South Korean superstars BTS were crowned artist of the year at the American Music Awards on Sunday, brushing aside challenges from Taylor Swift, Drake and The Weeknd as they took home a total of three awards and teamed up with Coldplay for a raucous “My Universe” and closed the show with “Butter.” “Seven boys from Korea, united by love for music, met the love and support from all the armies all over the world,” said BTS' RM after the group won their artist of the year for the first time. “This whole thing is a miracle. Seriously, we would never take this for granted.” The band was also named favorite pop duo or group and got the favorite pop song award for “Butter.” Also read: BTS on 1st Grammy nod: 'It’s hard to express in words' The show celebrated the best popular music for a second pandemic year with a mix of live and pre-taped performances. Silk Sonic’s Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak kicked off the awards on a funky, R&B and pre-taped note with their “Smokin Out the Window” and Jennifer Lopez pre-taped her “On My Way” from her upcoming romantic comedy “Marry Me.” An earlier scheduled performance of “Butter” by BTS and Megan Thee Stallion was scrapped after the rapper cited personal reasons for dropping out Saturday. She turned out to be a big winner: named favorite female hip-hop artist, her “Good News” winning for favorite hip-hop album and her “Body” was crowned favorite trending song, a new award this year. Olivia Rodrigo came into the night with a leading seven nominations but only took home the crown for favorite new artist of the year. “Writing songs is my favorite thing in the whole world and I am so grateful for everyone who has embraced my music,” she said. Rodrigo lost favorite pop album to Taylor Swift's “evermore.” In a taped speech, Swift told her fans: “I’m so lucky to be in your life.” Swift also won for favorite female pop artist, giving her a career total of 34, the record for the most awarded artist in AMA history. Rodrigo performed her hit “traitor” live on a stage covered with flowers and Carrie Underwood and Jason Aldean brought a little country to the stage when they sang their pre-taped duet “If I Didn’t Love You.” With a little help from Julieta Venegas and Tainy, Bad Bunny performed their hit “Lo Siento BB :/.” Among live performances, Italian band Måneskin made their U.S. awards show debut with their viral hit “Beggin.’” Chlöe of Chloe x Halle floated down onto the stage to perform her hit debut single as a soloist “Have Mercy,” swinging her hair and twerking. Mickey Guyton got loud cheers while singing her patriotic song “All American” in a silvery dress, periodically screaming out “How y'all doing?” The fan-voted awards show aired live from Los Angeles on ABC. Nominees were based on streaming, album and digital sales, radio airplay and social activity, and reflect the time period of Sept. 25, 2020, through Sept. 23, 2021. Becky G won for favorite female Latin artists and thanked the Latinx community. “You are not alone,” she said. “We are the American dream.” Also read: BTS hit 'DNA' exceeds 1.2 bln views on YouTube Machine Gun Kelly grabbed the favorite rock artist award. “I want to accept this for all the aspiring musicians, the one who desires to play an instrument, wants to rap, wants to sing — not just the rock artists, but all the artists,” he said. Earlier Sunday, in awards announced before the show, Swift was named favorite female pop artist, Ed Sheeran got the favorite male award and Doja Cat featuring SZA on “Kiss Me More” was named collaboration of the year. Kanye West was named favorite gospel artist Underwood won for favorite inspirational artist and favorite female country artist and Doja Cat also won two other awards: favorite female R&B artist and her “Planet Her” was named favorite R&B album. Luke Bryan was named favorite country artist and Bad Bunny was the favorite male Latin artist. The Weeknd was crowned favorite male R&B artist and Drake won the favorite male hip-hop artist. Gabby Barrett took home the favorite country album for “Goldmine” and favorite country song for “The Good Ones.” For the older viewers, New Edition and New Kids on the Block performed together. The Boston-based groups took turns with the hits, trading hits: “You Got It (The Right Stuff”), “Candy Girl,” “Step By Step,” “Mr. Telephone Man” and uniting for “Can You Stand the Rain,” “Is This the End,” “Hangin' Tough” and “If It Isn’t Love.” The favorite Latin album went to Bad Bunny’s “El Último Tour Del Mundo.” Host Cardi B, wearing a constant stream of new outfits, revved up the crowd. Later her song “Up” was named favorite hip-hop song.

South Korean company Kido Dhaka Limited will invest $31.17 million to establish a garment and manufacturing industry at Adamjee Export Processing Zone (EPZ). Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA) and Kido Dhaka Co. Limited signed an agreement on Monday at BEPZA complex in the capital. BEPZA' member (investment promotion) Ali Reza Mazid and acting director of Kido Dhaka Limited Ahn Young Dae Joseph singed the agreement document on behalf of their respective sides. Also read: Bangladesh an attractive investment destination: Korean envoy Kido is a renowned sportswear manufacturing industry of South Korea. They have also 5 plants in Vietnam, Myanmar and Indonesia. The company has a big investment plans in Bangladesh and primarily they will invest at Adamjee EPZ, said Young Dae. They also have a plan to takeover sick industrial plants in different export processing zones to modernize  those with updated technology, he said. The company, fully owned by Korean Kido group, will produce 2 million pieces of jacket, motorcycle safety jacket, leather & fiber jacket, work jacket, sport jacket, fleece jacket, baby warmer, soft shell jacket, sweatshirt, vest, work-wear, coverall, hospital gown, protective cloths and Personal Protection Equipment ( PPE) annually. Also read: S Korea for diversifying areas of cooperation, elevating ties with Bangladesh The company will create job opportunities for 6040 Bangladeshi nationals. BEPZA's new chairman Major General Abul Kalam Mohammed Ziaur Rahman and its outgoing chairman Major General Md Nazrul Islam were also present at the agreement signing ceremony. BEPZA's outgoing chairman Major General MD. Nazrul Islam said BEPZA contributes 20 per cent of the country's export income from eight EPZs. Seventy two companies of South Korea have invested in eight  EPZs of Bangladesh so far.

South Korean Ambassador to Bangladesh Lee Jang-keun has said Korea, as a natural and trustful partner of Bangladesh, is committed to further contributing to Bangladesh’s path towards brighter future.  Ambassador Lee also drew attention that Korea and Bangladesh will celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2023 and hoped this to be a milestone year bringing the bilateral relations to a new height.  The Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Dhaka will celebrate the Korean National Day virtually on October 3 due to the persisting corona pandemic. Every year the Korean Embassy used to hold a grand in-person reception for the celebration of its National Foundation Day, Gaecheonjeol in Korean which literally means the day of sky opening.  This day is to mark the legendary formation of the first Korean state in 2333 B.C. READ: S Korea donates Taekwondo equipment to Bangladesh Taekwondo Federation The Korean Embassy has prepared a special website for the virtual celebration which includes congratulatory video messages of a multitude of dignitaries and friends of Korea from Bangladesh government, politics and business as well as diplomatic community in Bangladesh.  Among them are Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen, Parliamentarian Md. Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Archbishop George Kocherry, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Dhaka, Md. Atiqul Islam, Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, Chairman Sung Ki-hak of Youngone Corporation, representatives of international agencies such as IOM, UNICEF and UNDP, Prof. Tanweer Hasan, Vice Chancellor of IUB and Korean community in Bangladesh.  Also, students of Sarkari Shishu Paribar, EPS workers, K-pop lovers and members of Korean community in Bangladesh joined in the video celebration.  READ: Future of Bangladesh very bright for its young people: S Korean envoy The video clips of the congratulatory messages can be found at the website: www.bd-korea.com The Ambassador expressed sincere appreciation to all dignitaries and friends for joining the auspicious day especially by sending short video clips.

Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), a South Korean firm, has received the government’s nod to install and operate  the toll collection system for three bridges on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway. “We’ve given our “in principle” approval to the proposal of the Road Transportation and Highway Division to appoint the KEC for installation and operation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway”, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters after the cabinet body meeting. Kamal presided over the high-powered committee meeting on Thursday. Also read: Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga Expressway to open up new era of road connectivity Briefing on the outcomes of the meeting Additional secretary of the Cabinet Division Md Shamsul Arefin informed that the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has been funding the project to install the ITS on the Dhaka-Mawa-Bhanga expressway to facilitate toll collection from the three bridges including the multipurpose Padma Bridge on the highway in their crossing.  He noted that the KEC will work as a service provider for the operation and maintenance of the ITS where revenue collection will be fully automatic. The vehicles GPRS system will be utilised in the automatic toll collection system, he added. Shamsul, however, did not give any detail of the financial involvement in the contract. He said the proposal will come again to the Cabinet Division for the final approval of the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase where details of the contract will be placed.    Officials said the ITS is a part of the project titled: “Improving the reliability and safety on national highway corridors of Bangladesh”. The project aims to make the road transport infrastructure of Bangladesh  safer, reliable, and sustainable; use ICT for better, efficient and effective traffic management; and enhance the institutional capacity of RHD for road and traffic management. The officials said the KOICA  has been supporting the government with a budget of $8.9 million from 2020-2023 for establishment of ITS master plan, architecture and standard, implementation of pilot project, capacity building of RHD, RTHD and other relevant organizations of the government of Bangladesh. Also read: Dhaka-Mymensingh highway to be upgraded to expressway Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Public Purchase in a separate meeting approved a total of 8 procurement proposals. A proposal of the Roads and Highway Division received approval of the committee for awarding a Tk 251.60 crore contract to National Development Engineers Ltd., to set up a road research and training centre and maintenance work under the Elenga-Hatikamrul-Rangpur highway 4-lane Improvement project. The Public Works Department’s proposal to award a Tk 65.98 crore contract to the Joint Venture of (1) TBEAL; (2) STI and (3) TEC for construction of a 15-story residential building at Cumilla Police line for Bangladesh police received the committee’s approval.   A proposal of the Education Ministry received the nod of the committee to award contracts to 11 bidders for printing, binding and supply of 1.07 crore books for students of different classes of 2022 at Tk 25.05 crore. The committee approved a proposal of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) to award a Tk 125.42 crore contract to China Energy Engineering Group Anhui No.1 Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., for implementing a power distribution project in Kumilla on turnkey basis. The committee gave nod to a proposal of the Ministry of Parbatta Chattagram Hill-Tracts Affairs to award a Tk 202.33 crore contract to Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited for installation of 40,000 solar home systems, each having 100 watt-peak capacity, and 2500 solar community system, each having 320 watt-peak capacity, at three hill districts. Three separate proposals of the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC) received the nods of the Cabinet body. Of these, the BCIC will import 30,000 metric tons of bulk prilled urea fertilizer from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) at a cost of Tk 119.82 crore with value of each metric ton US$470. It will purchase 30,000 MT of bagged granular urea fertilizer from Karnaphuli Fertiliser Company at Tk 111.11 crore which each metric ton value at US$431.   The BCIC will import 30,000 mt of phosphoric acid from three firms at Tk 193.17 crore.

Kim Da-hye, a 29-year-old South Korean, said that moving into a semi-basement apartment was her least-preferred option when she was looking for a new place to live.

Searchers found the wreckage of an ambulance helicopter in waters off South Korea's eastern coast Friday and were continuing to look for its seven crewmembers and passengers, who were presumed dead.