Pangaon ICT lies as lame duck for four factors

Four factors have left the Pangaon ICT (Inland Container Terminal) virtually 'non-operational' even after ten months of inauguration to facilitate freight transport to and from seaports, sources said. The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has identified the Achilles' heels trying to...

Problems of tea industry need to be urgently addressed

Tea Industry developed during the nineteenth century in Assam and especially in Sylhet. Primarily, the British planters initiated the cultivation of tea on the slopes of the hillocks of Sylhet and the highlands of Assam. In 1839, Assam Tea Company...

What makes prudent stock investors

What makes prudent stock market investors is an old question. On the one hand, our ordinary observation confirms the view that good knowledge about stock market mechanism such as stocks evaluation through calculation of present discounted value of a particular...

Competitive Bangladesh: Slow but steady progress

According to the global standard Bangladesh does not belong to the league of highly competitive countries attracting investors. But neither is it a laggard trailing behind the tail enders. Slow but steadily, it is moving forward in the competitive business...

Southeast Asian demand fuels crab exports

The use of Bangladeshi mud crabs as a delicious dish in China and other Southeast Asian restaurants threatens to pummel the ecological balance of the Sundarbans and coastal areas, rights groups fear. They say ecosystem of the Sundarbans and coastal...

IAEA sees signs North Korea reactor may be operating

The UN nuclear watchdog said it has seen releases of steam and water indicating that North Korea may be operating a reactor, in the latest update on a plant that experts say could make plutonium for atomic bombs. North Korea...

Indian drugmakers flee regulatory morass at home

Indian drugmakers are fleeing a regulatory morass at home and moving some research and development to Europe and the United States as they try to boost margins by producing high-value drugs. India's $15 billion a year pharma industry, the world's...

Obama to set out plan to go on offensive against Islamic State

President Barack Obama will explain to Americans and congressional leaders this week his plan to go on the offensive against Islamic State militants, who he said could eventually become a threat to the United States. Obama said he will make...

NATO\\\'s new missions won\\\'t solve Ukraine crisis

NATO leaders emerged from a summit in Wales with a plan to protect eastern members from a resurgent Russia, a pledge to reverse the decline in their defense spending, and an embryonic Western coalition to combat Islamic militants in Iraq....

Stocks end lower amid sluggish trading

Stocks ended lower for the second running sessions on Monday with turnover remained sluggish as investors continued on profit booking. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,608.95 points, shedding 32.49 points or 0.70 per...

Tribute paid to Mosharraf Hossain

A condolence meeting on late Muhammad Mosharraf Hossain, a former member of the parliament and business leader, was held after Asr prayers on Monday in the board room of The Financial Express at Topkhana Road in the city. Chairman of...

Stocks see mixed trend

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) saw negative trend while Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw positive trend in early hours of trading on Monday amid see-saw, the second session of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, shed 0.34...

Deduction difficult as access to info scarce

The new provision for realising tax on capital gains of companies and partnership firms is difficult to be implemented to non-availability of actual information on such gains. The actual information on capital gains of those companies is not easily available...

NBR expects quantum jump in corporate tax revenue in FY \\\'15

Corporate-tax collection by government is likely to go up substantially in the current fiscal year (FY) due to possible improvement in the financial performance of the commercial banks and large taxpayers in a relatively peaceful political situation in the remaining...

Ebola epidemic and global response

The disease caused by Ebola virus has become a global concern though many nations think it to be a problem of West African countries only. A BRAC team, of which this scribe was a member, visited some African countries in...

When sons leave the world before fathers

It is universally accepted that the weight of a dead son proves heavier to a father than the heaviest mountain on the earth. In epics like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Iliad there are stories where fathers go through...

Misplaced expectation

When the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) had filed cases against two former ministers and a lawmaker of the ruling Awami League in the third week of last month, most people were surprised for the action did not match the public image...

Time now to start work for inviting investment in BD

Japanese Ambassador Shiro Sadoshima has said time has come to start work for inviting Japanese investment in Bangladesh as much groundwork has already been done. He said Japan is serious about making difference this time particularly to improve the investment...

Govt plans to build buffer stock of essentials to check price spiral

The government plans to import or buy locally 0.1 million tonnes of essential items to face any crisis or price spiral in future, officials said. A buffer stock of essentials will be built for checking any future shortage of the...

Modi to launch plan for every Indian household to have bank account

Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised last week to provide a bank account for every Indian household when he launches a major initiative that could save billions of dollars in welfare spending and help mend strained state finances. India has grown...

UN failed to protect civilians during Sri Lanka\\\'s bloody war end, says report

The United Nations failed in its mandate to protect Sri Lankan civilians caught up in the final phases of the Indian Ocean island's bloody war, a new report has said. Sri Lanka's civil conflict ended in May 2009 in cataclysmic...

Abe steals a march on China with South Asia tour

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe flew to Bangladesh this week for a two-stop tour of South Asia as the globe-trotting leader asserts Tokyo's interest in a region where it has ceded influence to China. Abe becomes the first Japanese prime...

Ceasefire is holding, more steps needed in Ukraine

The presidents of Russia and Ukraine said on Saturday that a ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists was holding up fairly well and they discussed urgent humanitarian aid for the shattered region. Residents and combatants in eastern Ukraine...

Investors book profit on large-cap stocks

Dhaka stocks closed flat in the red on Sunday after four-day gaining streak with thin trading activities as investors booked profit on large cap stocks. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended at 4,641.45 points, shedding...

DSE, CSE up at opening

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed positive trend in early hours of trading on Sunday, the opening session of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went up by 18.93 points or...

How significant was NATO summit in Wales?

The just-concluded NATO summit in Wales, Britain, was billed as probably the most important one since the inception of the western military alliance in 1949. The two-day meet concluded on September 5 with pledges to fight the Russian 'invasion' in...

Accreditation Board set to get international recognition by Jan

State-owned Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB) is likely to get international recognition by January next. This will help promote the country's exports and reduce time and money in getting foreign official recognition required by the buyers, sources said. A two-member team...

Divided DCC excels in \\\'malpractice\\\'

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Accounts expressed concern last week over gross irregularities in the bifurcated Dhaka City Corporation (DCC). In a meeting held on August 27 last with Dr. Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir in the chair, the parliamentary watchdog...

Credit risk - a tryst with strategic prudence

Risk is inherent in all aspects of a commercial operation. For banks and financial institutions, credit risk outruns all other operational risks. Credit risk has been defined as the risk of loss of principal or loss of a financial reward...

Obama\\\'s predicament: Bipartisanship versus executive orders

Barack Obama, who had raised so much of hope in not just his own country but the rest of the world also with his message of change, is now fighting his own personal battle to keep his name from heading...