Business

One of China’s richest men, Jack Ma, is to step down as executive chairman of the Alibaba e-commerce empire on Monday, the New York Times reported. He will remain on Alibaba’s board of directors but focus on philanthropy in education, the newspaper said.   Mr Ma co-founded Alibaba in 1999 and has seen it become one of the world’s biggest ...

 Three Bangladeshi Banks– Dutch-Bangla Bank, Prime Bank and Mutual Trust Bank– are among winners of the fourth annual Trade Finance Programme (TFP) Awards announced by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The TFP Awards recognised 23 leading partner banks from 15 countries this year. Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited has been recognised as Leading Partner Bank in Bangladesh. Prime Bank Limited has been ...

Amongst the mounting reports of backhanders and biased judging within the industry’s award shows, this week has marked an important shift in the British-Asian hospitality award sector. The Asian Restaurant Owners Network (ARON), renowned for their proactive and honest platform, are upholding their commitment to #PressForProgress until equality for all is achieved. Rehan Uddin, founder of ARON and South Devon restaurant owner, ...

Coca-Cola is to buy the Costa coffee chain from owner Whitbread in a deal worth £3.9bn. Whitbread said its board had unanimously approved the deal as being in the best interests of shareholders.   Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain said the company would now focus on its Premier Inn business in the UK and Germany.   Whitbread bought Costa, which ...

Panasonic’s booth at the 2018 IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin (collected photo) Panasonic plans to move its European headquarters from Britain to the Netherlands later this year over concerns about potential tax issues related to Brexit, a company spokeswoman said Thursday. “We will move our European headquarters to the Netherlands,” the spokeswoman told AFP, confirming a report in the ...

Tokyo, Aug 28 : Global shares were mostly higher Tuesday after the White House said it reached a preliminary agreement with Mexico on replacing a North American free-trade deal. KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent in early trading to 5,485.39, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 percent at 12,561.44. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent to 7,630.36. U.S. ...

The final cook-off competition of the Asian Restaurant and Takeaway Awards (ARTA) were held at Hackney City College in London on Monday. Chefs shortlisted from greater London and neighbouring areas participated in the event that was graced by the restaurant directors, celebrities, executive chefs and culinary teachers from colleges and universities. Speaking on the occasion, the guests said many of the ...

In January 2014 Bangladesh was the first country in South Asia to introduce any genetically modified (GM) food crop in the region. In little over four years’ time nearly a fifth of Bangladeshi brinjal farmers are now cultivating – Bt brinjal – a GM eggplant, making it one of the fastest adopted biotech crops ever, reports UNB.   After October, ...

Ankara, Aug 15 : Turkey announced Wednesday it is increasing tariffs on imports of certain U.S. products, escalating a feud with the United States that has helped trigger a currency crisis. In a decision announced in the Official Gazette, Ankara said it will impose extra tariffs on imports of products including rice, vehicles, alcohol, coal and cosmetics. Turkey’s Vice President ...

Seoul, Aug 8 : Samsung Electronics and its affiliated companies plan to spend $22 billion over the next three years on artificial intelligence, auto components and other future businesses. Samsung said Wednesday it will spend the sum, amounting to 25 trillion won, to hire artificial intelligence researchers, to be a global player in next generation telecoms technology and to boost ...