President-cum-selector

Three Sixty Degree News: President-cum-selector: An over-enthusiastic Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon (R) reads out the 15-man Bangladesh World Cup squad, pushing...

President-cum-selector

An over-enthusiastic Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon (R) reads out the 15-man Bangladesh World Cup squad, pushing his chief selector Faruque Ahmed (L) on the sideline during a crowded press briefing at the BCB headquarters in Mirpur on Sunday.

An over-enthusiastic Bangladesh Cricket Board president Nazmul Hassan Papon (R) reads out the 15-man Bangladesh World Cup squad, pushing his chief selector Faruque Ahmed (L) on the sideline during a crowded press briefing at the BCB headquarters in Mirpur on Sunday.

Faruque Ahmed was all set to make a small piece of history on Sunday by becoming the only Bangladesh chief selector to announce two World Cup squads. But with a poker face the former Bangladesh captain, who is well-known for his gutsy approach, sat on the dais at the press conference room of the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur and witnessed a drama.

The all powerful Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Nazmul Hassan Papon read out the names of the 15-member final squad for the ICC World Cup.

Papon was not ready to finish with just the announcement. He further tried to expand by stating his technical knowledge on the selection issue, even though the person he hired to handle those issues (Faruque) was right there beside him.

That the BCB boss loves to talk about the technical aspects of the players is well known but what he did on Sunday was beyond anybody's imagination.

It's not like he broke the law. The constitution gives him absolute power to deal with any matter related to the board. There is however a norm in the gentleman's game that has been practised for years by every professional board.

The BCB itself has a committee with the technical persons to form the team and the general practice is that the board president approves the selections. As Faruque put it during the press conference, there is nothing wrong with the board asking the selectors about the selection of the team. If the president believes that the Faruque and company don't have the ability to form the team then he can be relieved of the job. But the way the discussions were made public was not the right way to go about it.

In a last-minute drama, the board delayed the announcement of the team by more than two hours. To everyone's surprise Papon himself revealed that the last minute discussion was regarding two bowling spots. He said that since a lot of the board directors, coach Chandika Hathurusingha and captain Mashrafe Bin Mortaza were present in Mirpur, he wanted to know their opinions. In addition the BCB president further embarrassed the selection committee by stating that the panel virtually could not decide on a 15-member team and that they had submitted a 16-member side.

Firstly, the board's interference on such technical issues is an extremely odd practice; and even if there was a question of discussion, it could have been done internally, well before the announcement of the team rather than it being made public.

At the end of the press conference the question dominated the rounds was how a sturdy customer like Faruque managed to swallow a pill so sour.

A Better 2015

If you really want to have a better 2015 this post will help you. You may want to start by becoming more involved in the Real Estate INVESTING industry. Try to start from the ground up. Learn the basics. Try to work on eliminating the things that can cause you to quit. Eliminate fear or skepticism etc. Focus on building your desire to succeed by doing the following:

1- Make a commitment-  You cannot win if you quit. Make a commitment to stick it out UNTIL you close a few deals. Stay  in the game by focusing on the lifestyle success will afford  you.  Get in the game and do as many of the in the field activities as you can find. This is how you become comfortable and get the experience it takes to become a Top Producer. It  will also build your muscle memory and expertise in the field.

2-Set Goals- Do not set unrealistic goals they will cause you to quit if you do not reach them. Set goals that stretch you a little but are attainable. One goal could be to invest  time listening to the Podcasts or watching the YouTube channel GaREIA  offers.  Find out when is the next Bootcamp and start paying for it now. You can even set a goal to register for one of the few Coaching programs that are offered at GaREIA like the Yellow Letter Mentoring Campaign or the Passive Income etc. The more you know the easier the it is to handle the obstacles you will face. These goals will also help you network and establish some great relationships with positive people who are headed in the same direction.

3- Have short and long term objectives. Set some objectives you want to achieve in the next 30, 60 and 90 days as a Real Estate Investor. What will you study and how will you implement what you have learned. Consider how you will add Real Estate investing activities to your current schedule. If you do not pencil it in it may never happen.  How many homes will you see, how many sellers will you speak with?

Set some goals for the next year or 5 years. It is much easier to hang in there if you set long term goals. Make them concrete by adding a Vision and Dream Board as part of your long term goals.

This is a short list of what it takes to change your financial life through Real Estate Investing. We will share more in the next few months. However, the main thing is to become a part of the community you want to earn from. If you are not a member yet then consider becoming a member by visiting our website and choosing the plan that fits your budget. Visit Georgia Real Estate Investors (GaREIA) Atlanta Real Estate Investing | Community, Education, Professional Services, Philanthropy and make it a prosperous New Year

				Georgia Real Estate Investors (GaREIA) Atlanta Real Esta… Happy Holidays ! Dec 18, 2014 by GaREIA GaREIA “Kick Off the New Year” Extravaganza! Monday January 12 The Commerce Club – Atlanta One Ninety One Peachtr…
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Make it a better 2015

Wendy Lovejoy  Marketing Director, GaREIA

Three Sixty Degree News: A year to right the wrongs

Three Sixty Degree News: A year to right the wrongs: Keep Smiling: If you are a sports fan and you want to enjoy your first morning of the new year with something pleasing from the year that ...

A year to right the wrongs

Keep Smiling: If you are a sports fan and you want to enjoy your first morning of the new year with something pleasing from the year that has gone by, the Daily Star Sports presents you two fine sporting moments of 2014. (L) Bangladesh left-arm spinner Taijul Islam is the toast of his teammates after becoming the only player to take a hattrick on ODI debut in a match against Zimbabwe in Mirpur on December 1.

For Bangladesh cricketers, the traditional 'look-back' throughout the last year won't be one that they would be too fond of. If it was not for a joyous series wins against Zimbabwe at the fag end of the year, pictures of a gloomy Mushfiqur Rahim with his head down during each of the post-match press conference would have probably been the ideal 'iconic collage' of the year for the Tigers.

With Bangladesh hosting two major global cricketing events in consecutive months, one would have expected 2014 to be a golden year for Bangladesh cricket. A long winless streak, however, spoilt all the fun. And make no mistake, the Tigers faced plenty of heat; so much so that Mushfiqur 'apologised to the nation' on more than one occasion.

Keep Smiling: Bangladesh U-23 midfielder Sohel Rana slides on the greens of Army Stadium after his winning goal against Nepal U-23 on August 26. Photos: Star File

The Twenty20 World Cup and the Asia Cup brought Bangladesh fans from all over the world on a single platform and made them dance to the same song. The Tigers', unfortunately, were not on the same tune.

It was a year of transition too with a complete reshuffle in the team management. From the head coach to the physio, almost every position of the national team management saw a new face.

The changes might not have been ideal, especially with the 50-over World Cup months away, but they were required nonetheless.

In came Chandika Hathurusingha, an inexperienced coach at the international circuit, yet one with a laudable profile in Australia's domestic competition.

A seemingly shrewd tactician, some of the strategies Hathurusingha employed were quite rare in Bangladesh cricket. Preparing pacey wickets to run through India's strong batting line-up in the second and third matches of the three-match ODI series, was one of them. While it did end up backfiring, it displayed a new line of thought and to a certain extent depicted the Sri Lankan's aggressive mindset.

There were changes in the personnel too as far as the national team is concerned, Abdur Razzak was left out of the India series; Shakib Al Hasan was banned after an argument with the coach while Nasir Hossain was dropped for the Zimbabwe series. It just showed that the Sri Lankan is a no-nonsense tactician.

Having failed to beat a Test nation throughout the year, the Zimbabwe series, Bangladesh's last series before the World Cup, was always going to be crucial. In fact, nothing less than perfect result would have pacified the fans and detractors alike.

After eking out a hard-fought win in the first Test, the cog wheels suddenly seemed to be churning again. From Shakib's double to Taijul Islam's hattrick on debut, from Mominul Islam's ninth-consecutive 50-plus score to Tamim Iqbal's batting out a day for just 70-odd runs; suddenly everyone was having a bite of the cherry.

While the year did end well, the Tigers know there is a lot more that they need to do before they can put on the blanket. If 2014 is considered as a year of wasted opportunities, 2015 can be dubbed as the year to rectify those mistakes. Because there will be plenty on the menu for the Tigers as they host Pakistan, India, South Africa and Australia after the World Cup.

At the end of the Test series against Zimbabwe, Hathurusingha was asked if he was happy with the 3-0 win. His reply seemed slightly ambitious enough. “We play Pakistan, Australia and South Africa next year. If we can remain unbeaten after that, I'll be happy.”

As pushy as it may sound, maybe that's the sort of result that Bangladesh cricket needs. If the victories against Zimbabwe provided an ounce of hope, wins against these top-ranked nations will perhaps even erase some of the painful memories of last year; like the defeats at the hands of Hong Kong and Afghanistan.

Welcoming 2015

Let's hope for better days

WITH the crack of the new dawn, we will set the old calendar aside to welcome the new one for the New Year. But still the past year will continue to influence us. That requires us to look back and assess our past performance while we embrace the New Year with positive expectations.

The redeeming feature has been sustained food autarky and improvement in socio-economic indicators in which we fared better than some of our South Asian neighbours.

Where did we leave the most important aspects of our national life, politics and governance, in the year that was? How did our state fare in establishing democracy and an exploitation-free just society? How far could the government ensure people's constitutionally granted basic rights like the right to health and education? What was our record of maintaining human rights? Could we rid our administration of the curse of corruption?

Can we put our hand on our heart and say that we could perform to the expected level in all these areas? Though unlike in 2013 or the years before, the streets of the capital or elsewhere in the country saw fewer agitations by the political opposition, that does not mean that peace reigned in the political life of 2014. The government's attitude towards the political opponents' right to assemble, hold rallies or take out processions was rather conspicuous by intolerance. Needless to say, the denial mode of the political leadership came in the way of its delivering good governance.

Nevertheless, we made steady headway in war crimes trial proceedings.

We look forward to good sense prevailing in the political discourse towards ushering in a positive outlook in 2015. Happy new year to our readers and patrons.

A science news preview of 2015

To help ring in the new year, the BBC's science and environment journalists weigh in on the blockbuster stories heading our way in 2015. An overview of 2015

David Shukman, science editor

Two very different countdowns will attract a lot of attention next year - one ticking towards to a summit on climate change in Paris, the other towards lift-off for Britain's first astronaut to fly to the ISS.

Usually you can measure international progress on global warming in inches rather than miles. Now, with China and the US, the two biggest emitters, reaching their own accord on cutting greenhouse gases, the UN hopes new impetus could lead, if not to a treaty, then at least to a wider agreement of some kind. To focus the minds of the presidents and prime ministers, a timetable has been set for countries to pledge their own steps to cut carbon ahead of the Paris gathering. Optimists will talk up the prospects. But anyone who witnessed the failure of the last big climate summit - in Copenhagen in 2009 - may sound a little more cynical.

Meanwhile, Tim Peake will be going through his final rounds of training before starting his historic six-month mission into space. In recent decades, manned spaceflight has failed to inspire successive UK governments but ministers are now excited by the chance of generating a massive profile for the growing space industry. Tim's journey begins at Baikonur, Russia's spaceport, where he'll climb into a trusty Soyuz rocket for the six-hour journey to the International Space Station. Blast-off is scheduled for Friday, 20 November. A departure time has already been set: 9pm London time. 1,000mph car

Jonathan Amos, science correspondent


Boom, boom! One of the most anticipated sounds of 2015 will be the double crack of the British Bloodhound car breaking the sound barrier. With a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine bolted to a rocket, the vehicle will hope to better the current World Land Speed Record of 763mph (1,230km/h) set by Andy Green in Thrust SSC in 1997.

The RAF Wing Commander will again be at the controls when Bloodhound SSC runs across a dried-up lakebed in Northern Cape, South Africa, towards the end of the year. The goal ultimately is to push the record beyond 1,000mph (1,610km/h), but that will have to wait until 2016. It has been quite a struggle just getting to the start line.

Finding the technical solutions to keep the car from going airborne during its high-speed runs has been the main reason why the project is now four years beyond the original schedule; and the required finances have more than tripled as a consequence. But the team believes it is now ready to make its mark.

Back in 1997, Thrust SSC was one of the very first stories to be reported by the then fledgling BBC News website. Our online service had started up just weeks earlier. We had some initial text copy, followed by still imagery, before finally video filtered out from the BBC team that had witnessed the event. How times have changed. Bloodhound SSC will be festooned with cameras and sensors, as will the 11-mile-long (18km) racetrack that has been specially prepared for it on Hakskeen Pan. All of this information will be streamed instantly to a global internet audience. Expect this to be one of the standout engineering moments of 2015. Brits in space

By Paul Rincon, section editor, website


There were eyebrows raised in Europe when Chichester-born Army Major Tim Peake was selected as an Esa astronaut back in 2009. UK governments have traditionally scorned human spaceflight and have contributed minimal amounts to this specific European Space Agency programme. But "Major Tim" was a standout candidate and some within the space agency hoped the move might encourage greater participation from Britain.

Thus, in late 2015, Tim will carry the Union flag on his arm as he launches in a Russian spacecraft to begin a six-month residence on the International Space Station (ISS).

Observers will be watching to see if the "Tim effect" can inspire a new generation of young scientists and engineers, boosting confidence in Britain's hi-tech industries. To that end, space agency chiefs have already organised competitions for schoolchildren to concoct a space meal for Tim and to design his mission patch.

Following his rigorous programme of astronaut training, the former helicopter pilot should begin his mission in November 2015. And he seems equally comfortable in his ambassadorial role as he does in an underwater training tank, having dealt adeptly with a grilling by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in 2013. The road to Paris

Roger Harrabin, environment analyst


This is the year when politicians are supposed to design and manufacture a new universal treaty on climate change.

There will inevitably be a gulf between the UN summit talks in Paris in December and what scientists say is needed. But the pressure is on.

The first milestone on the Paris road comes in March when the US, China and the EU should pledge their actions to reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels.

By November, all nations - rich and poor - will be asked to volunteer to stabilise or cut emissions, although the deal will rely on peer pressure and will not be legally binding.

If rich nations do not produce enough cash to help the poor get clean energy, the summit will surely fail. And poor nations won't sign a deal which allows the rich to dodge responsibility for cutting emissions.

But climate will be firmly on the G7 and G20 agendas. And none of the great powers wants to suffer the political impotence that shamed the 2009 climate summit in Copenhagen. Ground beneath our feet

Mark Kinver, environment reporter


Undoubtedly, anticipation will build as negotiations continue throughout the year ahead of the key UN climate summit in Paris.

But the coming 12 months is just as important, if not more so, for what is beneath our feet.

2015 is the UN International Year of Soils, which hopes to highlight the importance of one of the most complex biological materials on the planet.

A handful of the stuff can contain billions of microorganisms, and it takes more than 1,000 years to form just a centimetre of topsoil.

We abuse it or ignore it at our peril. Without soil, we do not eat and lose vital ecosystem services that underpin our economic, social and environmental wellbeing.

At the same time as the world's climate negotiators will be sweating in Paris, the world's soil scientists will be gathering in another part of France, in Dijon, for the first Global Soil Biodiversity Conference ahead of the publication of the first Status of World Soil Resources Report.

Soil is the largest terrestrial carbon store - absorbing more than 10% of the world's emissions - so no matter how much politicians in Paris pontificate or pledge, without healthy soil (and there are more than 100,000 types in the world) their efforts are likely to turn to dust. Mighty dwarfs

Paul Rincon, section editor, website


You wait ages for a mission to a dwarf planet and then two come along at once.

In July, a Nasa spacecraft will make a close pass of Pluto - the enigmatic frozen world that lies an average of 5.9 billion kilometres from the Sun. Discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto held planetary status until 2006, when an astronomical body demoted it to "dwarf planet" - a category of similarly petite objects scattered throughout our Solar System.

But Pluto's relegation to a lower league won't kill off any of the excitement about this unique mission, which will also gather data on the object's companion moons.

All we know of Pluto's surface comes from some relatively blurry images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, but this will be the first time any spacecraft has been up-close-and-personal with the object formerly known as "the ninth planet".

Earlier in 2015, in March to be exact, Nasa's Dawn spacecraft will turn up at another mysterious world called Ceres, which is the largest object in the asteroid belt - the collection of rocks that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Unlike the other irregular-looking objects in this belt, Ceres is so big it has taken on a near-spherical shape.

Density measurements suggest there could be ample stores of water-ice on Ceres. Scientists think that when the object swings through the part of its orbit that is closest to the Sun, a portion of its icy surface becomes warm enough to cause water vapour to gush out in plumes. The Dawn team will soon be able to test this theory.

Both missions - to Pluto and Ceres - will be key events in the science calendar for 2015. Smashing return

By Jonathan Webb, website science reporter


In 2015 the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world's most famous circular subterranean tunnel, will again fire up its accelerators after a two-year hiatus.

The team at Cern, the European particle physics centre near Geneva, Switzerland, has spent the break upgrading the collider.

Its next three-year run of experiments will fire beams of particles around its 27km (17-mile) circumference with almost twice as much energy as before.

After successfully confirming the existence of the Higgs boson in 2012, teams running Cern's four main experiments still have "unfinished business with the Universe", according to Prof Tara Shears from the University of Liverpool.

As well as more fully understanding the Higgs's properties, there are hopes of answering some big, outstanding questions relating to dark matter, antimatter and supersymmetry.

Prof Shears leads a team working on LHCb, an experiment buried on the French side of the border that aims to figure out why the Universe is mostly matter, when the Big Bang should have produced an equal amount of antimatter.

"We want to see what the new data shows us about antimatter, and why there's so little in the Universe," she said.

"We want to chase the hints we've seen in previous measurements, whose behaviour didn't quite match our expectations, in case these hints turn into discoveries."

Jeremy Renner is married and wants more kids

Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capitol File Magazine

Jeremy Renner has a big, heavy wedding band on his finger. And yes, he’s married.

His wife, Sonni, is back home in Los Angeles with their daughter, Ava. The two dated briefly and first went sort-of public in 2013; she was pregnant with his baby and living at his LA home. Chances are good that you won’t learn much more about Renner’s home-life — the guy is insanely private and very savvy about what little he reveals.

And there’s a reason few know anything about him.

“I’m like a ninja. What do you know about me? Nothing,” he says. “Personal is personal. Private is private. Which is why I am like a ninja. It was different when it was myself and I to deal with. I have a family now. When it comes to the daughter, I want her to have a normal life. I want her to fail every day and succeed every day and not get any (special) treatment.”

Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for Capitol File Magazine

He hasn’t seen Ava in three weeks because he’s shooting Mission: Impossible 5 in Morocco and says he’s dying. He Skypes with his wife and daughter but it’s not close to enough.

“I waited so long to have a child. Why did I miss her first birthday? I’ll remember that. It’s my memory that I want,” he says.

And yes, he’d like to have more kids.

“We can always have more. What does that mean?” he says, of how much he misses spending time with his daughter while he works with Tom Cruise.

Despite Renner’s undercover ways, he says he’s a softie at heart. And a mush when it comes to his kid.

“I always envisioned that by 45 I’d have a family. It came a little early,” he says. “Now (work) means hardly anything compared to my daughter. It’s crazy.”

AirAsia search delivers shocking, sudden news to relatives

(Photo: Trisnadi, AP)

SURABAYA, Indonesia — After more than two days of tense waiting to learn the fate of relatives aboard AirAsia Flight 8501, family members got the tragic news in sudden and shocking fashion Tuesday night: via live TV.

Indonesian news channel TVOne, airing real-time video aboard a search-and-rescue helicopter, zoomed in on debris floating in the Java Sea near the coast of Borneo, about 6 miles from the plane's last known location.

As dozens of relatives watched six large-screen TVs inside a crisis center at Juanda International Airport, the TV camera focused on the nearly naked body of a woman floating among the wreckage. Hysterical family members began wailing and screaming so loudly, they could be heard by reporters outside the center.

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