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New Zealand’s 10-wicket hero left out, Latham to captain against Bangladesh

New Zealand have confirmed their 13-man squad for next month’s two-Test series against Bangladesh. With home conditions typically suiting the seamers, New Zealand's selectors have opted against picking a specialist spinner. Hence, Ajaz Patel has missed out on selection after becoming the third player to claim a Test 10-wicket haul in the Black Caps’ most recent match. New Zealand will be without regular captain Kane Williamson for the series as he continues to rest his injured elbow. In Williamson’s place, Tom Latham will captain. “It’s great to be back home and at venues, we know well, and where we’ve had success in recent times” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said. “It’s obviously disappointing not to have Kane available for this series but, as we noted in India, he is undergoing a sustained period of rest followed by rehabilitation, strengthening and gradual batting loading. “We have every confidence in Tom leading the side - he’s done an excellent job in the past when called upon. “You do feel for Ajaz after his record-breaking display in India. However, we’ve always applied a horses-for-courses selection policy and believe the players selected best fit the way we want to take on Bangladesh here at home.” New Zealand squad Tom Latham (c), Tom Blundell (wk), Trent Boult, Devon Conway, Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson, Daryl Mitchell, Henry Nicholls, Rachin Ravindra, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor, Neil Wagner, Will Young

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Qatar World Cup: Families seek answers over migrant worker deaths

Nov 16: In the early hours of 10 November, Qatar airlines flight QR 644 touched down at Nepal's Kathmandu airport. Among the cargo unloaded from the plane was a large white wooden box. "Human Remains of late Umesh Kumar Yadav, 32 years male, Nepali" was written on the outside. In Golbazar, 250km (155 miles) south-east of Kathmandu, his father ties up his buffalo outside his brick house. He lives in one of the poorest districts of one of the poorest nations in the world, where opportunity is scarce. When his son Umesh was offered the chance to go and work in Qatar, one of the world's richest countries, Laxman Yadav sold some buffalo to pay $1,500 (£1,250) to an employment agent who promised to arrange a job. It's common for agents to visit impoverished areas not just in Nepal, but in Bangladesh and India, offering young men a lucrative job overseas, in exchange for large sums of money to secure them a visa. The workers are often passed from contract to contract, making it hard for the families to know where their relatives are working, and for whom. A two-hour drive away in the district of Dhanusha is Krishna Mandal's house. His father Sitesh left to work in Qatar four years ago. Sometimes Sitesh sent his son selfies while at work. "He told me he worked on water tanks, but didn't tell us too much about what he was doing," says Krishna. Sitesh was due to return for a visit on 12 October. But just days before, Krishna got a phone call telling him his father had been killed in an accident. A family friend said Sitesh was been working on sewage pipes, seven feet below ground in the capital Doha, when a heavy mound of earth fell onto him. His death certificate said he suffered "multiple blunt injuries due to solid object impact". Krishna says he hasn't received a single phone call from his father's employer, or an offer of compensation. The BBC contacted the company Sitesh worked for to get a comment, but they didn't respond. From Golbazar, Laxman didn't know too much about his son's life in Qatar - he does not own a smartphone and couldn't follow the daily updates Umesh used to post on TikTok. In his videos, he could be seen dancing in front of Qatar's glitzy skyline or in his dorm-style accommodation with other migrant workers. Umesh also shared clips of him at work on construction sites - smiling from on top of a ladder, or even - in true TikTok fashion - lifting heavy concrete blocks as a challenge. On 26 October, Umesh posted a video of himself dancing at night in front of some skyscrapers running adverts for the upcoming World Cup. It was the last post he'd ever make. Umesh's cousin, also called Laxman, and also working in Qatar, got a call on 27 October to say he had died. He went with others to the construction site to find out how. "They told us Umesh was taking the scaffold lift up, when it touched something and broke, and he fell down," he said. "They should have taken care of safety at the workplace," Laxman says. "They should have checked everything and only then allowed people to work." The BBC has been in touch with the construction company Umesh worked for - they strenuously deny a lapse in safety caused his death. "The accident occurred as a result of his negligence and recklessness," their statement said. "The worker who died was very careless on the site and was notified many times to abide by the safety conditions like the rest of his colleagues, but to no avail." Since World Cup construction began in Qatar, reports have emerged of the difficult conditions for and deaths of migrant workers. Qatar's government says it is committed to "ensuring the health, safety and dignity of all workers employed on our projects". It told the BBC it has improved health and safety regulations. But new figures given to the BBC by the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre show that in the past year there have been close to 140 cases of violations of workers' rights, with around half relating to health and safety issues. They believe the true figure might be higher, partly due to fear of reprisal. The BBC has seen more than a dozen death certificates of workers from across South Asia over a six-year period. Many cite the cause of death as "multiple blunt injuries". Families say they still want answers. While Umesh's coffin made its way from the airport to Golbazar, his father Laxman and dozens of other villagers prepared for his last rites - collecting piles of wood and hay to start the fire. In Nepal it is tradition for the eldest son to light the pyre. Laxman held Umesh's son, 13-month-old Sushant, easing a stick into the baby's tiny hand so he could start the fire. "He used to support us. We have loans to pay, and his young children to support," Umesh's mother Sumitra said, her face wet with tears. "He was my hero." (with inputs from BBC)

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As the 8 billionth child is born, who were 5th, 6th and 7th?

The UN says the world's population has hit eight billion, just 11 years after passing the seven-billion milestone. After a big surge in the second half of the 20th Century, population growth may now begin to slow It could take 15 years to reach nine billion and the UN doesn't expect to reach 10 billion until 2080. It's hard to calculate the number of people in the world accurately, and the UN admits its sums could be out by a year or two. But 15 November is its best estimate for the eight billion line to be crossed. In previous years, the UN has selected babies to represent the five, six and seven-billionth children - so what can their stories tell us about world population growth? A few minutes after he was born in July 1987, Matej Gaspar had a flashing camera in his tiny face and a gaggle of besuited politicians surrounding his exhausted mother. Stuck at the back of a motorcade outside, British UN official Alex Marshall felt partially responsible for the momentary chaos he had brought upon this tiny maternity unit in the suburbs of Zagreb. "We basically looked at the projections and dreamed up this idea that the world population would pass five billion in 1987," he says. "And the statistical date was 11 July." They decided to christen the world's five billionth baby. When he went to the UN's demographers to clear the idea they were outraged. "They explained to us ignorant people that we didn't know what we were doing. And we really shouldn't be picking out one individual among so many." But they did it anyway. "It was about putting a face to the numbers," he says. "We found out where the secretary general was going to be that day and it went from there." Thirty-five years later the world's five-billionth baby is trying to forget his ceremonious entry into the world. His Facebook page suggests he's living in Zagreb, happily married and working as a chemical engineer. But he avoids interviews and declined to speak to the BBC. "Well, I don't blame him," Alex says, remembering the media circus of Matej's first day. Since then, three billion more people have been added to our global community. But the next 35 years could see a rise of only two billion - and then the global population is likely to plateau. Just outside Dhaka in Bangladesh, Sadia Sultana Oishee is helping her mum, peeling potatoes for dinner. She's 11 and would rather be outside playing football but her parents run a pretty tight ship. The family had to move here when their business, selling fabric and saris, was hit by the pandemic. Life is less expensive in the village, so they can still afford to pay school fees for their three daughters. Oishee is the youngest and the family's lucky charm. Born in 2011, she was named one of the world's seven-billionth babies. Oishee's mum had no idea what was about to happen. She hadn't even expected to give birth that day. After a doctor's visit she was sent to the labour ward for an emergency Caesarean section. Oishee arrived at one minute past midnight, surrounded by TV crews and local officials craning over each other to see her. The family were stunned but delighted. Oishee's father had hoped for a boy but now he's happy with his three hard-working, intelligent daughters. His eldest is already in university and Oishee is determined to become a doctor. "We are not that well-off and Covid has made things harder," he says. "But I'll do everything to make her dream come true." Since Oishee was born another 17 million people have been added to Bangladesh's growing population. This growth is a great medical success story, but the rate at which Bangladesh is expanding has slowed enormously. In 1980 the average woman would have more than six children, now it is less than two. And that's thanks to the focus that the country has put on education. As women become more educated they choose to have smaller families. This is crucial for understanding where the world's population is likely to go. The three main bodies that make projections on global population - the UN, the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington and the IIASA-Wittgenstein Centre in Vienna - vary on the gains they expect in education. The UN says the global population will peak in the 2080s at 10.4 billion but the IHME and Wittgenstein believe it will happen sooner - between 2060 and 2070, at less than 10 billion. But these are just projections. Since Oishee was born in 2011 a lot has changed in the world, and demographers are constantly surprised. "We were not expecting that the Aids mortality would fall so low, that treatment would be saving so many people," says Samir KC, a demographer at the IIASA. He's had to alter his model because an improvement in child mortality has a long-term impact, as surviving children go on to have children themselves. And then there are the staggering drops in fertility. Demographers were shocked when the number of children born per woman in South Korea dropped to an average of 0.81, Samir KC says. "So, how low will it go? This is the big question for us." It is something more and more countries will have to grapple with. While half of the next billion people will come from only eight countries - most of them in Africa - in most countries the fertility rate will be lower than 2.1 children per woman, the number necessary to sustain a population. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, one of the most rapidly declining populations in the world, 23-year-old Adnan Mevic thinks about this a lot. "There is going to be nobody left to pay for pensions for retired people," he says. "All the young people will be gone." He has a masters in economics and is looking for a job. If he can't find one he'll move to the EU. Like many parts of Eastern Europe, his country has been hit with the double-whammy of low fertility and high emigration. Adnan lives outside Sarajevo with his mum, Fatima, who has surreal memories of his birth. "I realised something was unusual because doctors and nurses were gathering around but I couldn't tell what was happening," Fatima says. When Adnan arrived, the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was there to christen him the world's six-billionth baby. "I was so tired, I don't know how I felt," Fatima recalls, laughing. Adnan and his mum flick through photo albums. In one a tiny boy sits in front of a giant cake, flanked by men in suits and military khakis. "While other kids were having birthday parties, I was just visited by politicians," Adnan says. But there were perks. Being the six-billionth baby led to an invitation to meet his hero, Cristiano Ronaldo, at Real Madrid, when he was 11. He finds it stunning that in 23 years the world population has grown by two billion people. "That's really a lot," he says. "I don't know how our beautiful planet will cope." (with inputs from BBC)

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Myanmar junta hits Suu Kyi with five new charges over helicopter purchase

JAN 16: A Myanmar junta court has hit ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi with five new corruption charges related to the alleged hiring and purchase of a helicopter. The Nobel laureate, 76, has been detained since the February 1 coup last year which triggered mass protests and a bloody crackdown on dissent with more than 1,400 civilians killed, according to a local monitoring group. Suu Kyi is facing a raft of criminal and corruption charges -- including violating the country's official secrets laws -- and if convicted of all of them could face sentences tallying more than 100 years of prison. The charges were levelled against Suu Kyi on Friday afternoon and related to the hire, maintenance and purchase of a helicopter, the sources said. Former Myanmar president U Win Myint was also hit with the same charges, they said. In December, state newspaper Global New Light of Myanmar said the pair would be prosecuted for not following financial regulations and causing a loss to the state over the rent and purchase of a helicopter for former government minister Win Myat Aye. He rented the helicopter from 2019 to 2021 and used it for only 84.95 hours out of 720 rental hours, the paper said. He is now in hiding, along with other former lawmakers. A Myanmar court on Monday convicted Suu Kyi of three criminal charges related to illegally importing and owning walkie talkies and breaking coronavirus rules. She was sentenced to four years in prison. In December, she also received a two-year jail sentence for incitement against the military and for other coronavirus violations. The six years of jail time will likely prevent Suu Kyi from participating in fresh elections that the military junta has vowed to hold by August 2023. Suu Kyi is expected to remain under house arrest as the other legal cases progress. Journalists have been barred from attending the special court hearings in Naypyidaw and her lawyers were recently banned from speaking to the media. The daughter of an independence hero, Suu Kyi spent nearly two decades enduring long stretches of house arrest under the former military regime. Her time in office was marred by her government's handling of the Rohingya refugee crisis in which hundreds of thousands escaped to Bangladesh in 2017 as they faced rapes, arson and extrajudicial killings at the hands of the Myanmar military. Before the coup, Suu Kyi was on the cusp of beginning another five-year term as the country's de facto leader after the National League for Democracy won a landslide in November 2020 polls. AFP sought comment from the Myanmar junta -- which calls itself the State Administration Council.

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