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About 88.46 lakh livestock including cattle, goat, sheep and poultry birds have been affected by the severe flooding, which has caused deaths to some 4,650 animals so far, official figures said.
   A report, released by the Department of Livestock Services on Thursday, said that the flood killed nine cattle, 34 goats, six sheep, 3,270 farm chickens and 1,312 ducks in 70 upazilas of flood affected 13 districts, where some 88,46470 farm animals have either been displaced or marooned amid acute feed and shelter shortages.
   About 45,899 acres of grazing land of these areas went under water and some 13,507 tonnes of animal feed also rotted, leaving lakhs of animals without feed, the report added.
   ‘The situation is likely to worsen in the flood affected areas unless the government takes measures for distributing alternative animal feed,’ a livestock official warned, saying that the farmers, who are unable to protect themselves from the flood, can not afford to think for their animals at this stage.
   The report details that some 24, 88,652 cows and bulls, 33, 174 buffaloes, 5, 94,768 goats, 99,435 sheep, 46, 27,901 chickens and 10, 02,540 ducks have been affected by the flood.
   Flood badly hit livestock population of some 34,000 in Netrakona, 6,23,744 in Shariatpur, 7,624 in Mymensingh, 2000 in Sherpur, 2,49,020 in Bogra, 6,40,439 in Gaibandha and 24,85,626 in Tangail districts.
   Livestock of some 5,50,746 in Sirajganj, 16,33,818 in Jamalpur, 1,59,117 in Faridpur, 42,023 in Lalmonirhat and 24,12,913 in Kurigram districts have been worst affected as flood left no dry land for animals to graze, the report said.
   Department of Livestock Services during a meeting on Wednesday with its director general in the chair decided to form a veterinary medical team for every upazila in the country to protect farm and backyard animals from flood-related diseases.
   The department is also preparing to submit a proposal to the government regarding the flood rehabilitation programme, officials said Thursday.
   It has sought vaccines from the government for free distribution in the flood-hit areas.
   The department has also taken an initiative to send packages of medicines to the flood affected areas.

Number of companies defaulted in submitting half-yearly financial reports on time is declining, showing sign of better corporate practices by the listed companies.
   This year, seven companies failed to submit their half-yearly un-audited accounts within the timeframe ended on July 31 while the number of default companies was nine in 2006, 18 in 2005 and 36 in 2004.
   ‘The trend reflects better corporate practices in the listed companies,’ said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the DSE.
   From 2004 the DSE tightened the monitoring process in this connection, he said.
   ‘The situation improves further as the DSE started to give remainder to the companies fifteen days ahead of the deadline from the last year,’ said DSE chief executive.
   The corporate governance guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission last year also help better the overall environment in the country’s corporate arena, he added.
   Meanwhile, the DSE on Wednesday fined seven companies for their failure to submit half-yearly financial reports to the bourse in stipulated time.
   The bourse slapped a Tk 500 fine on the default companies for each day until they submit their reports, said DSE chief executive.
   The companies were Arbee Textile, Bionic Sea Food, Janata Insurance, Purabi General Insurance, Rabeya Flour Mills, Saleh Carpet Mills and Wata Chemicals, sources said.
   The DSE, however, did not impose fine on Oriental Bank as the share trading of the bank is now suspended and considering special circumstances the bank has been going through.
   A total of 140 listed companies were required to submit their half yearly un-audited accounts to the DSE within July 31. Of them, 132 companies submitted their un-audited accounts to the bourse, sources said.

Industries adviser Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury on Thursday called upon the foreign entrepreneurs to come forward for making investment in Bangladesh, taking advantages of the liberal and investment-friendly policy of the government.
   An environment conducive to investment has been created in the country due to the government steps, which aimed at rooting out corruption and establishing good governance, she said, inaugurating the Jumbo Line of Fu-Wang Ceramic Industry Ltd at Hotapara in Gazipur.
   Fu Wang installed the Jumbo Line for producing various Floor and Wall Tiles.
   Executive chairman of the Board of Investment Mohamad Nazrul Islam was the special guest at the function chaired by Fu Wang Group chairman Hsu Chin Hua.
   Adviser Geeteara Safiya Chowdhury said the government is offering generous tax holiday facilities and the foreign investors can purchase industrial plot easily.
   She cited Fu-Wang Group as one of the examples of successful foreign investors operating in the country.
   Earlier, the industries adviser unveiled the plaque of the newly set up factory and went round its different sections.
   Established in a decade back, Fu-Wang Group of Taiwan at present runs eight industrial units in the country, creating employments for 3,000 people contributing significantly to the country’s economic development.

The South Korean operator of a North Korean tourist resort on Thursday unveiled a new three billion dollar project to develop a new visitor destination in the hardline communist state.
   Hyundai Asan CEO Yoon Man-Joon said its plan was sent to Pyongyang in June. It aims to develop an area stretching 80 kilometres from Mount Kumgang to the northeastern port of Wonsan by 2025.
   ‘I expect North Korea to make a final decision next month,’ he said, adding North Korean environmental experts were reviewing the proposal.
   Hyundai Asan, a unit of the giant Hyundai Group, runs the Mount Kumgang tourist resort just north of the inter-Korean border, which has attracted more than 1.5 million South Korean tourists since it opened in late 1998.
   It also operates an industrial estate for South Korean firms in the North Korean city of Kaesong near the border.
   Hyundai Group chief Hyun Jeong-Eun will visit Pyongyang late this month to discuss the new project with officials, Yoon said.
   He also said the Kumgang resort’s operating profit fell from 5.7 billion won ($6.16b) in 2005 to 3.7 billion won last year due to tensions over the North’s nuclear programme which culminated in an atomic test last October.

European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet hinted strongly Thursday that the bank’s key interest rates would be raised in September.
   The ECB’s top officials left the important refinancing rate unchanged at 4.0 percent in a meeting Thursday, but Trichet told journalists the bank was exercising ‘great vigilance’ in the face of inflationary risks.
   The term has been used in the past to indicate that rates will be raised the following month.
   The widely expected ECB decision to leave the rate unchanged this month had little immediate impact on currency markets, with the euro essentially unchanged at 1.3665 dollars in mid-afternoon London trade.
   There is a wide market consensus that the bank will raise the refinancing rate to 4.25 percent in September.
   The ECB has pushed up rates eight times in the past 18 months, last hiking them by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.00 percent in June.
   The outcome of the meeting by teleconference was closely followed at a time when weakness in the key US housing market is causing deep concern.
   The bank’s top officials deliberated by phone as is customary during the summer holiday period.
   The ECB had already hinted that it wanted to raise rates in the autumn because to avert a surge in inflationary pressure in the wake of an economic upturn in the eurozone.
   France for one is increasingly nervous about the negative effects of the strong euro on its exports.
   Any move the ECB makes will come under intense scrutiny in Paris, which has been increasingly outspoken in calls for more political input in interest rate decisions since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in May.
   But the ECB, backed by other EU member states, repeatedly insists on its independent status and its mandate to keep inflation at a manageable medium-term level, defined as close to but below 2.0 per cent.
   The 50th anniversary of the creation of the Bundesbank – Germany’s central bank – this week saw Bundesbank president Axel Weber defend the independence of the ECB.

The IMF insisted the volatility shaking world share markets would not hamper world growth Thursday, as concerns about the turmoil dominated an Asia Pacific finance ministers’ meeting in Coolum.
   Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ministers meeting at a beachside resort in Queensland state’s Coolum temporarily set aside their opening day agenda schedule to discuss the ructions gripping world markets.
   But the International Monetary Fund was unfazed by the volatility arising from concerns about the US sub-prime mortgage market, saying it would not lower its global economic outlook
   IMF deputy managing director John Lipsky said the organisation stood by a forecast released last week that upgraded its global growth outlook for 2007 and 2008 by 0.3 points to 5.2 per cent.
   Lipsky said the IMF predicted a correction in credit markets some months ago and suggested the latest turmoil reflected a market that was becoming more risk averse.
   ‘Market discipline, when it arrives, is almost inevitably uncertain in terms of timing, somewhat uneven in terms of impact and to the outside observer inevitably appears a bit messy,’ Lipsky said.
   ‘But in the broader sense it tends to be effective ... it has not led us to think that we need to rethink our broader outlook.’
   Lipsky did concede that the share market reaction was a potential threat to the world economy.
   ‘We do perceive the risks to the economy are on the downside. The increase in financial volatility and the increase in energy prices have added to the risk,’ he said.
   ‘Even though our broader outlook remains very favourable, we are not trying to say there are no problems in the economy; we are saying the risks are balanced to the downside and we will be watching that carefully.’
   Australian treasurer Peter Costello said initial discussions at the two-day meeting had centered on market volatility.
   ‘There are obvious instabilities in the global economic scene at the moment; we’ve seen it recently on equity markets, we’ve seen it on currency markets,’ Costello told reporters after Thursday’s initial round of talks.
   ‘A topic for discussion at this meeting is how to deal with this instability, what can be put in place to ensure that these imbalances don’t work out in an even more radical readjustment.’
   Costello said the 21 ministers at the meeting discussed what role APEC could play in sharing experiences on coping with market upheavals, including lessons learned from the Asian financial crisis a decade ago.
   ‘It’s timely that we’re here 10 years later to discuss the lessons learned from that collapse and to ensure that we cooperate together to avoid global imbalances affecting the region in an adverse way,’ he said.
   Costello said financial institutions across the region were now more robust.
   ‘The architecture is stronger than it was 10 years ago and a lot of lessons have been learnt in East Asia,’ he said. ‘But you’d be a fool if you thought that there are no economic challenges out there.
   Costello played down recent falls in equity markets, pointing out that while the Australian market plunged five per cent in the past week, it was still up seven per cent for the year so far.
   ‘Corrections happen on stock markets, which are not a one-way bet, people should know that,’ he said.
   Australia’s share market on Wednesday recorded one of its biggest falls since the 9/11 attacks in the United States but prime minister John Howard said the country’s financial system could withstand ‘ripples of this kind.’

Syed Manzur Elahi has been elected chairman of Pioneer Insurance Company Limited for the term of 2007-2008 at the company’s 127th board meeting in the city recently.

National Board of Revenue has realised Tk 17 crore in revenue in the district by whitening undisclosed income of Tk 97 crore here till July 31.
   NBR officials said 460 people have washed their money during the period, availing the opportunity of the tax amnesty the revenue authority offered since June 4.
   Joint commissioner of taxes SBM Rafiqunnabi expressed his satisfaction at the response from the taxpayers and expected that the response would be much better during the extended period of two months.
   ‘I hope, the people here will take the opportunity of the extended period,’ he told the news agency. NBR would start drive against the holders of undisclosed money who would not take advantage of the extended tax amnesty, he said.

China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission, said Thursday it had ordered local authorities to launch probes into illegal increases in food prices.
   ‘Recently, some companies have colluded with each other to conspire in hiking prices, and others have increased hoarding to force up prices,’ the commission said in a statement.
   ‘The moves severely disturb market prices and exert a negative impact on social stability,’ the commission added.
   The probe will focus on manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers of grains, edible vegetable oils, pork, beef and poultry and sectors where these are used as raw materials, the statement said.
   Government agencies that impose administrative charges on the production, transportation, butchering, and sales of main farm produce will also be investigated, it added. Rising food prices have pushed China’s overall inflation rate to run at or above the official target of 3.0 per cent for four consecutive months, sparking worries from the government that the rising cost of food could lead to unrest.

British Airways will suspend its daily flights between Madrid and Gibraltar, which it launched in May, due to operating losses at both airports, airline officials said Wednesday.
   Madrid, which ceded Gibraltar to Britain in 1713 but still claims it, blocked regularly scheduled air services between Spain and the disputed territory in 1979 but allowed them to resume in December 2006.
   British Airways will operate its final flight between Madrid and Gibraltar on September 30, GB Airways, which operates the flights for the firm through a franchise agreement, said in a statement.
   Passengers booked on flights after this date will be offered a refund or be re-accommodated on Spanish carrier Iberia which will continue to operate its daily flights on the route.
   The British Airways flights were hampered by the limited availability of landing slots in Madrid and operating restrictions in flights into Gibraltar which are set to worsen when work on a new terminal and runway begin there later this year, the statement said. Gibraltar, a strategically located rocky outcrop at the western mouth of the Mediterranean, has been a recurring source of tension between London and Madrid since it was seized by Britain in 1704.

Western countries are turning up the heat on OPEC to ramp up oil production, analysts said Thursday, a day after crude prices soared to record heights.
   Analysts said OPEC, which has not commented on the record price, was now obliged to consider increasing production after consistently resisting calls from the International Energy Agency, the consumer country watchdog
   Philippe Chalmin, a specialist in raw materials, said pressure was intensifying on OPEC, which has ‘no interest in having such high market prices.’
   OPEC ‘must ask itself the question. We see small cracks’ in its position, said Francis Perrin, the editorial director of the magazine Arab Gas and Oil.
   The IEA led the way on Wednesday, reiterating its call on the oil producers’ cartel to pump more crude.
   ‘Oil prices are very high because they are reacting to the announcement of American stocks, which have fallen a lot more than expected,’ Claude Mandil, the head of the energy watchdog told AFP.
   ‘I hope that everyone will draw the consequences,’ he said, in reference to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has resisted previous IEA appeals to pump more crude to keep oil prices down.
   The price of New York crude soared to a record high of 78.77 dollars a barrel on Wednesday, as plunging US inventories stoked fears about stretched energy supplies around the world.
   New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, leapt to the all-time high after the US Department of Energy said that US crude stocks sank by 6.5 million barrels in the week ended July 27.
   That was far heavier than market expectations for a drop of 1.13 million barrels.
   Prices eased in New York and London on Thursday.
   Mandil said the evolution in oil prices over the coming weeks will ‘depend on the reaction of producer countries.’ The next OPEC meeting is scheduled for September 11 in Vienna.
   ‘We had forecast, and said for several months, that stocks of crude appeared high because of maintenance work in American refineries,’ which slow refining activity and therefore demand for crude, Mandil said.
   ‘Now that the rhythm of production in refineries is returning to normal, these stocks will go down,’ he said.
   ‘If that continues, we will find ourselves in the third quarter with very insufficient stocks,’ he said.
   In its last monthly oil market report in mid-July the IEA predicted that the increase in demand for oil should reach 2.8 million barrels a day in the coming weeks.
   While the IEA has consistently called on OPEC to increase production, OPEC has argued that the surge in prices is linked not to a lack of crude but to refining problems in the United States and to geopolitical tensions and speculation.
   It says that an increase in production would have no effect on prices.
   The cartel’s president, United Arab Emirates, Mohammed al-Hameli, ignaled recently, however, that OPEC’s course might be changing, saying he was worried by current prices.

Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, chairman of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, and Md Nazrul Islam Majumder, chairman of Exim Bank, have been elected chairman and vice-chairman respectively of Islamic Banks Consultative Forum.
   Abu Nasser is the managing director of Ibn Sina Pharmaceuticals Industry Limited.
   He is also the Chairman of Industrialists and Businessmen Association of Bangladesh and vice chairman of Bangladesh Association of Banks. He is the member of the OIC task force on small and medium enterprises. He is also involved with different socio-economic, educational and social-welfare organisations.
   Nazrul Islam is a businessman engaged in readymade garments business for the last 26 years. He is the chairman of the Nassa Group.

World Bank president Robert Zoellick will arrive in Cambodia Saturday on his first visit to the impoverished country, where several bank-supported projects have been hit by scandal, officials said Thursday.
   Zoellick, who took over as World Bank chief last month, is expected to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen and other top officials.
   He hopes ‘to learn more about the development challenges facing Cambodia and the role of the World Bank Group in helping the government meet those challenges,’ a World Bank statement said.
   His visit comes as the government continues paying back millions of dollars siphoned off in a massive graft scandal that forced the World Bank to suspend three key aid projects last year.
   The projects have since been re-instated, but the bank has demanded Cambodia repay some 2.9 million dollars after contractual irregularities involving agricultural and flood prevention funds were uncovered.
   The issue sparked a row with the government, which initially refused to repay, saying the bank must provide more evidence of financial irregularities.
   Cambodia, which is plagued by corruption at almost every level of government, also fell afoul of the World Bank in 2003, when graft was uncovered in a project to demobilise some 30,000 soldiers.
   The country was forced to repay 2.8 million dollars to the bank, which threatened to cut funding to other projects.

The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that some countries may need to hike interest rates to keep inflation under control amid strong world growth and high fuel prices.
   ‘In the current context of continued very robust growth and rising prices in energy, commodities and food, to sustain this favourable outlook will require keeping inflation and inflation expectations under control,’ IMF deputy managing director John Lipsky said.
   ‘That may require policy actions,’ he added, on the sidelines of an Asia Pacific finance ministers’ meeting.
   Lipsky said inflationary pressures were building.
   ‘Clearly many economies are now sustaining trend-like growth or perhaps even greater than trend-like growth that has been accompanied by a decline in unemployment rates and therefore, by conventional measures, high and rising rates of capacity utilisation,’ he said.
   ‘Those are the areas where it may be appropriate for further normalisation of monetary policy.’
   Lipsky refused to specify which countries he was referring to but said lifting interest rates had helped produce sustainable economic growth in the past.
   An IMF executive board evaluation of the eurozone economy released on Tuesday said monetary policy may need to be tightened in the combined economy of the 13 eurozone member states.
   ‘Inflationary pressures could be expected to build gradually and some further monetary policy tightening might be required,’ it said.

The Big Three US automakers lost control of their home field Wednesday as foreign automakers captured half of the US market for the first time.
   General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, which have suffered from a steady loss of market share to Asian rivals, ended July with just 48.1 per cent of the market.
   Chrysler was surpassed by Honda for the first time in July and Ford continued to cede the number two spot to Toyota.
   Asian carmakers captured 44.6 per cent - with Toyota Motor accounting for 17.1 per cent of the market - while European brands held 7.3 per cent, according to Auto-data.
   The decline in share came as American carmakers cut back sharply on low-margin sales to rental companies in the midst of an industry-wide slump.
   All but one of the top six manufacturers reported a decline in sales during July as higher gasoline prices and turmoil in the housing market helped trim overall sales by an estimated 12 per cent.
   But the Big Three were hit hardest at a time when they can ill afford it.
   Since the end of 2005, GM and Ford have cut their payrolls by more than one-third and invested more than 14 billion dollars in massive restructuring programmes aimed at making them more competitive.
   Chrysler slashed another 6,000 jobs this year in its North American operations in effort to return to the profitability it enjoyed up until the second half of 2006.
   However, the American carmakers are still heavily dependent on the sales of pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles designed for the relatively inexpensive gasoline prices that prevailed prior to the war in Iraq.
   ‘Small SUVs and small cars have shown the strongest sales growth in 2007,’ noted Dick Colliver, executive vice-president of American Honda.
   Ford sales analyst George Pipas said he did not believe the company’s executives would pay much mind to the dip below 50 per cent.
   ‘It’s been going on for 30 years,’ Pipas said during a conference call with analysts.
   ‘The reason is because there is relatively little fleet content in July, and obviously the Big Three do more fleet business than do the foreign manufacturers,’ Pipas said.
   Pickup truck sales are linked closely to the housing market and the housing slump has been deeper and taken a larger toll than expected, noted Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Ford’s corporate economist.
   ‘Home prices are still falling across the country,’ she noted. ‘New vehicle sales clearly remain challenging,’ she said.
   Ford reported a 19 per cent drop in sales, GM reported its sales were down 18 per cent and Chrysler’s fell eight per cent.
   Both Toyota and Honda, the two largest Japanese brands, reported about a three per cent drop in sales for July.

Kansai International Airport near Osaka opened its second runway Thursday, which will allow it to become Japan’s first 24-hour aviation hub.
   The expansion comes as Japan tries to increase the number of international flights amid growing competition from other Asian airports, most of which are open around the clock.
   The second runway, with a length of 4,000 meters (two and a half miles), will give Kansai airport the capacity to handle more flights and ease congestion at peak hours.
   The airport, built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, will start operating 24 hours a day in October when a new air traffic control system will be ready.
   The second runway opened weeks before Osaka hosts the world athletics championships.
   In an opening ceremony, about 400 airport officials stood along the new runway waving their hands as the first flight landed on the new runway from Bangkok.
   But the runway has also faced accusations of being a pork-barrel project as the airport has struggled to break even since opening in 1994. The airport has interest-bearing debts of 1.18 trillion yen ($9.8b).
   The airport authorities argue that the 24-hour operation will help by allowing more cargo flights and passenger jets from Asia.
   ‘We are especially looking at surging demand from China,’ said airport spokeswoman Junko Masutani.

Finance ministers from the Asia-Pacific region want the International Monetary Fund to be overhauled, Australian treasurer Peter Costello said Thursday.
   The 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum finance ministers currently meeting in Australia had all agreed that the International Monetary Fund should be reformed to make it more relevant, Costello said.
   ‘There is a view in the Asia-Pacific that the IMF is not fully representative of the modern economy and there’s a broad consensus that the IMF needs reform and needs a better focus on this region,’ Costello told reporters.
   ‘Countries in this region are emerging as great economic powers and they are going to be critical to the global economy in the years ahead.
   ‘I think the IMF reflects an economic order as it stood at the end of World War II, not the economic order as it stands at the end of the 21st Century.’
   The IMF has been criticised recently over a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ between Europe and the United States allowing Brussels to pick the IMF chief and Washington to select the head of the World Bank.
   Former French finance minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn is currently the sole candidate to take over from Rodrigo Rato as the fund’s managing director. He has pledged to reform the institution.
   The IMF was formed in 1944 to oversee the international monetary system, including exchange rates, and to provide temporary finance to countries struggling with balance of payments problems.
   The fund’s deputy managing director, John Lipsky, defended the organisation. He said it was reforming its membership structure and that its existence had coincided with strong global growth.
   ‘The period since the formation of the IMF ... has been a period of some of the most sustained economic advance in the history of the world,’ he said.
   ‘I’m not trying to claim it’s because of the IMF but it’s hard to say that that’s a sign of failure or irrelevance.’
   Lipsky said the amount the IMF had loaned to struggling countries had declined in recent years but that it remained an important back-up for the international financial system.
   ‘It is possible that there could come a time in which the IMF’s funding role would be relevant once again,’ he said. ‘It would be foolish to assume that the currently benign environment would be permanent.’
   The two-day meeting of APEC finance ministers ends Friday.

Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch maker of consumer goods and food products, announced Thursday that it would cut 20,000 jobs worldwide, 11 per cent of its total workforce, over the next four years.
   ‘Our current plans allow for the closure or substantial streamlining of between 50 and 60 manufacturing sites across the world,’ Unilever chairman Patrick Cescau said in remarks commenting on the company’s second quarter results, also announced Thursday. Unilever makes Dove soaps, Lipton tea and Magnum ice cream among other consumer goods and food products.
   ‘We expect the total programme, including disposals, to reduce headcount by around 20,000 over the next four years,’ he added.
   ‘The majority of restructuring falls in Europe, where structural costs are highest and where regional supply chain management offers the greatest opportunity,’ said Cescau.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ‘very much agreed’ with the reforms proposed by the European Union’s candidate to head the International Monetary Fund, a Lula aide said Wednesday.
   ‘The president very much agreed with the issues presented him’ by France’s Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Lula’s adviser for international policy Marco Aurelio Garcia told reporters after the two men met.
   He said the Socialist party leader and former French finance minister told Lula change was needed in the IMF in ‘three key areas,’ including how member states were represented, how its managing director is selected and its operating programme.
   Brazil early last month said it expected the EU candidate to propose reforms that would give developing nations added clout within the international body.
   Strauss-Kahn after his meeting with Lula told reporters, ‘If I am a candidate, it is because I want to change the IMF.’
   He added that the fund should play a stronger role in promoting ‘growth and development through financial stability.’
   He described his meeting with Lula as ‘cordial and warm,’ and said he had every intention of reconciling the IMF with Latin America, adding that he had told Lula he was aware of the IMF’s poor image in the region.
   Brazil, along with other developing nations, have for years protested the tradition that Europe selects the head of the IMF and the United States chooses the president of the World Bank.
   Strauss-Kahn is on a world tour that has taken him to Africa and the United States, and that in the next few weeks will include China, India, Japan, South Korea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Chile and Argentina.

Sri Lanka’s tea export volumes fell by 10 per cent in the first six months of this year, but earnings rose marginally by three per cent, a commodity broker said Thursday.
   Tea, Sri Lanka’s main export commodity, earned 439 million dollars from January to June this year, a three per cent increase compared to the same period last year.
   However, the volume of ‘Pure Ceylon Tea’ exported fell to 136.9 million kilogrammes (301.18m pounds) in the first six months of this year, down from 153 million kilogrammes last year, Asia Siyaka brokers said.
   The island’s total tea production slipped 12.7 per cent to 143.63 million kilogrammes over first six months of 2006. Much of the fall was due to strikes by the 400,000 workers in the industry demanding higher pay.
   The total tea crop last year was 310.8 million kilogrammes.
   Sri Lanka’s record 2005 harvest of 317.2 million kilogrammes made it the world’s number-four producer behind China, India and Kenya. Sri Lanka is the second largest tea exporter after Kenya.

South Korea has again suspended US beef imports after inspectors discovered banned bones in a recent shipment, officials said Thursday.
   Agriculture minister Park Hong-Soo said inspectors discovered fragments of vertebral columns, designated as risk material for mad cow disease, in 18.7 tonnes of beef shipped on July 30.
   ‘The government has temporarily suspended quarantine inspection of US beef imports,’ he said.
   It was the latest of several suspensions since South Korea last year relaxed a three-year total ban imposed to keep out mad cow disease. At present, it is willing to accept only boneless meat.
   The beef issue is a sensitive one in trade relations with Washington. South Korea was once the third largest market for US beef, with imports worth 850 million dollars a year before 2003.
   Kim Chang-Seop, head of the ministry’s quarantine bureau, said it could re-impose a formal ban on imports unless the US government takes appropriate follow-up measures.
   If South Korea is offered sufficient evidence that such an event will not recur, the government will lift the quarantine suspension, he said.
   Park said the issue could be solved quickly ‘because the United States admits the shipment of bones has been made by mistake.
   ‘This is a matter of quarantine inspection. So this issue must not be linked to the free trade agreement,’ he said.
   A sweeping free trade deal signed by the two countries on June 30 must be ratified by both the US Congress and South Korea’s National Assembly. Opposition among US legislators to the pact could intensify unless the beef market re-opens.
   Activists who claim there is still disease risk scattered cow dung and scuffled with riot police as US beef went on sale in some stores in mid-July.
   But more and more outlets have started selling the meat, which is about half the price of domestic ‘hanwoo’ beef and up to 30 per cent cheaper than Australian beef.

British Airways and Korean Air Lines Co each have agreed to plead guilty and pay separate 300 million dollar criminal fines for conspiring to fix prices on passenger and cargo flights, the US Department of Justice said Wednesday.
   British Airways separately was fined a record 121.5 million pounds ($246m) in Britain after admitting collusion over fuel surcharges on tickets, according to the British antitrust agency.
   The US charges against the British and South-Korean based airline companies were filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
   Their plea agreements are the first to arise from the antitrust division’s ongoing investigation into the air transportation industry, the department said.
   Under the plea agreements, which are subject to the federal court approval, BA and Korean Air have agreed to cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
   ‘The Department of Justice is committed to vigorous antitrust enforcement and will continue to bring to justice those who fix prices and thereby deprive the American public of the benefits afforded by a truly competitive market,’ said Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
   ‘International law enforcement cooperation is crucial in prosecuting global cartels such as these, and today’s enforcement actions represent the successful coordination between the United States and the UK’s Office of Fair Trading.’
   The Justice Department said that passengers who flew on BA flights between Britain and the United States during the period in question paid a hefty premium for their tickets as a result of the illegal cartel.
   In 2004, BA’s fuel surcharge for round-trip passenger tickets was around 10 dollars per ticket. By the time the price fixing was uncovered in 2006, the surcharge was nearly 110 dollars per ticket, a more than 10 folds increase, the department said.
   For air cargo, BA’s fuel surcharge on shipments to and from the United States changed more than 20 times and increased from four cents per kilogramme of cargo shipped to as high as 72 cents per kilogramme.
   The Justice Department charged Korean Air with agreeing with competitors on rates charged to customers in the United States and elsewhere for international cargo shipments.
   It noted that the conspirators agreed to increase the fuel surcharge over time from 10 cents to as high as 60 cents for each kilogramme of cargo shipped from the United States.
   In addition, the department charged that Korean Air reached an agreement with its rival to fix certain passenger fares for flights from the United States to South Korea.
   Two other airlines — Virgin Atlantic of Britain and Lufthansa of Germany — have agreed to cooperate in the antitrust division’s ongoing investigations, the department said.

The United States and China will hold high-level trade talks aimed at resolving bilateral trade issues in December, US officials said Wednesday.
   The 18th session of the US-China Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade will be held the week of December 10 in Beijing, commerce secretary Carlos Gutierrez and US trade Representative Susan Schwab said.
   ‘I look forward to this important JCCT meeting. We have a number of trade and economic issues to address. While US exports to China are growing, many barriers remain,’ said Gutierrez.
   ‘We will be working with our counterparts in China to continue delivering results for American workers, businesses, farmers and ranchers, and expanding access to the Chinese market.’
   The announcement comes amid growing US pressure to curb the burgeoning trade gap with China and moves in Congress to punish Beijing for what some say are unfair trade policies.
   Some lawmakers in Washington accuse Beijing of keeping its currency purposefully low to give its exporters an advantage, and of using subsidies and other unfair trade actions.
   Schwab, the top trade negotiator, said the JCCT forum ‘has helped the US and China address and resolve challenging trade issues in the past, and we are looking for it to do so this year as well.’
   The JCCT session will be co-chaired on the US side by Gutierrez and Schwab, and on the Chinese side by vice-premier Wu Yi.
   The US agriculture secretary, Mike Johanns, will also participate.
   In addition to the JCCT, treasury secretary Henry Paulson leads the US side of the broader, twice-yearly Strategic Economic Dialogue with China, whose next meeting also will be held in Beijing in December.
   Paulson was in Beijing Wednesday wrapping up a four-day visit to China in which he discussed the next SED meeting with Chinese officials.

The euro held steady against the dollar on Thursday as the foreign exchange market geared up for interest rate decisions from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, dealers said.
   Elsewhere, the yen firmed against the dollar as investors kept a nervous watch on global credit markets and the fallout from US housing market woes, they added.
   The European single currency was trading at 1.3666 dollars, unchanged from late on Wednesday in New York.
   The dollar dipped to 118.82 yen from 118.92 yen late on Wednesday, when it had touched 117.61 yen, the lowest point since April 2, 2007.
   Later Thursday, the ECB and the BoE were widely forecast to freeze their key interest rates at 4.00 percent and 5.75 per cent respectively.
   ‘Foreign exchange markets continue to be driven by subprime developments,’ cautioned Commerzbank analyst Gavin Friend.
   He added: ‘The ECB is universally expected to keep on hold.’
   The ECB will deliberate by phone as is customary during the summer holiday period, with a press conference by ECB head Jean-Claude Trichet to follow.
   But analysts expect the guardian of the euro to hint in its statement that a rate rise will come in September, rather than October.
   In Britain, meanwhile, many economists predict the Bank of England will increase rates to 6.00 per cent in the coming months owing to stubbornly high inflation fueled by faster than expected British economic growth.
   Market players remained nervous about the problems in the US sub-prime mortgage sector and recent turmoil in global financial markets, after Australia’s top investment bank Macquarie said that two of its funds faced losses of up to 25 percent because of the fallout from the credit squeeze.
   ‘The market is taking its lead from credit markets, reacting sharply to any bad news,’ said Hideaki Inoue, chief manager of forex trading at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp.
   A rebound in US shares Wednesday, and in Europe on Thursday, provided some comfort to jittery investors.
   But Inoue said the foreign exchange market remained sensitive to reports of new casualties among hedge funds with exposure to the problem mortgages.
   The euro was changing hands at 1.3666 dollars, against 1.3666 dollars late on Wednesday, 162.39 yen (162.56), 0.6732 pounds (0.6724) and 1.6451 Swiss francs (1.6460).

World oil prices eased on Thursday, one day after New York hit a record high 78.77 dollars per barrel as weak US crude reserves sparked concern over tight global energy supplies, traders said.
   New York’s main futures contract, light sweet crude
   for delivery in September, slid 28 cents to 76.25 dollars per barrel in electronic deals before the start of US floor trading.
   The contract had surged to 78.77 dollars on Wednesday after the US Department of Energy said US crude stocks sank 6.5 million barrels in the week ended July 27.
   That was almost six times more than market expectations for a fall of 1.13 million barrels.

Trade
   AB Bank
   There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the bank on August from 12:00pm if there is no trade recorded till 12:00mp following the record date.
   Social Investment Bank
   Trading of the shares of the bank will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle from August 5 to 13. Trading of the shares will remain suspended on record date on August 14 for EGM.
   Standard Bank Limited
   Normal trading of the shares of the bank will resume on August 5 after record date.
   
   Transaction
   Southeast Bank
   Bimolendu Dey, one of the sponsors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 12,800 shares out of his total holdings of 56,803 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Dhaka Bank
   M N H Bulu, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 20,000 shares out of his total holdings of 4,83,949 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   Response to a DSE query
   Premier Bank Ltd
   In response to a DSE query regarding Earning per Share for the half year ended on June 30, 2007, the bank has informed that ‘after finalization of financial statements for 2006 the Bangladesh Bank has advised us to make more provision from the profit of 2006. But due to some unavoidable circumstances we could not provide for the year concerned. However, we have provided the amount from current year profit kept abeyance Retained Earning for 2006 which has brought down with the present net profit for the half year ended on 30.06.07 and considered Earning per Share (EPS)’.
   Excelsiorshoes
   In response to a DSE query, the company has informed that there is no undisclosed price sensitive information of the company for recent unusual price hike.
   
   Net Asset Value
   ICB Mutual Funds
   On the close of operation on June 28, 2007, the ICB Mutual Funds have reported Net Asset Value for First ICB MF of Tk 3217.58, Second ICB M F of Tk 480.34, Third ICB M F of Tk 415.06, Fourth ICB M F of Tk 586.37, Fifth ICB MF of Tk 508.07, Sixth ICB M F of Tk 196.04, Seventh ICB M F of Tk 271.70 and Eighth ICB MF of Tk 215.37 per unit on current market price basis against face value of Tk 100 each.
   Source: DSE, CSE

Training course on shipping procedure held
Proper knowledge in import and export related shipping procedures is needed to face the challenges of globalisation, said M Shahjahan Khan, senior vice-president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, at the certificate giving ceremony of a training course on Monday. The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry organised the training course on shipping procedures for export and import on the DCCI Business Institute premises. Shahjahan urged the businessmen to ensure better management in their companies and corporate social responsibility. The training course aimed at familiarising topics including banking procedures for import and export, shipping procedures (containerised), shipping procedures (break and bulk), custom procedures, air freight procedures for import and export etc. A good number of participants from reputed business organisations attended the training course conducted by experienced resource persons.
— New Age

Bank Al-Falah opens branch in Sylhet
The Bank Al-Falah opened branch at Mirabazar in the Sylhet city on Thursday. Mohammed Safwan Chowdhury, managing director of the M Ahmed Tea Company and Fulbari Tea Estate, inaugurated the branch as chief guest. KAM Majedur Rahman, country head of the Bank Al-Falah, attended the inauguration as special guest. Speaking on the occasion, Safwan hoped that the Al-Falah Bank would serve the national economy by patronising the country’s small and medium enterprises. ‘We expect that the bank through this branch would play a contributory role in industrialisation in the northeast region of the country,’ he added. Majedur in his speech said ‘Customers are the main sources of our inspiration.’ Local business leaders and elites were present at the inaugural function. The Sylhet branch is the first outlet of the Bank Al-Falah in the region and the 4th in the country. There are 216 outlets of Bank Al-Falah across the world, sources in the bank said.
— New Age