Chief Election Commissioner  Kazi Habibul Awal termed the ongoing controversy over President-elect Md Sahabuddin unexpected. He made the remarks at a press conference on Wednesday. "Md. Shahabuddin is qualified to be president as per our constitution, laws, and court rulings. Controversy like this about the president is unexpected,” he said. In his long career he served as a district judge, a commissioner of the Anti-Corruption Commission, and a member of the AL Advisory Council.  He is also a valiant freedom fighter. Read more: Md Shahabuddin declared President-elect of Bangladesh The controversy surrounding Shahabuddin is whether the post of the country’s head of state is an office of profit. Constitutional experts are divided on this subject. On Monday the Election Commission declared Shahabuddin, a nominee of ruling Awami League, elected as the country’s 22nd president unopposed.

A night in music brimming with shocking upsets, historic wins, tributes for artists like the late rapper Takeoff and hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, the 65th Grammys were back in full swing Sunday. Once again, Beyoncé was in the running for the top honor. Once again, the show ended with someone else winning album of the year. This year was widely seen as a chance for the Grammys to honor the superstar with a marquee award, especially on a night where she could have ( and did ) become its most decorated artist. Instead, Harry Styles won, and a line from his acceptance speech stung those who thought Beyoncé should have won. Here’s what happened, how it’s been perceived and who picks the Grammys’ top honors. WHAT’S CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT STYLES’ WIN? Styles won for his third album, “Harry’s House,” and even he seemed surprised when his name was called. The British pop star was competing again other giants in the industry: acts like ABBA, Adele, Bad Bunny, Brandi Carlile, Coldplay, Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé. While accepting the award, he said, “This is really, really kind. I’m so, so grateful... I’m just so — This doesn’t happen to people like me very often. And this is so, so nice. Thank you very, very much.” The line, “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often,” drew criticism in the hours after his win. Styles was born and raised in Northern England and rose to fame in 2010 when he auditioned for the Simon Cowell-led talent competition show “The X Factor.” He placed third with the boyband One Direction. His solo career has earned him several Grammys and Billboard-charting albums and singles. Styles hasn’t said what he meant by his words. Some have interpreted it as him trying to express how far he’d come from his youth. Others, however, see the remark as an example of white privilege. WHY ARE PEOPLE MAD AT STYLES’ WORDS? Many of Beyoncé’s fans are fiercely protective of the singer. They’re called the Beyhive, after all. Despite Beyoncé’s 32 Grammy wins – the most of any artist in history – many are troubled by the fact she has yet to win album of year and that she’s lost to white musicians every time she has been nominated. Washington Post pop music critic Chris Richards, in a story headlined “Beyoncé just made Grammy history. Why does it feel like she still lost?” wrote that her historic achievement feels hollow. “Why does that feel like not enough,” Richards asked. “Because for the past 20 years and counting, the Recording Academy has routinely failed to recognize Black artists at their creative peaks — and to her credit, Beyoncé keeps updating that peak with each new album.” Similar criticism was raised in other stories and by online commenters, some of whom noted a Black woman hadn’t won album of the year since Lauryn Hill in the late ‘90s. Ashley Smalls, a Black feminism and pop culture doctoral student at Penn State University criticized Styles’ speech in a tweet: ”‘this doesn’t happen to people like me very often’ when a Black woman hasn’t won that award since 1999 is crazy lol.” WHAT IS BEYONCÉ’S GRAMMYS HISTORY? The artist is tied with her husband, Jay-Z, for most nominations all-time with 88 but she has only won 32 times. Most significantly, Beyoncé has lost album of the year four times to Taylor Swift, Beck, Adele and now Styles. Beyoncé has been nominated in each of the most prestigious categories across her decadeslong career but she has won in these categories just once for “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It).” A Black woman has not won album of the year since Lauryn Hill received the accolade for her breakout album, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” in 1999. The last Black person to win the award was Jon Batiste, last year for his album “We Are.” WHO DECIDES ALBUM OF THE YEAR? According to Billboard, the Recording Academy boasts more than 12,000 voting members. The entire membership is allowed to vote in the big four categories — best new artist, record, song and album of the year. Members are also responsible for nominating in their area of expertise, as well as voting on the winners this categories. Numerous artists have criticized how the Grammys nominate artists. The Recording Academy is undergoing a campaign to diversify its membership and has a goal of having 2,500 female members by 2025. WHAT’S NEXT FOR BEYONCÉ AND STYLES? Both are hitting the road for international tours. Styles’ next show is in Thailand next week and he’ll play shows in Asia and Europe into the summer. Beyoncé will be starting her “Renaissance” tour in May in Sweden and will play dates in Europe and the United States.  

The introduction of VAR at the last World Cup proved one thing for sure: It’s nigh impossible to remove controversy from football even at the highest level. The technology — short for Video Assistant Referee — has transformed the game, but not everyone agrees that the change has been for the better. Part of the reason is that the rules of the game remain open to interpretation, so there still aren’t enough camera angles or slow-motion replays to reach a unanimous consensus for every incident on the field. At some point, human discretion will still be required, and that opens up the potential for argument. Even matters that can be determined using frame-by-frame evidence is not immune from dispute. A classic example would be the number of offside calls labeled to be “against the spirit of the game.” Some argue a modicum of common sense should give the benefit of the doubt to the attacking team. The logic being that a measurement that could be as small as the length of fingernail should not be enough to see a goal disallowed. The problem, however, comes when deciding where the new bar should be set. Should it be the length of a finger? A hand? An arm? It becomes a discretionary call — and from there comes the issue of consistency, of human error, of controversy. For so long coaches have stuck to the mantra of wanting consistency. However unsatisfying the use of VAR is for offside calls, it is, for the most part, consistent. Yet in October, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte was sent off for his furious reaction after Harry Kane’s injury-time goal against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League was ruled out. “VAR is doing a lot of damage,” the Italian coach said. “I want to see if in another stadium of a big team if they are ready to disallow this type of goal. I’d like to know this.” There was period at the 2018 World Cup when it felt like everything was a penalty — there were a record 29 at the tournament four years ago. After that came a spell when penalties were endlessly being retaken because of the number of encroachments or premature movements from goalkeepers, all of which could be meticulously dissected back at VAR headquarters. The system has ironed itself out since then, but controversy remains. Jurgen Klopp was critical of it in Liverpool’s 3-2 loss to Arsenal in October. Pep Guardiola’s rage when Manchester City had a goal ruled out against Liverpool at Anfield a week later was a defining image of that match. Read more: Can South America's giants break Europe's stranglehold on the World Cup? It has also become a unifying force among supporters. They hate it. However, the sight of the referee gesturing to review an incident on a sideline monitor is greeted with celebration in the expectation a decision will almost certainly be overruled or corrected. Like it or not, VAR has become an intrinsic part of the game since it was first introduced to international football in a game between Italy and France six years ago. “That was on Sept. 1, 2016, and in the six years since, VAR has not brought the ‘end of football,’ as some reported at the time, but instead it is now part of the fabric of our sport, and it is hard to imagine football without it,” former referee Pierluigi Collina told FIFA.  “VAR has been one of the biggest changes in the history of football, so it is understandable that it takes people time to comprehend and appreciate it. Encouraging players, coaches, fans and the media to better understand the technology and its uses has been a crucial goal for us over the past years.” Collina accepts decision-making can still be too lengthy a process. Newer technology has been designed to improve that. Semi-automated offside technology will be deployed in Qatar, which will include a tracking system to pin-point the precise positions of players. In-stadium graphics will better illustrate decision-making for fans. But that will not remove the subjective nature of officiating — and with it the potential for ever more controversy. Read more: FIFA World Cup: Qatar’s stadiums rife with migrant labour abuse  

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will not consider cricketer Shakib Al Hasan as its goodwill ambassador. “Although he is still the goodwill ambassador as per contract, the contract will not be renewed. He will not be part of the upcoming International Anti-Corruption Day programs,” Commissioner of the investigation department of ACC, Mozammel Haque, said today. Read more:The times Shakib Al Hasan found himself in controversies Haque was speaking to media. According to the rules, ACC still has a contract with him. But Shakib Al Hasan is now considered “controversial” on various issues. ACC does not want to associate itself with any controversial person, Haque said.  Read more:Shakib’s company involved in share manipulation, DSE investigation finds All-rounder Shakib was made the goodwill ambassador of the anti-corruption watchdog to campaign against corruption in Bangladesh. ACC made the announcement on February 11, 2018.

In the last year or so, our Ministers have become known for saying far too much and doing far too little about it. Whether it’s a junior minister demanding sex on the phone or the recent far more embarrassing statement of Foreign Minister A.K. Abdul Momen about help from India to keep the regime in Bangladesh alive, both are damaging. It basically points to a lack of public relations skill and preparedness to say what can be said in public gathering.  Momen is more embarrassing because he is the “foreign” minister with international implications. What Momen said   Speaking  at a Janmastomi programme in Chittagong to a largely Hindu community audience,  he said the following as reported in the media. "When I went to New Delhi, I told the Indian government that Sheikh Hasina must be sustained. Bangladesh will continue to march towards development and will truly become a country free of communalism under her leadership." "If someone takes the country to the path of instability to shake Sheikh Hasina's government, then it is a danger for everyone. We want stability," Momen said. The foreign minister said they told the Indian government that the two countries will work in such a way that neither side promotes instigative behaviours to maintain law and order and stability. He said thousands of people from Bangladesh visit India every year and many Indians work in Bangladesh as there is development in Bangladesh. "This has been possible as the two countries are going through a Golden Chapter." He said there are some wicked people and fundamentalists who create noise though the government remains silent.”  ( The Business Standard .August 19, 2022) Read: Momen explains what he meant by 'heaven' The meaning and implications Much of what he has said is facts. India is a major factor in Bangladesh and other south Asian countries. Under previous regimes when hostility was part of the strategy in dealing with India, the results were not positive. Many visit India and many Indians work here too. The border protection investment is a fact too but whether India will pull back under any regime is questionable. What Momen was trying to do is paint his government as a  “secular’ one in sushil parlance and hoping to compare the current AL regime favorably with the BNP as “anti-Hindu” . It was targeted to a Hindu audience obviously.  But that it carried wider political meaning to the rest was ignored.  It also made the Hindus look closer to India, something grossly unfair to all. Basically, it was the wrong place, wrong audience and wrong statement as consequences show. This would not have been a cause of such hullabaloo had it not been India either which carries political luggage in Bangladesh.  Momen has been critical of Indian media when it comes to their reporting on Bangladesh-China relations but Indo-Bangla relations is a politically sensitive one and Momen has goofed unfortunately in talking the way he did.     Read: Momen once again clarifies the controversy over his “heaven” remark It’s best if ministers are briefed on what to say and not say and where to go and say what. Their lack of PR skills has hurt Bangladesh's image. It backfired and hurt his current regime as well.

To Enas Taleb, the headline felt like a spiteful punch line. “Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world,” it read in bold, above a photograph of the Iraqi actress waving onstage at an arts festival. The Economist article ran through possible explanations of the obesity gap of 10 percentage points between men and women in the Middle East, then cited Iraqis who see Taleb’s curves as the ideal of beauty. “Fat,” a word now considered taboo in much of Western media, was repeated six times. The article triggered torrid criticism on social media. Twitter users blasted it as misogynistic. Local rights groups issued denunciations. Some writers were appalled by what they described as demeaning stereotypes about Arab women. Taleb, 42, said she’s suing the London-based magazine for defamation. While analysts acknowledge an epidemic of obesity in the Arab world and its connection to poverty and gender discrimination, Taleb’s case and the ensuing uproar have thrown a light on the issue of body-shaming that is deeply rooted yet rarely discussed in the region. “If there’s a student who goes to school and hears mean comments and students bullying her for being fat, how would she feel?” Taleb told The Associated Press from Baghdad. “This article is an insult not only to me but a violation of the rights of all Iraqi and Arab women.” The Economist did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Fat-shaming is offensive enough in the United States that when two sports commentators called some female athletes overweight on air earlier this year, they were swiftly fired. In the Middle East, the report argued, the desirability of fleshy women may help explain why the region has experienced an explosion of obesity. But the angry backlash over the article — and Taleb’s horror that her photo was used to illustrate growing waistlines of Arab women — contradicts the oft-repeated belief that being heavy is widely seen as sign of affluence and fertility in the region. The globalization of Western beauty ideals through branding, TV and social media has long given rise to unrealistic body standards that skew women’s expectations of themselves and others in the Arab world, research shows. In a forthcoming study on Egypt, Joan Costa-Font at the London School of Economics said he found that although some older women in rural areas still view rounder women as affluent, “it’s not true in Egypt that being overweight is a sign of beauty. ... Western standards are more relevant.” Demand for cosmetic surgery has boomed in Lebanon. Some 75% of female Emirati students reported dissatisfaction with their bodies, and 25% are prone to eating disorders, according to a 2010 study at Dubai’s Zayed University. And yet, many say, fat-shaming remains widespread and acceptable in the region, compared to the U.S. and Europe, where self-esteem movements have gained momentum and galvanized public discussions around inclusivity. “Our politicians in Lebanon keep making these horrible, sexist comments about women’s bodies. If they come under fire that doesn’t necessarily lead to rising awareness,” said Joumana Haddad, a Lebanese author and human rights activist. Read: 'Beautifully Me': Nabela Noor's book will teach you self-love Haddad noted that new forays into female empowerment have provoked “reactionary discourse and anger” from Lebanon’s patriarchal society. Even cavalier public comments about weight can be deeply painful to young women who struggle with insecurity and a pathological will to alter their bodies in pursuit of beauty, she added. “I’m a 51-year-old harsh, angry feminist and I still weigh myself every single morning,” Haddad said. “You can imagine how hard it is for people who have been less privileged.” Ameni Esseibi, a Tunisian-born woman who overcame social stigma to become the Arab world’s first plus-sized model, said body positivity remains taboo in the Middle East even as populations have become more overweight. “Kuwaitis are plus-sized, Saudis are plus-sized. But people are ashamed. They weren’t taught to be confident in this judgmental society,” Esseibi said. “We always want to be skinny, to look good, to get married to the most powerful guy.” But, she said, there are signs of growing awareness. After years of ignoring vulgar comments about women’s bodies, Arabs are increasingly turning to social media to vent their anger. The Economist article’s depiction of men “shutting women up at home” to keep them “Rubenesque” touched a nerve. The Baghdad-based Heya, or “She,” Foundation, which advocates for women in media, denounced the report as “bullying” and demanded the magazine apologize to Taleb. The Malaysia-based Musawah Foundation, which promotes equality in the Muslim world, said the backlash shows that “women in the region are building a collective discourse that rejects and calls out sexist, racist, and fat-phobic acts and their colonial legacies.” Taleb, a talk show host and star in blockbuster Iraqi TV dramas, said she had no choice but to speak up. “They used my photo in this context in a hurtful, negative way,” she said. “I am against using one’s body shape to determine the value of a human being.” Her lawyer, Samantha Kane, said she has begun legal action, first sending a letter to The Economist demanding an apology for “serious harm caused to (Taleb) and her career.” Kane declined further comment pending the magazine’s response. Taleb said she hopes her defamation case serves as “a message” for women “to say, I love myself ... to be strong, to confront those difficulties.” It’s a message that resonates in a region where women see the odds as stacked against them. Traditional attitudes, discriminatory legislation and pay disparities, on top of rigid beauty standards, hinder women’s advancement. “Women don’t get equal salaries. They don’t get high-level positions. They are forced to keep silent when they are harassed. And in media, they have to be thin and beautiful,” said Zeina Tareq, Heya Foundation’s director. In Taleb’s home country of Iraq, where safety is scarce after years of conflict, outspoken women also face the threat of targeted killings. Iraqi journalist Manar al-Zubaidi said the fat-shaming of Arab women comes as no surprise in a world where “most media outlets commodify women and make them into objects of ridicule or temptation.”   “There is nothing to deter them,” she added, except ever-louder “campaigns and challenges on social media.”

Bangladesh's star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has stoked a fresh controversy for breaching Covid-19 protocols on the eve of the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) finals. A day before Friday's finals at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, the skipper of BPL team Fortune Barishal was snapped shooting for a TV commercial directed by ad guru Amitabh Reza Chowdhury.  Earlier on Thursday, he skipped the team's practice match against Comilla Victorians. Sabbir Khan, the manager of Barishal, had attributed his absence to “stomach ache”.  Also read: BPL 2022 final: Can Shakib guide Barishal to maiden title UNB received some images of Shakib shooting for the commercial wearing a yellow polo shirt. Hours later, Shakib also posted a teaser on his social media handle wearing the same shirt.