Polls close in Cambodia, Hun Sen favoured to win

PHNOM PENH, July 27 (AFP) : Polls closed in Cambodia Sunday after general elections widely expected to extend Prime Minister Hun Sen's 23-year grip on power. "As scheduled, we closed the polling stations at 3:00 pm (0800 GMT)," Tep Nytha,...

China imports more edible vegetable oil at higher cost

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua): China imported more edible vegetable oil at higher cost in the first five months of this year, as demand remained strong at home and prices were buoyed up by short supplies worldwide.Between January and May, China...

China's trade deficit with ASEAN members continues to go down

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua): China's trade with Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members amounted to 95.55 billion US dollars in the first five months of this year, a growth of 26.9 per cent over the same period of last...

Indian Army Chief Kapoor arrives on six-day visit

Indian Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor arrived in the city Sunday afternoon on a 6-day tour aimed at improving bilateral ties and greater military-military interaction between the armed forces of the two countries, reports UNB.General Kapoor accompanied by his wife...

US presidential candidates busy strengthening their foreign policy base

Fazle Rashid from New YorkBARAK Obama and John McCain are busy strengthening their foreign policy base by undertaking trips to Europe, the Middle East and South America. Obama was in Europe and the Middle East and McCain visited South America...

Call rate up, dollar stable

The inter-bank call money rate went up Sunday on withdrawal of fund from the market through treasury bills. The US dollar, however, remained stable against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market due to moderate demand for the...

Power supply becoming a critical problem

IT appears that the existing power plants in the country have a total generation capacity of over 5000 mw but the same cannot be realised in many cases due to ageing machinery, lack of replacement and repairs and, lately, for...

Advocacy meeting calls for ensuring human rights for all

RAJSHAHI, July 27 (BSS): Speakers underscored the need for ensuring human rights for all in the country for the sake of establishing social justice in every sphere of life.The speakers said this at the regional advocacy meeting on "National Human...

DSE capitalisation, turnover up

Dhaka stocks rose for the second consecutive day Sunday amid both higher turnover and market capitalisation.The market capitalisation of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) rose on the back of the debut trading of a new issue--ICB Second NRB Mutual Fund.The share...

Krishi Bank holds branch managers' confce

Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) held a conference of managers from selected city-branches of the bank at its head office in the city Sunday.BKB Managing Director Md Mukter Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion while Deputy Managing Director Md...

Bangladesh A 33 for no loss chasing huge 637

Visiting Bangladesh A team scored 33 for no loss in 7.5 overs in the 2nd innings against South Africa when last report came in on the 3rd and last day of the 5th three-day match at the County Ground, Worcester...

Economic slowdown in US leads a decline in pay at Wall Street

NEW YORK, July 27 (PTI): The economic slowdown in the United States is leading a major decline in pay and bonuses at Wall Street and has government officials worried as it could lead to a shortfall in city and State...

Sitting judges move against High Court ruling

Sitting High Court Judges moved against the HC ruling reinstating their unconfirmed colleagues with seniority over them, reports UNB.Aggrieved at the edict of their own High Court Division of the Supreme Court, 19 HC Judges Sunday filed an application seeking...

Bush, Gilani set to grapple with growing militancy

WASHINGTON, July 27 (AFP): Concerned by Afghanistan's worsening insurgency, US President George W. Bush is expected to quiz Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in talks this week about his new government's counterterrorism strategy or, as some experts see, the...

Indigenous fishes face extinction in Nilphamari

NILPHAMARI, Jul 27: Seasonal indigenous fishes, used to be abundant in the inundated lands under Aman and jute during the rainy season, have decreased drastically.Indiscriminate use of pesticides in the farmlands in cultivating high yielding crops by the farmers in...

BB permits 14 banks to open 100 SME centres

The central bank has given permission to 14 commercial banks for opening around 100 SME service centres across the country by December 31, 2008 to gear up financing to the country's small and medium enterprises (SMEs)."The banks - 13 private...

Olympics harder than World Cup, says Dunga

SINGAPORE, July 27 (AFP): Securing a first Olympic title will be a tougher job than the World Cup, Brazil's coach Dunga said today, and insisted his young team was up to the task of football gold at the Beijing Games.While...

Former BNP MP Nazim Uddin Alam sent to jail

Police Sunday arrested former BNP MP Nazim Uddin Alam from BNP leader Brig Gen (retd) Hannan Shah's new DOHS apartment in connection with four cases including one relating to extortion, reports UNB.In the afternoon, a Dhaka court ordered him to...

EBL cardholders to get discount on Best Air tickets

Best Air Ltd, a leading private airline of the country, offers to all EBL card-holders exclusive priority services including attractive 5 per cent discount on domestic and 7 per cent discount on international air tickets.Eastern Bank Ltd (EBL) under its...

Coal has potentials to generate 15,000mw power in 20 years

The country's electricity generation might be augmented to 15,000 megawatts, over three folds the level of the current generation, by next two decades if coal resources are properly utilised, officials said."Despite the dwindling gas supply across the country, the coal...

Roundtable on 'Role of Pvt Universities in Higher Edn' held

Eastern University organised a roundtable on 'Role of Private Universities in Higher Education' in Sylhet recently, said a press release.Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) Vice-Chancellor M Aminul Islam was the chief guest in the discussion.Chaired by Eastern University...

sports digest

SUNDERLAND (England), July 27: French defender Pascal Chimbonda has joined Sunderland from Premier League rivals Tottenham on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee, the north-east club announced Saturday. The 29-year-old full-back, who can also play in the centre of...

96 bottles of Phensidyl recovered

CHUADANGA, July 27 (BSS): The police recovered 96 bottles of smuggled Indian Phensidyl from a rickshaw van at Andulbaria Bazar under Jibannagar Upazila in the district Saturday.The police said, acting on a tip-off, a team of the police raided the...

Techno-feasibility study on deep seaport resumes

The study on the proposed deep seaport in the Bay of Bengal has resumed after a gap of nearly one year."The techno-feasibility study on the proposed deep seaport has started again last month," said a senior ministry official.The study remained...

NBR targets profitable units that remain outside tax net

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will look for the profitable organisations that still remain outside the tax net, officials said.The taxmen will gear up efforts to find out the business establishments that maintain a considerable amount of turnover for...

'Linkage programme' with the NGOs to expand agro-credit schemes soon

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd (MTB), a new generation private commercial bank, will launch 'linkage programme' with the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to expand its agro-credit schemes."Currently, we have a strong micro-financing credit facility with Credit and Development Forum (CDF), but we...

PCB not worried over possible pull-outs

ISLAMABAD, July 27: Nasim Ashraf, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, has said he is not worried about the prospect of several international stars skipping the Champions Trophy in the country in September over security fears, according to Cricinfo...

Imports grow 27.56pc last fiscal

The country's overall imports grew by 27.56 per cent with food grains marking the highest at 142.70 per cent in fiscal 2007-08 over those of the previous fiscal.The value of letters of credit (LCs) against imports worth $20.372 billion were...

Vegetable cultivation on earthen basin holds new hope for livelihood

KHULNA, June 27: The people of waterlogged village Bagdanga under Keshebpur Upazila under Jessore district have changed their lot by cultivating vegetables on large earthen basins put on triangular bamboo stands under thatched roofs and on nearby yards.Lands of about...

MAXUS celebrates 3rd anniversary today

MAXUS, a WPP company, part of GroupM, will celebrate the 3rd anniversary of Bangladesh operation today (Monday).In Bangladesh, Maxus, an affiliate of Media Consultants Ltd is positioned as a media investment management company, dedicated to a selected client roster, with...