Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday sought Spanish investment in Bangladesh's economic zones to increase economic cooperation between the two countries,…

Bilateral issues including trade and investment, agriculture, coastal shipping, education, ICT and visa related matters will dominate the official talks between Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday, reports BSS. The Sri Lankan President is scheduled to…

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed said works are going on in a quicker pace to make Bangladesh as a digital middle-income country by 2021 as per the declaration of the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s “Vision-2021”, reports BSS. “The government is inviting 80 per cent tenders for…

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid yesterday said the government would install 2,60,000 prepaid gas meters in residential areas across the country by December 2018, reports BSS. “With installation of prepaid meters for domestic use of natural gas, approximately…

Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday asked all banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to extend their assistance for rehabilitating flood affected people under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme, reports BSS. The central bank issued a circular to all banks and NBFIs in this regard.…

AFP, MELBOURNE: At a secret location in Australia's southeast, Peter Crook delicately tends to a two-month-old cannabis cutting. Barely knee high,…

AFP, BERLIN: Germany's cabinet agreed yesterday to tighten scrutiny on takeovers of companies in strategic industries by buyers outside the EU, the Economy Ministry said, reacting to Europe-wide disquiet over Chinese takeovers. New regulations will allow Berlin more time to probe takeover bids,…

AFP, GIBRALTAR: Deep inside the Rock of Gibraltar are vaults harbouring a prized treasure: the servers that power the websites of online gaming companies,…

AFP, ISTANBUL: The use of electric cars is set to grow in the coming years, but this will not spell the end of demand for oil, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday. IEA executive director Fatih Birol told Agence France-Presse in an interview that the growth of electric cars…

After showing upward trends in the previous three sessions, stock markets returned to red zone yesterday as issues across both Dhaka and Chittagong stock…

AFP, BRUSSELS: The EU recommended yesterday that three times bailed-out Greece has made enough progress in balancing its budget to be removed from special oversight of government spending. The move is a further boost for Athens days after it secured a fresh tranche of cash from its latest bailout to…

Top negotiators from the 11 remaining Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) members kicked off a meeting in Japan yesterday to discuss the future of the trade pact after the withdrawal of the United States, reports Xinhua. The meeting, to run for at least two days in the hot-spring town of Hakone near Tokyo,…

AFP, BEIJING: China appears to be considering further reforms to its foreign exchange market such as reduced state meddling and freer trading of the yuan, but analysts are skeptical about its efforts to relax currency controls. A newspaper run by China’s central bank published a front page story…

AFP, ISTANBUL: A historic deal between OPEC and non-cartel members to slash output to boost prices has so far failed to produce the expected results with stocks remaining excessive, the group's secretary general said yesterday. In an unprecedented step last year, OPEC and other key non-members including…

Digi Com Berhad (Digi), a Malaysian unit of Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor, saw its net profit fall 14.67 per cent year on year to 358.9 million ringgit (83.55 million US dollars) in the second quarter ending Jun 30, 2017 amid continued competition in the sector, reports Xinhua. The third…

Manufacturing sector topped Myanmar’s foreign direct investment (FDI) with over 637 million US dollars in the first three months of the present fiscal year 2017-2018, which began in April, official media reported yesterday. During the first quarter period as of June 30 of the fiscal year, it saw…

Hasan Faruque, director of Maxus Bangladesh, will take on the role of agency head of the newly combined MEC and Maxus 'NewCo' agency in Bangladesh which is scheduled to be launched in January 2018, a press statement said. The role becomes effective in January 2018, the statement added. Asiatic…

US Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded Safe Aqua Farming for Economic and Trade Improvement (SAFETI) project of Winrock International signed a partnership agreement with CODEC recently. SAFETI project is working in southern region of Bangladesh with the objective to increase shrimp and prawn production.…