Countless things happen around us every day, and only a handful make the headlines. Yet some become important given the time and circumstances, and not knowing about them can leave us behind. So Jagonews brings its readers a short round-up of important news from around the world.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said people seem to have forgotten the deadly coronavirus, and that such complacency and lack of awareness could open the way for even more dangerous variants. He voiced his concern on Friday at a press conference at the WHO office in Geneva, Switzerland.

A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck Java province in Indonesia on 3 December, the country's geophysics agency BMKG said, and residents ran out of their homes when it began. Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB), said one person was injured and four houses were damaged in the town of Garut. The quake was also felt in the capital, Jakarta.

The United States has listed China and Iran as "countries of concern" over serious violations of religious freedom, confirmed in a statement signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday. In the statement, Blinken said governments and groups close to them in various countries harass, threaten, imprison and even kill ordinary people simply because of their religious beliefs. "The United States cannot stay silent in response to these human rights abuses. That is why they have been added to the list of countries of concern."

Trinamool Congress all-India general secretary Abhishek Banerjee was due to hold a meeting in Contai, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, on 3 December. But on Friday night a bomb blast rocked the home of the party's booth president, killing booth president Rajkumar Manna, booth member Deb Kumar Manna and Biswajit Gayen. Rajkumar Manna and Deb Kumar Manna were brothers.

The United States has unveiled a new bomber built with cutting-edge technology, the B-21 Raider. It can carry a nuclear payload and can fly without any crew. The next-generation stealth bomber was unveiled on 2 December at a ceremony attended by top US officials at arms maker Northrop Grumman in California.

Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, is taking a tougher stance on sex outside marriage. A new law on punishing sex before marriage is set to pass in the country's parliament, with a maximum penalty of one year in prison, the British broadcaster BBC reported on 2 December. The law may pass as early as next week and would apply to foreigners visiting Indonesia as well as its citizens.

Sundar Pichai, chief executive of internet search engine Google and software company Alphabet, has received the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour. India's ambassador to the United States, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, presented the award to him on Friday, local time, in San Francisco, California.

New York City has seen a sudden surge in rats, and the city authorities will hire a rat hunter to tackle it. The job will pay up to $170,000 a year, more than Tk 1.74 crore in Bangladeshi currency. In a tweet on 1 December, New York Mayor Eric Adams told applicants that he hates rats more than anything. If you have the drive, determination and killer instinct needed to fight New York City's rats, he said, your "dream job" awaits.

Argentina were to face Australia in the knockout stage of the Qatar World Cup at 1am Bangladesh time on the night of 4 December. Messi fans in Kolkata pinned their hopes on the match and predicted that Argentina would beat Australia 3-0. With this being Messi's last World Cup, the frenzy among his fans is all the greater. Kolkata's lanes and streets are decked in blue and white, Argentine flags fly from the roofs of most fans' homes, and pictures and posters of Messi are everywhere, as if a slice of Argentina had come to Kolkata.

Qatar amazed the world by becoming the first Arab country to host the men's football World Cup. Alongside it, Qatar has also held another world cup: a camel beauty contest. It was sponsored by Qatar's Ministry of Sports and Youth, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the local World Cup organising committee. According to Turkish outlet TRT World, a camel named Naja won the title of most beautiful in Friday's final, after passing several earlier rounds.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.