Swedish musician Avicii found dead in Muscat

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Avicii accepts the award for favorite artist — electronic dance music at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Swedish-born Avicii, whose name is Tim Bergling, was found dead, in Oman. (AP Photo)
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DJ Avicii performs at Dubai World Trade Centre. A pioneer of the contemporary Electronic Dance Movement, he died in Muscat, aged 28. ( Reuters)
Updated 20 April 2018
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Swedish musician Avicii found dead in Muscat

  • 28-year-old Swedish DJ, born Tim Bergling, was in Muscat when he died.
  • Avicii was a pioneer of the contemporary Electronic Dance Movement and a rare DJ capable of a worldwide arena tour.

NEW YORK: Award-winning Swedish musician, DJ, remixer and record producer Avicii has died in Oman.
Publicist Diana Baron said in a statement that the 28-year-old DJ, born Tim Bergling, was in Muscat when he passed.
“The family is devastated and we ask everyone to please respect their need for privacy in this difficult time,” the statement said.
Avicii was a pioneer of the contemporary Electronic Dance Movement and a rare DJ capable of a worldwide arena tour. He won two MTV Music Awards, one Billboard Music Award and earned two Grammy nominations. His biggest hit was “Le7els.”
His death comes just days after he was nominated for a Billboard Music Award for top dance/electronic album for his EP “Avicii (01).”
His hits include “Wake Me Up!” “The Days” and “You Make Me.” He is the subject of the 2017 Levan Tsikurishvil documentary “Avicii: True Stories.”

Avicii was part of the wave of DJ-producers, like David Guetta, Calvin Harris and Swedish House Mafia, who broke out on the scene as lead performers in their own right, earning international hits, fame, awards and more like typical pop stars.
He collaborated with high-profile acts, producing Madonna’s “Devil Pray” and the Coldplay hits “A Sky Full of Stars” and “Hymn for the Weekend.” 

Avicii had in the past suffered acute pancreatitis. After having his gallbladder and appendix removed in 2014, he canceled a series of shows in an attempt to recover. He quit touring in 2016 but continued making music in the studio.
“It’s been a very crazy journey. I started producing when I was 16. I started touring when I was 18. From that point on, I just jumped into it 100 percent,” Avicii told Billboard magazine in 2016.
“When I look back on my life, I think: whoa, did I do that? It was the best time of my life in a sense. It came with a price — a lot of stress a lot of anxiety for me — but it was the best journey of my life.”


Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt

Updated 01 January 2026
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Bangladesh’s religio-political party open to unity govt

  • Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years

DHAKA: A once-banned Bangladeshi religio-political party, poised for its strongest electoral showing in February’s parliamentary vote, is open to joining a unity government and has held talks with several parties, its chief said.

Opinion polls suggest that Jamaat-e-Islami will finish a close second to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the first election it has contested in nearly 17 years as it marks a return to mainstream politics in the predominantly Muslim nation of 175 million.

Jamaat last held power between 2001 and 2006 as a junior coalition partner with the BNP and is open to working with it again.

“We want to see a stable nation for at least five years. If the parties come together, we’ll run the government together,” Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman said in an interview at his office in a residential area in Dhaka, ‌days after the ‌party created a buzz by securing a tie-up with a Gen-Z party.

Rahman said anti-corruption must be a shared agenda for any unity government.

The prime minister will come from the party winning the most seats in the Feb. 12 election, he added. If Jamaat wins the most seats, the party will decide whether he himself would be a candidate, Rahman said.

The party’s resurgence follows the ousting of long-time Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in a youth-led uprising in August 2024. 

Rahman said Hasina’s continued stay in India after fleeing Dhaka was a concern, as ties between the two countries have hit their lowest point in decades since her downfall.

Asked about Jamaat’s historical closeness to Pakistan, Rahman said: “We maintain relations in a balanced way with all.”

He said any government that includes Jamaat would “not feel comfortable” with President Mohammed Shahabuddin, who was elected unopposed with the Awami League’s backing in 2023.