The Southeast Asian bloc Asean on Tuesday announced an ambitious strategic plan that includes harmonising trade standards and greater financial integration in an effort to collectively become the world’s fourth-largest economy. The five-year, 41-page plan for the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, released during a leaders’ summit in Malaysia, calls for increased regional trade, freer movement of businesses and ...

Britain will spend a record 3 billion pounds ($4 billion) to boost training opportunities, the government said yesterday, part of a broader strategy to train locals to fill gaps in the labour market and reduce reliance on foreign workers. The investment will “refocus the skills landscape towards young, domestic talent” by creating 120,000 new training opportunities in key sectors such ...

Asian equity markets advanced on Wednesday, buoyed by a strong Wall Street performance following upbeat US consumer confidence data and a decline in bond yields. Investors also found relief in a delay to fresh US tariffs and signs of easing trade tensions. Markets rebounded after US President Donald Trump announced a postponement of the 50 percent tariffs he unexpectedly proposed ...

Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi have been partners on the pitch for several years. Now they’re teaming up off it as businessmen. Suarez announced on Tuesday he has founded a professional soccer team in his native Uruguay, and he is bringing his Inter Miami teammate along on the project. Suarez, the all-time scoring leader of Uruguay’s national team, explained in ...

Barcelona is on the verge of locking in one of football’s brightest young talents, Lamin Yamal, with a new six-year contract that could keep the Spanish prodigy at Camp Nou until 2031. The club aims to reward Yamal’s outstanding performances and commitment by extending his stay and improving his contract terms ahead of his 18th birthday this July. Barcelona initially ...

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus has arrived in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, on a four-day official visit. A Cathay Pacific flight, carrying the Chief Adviser and his entourage, landed at Narita International Airport at 2:05PM, 25 minutes ahead of schedule, where he was received with state honours by Japan’s Chief of Protocol, senior Japanese officials and Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan. ...

ATM Azharul Islam, the then assistant secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami, was released from Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj on Wednesday morning. After necessary formalities, around 9:30 AM, he walked out of Bangladesh Medical University (BMU) where he had been undergoing treatment for the last few months. His party leaders and activists welcomed him at the BMU gate, DIG Prisons Md ...

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has voiced deep disappointment at the interim government’s failure to announce a clear roadmap for upcoming national elections, despite recent meetings between political leaders and Chief Adviser Dr. Muhammad Yunus. At an urgent press conference held Tuesday afternoon at BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia’s Gulshan office, senior leaders warned that the party’s continued cooperation with ...

Notorious fugitive and top-listed Subrata Bain was arrested along with an associate during a three-hour army operation in Kushtia town early Tuesday morning. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), the elite operation began around 5:00 AM and concluded by 8:00 AM at a rented house in Kalishankarpur area of the district town. Subrata and his aide were taken ...

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Dr Shafiqur Rahman has alleged that the nation has been pushed into leaderless and darkness by killing responsible leaders. “A responsible leader is not born every day.” Shafiqur Rahman said “During Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian regime, our six top leaders were executed through false cases in what can only be described as manipulated judicial killings. Many other leaders and ...