ORBIS flying hospital coming to Bangladesh in November

The ORBIS flying eye hospital that conducts eye training programmes across the world is coming to Bangladesh next month.

The international NGO’s Bangladesh Country Director Munir Ahmed said the hospital on jet plane will land in Chittagong on Nov 19 and carry out the training programmes onboard until Nov 30.

This will be its 10th programme in Bangladesh, he said at a programme in Dhaka on Tuesday, organised jointly with Bangladesh Health Reporters Forum, BHRF.

This is the world's only accredited ophthalmic training hospital onboard.

A senior eye specialist Prof Ava Hossain, who took training from the first flight in Bangladesh in 1985, said training was “effective” as the eye discipline was still growing at the time.

“There was no good training at that time which we have in Bangladesh now. I had just completed my post-graduation. There was lack of equipment. There was no such sub-speciality. That training was very effective,” she recalled.

“It’s a good way of exchanging knowledge."

This year, the hospital will provide continuing medical education tailored for 315 eye doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, biomedical engineers and technicians through lectures, observation, hands-on training, workshops and symposiums.

This programme will focus on training in eight subspecialties of ophthalmology including cataract retina, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), oculoplastics, pediatric cataract and strabismus.

Some 200 patients have been selected by a Chittagong hospital for this training. Those who will be operated on will be followed up even after the departure of the plane.

Eye specialist Prof Deen Mohammed Noorul Huq, a former director general for health services, said the arrival of this aircraft helps to generate much needed awareness about preventing blindness.

ORBIS helped Bangladesh conduct the first eye care survey back in 2003. The government has planned to carry out a blindness survey next year, he said.

Pro-Vice Chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Prof Sharfuddin Ahmed and President of the BHRF Toufiq Maruf were also present, among others, at the programme.

Rangpur Riders recruit Brendon McCullum

Rangpur Riders have recruited wicketkeeper-batsman of New Zealand Brendon McCullum for the up coming fifth edition of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Chief Executive Officer of Rangpur Riders Ishtiaq Sadek said to the newsmen, " We have confirmed that McCullum will join our squad on November 15. He will play nine matches for Rangpur Riders in the ensuing BPL."
Earlier, Chris Gayle has joined the Rangpur Riders for the forthcoming BPL.
McCullum scored 8245 runs playing 297 T20 matches. His highest score is 158 (not out) and his average is 31.46.
The fifth edition of BPL will start on November 4. A total of seven teams will take part in the BPL. 

Walking the ramp at 90

These granny beauty queens will enchant you with their charms

Beauty pageants may conjure up images of young women in bikinis, but in Atlantic City, USA, a roomful of sequined grandmothers and great-grandmothers are putting their best stiletto forward.

From an ex-CIA employee to Whitney Houston’s childhood choir director to a marathon runner, Ms Senior America celebrates women aged 60 and above who defy stereotypes of what it means to be ladies of a certain age who in past years may have sunk into a rocking chair.

“This is our age of elegance. It’s the beginning. Not our end,” beamed 73-year-old Carolyn Slade Harden, a former recording artist crowned Ms Senior America 2017, resplendent in cream silk.

With some members in their 90s, Ms Senior America is a family of sisters who have experienced not just the pleasures of life but the pains -- surviving cancer, going through divorce, losing husbands.

But if Ms Minnesota needed crutches to get on stage, Thursday’s finals showed no one is ever too old to tap dance, sing or show off their curves in a sequined gown with a crown glittering on coiffed hair.

Senior America Inc. was founded in 1971 “to promote the positive aspects of ageing” and has championed women in their “age of elegance” ever since.

There were 47.8 million people aged 65 and over in the United States in 2015, or 15% of the population -- a number projected to rise to 98.2 million, or nearly one in four residents by 2060.

Glittering in strapless gowns, mermaid dresses and princess frocks, state finalists from across the country flashed winning smiles, bedecked in a haze of sequins, hair spray and immaculate make-up.

Hip hop

“That’s our mama!” yelled one man in the crowd as Ms Florida took the microphone. “I’ve never seen so many rhinestones in my life,” confided another.

Judging spans four categories: an interview, 35-second “philosophy of life” nuggets – for example “let’s all be the reason someone smiles today” – evening gown and a talent.

It was the talent segment that elicited the biggest wolf whistles from adoring friends and family in a hotel theatre in southern New Jersey.

Ms Tennessee danced ballet, complete with pirouettes and arabesques to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.” Ms Massachusetts dressed up in a can-can skirt to sing “Jumbo Italiano,” while Ms Virginia donned a Julie Andrews-style Alpine costume to perform from the Sound of Music.

Then there were the guest dance troupes: ladies in pink hats jiving to Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like A Woman” and seniors doing hip-hop in blonde wigs and black leggings to Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk.

“I love it! I love it!” yelled one man at the back.

“Hollywood thinks youth,” purrs Ms Senior District of Columbia Frances Curtis Johnson, 68, a community activist and executive assistant, who has no intention of retiring until at least 70.

“They need to look at the beauty of growing old. To live is to get older, and we should take that and use it and embrace it.”

Ultimately it was Ms Senior New Jersey, Slade Harden, with a mega-watt smile and enviable skin, who carried the day, buoyed by a home-state crowd two years after the death of her husband of 51 years.

Cinderella

In the gym every morning at 7 am, Slade Harden said there was no magic answer to looking fabulous in your 40s. “Pray, eat healthy,” she said.

Mother of two, grandmother of three and great grandmother of one, she was a recording artist in the 1960s, knew Dionne Warwick, directed a young Whitney Houston, got two degrees and set up her own company.

“I think the word pageant scares some people away because they say ‘oh no it’s a beauty pageant’ but it’s much, much more than that,” she told AFP. “It’s beauty from within.”

For some contestants pageants have been a life-long obsession. For others, such as 61-year-old Ms Oregon, Diane Hennacy Powell, a practicing neuro psychiatrist and PTSD expert, it’s new. “People tell me I look like Cinderella,” she smiles. “I never really thought of myself as being pretty,” she said. “You can have it all!”

Ms Senior America 2017’s ambition? Slade Harden says she wants to put the pageant on the map and do more to help local communities. But when it comes to her crown, her family has just one ask. “My kids tell me mom please don’t wear it to the supermarket,” she laughs.

A right decision that came too late

After a scan at East London yesterday showed that there was no improvement in his left thigh muscle tear, the Bangladesh team management finally decided to send opener Tamim Iqbal back home today. He will now be out for four weeks and apart from missing the remaining ODI and the two T20Is on tour, the left-hander will also miss a minimum of three matches in the upcoming BPL for Comilla Victorians.

The injury was sustained on the tour's very first day of competition on September 21 during the three-day tour match at Benoni. It has been a month now that Tamim has been pushing and being pushed to get on the park to prop up a team that was looking more and more haggard with every passing match. The left-hander was uncertain for the first Test and in the lead-up did not face anything but throwdowns until the last evening before the match, when he faced his teammates' bowling at the centre wicket. He played anyway at Potchefstroom from August 28 and duly aggravated the injury during fielding.

That led to him missing the second Test in Bloemfontein from October 6 after a specialist had prescribed four weeks' rest on October 3 and gave him an outside chance of being fit for the first ODI. Given that the rest period prescribed has remained the same 17 days later, at the very least the decision to play Tamim in the second ODI after he missed the first one upon physio Thihan Chandramohan's advice, has contributed to the problem.

In Bloemfontein before the second Test, the impression was that the injury was a serious one. However, in Dhaka, before the ODI series started the noise from Bangladesh Cricket Board high-ups was that the injury was not so serious and that he would be okay to play the one-dayers. He did feature in the second match, but it seems clear now that he was definitely not okay.

The despair and short-sightedness of the management was encapsulated perfectly when even yesterday before the scan, tour manager Minhajul Abedin was using the word doubtful and hinting that they will wait till today to take a call, because back-up opener Soumya Sarkar was not in form.

In fact, it was learnt that the pain had increased following the second ODI. On the day before the second match, Tamim's words should have been a warning to himself as well as the management, and while a player will always want to play, it falls upon the management to manage their players' fitness with a view to the longer term and not just focus on avoiding another chapter in an already embarrassing tour.

“This is not my last match, nor is it Bangladesh's last tour. If I get injured again [in the same place], then I will be out for two months which I hope the team management doesn't want and neither do I. If I can pass the fitness test, I will play tomorrow but if I can't, then I have to give the injury time to heal.”

While he did pass the fitness test, it is doubtful how helpful that was for Bangladesh. With the series lost, the right decision not to risk a player seems to have been taken at least two weeks too late.

Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma exchange wedding vows in this ad (Video)

Cricketer Virat Kohli’s most anticipated ad with girlfriend Anushka Sharma has been released and it is a visual treat for the fans. The couple, who surprised their fans by releasing their picture on social media from their ad, has this time released the entire advertisement of a clothing line and we must say that the duo looks adorable.

Making everyone fall in love with them once again, Virat and Anushka are seen attending a friend’s wedding.

They sit in front of the mandap and wonder what the couple must be talking about right now. Virat says they might be making promises to each other. As the wedding happens, and the bride-groom smile and talk to each other, Virat-Anushka exchange their vows. By the end of the advertisement, Virat’s dialogue (which is also his last vow) melts our heart away, and his lady seems to be mightily impressed by him.

Virat looks dapper in a maroon coloured kurta and bottom, which he has teamed up with a black blazer. Anushka is a sheer beauty in an embroidered red lehenga and orange dupatta.

Directed by Abhishek Varma, the ad shows the real and reel life chemistry of Virat and Anushka.

 The couple has always been in news for their affair.

Virat Kohli is heading the Indian Cricket team as the captain. Anushka Sharma, who was last seen in the film Jab Harry Met Sejal is currently shooting for Sanjay Dutt’s biopic.

Anushka made her debut in the film industry opposite Shah Rukh Khan with the film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. She was liked by many and started receiving back-to-back offers post her debut film.

Here’s wishing them Good Luck for their future projects.

Everton 'dirtiest' Premier League team in history, says study

Everton have been handed the dubious distinction of being the 'dirtiest' Premier League team after a study on the all-time cards and fouls by www.dirtyteams.co.uk.

The website used a points system to rate clubs for transgressions on the pitch since the start of the Premier League in 1992. Teams collected 25 points for a red card, five for a yellow card and one for each foul.

The Merseyside club have accumulated 21,211 points in 962 games to top the list while Swindon Town are at the bottom with 486 points, although their tally is calculated after 42 games in the inaugural season which featured 22 teams.

Everton are one of only six teams to have contested every season of the Premier League along with Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

All six teams were in the top ten for total 'dirty' points.

Derby County are the dirtiest team on average with nearly 26 points per game. They also have more yellow cards (2.02) and fouls per game (14.28) than any other team.

Blackburn Rovers' 1998-99 season was the dirtiest in Premier League history as they racked up eight red cards and 80 yellow cards with 725 fouls while Coventry City had the cleanest campaign in 1993-94 with only 12 yellow cards.

The study also revealed that the overall number of fouls have fallen since the league began and last season saw the fewest dismissals since 1993-94.

Deepika the new age Dream Girl: Hema Malini

Deepika Padukone recently made time to launch the biography that was being launched on Hema Malini at a suburban hotel. 
Hema Malini’s birthday was a big affair for the yesteryear actress as well as her fans, as it saw the unveiling of her biography. The Dream Girl of the golden era, Hemaji was very happy to have Deepika Padukone unveil her book as she is personally very fond of her. 
At the event, when Hemaji, who has been the dream girl for millions of people was asked who would she pick for the tag of Dream Girl in today’s times.