What's so terrible about making money?

One thing that has always baffled me is why certain people hate capitalism so much. They really are missing something.Ever since I was 18 and co-founded a business by accident, I knew that being an entrepreneur was the most fun...

East and West must resist the siren call of protectionism

SINCE mid-March equity markets have been driven by cheery folk who can see their way through the murk of today's financial trauma to the sunlit uplands beyond. One of the more powerful props to their optimism is a belief that...

Law and order-a priority task for government

The law and order situation has been deteriorating at a rapid pace across the country, particularly in Dhaka city and its adjoining areas.The extremist political elements who are engaged more in extortion and robberies than preaching their Marxist ideology have...

corporatewatch

Shahed Securities Ltd, DSE member No. 123, has withdrawn one of its authorised representatives, Md Iqbal Hossain with immediate effect.GMF Securities Ltd, DSE member No. 186, has withdrawn one of its authorised representatives, Aziz Uddin Ahmed with immediate effect.SES Company...

21 banks raise interest rates on deposits

The country's banking sector continued to maintain an upward trend in interest rates on deposits in the current month while the lending rates remained almost unchanged, officials said.At least 21 commercial banks out of 48 have increased their interest rates...

The causes and implications of the beleaguered US dollar

SINCE the start of 2002, the US dollar has fallen to a new record low against the euro, deepening a six-year decline in which it has fallen more than 40 per cent against the European currency, and 25 per cent...

Restoring the pride of agriculture

CLIMATE change is setting to trigger cyclones, droughts, heavy rains and floods in unpredicted places at unpredicted times round the world. Recently Myanmar has been the victim of climate change. This in turn keeps affecting food production. Consequently there is...

sports digest

two-year banMarlon Samuels' lawyers, Churchill Neita and Delano Harrison, have indicated that they will press for a judicial review against the two-year ban imposed on the batsman by the West Indies Cricket Board. On May 9, a disciplinary committee deemed...

Rural poverty and underdevelopment

THERE is pressing need for significant transfer of resources to rural areas that have comparatively higher concentration of people. About 80 per cent of Bangladeshis have a rural existence and the majority of them remain below the poverty line. Besides,...

Govt to relax laws allowing taller building on small land

The government is set to relax the Building Construction Ordinance-2007 allowing the realtors to build taller buildings on smaller land, officials said Sunday.Several rules in the ordinance would be amended within days, raising the Floor Area Ratio (FAR), which currently...

For further increasing remittance flows

THE remittance flows can be increased by an assortment of policies in different sectors, and not only by setting up remittance houses abroad. While it has been a useful step, other policies must be pursued for augmenting the remittance flows....

news digest

double budget by 2020VIENNA, May 24: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) needs to double its budget by 2020 if it is to do its job properly, according to the findings of an expert study released Friday. The report deplored...

Merger pace slows to allow big business into the ring

CORPORATE acquirers are making rich offers for big-name assets in spite of a lack of competition from private equity bidders.This indicates that corporate dealmaking is picking up not just because buy-out investors have stopped inflating asset values, but because the...

Starwood's conditional offer to manage Dhaka Sheraton

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, one of the top global hotel chains, has assented to manage the state-owned Dhaka Sheraton Hotel for another term on condition of its complete renovation, a senior official said.In a recent letter to the state-controlled...

MBA students swap integrity for plagiarism

A professor at a well-known business school was recently grading papers for a required ethics course. In two of the papers he saw obvious signs of plagiarism. Students were not required to put their names on their papers, just a...

Improving English language proficiency of rural students

NOW-A-DAYS learning of English language helps one manage good employment. Unfortunately, students in rural areas in Bangladesh are lagging behind in their proficiency of the international language. It is time we acted upon on this because on this depends the...

Yahoo offers geographic data on Web sites

Yahoo is letting outside Web sites use information from its own catalog of geographic information, thus allowing programmers to employ the Yahoo data and services into their own applications.The company now provides an interface to the data buff at Flickr,...

Income inequality seen as the great divide

FT Syndication ServicePARIS: Public opinion across Europe, Asia and the US is strikingly consistent in considering that the gap between rich and poor is too wide and that the wealthy should pay more taxes.Income inequality has emerged as a highly...

Motivating students for world-class higher education

IN this global village, it has been easier for Bangladeshi students to obtain higher education from reputed foreign universities. The more academic qualification one will have, the more one is likely to succeed in life. It is time we motivated...

US CBP team holds wrap-up meeting with govt today

A three-member team of US customs and border protection (CBP) visited country's 30 readymade garment (RMG) units over the past ten days to see whether there was any abuse of trade facility offered to Bangladesh.The visit by CBP has been...

Singapore Airlines stops carrying Bangladesh Post Office's mails

Singapore Airlines has suspended carrying Bangladesh Post Office's mails and parcels, cutting off the country's postal links with 14 countries with sizable Bangladeshi population, officials said Friday.The carrier took the decision on Thursday after the BPO failed to clear dues...

AKTel's 30pc stake draws 3 int'l buyers

Three international mobile operators have joined the race to win 30 per cent stake in AKTel, the country's third-largest mobile phone company, a senior official said Friday.Ettihad Etisalat, a consortium headed by the UAE's Etisalat with the incorporation of six...

Rohanpur likely corridor for B'desh's trade with Nepal

The government has taken a move to develop Rohanpur corridor on the Rajshahi border to facilitate India-Bangladesh-Nepal trade.It has sent a draft 'Operational Modalities for Carriage' to Nepalese government in this connection.The Ministry of Communications held an inter-ministerial meeting recently...

If you aim low enough you will find meaning at work

AT a party recently a man who until recently was a government minister. We chatted about this and that, and he said how much he was enjoying his assortment of sinecures - non-executive directorships, speaking engagements and so on. He...

Focus on the female talent in the backyard

The supply of talented women entering science, engineering and technology is surprisingly deep and rich. A study, which I co-wrote, to be published next month by the Harvard Business Review(HBR) shows that 41 per cent of highly qualified specialists on...

The sea can be tamed, lands can rise from the sea

"All the inhabitants of the world should know that the power of kings is vain and trivial, and that none is worthy the name of king but He whose command the heaven, earth and sea obey by eternal laws"- King...

Reports on alien appearances revisited

UFO, the acronym for Unidentified Flying Object, is a blanket name for strange sightings made by people about objects or phenomena, which appear to be in motion and of which form and behaviour do not conform to common experience. Though...

Israel celebrates 60 years of persecution of Palestinians

THIS month Israel celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding. Participated by international celebrities and politicians the celebration took place amid deep unease.Israel tried its best to hide the skeletons in its closet. Anxieties about an uncertain future make many...

Indian farm debt waiver plan backfires

A populist plan by the Indian government to waive $15bn (euro9.59bn,

Supports and conducive policy environment for private sector

Accelerated growth is the main expectation and need in the economic realm of Bangladesh. This is largely desired in the private sector. It is for the simple universal realisation that has dawned that the smaller the role of the government...