Entertainment
Bangladesh’s first female prime minister, Khaleda Zia, dies at 80
Khaleda Zia, who made history as Bangladesh’s first female prime minister and shaped the country’s politics for decades, died on Tuesday after a long illness, her party said.
Zia, aged 80, had advanced cirrhosis of the liver, arthritis, diabetes, chest and heart problems, her doctors said.
A post on the party’s Facebook read: “BNP chairperson and former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia passed away today at 6am just after Fajr (dawn prayer) […] We seek forgiveness of his soul and pray for his departed soul from everyone.”
Despite years of ill health and imprisonment, Zia vowed in November to campaign in elections set for February 2026 — the first vote since a mass uprising toppled her arch-rival Sheikh Hasina last year.
Zia’s BNP is widely seen as a frontrunner.
But in late November she was rushed to hospital, where, despite the best efforts of medics, her condition declined from a raft of health issues.
During her final days, interim leader Muhammad Yunus called for the nation to pray for Zia, calling her a “source of utmost inspiration for the nation”.
BNP’s media chief Moudud Alamgir Pavel also confirmed Zia’s death to AFP.
Zia was jailed for corruption in 2018 under Hasina’s government, which also blocked her from travelling abroad for medical treatment.
She was released last year, shortly after Hasina was forced from power.
There had been plans earlier this month to fly her on a special air ambulance to London, but her condition was not stable enough.
Her son, political heavyweight Tarique Rahman, only returned to Bangladesh after 17 years in self-imposed exile on Thursday, where he was welcomed back by huge crowds of joyous supporters.
Rahman will lead the party through the February 12 general election, and is expected to be put forward as prime minister if his party wins a majority.
King Charles, who was diagnosed with undisclosed form of cancer in 2024, has reportedly been making good progress in his health.
In a message shared on December 2025, to mark World Cancer Day, the monarch had shared the “good news” that his treatment will be “reduced” in 2026 which he described as a “personal blessing.
However, there are whispers that this has been a deliberate move to conceal any negative update about the King’s health, as the true story is different than what it seems, according to royal experts.
Royal correspondent Robert Jobson stressed that journalists were “pushed” by the Palace to “put a positive spin on the King’s health bulletins” when the reality is rather “sobering”.
He said during the The Royalist podcast that Palace aides had been focussed on only releasing positive news.
“I think it was overhyped in December. I think that the Palace were over-emphasizing the ‘good news’.”
The press spokespeople were saying, “Oh, this is good news.” They were trying to say to the journalists at the time, “Don’t interpret it any other way. This is good news.”
Meanwhile, royal editor Tom Sykes pointed out that since he shared the story about Charles having “live with cancer”, he was removed from the international media pool by the King’s powerful press office.
“Indeed, I was removed from the international media pool by the King’s communications secretary after I noted the King’s cancer was incurable, a fact the Palace has since acknowledged. My expulsion was used as an example to intimidate other journalists into toeing the Palace line,” Tom said.
He pointed out from then on, the press has been supressing the health updates as per the “privacy rules” of the King’s “powerful” press office.
Laufey is about to release the music video for her new single, Madwoman, and it stars many familiar faces, including KATSEYE member Megan Skiendiel.
The 26-year-old jazz pop star has been teasing the project on social media and revealed all her co-stars one by one in Instagram posts.
The From The Start hitmaker will be starring in the video alongside Olympics champion Alysa Liu, The Summer I Turned Pretty star Lola Tung, as well as Skeindiel in the video, according to her latest post.
The music video is set to be released on April 10, alongside the deluxe version of Laufey’s latest album, A Matter of Time: The Final Hour.
The announcement sparked an exciting reaction among fans who flocked to the comments and wrote, “OMGGG?????? HELLO WE WON,” and “ALL QUEENS.”
A third chimed in, “Friday will simply not come FAST enough,” while some joked that she is “collecting wasians like pokemon cards.”
Tom Holland declared Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey “an absolute masterpiece.”
In a recent interview with GQ, Tom Holland praised Christopher Nolan’s upcoming epic The Odyssey, describing it as “unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”
Holland explained that Nolan’s reliance on practical, in-camera effects rather than CGI left him stunned by the sheer scale of the production.
“There were certain sequences in the movie where I’m watching it and I’m just sort of thinking like, ‘How on earth has he done that? That has to be CG,’” Holland said.
“And then after the movie asking him, ‘That was definitely CG, right?’ And he’s like, ‘No, no, no, that’s all in camera effects. Very planned, very prepared.’”
Based on Homer’s legendary poem, The Odyssey stars Matt Damon as Odysseus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Holland as Telemachus, and Zendaya as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war who guides Odysseus through his trials. The ensemble also includes Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Charlize Theron.
Holland explained that Nolan’s approach reminded him why audiences still crave the big-screen experience.
He added, “I am a real advocate for theatrical and the cinema and the communal experience of sitting in a dark room and being entertained. I think that is something for the next 10 years of my life that I will be very focused on.”
With a reported $250 million budget and a July 17, 2026 release date, Nolan’s film is shaping up as one of the year’s most ambitious projects.
More than just a film, it is being positioned as a cultural event: one designed to remind audiences of the enduring power of myth and the magic of theaters.
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