Author: Verified News Online

Alamgir visited the graves of BNP founder Ziaur Rahman and former PM Khaleda Zia before the ceremony. He has been a close political ally of Khaleda Zia, the former BNP chief. Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir was sworn in as Bangladesh’s 23rd President on Friday, taking charge as the country’s head of state after defeating his lone rival in the first contested presidential election in 35 years.The 78-year-old veteran politician and longtime secretary general of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) took the oath at Bangabhaban, the official office-cum-residence of the President, where Jatiya Sangsad Acting Speaker Kayser Kamal administered the oath at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Opposition Leader Shafiqur Rahman, former Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, Cabinet ministers, senior military officials and other dignitaries.Alamgir’s swearing-in came a day after he secured 255 votes against 88 for Colonel (retd) Oli Ahmed, the candidate of the Jamaat-e-Islami-led 11-..

Southeast Asian leaders have long insisted they will not be forced to pick sides in the great-power rivalry between the US and China. But their posture is about to be further tested.
This time, the battleground is AI. While Washington wants the region locked into Pax Silica – its bid to build a China-free artificial intelligence supply chain – Beijing wants its neighbours to join China’s own World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (Waico).
Sources told the South China Morning Post…

AdvertisementCrimeWorldEuropeMan armed with sword injures several at Swedish high schoolThe incident comes a year after Sweden’s worst mass shooting, in which a gunman killed 10 before turning the ‌weapon on himself
1-MIN READ1-MIN ListenReutersPublished: 10:49pm, 21 Aug 2026Updated: 10:52pm, 21 Aug 2026A man armed ⁠with a sword injured several people at a Swedish high school on Friday and one person was later detained, local authorities said.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at the ‌Brinell high school, which has some 450 students aged 16 to 20, in the town of Fagersta in central Sweden.
“A call was received regarding a case of ongoing deadly violence at a school in Fagersta,” police said in a statement, adding that one ⁠person at the scene was later taken into custody. A police spokesperson said there was no longer any danger to the public.
Several other schools and public buildings in Fagersta had ‌been placed in lockdown after the sword attack took place. Citing ⁠unnamed s..

Val Ripley and her sister opened the Ty Twt Dolls House and Toy Museum in Newport (Wales). At eight, Val Ripley woke up on Christmas morning in 1932 to find a huge parcel waiting for her. Inside was her first dolls' house. It was a gift from her parents. More than nine decades later, that childhood fascination is still a part of her life. Now 101, Val continues to collect dolls' house pieces and welcomes visitors to the museum she created with her sister in Newport, Pembrokeshire in Wales.”I remember thinking 'they can't have bought me that one', and it was my pride and joy my whole childhood,” Val recalled to BBC. But the dolls' house almost disappeared from her life.A childhood toy lost during the warThe museum opened 26 years ago and has since become a window into another era. In 1939, when Val's father returned to the Army as World War II began, the family's possessions including the dolls' house and other toys were packed away in pre-wa..

Clément Vandenkerckhove (R) with his father Prince Laurent (Source: Instagram) A Belgian car salesman has gone from ordinary life to royal status after Prince Laurent formally recognised him as his son, bringing a long-hidden paternity story into the Belgian royal family.Clément Vandenkerckhove, 26, is the son of Prince Laurent and Belgian singer Wendy Van Wanten. The relationship between Laurent and Van Wanten took place before the prince married Princess Claire in 2003.Vandenkerckhove was quietly brought into Laurent’s family at a town hall ceremony six months ago, although details of his new status have only now emerged.Vandenkerckhove had known for years that Laurent was his biological father. His mother revealed the identity to him when he was 16, and four years later he contacted the prince himself.The pair eventually underwent a DNA test together, which showed a 99.5% match, according to Vandenkerckhove’s account in a Flemish TV documentary.Although the recognition makes him a p..