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North Korea announces arrest of foreign spies

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BEIJING, Sept 5 (AFP): North Korea announced Wednesday the arrest of "several" foreign spies who had allegedly conducted espionage on the Stalinist nation's military, China's official Xinhua news agency reported. A spokesman for North Korea's national security service told reporters...

New York's first Arabic school opens

2007-09-06 00:00:00

NEW YORK, Sept 5 (AFP): Under police guard, about 60 pupils at New York's first Arabic bilingual school turned up for classes on Tuesday amid accusations the institution is a potential breeding ground for Islamic extremists. "This is absolutely not...

Russian mayor bans phrase 'I don't know'

2007-09-06 00:00:00

MOSCOW, Sept 5 (AP): The mayor of a Siberian oil town has ordered his bureaucrats to stop using expressions such as "I don't know" and "I can't." Or look for another job.Alexander Kuzmin, the 33-year-old mayor of Megion, has banned...

Fifty more Taliban killed in new Afghan clashes

2007-09-06 00:00:00

KABUL, Sept 5 (AFP): More than 50 insurgents were killed in fresh fighting between Taliban-led rebels and soldiers from Afghan and international forces, the US-led coalition and police said Wednesday. Troops pounded suspected militants in the central province of Ghazni...

Northern Bay of Bengal faces tsunami risk

2007-09-06 00:00:00

PARIS, Sept 5 (AFP): The northern tip of the Bay of Bengal, home to tens of millions of people, faces a potential double whammy from an earthquake and tsunami, a scientist warned on Wednesday. He says the peril does not...

Indian govt launches committee to examine US nuclear deal

2007-09-06 00:00:00

NEW DELHI, Sep 5 (AP): India's government has set up a committee to examine concerns over a nuclear deal with the United States that critics say could undermine the country's nuclear weapons program and independent foreign policy.The committee, announced by...

Three arrested for planning terror attacks in Germany

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BERLIN, Sept 5 (AFP): Three people have been arrested on suspicion of planning terror attacks, German Defence Minister Franz- Josef Jung said Wednesday, speaking of "an imminent threat". SWR public radio said the suspects, two German nationals and a Pakistani,...

Car bomb kills 19 in Baghdad

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BAGHDAD, Sep 5 (AP): A roadside bomb exploded on the fringes of the capital's Shiite slum of Sadr City early Wednesday, killing 11 and injuring 19, police and hospital workers said.Blood stained the ground around a small crater caused by...

Saudi chides Sharif for planning Pakistan return

2007-09-06 00:00:00

RIYADH, Sept 5 (AFP): Saudi Arabia, once the home in exile of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, chided him on Tuesday for planning to return to his country and challenge President Pervez Musharraf. "Wisdom dictates that Mr Nawaz Sharif...

news digest

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Hurricane Dean caused $2bin damage: Munich Re BERLIN, Sept 5 (AFP): Hurricane Dean, which slammed into Mexico last month killing around 30 people, caused one to two billion dollars (735 million-1.5 billion euros) in total insured damage, German reinsurance giant...

Enforcing govt officials' code of conduct

2007-09-06 00:00:00

The government has issued a directive to its employees under various ministries to submit their wealth statements within December 31, 2007. The order has been given in exercise of the code of conduct framed in 1979 which required that the...

Economy walking a tight rope

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Syed Fattahul AlimThough the country's foreign exchange reserve is better than any time in the past, the trade deficit is widening as if to keep pace with the forex position. Meanwhile, considering the increasing level of import, the Bangladesh Bank...

Investment spree follows explosion in entrepreneurship

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Joe LeahyIN this year's hit Bollywood movie Guru, the film's main protagonist, a rags-to-riches businessman, gives a rousing speech against state interference in industry in the era before India's 1991 market reforms. "When I wanted to work hard and earn,...

Indonesian hub seeks place on investment map

2007-09-06 00:00:00

John AglionbyTHE recent signing by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's president, of regulations creating a special trade zone covering the is-land of Batam and enclaves on nearby Bintan and Karimun marked the realisation of a three-decade-old vision.But officials admit it will...

Torments from prices

2007-09-06 00:00:00

PEOPLE are very keen for relief from arbitrary price rises. If asked to state what is among their highest wishes, the greatest number in the country would very probably mention that normalisation of prices of essential commodities as one of...

Diabetes threat

2007-09-06 00:00:00

The number of sufferers from diabetes have soared in Bangladesh in recent years. There are some 7.0 million identified sufferers from diabetes in Bangladesh although the real number of total sufferers could be greater in the background of the disease...

Reopen universities

2007-09-06 00:00:00

We the general students of Dhaka University make an earnest appeal to the government to reopen all public universities and colleges without delay to save us from falling into another trouble of session jam in the days ahead.Thousands of students...

Enhancing corporate governance of financial institutions

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Kazi Md. Mortuza AliCorporate governance as a concept has received increasing attention in recent years. The term corporate governance is associated with accountability to a company's equity shareholders or risk-bearing owners. It is the system by which companies are to...

Rural-based programmes can help better prevent environmental disasters

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Yasmin Rimi MYMENSINGH is 125 kilometres away from capital Dhaka. Another 30 kms deep into the district, there is a village named Dakatia. Once a barren village, Dakatia now looks different. It's now a wonderful village with lush green trees.The...

Billions up in flames as oil firms burn gas

2007-09-06 00:00:00

Abid Aslam Energy producers waste about 40 billion dollars every year by burning off gas released at oil fields, says a new study commissioned by the World Bank.The practice, known as flaring, also hastens climate change by spewing some 400...

OECD cuts US economic growth forecast, recession not ruled out

2007-09-06 00:00:00

DUBLIN, Sept 5 (Reuters): The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Wednesday reduced its forecast for US economic growth and recommended a rapid cut in interest rates to limit the fallout from a housing and mortgage market slump that...

WTO trade talks threatened by 'deepfreeze', Mandelson warns

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, Sept 5 (AFP): EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson warned yesterday that long-deadlocked World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks faced a "deepfreeze" if negotiators fail to make a breakthrough in the coming months. Time is running out for negotiators to make...

Booming India-China trade can bring two countries closer

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BEIJING, Sept 5 (PTI): Booming Sino-Indian trade must be freed from all barriers and closer interaction between the businesses of the two nations can bring about faster rapprochement between the two Asian giants, a top Indian executive has said. "I...

Eurozone economy slows down in Q2 as investment drops

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BRUSSELS, Sept 5 (Xinhua): The Eurozone economy slowed in the second quarter of this year mainly due to declining investment and sharp drop in the construction sector, the European Union's statistics bureau Eurostat said yesterday. Economic growth in the 13-nations...

Bush urges China to spend more on US products

2007-09-06 00:00:00

BEIJING, Sept 5 (AFP): US President George W Bush called today on Chinese consumers to spend more on American products to help reduce China's surging trade surplus with the United States. "Certainly I hope that China changes from a saving...

BoE to hold interest rates amid credit woes

2007-09-06 00:00:00

LONDON, Sept 5 (AFP): The Bank of England (BoE) is expected Thursday to leave British interest rates at 5.75 per cent, according to economists. "The ongoing problems and uncertainties in credit and financial markets substantially boost the case for the...

WEF to work out solutions to China's growth pressure

2007-09-06 00:00:00

DALIAN, Sept 5 (CEIS): World elites will work together at the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions, or summer Davos meeting, to find solutions to ease China's pressure brought by high economic growth, said a senior official with the...

Free trade should top APEC economic leaders' agenda

2007-09-06 00:00:00

SYDNEY, Australia, Sept 5 (Xinhua): The stalled Doha round negotiations of the World Trade Organisations (WTO) should top the agenda of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economic leaders when they meet here this week, according to a survey released here...

Lenders urged to work with US homeowners facing default

2007-09-06 00:00:00

WASHINGTON, Sept 5 (AFP): The Federal Reserve and other financial regulators urged mortgage holders yesterday to work with homeowners facing default to try to work out terms and help "preserve homeownership." The statement from the Fed and other regulators comes...

Britain backs Khan for IMF chief

2007-09-06 00:00:00

LONDON, Sept 5 (AFP): Britain said yesterday that it would back former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Khan for the International Monetary Fund's soon-to-be vacant managing director post. "The UK believes that Dominique Strauss-Kahn is the candidate who best matches the...