Iranian actresses who defy Iran's so-called morality police and go out in public without a headscarf have been banned from working. Many remain defiant even as locals pay an increasingly high price for protest. In late October, Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance published a list of actresses barred from their profession for appearing in public without a headscarf. Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad Mehdi Esmaili said it was not possible to work with those who did not observe the mandatory hijab law. For now, the list contains some 20 names, including world-famous artists like Taraneh Alidoosti. Now 39, she starred in the internationally acclaimed drama "The Salesman" in 2016. The film won director Asghar Farhadi an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2017. Actress arrested for social media post Alidoosti used to wear a headscarf in public even when she was abroad. But that changed in November 2022 as Iran was rocked by protests following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old was arrested by the so-called morality police for violating the country's Islamic dress code and later died in police custody. On Instagram, Alidoosti posted a picture of herself without a headscarf. Her account has over 8 million followers. The image shows her holding a slip of paper that reads "women, life, freedom” to show support for the Iranian women's rights movement and anti-government protests. Shortly after posting the image, Alidoosti was arrested and only released two weeks later after friends and family posted bail. On social media, she responded to her employment ban: "I will not comply with your headscarf that is still dripping with the blood of my sisters." Failure to cover one's head in public can be deadly for women in Iran as the recent death of 17-year-old Armita Geravand unfortunately proves. In early October, the teenager was on her way to school without a headscarf. After an alleged assault by the so-called morality police on the Tehran metro, the teenager fell unconscious and was hospitalized with severe head trauma. There she remained in a coma until she was declared brain dead. She was buried October 29. Young Iranian women outraged An Iranian student from the capital Tehran told DW, "we risk our lives every day because we are outside without our headscarves. It is sad to see that many actresses still wear one." She pointed to the recent gathering of film industry insiders at the funeral of murdered Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui and his wife, screenwriter Vahideh Mohammadifar, on October 18. Mid-October, both had been found dead in their home with knife wounds. The movie industry and wider public was shocked to learn of the couple's murder. Authorities spoke of a robbery at the hands of a former gardener. But many remained skeptical. Like many other filmmakers in Iran, Mehrjui was often at loggerheads with state authorities. In March 2022, when his last film "La Minor" was censored, the 83-year-old posted an angry message to the Iran culture ministry on social media, stating: "Kill me, do whatever you want with me … destroy me, but I want my rights."  At the burial, many noteworthy actresses wore headscarves. The only woman to defy the obligatory hijab mandate was 16-year-old Mona Mehrjui, the murdered couple's daughter. 'The price of resistance is high' "I understand that the younger generation is angry with us. My generation is conservative and cautious," Shole Pakravan told DW. The stage actress and author has been living in Germany since 2017. Three years prior, her daughter Reyhaneh Jabbari was executed in Iran for killing the man who tried to rape her. Pakravan fought long and hard to save her daughter's life but was unsuccessful. Now she raises her voice for others. "I know that right now the price of resistance in Iran is very high," she said. "If you don't want to vanish out of sight, you must reluctantly wear a headscarf." She added that she did not believe that resistance in Iran had ended though. "It has changed and will reappear in new forms. Those in power can never undo what happened last year in Iran. They are now facing a young and courageous generation of women who know what they want: Freedom and the end of oppression."

In a worrying nexus of cybercrime, human trafficking and torture, Chinese gangs are running 'factories' for duping thousands of investors worldwide, according to Trueceylon News. Many job-seekers who went to Thailand for a job in IT were, in fact, recruited by Chinese criminal gangs to enslave them in cybercrime factories. Taking advantage of the sensitive geo-political situation in Myanmar and Cambodia, Chinese criminal gangs are luring several South Asian youths who are actively looking for jobs. The Chinese gangs manipulate them by misleading ads which promise high salaries for random online jobs, but in the end, forced them to commit cyber-frauds, according to Trueceylon News. For these gangs, the vulnerable job seekers from South Asian countries are the easy target. According to the publication, after luring them to Thailand, the gangsters usually push them illegally into other countries in the region with the bordering areas in Myanmar used most widely used for the purpose. Recently, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the citizens to beware of fraudulent job offers in Thailand in a public advisory, which was issued on April 21, 2023, reported Trueceylon News. They were also advised to exercise extreme caution and verify the background of recruiting agents before taking up any offer. The move came after the Sri Lankan Mission in Thailand noticed workers being tricked by dubious firms involved in call-centre scams and cryptocurrency frauds. Victims are illegally taken across the border from Thailand mostly into Myanmar and held captive to work under restrictive and harsh conditions. Authorities have also apprehended some of the victims for illegal entry into Myanmar. An examination of such cases revealed that the victims arrive in Thailand on tourist visas as the unknown recruiters usually promise to convert their visas to work visas after arrival, reported Trueceylon News. Earlier, similar issues were seen in other countries including Malaysia, Philippines, etc. In October 2022, 130 workers from India who were forced to work in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia were rescued by the Indian government. The Indian embassy in Yangon, Myanmar also issued an advisory on July 5, 2022, cautioning against 'unscrupulous elements offering jobs'. The victims were offered well-paying IT jobs that turned out to be fake, according to Trueceylon News. While the exact working model of these rackets is yet to emerge fully, it is clear that they bank upon a great degree on regional coordination which is also linked to other nodes of illicit activities. Placed against the weak law enforcement in the domain of cyber crimes, the groups seem to have accomplished themselves in the South East Asian region.

The giant retailer said it had "hired rapidly" over the past few years. It also cited the "uncertain economy" as a reason for its latest round of job cuts. Giant retailer Amazon announced on Wednesday it was cutting 18,000 jobs, as part of a previously announced layoff wave. The company's Chief Executive Andy Jassy said in a public staff note that annual planning "has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we've hired rapidly over the last several years." The 18,000 layoffs include both the recent ones and the ones previously announced in November. They will mostly impact the company's e-commerce services such as Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go, as well as the human resources organizations. Amazon has over 1.5 million employees, making it the second largest private employer in the US, after Walmart. Biggest cuts in company history The cuts, rolling since November last year, are considered the biggest in the company since it launched in 1994. As many strong economies flirted with recession and battled unusually high inflation in 2022, several tech companies struggled to sustain their businesses. That contrasts a surge in revenues they achieved during the pandemic. The social media giant Meta, which runs Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp, announced in November last year that it was laying off 13% of its workforce. However, the Reuters news agency suggested that Amazon's job cuts surpassed that of other tech giants, Meta included. Analysts see the cuts as the end of a so-called tech boom which has reigned over the last decade.

      Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday said that Pakistan is getting weaker after the country's Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa sought help from the US to secure an early loan dispersal from the International Monetary Fund. PTI chief said that it was not the job of the Army Chief to deal with economic matters, Geo TV reported. "If the news of Pakistan Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa contacting the United States officials for early dispersal of loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was true, it means we [Pakistan] are getting weaker," he added. He also questioned whether the US will demand anything in return if it decides to help Pakistan. According to a report by Nikkei Asia on Friday, Bajwa has urged the United States to help Islamabad secure an early dispersal of loan from the IMF. Bajwa requested the White House and Treasury Department to urge the lender to expedite the bailout process and immediately release the nearly USD 1.2 billion that Pakistan expects to receive under a resumed loan programme, Geo TV reported. Commenting on the development, the former prime minister said that neither the Washington-based lender trusts the government nor do other countries, "I think that's why the army chief has taken the responsibility now." Pakistan's Geo TV reported citing sources that the army chief reached out to the US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on a phone call earlier in the week, as Pakistan faces the risk of debt default due to dwindling foreign reserves. Speaking of the poor economic condition in the country, Khan said, "At this moment, the most alarming thing is the lack of trust of the market, somebody has to be held accountable for the current situation."  He reiterated his demands for early elections and said that political stability can only be seen when fair and transparent elections are conducted. "Those sitting in power are afraid of the elections," he said, recalling that when he was ousted from the office, he did nothing except for approaching the public. "If the coalition government had announced early elections, today the country would have been saved from this disaster," the PTI chairman said, citing the absence of a future roadmap by the coalition government as one of the reasons behind the economic crisis, Geo TV reported. "I don't have any personal grudges with anybody. I had healthy relations with Nawaz and [late] Benazir Bhutto; however, my problem is corruption as they come into power and make money for themselves," he highlighted. Earlier this month, the IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan authorities for the conclusion of the combined seventh and eighth reviews of the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). Despite the agreement, the ongoing political and economic turmoil in the country has raised concerns among investors, Pakistan's Business Recorder reported. Since the start of 2022, the rupee has lost over 30 per cent of its value, according to the Foreign Exchange Association of Pakistan. This downfall of Pakistani rupees comes as Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings said they expect Pakistan to secure the USD 1.2 billion bailouts from the International Monetary Fund. Source: THE TRIBUNE

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today (Sunday) urged the young generation to become entrepreneur instead of chasing after jobs wrapping up academic life.    "My call to the young generation is that instead of running after jobs in completion of academic life, you should put concentration on becoming entrepreneur and provide job to others, and all of you should prepare yourself in this way," she said.    The premier made this call while inaugurating the 8-day National SME Fair-2021 in city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) as the chief guest, joining virtually from her official residence Ganabhaban.    She said the government has taken all types of measures to develop the interested person as entrepreneur while anyone can be entrepreneur availing this scope.    Sheikh Hasina said her government has also allocated separate fund in the budget for "Start Up Programme" so that the young generation can take this opportunity.    In this connection, she also mentioned the government's initiatives of providing technical education and vocational training to the young people alongside making arrangement of different opportunities both off-line and online.    The prime minister also asked the officials concerned to pay special attention to the female entrepreneurs to help them expand their initiatives.    "We've kept special arrangement for female entrepreneurs in the 100 special economic zones and they will get special facilities for their venture," she said, referring to her initiative of setting up 100 special economic zones across the country.    With Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, MP in the chair, Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Foundation Chairperson Dr. Md. Masudur Rahman delivered the welcome address.    State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Mojumder MP, Secretary of the Ministry Zakia Sultana and Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FBCCI) President Md Jashim Uddin also spoke.    At the outset of the function, an audio-visual documentary on SME sector was screened.    Later, the prime minister also distributed National SME Entrepreneur Award-2021.    On behalf of the premier, the industries minister handed over crests, certificates and cheques to four entrepreneurs.    The awardees are Humaira Mustafa, Nazmul Islam, Mohammad Shoyeb Hasan and Mohammad Azizul Huq.    The fair will remain open from 10am to 8pm for all everyday till December 12. Source: BSS AH

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Friday said huge employment opportunities will be created after the beginning of vehicular movement on the Padma Bridge. “Those who are growing up now and studying will not face any job crisis. After completion of the construction of Padma Bridge, the economic scenario of the country will change. Many factories will be set up. Employment opportunities will be created for all,” he told journalists in Gopalganj. The minister talked to journalists after paying tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at his mazar (shrine) at Tungipara in the district. Kamal said Bangladesh is enjoying demographic dividend as around 61 percent people of the country are young. The government is working to create job opportunities for them after providing training, he added. Among others, State Minister for Religious Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Finance Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder and Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Gopalganj Sahida Sultana were present on the occasion. Source: BSS AH

We have to leave jobs due to different reasons. Sometimes people are seen leaving their jobs for misunderstanding with seniors, salary related matters, pressure of work and others. It is a normal matter. But don’t forget to do some works before leaving job- Many people leave their jobs after facing some situation. But before leaving the job be cool headed and think how much severe is the reason of your resignation. Try your best to solve the matter. Before leaving the job inquire about the organization you are going to join. Think deeply about the responsibility of new job, career future and facilities of the organization and then take decision. Try to submit your resignation letter after following rules of the organization so that nobody can tell you non-professional. Say farewell after maintaining good relation with your colleagues and other officials. Because you may work with these colleagues in another place in future. Take your testimonial and release letter from the old organization. Before leaving the office check your personal drawers, different files and computer to ensure that nothing of yours is left behind. AH

Elder brother of slain Feni madrasa girl Nusrat Jahan Rafi has got a job. Mahmudul Hasan Noman was appointed as Trainee Assistant Officer in NRB Bank. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed over the appointment letter to Noman when family members of Nusrat visited the premier at Ganabhaban on Monday. While meeting Nusrat's family members the Prime Minister said, nobody will be spared in connection with the killing of Nusrat. After the visit while briefing the newsmen Prime Minister's Press Secretary Ihsanul Karim said, the Prime Minister mentioned that Nusrat has set an unique example after protesting the unjust with brevity. The Prime Minister expressed deep shock and condolence over the tragic death of Nusrat. The Press Secretary said, the Prime Minister assured them of all types of cooperation. At that time Nusrat's parents expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for her support. AH  

Four members of parliament (MPs) who were elected first ever in the 11th national election have got the ministerial portfolios. After being elected a member of the parliament from Sylhet-1 constituency for the first time, AK Abdul Momen, the younger brother of former finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, was made the minister of the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Colonel (retd) Zahid Faruque Shamim, who was elected from Barisal-5 constituency for the first time, became the state minister. Barisal District Awami League Vice-President Zahid Faruque got the responsibility of the state minister for Water Resources. Former Chhatra League president AKM Enamul Haque Shamim, who was made the deputy minister for Water Resources Ministry, was elected from Shariatpur-2 constituency for the first time in the national election. Another deputy minister Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury Naofel was also elected MP from Chittagong-9 constituency. Former Chittagong Mayor ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury's son and Awami League Organizing Secretary Mahibul Hasan Chowdhury got the charge of the Ministry of Education. The members of the new cabinet of the 11th parliament are set to take oath at 3.30pm on Monday at Bangabhaban here. President Md Abdul Hamid will administer the oath to the new cabinet members led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, said President’s Press Secretary Md Joynal Abedin. On Sunday, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam announced the names of 47-member council of ministers, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, at a press conference at the Secretariat. The new council of ministers includes 24 ministers, 19 state ministers and 3 deputy ministers, he said. MHK  

The government has issued MPO guidelines fixing the age limit 35 years for the teaching profession in private educational institutions (schools and colleges). It also kept opportunities for transfer of teachers and officials in the guidelines. The guideline was published on the website of education ministry on Thursday which was signed on June 12. It said, the age limit for teachers and officials in private educational institutions will be 35 years. But the index holders’ age limit will be relaxed for appointment in the same or higher post. The salaries provided from government part (MPO) will be given until 60 years of the teachers and officials and no reappointment or contractual appointment will be given after crossing the age of 60 years. The new guideline said, from now the MPO affiliated teachers can be transferred from one to other institution. The details are mentioned in the guideline. It also said, the teachers and officials will get higher grade salary after passing ten years tenure of satisfactory performance. They will get it after six year in the same manner. But they will not get more than two higher grade salary or time scale in their professional life. Secondary and higher education division joint secretary (secondary) Salma Jahan said, application will be received for MPO affiliation after the Eid. After verification the permission will be given. AH