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☆ This Ramadan, queer and transgender Muslims made their own community
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Shahamat Uddin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Queer and transgender Muslims came together to break their Ramadan fasts. But for queer and transgender Muslims, this practice of ummah, or the connectedness Muslims feel while exercising their faith together, has often made them feel excluded from traditional Ramadan celebrations. Courtesy of Dinean RobinsonThe iftar — which included prayers led by a queer Muslim community member named Shiffa, and joyful drag-queen performances — was just one of many ways queer and transgender Muslims fostered community this Ramadan. Dena Igusti celebrated this Ramadan with fellow queer Muslims, saying it helped them get back in touch with their faith. In New York City, queer Muslims joined in song and dance at the LGBT Community Center's iftar to celebrate their layered identities.

Persons: —, affirmations, I've, Armana Khan, Dinean Robinson, Khan, Islam, Reimagining, they'd, Kahani, Dinean Robinson Sophia Uppal, Uppal, wouldn't, Dena Igusti, Ramie Ahmed, Ramadan, Igusti, Imam Daayiee Abdullah, We're, MASGD, Shiffa, Center's iftar, Yaffa Organizations: Service, LGBT Community, The, New York, LGBT Community Center, BI, Mecca Institute, Muslim Alliance, Sexual, Diversity, Queer, Shia, LGBT Locations: New York, queerness, Queens , New York, New, Hajj, Mecca, Palestinian, New York City

☆ Bangladesh inferno kills at least 43, injures dozens more
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-01 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

A massive fire raced through a six-storey building in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka late on Thursday, killing at least 43 people and injuring dozens, the country’s health minister said. The fire originated in a restaurant and quickly spread to other floors, fire service officials said. At least 43 people have died and 22 others are being treated at hospitals with burn wounds, Health Minister Samanta Lal Sen told reporters after visiting the Dhaka Medical College Hospital. It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, which was under control after two hours of frantic efforts by 13 firefighting units, the fire service officials said. Firefighters used a crane to rescue people from the charred building, the fire service officials said.

Persons: Samanta Lal Sen, Sen, Survivor Mohammad Altaf, “, ” Altaf, Firefighters, Main Uddin, Mohammad Ponir Hossain Organizations: Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Survivor, Bangladesh Fire Service, Civil Defence, Firefighters, Reuters Locations: Dhaka, Bangladesh

☆ Many Pakistanis Make a Perilous Journey to Vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +5 min

With tens of thousands displaced from the tribal regions, most candidates vying to represent constituencies there have campaigned in other cities such as Dera Ismail Khan. "Due to the war, people's houses were destroyed," Moulana Jamal Uddin, a candidate from South Waziristan, told Reuters by phone. "I appeal to the people of South Waziristan to vote," he said. Khan Ullah, a 42-year-old shop owner, said he has avoided political gatherings in Dera Ismail Khan because he feared an attack on them was a real possibility. (Reporting by Saud Mehsud in Dera Ismail Khan; writing by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Persons: Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL, Ullah Mehsud, Mehsud, Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan's, Amjad Khan, Khan, hometowns, Maulana Raheem Ullah, Moulana Jamal Uddin, Khan Ullah, Saud Mehsud, Ariba Shahid, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Reuters, Pakhtunkhwa, Pak Institute, Peace Studies, Force Locations: Saud Mehsud DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, South Waziristan, Qaeda, U.S, Afghanistan, Waziristan, Khyber, Taliban Pakistan, Balochistan, KP, Karachi

☆ One killed as garment workers clash with police in Bangladesh over pay rise - police
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Ruma Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Security forces remain vigilant in front of the garment factories, following clashes between garment industry workers and police over pay, at the Ashulia area, outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain Acquire Licensing RightsDHAKA, Nov 8 (Reuters) - One female worker was killed and several others were injured in Bangladesh on Wednesday during clashes between police and stone-throwing garment workers who are demanding a bigger pay rise, police said. Following a week of deadly clashes between garment industry workers and police over pay, the Bangladesh government on Tuesday said that the minimum wage would rise by 56.25% to 12,500 taka ($114) a month from Dec. 1, the first increase in five years. Police said they used teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests by hundreds of workers who rejected the new pay rise and took to streets in the garment hub of Gazipur, on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. Low wages have helped Bangladesh build its garment industry, with some 4,000 factories employing 4 million workers, supplying brands such as H&M and GAP.

Persons: Mohammad Ponir Hossain, Ashraf Uddin, Ruma Paul, Sudipto Ganguly Organizations: Security, REUTERS, Rights DHAKA, Police, GAP, Thomson Locations: Dhaka, Bangladesh, Gazipur

REUTERS/Mohammad... Acquire Licensing Rights Read moreDHAKA, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Bangladesh's main opposition party will boycott the next general election if Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina does not make way for a neutral government to conduct the poll, two party leaders said, amid a crackdown on opposition politicians and deadly protests. "The intensified crackdown on opposition party leaders and protesters over the weekend signals an attempt at a complete clamp-down on dissent," said Yasasmin Kaviratne, Amnesty's regional campaigner for South Asia. Hasina's main rival and two-time premier, BNP leader Khaleda Zia, is effectively under house arrest for what her party calls trumped-up corruption charges. Shakil Ahmed, an assistant professor at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, said street violence had become "regular in Bangladesh during the transfer of power". Reporting by Krishna N. Das in New Delhi and Ruma Paul in Dhaka; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Sheikh Hasina, Hasina, Abdul Moyeen Khan, Zahir Uddin Swapon, Yasasmin Kaviratne, Khaleda Zia, BNP's, Tarique Rahman, Shakil Ahmed, Krishna N, Ruma Paul, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BNP, REUTERS, Reuters, Amnesty, Police, Jahangirnagar University, Das, Thomson Locations: Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mohammad, DHAKA, United States, Canada, India, South Asia, New Delhi

☆ Death by LLM: Stack Overflow's decline, and its plan to survive, shows the future of free online data in an AI world
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Alistair Barr | Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Some AI models that compete against Stack Overflow were partly trained on the company's data. Online communities, like Stack Overflow and Wikipedia, thrived as hubs for experts and curious browsers to come together and share information freely. In 2021, Prosus, a major backer of Chinese tech giant Tencent, bought Stack Overflow for $1.8 billion. However, Nat Friedman, the CEO of Github through 2021, expects tech companies to pay for training data in the future. Stack Overflow is also working on new ways to measure the impact of a human's answer on the platform.

Persons: Prashanth Chandrasekar, OpenAI, Chandrasekar, coders, OpenAI's GPT, Stack, Elon Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Sam Altman, JASON REDMOND, Jaap Arriens, GitHub, it's, chatGPT, Nasim Uddin, we're, Nat Friedman, Nat Friedman GitHub Friedman, Friedman, Axel Springer, Semafor, Prashanth Organizations: Union Square Ventures, Getty, Twitter, Publishers, Microsoft, Associated Press Locations: GPT, Prosus, AFP

In Pakistan, authorities said more than 300 of its nationals died in the tragedy, but did not specify how they received the information. The Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan in a statement Tuesday said that 88 people have officially been registered as missing by family members. Last week, Greek authorities denied claims that the boat had capsized after the coast guard attempted to tow it to shore. Migrants rest in a shelter, following a rescue operation, after their boat capsized at open sea, in Kalamata, Greece, June 14, 2023. “This is what they’re doing and it’s absolutely necessary to prevent it.”Migrants arrive at the port of Kalamata, following a rescue operation, after their boat capsized at open sea, in Kalamata, Greece, June 14, 2023.

Persons: Adriana, Saeed Anwar, Abdul Jabbar, selfie, Gibran Peshimam, Jabbar, Anwar, ” Anwar, “, ”, Tarek Aldroobi, Stelios Misinas, Raja Aqeel, Aqeel, Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, Johansson Organizations: Kashmir CNN, Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan, Union, CNN, United Nations Migration Agency, Authorities, Reuters, Home Affairs, ”, Eurokinissi, Reuters Authorities, Human Rights Locations: Bandali, Pakistan, Kashmir, Greece, Europe, Khuiratta, Italy, Libya, East, Asia, Africa, Kalamata, Islamabad, Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi

☆ Dollar drifts as traders weigh rate path; yen fragile
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In an action-packed week of central bank decisions, the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged on Wednesday but hinted that further hikes were on the way to tame inflation. Investors, though, expect the central bank to be done with its tightening in July. On Monday, the yen touched a near seven-month low of 141.98 per dollar, having slid 1% on Friday. The yen also touched a fresh 15-year low against the euro of 155.32. The Australian dollar fell 0.32% to $0.686, while the kiwi eased 0.26% to $0.622.

Persons: Marc Chandler, Chandler, Jerome Powell's, Powell, Mansoor Mohi, uddin, Sterling, Ankur Banerjee, Muralikumar Organizations: U.S, Bank of Japan, Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of, Investors, Investor, Citi, Bank of Singapore, Thomson Locations: SINGAPORE, Bank of Japan, Bannockburn, New York, Singapore

Ms. Hanif’s family history illustrates how Bangladeshi Kensington came to be. While the corner is often a male-dominated space, she and other Bangladeshi American women have carved out their own places there. Ms. Saeed wants to buy a house, but real estate in Kensington has become far too expensive. Ms. Saeed also faced opposition as she was growing up, from relatives on her mother’s side who frowned upon dance. With other public spaces so dominated by men, Ms. Ferdous sees it as vital that women gather to keep their traditions alive.

Persons: Shahana Hanif, Hanif’s, Hanif, Radhuni, Ms, Mir Hossain, Hossain, “, ”, Sala Miah, Rubel, Tarek Aziz, Uddin, Farojan Saeed, Syed Rehan, Saeed, Annie Ferdous, Ferdous, Eid, Mr, Mahmud Organizations: Young, City Council, Bangladesh Institute of Performing Arts, Bangladeshi Institute of Performing Arts, McDonald Locations: Kensington, Bangladesh, Pakistan, “, United States, America, Bengal, Noakhali, Chittagong, Sandwip, Brooklyn, East, South America, Colombia, Panama, Dhaka, Bangladeshi, Manhattan, East New York, Jackson Heights, Ozone, New York, Motiul, Philadelphia, Jessore District, Jamaica, Queens

☆ Orange Skies and Burning Eyes as Smoke Shrouds New York City
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Michael Wilson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Outside in Times Square, the scene was more or less normal, with tourists coming and going — although everyone seemed to be talking about the same thing. Rishabh Mehta, 27, visiting the city with his wife and his parents from India, expressed disappointment at the turn of events. We can’t walk long distances. If we keep walking long distances, we get tired early.”Nearby, Rauf Rahimov, 27, a pedicab driver outside Central Park, reclined in the back of his cab where the passengers would sit, if there were any. In Brooklyn, a food deliveryman, Mohammad Uddin, said he was raised in Bangladesh, a country with a persistently unhealthy air quality.

Persons: Jodie Comer, Rishabh Mehta, “, Rauf Rahimov, ”, Mohammad Uddin Organizations: Broadway Locations: India, Central, reclined, Brooklyn, Bangladesh

☆ Asian shares muted, dollar buoyant on odds of rate rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was 0.12% higher, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) gained 0.5%. Traders have increasingly become convinced that the Fed will cut rates in the second half to ward off an economic downturn. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, eased to 3.951%, after closing at 3.993% on Friday's abbreviated trading. A closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes , seen as an indicator of economic expectations, was at -57.7 basis points. The yen weakened 0.41% to 132.69 per dollar as Japan's new central bank governor Kazuo Ueda takes over from Haruhiko Kuroda.

☆ Asian shares subdued as jobs data raises odds of Fed rate hike
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) was 0.14% higher, while Japan's Nikkei (.N225) gained 0.5%. China shares eased on Monday, with the bluechip CSI300 Index (.CSI300) 0.2% lower, while the Shanghai Composite Index (.SSEC) down nearly 0.3%. Markets are now pricing in 66% chance of the Fed raising interest rates by 25 basis points in its May 2-3 meeting, according to CME FedWatch tool. Traders have increasingly become convinced that the Fed will cut rates in the second half to ward off an economic downturn. In the currency market, the dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six major peers, rose 0.118% to 102.14.

☆ Sterling is the best performing G10 currency this year, and strategists remain cautiously optimistic
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The City of London is a blend of old and new, with St Paul's Cathedral close to skyscrapers as well as Roman ruins. Shomos Uddin | Moment | Getty ImagesLONDON — The British pound is the best performing G-10 (Group of Ten) currency of 2023, and some strategists believe the pound's rally can continue over the medium term. The currency has rebounded spectacularly from the record lows seen in September, after former Prime Minister Liz Truss' disastrous "mini-budget." Outlooks from the major economic forecasters have now been upgraded, with the OBR no longer projecting a technical recession — defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth — in 2023. The market is pricing around a 63% chance of a further quarter-point hike at the Bank's May meeting.

☆ Seen Big Ben already? Here's a Londoner's guide to visiting other parts of the city
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Central London's City of Westminster is its political heart, while the City of London is where the capital's financial decisions happen. But be warned: Several paths across Hyde Park are pedestrian-only, and police often fine people who cycle on them. The City of London is a blend of old and new, with St Paul's Cathedral close to skyscrapers as well as Roman ruins. While north London has Hampstead Heath, south of the river is Richmond Park, which dwarfs its northern counterpart in size. There's also a branch in central London's Covent Garden — the flower-filled restaurant The Petersham — that has an sit-down deli and bar.

☆ Dollar tentative as investors assess rate-hike path
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That led the dollar index , which measures the U.S. dollar against six major currencies, 1.15% lower on Friday. On Monday, the index, which gained 8% in 2022, was 0.01% higher at 103.720. Analysts, however, point to the still tight labour market that is likely to concern Fed officials. With the next Fed meeting scheduled at the start of next month, investors will focus on the consumer price index data due on Thursday. The Australian dollar rose 0.17% versus the U.S. currency to $0.689, while the kiwi gained 0.02% to $0.635.

☆ Morning Bid: It's still the economy, stupid
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Anshuman DagaJust two months ago, Liz Truss said her government's defining mission would be to revive the economy. That job has become even more tougher for whoever is chosen as the next British PM after Truss was ousted following six chaotic weeks marred by policy shocks. Asian stocks weakened further as the rally in U.S. Treasury yields strengthened on reinforced expectations that persistent labor tightness in the world's biggest economy would force the Fed to keep raising interest rates aggressively, possibly throwing the economy into recession. Two-year Treasury yield hit a 15-year high of 4.623%, while the 10-year also rose to multi-year highs of 4.243%. Meanwhile, European Union leaders ended another debate on the bloc's response to the energy crunch without agreement on whether to cap gas prices.

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