MNA International Desk: India’s West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has agreed to the country’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s request to acquire 300 acres of land in the state and give it to the Centre for constructing barbed wire fencing along the India-Bangladesh border, officials said Friday. The move came after the home minister wrote to the chief minister, whose government had been dithering for months over acquiring the land, leading to a delay in construction of a fence along the international border, they said. Singh’s letter to Banerjee, requesting her to acquire and hand over about 300 acres of ...

MNA Business Desk: The government has taken an initiative to bring infrastructural reforms in the Internal Resources Division (IRD) and create new units at the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to boost revenue collection. According to the IRD of the Finance Ministry, through the reforms in its special functional unit and creating new units under the NBR Income Tax Wing, it will be possible for the government’s revenue collecting body to boost revenue generation by 20 percent, reported news agency. A summary of the proposals has been sent to Finance Minister ABA Muhith and he has given an affirmative response ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh U-19 cricket team suffered a 2-1 series defeat in the youth ODI series against Sri Lanka after a 19-run loss (Duckworth/Lewis method) in the fifth and final match in Katunayake Friday. Asked to bat first, the home side posted 205 losing seven wickets in their stipulated 50 overs, opener Kamal Mishra top-scoring with 83 off 135 balls, featuring a couple of fours. Bangladesh’s Sajid Hossain bagged two wickets. In reply, the visiting side registered 80 for the loss of four wickets in 21 overs before rain intervened. The junior Tigers were 19 runs behind at this ...

MNA Tech Desk: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd unveiled its much-anticipated foldable phone in San Francisco, urging Android developers to start writing apps for it. The South Korean tech company needs to get the foldable phone right to reverse steep declines in profit for its mobile division and restore some of the cachet its brand has lost to Apple Inc. Foldable phones promise the screen of a small tablet in a pocket-sized device. Justin Denison, a senior vice president of mobile product marketing, showed a prototype with a screen he said measured 7.3 inches (18.5 cm) diagonally. Folded in two it ...

MNA Life Style Desk: A healthy long life is what most aspire for and this could be possible by reducing excess fat and staying slim and shape, according to a new study. While several unhealthy habits and bad lifestyle impacts life expectancy adversely, certain healthy lifestyle may increase life span of a person. “Our study has estimated the causal effect of lifestyle choices. We found that, on average, smoking a pack a day reduces lifespan by seven years, whilst losing one kilogram of weight will increase your lifespan by two months,” Peter Joshi, researcher at the University of Edinburgh in ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Rumours are doing the rounds on social media about Malaika Arora dating actor Arjun Kapoor. Malaika and Arjun were snapped post their cosy dinner date. Arjun Kapoor, who seems to be protective for her, was seen shielding her from the paparazzi as they tried to click their pictures, reports the news agency. Reportedly, Malaika’s friends Arvind and Tanya Dubash will hosting a party for Arjun Kapoor. It was Arora and Arjun’s pictures from a fashion show, which sparked rumours about their budding romance. Reportedly, Arjun flew to Italy to celebrate his ladylove Arora’s birthday. Earlier, their pictures ...

MNA Education Desk: Application form of Honors 4th year (BA, BSS, BBA, BSc.) under National University (NU) will be started at the online from 11th Nov, 2018 and continued to 6th December, 2018., reported new agency. All other information in this respect will be available in NU web site (www.nubd.info/honours). Details schedule of the examination and other information will inform at NU web site later on.

MNA National Desk: BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir has said an election is not acceptable without a level-playing field. “Our words are very clear: a level-playing field must be created and equal rights must be given to all political parties. Begum Khaleda Zia must be released. Otherwise, no election will be acceptable,” said the secretary general of BNP, a key ally of the Jatiya Oikya Front, at the Rajshahi rally on Friday. The rally was organised, a day after the Election Commission set Dec 23 as the voting date. Dr Kamal Hossain, chief of the alliance, did not join ...

MNA National Desk: Ruling Bangladesh Awami League on Friday started selling its nomination papers among the party’s aspiring candidates of members of parliament in the 11th parliamentary elections. Party general secretary Obaidul Quader inaugurated the sale of nomination forms at AL president’s Dhanmondi political office around 10:00am by purchasing a nomination paper on behalf of the party president Sheikh Hasina. Quader bought two forms for Sheikh Hasina. One of the forms was bought for contesting the election from Gopalganj-3 (Tungipara-Kotalipara). Later, he handed over the forms to AL’s religious affairs secretary Sheikh Abdullah. Obaidul Quader said the name of the ...

MNA National Desk: The 11th parliamentary election will be held on December 23 this year. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda made the announcement on Thursday evening in a televised address to the nation. The aspirants will have to submit their nomination papers by November 19, said CEC. The nomination papers will be scrutinised on November 22, he said adding that the last date for withdrawing candidature is November 29. While addressing the nation at 7pm, the CEC urged all the political parties to participate in the general election to keep the trend of democracy and pace of development ...

MNA National Desk: Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the polls-time government is likely to be formed on Friday (Nov 9), reported news agency. There will be no new minister. However, the resignation letters of technocrat ministers were not accepted by the Prime Minister yet, he said. Muhith made the remarks to reporters in secretariat on Thursday noon (Nov 8). Industries Minister Amir Hossain Amu was also present at the time. He said the technocrat ministers’ resignation will come into effect after PM accepts their letters.

MNA National Desk: BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was taken back to jail in old part of Dhaka from Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) on Thursday, reported new agency. Earlier on Wednesday, the law ministry issued a gazette notification saying that the trial of Khaleda Zia and others accused in the Niko corruption case will be held at a makeshift court in Old Dhaka central jail. The ministry issued the gazette notification transferring the court citing security reasons. According to the gazette, room no 7 of the old central jail’s administration building will be the venue for the makeshift court. ...

MNA International Desk: A Pakistani Christian woman who spent eight years on death row for blasphemy has been freed from jail and is believed to have already flown out of the city of Multan where she was being held, heading for an unknown destination, her lawyer said Thursday. Asia Bibi’s release comes a week after her acquittal in a landmark case that triggered angry Islamist protests in Muslim-majority Pakistan and following appeals from her husband for Britain or the United States to grant the family asylum. Her lawyer fled to the Netherlands on Saturday under threat to his life. Bibi’s ...

MNA National Desk: Prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Thursday’s scheduled press conference has been postponed due to unavoidable circumstances, reported news agency. “The press conference has been postponed due to unavoidable reasons,” PM’s press secretary Ihsanul Karim told Wednesday evening. The premier was scheduled to address a press conference tomorrow, Thursday on the outcomes of the dialogues between the Awami League-led 14-party alliance and other political parties. However, the CEC will announce the election schedule in the address at 7pm on Thursday despite the Oikya Front’s call for its deferment. The BNP leaders said the Oikya Front decided to wait and ...

MNA Sports Desk: Pace spearhead Mitchell Starc, veteran spinner Nathan Lyon and all-rounder Mitch Marsh were all left out of Australia’s Twenty20 squad Thursday to play South Africa and India. Coach Justin Langer said they, along with Peter Siddle, would be better off playing Sheffield Shield cricket to be ready for a busy home summer featuring four Tests against India and two against Sri Lanka. In their absence, Marcus Stoinis and Jason Behrendorff get a chance to impress after being included in the 13-man squad for a single T20 against the Proteas and three against the Indians. Aaron Finch (capt), ...

MNA Education Desk: The undergraduate admission test of Dhaka University (DU) affiliated seven colleges for 2018-19 academic year will start on 9 November, reported news agency. The admission test for science unit will be held on 9 November at 3:00pm, said a DU press release. In this Unit, a total of 31,804 admission seekers applied against 6,550 seats. The test will be held in 12 centres – Government Titumir College, Government Bangla College, Kabi Nazrul Government College, Government Shaheed Suhrawardy College, Begum Badrunnessa Government Women’s College, Dhaka College, Eden Women’s College, Udayan High School, Dr. Shahidullah College, Home Economics College, ...

MNA Tech Desk: Twitter Inc deleted more than 10,000 automated accounts posting messages that discouraged people from voting in Tuesday’s US election and wrongly appeared to be from Democrats, after the party flagged the misleading tweets to the social media company. “We took action on relevant accounts and activity on Twitter,” a Twitter spokesman said in an email. The removals took place in late September and early October. Twitter removed more than 10,000 account, according to three sources familiar with the Democrats’ effort. The number is modest, considering that Twitter has previously deleted millions of accounts it determined were responsible ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Bollywood actress and bride-to-be Priyanka Chopra, who is engaged to pop singer Nick Jonas, celebrated her bachelorette party with actress-cousin Parineeti Chopra, heiress Isha Ambani and “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner among many others. Priyanka shared a string of photographs from her bachelorette party. The first post has images only of the “Mary Kom” star, dressed in a short white dress with a feathery cape. “Featherweight Champion of the world,” she captioned it. The second post is all about her bridesmaids, who are dressed in red. “Red, white and Bride!” Priyanka captioned the photograph, which featured ...

MNA Business Desk: A weeklong ‘Inacome Tax Fair’ will begin in the city and other divisional headquarters across the country on 13 November aiming to help the taxpayers fill returns and facilitate other tax-related works. Like the previous years, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) will organise the fair, which will continue till 19 November. The fair will also be held in all districts and 32 upazilas. The duration of district level fair will be four days while upazila level fair two days. Besides, a daylong mobile fair will be held at the Growth Centres at upazila level. Officials say ...

MNA National Desk: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda will address the nation on Thursday to announce the schedule of the 11th parliamentary election. The CEC’s address will be aired at 7pm on Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Radio, says a release issued by the Election Commission. Previously, in a meeting on Monday, Jatiya Oikya Front requested the Election Commission to announce the election schedule after dialogues between the political parties and the government had ended. In response to the request, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) KM Nurul Huda on Tuesday said it would not be possible to defer the announcement ...

MNA National Desk: The dialogue between the Awami League and the Jatiya Oikya Front has begun at Ganabhaban. Led by Oikya Front chief Dr Kamal Hossain, an 11-member delegation entered Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s official residence in Dhaka around 10:38am on Wednesday. The talks started around 11:00am. The members of Oikya Front’s delegation are: Dr Kamal Hossain, JatiyaSamajtantrik Dal President ASM AbdurRab, BNP Secretary General MirzaFakhrul Islam Alamgir, BNP Standing Committee members KhandkakerMosharrafHossain and Barrister Moudud Ahmed, MostafaMohsinMontu, Advocate SubrataChowdhury, NagorikOikya Convener MahmudurRahman Manna, SM Akram, Abdul MalekRatan and Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed. On the other side, accompanying the prime ...

MNA International Desk: Democrats rode a wave of dissatisfaction with president Donald Trump to win control of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday where they will seek to keep his agenda in check and open his administration to intense scrutiny. In midterm elections two years after he won the White House, Trump and his fellow Republicans were set to maintain their majority in the US Senate following a divisive campaign marked by fierce clashes over race, immigration and other cultural issues. With a House majority, Democrats will have the power to investigate Trump’s tax returns and possible conflicts of ...

MNA National Desk: Left Democratic Alliance (LDA), a platform of left-leaning political parties, on Tuesday urged the government to create an atmosphere for holding a free, neutral, participatory and acceptable to all election, reported news agency. They also urged the government to dissolve Parliament before announcement of the election schedule, form a neutral caretaker government, reform the Election Commission, scrap the EVM, stop filing and withdraw political cases, create a level-playing field for all parties. LDA Convener Saiful Huq, who is also the general secretary of Biplobi Worker’s Party, said this to reporters after emerging from the dialogue with the ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: The United Nations’ human rights investigator on Myanmar urged Bangladesh on Tuesday to drop plans to start repatriating hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to Rakhine state this month, warning they would face a “high risk of persecution”. The two countries agreed on 30 October to begin the returns to Myanmar in mid-November. The UN refugee agency has already said that conditions in Rakhine state were “not yet conducive for returns”. Yanghee Lee, UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, said in a statement that she had received credible information from the refugees in Cox’s Bazar ...

MNA Feature Desk: Freedom Fighter- Soldier Killing Day is being observed across the country today. On this day in 1975, the killing process of the freedom fighter-soldiers started in the name of sepoy (soldier) revolution. The process was initiated much earlier, in August 1975, through the assassination of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and almost his entire family. Subsequently, on November 3 in 1975, the four national leaders were brutally killed in prison. After four days, the then rulers started killing the finest sons of the nation. In the name of sepoy revolution, three prominent freedom ...

MNA Sports Desk: India captain Rohit Sharma smashed a blistering century to help the team secure a series-clinching 71-run victory over West Indies in the second Twenty20 International in Lucknow on Tuesday. The right-hander’s unbeaten 111 off 61 balls powered India to a commanding 195 for two wickets, and he returned to marshal his bowlers who restricted the tourists to 124-9 to earn an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Having elected to field, West Indies initially managed to restrain Rohit and his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, conceding only nine runs in the first four overs. Rohit broke loose ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: US singer Camila Cabello swept the MTV Europe Music Awards on Sunday, winning best song with her hit “Havana” as well as best artist and best video, reported news agency. “This year has been the best of my life,” the 21-year-old Cuban native said at the event in Bilbao, northern Spain. Cabello had opened the show hosted by American actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld with a rendition of her Latin-influenced “Havana”. She is fresh from winning prestigious prizes at the MTV Video Music Awards in August — artist of the year and video of the year — ...