Dhaka hopes a conference can provide solutions to the aid crisis facing Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
Virginia Tech Welcomes British Junior National Champion Hayden Annan for the 2025-26 Season
By Anne Lepesant on SwimSwam
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Hayden Annan from Cranbrook, England, will join The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University men’s swimming and diving team this fall. Annan, who graduated from Cranbrook School, trains with RTW Monson and represents England internationally.
Annan specializes in mid-distance freestyle. He won the 200 free junior title at the 2025 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships in April, coming to the wall .02 ahead of Jacob Mills in a personal-best time of 1:50.06. He earned a PB in the 100 free (50.71), as well.
He represented Great Britain at the European Junior Championships this summer, placing 18th in prelims of the 200 free (1:50.90) and 42nd in prelims of the 400 free (4:01.82). He also led off the 4×200 free relay (1:51.72).
Last summer, Annan placed 2nd in the 200 free (1:52.33), 2nd in the 400 free (3:59.39), 3rd in the 800 free (8.22.40), 7th in the 1500 free (16:24.25), and 18th in the 200 fly, in the 17 year age category at 2024 British Summer Championships.
Best LCM times:
- 100 free – 50.71 (43.86)
- 200 free – 1:50.06 (1:35.34)
- 400 free – 3:59.39 (4:26.14)
- 800 free – 8:22.40 (9:22.91)
- 1500 free – 16:14.74 (15:55.62)
Converted times are approximate and can only serve as an indication of how Annan might do in a short-course pool. That said, for comparison’s sake, it took 42.78/ 1:34.41/ 4:24.33/ 16:03.21 to score in the freestyle events at 2025 ACC Championships.
Annan will suit up with newcomeres Andy Roose, Connor Johnson, Benedek Toth, Clem Camacho, Jack Mainville, Javier Núñez , Lucas Humling, Matthew Cairns, and Tristan Dorville in Blacksburg.
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Read the full story on SwimSwam: Virginia Tech Adds British Junior National Champion Hayden Annan for 2025-26
‘KPop Demon Hunters’ re-released sing-along version dominates US box office, raking in $20 million
A sing-along version of Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters scored a box office victory in the US this weekend, earning about $18 million to $20 million in box office takings on Saturday (August 23) and Sunday (August 24).
That’s according to Variety, which reported on Sunday (August 24) that the film outpaced Warner Bros.’ horror film Weapons in its third weekend of release. Weapons was reportedly expected to claim the weekend title with $15.6 million from 3,631 North American theaters.
The box office turnover of the animated musical was a rare theatrical win for Netflix, which typically avoids wide cinema releases.
The company hasn’t reported official gross sales, but Variety reported, citing “knowledgeable sources” that KPop Demon Hunters played on 1,700 screens across the United States.
Netflix announced on Sunday that Arden Cho, May Hong, Ken Jeong, vocalists REI AMI and Kevin Woo, directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, and producer Michelle L.M. Wong surprised fans of the film in theaters in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend.
Following the limited theatrical event, which Netflix said “featured more than 1,000 sold-out screenings,” the streamer confirmed that the sing-along version will debut on Netflix today (August 25).
Sony Pictures Animation produced KPop Demon Hunters.
The movie follows fictional K-pop girl group HUNTR/X, whose members secretly moonlight as demon hunters tasked with maintaining a magical barrier that protects humans from the dark underworld. It also features HUNTR/X’s nemeses, bad-boy group Saja Boys.
Since its streaming debut, the movie has become Netflix’s second-most watched English-language film ever and the most-viewed original animated film on the platform of all time.
As MBW previously reported, the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, released via Visva/Republic Records, has become the highest-charting soundtrack of 2025, with the album peaking at No. 2 on the all-genre Billboard 200. Seven songs from the soundtrack landed on the Billboard Hot 100.
Last week, HUNTR/X’s Golden added a fifth straight week at No. 1 on both the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Exc. US charts. The fictional K-pop group’s How It’s Done also earned its second Top 5 Global 200 hit.
“For 48 hours, this made-for-television film is playing to sold-out audiences who are singing, dancing, dressing up and losing themselves in the fun. That’s pop entertainment at its best.”
David A. Gross, Franchise Entertainment Research
Analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research was quoted by Variety as saying: “For 48 hours, this made-for-television film is playing to sold-out audiences who are singing, dancing, dressing up and losing themselves in the fun. That’s pop entertainment at its best.”
“There is no CinemaScore, but audiences, particularly kids, love this movie. That’s why it’s here.”
However, Variety and The Hollywood Reporter noted that AMC Theatres, the world’s dominant cinema chain, refused to participate in playing the re-release of KPop Demon Hunters in cinemas. THR said rival chains Regal and Cinemark, along with Alamo Drafthouse and other cinema operators embraced the opportunity during the slow summer weekend.
Meanwhile, Variety said the overall box office remains 5.1% ahead of last year, although that margin has shrunk from the 25% lead recorded in early June. Summer ticket sales currently stand at $3.5 billion through late August, well short of the $4 billion benchmark that was common before the pandemic, said Variety.
Senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian told the news outlet: “This is one of the slowest weekends of the year as we head into the final week and a half of the summer. It’s not great news in terms of the summer revenue outlook.”
Music Business Worldwide
Daimler Restores the World’s First Truck
An innovation is more easily appreciated when compared with what it replaced, and so it is for the first petrol truck, which is undergoing restoration this month in southwestern Germany.
Or rather, a replica of that vehicle is being restored, after having been withdrawn from display at Daimler Truck’s headquarters in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, south of Stuttgart.
The replica is spending the month of August at a trade school in nearby Nürtingen, where apprentices learn to restore and maintain classic cars. When it returns to the lobby at Daimler, it will be as a fully operational model.
“The handcrafted vehicle will be restored to working order under the guidance of experienced instructors and as part of the additional qualification in classic and modern classic cars by specially trained automotive apprentices,” Daimler says. A demonstration run is scheduled for the Spitzkraut Classics, a classic vehicle event taking place in October.
Gottlieb Daimler and his team produced their truck prototype in 1896, about 11 years after Daimler built the first petroleum-powered vehicle, a motorcycle that relied for balance on outrigger wheels. The bike preceded Daimler’s first car because a car would have overtaxed the 264cc (16-cubic-inch) engine employed, which made half a horsepower (0.37 kW) at 600 rpm.
By the time Daimler turned its attention to producing a truck, its power plants had become more sophisticated. The truck prototype was powered by a 1060cc (65-cu-in) four-stroke with two vertical cylinders and Daimler’s patented hot-tube ignition. It generated a lusty 4 horsepower.
Daimler
That output isn’t much by today’s lofty standards, but it would have allowed the truck to sustain the combined work of two or three horses while saving its owner the need to house, feed and harness the animals.
The gas engine was also more compact than the coal-fueled, steam-driven alternatives being developed at that time in England, and so Daimler could place it behind the rear axle of a chassis that owed much to the horse-drawn cart.
A multi-speed belt drive from the engine turned a transverse layshaft mounted under the tray. Pinion gears at each end of the layshaft engaged with the internal teeth of ring-gears that were firmly affixed to the truck’s steel-shod cart wheels. Rear suspension was provided by coil springs.
Like a cart driver guiding his horses, the truck driver sat ahead of the leaf-sprung front axle, steering it from a small horizontal wheel via a vertical shaft and a chain.
Daimler
By 1898 the prototype had given way to a truck much more in keeping with modern designs, with a 2.2-liter (134-cu-in) engine placed over the front axle, in front of the driver, and driving the rear wheels through a shaft. A Bosch magnetic ignition had replaced Daimler’s hot-tube device.
“The restoration project combines automotive tradition, modern training and intergenerational exchange within the craft in a unique way,” Daimler says of its effort. “At the Philipp Matthäus Hahn School in Nürtingen, one of the leading schools for classic and modern classic cars in the Stuttgart region, authenticity is paramount.”
Daimler hasn’t said why the prototype being restored is a replica. Perhaps the original went the same way as history’s first motorbike, lost in a 1903 fire at Daimler’s first factory – along with the rest of Daimler’s museum and 93 production cars.
Source: Daimler
Israeli strike on hospital kills 15, including four journalists, according to Gaza officials
At least 15 people, including four journalists working for the international media, are reported to have been killed in an Israeli strike on a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip.
A Reuters cameraman and an Associated Press journalist were among those killed in the attack at Nasser Hospital. Another journalist is reported to have worked for Al Jazeera.
Several people were killed in an initial strike, and others in a second which happened as rescuers attended the scene, the Hamas-run Civil Defence said.
The Israeli military said it had carried out an attack on the hospital and an investigation had been ordered. It added that it “does not target journalists as such”.
In video from the scene, a doctor standing at an entrance to what is the main hospital in southern Gaza holds up bloodied clothes to show journalists following the first strike. Suddenly there is a blast, sending people running for cover as glass shatters. A man injured by the blast is seen trying to drag himself to safety.
In other footage, white and grey smoke can be seen billowing from an upper level of the hospital where damage is apparent. Outside, people are running and shouting amid chaos, as ambulance horns can be heard.
Reuters news agency said its cameraman, Husam al-Masri, was among those killed. The Associated Press (AP) said Mariam Dagga, a freelance journalist working for it, was also killed. AP said it was “shocked and saddened” by the 33-year-old’s death.
The others are said to have been Mohammed Salameh working for Al Jazeera, and photographer Muath Abu Taha. US TV network NBC said Taha did not work for it, as had been initially reported.
The Civil Defence said 15 people were killed, including one of its members, AFP news agency reported.
Monday’s attack comes two weeks after six journalists, including four from Al Jazeera, were killed in an Israeli targeted attack near al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
The UN’s human rights office condemned that attack, calling it a grave breach of international law.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted Anas al-Sharif, a prominent Al Jazeera reporter, alleging he had “served as the head of a terrorist cell in Hamas”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a leading body which promotes press freedom, said Israel had failed to provide evidence to back up its allegations.
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Vietnam Gears Up to Evacuate 500,000 People as Typhoon Kajiki Approaches | Climate Crisis Update
More than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel have been mobilised to help with the evacuation.
Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate from Vietnam’s coastline facing the South China Sea, with airports and schools shut as authorities brace for Typhoon Kajiki.
The Vietnamese government said on Monday that about 30,000 people had been evacuated from coastal areas. Authorities said on Sunday that more than half a million people would be evacuated and ordered boats to remain in port.
“This is an extremely dangerous fast-moving storm,” the government said in a statement on Sunday night, warning that Kajiki would bring heavy rains, flooding and landslides.
More than 16,500 soldiers and 107,000 paramilitary personnel have been mobilised to help with the evacuation and to stand by for search and rescue, the government said in a statement.
The typhoon with winds of up to 166km/h (103mph) at sea is due to make landfall on Monday afternoon, the country’s weather agency said. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said conditions suggested “an approaching weakening trend as the system approaches the continental shelf of the Gulf of Tonkin where there is less ocean heat content”.
Two airports in the Thanh Hoa and Quang Binh provinces have been closed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air cancelled dozens of flights to and from the area on Sunday and Monday.
Coastal provinces have banned ships from going out to sea starting Monday and were calling in those already out, said Vietnam’s news agency.
Vietnam is prone to storms that are often deadly and trigger dangerous flooding and mudslides. More than 100 people were killed or went missing due to natural disasters in the first seven months of 2025, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Last year, Typhoon Yagi killed about 300 people and caused property damage of approximately $3.3bn.
‘A bit scared’
The waterfront city of Vinh was deluged overnight, its streets largely deserted by morning with most shops and restaurants closed as residents and business owners sandbagged their property entrances.
“I have never heard of a typhoon of this big scale coming to our city,” 66-year-old Le Manh Tung, in the city of Vinh, told the AFP news agency. He is sheltering alongside other evacuated families at an indoor stadium.
“I am a bit scared, but then we have to accept it because it’s nature – we cannot do anything.”
Houses run the risk of collapse from the storm, and even high-rise buildings could suffer serious damage, said Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, the official Vietnam News Agency reported.
The storm is projected to move inland across Laos and northern Thailand.
Kajiki hit the southern coast of China’s Hainan Island on Sunday as it moved towards Vietnam. About 20,000 residents were evacuated from the Chinese province, which downgraded its typhoon and emergency response alerts on Monday morning.
But authorities warned of heavy rain and isolated storms in cities in the southern part of the province.
German business confidence reaches its highest level in over a year
German business sentiment rises to highest level in more than a year
Hongkongers compete in first-ever bird call contest in the city
The Hong Kong Bird Watching Society hosted its first-ever bird call contest on Saturday, with the aim to promote conservation awareness.
It saw bird fanatics dress up and take to the stage to mimic rhythmic calls of the Koel, Asian barred owlet, Chestnut-winged cockatoo and more.
The top prize went to Bob Chan for his impression of a Eurasian tree sparrow. More than 580 types of bird species have been recorded in Hong Kong.
Republican lawmakers advocate for tariffs customized to benefit local businesses
Congressional Republicans are embracing Donald Trump’s tariff campaign as a way to advance home-state causes, lobbying the president to impose more import duties to protect local companies.
The rank-and-file GOP lawmakers’ entreaties, which often present trade actions shoring up favored manufacturers as a winning tactic for midterm elections, bolster the political case for broadening US tariffs.
Trump announced two sweeping expansions of trade barriers in recent days, on Tuesday wideningsteel and aluminum tariffs to include more than 400 types of items that contain the metals. On Friday, he announced a trade investigation into furniture imports, which he said would lead to new tariffs within 50 days.
In a social media post announcing the furniture trade action, he cited the boost it would provide to manufacturers in North Carolina and Michigan, two states with potentially pivotal Senate races next year.
Read more: Trump Announces Furniture Imports Probe, Setting Up Tariffs
More than a dozen Republican lawmakers have pushed for fresh or higher tariffs to protect local industries. Several of the lawmakers said Trump granted their requests or said White House officials signaled they would approve the asks.
Republican Senator Bernie Moreno pressed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to expand steel tariffs to include steel-based products like washing machines and refrigerators. The administration moved in June to impose duties on home appliances based on their steel content, benefiting companies including Whirlpool Corp., which has five manufacturing plants in Moreno’s home state of Ohio.
Representative Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican, pushed the administration to raise tariffs on electrical steel laminations and cores on behalf of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., an effort to protect a manufacturing facility in his district.
The items were included in the broader tariffs on products made from steel and aluminum that the administration announced in a notice posted Tuesday.
Read more: Trump Widens Metal Tariffs to Target Baby Gear, Motorcycles
Spokespeople for the White House and US Commerce Department didn’t respond to requests for comment on the role lawmakers’ requests played in the tariff decisions.
In the protectionist lobbying by Trump allies, tariffs are cast as the economic savior for struggling local industries and political boost for the GOP. It’s a stark example of how to successfully lobby in today’s murky trade environment, even as Trump has openly claimed that his unpredictability gives him leverage.
The tariff decisions suggest the White House is open to input on the trade matters from outsiders friendly to the administration. Trump’s announcements on trade deals regularly arrived in the form of letters posted to trading partners on social media, excluding Congress from direct involvement in negotiations.
Senator Tommy Tuberville, an Alabama Republican, said before Trump’s furniture trade action was announced that the White House has been receptive to his lobbying for a tariff of at least 60% on wood cabinets — echoing local manufacturers’ pleas.
Tuberville said he expects the administration ultimately will fulfill the request, though it wasn’t immediately clear whether the furniture trade probe will lead to tariffs on wood cabinets.
Cabinet makers were “about to go under” during Trump’s first term and he saved them, Tuberville said in a July interview. “He’s doing the same thing now.”
Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina and Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama are among other lawmakers pushing for tariffs on products made of wood. Some local manufacturers in their states want a duty of at least 100% on cabinets.
The lawmakers’ lobbying doesn’t occur in a vacuum. They’re often relaying requests from companies and trade groups that also have their own connections with the Trump administration.
Stephen Vaughn, a senior trade adviser during Trump’s first term, represented Cleveland-Cliffs in the company’s efforts to secure the tariffs on products made from steel.
Cleveland-Cliffs chief executive officer Lourenco Goncalves praised the expansion of tariffs. The action “gives us certainty that the American domestic market will not be undercut by unfairly traded steel embedded in derivative products,” he said.
Lobbying is a bipartisan act and occurs during every presidency, but these efforts are different because of Trump’s emphasis on personal relationships, according to Matthew Foster, a professional lecturer at American University’s School of Public Affairs.
Trump sometimes amplifies the positions of the last person he’s talked to, which explains how his close allies could benefit when they ask for favors, he added.
It’s all about having an advocate with a history of access to the president to get the issue at hand through the door, said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Under Trump, that’s the normal way of doing business, he added.
Moreno, an Ohio Republican, is an active member in the president’s inner circle. The freshman senator said he talks to the president once a week, often reiterating his desire for Trump to force out Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Moreno praised Lutnick for understanding business demands, touting the need to protect Whirlpool from cheaper imported steel.
“The reality is Whirlpool Corporation, which has a massive presence in Ohio, is the last appliance manufacturer in America,” Moreno said in an interview, adding that the Chinese are “interested in building industries that will dominate the world and crush American companies. We can’t allow them to do that.”
The lawmakers efforts on behalf of tariffs offer a clear potential political benefit: a message to voters that their manufacturing jobs will be protected. But they also threaten to raise the cost of living for consumers.
The tariffs “may work politically, but they may not work economically, and those are two different fields,” Hufbauer said.
A sizable bloc of Trump voters have reservations about the president’s tariffs. About one in four self-identified Trump voters said they thought the tariffs were hurting rather than helping the US in negotiating better trade deals, according to a Politico-Morning Consult poll in July.
Retaliatory tariffs during Trump’s first term prompted domestic turmoil for some key industries in Republican-lean states, including Kentucky bourbon and Wisconsin-based Harley-Davidson motorcycles. That’s prompted Republican senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul to publicly oppose the trade war as harmful to their constituents.