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MNA Life Style Desk: Zika virus (ZIKV) is a member of the virus family Flaviviridae. Its name comes from the Zika Forest of Uganda, where the virus was first isolated in 1947. Zika virus is related to the dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, and West Nile viruses. Since the 1950s, it has been known to occur within a narrow equatorial belt from Africa to Asia. From 2007 to 2016, the virus spread eastward, across the Pacific Ocean to the Americas, leading to the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic. Zika symptoms are often very mild and usually fade on their own within ...

MNA Technology Desk: A driverless car took to Britain’s streets for the first time on Tuesday, as part of trials aimed at getting autonomous vehicles onto the roads by 2020, reported news agency. The electric-powered pod – like a small two-seater car – navigated its way around a pedestrianized area in the southern English town of Milton Keynes at 5 miles (8km) per hour, turning corners and stopping as pedestrians crossed its path. The government is encouraging tech firms and carmakers to develop and test autonomous driving technology in Britain, aiming to build an industry to serve a worldwide market ...

MNA Technology Desk: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd postponed manufacture of Galaxy Note 7 smartphones, a source said on Monday, after reports of fires in replacement devices added to the tech giant’s poorest ever recall crisis. Samsung did not instantly comment on the production close, while the source – who declined to be recognized because they were not authorized to speak to the media – did not explain whether specific problems had been identified or when production was halted. Samsung told news agency that it was investigating reports of “heat damage issues” and would take immediate action to fix any problems ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: The Rolling Stones announced on Thursday it will release its first studio album in over a decade in December—covers of the American blues greats who got them into music in the first place. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts recorded “Blue & Lonesome” last December in three days at London’s British Grove Studios. That’s close to where the band, which formed in 1962, began performing at local venues with American blues as a major inspiration. The rock group teased fans this week on Twitter with a video snippet of them performing a ...

MNA Feature Desk: Durga Puja is one of the most important Hindu festivals in India, celebrated with great vigor and devotion. The origin of Durga Puja in Bengal goes back to as early as 16th century A.D. The festival is celebrated for ten days in Ashwin month of Hindu calendar. It usually falls in the month of September and October. Durga Puja celebration involves worshipping of Goddess Durga, the ten armed Goddess riding the lion. Last four days called as Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami are being celebrated with much aplomb and gaiety. Today, the celebration of Puja has more ...

MNA Technology Desk: Bangladesh has finally got the rights to use dot bangla (.bangla) domain as own, the Internationalized Domain Name (IDM), to express its identity globally. “Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) today made the announcement of allocating the .bangla domain in favor of Bangladesh,” state minister for posts and telecommunications Tarana Halim told BSS by phone from Turkey. Earlier, the PDT finalized all the actions from Bangladesh’s side and submitted essential papers as per their (ICANN) condition. But, the ICANN Board is taking time to complete the dealings. The ICANN issued two domains for Bangladesh which ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Production on the TV reality show named “Keeping up with the Kardashians” is on hold, the E! Network said on Thursday, just days after the show’s star, Kim Kardashian, was robbed at gunpoint in Paris. “Kim’s well-being is our core focus right now. No decision has been made as to when production will resume,” a spokeswoman for the network, which broadcasts the show, said in a statement. Flanked by multiple security guards, Kardashian and her family on Thursday left their Manhattan apartment, where they have been closeted since she returned from Paris. News video and ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: An extended cut of — Suicide Squad — will be released next month and will feature scenes that were chopped from the release in theatres, reported news agency. Jared Leto had complained shortly after the film’s release on August 5 that many scenes he shot as the Joker were deleted. Warner Bros, the banner behind the film, unveiled a short teaser on Wednesday touting the extended cut for the film’s home entertainment release, available on Digital HD on November 15 and Blu-ray on December 13, reports variety.com. Made on a budget of $175 million, the ...

MNA Feature Desk: Bangladesh and England are set to play their first of the three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) at Sher-e-Bangla Stadium in Dhaka on Friday. While England have come with an attitude of triumph and made the tone higher before playing India in their backyard. And on the other hand Bangladesh are aiming to continue their winning motion against England. These two teams met in a two-sided series was in 2010, which comprised of three ODIs and two-Tests. England lost their limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan along with opening batsman Alex Hales as they decided not to join the tour showing ...

MNA Technology Desk: Yahoo Inc last year secretly built a custom software programme to search all of its consumers’ incoming emails for precise information provided by US intelligence officials, reported news agency. The company complied with a classified US government demand, scanning hundreds of millions of Yahoo Mail accounts at the request of the National Security Agency or FBI, said three former employees of the events. Some specialists said this characterizes the first case to surface of a US Internet company agreeing to an intelligence agency’s request by searching all incoming mails, as opposed to examining stored messages or scanning ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Bollywood actress Sonali Bendre on Monday expressed her desire to work with female directors like Farah Khan, Zoya Akhtar and Gauri Shinde. On working with any of today’s female filmmakers, she said, “we have some wonderful female directors. I really admire Farah Khan, Zoya Akhtar and Gauri Shinde. It would be wonderful to work with them…” The ‘Sarfarosh’ actress was speaking at the launch of Revital H Woman’s Healthy Conversations’. The 41-year-old said, she would like to direct a film in future, adding that “though I have been saying that I am not working much ...

MNA Feature Desk: Two Bangladeshi architectural projects were among the winners of the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture, a statement from the globally-known charity said on Monday. The Bangladeshi projects are a mosque in Dhaka and a community centre in Gaibandha. Awaidha Murshed Al Marar, chairman of Department of Municipal Affairs and Transport of the United Arab Emirates announced the winners’ name at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Monday. Architect Marina Tabassum won the award for designing Bait Ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka and architect Kashef Chowdhury for Chowdhury Friendship Centre in Gaibandha. The $1 million prize is ...

MNA Technology Desk: The government would update 8,500 post offices as e-centres across the country by June, 2017 to circulate information and communication technology services to the rural people, reported news agency. Zunaid Ahmed Palak said this on behalf of state minister of the post and telecommunications Tarana Halim while replying to question from a treasury bench member Jebunnesa Afroz in the Jatiya Sangsad. The government has undertaken various projects to develop the post-offices through introducing express mail service (EMS), online inquiry system for International letters and global monitoring system, he said. He said, apart from modernizing 104 old post ...

MNA Life Style Desk: Study tours are being more and more prevalent to students of any age. Inside the classroom, we can read, listen, write and talk about different topics or see them on pictures where we are able to use our imagination; and only our imagination sets the limit. But in many subjects like the arts, history and culture, being in the actual place helps us understand, to a certain degree feel for ourselves what it’s like and to personally experience the subject. Here are some thoughts on what can be the benefits of study tours to students: Assistance ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: A union representing Pakistan cinemas and film distributors has banned the screening of Indian movies across the country in the wake of growing pressures between the nuclear-armed neighbours in disputed Kashmir. The decision follows an earlier move by the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) to prohibit Pakistani actors and technicians from working on Bollywood sets, reported news agency. The silver screen drama erupted after India claimed Thursday it had carried out “surgical strikes” across the heavily militarized Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border in the disputed territory, on alleged “terrorist” targets inside ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Author Syed Shamsul Haq passed away at the United Hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday. He was 81-year-old. Shamsul Haque, who had been suffering from Lungs cancer, breathed his last around 5:30pm.  Syed Shamsul Haq,  born 27 December 1935 in Kurigram, is a famous Bangladeshi poet and writer. He writes poetry, fiction, plays (mostly in verse), and essays. His literary works were included in the curriculum of school level, secondary, higher secondary and graduation level Bengali literature in Bangladesh. The writer won the Bangla Academy Award in 1966, Ekushey Padak in 1984 and Bangladesh’s highest civilian ...

MNA Feature Desk: The World Tourism Day 2016 was celebrated in the city and elsewhere in the country with a call for making tourism accessible and affordable to all. Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB), Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and private sector arranged various programmes, including seminars and rallies, in the capital and outside of it marking the day. A colorful rally was brought out from Matsya Bhaban intersection at 8:30am. Civil Aviation and Tourism secretary SM Ghulam Farooque inaugurated the rally that ended at TSC, Dhaka University. Dhaka University Vice Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique, BPC Chairman Dr Aparup Chowdhury, Bangladesh ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: The “Modern Family” actress Sofia Vergara said she wasted a ton of money trying to change her accent, reported femalefirst.co.uk. “I spent so much money when I decided I was going to act. I’m like, ‘I’m moving to Los Angeles, I’m gonna hire the best speech coach, I can’t understand why Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz can’t learn how to speak perfectly, I’m gonna do it’,” Vergara said on Harry Connick Jr’s new TV show “Harry”. The 44-year-old said her son Manolo, 24-year-old, grew increasingly frustrated with her as she kept pronouncing words wrong. “He ...

MNA Technology Desk: The world’s largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China Sunday, a project Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life. The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), nestled between hills in the mountainous region of Guizhou, began working around noon, the official Xinhua news agency reported. Built at a cost of 1.2 billion yuan ($180 million), the telescope dwarfs the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico as the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, with twice the sensitivity and a reflector as large as 30 football fields, it said. FAST will use its vast dish, made up ...

MNA Life Style Desk: Young individuals who have the interest and the enthusiasm for stock trading usually lack the basic terminologies knowledge of the stock market. Before you go out into too many technicalities, here is a little glossary with few key terminologies that you should know before you start investing in the trade market. Agent: A brokerage firm is said to be an agent when it acts on behalf of the client in buying or purchasing of shares. At no point of time in the entire transaction the agent will own the shares. Assets: Everything the company owns on ...

MNA Technology Desk: Facebook apologized for a mistake in the way it calculated a key metric of video viewership that notably amplified users’ viewing times on its platform, reported news agency. The social media earlier said that a metric for average user time on videos was artificially inflated as it only counted videos viewed for over three seconds. At the time, Facebook had said that the “discrepancy” did not impact advertising billings and introduced newer metrics to replace the previous method. Facebook has made a significant stride into video, which has attracted significant advertising interest and has benefited from the ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Priyanka Chopra, the highest paid actress in India, will be honoured at the second annual InStyle Awards in October, reported news agency. Priyanka now joins InStyle’s other honourees including Hollywood star Nicole Kidman and designer Tom Ford, read a statement. The InStyle Awards honours actors, actresses and artistes whose style defines the red carpet, as well as the industry’s top image-makers. Hosted by the magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Laura Brown, the intimate dinner will take place for the second year at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Priyanka is being honoured with Breakthrough Style Star award. InStyle ...

MNA Feature Desk: Pritilata Waddedar (5 May 1911 – 23 September 1932) was an anti-British revolutionary from Bengal, who became a martyr for the liberation of her motherland. Her name might be buried under the dust of time, but if ever it pops up, everyone remembers her as the iron lady of Bengal. Pritilata Waddedar’s sacrifice cannot be ignored. She was among the initial lot of revolutionaries who picked up arms against the British Raj and was the first woman in Bengal to do so. Born in Chittagong on 5 May 1911, she was a meritorious student at the Dr. ...

MNA Life Style Desk: At present it’s more of a win-win than ever to save energy. Every time you lower your utility bills, you put more money back in your bank account. And lower energy bills also means less energy consumed, which means less harmful emissions released into our environment. Here are some tips for you to save energy at home. Shut doors and close curtains Heating or cooling the whole house can be expensive. Where possible, shut doors to areas you are not using and only heat or cool the rooms you spend the most time in. Make sure ...

MNA Feature Desk: More than 250 people killed and 1,153 injured in road accidents during the Eid-ul-Azha holiday on different routes of road, rail and waterway , reported news agency. A total of 211 accidents took place across the country, Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association and National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR) exposed the number in a media release. The NCPSRR made the report based on reports published in online version of different newspapers, online news portals, news agencies and news aired by TV channels. However, road accidents are becoming a more common tool of threat to life ...

MNA Culture & Entertainment Desk: Angelina Jolie has filed for divorce from Brad Pitt and is seeking custody of their six children, TMZ reported Tuesday, spelling the end for “Brangelina,” one of Hollywood’s highest-profile celebrity couples. According to the entertainment news site, the 41-year-old Jolie filed legal documents on Monday citing irreconcilable differences with Pitt, 52-year-old, listing their date of separation as September 15. Two of the world’s biggest stars, they formed a Hollywood power couple second to none, so famous they were known simply by their combined first names. The A-listers wed in France in August two years ago, ...

MNA Technology Desk: Google sent out invitations to an October 4 event, hinting that the Internet titan will show off a new smartphone powered by its Android mobile software, reported news agency. Emailed invitations revealed only the time and place for the gathering in San Francisco, the message topped by blue, red, yellow, and green dots of color. Google fired off a Twitter message with hashtag #madebygoogle and a video of what appeared to be a long rectangular search term box morphing into a silhouette of a smartphone. Industry trackers have been expecting Google in October to show off its ...