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The Power Division is likely to seek cash subsidy and tax exemption to offset the loss the Power Development Board is set to incur from purchasing high-priced electricity from the proposed nine rental power plants.
   Power Division officials took up the subsidy issue with the finance ministry last week and sought assurance that the subsidy would be provided once the plants came into operation in March 2008, sources in the division said.
   The division is now working out how much subsidy it will seek from the government for purchasing power from the plants with a combined capacity of 300MW to be set up by local or foreign private sector investors on build-own-operate basis for three years, they said.
   The Power Cell has already received expressions of interest from investors and is preparing to issue requests for proposal within the next few days for setting up the readymade second-hand power plants. Some countries like India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have already commissioned this type of plants on an emergency basis as these plants can be set up in only three-month time.
   However, the price of electricity from the rental power plants is expected to be much higher than the selling price of PDB as these plants will be installed for a short term to mitigate the immediate power crisis in the country.
   The Power Cell last week submitted an estimate that around Tk 39 crore should be sought as subsidy for the six gas-based and three oil-powered rental power plants. It also estimated that the customs duty and other taxes for setting up the plants would be around Tk 80 crore.
   But the Power Division did not agree with the Power Cell’s estimate. ‘It is a premature estimate as we do not know what will be the price offers for electricity and what will be the PDB’s selling price of electricity in next March,’ a high official of the division told New Age on Friday.
   He said they would seek a clear guideline on the tax issue from the National Board of Revenue.
   The NBR last week set a 10 per cent flat tax on import of machinery and equipment for rental power plants.
   ‘But we are not sure how this decision will be applied as old machines [power plants] will be imported by the bidders and set up for only three years. How will we calculate the value of these old machines?’ he asked.
   The official said they would request the revenue board to decide an amount of tax for three years, not a percentage. ‘We also want the tax to be low. If the tax is high the power tariff will also go high,’ he pointed out.

Jamuna and Meghna oil companies have raised their paid-up capitals ahead of the listing on the bourses with a view to offloading shares more than the initial plan, official sources said.
   ‘The paid-up capital of Jamuna Oil Company Ltd now stands at Tk 45 crore and that of Meghna Petroleum Ltd Tk 40 crore,’ said Md Iftikhar-uz-Zaman, chief executive officer of ICB Capital Management Ltd, the issue manager of two state-owned companies.
   Previously, the paid-up capital of Jamuna Oil was Tk 9.50 crore and that of Meghna Petroleum Tk 10 crore.
   As per the permission of the Securities and Exchange Commission, both the companies will offload 49 per cent of their paid-up capitals, Iftikhar told New Age.
   ‘The companies have raised their paid-up capitals as the previous figures were very small and issuance of small volume of shares in the context of high demand in the stock market may make their shares overpriced,’ said ICML chief executive.
   Jamuna and Meghna raised their paid-up capital through capitalisation of their reserve resources, sources said.
   According to the latest audit reports, Jamuna Oil Company has a reserve worth Tk 46 crore and Meghna Petroleum Tk 54 crore, said the sources.
   The trading of the two oil companies will start on the Dhaka and Chittagong bourses in late October instead of late September under direct listing regulations, Iftikhar said.
   He said Jamuna and Meghna missed an expected late-September debut as the raising of their paid-up capitals required some more time.
   The companies have also to issue shares against the raised paid-up capitals, he said.
   Last year, two other state-owned entities, the Dhaka Electric Supply Company and the Power Grid Company Bangladesh offloaded 25 per cent of their shares on the stock market under direct listing regulations.

The turnover at the Dhaka Stock Exchange declined by 28.87 per cent in last week to total at Tk 637.93 crore from the previous week’s total Tk 896.88 crore.
   Stock market analysts attributed the drop to decrease in participation of investors.
   Share prices at the bourse witnessed gains in last two days of the week after bear run in the first three days.
   Stock market analysts said stocks bounced back at the end of the week due to fresh buying from the investors to avail the lower price of the shares after a three-day profit taking selling pressure.
   DSE general index gained 4.23 points or 0.17 per cent to close at 2553.99 on Thursday, while its blue chips index, DSE 20, advanced by 7.81 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 2045.79.
   DSE all share price index, however, lost 3.22 points or 0.15 per cent to close at 2116.43.
   The market has recently found a support level at 2500 points and a resistance level at 2600 points, said an analyst referring to the movement of the DSE benchmark index.
   He said market found buyers at the support level and sellers at the resistance level.
   Of the total 234 issues traded at the DSE in last week, 130 declined, 81 advanced and 23 remained unchanged. Forty-two issues recorded no transaction during the period.
   ICB 7th Mutual Fund was the biggest gainer with 40.71 per cent rise in its share price while ICB was the worst loser with 18.25 per cent fall.
   BRAC Bank topped the turnover leaders with total transaction of Tk 61.48 crore.
   Top 10 turnover leaders’ list also included Summit Power, Prime Bank, Power Grid Company Bangladesh, United Commercial Bank, Grameen MF One, Dhaka Electric Supply Company, Aims 1st MF, AB Bank and Southeast Bank.

Two consecutive floods have ruined nearly two-thirds of the country’s handlooms putting weavers in a deep state of distress.
   The Bangladesh Handloom Board says 2.24 lakh weavers in 70 upazilas of 25 districts have been badly hurt by the calamity. In addition to other steps to help the flood victims, the government has allotted Tk 2 crore for the maimed textiles industry. However, industry authorities deem this amount inadequate.
   They say that even though only Tk 2 crore has been allocated to the sector, the government cannot confirm when it will disburse the money to the weavers. The flood-affected weavers are only to get VGF rice, while the farmers will get free saplings and loans under the plan.
   Abdul Hakim, chairman of the Bangladesh Handloom Board, told the news agency, ‘For the affected handloom owners, we first asked the government for a grant of Tk 28.22 crore. The government initially allocated Tk 2 crore. With the help of the local authorities, a list of the most-affected weavers is being made. They will be reimbursed the moment the money is received.’
   He, however, had no idea when the money would reach them.
   The chairman further said, ‘The workers will be provided rice through VGF cards. It will be distributed as soon as the food and disaster management ministry sanctions it.’
   Asked about the extent of damage to the handloom sector, he said, ‘We have not yet taken stock of the damage to the weavers. It will be assessed when the flood water recedes.’
   A census in 2003 showed there were more than 5.5 lakh looms working in 1.83 lakh handloom factories. Of them, 1.69 lakh looms have been ruined in the latest bout of floods. According to the data, the floods have destroyed around 33.58 per cent of the weaving machinery.
   Shahid, director general of the Bangladesh Handloom Board, said, ‘A rudimentary survey shows that 28,226 weaving families and 2.24 lakh workers in 25 districts have been affected by the floods.’
   According to the handloom board, the affected districts are Sirajganj, Pabna, Lalmonirhat, Kurigram, Rangpur, Bogra, Gaibandha, Dhaka, Munshiganj, Narsingdi, Tangail, Barisal, Narayanganj, Comilla, Brahmanbaria, Jhinaidaha, Faridpur, Madaripur, Shariatpur, Jamalpur, Kishoreganj, Chuadanga, Kushtia, Rajbari and Manikganj.
   In Sirajganj, the twin floods have affected 2.5 lakh weaving families in eight upazilas of the district. They are worried that they will not get necessary capital to restart factories.
   At the Sadar upazila of the district’s Sayedabad, general secretary of the Handloom Owners’ Association, Abdul Gani Molla, claimed that the floods had resulted in a minimum loss of Tk 200 crore. Dyes and threads have been lost along with machinery.
   To get the machines up and running again, up to Tk 10,000 will be needed per machine, he said.
   He said that since July 26, production in most of the weaving factories had stopped leading to a further loss of Tk 100 crore, and the total loss incurred by the handloom industry because of the floods would add up to Tk 300 crore.
   Abdul Gani Mollah said, ‘It is unlikely that all damages can be recovered. However, with government grants and interest-free loans, weavers may be able to rebuild their businesses.’
   Jahrul, Sekendar Ali, Rubel, Khalil Munsi, Shams, Haran Pramanik and 50 other workers of Sayedabad said they had been living on loans from local loan sharks.
   Sultan Mahmud, public relations officer of the Bangladesh Handloom Board’s Sirajganj Sadar Basic Centre, said, ‘In the two spells of floods nearly 1.5 lakh weavers have suffered losses of nearly Tk 180 crore at Sadar, Belkuchi, Kamarkhand and Kajipur upazilas.’
    ‘We have submitted statistics on the losses to Bangladesh Handloom Board. We have also applied for one lakh VGF cards for the workers. We have received assurances,’ he added.
   Wajed Ali Mollah, who works for Shahjahan Basic Centre, said, ‘About 50,000 weaving families at Shahjahadpur and Chouhali upazilas have suffered Tk 20 crore in losses.’
   Azizur Rahman, liaison officer of Ullapara Basic Centre, said, ‘The floods have caused damage worth Tk 8.5 crore to 10,000 weavers at Ullapara and Raiganj upazilas.’
   Handloom owner Rashedul Hasan Siraj of village Betil in Chouhali upazila said, ‘I had 10 handlooms. After the first flood swamped those machines, I borrowed Tk 20,000 from a local mahajan to restart my business. But within 10 days, all the handlooms were again submerged.’
    ‘Within a span of five months, the prices of one pound of thread were raised from Tk 25 to Tk 35, while dye prices rose by Tk 10 to Tk 60 per pound,’ he added.
    ‘We need government support to survive. The prices of thread and dye need to be lowered.’
   ‘The second flood was more devastating. All the handlooms in this area were submerged,’ said Korayesh Sarkar, owner of a weaving business in Belkuchi upazila.

The deadline for submission of the expression of interest to buy the problem-ridden Oriental Bank expires today with a number of local and foreign investors showing interest to have its shares.
    ‘A number of local and foreign investors have shown keen interest to buy shares of the bank and take over its assets and liabilities to run it under a new management,’ an executive from one of the interested parties told the news agency requesting anonymity.
   He said the interested parties were likely to submit their proposals on the last day.
   He said he was aware of a group of expatriate Bangladeshis who would bid for buying shares of the bank while a consortium of local banks and financial institutions has a plan to participate in the bidding.
   A UK-based leading international firm – East Invest Private Equity Limited – has also shown its interest in taking over the bank.
   The Oriental Bank is now running under an administrative arrangement by the central bank, which recently invited the interested parties to submit their EoIs by September 23 along with their track financial and technical records of running a financial institution.
   After a serious financial and liquidity crisis, the central bank dissolved the bank’s board of directors, sacked its managing director and appointed an administrator to run the bank for the time being.
   The central bank had announced a bailout scheme on August 2 to sell 57 per cent share of the Oriental Bank through an open tender.

The China mainland is to impose a quota on investments on the Hong Kong stock market, which will reduce capital outflows to a fraction of the 100 billion dollar plus forecast when its outward investment scheme was announced last month.
   Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said there would be no limit on individuals.

Infrastructural bottlenecks in airports force aircrafts to hover in the skies for far too long, resulting in a loss of around 80 million dollar to the industry every year, a top aviation industry official said.
   ‘Gaps in infrastructure lead to 5-10 per cent more flying time for aircraft, which means a cost of 80 million dollar per annum to the airlines,’ Jet Airways executive director Saroj Datta said at a function to mark the 103rd birth anniversary of JRD Tata, leading industrialist and the first Indian to fly an aeroplane.
   Jet Airways alone incurs a loss of about 25 million dollar per annum, he added.
   On challenges before the aviation industry, he highlighted the shortage of trained personnel, non - availability of secondary airports and the competitive pressure on full service carriers to reduce fares on par with low-cost carriers.

Jet Airways, which recently received Indian government’s permission to fly to the Gulf countries, is expected to commence services by early next year to at least four Gulf nations.
   The airline has already received permission to operate services into four Gulf Cooperation Council countries — Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — from January. The airline is awaiting go-ahead from authorities for launching operations into the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
   Shakir Kantawala, Dubai-based Regional Manager (Sales & Marketing) of Jet Airways, said the international expansion will be in phases with the introduction of wide-body aircraft into its fleet.
   ‘We have introduced joint interline international fare options with our airline partners in the Gulf. Our customers will have the option of flying either to the US, Canada, or Europe with stopovers in India.’

Brazil welcomed Friday the United States’s agreement to negotiate on the basis of a WTO proposal to cut farm subsidies as a ‘step forward’ in foundering global trade talks.
   ‘It is a good step forward,’ said foreign minister Celso Amorim.
   ‘My reading is much like that of the director general — that negotiations can wind up rapidly with goodwill,’ Amorim said, before leaving Manaus to visit Haiti.
   Brazil and India head the Group of 20 emerging countries, which is pushing the United States and the European Union to open their markets to agricultural exports from developing countries by cutting tariffs and farm subsidies.
   The United States and the 27-nation EU are asking developing countries to open their markets to services and industrial exports.
   The US signaled its willingness Wednesday to accept as a basis for negotiations a World Trade Organization proposal to limit trade-distorting farm subsidies to between 12.8 to 16.2 billion dollars a year.
   Until now, Washington has refused to accept a ceiling below 23 billion dollars.
   But US officials said other nations must also move forward on farm, manufacturing and services to reach a comprehensive WTO deal.
   The EU also has welcomed the US move on the farm issue, a main sticking point in the six-year-old WTO talks.

Russian aluminium producer Rusal said Friday it had given up plans to float on the London stock exchange by the end of the year, blaming financial market turmoil.
   ‘The IPO (initial public offering) is frozen due to the current state of the markets,’ Rusal shareholder Victor Wechselberg told Interfax news agency.
   But the company insisted it would eventually put its shares up for sale in London.
   ‘The company has always stated its intention to hold an IPO within three years. The company’s plans have not altered,’ said Rusal spokeswoman Vera Kurochkina. ‘The board of directors has yet to decide on a more precise timing for the IPO.’
   The Financial Times and Wall Street Journal on Friday quoted sources close to the firm as saying that credit market turmoil and liquidity worries, as well as legal challenges against the company, had forced it to put its listing in London on hold.
   The FT also said that Rusal was not prepared for a London IPO from the point of view of corporate governance standards.
   Rumours that the IPO might be delayed until next year have been circulating on the market since the end of August.
   Rusal has said in the past, in reply to questions about the timing of the IPO, that the agreement shareholders signed when the company was set up in the spring of this year provides for a listing within three years of that date.
   Earlier reports said Rusal planned to raise around 7.5 billion dollars by floating 25 per cent of its shares.
   The IPO is subject to approval by Britain’s financial authorities.

Construction deals for southern Russia worth a total of 2.2 billion euros ($3.0b) were signed on Friday at an economic forum in the city of Sochi, officials said.
   The deals for hotels, entertainment complexes and shopping centres to be built in the region of Krasnodar included agreements with top international hoteliers Kempinski and Marriot.
   Russia’s economic development and trade minister German Gref said ahead of the Sochi-2007 forum that contracts worth a total of around 10 billion dollars in various investment deals would be signed.
   The forum, which has been held every year since 2002, brings together top-ranking government ministers, regional officials, and investors in the southern resort of Sochi.
   The forum this year is focused on infrastructure and construction projects in Sochi, which earlier this year won a bid to host the Winter Olympics in 2014.

A senior economist with the Asian Development Bank said on Friday that China’s officially published national accounts have been greatly improved by progressive reforms over the past 25 years.
   The remark was made by Nishnu Pant, assistant chief economist of the Manila-based ADB, during a speech delivered to mark the release of a ADB report designed to advise China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on how to collect statistics concerning the service sector.
   China’s rapid economic growth in recent years has ignited heated disputes over the accuracy of China’s official statistics.
   Pant said a recent ADB survey on the country’s industrial and service sectors, however, do not support allegations by some economists that China’s estimates of domestic gross product (GDP) growth have been exaggerated.
   The output and growth of the service sector could have been underestimated in the official statistics, said Pant.
   He said the country is gradually improving its weaknesses in collecting statistics of the service sector, as the NBS and its local departments have stepped up efforts in this field.
   Pant advised the country’s national and local statistics collectors to set up a scientific sampling survey system covering all types of enterprises in the service sector, including incorporated companies and individually-owned businesses.
   Pant said a recent pilot survey in Beijing under the supervision of ADB indicated that statistics from the country’s service sector could be improved, and the pilot survey already marked an important step of NBS towards data collection according to international practice.
   ‘There is still a gap between China and developed countries in terms of the accuracy of the national accounts,’ said Peng Zhilong, an NBS senior official, ‘we will keep improving the estimation of our national economy, making it up to the international standard.’
   The ADB is currently helping China improve NBS’s statistics collection of the service sector, as invited by the Chinese government.

The Philippine president, Gloria Arroyo, has suspended a controversial 330-million-dollar national broadband project with China, the Trade and Investment secretary said Saturday.
   Peter Favila made the announcement during an interview on local radio.
    ‘I think this is the best thing to do now,’ he said.
   Favila said Arroyo did not give her reasons for the suspension, commenting ‘that is her executive privilege.’
   The announcement came after a week of allegations in the media and before a Senate inquiry of supposed government incompetence, corruption and the involvement of Arroyo’s husband, businessman and lawyer Jose Miguel Arroyo, in the deal.
   The project with the state-owned Chinese company ZTE Corp was to have set up a national broadband network for the exclusive use of the government and all its agencies.
   The Philippine Supreme Court earlier this month issued a temporary restraining order preventing the government from going ahead with the project.

The plight of troubled British bank Northern Rock and the ongoing credit squeeze was once again expected to loom over the London stock market next week.
   The FTSE 100 index of leading shares finished Friday at 6,456.70 points, up 167.4 points or 2.66 per cent from a week earlier.
   That followed a gain of 1.58 per cent the previous week — despite the unfolding of credit troubles at Northern Rock, which is Britain’s fifth-biggest mortgage lender.
   Investor sentiment was boosted this week by a deep cut to US interest rates. ‘The market is quite steady now,’ said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners.
    ‘It’s been quite a week, with Northern Rock, and the US rate cuts. We’ve come out of it better.’
   Confidence in the British banking system has been shaken since last week when Northern Rock applied for emergency funds from the Bank of England owing to the global credit crunch.
   Northern Rock’s share price clawed back 4.91 per cent to 194.30 pence on Friday. However, the lender’s shares have slumped by almost 70 per cent in value since last Thursday when it was forced to request a bail-out from the BoE.
   Next Wednesday the Bank of England will pump 10 billion pounds (20 billion dollars, 14.3 billion euros) into longer-term money markets as it seeks to ease the ongoing global credit squeeze. The move was announced earlier this week.

Tests confirmed an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease at a farm in southern England Friday, the sixth case in Britain since August, after cattle showed symptoms of the virus and were ordered slaughtered.
   Cattle on the farm, which is in the same area as three other recent cases, tested positive for the contagious disease that can affect all-cloven footed animals, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said.
   Two other cases have also been confirmed since an initial outbreak in August, all of them in the southeastern county of Surrey.
    ‘Positive test results for foot and mouth disease (FMD) have now been confirmed at the site where it was decided that cattle should be slaughtered on suspicion earlier this evening,’ a Defra spokeswoman said.
    ‘The affected animals are within the existing protection zone and this now becomes the sixth infected premises since August 3 this year.’
   The spokeswoman said minor changes now had been made to the protection and surveillance zones. The Press Association news agency said earlier that around 40 cattle were being slaughtered on the farm which is within the three-kilometre (1.8 miles) protection zone set up after the latest cases emerged near the town of Egham.
   Some 1,800 animals have been slaughtered since the first outbreak, at what is usually one of the busiest times of the year for livestock sales.
   The Press Association said tests were carried out after the animals showed clinical symptoms of the highly contagious viral disease. The previous five cases have been the same strain of the disease.
   Leaks from an animal disease and vaccine research laboratory were blamed for the initial outbreak in August, which was the first in Britain since 2001.
   Government officials declared the country foot and mouth free on September 7 but the fresh cases near Egham led to the European Union re-imposing a ban on British meat exports.
   England eased transport restrictions last weekend, allowing farmers to take livestock to slaughter for the first time since the last outbreaks.
   Similar rules in Scotland and Wales had already been eased, while they were never imposed across the North Channel in Northern Ireland.
   The 2007 outbreaks have raised the spectre of a repeat of a 2001 crisis, in which up to 10 million animals were culled and which cost the British economy about eight billion pounds (11.7 billion euros, 16.0 billion dollars).

Citibank, NA Bangladesh signed a correspondent banking agreement with the Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd in the capital on Wednesday to expand its collection and disbursement channel across the country.
   Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, executive vice-president and head of financial institutions and treasury of AB Bank, and Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, director and head of global transaction services of Citibank, initialed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations.
   Kaiser A Chowdhury, president and managing director of AB Bank, and Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citigroup country officer, were present at the deal signing ceremony, said a press release.
   BH Khan, EVP and company secretary, and Fazlur Rahman Khan, CFO, of AB Bank, Mahbubur Rahman, director and head of financial institution of Citibank, and other senior officials of the two banks were also present on the occasion.
   The agreement will facilitate transactions of the clients of Citibank through 68 branches of AB Bank across the country.

Mobile phone operator Banglalink, under its corporate social responsibility, presented some traffic-aid materials to the Police at a ceremony in the Police Superintendent’s office at Sadarghat in the capital on Saturday, said a press release.
   The items included, 300 reflective traffic cones, 300 umbrellas and about 200 reflective personal jackets.
   Solaiman Alam, senior manager, PR and Communications of Banglalink handed over the items to Ibrahim Fatami, Police Superintendent of Dhaka Division, and to Kamrul Ahsan, Additional Superintendent of Police.
   Shehzad S Hossain, assistant manager, PR and Communications, and Iftekhar Azam, media executive of Banglalink were present at the handover ceremony.

The European Central Bank chief, Jean-Claude Trichet, on Friday said that the independence of central banks was ‘absolutely essential’ to ensure their credibility.
   His comments at a public debate in Switzerland came as the euro raced to a record high of 1.4120 dollars on Friday, and the ECB has come under renewed pressure from eurozone political leaders to halt its cycle of hikes in interest rates,
    ‘There is a consensus among central banks to consider that independence is absolutely essential, because its gives (them) credibility when faced with investors and savers in their own economy and in the rest of the world,’ Trichet said in the debate on the euro.
   French president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday reaffirmed his belief in the ECB’s independence, but he implied that the bank should follow the US Federal reserve in lowering interest rates in response to recent turmoil on financial markets.
    ‘When the American federal bank lowers its rates, everything gets back on track,’ Sarkozy said. ‘When we don’t lower ours, we dig ourselves in deeper. There is a small problem there.’
   Sarkozy is a long-standing critic of the European currency’s weakness against the dollar, saying it harms exports and economic growth in the 13 national eurozone, which includes France.
   Trichet argued Friday that the independence and credibility of the ECB allowed the eurozone to enjoy cheaper borrowing on money markets.
    ‘If we weren’t independent, I’d let you calculate the risk premiums that savers and investors around the world would ask for,’ he said.
   The Frankfurt-based bank’s independence is enshrined in the European Union’s Treaty of Maastricht, and any changes would at the very least require the agreement of all eurozone partners.
   Late Thursday, German chancellor Angela Merkel leapt to the ECB’s defense, saying: ‘The whole government including myself believes in the independence of the ECB.’
   Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said on Friday that he felt the round of interest rate hikes by the ECB had reached their peak.
   Zapatero, who faces a general election in March 2008, said many Spanish families had felt growing financial pressure since the majority of their mortgages were set with variable rates.
   Spain has experienced a massive housing boom in recent years.

A total of 108 Chinese cities tried Saturday to stage a ‘Car Free Day’ to tackle congestion and pollution but it was unclear if the attempt was working with traffic jams clogging streets in Beijing.
   The capital’s middle class climbed into their cars to go shopping and touring as usual, apparently disregarding an official injunction to leave the vehicles at home — a pattern which could be repeated in the other 107 cities.
    ‘It’s the same as always,’ said taxi driver Dong Yongjun, as he navigated up Beijing’s congested Third Ring Road. ‘I don’t see any difference.’
   Every September 22 is ‘Car Free Day’ in many countries around the world, but it is the first time China has tried to take part in a substantial way.
   The day came at the end of China’s ‘Public Transport Week,’ which was meant to publicise the government’s goal of getting 50 per cent of the nation’s urban residents to use buses and trains rather than private cars.
   In Beijing and the other participating cities across China, some areas were open only to pedestrians, cyclists, taxis and buses in the period from 7:00 am (1100 GMT Friday) to 7:00 pm Saturday.
   While most major Chinese cities were part of the ‘Car Free Day’ and ‘Public Transport Week,’ there was one glaring exception — South China’s Guangzhou, home to more than ten million people and one million cars.
    ‘Limiting the use of cars is not practical in the city,’ said an unnamed official with the municipal government, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
   Environmental awareness is growing in China but rapid economic growth remains a top government priority creating difficult choices for policy makers.

Britain is seeking to legally annex stretches of the south Atlantic seabed in a bid to tap gas, mineral and oil wealth, in a move that could raise tension with Argentina, a newspaper reported Saturday.
   It plans to file with the United Nations authorities a claim to tens of thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean floor around the Falklands, Ascension Island and Rockall, The Guardian said.
   In a bloody war 25 years ago, British forces expelled Argentine invasion forces from the Falkland Islands, which is 13,000 kilometres from Britain. Argentina claims the Falklands, or Malvinas, as their own.
   The British government is trying to speed up the application process with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ahead of an international deadline in May 2009, the newspaper said.
   In a novel legal approach, any state can use detailed geological and geophysical surveys to demarcate a new ‘continental shelf outer limit’ that can extend up to the 350 miles from its shoreline, The Guardian said.
   The British government has collected data for most of what it is submitting, it added. Chris Carleton, head of the law of the sea division at the UK Hydrographic Office, said preliminary talks on Rockall are due to be held next week in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, according to the newspaper.

Two shop-owners and five policemen were injured when a protest against big retail stores turned violent in southern India on Saturday, police said.
   Some 100 shopkeepers demonstrated in the city of Kozhikode in Kerala state to protest at the opening of dozens of Western-style
   air-conditioned supermarkets, which they say threaten their business.
   ‘The police will not be able to crush our protest through violence. We are fighting for our livelihood,’ T Nasiruddeen, president of the Kerala Merchants and Traders Coordination Committee, said.
   Police said the protesters had turned violent. ‘We caned the violent mob to disperse them,’ said police commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay.
   The communist state government promised earlier this month to ban the entry of retail giants into the state.
   But in the past few months, several supermarket chains have opened a few dozen stores in the state as opportunities in retail grow.
   The Kerala government has not said what it will do about the presence of existing retail chains but the traders said they want the licences removed.

Crude oil prices surged to all-time highs this week, striking a record peak of 84.10 dollars a barrel in New York owing to heightened concerns over tight supplies in the United States.
   Brent crude reached an historic 79.94 dollars in London.
   Oil also won strong support from a weak dollar, which made the dollar-denominated commodity cheaper for buyers using stronger currencies.
   Other commodities priced in dollars, such as gold and silver, also benefited from the slumping US currency this week.
   The euro raced to an all-time high of 1.4120 dollars on Friday as the US currency came under heavy selling pressure on expectations of further interest rate cuts in the United States, dealers said.
   The US Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut its key interest rate by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points to 4.75 per cent.
   Oil: Crude futures enjoyed a record-breaking week as traders seized on supply worries ahead of the latest northern hemisphere winter that begins at the end of 2007.
   Prices were driven higher on fears a storm could threaten energy facilities in the US Gulf Coast. Traders are worried that stormy weather in the US Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for about one quarter of American oil output, could stretch tight global supplies ahead of peak US winter demand for heating fuel.
   Prices are setting fresh records owing to the ‘evacuation of oil rigs and platforms in the US Gulf of Mexico,’ said Barclays Capital analyst Kevin Norrish.
   He added: ‘The concern is that what is currently only a tropical disturbance in the eastern gulf could develop into a tropical storm and companies have already started evacuating workers from the area.
   ‘Both Shell and BP have reported that they are evacuating and shutting in all of their gulf oil production.’
   The US department of energy had said Wednesday that American crude inventories plunged by 3.8 million barrels in the week ending September 14, underscoring global supply tightness.
   That marked the 10th consecutive weekly drop and was almost double analysts’ consensus forecasts for a fall of about 2.0 million barrels.
   By Friday, New York’s main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, soared to 81.74 dollars a barrel, from 79.59 dollars for the October contract a week earlier. The October contract expired Thursday.
   In London, Brent North Sea crude for November delivery rocketed to 79.17 dollars a barrel on Friday, from 76.70 dollars a week earlier.
   Precious Metals: Gold struck its highest price for 27 years as it surged to 738.60 dollars an ounce on Thursday.
   ‘The precious metal complex made strong gains, as greenback weakness and new record highs on oil gave the complex something to cheer about,’ BNP Paribas analyst David Thurtell said.
   Gold is also benefiting from record high oil prices, which have raised fears of inflation. Gold is seen as a store of value and a hedge against higher prices.
   ‘Metals’ short-term fortunes may depend on the short-term fortunes of the dollar, which is weak against everything,’ UBS analyst John Reade noted.
   On the London Bullion Market, gold gained to 737 dollars an ounce at Friday’s late fixing, from 716.35 dollars a week earlier.
   Silver jumped to 13.47 dollars an ounce at Friday’s late fixing, from 12.50 dollars a week earlier.
   On the London Platinum and Palladium Market, platinum rose to 1,332 dollars an ounce at the late fixing Friday, from 1,294 dollars a week earlier.
   Palladium climbed to 340 dollars an ounce, from 330 dollars.
   Base Metals: Base metal prices mostly rallied, owing to the weak dollar.
   ‘There is a good chance base metals will firm further as demand picks up into the seasonally strong fourth quarter,’ said BaseMetals.com analyst William Adams.
   On Friday, the price of copper for delivery in three months jumped to 8,009.50 dollars a tonne on the London Metal Exchange, from 7,550 dollars a week earlier.
   Three-month aluminium prices dipped to 2,437 dollars a tonne, from 2,440 dollars.
   Three-month nickel prices soared to 32,799 dollars a tonne, from 28,598 dollars.
   Three-month lead prices advanced to 3,347 dollars a tonne, from 3,209.85 dollars.
   Three-month zinc prices increased to 2,905 dollars a tonne, from 2,849 dollars.
   Three-month tin prices rose to 15,375 dollars a tonne, from 14,875 dollars.
   Cocoa: Cocoa prices jumped owing to concerns over tight supplies in leading producer Ivory Coast.
   ‘Speculators were again active in the markets on concerns about output from West Africa,’ Sucden analysts said.
   By Friday on the LIFFE, London’s futures exchange, the price of cocoa for December delivery rose to 990 pounds a tonne, from 967 pounds a week earlier.
   On the New York Board of Trade, the December contract climbed to 1,983 dollars a tonne, from 1,840 dollars the previous Friday.
   Coffee: Coffee prices struck nine-month highs in London before sliding on profit-taking.
   On Monday, Robusta quality coffee reached 2,026 dollars a tonne — the highest level since 1998 as speculators dived into the market amid supply worries in Brazil.
   ‘There is a perception that it might be continually dry in Brazil,’ said Ian Smaldon, an analyst at Mercon Coffee Corporation. ‘We need rain in order for flowering to take place.’
   By Friday on the LIFFE, Robusta quality for November delivery fell to 1,874 dollars a tonne, from 1,940 dollars one week earlier.
   On the NYBOT, Arabica for December delivery increased to 131.60 US cents a pound, from 119.90 cents.
   Sugar: Sugar prices rebounded as the weak dollar offset expectations of large supplies.
   By Friday on the LIFFE, the price per tonne of white sugar for December delivery climbed to 281 pounds, from 269.10 pounds a week earlier.
   On the NYBOT, the price of unrefined sugar for October delivery increased to 9.85 US cents a pound, from 9.29 cents a week earlier.
   Grains and Soya: The prices of grains and soya advanced in Chicago as the dollar slid and also because of supply concerns.
   Analysts this week said that Australia’s long-running drought is expected to slash wheat production in the coming year by a third, lowering export levels and increasing price pressures.
   By Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, the price of maize for December delivery rose to 3.71 dollars a bushel, from 3.49 dollars a week earlier.
   Wheat for December delivery climbed to 8.56 dollars a bushel, from 8.39 dollars the previous week.
   November-dated soyabean meal — used in animal feed — advanced to 9.81 dollars, from 9.47 dollars.

Canadians cheered Friday for their beloved loonie, reaching parity this week with the US greenback for the first time in 31 years, but consumers are not yet benefiting, and manufacturers are reeling.
   The loonie, a sobriquet given to the Canadian dollar, worth a mere 62 US cents five years ago, reached parity with the US greenback in morning trading Thursday, amid soaring commodity prices and fears of a slumping US economy.
   It is the first time since November 1976 that it has soared so high, and was holding steady Friday in global currency markets.
   Economist Maurice Marchon of HEC Montreal business school told AFP this lightning-fast appreciation of the Canadian dollar is ‘globally positive.’
   But, Canadians are continuing to pay more for American products, as much as 24 per cent more for the same cars, the same magazines and the same greeting cards, according to a study by the Bank of Montreal.
   The bank adds that Canadian retailers must eventually lower their prices, or risk losing business to cross-border shopping in the United States.
   Canadian manufacturers, who rely on US sales, however, are ‘the big losers,’ Marchon said. ‘Their products are suddenly less competitive in the United States.’
   Some 80 per cent of Canadian exports head south to the United States, and 66 per cent of its imported goods originate in the United States.
   Finance minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged Thursday that the soaring Canadian dollar has ‘put some pressure on manufacturers, particularly the suddenness of the depreciation of the US dollar.’
   But a high loonie also ‘helps Canadian manufacturers acquire new technology,’ he added.
   Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, commented: ‘For every penny that the loonie goes up, we’re looking about a billion and a half dollars more in the manufacturing sector that is lost.’
   He underscored that Canadian firms had already purchased a lot of US equipment, machinery and tools in recent years to boost their productivity and remain competitive.
   But, he added, they must continue to increase their productivity because ‘increases in the loonie have stolen away the gains that they have made’ thus far.
   Since January 2003, the situation has cost 268,000 high-paying jobs in Canada’s manufacturing sector, primarily in eastern Ontario and Quebec provinces, a fallout denounced by union bosses as a ‘catastrophic.’

The UAE’s leading private property developer Damac Properties is aiming to develop a substantial portfolio of overseas ‘master developments’, with India likely to be a future area of growth.
   Damac Holding chairman Hussain Sajwani says the company holds a sizeable land bank in Egypt and Saudi Arabia where it plans to unveil major mixed-use real estate developments.
   The company has launched 79 towers at a cost of nearly 18 billion dollars, covering the UAE, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. Its only master development to date is the huge 35-40 billion dollars Gamsha Bay project in Egypt.
   ‘We are currently talking to a number of governments in overseas countries about building master developments,’ he said.
   Damac has its eye on ventures in several other untapped markets, such as India, Pakistan, Turkey and North African countries. ‘We’ll be looking at these markets closely in 2008, but as yet we haven’t bought any land,’ Sajwani told the Gulf News.

Standard Insurance inks deal with CRAB
The Standard Insurance Ltd has signed an agreement with the Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Limited for credit rating of the insurance company. Dr Masihur Rahman, managing director of the Credit Rating Agency of Bangladesh Ltd, and AM Md Amanullah Chowdhury, managing director of the Standard Insurance Ltd, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations at a function in the city recently. AKM Mosharraf Hussain and Md Atiqur Rahman, directors, and Md Kowser Munshi, company secretary, of the Standard Insurance Ltd, and HS Sohrawardhi, manager of CRAB, and other senior officials from both the organisations were present on the occasion. Under the agreement, CRAB would provide credit rating services to the Standard Insurance Ltd.
— New Age

CSE revises its blue chips index
The index committee of Chittagong Stock Exchange on Thursday revised the composition of its CSE 30 Index effective from the September 23, said a press release. As per the revised composition, CSE-30 Index includes Square Textiles, Square Pharmaceuticals, Advanced Chemical Industries, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Apex Foods, Confidence Cement, Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh, Singer Bangladesh, Apex Adelchi Footwear, Bata Shoe Company (Bangladesh), Eastern Housing, Miracle Industries, BOC Bangladesh, AB Bank, National Bank, Pubali Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Prime Bank, Dhaka Bank, Southeast Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Bank Asia, Mercantile Bank, Uttara Bank, Eastern Bank, Export Import Bank of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Online, Uttara Finance and Investment and Usmania Glass Sheet Factory. The thirty companies hold 33.21 per cent of the total paid up capital of the CSE, said the release.
— New Age

Hong Kong gold closes lower
Hong Kong gold prices closed lower on Thursday at 723.50-724.00 US dollars an ounce, down from Wednesday’s close of 725.10-725.60 dollars an ounce. It opened at 721.50-722.00 dollars an ounce.
— AFP