The inflatable dinghy carrying over 60 people got into trouble off the coast of northern France. One person drowned and another is critically ill, while several others could still be missing. One person has drowned after an inflatable dinghy carrying 66 migrants and refugees towards Britain ran into difficulty off France's northern coast, the French coastguard said Friday. Rescue teams reached the distressed boat at about 1 a.m. local time (0000 GMT) and found that one of its inflatable tubes had deflated. Two unconscious people were pulled from the sea. One was airlifted to the French port city of Calais, while the other could not be revived, the coastguard said in a statement. Boats and aircraft are still looking for remaining survivors around Griz Nez, near the port of Calais, the statement continued. The English Channel, which separates the United Kingdom and continental Europe, is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Migrant crossings in the English Channel  Tens of thousands of people a year have been making the dangerous crossing of the sea from France in small boats seeking to migrate to the UK. So far this year, more than 29,000 migrants have made the perilous crossing in small boats, according to Migration Watch UK, representing a fall of about one-third compared to 2022. The largest number of deaths in a single incident took place in November 2021 when at least 27 migrants died after a dinghy sank in the Channel. In August this year, six Afghans drowned after their small boat capsized. In late November, a migrant boat carrying 60 people sank and a man and woman drowned. French authorities say that boats are increasingly overloaded, with the average number of about 53 passengers nearly double the average of two years ago. The issue of small-boat migration has become a major political priority for the UK government and a bone of contention between London and Paris.

The contraction of artificial intelligence — AI — has been named as Collins' Word of the Year for 2023, the dictionary publisher announced on Tuesday. "Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023," a blog post from the publisher said. The company arrived at the word after analyzing the Collin Corpus, a database that contains over 20 billion words with written material from websites, newspapers, magazines, published across the world. It also factors in spoken language from television and radio shows. Managing Director Alex Beecroft said: "We know that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and embedded in our lives as email, streaming or any other once futuristic, now everyday technology."  What were the other considerations? 'AI' featured at the top of the list of the words shortlisted by Collins' word analyzers. Another word on the list was 'Bazball' — a style of test cricket in which the batting side attempts to gain the initiative by playing in a highly aggressive manner. Deinfluencing, ultra-processed, debanking, semaglutide and greedflation also featured on the list. Debanking refers to the act of depriving a person of banking facilities. Meanwhile, semaglutide is  a medication used to suppress the appetite and control high blood sugar.

At least two migrants including a baby died when their bank sank Saturday soon after leaving the coast of Tunisia, the coastguard said. The vessel, carrying 20 Tunisians, went down at 2:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) when it was just 120 meters (395 feet) from the shoreline in the southeastern province of Gabes. "Two bodies have been recovered, one of a 20-year-old man and the other of an infant," the coast guard said in a statement. Thirteen others were rescued, including the baby's parents. Five passengers were missing and search operations were ongoing, the statement added. A similar tragedy occurred off the Tunisian coast on Monday, when a boat carrying migrants sank near the eastern city of Sfax, leaving 11 people dead. Sfax serves as a launching port for migrants from African countries to begin their risky sea journeys to Europe, via the Italian island ofLampedusa. More than 1,800 people have died this year in shipwrecks on the central Mediterranean migration route, the world's deadliest — more than twice as many as last year, according to the International Organization for Migration. Migrant boat sinks in English Channel Once the migrants reach southern Europe, they sometimes head for wealthier countries such as Germany and the UK. The migrants may also take a dangerous journey from France to Britain. French maritime officials reported Saturday that a boat, overloaded with migrants and refugees, capsized in the English Channel, killing six people. UK media reported that the victims were all Afghan nationals, who had been in critical condition when found and were later pronounced dead. About 65 people were estimated to have boarded the boat for the UK and two people may still be lost at sea, the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea said. The English Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes but at its narrowest point, separates France and Britain by just 20 miles (33 kilometers). This year, the number of migrants plying the Channel has fallen about 15% to 15,826 as of Thursday, partly as a result of a joint UK-French monitoring operation along the coast. But since 2018, more than 100,000 migrants have crossed the sea in small boats. Britain passed a new law earlier this year to try to stem the arrival of small boat migrants, which would deport those who arrive illegally back to their home country or a safe third country. But plans to fly some people to Rwanda have been shot down by an appeals court and are now being appealed by the Supreme Court. The passage of people trying to get into and around Europe is often facilitated by smugglers, who may take advantage of their desperation for a fee. The migrants are frequently put on overloaded, unseaworthy boats, which are prone to sinking, particularly in stormy conditions.    Hundreds of migrants saved by French charity French NGO SOS Mediterranee said Friday that its Ocean Viking vessel saved over 600 migrants trapped at sea over the previous two days. The rescue group said 623 people had been brought in on "unseaworthy small boats." Among those rescued were nationals of countries such as Sudan, Guinea and Bangladesh. Sudan in particular is witnessing armed conflict which has driven thousands of refugees out of the country.  The majority of the migrants were picked up by the ship on the sea route between Lampedusa and Sfax.

Harry Kane has signed his contract with FC Bayern Munich, the German team announced on Friday and is expected to be eligible to play in the Supercup against RB Leipzig on Saturday.  The 30-year-old captain of the England national team signed a contract with the Bavarian club to stay there until 2027. The deal was preceded by long negotiations with Kane's hometown club Tottenham Hotspur.  "I am very happy to be able to be a part of FC Bayern now. FC Bayern is one of the biggest clubs in the world and I have always said that I want to compete and prove myself at the highest level in my career. FC Bayern is characterized by its winning culture — it feels very good to be here," Kane was quoted as saying in a press release.  In the hours before, fans and media had intensively followed Kane's movements on his way to Munich. After his somewhat delayed arrival at Oberpfaffenhofen airport near Munich, he completed his medical check and then arrived at the club's premises on Säbener Straße in the evening. Videos circulating on the internet showed Kane waving to Bayern fans from a window.  Kane now has become the first Bundesliga addition to receive a transfer fee of more than 100 million euros. His contract was expected to include a salary of €25 million in Munich. The transfer fee is expected to be around €115 million.  Warm welcomes from FC Bayern   Thomas Müller welcomed Harry Kane to the German champion team ahead of the expected announcement of his move to Bayern Munich. "What a blockbuster transfer for our FC Bayern," the 2014 World Cup winner wrote on his Instagram account, saying: "A warm welcome to @HarryKane at this point." "Welcome to Munich, Harry Kane! We are very happy about this new top-class acquisition. The transfer required tenacity, bite and perseverance — a big compliment to everyone involved at FC Bayern in these negotiations," said Bayern president Herbert Hainer. "Harry Kane will not only strengthen FC Bayern, but will also look good to the entire Bundesliga," he added. Jan-Christian Dreesen, Bayern's chief executive officer, said: "Our fans can look forward to one of the best goal scorers of our time."

On Tuesday, March 14,  the online quiz winners of the program ''English4U"  broadcast on RTV were awarded. The award program held at Linnex Bengal Square, RTV Studio Building, Dhaka. Jodi Anna Milto, the producer and content creator of Voice of America, Monoj Roy, U.S. AGENCY FOR GLOBAL MEDIA Country Representative/South Asia, Abu Sayed Bhuiyan, teacher at Government Laboratory School, Sajjadur Rahman, the president of BIAM Model School and College, and students and parents from different schools were present at the function. However, as an international language, american english is widely used in almost all fields. It is very helpful to communicate. To motivate the students to learn this language, the program "English4U"  is broadcast every Friday at 12:10 pm on RTV and its YouTube channel and Facebook page.  Over the past six months, the program held at various schools in the country and help to learn this language.  Top 60 winners were awarded at the ceremony. Speakers of this program said, ''Every year, millions of Bangladeshi, mainly young portion, go to abroad including United States for education or work purpose. They urged everyone to learn and practice the english language.''

Shuktara Samkalpa from Assam is the state's youngest published author in English. Not just in Assam, she might also be the youngest published author in English in the country. Samkalpa's latest work, "Scribbling of Reporter Rodent", which she wrote while she was under 14 years old, has been published by Black Pepper of Chhapakhana Publishers of Kolkata. The book is available at the 46th International Kolkata Book Fair, making her the youngest author at this mega event. "Scribbling of Reporter Rodent" includes articles written on various topics, including one on Greek Mythology and Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort, to name a few. "Most of Shuktara's writings were written when she was 11-14. Most of these writings published in this 80-page collection have been earlier published online under the pen name Reporter Rodent. Hence, the final anthology is named so," said Deepayan Dhar from Black Paper.  The book was introduced at the book fair by the former principal of Santiniketan Patha Bhavan Supriyo Tagore. Source:Gplus

The registration of English medium schools has been made compulsory. The education ministry has directed secondary and higher education directorate, education boards and nine regional deputy directors to implement the decision. The direction said, it is compulsory to obtain registration from the education boards after depositing fee for the English medium schools which are being operated under foreign curriculum according to the private schools registration rules and regulations. It also asked the concerned officials to deliver the information on the total number of registered and unregistered schools in the country. The directions mentioned section 19(3) of the rules and regulations saying that fees can be taken from the students for special facilities or using modern equipments or technological support or for running coeducation in the private schools. But in this case guardians should be informed written about the description of the expenditure by the managing committee. Guardians complain that they are usually not informed about the fee information. Besides, the direction letter also mentioned that there are provisions for delivering information on the amount of yearly or monthly tuition fee, admission fee, sports fee, library fee, printing fee and other fees.     Read In Bangla Version AH       

The government has changed the English spellings of the country’s five districts - Chittagong, Comilla, Barisal, Jessore and Bogra to avert inconsistency with the Bangla accents and spellings.   The decisions were taken at a meeting of the National Implementation Committee on Administrative Reforms (NICAR) held at the Prime Minister's Office in the city on Monday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina presided over the meeting. After the meeting, Cabinet Division Secretary (Coordination & Reforms) NM Ziaul Alam told the newsmen at the secretariat that some districts’ names were given during the British era. Those needed to be changed. The changes were done today. From now, the spelling Chattogram will be in place of Chittagong, Cumilla will be for Comilla, Barishal for Barisal, Jashore for Jessore and Bogura for Bogra. A proposal in this connection was approved in the meeting. NICAR delivers decision to form and readjust new division, district, upazila and police station along with forming new administrative unit and formation of new ministry and department. Prime Minister is the convener of the committee.    AH