MNA Entertainment Desk: Fantastical romance ‘The Shape of Water’ won best picture, the film industry’s most prestigious honor, at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. The academy’s top acting honors went, as widely expected, to Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) and Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). “If I fall over, pick me up, because I’ve got some things to say,” Ms. McDormand said. She thanked “every single person in this building” and her sister before asking the female nominees in the room to stand. “Look around,” she said. “We all have stories to tell and projects we need financing.” Jennifer Lawrence and ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: Visiting Deputy Assistant to the US President and Senior Director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council Lisa Curtis today said the USA will remain with and stand by Bangladesh in resolving the Rohingya crisis. She made the vow while held a meeting with Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP, at the latter’s office this morning, reported news agency. The Donald Trump’s aide said the USA offers further assistance to deal with the upcoming challenges, especially when the monsoon is approaching soon. During the meeting, she shared her experience of visiting Cox’s ...

MNA Sports Desk: Lionel Messi put Barcelona on a clear path to the Spanish league title after scoring from a free kick for a third straight game on Sunday. Messi’s goal gave Barcelona a 1-0 win against second-place Atletico Madrid and widened the gap over its closest rival to eight points with 11 rounds remaining. The Argentina forward dipped a shot over the wall in the 26th minute to take his league-leading tally to 24 this season and 32 in all competitions. It was Messi’s sixth goal from a free kick this season, and his third straight after successful free ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday termed fanatics the attackers of Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and urged all to keep their children away from militancy, terrorism and drug abuse. She said her government is committed to ensuring that no terrorist or militant activity occurs in Bangladesh. “Those who commit such acts are fanatics,” she said at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in Dhaka on Sunday, a day after popular science fiction writer Prof Muhammed Zafar Iqbal was attacked and injured by a man during a campus event in Sylhet. “They believe they can gain access to heaven through murder. ...

MNA Sports Desk: Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has reached yet another landmark in his career, with his first strike in Saturday’s La Liga game at home to Getafe taking him to 300 La Liga career goals. Ronaldo reached the mark just before half-time at the Bernabeu, when he took Karim Benzema’s clever disguised pass, held off his marker and steered a low shot to the net from 15 yards. The Portugal captain is only second player ever to reach 300 in the Spanish league — Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the other — but Ronaldo did it in 48 games ...

MNA Science & Tech Desk: Nest products won’t be sold by Amazon.com any longer once current stock runs out, according to a report from Business Insider. Amazon last year declined to offer some of Nest’s newer products like the Nest Cam IQ and latest-generation smart thermostat. After weeks of simply ignoring the products and being unresponsive to Nest, Amazon informed the company of its decision by phone late in the year and said the directive “came from the top,” something Nest took to mean it had been handed down by CEO Jeff Bezos. There has been no direct confirmation of ...

MNA Business Desk: The 26th Chittagong International Trade Fair (CITF) 2018 began at Railway Pologround in the port city of Chittagong on Saturday. Shipping Minister Shahjahan Khan, MP, inaugurated the fair as the chief guest at Bangabandhu Conference Hall of the World Trade Center in Agrabad area while Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries President Mahbubul Alam presided over the inauguration ceremony. The month-long fair, hosted by Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industries, will remain open for visitors from 10:00am to 10:00pm every day, reported news agency. Thailand, India, Iran and Mauritius along with some other countries showcased their products ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: Myanmar on Friday defended the deployment of troops and artillery along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border saying that it was done for internal security. Myanmar, in the wake of Thursday’s strong protest by Dhaka, also refuted the claim of firing blank shots along the border and assured Bangladesh of informing it prior to doing anything like that along the border in the future. The Myanmar side came up with its position at a flag meeting held between the two countries on Friday at Bangladesh-Myanmar Friendship Bridge point. Earlier on Thursday, Myanmar suddenly deployed a huge contingent of its army ...

MNA International Desk: Twin attacks on the French embassy in Burkina Faso and the country’s military headquarters Friday left dozens dead or wounded, security sources said. The apparently coordinated attacks underlined the struggle the fragile West African nation faces in containing a bloody and growing jihadist insurgency. The government said the attack on the military was a suicide car bombing, adding that a regional anti-terrorism meeting may have been the target. Eight members of the armed forces were killed by the blast and the parallel attacks on the French embassy, while 80 were wounded, said Security Minister Clement Sawadogo. The ...

MNA Business Desk: WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo on Friday said WTO is clearly concerned at the announcement of US plans for tariffs on steel and aluminium. The potential for escalation is real, as we have seen from the initial responses of others, Roberto said in a statement. “A trade war is in no-one’s interests. The WTO will be watching the situation very closely.” Trump triggered a furore on Thursday by announcing he would set tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminium to protect US producers, reported news agency. He did not specify if the tariffs would ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Hindi film star Anushka Sharma’s new film ‘Pari’ has been banned in Pakistan, as it ‘promotes black magic, some non-Islamic values and anti-Muslim sentiments’. Pakistan’s censor board also banned the Hindi horror film because it ‘reportedly contains objectionable sequences where Quranic verses have been used’, said another Pakistani news outlet Geo TV, quoting a cinema owner. ‘The film not only mixed Quranic verses with Hindu chants but also portrayed Muslims in a negative light as they were shown using Quranic verses to do black magic,’ a source at Pakistan’s censor board, the Central Board of Film Certification, ...

MNA National Desk: The High Court on Thursday, in its order, declared parliament membership of Awami League MP Nizam Uddin Hazari legal. The single bench of Justice Md Abu Zafar Siddique handed down the verdict rejecting the writ petition filed challenging the legality of his parliament membership. Earlier on February 27, the same bench set on Thursday for delivering its verdict on completion of the hearing, said Advocate Satyaranjon Mandal, lawyer of the petitioner. In 2014, Shakhawat Hossain Bhuiyan, a Jubo League leader of Feni, filed the writ petition with the HC attaching a newspaper report of May 10, 2014, ...

MNA International Desk: Hope Hicks, one of US President Donald Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted aides, is resigning from her job as White House communications director, a blow to the president, whose inner circle has been depleted by firings and clouded by scandal. The White House announced Hicks, 29, was leaving a day after she spent nine hours in a closed hearing of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Hicks’ decision to leave was not related to her appearance before the panel, ...

MNA Business Desk: The Supreme has upheld a decision of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to freeze all the bank accounts of mobile phone operator Robi on charge of dodging VAT. The Appellate Division of the SC on Thursday stayed for three days a High Court order that stayed the NBR decision. A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by chief justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the revenue board. Earlier, the NBR filed a petition challenging the High Court stay order. The HC on Tuesday stayed the NBR decision to freeze all ...

MNA Sports desk: The head of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has resigned, citing health reasons. Chief Executive Scott Blackmun recently revealed he was battling prostate cancer, but has faced extensive criticism in the wake of an abuse scandal involving US gymnastics. His departure was announced at the same time as initiatives to tackle abuse. Former Olympic doctor Larry Nassar was jailed last month on hundreds of counts of abuse spanning decades, reported news agency. Two US senators called for Mr Blackmun’s resignation earlier this month after a report in the Wall Street Journal newspaper suggested he had been ...

MNA Feature Desk: The famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore introduced Basant Utsav or Spring festival in Shantiniketan, Birbhum to recreate the magic of the joyous festival Holi. It is now an integral part of Bengali culture. Rabindranath Tagore was the founder of the Vishwabharati University in Shantiniketan, a serene and tranquil town in the Birbhum district of West Bengal. On the occasion of Basant Utsav in Shantiniketan, Birbhum, the students of this university clad themselves in yellow colored clothes. The sight of all these youngsters adorned in such bright colored dresses is indeed beautiful. They entertain you with some spectacular ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Thousands of fans lined the streets of Mumbai on Wednesday, some weeping quietly, others running behind the hearse, as they joined Bollywood stars in paying tributes to actress Sridevi who died at the weekend in Dubai. Sridevi, 54, acted in 300 films in a career that began at age four and culminated in her becoming one of Hindi cinema’s biggest female superstars. Police were called in to control a crowd that surged towards a Mumbai club where her body was placed for people to pay their respects. Police in Dubai where Sridevi had gone to attend a ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday opened digital platform ‘Krishi Batayon’ (agriculture portal) and ‘Krishak Bandhu Phone Seba’ for expansion of e-agriculture services across the country. The prime minister inaugurated the services through a video-conference from her official residence Ganabhaban here this afternoon. Agriculture Minister Begum Matia Chowdhury spoke on the occasion, while Senior Secretary of the Agriculture Ministry Mohammad Moinuddin Abdullah made a power point presentation. Director General (admin) of the Prime Minister’s Office and Project Director of the A2I Project Kabir Bin Anwar moderated the function. Krishi Batayon is a central service portal. Some mobile ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: The US Treasury Department has added two individuals and seven organisations in Africa and Asia connected to Islamic State to its sanctions list for global terrorism, it said on Tuesday. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said on its website it had added Abu Musab Al-Barnawi of Nigeria and Mahad Moalim of Somalia, and seven groups from Bangladesh, Egypt, the Philippines, Somalia, Nigeria and Tunisia to its sanctions list. The additions include ISIS-Bangladesh, ISIS-Egypt, ISIS-Philippines, ISIS-Somalia, ISIS-West Africa, Jund al-Khilafah-Tunisia, also known as ISIS-Tunisia, and the Philippines-based Maute Group, also known as Islamic State of ...

MNA Sports Desk: Reports had suggested the Brazilian attacker was to have surgery that would keep him out until May having broken a metatarsal against Marseille Unai Emery has dismissed reports Neymar is due to have surgery on his fractured foot that would keep him out until May. The Brazilian star was forced off the Parc des Princes pitch in tears on Sunday after suffering the injury in an innocuous-looking incident. PSG won the match 3-0, but Neymar’s injury marred the contest, as he rode a challenge from Bouna Sarr and twisted his ankle upon contact with the turf, while ...

MNA Business Desk: A three-day trade show will begin in the capital tomorrow to showcase American products and services in Bangladesh and give a boost to the bilateral trade. The show jointly organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) and the US embassy in Dhaka starts at Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka tomorrow. The show will exhibit more than 150 US companies, represented by 43 exhibitors from home and abroad, Shadab Ahmed Khan, acting president of the chamber, said at a media briefing. Companies like Bell Helicopter are coming to showcase their products in the 25th US Trade ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: The body of Bollywood actress Sridevi, who died in her hotel room on Saturday, has been released for the procedure of embalming, says a report from Consulate General of India, Dubai. “Dubai Police has handed over the consulate and the family members letters for the release of the mortal remains of the Indian cinema icon Sridevi Boney Kapoor so that they can proceed for embalming,” read a tweet from the official page of Consulate General of India, Dubai. On Saturday evening, Sridevi drowned in the bathtub of room number 2201 at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel here. ...

MNA International Desk: Saudi King Salman has sacked the military chief of staff and a host of other top commanders, state media said on Monday, in a major shake-up of the defence establishment. The monarch also replaced the heads of the ground forces and air defences, as well as senior officials at the interior ministry, in a series of late-night royal decrees. No official reason was given for the sweeping overhaul, but it comes as the Saudi-led coalition’s military intervention in Yemen against Iran-aligned Houthi rebels nears the end of its third year. Al-Bunyan’s sacking came after he inaugurated a ...

MNA Business Desk: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) President Takehiko Nakao has arrived in Dhaka on a two-day visit. The bank’s local office confirmed this to media on Tuesday. President Nakao is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, and other senior officials during his visit. During the visit, he will also visit selected ADB-assisted projects on Tuesday in power, education, urban infrastructure and rail transport sectors, reported news agency. However, he will leave Dhaka on February 28. Bangladesh joined ADB in 1973 and it became the first ADB member to host a field ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Makkah and Madinah, located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, are two of the holiest and most sacred religious destination of millions of followers of Islam all around the globe. Muslims rush to Makkah to visit the holy Kaaba, known as Baitullah Sharif or the house of Allah. Madinah holds the shrine of prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SM), the most respected human ever born in all times. The shrine of the prophet is located inside the Masjid-Al-Nabawi, a mosque built by the prophet himself after he completed hijrat from Makkah to Madinah. There is no word to describe ...

MNA Sports Desk: Romanian tennis ace Simona Halep has returned to world number one in women rankings, reported news agency. She replaced Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki, who held the top spot for four consecutive weeks. Wozniacki, 27, did not compete in the Dubai Tennis Championships last week, leaving the way open for the Romanian to return to World No.1. Halep was also absent in the Dubai Duty Free Open due to an ankle injury. She is now over 400 points clear of the second-placed Dane. Garbine Muguruza is at the third spot after reaching the semi-finals in Dubai, while ...

MNA National Desk: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday paid tributes to former parliament member and valiant freedom fighter Sarfuddin Ahmed Jhantu. The prime minister paid the homage by placing wreaths on his coffin, also the immediate past mayor of Rangpur City Corporation, at the South Plaza of Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban. After laying the wreaths, she stood in solemn silence for some time as a mark of profound respect to the memory of Jhantu. Flanked by senior party leaders, Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, placed another wreath on his coffin on behalf of the party. Earlier, a namaz-e-janaza ...