in parliament and contested on the streets piled high with reeking garbage uncollected by striking workers, he’s being given a tough lesson, again, about French people power. Freshly scrawled slogans in Paris reference 1789. So drastically has Macron lost the initiative that he was forced to indefinitely postpone a planned state visit this week by King Charles III. Germany, not France, will now get the honor of being the first overseas ally to host Charles as monarch. The France leg of Charles’ tour would have coincided with a new round of strikes and demonstrations planned for Tuesday that are again likely to mobilize many hundreds of thousands of protesters. Macron said the royal visit likely would have become their target, which risked creating a “detestable situation.” Encouraged by that victory, the protest movement is plowing on and picking up new recruits, including some so young that it will be many decades before they’ll be directly impacted by the pushed-back retirement age. Their involvement is a worrisome development for Macron, because it suggests that protests are evolving, broadening from workplace and retirement concerns to a more generalized malaise with the president and his governance. Violence is picking up, too. Police and environmental activists fought pitched battles over the weekend in rural western France, resulting in dozens of injuries. Officers fired more than 4,000 nonlethal dispersion grenades in fending off hundreds of protesters who rained down rocks, powerful fireworks and gasoline bombs on police lines. “Anger and resentment,” says former President François Hollande, Macron’s predecessor, “are at a level that I have rarely seen.” For Fares, whose first demonstration was a peaceful protest in Paris this weekend, the final straw was Macron’s decision to not let legislators vote on his retirement reform, because he wasn’t sure of winning a majority for it. Instead, he ordered his prime minister to skirt parliament by using a special constitutional power to ram the bill through. It was the 11th time that Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne had to resort to the so-called Article 49.3 power in just 10 months — a telling sign of Macron’s fragility since he lost his parliamentary majority in an election last June. “It’s an attack on democracy,” Fares said. “It annoyed me too much.” Her friend Luna Dessommes, 18, added hopefully: “We have to use the movement to politicize more and more young people.” At age 76, veteran protester Gilbert Leblanc has been through it all before. He was a yellow vest; by his count, he took part in more than 220 of their protests in Macron’s first term, rallying to the cry that the former banker was too pro-business and “the president of the rich.” Long before that, Leblanc cut his teeth in seminal civil unrest that reshaped France in May 1968. He says that when he tells awe-struck young protesters that he was a “soixante-huitard” — a ’68 veteran — they “want to take selfies with me.” This winter, he has kept his heating off, instead saving the money for train fares to the capital, so he can protest every weekend, he said. “My grandfather who fought in World War I, got the war medal. He would rise from his grave if he saw me sitting at home, in my sofa, not doing anything,” Leblanc said. “Everything we’ve obtained has been with our tears and blood.”

French media are reporting that people have been stabbed at a Paris train station and the interior minister says several people were injured before police “rapidly neutralized” the attacker. Media reports, quoting unnamed police sources, say police opened fire early Wednesday morning on the attacker who was armed with a knife and injured several people. Paris police say the incident at the Gare du Nord station is now over but are offering no other immediate details. Read more: US warns of possible attack in Islamabad amid security fears Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also says the attacker injured several people at the station but his tweet gives no other details on their number or the extent of the injuries. He says the attacker was “rapidly neutralized."

With her spray-on outfit at the Coperni fashion show in Paris, Bella Hadid almost completely crashed the internet. The supermodel turned heads during Paris Fashion Week on September 30 at the Coperni fashion show when she strutted down the runway. When Hadid arrived at the centre of the stage, three technicians painted a layer of white latex on her, as she stood tall and still, according to an NBC New York report. Read: How to find right perfume, body spray for you The 25-year-old extended her arms one by one as they applied the coat of paint, watching as their labour gradually morphed into a mid-length dress with a high-rise slit. Hadid then sashayed down the runway, showcasing her new custom-made outfit when the piece of art was finished. Fabrican, a sprayable fabric created in 2003 that hardens into clothing, was used to create the dress. The inventor Manel Torres apparently conceived a fabric that would “magically have the look of clothing and fit the body like a second skin”. Years of study and testing led to the creation of Fabrican, a fabric that can be sprayed from an aerosol can. On TikTok, Hadid’s runway performance has already gone viral, NBC New York says. Some users have also drawn comparisons between it and the iconic Alexander McQueen Spring 1999 fashion presentation, in which Shalom Harlow spun while two robots sprayed her white garment with yellow and black paint. Read Rain, art and winter wonderlands at Paris Fashion Week Following the performance in the Coperni fashion show during Paris Fashion Week 2022, Bella Hadid posted many close-up photos of the design on her Instagram, generating tons of positive feedback from followers and other fashionistas.