Neeraj Chopra brings home Olympic silver, Bangladesh’s new interim government, and more: The week in 5 charts

Five charts that will help you understand some of the key stories from last week

Neeraj Chopra fought as hard as he could. He pushed himself harder than he ever had this season. In the qualification round, he produced his biggest throw of the season. He improved on that in his second throw of the final. 89.45m. It was the second best throw of his career. It wasn’t enough.

At the Stade de France on Thursday night, Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem beat him as comprehensively as possible. On the sixth opportunity, he finally got the better of the man he’d always considered a role model and looked up to. He beat India’s reigning Olympic and world champion Neeraj Chopra and it took an all-time great Olympic performance to do it.

Nadeem bettered an Olympic record that had stood for 16 years, not once but twice. The first — a throw of 92.97m in his second throw of the competition ended it. The second of 91.79m in his final attempt put the final exclamation mark on a near flawless performance.

Filling the leadership vacuum in Bangladesh, albeit temporarily, Nobel Laureate and economist Muhammad Yunus has taken oath as head of the interim government. The 84-year-old microfinance pioneer will head the government until fresh polls are held. The parliament has already been dissolved by the nation’s president Mohammed Shahabuddin.

This comes days after Sheikh Hasina - the country’s longest-serving Prime Minister and Awami League leader - resigned and fled the nation amid violent mass protests in which more than 300 people have been killed.

Extremist sections have used the chaos to target Hindus, Ahmedis, a minority sect in Islam, and Awami League functionaries. According to the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, the houses and shops of minorities were looted in several districts. Offices of the Awami League were vandalised and dozens of party functionaries and supporters were killed. Mr. Yunus, who was sworn in on Thursday (August 8, 2024), condemned the violence and appealed for calm.

A passenger plane crashed into a gated residential community in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state on Friday (August 9, 2024), killing all 61 people aboard and leaving a smoldering wreck, officials and the airline said. The airline VOEPASS said that its plane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s international airport Guarulhos with 57 passengers and 4 crew members aboard when it crashed in Vinhedo.