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Smartphones are usually a lot better when they have big screens. From sending long messages to your boss explaining how badly you need that leave, to watching videos of a kangaroo terrorising an Australian bloke in a Land Cruiser, you name it, everything is better with a bigger screen. Moreover it’s IP68 water and dust resistant. But how good does it perform? Let’s find out:   First Impressions: The A7 does not make you want to have hands the size of the moon. It’s wrapped all around in toughened Gorilla Glass, curving round both the front and rear edges for that extra little bit of grip that decides the fate of your wallet. It follows the same design language as the likes of the premium line of devices from Samsung, resulting in the color-matched metal frame sandwiched between the two sheets of glass.  The speaker grill has been moved from the conventional bottom or rear-firing location, to an unusual place on the upper right corner of the phone, just above the unlock button

After months of uncertainty and controversy, Bob Dylan finally accepted the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature at a jovial, champagne-laced ceremony yesterday, the Swedish Academy announced. The academy, which awards the coveted prize, ended prolonged speculation as to whether the 75-year-old troubadour would use a concert stopover in Stockholm to accept the gold medal and diploma awarded to him back in October. They were handed to Dylan at a "private ceremony in Stockholm" attended by 12 academy members, Sara Danius, the academy's permanent secretary, said in a blog post. "Spirits were high. Champagne was had," Danius confided. "Quite a bit of time was spent looking closely at the gold medal, in particular the beautifully crafted back, an image of a young man sitting under a laurel tree who listens to the Muse," she added. "Taken from Virgil's Aeneid, the inscription reads: 'Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes,' loose

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Nazmul Hassan said today that the board knew that Mashrafe Bin Mortaza would step down from the captaincy of the T20I side, but not that he would retire from the format altogether. Hassan also said that Shakib Al Hasan is the likeliest candidate to succeed Mashrafe as captain in T20Is. Bangladesh's limited-overs skipper Mashrafe announced his retirement from the shortest format during the toss of the first T20I against Sri Lanka at the R Premadasa International Stadium yesterday. "I had a meeting with Mashrafe, Tamim [Iqbal], Mushfiqur [Rahim] and Shakib [Al Hasan] day before yesterday [Monday night]," Hassan told reporters at the holel in Colombo this morning. "I told them that they had such a contribution to the nation's cricket that barring a disciplinary issue no one, not me, not anyone could drop them. They would have to make their own exit plans. "Mashrafe had told us for some time that this series

White House Senior Advisor Steve Bannon attends a roundtable discussion held by US President Donald Trump with auto industry leaders at the American Center for Mobility in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, US, March 15, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo President Donald Trump has removed chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council, reversing a controversial early decision to give Bannon access to the high-level meetings. A new memorandum about the composition of the NSC was published in the Federal Register today. The memo no longer lists the chief strategist as a member of the Principal's Committee, a group of high-ranking officials that convene to discuss pressing national security priorities. The new memo also restores the director of national intelligence and the Joint Chiefs chairman to the Principal's Committee. Bannon's addition to the NSC sparked concerns from Trump critics, who said it was inappropriate for the political adviser t

T he 10th season of the Indian Premier League starts Wednesday, marking a decade of scandal and success for the flashy Twenty20 competition beloved by India and watched across the globe.The latest edition of the glitzy league—famous for its pyrotechnics, cheerleaders and huge signing bonuses—gets under way with defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad hosting Royal Challengers Bangalore.Since its debut i n 2008 the shorter-format league has evolved into India’s most popular sporting  event, filling stadiums and attracting TV audiences well beyond that enjoyed by Test and one-day competitions in the cricket-mad subcontinent.Its unique selling proposition is that most of the stadiums are packed, and it is being watched around the world,” IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla told AFP.Its appeal has outlasted numerous controversies—most notably corruption and match-fixing charges—that at times have raised more eyebrows than the showy theatrics on the pitch.Three of the eight teams from the

Eleven people were killed and dozens more injured as an explosion rocked the Saint Petersburg metro Monday, with the Kremlin saying it bore “all the hallmarks of an attack.Authorities shut down the metro system in Russia’s second city for several hours as security services said they had also defused a bomb at a second metro station.Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was probing an “act of terror” but added it would look into all other possible causes of the blast.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion, which comes after the Islamic State group called for attacks on Russia in retribution for its military intervention in Syria fighting against the jihadists.Pictures screened on national television showed the door of a train carriage blown out, as bloodied bodies lay strewn on a station platform.Above ground, emergency services vehicles rushed to the scene at the Technological Institute metro station, a key transport hub in the city centre.As the cit

Abdul Baten is more fortunate than many other people's representatives. The mayor of Pabna's Bera municipality, Baten was charge-sheeted in a corruption case, and the district court sent him to jail in May last year. He was then suspended by the LGRD ministry. A few days later, he came out of prison on bail. The ministry scrapped his suspension and reinstated him in the post of mayor. However, the legal provision on suspension of municipality mayors says a temporarily-suspended mayor cannot resume office until the case proceeding ends.  Baten functioned as mayor for the remaining tenure. He was re-elected in August 2016, and is now discharging duties as mayor. The case against him is yet to be disposed of. He is president of Bera upazila unit of the Awami League and younger brother of AL lawmaker Shamsul Haque Tuku, also former state minister for home.For him, the legal bar on resumption of office was not applied. But the treatment was not the same in case of ma

DHAKA:  The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) has included two countries in its body as member of the IPU, raising the total number of members to 173. The two new member countries are-- Tuvalu and Central Africa Republic. The IPU on Sunday (April 02) approved the membership of the two countries at the second day of its five-day long assembly which has been taking place in Dhaka. Chief of Bangladesh delegation team and deputy speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament Fazle Rabbi Miah confirmed the matter to the Bangalnews. Alongside the permanent members, the IPU has 11 associate members. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the 136th Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly on Saturday (April 01). Bangladesh Parliament is hosting the assembly of IPU, the century-old organisation of world's legislators, for the first time after joining the forum in 1972. A total of 1,348 delegates including 650 parliament members, 53 speakers, deputy speakers and 209 women parliamentari

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge crosses New York Harbor.   It has done so for more than 50 years.   But there is a problem.   The name of the bridge is spelled wrong. The bridge is named for Giovanni da Verrazzano.   (Unlike the bridge, his name has two  Z s.)   He was an Italian explorer.   In 1524, he was the first European to explore New York Harbor. The state office that controls the bridge has said the same thing about the name for years: We know it's wrong, but we're not changing it. An Expensive Change Changing the spelling would be expensive.   Signs, maps, and websites would all have to be changed. New York's Triborough Bridge was changed to Robert F. Kennedy Bridge in 2008.   The change cost $4 million. The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge opened in 1964.   No one is sure how the error was made.   The writer Gay Talese described the building of the bridge in a book.   He wrote that in the 1959 building contract, Verrazzano's name was spelled with one Z. &

SEOUL: South Korea, Japan a nd the US held a joint naval exercise on Monday aimed at countering missile threats from North Korean submarines, Seoul's defence ministry said, amid mounting concerns over the hermit state's weapons programme. Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile  capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year. The three-day drills involving more than 800 troops kicked off after US President Donal Troump  warned on Sunday that the United States is prepared to act unilaterally to deal with North Korea's  nuclear program if China proves unwilling to help. The exercise began off South Korea's southern coast near Japan, featuring multiple naval destroyers and helicopters used in anti-submarine warfare, the ministry said. It was aimed at "ensuring effective response to the North's submarine threats including the submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM)

EW DELHI: Emerging economies face new challenges such as inward looking policies and protectionism, finance minister Arun   said on Saturday as he reiterated that India remains a bright spot despite the sluggish global environment. "But there are newer challenges, most notably a possible shift towards inward-looking policy platforms and protectionism, a sharper than expected tightening in global financial conditions that could interact with balance sheet weaknesses in parts of the Euro area and increased geopolitical tensions, including unpredictable  global financial conditions that could interact with balance sheet weaknesses in parts of the Euro area and increased geopolitical tensions, including unpredictable economic policy of USA," Jaitley said in his address at the second annual meeting of the Development Bank  (NDB) or the BRICS bank. "India continues to grow at a robust rate. Russia and Brazil, who were in the negative growth territory in 2016, are expected t

Sri Lanka rode a fast start and a fast finish to a competitive score, bowled with discipline, and found some spirit in the field to defeat Bangladesh by 70 runs and snap a six-match losing streak that stretched back to January. Perhaps encouragingly for the hosts, the architects of the victory were many. Upul Tharanga and Danushka Gunathilaka cracked 76 runs in the Powerplay,  Kusal Mendis  contributed a half-century,  Thisara Perera  produced a finishing salvo, and virtually all the frontline bowlers delivered good spells - though  Nuwan Kulasekara  was the best among them, claiming 4 for 37. Bangladesh, meanwhile, will rue the batting collapse that cost them a series victory. Sri Lanka's 280 was competitive, but achievable, on a surface that remained good enough to allow No. 8 Mehedi Hasan hit a maiden ODI fifty. However, the match had slipped from them long before Mehedi came to the crease. Three batsmen were out inside four overs, and though Soumya Sarkar and Shakib Al

Most 19-year-olds are either living in less-than-glamorous college dorms or still stuck in their parents’ house s  until they can afford to move out. But Kylie Jenner isn’t most teenagers. The  “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” star, who also has an eponymous makeup line, has bought her third home and the second one in Los Angeles’ exclusive Hidden Hills neighborhood, her  broker Tomer Fridman of Sotheby’s International Realty confirmed.  She splashed out close to $4.5 million on the four-bedroom, four-bath home, which she will use as an office for her expanding makeup business, according to entertainment website TMZ. If she ever wants to take a break from work, then there’s a pool and a jacuzzi in the property, which boasts around  12,000 square feet of living space.  It won’t be her primary home as she is planning to move into a new $6.025-million house in Hidden Hills next door, where many other celebrities, including Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus and Jessica Simpson, have hom

Bangladesh have refused to tour Pakistan for a proposed two-match T20I series sometime before July this year. In a bid to bring international cricket back to the country, the Pakistan Cricket Board had extended an invitation to their counterparts in the Bangladesh Cricket Board after they had successfully hosted the PSL final in Lahore three weeks ago. Among the people who were present at that game was Major AKM Anisud Dowla, a BCB representative. On Friday, Jalal Younis, the BCB's media and communication committee chairman, told  Dhaka Tribune  that, "the reports were not satisfactory enough due to which we had to pull back." PSL chairman Najam Sethi was adamant about hosting the final in Lahore on March 5 and had taken extensive measures to ensure its security. There were bulletproof buses for the teams and five tiers of security extending 2 km from the Gaddafi stadium. Paramilitary forces and local policemen were on hand to monitor the situation as well. Th

A new US strategy in the fight against so-called Islamic State? A little under a week ago the new US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met his counterparts from a variety of countries and organisations which make up the wide-ranging coalition set against so-called Islamic State (IS). He told them that defeating IS remained Washington's "number one goal in the region". But three months into the Trump administration, and in the wake of a full-scale review of the strategy deployed against IS, it is hard to see a substantial difference between the new president's approach and that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. Rather, the most significant shift may be that Mr Trump is applying the Obama recipe with more punch, more resources and greater flexibility.