With Eid less than a week away, smiles have returned to the face of retailers after sales picked up as customers thronged shopping centres, defying the risk of contracting the deadly coronavirus.

BioNTech plans to set up a regional centre and a new factory in Singapore for its vaccines, it said on Monday, boosting its presence in Asia as a debate over patents rages and pressure grows on drugmakers to raise output of Covid-19 shots.

Alibaba founder Jack Ma, largely out of public view amid a regulatory clampdown on the group, made a rare visit to its Hangzhou campus on Monday during the e-commerce giant’s annual “Ali Day” staff and family event, company sources said.

UK’s Provident Financial said on Monday it was exiting its 141-year-old doorstep-lending division, adding that it has begun a consultation process for 2,100 employees, as the pandemic delivered the final blow to the loss-making business.

While the DSEX, the Dhaka Stock Exchange’s benchmark index, witnessed its lowest level in nearly seven years since January 2013, Vanguard Asset Management managed an open-end mutual fund showcasing noteworthy performance even amidst the pandemic.

World stocks ticked up to new peaks on Monday on bets interest rates will remain low and the economy continue its recovery, while oil prices jumped after a cyber attack on a US pipeline operator unnerved markets.

Some Toyota Motor shareholders have criticized its President Akio Toyoda for questioning Japan’s plans to ban conventional cars only days after the firm said it was reviewing its climate lobbying and aimed for carbon neutrality by 2050.

In the Addis Ababa Action Agenda 2015, which aims to provide a global framework for financing the Sustainable Development Goals, countries committed to enhancing revenue administration through modernised, progressive tax systems, improved tax policy, and more efficient tax collection.

Various businesses across the Rangpur and Sylhet regions are seeing an influx of customers ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, which is likely to be celebrated on May 13 this year.

Not all garment factories have been able to pay workers’ salaries and festival allowances within the government-set deadline ending yesterday.

The small, marginal and landless farmers together account for around 70 to 80 per cent of the country’s food production, said agricultural analysts.

Every leader has his time in the sun, and it is all about reinventing the sunlight when it is gloomy. Eclipse comes from complacency, and people suffer from inertia if there is no challenge in life.

South Bangla Agriculture & Commerce (SBAC) Bank is set to go public in order to raise Tk 100 crore from the stock market.

PHP Float Glass Industries, a concern of PHP Family, has started manufacturing reflective glass for the first time with plans to export it on meeting local demand.

Md Jashim Uddin, a representative of the Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association, has been elected president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for 2021-23.

Singer Bangladesh has commenced manufacturing washing machines at its Savar plant that has a capacity to produce 420,000 units per year.

The government may allocate Tk 225,324 crore to implement development projects in the next fiscal year, which is 14 per cent higher than that in the revised budget.

The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) today launched its new 13-floor building and announced that it would be turned into a Covid-19 hospital.

The government today asked the garment factory owners to clear the payments of workers’ salaries, bonuses and other dues by tomorrow so that the workers can enjoy the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Md Jashim Uddin has been elected as the new president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) for the 2021-23 tenure.