Major city malls install fake note detectors

The city's most shopping malls installed Monday machines to detect fake currency notes as dozens of money counterfeiting gangs are active ahead of Eid-ul Fitr. The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) with the cooperation of Bangladesh...

Non-tax revenue earnings from export , import exceed target

The government's earnings from imports, exports and indenting registration and renewal fees exceeded its target under the head 'non-tax revenue' in the just concluded fiscal year (FY) 2013-2014, thanks to strengthened recovery drive and increased registration and renewal fees, sources...

Top Kurdish security official warns the West of Iraq blowback

Western countries will end up fighting insurgents who have overrun large parts of Iraq on their own doorstep unless they intervene to combat the threat at its source, a senior Kurdish security official said in an interview. Masrour Barzani, head...

Iran eliminates sensitive stockpile under interim nuclear deal: IAEA

Iran has moved to eliminate its most sensitive stockpile of enriched uranium gas under an interim nuclear deal reached with six world powers last year, according to a monthly update by the U.N. nuclear watchdog obtained by Reuters on Sunday....

Late monsoon starts Indian farmer\\\'s \\\'journey to hell\\\'

Farmer Asghar Bhura scrapes a living by growing sugarcane, but this year's late monsoon has left his tiny plot parched and he will earn nothing from his harvest. Bhura will have to go and work for a big grower to...

Will economy\\\'s fate be set by next two weeks\\\' earnings?

A long hoped for improvement in the economy appears to be manifesting itself in second-quarter U.S. earnings, but the next two weeks could be the real test. Companies such as General Electric Co and Intel Corp have reported solid results....

The grim world of our child workers

Child labour is an acute problem in Bangladesh. Children in the country are engaged in many 'worst forms of child labour', primarily in hazardous activities in agriculture and domestic service. In 2002-2003, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) conducted the second...

Girl Summit 2014: A silver lining for girl child

The Girl Summit 2014 is scheduled to begin in London today (July 22). Heads of government including the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, women and human rights activists, community leaders, civil society organisations (CSOs) and development partners will join the summit....

Pressure for political dialogue mounts

A Minister is reported to have said recently that if the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) did not give up its demand for fresh elections, the current government's term would be extended for a year beyond 2019! The Minister failed to...

DSE turnover crosses Tk 3b

Stocks returned to the green Monday with turnover on the prime bourse crossing Tk 3.0 billion mark after 13-session  as optimistic investors went for buying spree. The market opened with a positive note and continued till the market closure. DSEX,...

DSE, CSE open positive

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw positive trend in early hours of trading on Monday, the second trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE went up by 14.37 points or...

NBR issues rule covering 1.0pc surcharge on mobile handset

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) issued a rule Sunday facilitating the collection of 1.0 per cent surcharge levied on both imported and locally produced mobile handset from the current fiscal year (FY) -- a measure that would make the...

Export target to be set at $33.20b for FY `15

The government is going to fix today the export earning target for the current fiscal year (FY) 2014-15 at US$33.20 billion, up by 10.02 per cent or $2.70 billion from the actual earning in the just-concluded fiscal, sources said. The...

Setting up industrial parks delayed

Construction of industrial parks outside Dhaka city keeps getting delayed lingering the city dwellers' grapple with pollution and other industrial hazards. Two industrial parks have missed their deadlines on work completion while the fate of some others is hanging in...

Peacekeepers fetch $150m a year on an average

Bangladesh has maintained an average foreign-currency income of $150 million annually from the United Nations peacekeeping operations over the last one decade, though experts saw a scope of raising the income substantially. They said the earnings from the PKO (peacekeeping...

26.4 per cent of DSE brokerage firms ready to launch new IPO process

Only 26.4 per cent of brokerage firms of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) have completed preparations for the pilot project of launching the new IPO (initial public offering) process, officials said. The premier bourse Sunday submitted the list of the brokerage...

Five-point demand to the government submitted

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) has finally agreed to accept the proposed Financial Reporting Act (FRA), under which Financial Reporting Council (FRC) will be formed to oversee functions of the auditors, according to its chief. The institute,...

MRA to go tough on errant micro-lenders

The Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA) will take action against micro finance intuitions found to be violating the interest rates on lending and savings as set by the regulator, officials said. Tough action will also be taken against the MFIs that...

Concerns mount over India\\\'s stance on global trade pact

Eleventh hour negotiations to win Indian approval for a breakthrough global trade pact may not have succeeded in the end despite initial signs of progress, sources involved in the discussions said on Saturday. India is the most prevalent among a...

Why are airliners shot down?

As if the mysterious disappearance of Flight 370 of the Malaysia Airlines with 239 passengers was not enough, another of its Boeing 777 flights MH 17 has been shot down over Russian rebel-held Ukraine! There is no reason to think...

Revisiting the proverbial pond

Very often one particular instance of a project involving the excavation and filling up of a pond is cited to show the high level of corruption in the implementation of projects in rural areas under the government's Test Relief (TR)...

BRICS Bank should not be a clone of IMF or World Bank

Sceptics wonder whether the BRICS has enough in common to build a strong alliance. At the latest summit in Fortaleza, Brazil, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries launched a slew of initiatives, including two new international financial...

Chinese oil rig moved away from disputed waters off Vietnam

A Chinese oil rig has finished drilling near the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea after finding signs of oil and gas and is being moved away from the area, more than two months after its deployment damaged...

Merkel blasts US spying, hopes Washington will change tack

Angela Merkel said on Saturday that new allegations of U.S. spying showed Berlin and Washington were completely at odds over how they viewed the role of intelligence, and she hoped German action would persuade the United States not to spy...

ECB interest rates too low for Germany, says Bundesbank chief

The European Central Bank should tighten policy as soon as it can and its interest rates are too low for Germany, Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said, pointing to tensions in the united front the bank has presented since a major...

Japan PM Abe wants to hold summit with China at APEC

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he wanted to hold a summit with China at the APEC leaders meeting in Beijing in November to improve relations strained by territorial and security issues, but drew a cool response from...

Modi feels heat from credit agencies, markets on budget

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under pressure to perform on the economy after a budget packed with ambitious targets met mild scepticism from investors and credit-rating agencies and failed to dispel the latent risk of a downgrade. With varying degrees...

Stocks end lower

Stocks ended lower Sunday after previous session’s flat movement as cash-hungry investors sold shares ahead of Eid festival. Only four trading sessions are left ahead of Eid vacation. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX) went down...

Stocks slip at opening

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) witnessed downward trend in early hours of trading on Sunday, the first trading day of the week. DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 24.87 points...

Interest rate spread widens further in May

The interest rate spread in the country's banking sector widened further in May as most of the banks cut deposit rates, keeping their lending rates almost unchanged. The weighted average spread between lending and deposit rates offered by the commercial...