United News of Bangladesh (UNB) Editor-in-Chief Enayetullah Khan and Director Nahar Khan have participated in discussions that delved into the use of technology to enhance business performance in media. The two-day-long AsiaNet Board Meeting and Forum started at 9 am at Carlton City Hotel in Singapore on Monday (October 23, 2023). Also read: UNB Editor-in-Chief, Director attend AsiaNet's board meeting in Singapore The biannual board meeting included representatives from member organisations. At the event, Director Nahar Khan made a presentation on UNB’s technology-driven strategies, highlighting the use of technology for data insights, customer experience enhancement, process automation, social media engagement, and the exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. During her presentation, Nahar Khan highlighted how UNB, as a leading news agency in Bangladesh, is embracing technology — particularly use of AI — while remaining cautiously aware of the challenges like misinformation it brings along. “With the widespread use of AI, there has been a surge in misinformation that needs proactive gatekeeping. Innovations such as deepfakes and chatbots also pose a credibility challenge. At UNB, constant focus is given to fact-checking and news verification to combat these challenges,” she said. Also read: Enayetullah Khan opens data science training programme The overarching theme of the event was “Embracing Technology and Innovation.” UNB Editor-in-Chief Enayetullah Khan took part in a panel discussion along with Bruce Davidson of Medianet, Pannee Yongpiyakul of dataxet, and Cao Yang of Xinhua – focusing on how each organisation uses technology to improve business performance. The discussion was moderated by Amrita Sidhu. AsiaNet delivers far-reaching digital and social media exposure coupled with premium email and news wire services across 27,000 combined media outlets, 198 distribution options in Asia under 18 news categories, and in 12 translated languages. Also read: Ambassador Farooq Sobhan joins Cosmos Foundation as Honorary Advisor Emeritus

This Friday (January 13, 2023), from 11 am to 5 pm, Shazia Omar hosted Bangladesh’s first-ever yoga and wellness festival, Dhaka Flow. The event saw 60 private sector companies, 20 fitness teachers and healers, and over 1000 people gather around the theme of healthy living. United News of Bangladesh (UNB) was the Media Partner of Dhaka Flow's yoga and wellness event held at Gulshan Society Lake Park in Dhaka.  “Dhaka City can be a toxic space with the chaotic traffic, population density, air pollution and overall lack of healthy living. Given this, it is important for us to cultivate a higher conscience and embrace a more intentional way of life that is harmonious and nurturing for our people and our planet,” said Shazia.  In the opening session, Shazia said she organized Dhaka Flow as a way to give space to all the people making efforts to contribute to a healthy community. She said healthy living is not about exercise alone, its about mind, body, spirit, as well as home, community, country. She said one cannot be healthy in isolation. Good health requires good physical health, good mental, psychological, emotional health, clean air, green earth, pure water. She described a vision of Dhaka City as a place that is free, healthy, clean, inclusive and green.  Dhaka Flow, in partnership with Gulshan Society, made use of public space to provide a free event for the community that would encourage everyone to live healthier. For the event, Shazia had a few pillars. Managed by Interspeed, the event was entirely plastic waste free and eco-friendly. All companies participating did not use PVC banners. Stalls were made of bamboo and jute with cloth canvas signs, keeping an eye on the aesthetics, to ensure an eco-artistic feel.  Read More: Dhaka Flow brings day-long Festival of Yoga and Wellness No plastic bottles were sold, instead everyone enjoyed Pureit by Unilever’s water dispensers. The event had 14 food vendors, all taking on the challenge, or opportunity, of designing purely vegetarian treats, as ahimsa, non-violence towards living beings, was one of the pillars of the event. The final pillar was that of collaboration rather than competition, as all vendors and instructors were asked to cross-promote one another. Pushing the boundary bit by bit can lead to cataclysmic change. She hopes all events going forward will see how it easy it is to shift modus operandi and adopt cleaner habits.  Mustafa Turan, Turkish Ambassador, and Natalie Chuard, Swiss Ambassador, also spoke at the opening, to express their strong belief in yoga as a positive way of life. The theme of devoting time to taking care of oneself, in order to show up better, so we are in a better place to raise a healthy family and healthy community and healthy nation came up. Shazia said she was thrilled to see how many people are actively engaged in the wellness sector in their own way. She said Dhaka Flow showcased several start-ups including East Bengal Coffee Grinder, Mama’s Tarts, Aliens, fithobo.com, Moar co-working space, Smart Air and Just SXY sportswear. WhiteBoard participated to record citizen’s voices around the theme of building a better Bangladesh. Basecamp offered park visitors a chance to climb a 50-foot tree. Clay Station, Aranya and Art for the Soul gave people space to be creative. Aqua Paints, the Growing Up Club and Kolpotoru kept the kids zone active. F45, Amra Active, Yasmin Karachiwala Body Image and individuals like Ed Jujitsu, Naziafitstudio and Britto offered cardio sessions while Faria Athar, And_zen, Tasmiah and Dyuti offered yoga sessions. Anita Aparna Muyeed offered meditation and energy healing while Namira Hossain offered intuitive tarot card reading.  Read More: Pandemic Yoga: How to strengthen lungs, ease breathing problems with yoga Core sponsors, Turaag Active, a local designer sportswear brand, provided yoga pants to the yogis, Aarong Earth, with organic skin and hair care products,  and Prime Bank, with green financing, made the event possible. ACI Nutrilife showcased their healthy grain products, Sprint from Apex showcased shoes made from recycled plastic bottles, CalciPlus showcased calcium fortified milk for bone health, Sajeeb Group showcase Isobuler Bhushi as a traditional and effective way of keeping ones gut healthy,  Blenders Choice Ispahani tea showcased green tea, and Sajida Foundation showcased Kaan Pete Roi and Shojon, suicide hotline and mental health service providers. Other stalls at the event included Shombob,com, online pharmacy, Movement Solutions, physiotherapists, Dhaka Ayurveda Centre, offering therapeutic massages, and many more.  Shazia Omar has been teaching yoga in Dhaka for over 15 years. She encourages everyone to subscribe to her channel, Youtube.com/ShazzyOm. She is a writer, a yogini, an activist and a mom. She runs yoga retreats around the country and classes in Gulshan. To join the wellness movement and ‘surrender to the flow’, she invites everyone to check out Dhaka Flow’s website and join the Dhaka Flow community on Facebook and Instagram.  One of the key messages of the event was that yoga can help people cope with stress and reduce physical and mental ailments. Meditation and mindfulness can improve concentration, compassion, peace and community spirit. An understanding about healthy habits and better nutrition can contribute drastically to our fitness and journey towards inner peace.  Read More: From coffee to yoga to happiness: Offbeat ministries from around the world! The event was closed with some beautiful songs by Armeen Musa, Grammy-award nominee. We look forward to more such events in the future.  For more information about yoga or Dhaka Flow, please email [email protected].

Enayetullah Khan, Editor-in-Chief of United News of Bangladesh and Dhaka Courier, and founder of Cosmos Group, has joined the National University of Singapore’s Medicine International Council (NIC) as a Distinguished Council Member. Kishore Mahbubani, Chairman of the NUS Medicine International Council, has extended the invitation to Enayetullah Khan. Read:Enayetullah Khan represents Bangladesh at 17th OANA General Assembly The NIC is an exclusive network of international leaders, academics, and experts who not only help address the greatest challenges in healthcare, public health policy, population studies, and ground-breaking research in cancer, diabetes, and other chronic diseases but also identify promising opportunities and innovations across multi-disciplinary areas, including information technology, engineering, computing, social sciences, and medicine. In his letter to Enayetullah Khan, Mahbubani said, “We are delighted that you have accepted our invitation to join the NUS Medicine International Council. Given your long and distinguished career, I have no doubt that you will make a significant contribution to the work of the Council. I share your confidence that by pooling our efforts together, we can bring health and happiness to the global community.” Read:Afsan Chowdhury joins UNB, Dhaka Courier as Editor-at-Large Mahbubani also mentioned, “If there is one big lesson that we should learn from Covid-19, it is that public policy makes a huge difference in the field of medicine. Why did 500,000 people die in the US (a rate of 1,543 per million)? Why did far fewer people (a rate of 5 per million), die in New Zealand, also a western democracy? The answers are complex but one clear difference was that the quality of public policies implemented by New Zealand in response to Covid-19 were superior.” Extending his gratitude to Khan for joining the NIC, he added, “Our recent experiences with Covid-19 have sent us a clear message: good public policies in medicine save lives. Hence, I hope that when this professorship is established, it will also result in research that will save even more lives in the future.” Read:Veteran journalist Farid Hossain joins UNB as Advisory Editor NIC members are recognised for their service and scope of generosity to medical research and development and are actively engaged as the NUS Medical School’s ambassadors to the wider world. This distinguished group of men and women includes leaders in government, business, finance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, law, and other fields from around the world.

The Health Ministry is monitoring the health condition of United News of Bangladesh (UNB) correspondent Bisnu Prasad Chakrabortty, who fell sick after taking Coronavirus vaccine in Bagerhat.

The Latin phrase, 'annus horribilis' (horrible year), aptly sums up the story of 2020, the last year of this decade.

As part of the Zonta International and Zonta Club of Greater Dhaka's 16 Days of Activism campaign from November 25 to December 10, a webinar was arranged on Monday where the speakers called for unified, gender-neutral actions to stop violence against women.

Marking National Mourning Day and the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the first-ever virtual art, photography and multimedia exhibition on Bangabandhu, titled ‘BRAVE HEART’, got underway on Friday.

Gallery Cosmos is organising a virtual art, photography and multimedia exhibition of 42 renowned Bangladeshi artists to observe the National Mourning Day and celebrate the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Faruk Quazi, a veteran journalist and PM's former deputy press secretary, passed away at his residence on Friday. He was 71.