Israel reopens Gaza border crossings

JERUSALEM, July 2 (AP): Israel reopened its border crossings with Gaza Wednesday and was expected to let in supplies of cement for the first time in a year, an Israeli official and a Palestinian official in the territory said.The reopening...

Shrinking profits force hundreds of Chinese shoe makers to quit

BEIJING, July 2 (AFP): Hundreds of shoe makers in southern China have closed down this year as profits slumped due to the rising yuan, higher costs and a weakening demand overseas, industry insiders said yesterday.Around 500 shoe factories-or 10 per...

Iran open to changing gas delivery point

MADRID, July 2 (PTI): Iran yesterday indicated that it may be willing to change the delivery point of gas it wants to sell to India through a pipeline passing through Pakistan, but wanted New Delhi and Islamabad to decide quickly...

China's economy set to cool

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua): China's economy had been slowed to expand at a more desirable and moderate rate for the five months to May, according to an official macro-economy index chart, the national statistics agency said yesterday.The macro economy index...

Global economy reeling under twin strains

NEW YORK, July 2: It is widely acknowledged now that the global economy is reeling under the twin strains of acute food shortage and soaring price of oil. The debacle in America's subprime lending has added to the woes. Or...

Boro yield up by 2.1m tonnes, but still falls short of target

The country's Boro paddy production rose by 2.1 million tonnes to 17 million tonnes in fiscal 2007-08, said a senior finance ministry official Wednesday."The production of Boro in fiscal 2007-08 is 17 million tonnes," said the official quoting the provisional...

Iran says 'new process' underway in nuclear crisis

TEHRAN, July 2 (AFP): Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said a "new process" was underway in the five-year nuclear crisis with the West after the delivery of a proposal by world powers to Tehran, media reported Wednesday."A process is underway...

China goes aggressive on doping as Olympics draw near

BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua): "Is that all? Show me recipes for a whole month."Dissatisfied by a thin pad of prescriptions offered by an employee at a west Beijing chemist's, Wang Zhexiong demanded more to check whether rules were being followed...

Oil trades near record levels

SINGAPORE, July 2 (AFP): World oil traded near record high levels around 142 dollars today after the president of OPEC talked of uncertainty surrounding future investment in energy facilities that could boost crude output.New York's main oil futures contract, light...

Essentials

Prices of essentials, including rice, potato, lentil, edible oil and poultry birds, rose in the city retail markets on Wednesday due to the impact of fuel price hike on transportation and supply shortfall caused by heavy monsoon rain, market operators...

StanChart signs agreement with Scholastica

Standard Chartered Bank and Scholastica School recently signed an auto billspay agreement under which all the credit cardholders and accountholders of the bank will avail the auto-debit facility against their card/account to make the recurring fee payment of their children...

Higher institutions urged to ensure quality edn

Speakers at a seminar Wednesday laid emphasis on ensuring quality of education at the higher educational institutions at home and abroad to generate skilled manpower across the globe to keep pace with others in the competitive era.They also said there...

Spain leaps to top of FIFA rankings following Euro 2008 win

ZURICH, JULY 2 (AP): Spain leapt to the top of FIFA's monthly rankings for the first time following its triumph at the European Championship, with Brazil and Argentina both shoved out of the top three.Spain's 1-0 victory over Germany in...

Truckers' indefinite strike across India to hit economy

NEW DELHI, (Internet): Movement of goods over road is set to get paralysed as more than four million trucks will keep off the road, beginning Wednesday, as part of the nationwide indefinite strike called by the All India Motor Transport...

100 days' employment generation programme may be approved today

The finance ministry reviews today (Thursday) the proposals and criteria for the '100 Days Employment Generation' programme that will be implemented in the new fiscal, official said Wednesday.Finance and planning adviser Mirza Azizul Islam might approve the special programme at...

corporatewatch

Islami Bank: Islamic Economics Research Bureau, one of the corporate sponsors of the bank, has reported that it has completed its sale of 200 shares of the bank at the prevailing market price through stock exchange as announced earlier.Social Investment...

Automakers face tough road as June sales plummet

WASHINGTON, July 2 (AFP): Automakers hit more bumps in the road in June as US sales fell precipitously, and manufacturers failed to adapt to a shift in demand to more fuel- efficient cars, company reports showed yesterday.Overall sales totaled 1.189...

Korean co to invest Tk 1.05b in CEPZ

M/s North Pole BD Limited (Unit-2), a Korean company, will set up an industry in the Chittagong Export Processing Zone (EPZ).This one hundred per cent foreign-owned company will invest initially about Tk 1.05 billion in setting up the industry. It...

Bus fares overshoot govt-fixed rates

The diesel-run buses and trucks and petrol-operated three wheelers (Mishuks) are charging fares more than the ones fixed by the government following the latest increase in fuel oil prices.On the spot visits by this correspondent Wednesday revealed that the bus...

ICAB delegation in Delhi to attend SAFA events

A seven-member delegation of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) headed by its President Humayun Kabir left Dhaka for New Delhi to attend the 3-day ICAI Diamond Jubilee conference and the events of the South Asian Federation of Accountants...

SAARC leaders may reach consensus on climate, energy, food issues at Colombo

Foreign Adviser Dr Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Wednesday said the SAARC leaders would be able to reach at higher levels of understanding at the Colombo summit on climate change, energy and food issues which are critically important to all the member...

A demo of foreign fund managers' renewed interest in Bangladesh stock market

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi Tuesday said that launching of LR global Bangladesh Asset Management Company is a testimonial of foreign fund managers' renewed interest in Bangladesh's growing capital market."This is a significant event," he...

US to give more $77.5m for rehabilitation in Sidr-hit areas

The US Embassy in Dhaka has announced that President Bush signed into law a supplemental funding bill that includes 25 million dollars in cyclone recovery and rehabilitation in Bangladesh in 2008 with an additional 50 million dollars available in 2009,...

G8 likely to send message on tackling food prices

TOKYO, July 2 (Reuters): G8 leaders are likely to seek to demonstrate their commitment to tackling soaring world food prices by issuing a separate statement on the issue at next week's summit, a Japanese foreign ministry official said this week.The...

Lessons to be learnt from the financial crisis

"We told you so." The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has long warned of the dangers of unrestrained credit growth and asset price inflation. In this year's annual report, the last to be prepared under the direction of William White,...

Automated CCH eyes more revenue collection

CHITTAGONG, July 01: Realisation of the duties and taxes at Chittagong Customs House (CCH) would increase many times and harassment of the stakeholders would be stopped with the successful implementation of the automation programme. It would also ensure transparency and...

Call rate gains ground, dollar steady

The inter-bank call money rate gained ground slightly Wednesday despite withdrawal of cash in large amount from the market. The US dollar, however, remained steady against Bangladesh taka (BDT) in the inter-bank foreign exchange market with moderate demand for the...

Cigarette prices up

Prices of different brands of cigarettes have risen at retail and wholesale levels as the tobacco manufacturers have re-fixed the prices following the hike in excise duty by the government.Some wholesalers are selling a pack (20 sticks) of Benson &...

Vietnam might face inflation of up to 30pc this year

HANOI, July 2 (Xinhua): Vietnam is likely to post increase of 25.5-30 per cent in consumer price index (CPI), its inflation rate, this year, local newspaper Youth Wednesday quoted the prediction of the country's general statistics office as reporting.CPI in...

Khulna shrimp units to get non-stop power

KHULNA, July 2: A 33/11 KV industrial express feeder of West Zone Power Distribution Company Limited (WZPDCL) was formally switched on by WZPDCL Managing Director Abu Isahaq at Labanchara of Rupsha industrial area Tuesday.The inaugural function of switching-on was attended,...