Econews

Jason Collins, a veteran center in the National Basketball Association (NBA), announced on Monday that he was gay, becoming the first active player from any US professional sports league to publicly reveal his homosexuality. Collins, a free agent who played with the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics during the NBA's 2012-13 regular season, made the announcement in an interview with Sports Illustrated that was published on Monday. "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation," he said. "I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand." In the ultra-scrutinised world of US professional sports, there had never been an openly gay player in any of America's major professional sp

Already 86 Countries have been infected with the coronavirus.   Many countries have already taken drastic measures while battling to contain its spread. As Bangladesh recorded three cases of coronavirus, the government yesterday urged people not to panic and to consult physicians if they have fever, throat ache, dry cough, breathing difficulties or any other symptoms of coronavirus infection, said a PID handout.  Two men and a woman -- aged between 20 and 35 -- tested positive for the virus on Saturday, Prof Meerjady Sabrina Flora, director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR), said yesterday. Two of them are from a family. They are now undergoing treatment at a hospital in the capital, she said.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, when the USA was planning its Afghanistan invasion against the Taliban government, it chose Pakistan's military establishment as its ally and made Pakistan the base of the whole operation. Similarly, during its invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Saudi Arabia became America's closest ally and its operational base, a country that had been pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars in Afghanistan and other countries to promote terrorism, puritanical Islam and a global Jihad against the West, not to mention that Osama bin Laden and most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals. On the contrary, in January 2002, US President George W Bush made his "Axis of Evil" State of the Union Address blaming Iran, among others, of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction. Iran—strategically located, technologically the most advanced nation in the region after Israel and with a large petroleum reserve—became America's