Bangladesh football fans

Goals Beyond Borders: Can Bangladesh Leverage its Football Craze as a Soft-power Tool?

Beyond the ambassadors of Brazil, Argentina, and Norway, the ambassadors of France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Egypt have also been drawing on their countries' football heritage to deepen cultural engagement with the football-crazy people of Bangladesh. 

Name Change and Memory Archives: Striking Divergence Between India and Pakistan

Ironically, while India continues to rename roads and institutions associated with its medieval and colonial past, Pakistan’s Punjab province has begun moving in the opposite direction.

Protective Parenting: Raising Safe Children or Fragile Adults?

Unfortunately, a growing number of parents appear apprehensive about their children becoming proficient in their mother tongue, believing that greater exposure to local languages may somehow hinder their command of English or other global languages. This perception is both unfortunate and unfounded. A strong foundation in one's mother tongue strengthens cognitive development, improves learning outcomes, and facilitates the acquisition of additional languages.

When Poison Enters the System: Impunity, Vigilantism and South Asia’s Internal Security Failure

Across South Asia, the difference between prejudice and collapse is not the existence of hate. Every society has it in varying shades.  The difference is whether the majoritarian state internalizes hate against the ‘other’,  whether FIRs get diluted, trials get delayed, mobs get garlanded  and impunity driven violence against minorities becomes low-cost. When that happens, the poison is not outside the system. It becomes the system.

More on Soft Power, Culture and Society

Pakistan indicates back-channel talks with India on

Pakistan has indicated that behind-the-scenes talks were under way with India, but said Kashmir remained central to any meaningful engagement with India, Dawn reported

Was taken to a psychiatric facility in US: Pakistani actress Meera

Pakistani actress Meera, who has also dabbled in Indian films, has claimed that she was taken to a psychiatric facility in USA and released only after the intervention of senior minister of her country, Tribune reported

Top Indian cricketers - Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah - bag lucrative contracts

India skipper Virat Kohli, ace willower  Rohit Sharma and top pacer Jasprit Bumrah retained their place in the Rs 7 crore/ 70 million rupees worth top tier while all-rounder Hardik Pandya got a promotion in the new BCCI annual contracts for the senior men’s team

Hundreds take to streets protesting dog killing in Nepal

Hundreds of people descended on the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, and protested against the brutal killing of a dog. For the capital, accustomed to regular political demonstrations since last year, the protests this time were somewhat unusual

Mehdi Hassan’s son seeks financial help for treatment

Late Pakistani ghazal legend Mehdi Hassan’s son has appealed for financial assistance for his kidney ailment saying the huge cost of the treatment was beyond his reach, Daily Times reported

Pakistan skipper Babar Azam overtakes India's Virat Kohli to become No. 1 ODI batsman

Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Wednesday ended the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League matches against South Africa as the No.1 ranked ODI batsman in the world, overtaking Indian skipper Virat Kohli, according to a Dawn report

Abbas, Akram, Younis delighted at PCB Hall of Fame inductio

Pakistan cricket legends Zaheer Abbas, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis have expressed their delight at their induction in the first-ever PCB Hall of Fame list, Daily Times reported

Festivals showcase India's diversity: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday greeted people of India on the occasions of Chaitra Navratri, Ugadi and other festivals today and over the next few days

Indian belly-dance diva inspiration for pioneer of the art form in Nepal

When Pinky Sapkota first saw popular Indian belly dancer Meher Malik performing in 2012, she was enchanted

Documentary on ‘world’s loneliest elephant’ set for April 22 release

A documentary on the 'world's loneliest elephant', Kaavan's journey from solitary confinement in Pakistan to a sanctuary in Cambodia, is going to be digitally released on April 22, according to a report in Dawn

Pakistan U-19 team’s Bangladesh tour called off

Pakistan U-19 team’s tour to Bangladesh, slated to start from April 17, has been called off due to the rise in COVID-19 cases in Bangladesh which has extended a nationwide lockdown in the country, according to a Dawn report

Veteran Pakistani actress shooting for Hollywood project in Bangkok

Veteran Pakistani film and television actress Samina Ahmed is shooting for a Hollywood project in Thailand, according to her husband Manzar Sehbai.

Three Jammu and Kashmir cricketers part of IPL as net bowlers

While star cricketer Abdul Samad is all set to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021, there are three more cricketers from Jammu and Kashmir who will be part of the tournament as net bowlers. Amid the surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, a secure bio-bubble is in place for the league and the franchisees have roped in domestic cricketers as net bowlers for their teams

Former Mrs. World arrested by Sri Lankan police for beauty pageant chaos

Former Mrs. World Caroline Jurie was arrested by the Sri Lankan Police on Thursday morning for creating chaos at the Mrs. Sri Lanka beauty pageant when she forcibly took away the crown of the winner, declared her ineligible and crowned the runner-up

Indian Premier League set for big bang opener Friday evening

After a COVID-19 induced season in the United Arab Emirates in the second half of 2020, the cash-rich Indian Premier League – now arguably one of the biggest sporting brands internationally  – returns to its indigenous roots on Friday, albeit amidst a renewed surge of Covid pandemic and before empty stands for the second year in a row