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Total initiates operations in offshore gas blocks-17, 18

2007-12-13 00:00:00

FE ReportThe French oil giant Total has initiated its Bangladesh operations in hydrocarbon exploration in its designated offshore gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal."The company has now been conducting a bathymetric survey in the gas blocks-17 and 18 in...

Bush admn urged to provide help for Sidr victims

2007-12-13 00:00:00

The US Congress Tuesday passed a bill urging the Bush administration to provide all appropriate assistance for the Sidr cyclone victims in Bangladesh, reports UNB.The House of Representatives also expressed sympathy for the cyclone victims, and pledged the US people...

Strengthening of emergency relief activities urged

2007-12-13 00:00:00

FE ReportThe government's coordination cell has recommended for strengthening the current emergency relief and rehabilitation activities in the Sidr-hit districts, especially the worst affected areas.It also suggested continuation of seed and fertiliser distribution among the cyclone-affected farmers and disbursement of...

Newspaper men demand review of wage board by Dec 16

2007-12-13 00:00:00

FE ReportNewspaper men including journalists in a meeting in the city Wednesday demanded review of the Sixth Wage Board Award by December 16. They made the demand in the meeting they held blocking the road in front of the National...

Festival cash demand pushes up call rate

2007-12-13 00:00:00

FE ReportThe inter-bank call money rate posted notable rise Wednesday on demand pressure caused by festival cash demand, fund managers said.The central bank injected fresh cash into the market through repurchase agreement (repo) tool to ease the rising mood of...

Spread between lending, deposit rates rises

2007-12-13 00:00:00

Siddique Islam The spread between lending and deposit rates increased slightly last September, despite persuasion to the commercial banks by the central bank to come down the rate at a reasonable level. "We will continue our persuasion to the banks...

3 car bombings kill 41 in Iraq

2007-12-13 00:00:00

BAGHDAD, DEC 12 (AP): Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the market district of a southern Iraqi city on Wednesday, killing at least 41 people and injuring 150 in a Shiite region that has largely escaped the country's...

BPGMEA wants withdrawal of duty drawback on raw materials

2007-12-13 00:00:00

FE Report The Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BPGMEA) Wednesday urged the government to withdraw bank guarantee and duty draw back provisions applied in case of plastic raw material imported under the bond facility. "Around 250 plastic good...

Charges framed against 4 DU teachers, 15 students in another case

2007-12-13 00:00:00

A Dhaka court Wednesday accepted charges to begin trial against four senior teachers and 15 students of Dhaka University (DU) in a case that accuses them of breaching the emergency rules during the campus violence in August, reports bdnews24.com. Chief...

Policies to reform economic zones

2007-12-12 00:00:00

THERE is no denying the importance of foreign investment for creating jobs and increasing national income. It was not in the remote past, but within recent memory that foreign investment was looked upon with suspicion. The basic premise of such...

Constituting human rights commission

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Syed Fattahul AlimThe incumbent government at a meeting of the Advisory Council with Chief Adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed in the chair has finally given its seal of approval to the National Human Rights Commission Ordinance 2007. After the president's endorsement, the...

China raises foreign investment quotas

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Sundeep Tucker in Hong Kong, Geoff Dyer in Shanghai and Richard McGregor in BeijingCHINA is to treble the amount of money that foreigners can invest in the mainland capital market, making the long-awaited announcement on the eve of last week's...

Credit management for better supply performance

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Abdul Majid Khan (Titu)CASH flow is the lifeblood of every business. Poor credit control will affect a company's cash flow and its ability to pay the debts on time. Bad debt by, increasing the amount of interest that a company...

Digging up roads

2007-12-12 00:00:00

I do not know how to say this, but will there never be any sort of coordination between the different departments of the government who have to dig up the roads for one reason or another?There is not a single...

Playground woes

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Dhaka City is a megapolis. Its neighbourhoods are packed with people. The residents live and work in this city as do their children who also study and play in the same city.There are many playgrounds in the city but as...

Dumping needs to be stopped

2007-12-12 00:00:00

ONLY a few months ago, the reconstituted caretaker government faced harsh criticism for its abrupt drive to evict hawkers from the city's pavements. It gave relief to the pedestrians and eased traffic movement to an extent. The drive threw thousands...

War, depression, and turning-point elections

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Steve Fraser Will the presidential election of 2008 mark a turning point in American political history? Will it terminate with extreme prejudice the conservative ascendancy that has dominated the country for the last generation? No matter the haplessness of the...

Anti-immigrant surge tramples int'l norms

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Peter Costantini from Seattle, WashingtonFifty years ago in the southern United States, a system called "Jim Crow" denied African-Americans their civil rights. Now, some immigrant advocates are using the term "Juan Crow" for nativist ideologies that deny human rights to...

HK sees record Asian art sales

2007-12-12 00:00:00

Tom Mitchell from Hong KongThe hammer has come down on a record sales season for Asian art after collectors and investors splashed out on new acquisitions in spite of turmoil in financial markets.Christie's booked total sales of $270.4m at its...

Asia-Pacific teenagers top OECD tests

2007-12-12 00:00:00

David Turner from LondonTaiwan has topped a prestigious international league table of 15-year-olds' mathematical ability, vaulting ahead of far richer countries.The island state's performance in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Pisa tests of mathematics and reading carried out...

EU agrees free trade access for 15 poor nations

2007-12-12 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (AFP): EU foreign ministers yesterday adopted rules allowing practically free access to the European market for products from 15 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) nations who have agreed an interim trade deal with the bloc. A further...

China vows hardline on quality, even if it hurts exports

2007-12-12 00:00:00

BEIJING, Dec 11 (Reuters): China will keep taking tough measures to improve the quality of its products, even if that means exports suffer, Vice Premier Wu Yi said ahead of high-level talks on product safety with the United States. China...

US pending home sales unexpectedly rise

2007-12-12 00:00:00

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters): Pending sales of existing US homes rose modestly in October, bucking Wall Street forecasts, but the decline from a year ago was the third largest on record, a reminder of how far the housing market has...

Antigua eyes big win against US in gambling case

2007-12-12 00:00:00

WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters): Antigua and Barbuda expects to receive a big damage award from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in a long-running Internet gambling dispute with the United States, a lawyer for the Caribbean nation said yesterday. "We feel...

Mandelson hits back at African leaders on trade

2007-12-12 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (Reuters): Europe's trade chief vowed Monday to keep an end-of-year deadline for African countries to agree new trade deals or face tariffs, dismissing assertions from some African leaders that the continent rejected new pacts. Peter Mandelson said...

Gold up as grains jump

2007-12-12 00:00:00

NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Reuters): Gold prices surged yesterday as commodities investors turned to the precious metal to hedge against a fall in the dollar before an expected cut in US interest rates. Oil, copper and other industrial metals fell...

Dollar steady ahead of Fed interest rate decision

2007-12-12 00:00:00

TOKYO, Dec 11 (AFP): The dollar was steady in Asian trade today as investors hunkered down ahead of a key interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve, dealers said. The dollar was flat at 111.70 yen in Tokyo afternoon...

Cambodia 6th largest garment exporter in world

2007-12-12 00:00:00

PHNOM PENH, Dec 11 (Xinhua): Cambodia has become the sixth largest garment exporting country in the world, the Chinese- language newspaper the Commercial Daily reported today. The newspapers quoted government spokesman Khieu Kanharith as saying that the pillar industry creates...

Year-ender: Crude oil to remain in high-price territory

2007-12-12 00:00:00

NEW YORK, Dec 11 (Xinhua): Although crude oil prices have temporarily given up conquering the 100-dollar threshold some 20 days before the year is drawing to a close, analysts here believe oil prices will finally cross the 100-dollar mark before...

ADB lends $300m to develop Indonesian capital markets

2007-12-12 00:00:00

MANILA, Dec 11 (AFP): Indonesia will borrow 300 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank to develop the country's capital markets, the Philippines-based lender said today. The programme would promote transparency and information disclosure in capital markets, enabling market valuation...