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MNA Entertainment Desk: An openly gay Scottish artist who celebrated queer lives in a short film shot on an iPhone won Britain’s prestigious Turner Prize Tuesday. This year’s four finalists for one of the world’s most coveted visual arts awards featured works packed with political punch. Scotland’s Charlotte Prodger came out on top at a glitzy reception at London’s Tate Museum for a 33-minute visual compilation called BRIDGIT. The jury said Prodger’s work “meanders through disparate associations ranging from JD Sports and standing stones to 1970s lesbian separatism and Jimi Hendrix’s sound records”. The 44-year-old Glasgow-based artist — dressed in ...

MNA National Desk: The High Court on Tuesday asked the authorities concerned to accept the nomination paper of BNP standing committee member Mirza Abbas and complete the scrutiny within 24 hours. The HC bench of Justice FRM Nazmul Ahasan and Justice KM Kamrul Kader passed the order following a writ petition filed by Mirza Abbas. Advocate Zainul Abedin and Advocate Ehsanur Rahman stood for the petitioner. The HC also issued a rule asking the government to explain why the refusal to accept of Mirza Abbas’ nomination paper should not be declared illegal. The Chief Election Commissioner, Dhaka returning officer and ...

MNA National Desk: A three-member committee has been formed to investigate the suicide incident of a Class-IX student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College (VNSC) in the city, reported news agency. The Ministry of Education on Tuesday formed the committee, led by Prof Mohammad Yusuf, director of Dhaka Regional Education office, at the directive of its minister Nurul Islam Nahid. The minister said this while talking to reporters at the Secretariat in the morning. The committee has been asked to submit its report within three days. Adhriti Odhikari, daughter of Dilip Odhikari, and a Class-IX student of Viqarunnisa Noon School ...

MNA Editorial Desk: Holding an election is not only about the Election Day. Rather it is a set of works conducted through a period of time involving several stakeholders like the political parties, their leaders and nominated candidates, the government, the election commission, the media, the law enforcers, the administrators, the election observers and most importantly the people. In a democratic country, the people are of main essence. But standing 26 days away from the 11th national election of Bangladesh, we are observing many movements for several weeks but astonishingly, we must feel that, the people are being most ignored ...

MNA International Desk: Pakistan’s foreign ministry said Monday that US President Donald Trump has written a letter to prime minister Imran Khan seeking Islamabad’s support in securing a “negotiated settlement” to the war in Afghanistan, reported news agency. The development comes as Washington steps up efforts to hold peace talks with the resurgent Taliban, more than 17 years after the invasion of Afghanistan. In the letter, Trump said a settlement is “his most important regional priority”, the Pakistani foreign ministry stated. “In this regard, he has sought Pakistan’s support and facilitation”, it continued. US officials accuse Islamabad of ignoring or ...

MNA Sports Desk: Real Madrid’s Croatia midfielder Luka Modric was named winner of the 2018 Ballon d’Or on Monday, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo’s and Lionel Messi’s decade-long hold on the prestigious award. Modric, 33, helped Real Madrid win a third successive Champions League title in May and also captained Croatia to their first World Cup final, being named player of the tournament despite his side losing 4-2 to France. “It’s a unique feeling. I’m happy proud and honoured, I have a lot of emotions right now, it’s hard to describe in words,” said Modric, wearing a tuxedo as he collected the ...

MNA Business Desk: bKash Limited, the largest mobile financial service provider in Bangladesh and Pathao, one of the fastest growing app based on-demand ride service platform have signed an agreement to allow passengers to pay for rides using bKash, said a press release. Chief Commercial Officer of bKash Mizanur Rashid, and Co-Founder and CEO of Pathao Hussain M Elius recently signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations at the bKash head office in Dhaka. To make the payment through bKash, the customers have to select Digital Payment and then BKash from the Pathao app after completion of rides, ...

MNA Feature Desk: The International Day of Persons with Disabilities was observed on Monday with the theme of ‘empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality’, reported news agency. Different organisations and institutions held programmes focusing on rights and wellbeing of persons with disabilities in society. The programmes also aimed to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life. Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University’s physical medicine and rehabilitation department in collaboration with Bangladesh Association of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation held a rally and a discussion marking the day, ...

MNA Life Style Desk: Cleaning your ears is a good step to maintain personal hygiene. We often try hard to remove ear wax secreted in the ears. However, ear wax is a sticky substance that is secreted by the ear to prevent dirt, bacteria and other small particles from entering inside the sensitive parts of ears. Wet cloth piece: Using a wet piece of cloth can help remove ear wax from the outermost ear canal. According to many ENT doctors (Otolaryngologists), it is not hygienic to remove ear wax from deep inside the canal. The dirty wax will come out ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Academy Award-winning director Quentin Tarantino has married his fiancée, Israeli singer and model Daniela Pick, reported news agency. The couple got married last Wednesday in a Jewish traditional ceremony at their home in Beverly Hills, California in the US. During the ceremony, Pick wore a white dress with a sweetheart neckline, a tiara and a white veil, and Tarantino wore a black suit. After their wedding, the couple posed in front of a dramatic wall of white flowers for photos. They first met in 2009, when Tarantino was visiting Israel to promote his film “Inglorious Basterds.” They ...

MNA National Desk: The High Court has dismissed a writ petition challenging the legality of the appointments of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and four election commissioners, reported news agency. A bench of Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice M Ashraful Kamal came up with the order on Monday. Earlier on November 25, Supreme Court lawyer Advocate Delwar Hossain filed the writ with the related branch of the HC challenging the legality of the appointment of the chief election commissioner and four other commissioners. The writ claimed that no specific rules were formulated for their appointment. Lawyer Yusuf Ali stood ...

MNA National Desk: Presidium member Moshiur Rahman Ranga has been made new Secretary General of the Jatiya Party after removing ABM Ruhul Amin Howlader, reported news agency. Ranga himself confirmed the matter to media. A letter sent to him from the party’s letterhead from Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad on Monday said: “We are appointing you as the secretary general to the Jatiya Party. You will take on the duties in addition to those as a member of the party’s Presidium.” The decision would be implemented without delay, said Ershad’s Political Secretary and Jatiya Party Presidium Member Sunil Shuvo Roy ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: The Election Commission has rejected nearly one-fourth of the nomination papers submitted for the 11th parliamentary election, reported news agency. The commission scrutinized a total of 3,065 nomination applications yesterday and rejected 786, approving the nomination papers of 2,279 candidates. The candidates whose nomination papers have been rejected can appeal against their disqualification, which must be done by December 5. Hearing on these appeals will be held on December 6-8. Nomination papers of several heavyweight candidates from the opposition parties, including BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and Jatiya Oikya Front leader Abdul Kader Siddique, have been cancelled. No ...

MNA International Desk: A top commander of the Taliban was killed in Afghanistan’s southern province of Helmand in a joint operation by Afghan and US Special Forces, reported news agency. Abdul Manan, who was in charge of Helmand province for the insurgent group, was killed along with 29 others by an air strike on Saturday while he was meeting local commanders and fighters in the Nawzad district, Helmand provincial governor Mohammad Yasin Khan said. His death was confirmed by Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid and by the US military, which said Afghan forces had gone on the offensive with US support, ...

MNA Business Desk: The World Bank on Monday unveiled $200 billion in climate action investment for 2021-25, adding this amounts to a doubling of its current five-year funding, reported news agency. The World Bank said the move, coinciding with a UN climate summit meeting of some 200 nations in Poland, represented a “significantly ramped up ambition” to tackle climate change, “sending an important signal to the wider global community to do the same.” Developed countries are committed to lifting combined annual public and private spending to $100 billion in developing countries by 2020 to fight the impact of climate change ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh selectors on Sunday recalled Tamim Iqbal and Shakib Al Hasan to a full-strength squad for the one-day international series against West Indies, reported news agency. The pair missed the Tigers’ last ODI series against Zimbabwe in October due to injury, but were deemed fit for the upcoming three-match contest in Bangladesh. The three-match ODI series will be held from December 9 to 14 in Dhaka and Sylhet. Squad: Mashrafe Mortaza (Capt), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarker, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riyad, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Mehidy Hasan, Nazmul Islam Apu, Mohammad ...

MNA Education Desk: The Department of English and Humanities at University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) organized a two-day international conference to celebrate Karl Marx’s bicentenary. The conference was held at ULAB’s permanent campus auditorium on Friday and Saturday. The chief guest, Prof Serajul Islam Chowdhury, inaugurated the ceremony and delivered the opening speech, followed by keynote speaker Bret Benjamin, associate professor at the State University of New York, Albany. This conference commemorating Karl Marx’s 200th birth anniversary seeks to ask and address a number of important questions about the relationship between thought and politics, between language and culture, between ...

MNA Tech Desk: Google has started rolling out a feature for its Pixel smartphones that lets users make use of the Google Assistant to see who is calling and why before they answer a call. The feature allows users to see a real-time transcript of how the caller responds so that they can then decide whether to pick up, respond by tapping a quick reply (for example, “I’ll call you back later”), or mark the call as spam and dismiss. “Call Screen is only available to English speakers in the United States who have Pixel 2, 2 XL, 3, or ...

MNA Entertainment Desk: Jannatul Ferdous Oishi, has been included in the list of best beauties for the 68th edition of the ‘Miss World’ competition, reported news agency. Hailing from Pirojpur district, Jannatul Ferdous Oishi has moved into the top 20 list from different countries of the world. Recently proclaimed Miss Bangladesh, Oishi is representing Bangladesh in the competition being held in Sanya city of China. This eighteen-year-old contestant passed her higher secondary examination this year with Science as her major. She won the title of Miss World Bangladesh 2018 over 30,000 contestants from Bangladesh. Last year’s Miss World Bangladesh, Jessia ...

MNA Sports Desk: Bangladesh whitewashed West Indies in Test series as the visitors failed to skip innings defeat in the 2nd match on Sunday, reported news agency. Tigers defeated West Indies by 184 runs in the second and final Test at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium at Mirpur. Mehidy Hasan Miraz produced his career best figure picking up 7 wickets in the first innings and 5 wickets in the second one. Being forced to follow on after being dismissed their first innings at 111 on the first session of the third day, West Indies again lost all wickets scoring only 213 ...

MNA National Desk: The nomination paper of Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson Khaleda Zia for Feni-1 constituency has been cancelled as she is convicted in two cases. Returning officer and Feni deputy commissioner Md Wahid Uz Zaman on Sunday took the decision after a hearing in favour of and against her candidature. Police said though all the information provided on Khaleda’s nomination paper is correct, she is convicted in two cases. Feni district unit BNP president and lawyer Abu Taher countered the police claim saying that the two cases are under trial in the Appellate Division. Abu Taher said they will ...

MNA Feature Desk: The 21st anniversary of Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord is being celebrated on Sunday, reported news agency. Different programmes were arranged in the three hilly districts – Khagrachhari, Bandarban and Rangamati — marking the anniversary of the peace treaty. A colourful rally, organised by Khagrachhari Hill district Parishad, was brought out around 8:00am. Besides, a discussion meeting was scheduled to be held around 10:00am. President Abdul Hamid and prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday issued separate messages marking the completion of 21 years of the treaty. On 2 December 1997, Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (PCJSS) ...

MNA Sports Desk: Off-spinner Mehedi Hasan Miraz bagged seven wickets as Bangladesh dismissed the West Indies for 111, thus taking a 397-run first-innings lead during day three of their second and final Test match Sunday. Miraz took seven conceding 58 runs while captain Shakib al Hasan picked up three giving away 27 runs. This is Miraz’s career-best figure in Tests. Middle-order batsmen Shimron Hetmyer and Shane Dowrich scored 39 and 37 respectively. The Tigers then decided to impose the follow on, the first in their 18-year Test history. Bangladesh took control of the match on the second day, posting a ...

MNA National Desk: The annual income of Awami League President Sheikh Hasina is over Tk 77 lakh, according to her affidavit submitted with the nomination paper to the Election Commission to contest the 11th parliamentary elections from Rangpur-6 constituency. Of the income, Tk 3 lakh comes from the agriculture sector while Tk 138,625 from rents of house/apartment/shop or others, Tk 1,696,009 from business (against royalty), Tk 1,200,000 from share, savings certificate/bank deposits, Tk 1,638,000 from the services (against honorarium) and Tk 2,776,760 from other sources. As per the affidavit, Sheikh Hasina has Tk 84,575 in cash while the amount of ...

MNA Sports Desk: Anti-government protesters torched dozens of cars and set fire to storefronts during daylong clashes with riot police across central Paris on Saturday, as thousands took part in fresh “yellow vest” protests against high fuel taxes. Officers responded with tear gas after being targeted by protesters hurling rocks and other projectiles on the third weekend of demonstrations which have morphed into a broader rebuke of French president Emmanuel Macron. Smoke engulfed several shopping districts as the violence spread from the Arc de Triomphe, where crowds had gathered earlier hoping to march down the Champs-Elysees. While several dozens were ...

MNA National Desk: The annual income of BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is some Tk 1.52 crore, as per her affidavit submitted with the nomination paper to contest the 11th parliamentary elections from Bagura-6 constituency, reported news agency. Of the annual income, Tk 6,731,314 comes from rents of house/apartment/shops and others, while the rest Tk 85,09,813 from share, savings certificate/bank deposits. Khaleda Zia has only Tk 50,300 in cash and the amount of her deposited money in banks and financial institutions is Tk 47,785,267 as per the affidavit. The value of her jeep cars is Tk 4,865,000 and that of ...

MNA Exclusive Desk: Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi did not mention the Rohingya crisis — which has led the United Nations to call for a genocide investigation — in her keynote address to an international meeting organised by a group linked to the Unification Church. “At the basis of conflict is ill-will which seeks to hurt and to destroy and thus to open the way to conflict, which in turn spews out an ever-renewing cycle of hate and fear, snuffing out the light of peace,” Suu Kyi said. Suu Kyi called for cooperation between nations to seek peace ...