Your evening brief - PM Hasina unveils vision to build Smart Bangladesh by 2041

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday unveiled her vision to build a "Smart Bangladesh" by 2041 along with making it a developed country. "We will make Bangladesh a developed one by 2041, and that will be Smart Bangladesh," she declared at the inaugural programme of Digital Bangladesh Day 2022 and distribution of prizes among the winners of the Online Quiz Competition 2022. Read more

Among a number of incidents taking place on Monday (12 December), take a quick look at some of the most important news items The Business Standard has compiled for you… 

PM will open Uttara-Agargaon metro on 4th week of December

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate the metro rail services on the Uttara to Agargaon route on any day of the fourth week of December, said Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited ( DMTCL ) Managing Director MAN Siddique. Read more

Fakhrul, Abbas among 224 BNP men denied bail

A Dhaka court has rejected the bail petitions of 224 BNP leaders including the party's Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and standing committee member Mirza Abbas. Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Shafiuddin passed the order Monday (12 December) after a hearing on the case filed over the clash between police and the party activists in Nayapaltan, BNP lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder confirmed the news to The Business Standard. Read more

Bangladesh, Japan to start joint feasibility study for FTA 

In order to increase trade and investment between Bangladesh and Japan, the two countries will hold a joint feasibility study as part of signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) or Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Read more

Argentina to reopen embassy in Bangladesh

Argentina will reopen its embassy in Bangladesh, said Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero. "Argentina will push the reopening project of the embassy in Bangladesh, closed since 1978," Santiago Cafiero tweeted on Saturday (10 December). Read more

Govt seeks to import 50,000 tonnes of rice

The government has decided to import 50,000 (+/- 5%) tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice through a Letter of Credit (LC) under the international open tender method. Traders have until 27 December to submit bids in the tender, according to a notice of Bangladesh's Directorate General of Food published on Monday (12 December). Read more

BNP to stage demonstration at Nayapaltan Tuesday

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) will hold a rally on Tuesday (13 December) in front of its central office in the capital's Nayapaltan area - according to the party's programme announced on 10 December. At the same time, the party will also hold a protest rally in front of the party office on Tuesday, said Khandkar Mosharof Hossain, member of BNP's standing committee at a press conference at the party's central office in Nayapaltan on Monday (12 December). Read more

Constable withdrawn for obstructing Nagorik TV journo during live 

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has taken action against a constable who obstructed a journalist during a live coverage in front of the national parliament on Sunday. Read more

Six Pakistanis, one Afghan soldier killed in cross-border clash

Six Pakistani civilians and one Afghan soldier were killed on Sunday in cross border shelling and gunfire, according to officials on both sides of the frontier. Read more

Iran carries out second execution linked to anti-government protests

The Islamic Republic hanged a man in public on Monday who had been convicted of killing two members of security forces, the judiciary's Mizan news agency reported, the second execution linked to anti-government protests in less than a week. Read more

Indian-origin Nihar Malaviya named interim CEO of Penguin Random House

Nihar Malaviya, an Indian-origin publishing executive, has been named interim CEO of New York-based international publishing group Penguin Random House after its current chief executive officer Markus Dohle announced he is stepping down from the role. Read more

Public universities were unwilling to adopt online classes during pandemic: PM Hasina 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said that public universities of the country were unwilling to adopt virtual or online classes while the government tried to introduce it during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more

Gunman shoots dead three women in Italy

A man shot dead three women and wounded four other people in Rome Sunday, said police, in what may have been a dispute over housing. Italy's far-right premier Giorgia Meloni revealed in a Facebook post later Sunday that one of the victims was a friend. Read more

EC meeting on by-polls in JS vacant seats Thursday 

The Election Commission will decide Thursday (12 December) on by-elections to the parliamentary seats which fell vacant after the resignation of seven BNP lawmakers. Read more