Your evening brief - Strengthen scouts movement to groom children as worthy citizens: PM Hasina

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stressed the need for strengthening the scouts movements involving each of the students  as it helps make children worthy to lead Bangladesh towards a developed, prosperous and smart country by 2041. "I want to groom every child as a worthy citizen of the country -- scouts have given moral and life-oriented education to them. Members of the scouts are being developed as patriotic and conscious citizens with a mentality of rendering services," she said. Read more

Among a number of incidents taking place on Wednesday (25 January), take a quick look at some of the most important news items The Business Standard has compiled for you…

Bangladesh, S Korea bilateral trade reach record high crossing USD 3 billion in 2022 

Bangladesh and South Korea's bilateral trade volume reached record high in 2022 with $3.035 billion, which is 38.71% up from the previous year which was $2.188 billion, said South Korea International Trade Association. Read more

DSEX hits 10-week high in early trading

In continuation of the two consecutive winning sessions, stocks opened with a bullish momentum on Wednesday (25 January). Within 80 minutes of the opening bell, DSEX, the broad-based index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) hit 6,113.95, the highest point since 13 November. Read more

Unique Hotel quarterly profit jumps by 270%

Unique Hotel and Resorts Ltd, the company that owns The Westin Dhaka and a few other hotels, has posted 270% growth in its October-December profits. The luxury hotel company posted TK1 in its quarterly earnings per share (EPS) for the last three months of 2022, which was Tk0.27 in the same period of 2021 and Tk0.52 in the July-September quarter of 2022. Read more 

Another RMG factory - Amanat Shah Fabrics - in Bangladesh recognised as green

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has recognised another readymade garment factory in Bangladesh as green – raising the total number of environment-friendly establishments in the apparel sector to 184. The first LEED-certified green factory of 2023 which has received a gold rating is Amanat Shah Fabrics Limited. Read more

BNP's anti-govt rally begins with partymen gathering in Nayapaltan

BNP men gathered in front of their party headquarters in Dhaka's Nayapaltan as part of the simultaneous movement to oust the current government. The protest rally, which began around 2:20pm on Wednesday, was organised as a protest against the introduction of one-party Baksal rule by Awami League on this day in 1975, rise in the prices of power and gas and mounting pressure on the government to accept their 10-point demand, including holding the next polls under a non-party caretaker government. Read more 

Presidential election on 19 February: EC

The country's 22nd presidential election will be held on 19 February from 2pm to 5pm, the Election Commission (EC) has announced. The election schedule was disclosed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal. Read more

Metro train starts picking up passengers from Pallabi station

Passengers have been boarding metro trains from the Pallabi station since Wednesday (25 January) morning. A metro train made a stop at the Pallabi station for the first time at 8:34am. Then it left for Agargaon after waiting 30 seconds allowing passengers to get on board. Read more

Case filed over Moghbazar blast

A case has been filed over Tuesday's suspicious blast on the sidewalk at Moghbazar wireless area that left at least five persons including a Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) engineer. Sub-Inspector (SI) Shahadat Hossain filed the case with Ramna Model police station under The Explosive Substances Act yesterday night (24 January). Read more

US Justice Dept sues Google over digital advertising dominance

The US Justice Department and eight states sued Google on Tuesday, alleging that its dominance in digital advertising harms competition. The government alleges that Google's plan to assert dominance has been to "neutralize or eliminate" rivals through acquisitions and to force advertisers to use its products by making it difficult to use competitors' products. Read more

US, Germany poised to send tanks to Ukraine, answering Kyiv's pleas

The United States was expected to announce as soon as Wednesday that it will send heavy tanks to Ukraine, and Germany has decided to do the same, sources said, a reversal that Kyiv has said would reshape its war with Russia. Hours before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy turned 45 on Wednesday, he pressed allies to move forward with providing his forces with more than five to 15 modern tanks. Read more

G7, partners vow to support Ukraine's energy sector

G7 and other partner countries on Tuesday pledged to maintain their support for Ukraine's energy sector, including delivering equipment and other humanitarian aid during winter, the US State Department said following a meeting of the group's foreign ministers. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi co-hosted the meeting, in which countries also vowed to continue coordinating on Ukraine's efforts to "modernize and decarbonize its energy grid," the department said after the virtual meeting. Read more