Meta-owned messaging service WhatsApp rolled out “Communities” — a new feature offering larger, more structured discussion groups — today. The feature will bring together separate groups under bigger umbrellas where administrators can send alerts to a community of thousands. Designed to help organisations, clubs, schools, and other private groups communicate better, this latest feature will allow people to receive updates sent to the entire community and easily organise smaller discussion groups. Read: WhatsApp services restored after longest reported outage "Today we're launching Communities on WhatsApp. It makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels, and more," Meta CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a video message today. “We're also rolling out polls and 32-person video calling too. All are secured by end-to-end encryption so your messages stay private,” Zuckerberg added. WhatsApp will now allow chat groups to have up to 1,024 users, much higher than the 256 participants restriction it had until recently, according to a company statement. Read: WhatsApp pushes privacy update to comply with Irish ruling Telegram and Discord, rivals of WhatsApp, allow thousands of members in group chats. According to Meta's Twitter handle, WhatsApp's new feature will be available to everyone over the next few months.

The five-day Durga Puja, the largest festival of the Hindu community, comes to an end Wednesday with the solemn immersion of the Goddess Durga across the country. And after the hit that Bangladesh’s secular credentials, or its reputation for communal harmony, took during the same festival last year - with temples and Puja mandaps attacked in multiple districts, all triggered by a deliberate act of provocation in Cumilla - it is safe to say the entire country will feel relieved that this year’s Durga Puja will have passed without much incident. Fingers crossed of course, for the last 24 hours. Devotees will throng Puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, recite the mantras, offer flowers to the goddess Durga (pushpanjali) and pray for her blessings. The mandaps across the country have been decorated with beautiful idols, showcasing the goddess in all her glory. Bijoya Dashami is the special ceremony of reaffirming peace and good relations among people. On this day, families visit each other to share sweetmeats. Married Hindu women put vermilion on each other's foreheads on the occasion. Read: No security lapses for Durga Puja: Rab DG In Bangladesh this year, the religious festival is being celebrated at some 32,168 puja mandaps spread throughout the country, including 241 in capital Dhaka. In the capital, thousands of people are set to throng the Buriganga tomorrow to observe the final phase of the festival -- the immersion of the goddess Durga signifying her return to Kailash. Devotees in their tearful eyes will bid farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh – through the immersion of their idols in the water wishing Durga’s return next year. Meanwhile, there will be strict security measures in place so that Durga Puja ends peacefully. President Abdul Hamid has issued a message greeting the members of the country's Hindu community on the occasion. In his message, President Hamid said the main religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community is Durga Puja. The country’s Hindu community has been celebrating the puja amid huge enthusiasm and festivity with different rituals since ancient times. Also read: Durga puja: A festival that unites Bangladesh! Durga Puja is not just a religious festival, but also a social one, he added. “Communal harmony is the eternal tradition of Bengalis. This tradition must be carried forward in our overall progress together,” he urged all. The five-day festival started on October 1 with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi. Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadaya (autumnal) Durgotsob, is the worship of "Shakti" [divine force] embodied in goddess Durga. It symbolises the battle between good and evil where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.   Close to 8 percent of Bangladesh’s more than 160 million people are Hindu.

Voicing deep concern over the firing of mortar shells by the Myanmar Army inside Bangladesh, BNP on Saturday urged the UN and the international community to take steps to stop such insolent activities and violation of international law. “We would like to draw the attention of the United Nations and the international community to take necessary measures to prevent such audacity of Myanmar," said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir. Speaking at an emergency meeting at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office, he also called upon the Awami League government to take appropriate measures boldly to protect the territorial integrity of independent and sovereign Bangladesh." The BNP leader said an alarming situation has been prevailing along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border areas due to repeated incidents of firing mortar shells into Bangladesh territory by the Myanmar Armed Forces. Read: Govt has divided the state system through politicization: Fakhrul He said the military aggression of the Myanmar Armed Forces, which started on August 28, has been increasing due to the weak and subservient diplomacy of the current ‘illegitimate’ government of Bangladesh. “In the latest incident, a Rohingya teenager who was hit by a mortar shell fired by the Myanmar forces died yesterday (Friday) on the zero-line opposite to the Ghumdhum border in Naikhongchhari Upazila of Bandarban. Five more kids were injured in the incident,” Fakhrul said. A week after firing mortar shells along the Bangladesh border, he said the Myanmar forces repeatedly violated the airspace and fired mortar shells from warplanes and helicopters. Read: BNP's movement cannot be suppressed by attacks, arrests: Fakhrul “The mortar shells exploded within 120 meters of Bangladesh territory near the zero-line of Naikhongchhari border in Bandarban, which is a direct violation of international law. The Myanmar forces are often firing toward Bangladesh violating the airspace. BNP strongly condemns and protests the killing of people by firing mortar shells by the Myanmar Army along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border and the violation of international law,” the BNP leader said. He also said Myanmar is showing such audacity by firing mortar shells inside Bangladesh only because of the government’s knee-jerk foreign policy.

Hours after an angry mob of Trump supporters took control of the U.S. Capitol in a violent insurrection, Selena Gomez laid much of the blame at the feet of Big Tech.