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Latest news and updates in Bangladesh
The Government of France conferred honours on Mawlana Hazar Imam and Prince Amyn for their contributions to culture, both personally and through the activities of the Aga Khan Development Network. The French Minister for Culture and Communication, Frédéric Mitterrand, paid tribute to Hazar Imam and his brother at a ceremony held in Paris last week.
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture will be featured in a three-part documentary series titled Architects on the Frontline, to be broadcast at various times on BBC World television starting on 20 November. The final part of the BBC documentary will feature the 2010 ceremony, which will take place in Doha, Qatar later this month.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies will hold a live webcast for individuals interested in its Graduate Programme in Islamic Studies and Humanities (GPISH) on Saturday, 20 November.
Earlier this year, the Aga Khan Heath Board for the United Kingdom launched their first National Recipe Competition. The competition provided a chance for cooking connoisseurs of all ages to share their culinary creations.
Calgary, 18 October 2010 – The city of Calgary, Alberta was overcome by a “purple revolution” on Monday as Calgarians elected Naheed Nenshi their new mayor. The Harvard-educated professor and former McKinsey consultant is the first Muslim to be elected mayor of a major city in Canada.
Toronto, 15 October 2010 – “What the Canadian experience suggests to me is that identity itself can be pluralistic,” said Mawlana Hazar Imam before a packed audience at the Royal Conservatory’s Telus Centre for Performance and Learning. Speaking at the invitation of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, Hazar Imam received a warm welcome from the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul.
Toronto, 14 October 2010 – Mawlana Hazar Imam arrived in Toronto today, where he will deliver this year’s lecture at the 10th annual LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium. An initiative of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, the Symposium engages Canadians in a national conversation around the future shape of Canada’s civic culture. The lecture will take place on on Friday, 15 October at 7:30 PM EDT.
Ottawa, 8 October 2010 – Mawlana Hazar Imam completed a two-day visit to Ottawa for the inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors of the Global Centre for Pluralism. Thursday evening, Hazar Imam also met with His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, at Rideau Hall.
Professor Mohamed Arkoun passed away in Paris on 14 September at the age of 82. An outstanding research scholar and a rigorous critic of the theoretical tensions embedded in the field of Islamic Studies, he was a courageous public intellectual and a powerful voice in the frequently contentious debates on Islamic modernism and humanism.
Islamabad, Pakistan, 12 August 2010 – FOCUS Pakistan has launched a significant relief effort in the wake of severe flooding that has caused widespread destruction in several of the country’s provinces. With its Search and Rescue Team, Community Emergency Response Teams and hundreds of volunteers, FOCUS has already delivered food, shelters and supplies to hundreds of affected households, with some 200 tonnes of relief goods en route to help thousands more
In June, Ismailis from Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur joined the Jamat in Penang, Malaysia for a sports day event that coincided with Father’s Day. Numerous activities were organised, but badminton and table tennis were the centrepiece competitions.
On 11 July, the Ismaili Centre, Dushanbe was the venue for an Imamat Day reception hosted by the Aga Khan Development Network in Tajikistan. The event, which also marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of an Agreement of Cooperation between the Government of Tajikistan and the AKDN, included a cultural show as well as a three-day exhibition of AKDN’s projects in the country during the past 15 years.