Business

UK house prices fell unexpectedly in December, according to a top mortgage lender, with the market finishing the year with the weakest annual growth in more than 18 months. The average property price slumped by 0.4% to £271,068 compared with November, according to Nationwide, confounding City forecasts of a 0.1% rise. The UK’s biggest building society also said that the ...

The Planning Ministry, entrusted with steering Bangladesh’s development agenda, ends 2025 under mounting criticism over its persistent failure to accelerate public project implementation, culminating in what officials privately describe as a record-low implementation pace under the Annual Development Programme (ADP). Despite repeated assurances, reform pledges and frequent high-level review meetings, the ministry closed the year with chronic delays, persistent underspending ...

Now the retail fuel prices has been cut in the domestic market as the government has announced new price for fuel oil, reducing by Tk 2 a litre from January 1. A notification issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Division early Thursday stated that the prices of diesel, octane, petrol and kerosene have been reduced to Tk 102, Tk ...

Asian stock markets showed a mixed performance on Wednesday, with several major exchanges closed for year-end and New Year holidays. Markets in Tokyo and Seoul were shut, while trading continued elsewhere in the region. In China, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to 25,630.54, whereas the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1% to 3,969.75. Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 0.9% to 28,963.60. ...

The entrepreneur behind Britain’s biggest energy supplier is sitting on a fortune worth £300m following the blockbuster sale of its technology arm. Greg Jackson, who co-founded Octopus Energy in 2015, secured the fortune after he confirmed late on Monday that the company’s Kraken software arm had been spun off as an independent business valued at $8.7bn (£6.4bn). His stake in ...

The price of gold has reached an all-time high in the country, hitting over Tk 2.29 lakh per bhori (11.664 grammes). Jewellers have increased the price of the precious yellow metal by Tk 1,575 to Tk 2,29,431 following a hike in the pure gold price in the local market. The Standing Committee on Pricing and Price Monitoring of the Bangladesh ...

On a crisp Friday morning in early December, Abington Street in Northampton is starting to stir. Despite having lost high street stalwarts like Marks & Spencer, Moss Bros and H&M in recent years, it is drawing in locals for one end-of-week errand: banking. Along the pedestrianised road, customers are streaming in and out of HSBC, Barclays, Metro Bank and the ...

Several international flights could not land at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Saturday morning due to dense fog. According to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) officials, the flights were diverted to Chittagong, Kolkata and Bangkok as visibility dropped sharply over the capital. They said flight operations will resume as normal once weather condition improves. Passengers are being provided meals ...

A US judge has temporarily blocked the detention of British social media campaigner Imran Ahmed, who took legal action against the US government over having his visa removed. The Center for Countering Digital Hate founder was among five people denied US visas after the Trump administration accused them of seeking to “coerce” tech platforms into censoring free speech. The move ...

“It’s just the same.” Six months on from the sale of WH Smith’s high street business, the name above the door may have changed to TG Jones, but many shoppers have not noticed a splurge of investment or change. “The layout is the same and what they are selling is the same,” says Gillian Parsons as she exits TG Jones ...