People travelling on Jessore-Khulna highway may have noticed an area near Jessore town, which has got a different look with fairly large number of growing automobile workshops.
   The area, Bakchar, has already become well-known among the locals and the industry people across the country as the automobile workshop village of the country’s frontier town of Jessore.
   Few hundreds workers all the time of the day remain busy in making bodies, seats and other auto accessories at a large number of automobile workshops at the village, which is now the direct and indirect earning source of about 35,000 people.
   Jamir Hossain, general secretary, Jessore Automobile Workshop Owners Association said over 800 members of the association own and work for the workshops in Bakchar.
   At the beginning, both the owners and the workers were unskilled. They even did not get any opportunity of getting trainings in their trade. Financial support was a dream. But they started with the courage of making their effort a success.
   And now the once unskilled workers are making bodies for buses and trucks and for other motorised vehicles. The quality, may not up to the benchmark of the original ones, but their products serve the local industry.
   Kausar Ali, president, Jessore Automobile Workshop Owners Association told New Age that they had started making auto bodies in 80s when the importers started importing Hino vehicles.
   Danco Engineering and Zia Engineering of Dhaka are the pioneers in this field. But now vehicle owners from about all the districts of the country come to Jessore to get auto bodies and other accessories for their vehicles.
   The workers at Jessore make almost everything for vehicles other than the engine. They also do denting, painting and other jobs at a competitive price.
   For an example, Shahin Kabir, owner of Shahin Automobile Workshop, said, ‘We make the body of a Hino bus for Tk 8 lakh, but people need Tk 13 lakh for importing a similar body’.

Consumer goods giant Unilever agreed to pay 1.275 billion euros ($1.87 billion) for Sara Lee’s personal care brands like Sanex and Radox on Friday to reinforce its global lead in deodorants and skin cleansing.
   The Anglo-Dutch Unilever Plc is buying a business with 85 percent of its sales in Europe, while Sara Lee will now look to sell its household goods business separately as it launched a $1 billion share buyback program.
   The deal marks the first major acquisition for Unilever’s new Chief Executive Paul Polman, while Sara Lee’s CEO Brenda Barnes is now half-way through a planned sell-off of non-core business aimed at focusing the US group on food and drink.
    ‘The Sara Lee brands enjoy strong consumer recognition, offer significant growth potential and are an excellent fit with Unilever’s existing business,’ said Polman in a statement.
   Unilever says Sanex, Radox and also Duschdas brands will complement its Dove, Axe and Rexona at slightly lower prices and strengthen its European business in key markets such as Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Denmark.
   Sara Lee said the brands sold accounted for 55 percent of the profits from its businesses up for sale, and added it had seen significant interest in its household brands including Ambi Pur air fresheners, Kiwi shoe polish, Vapona insecticides and its non-European cleaning brands.
    ‘We intend to use proceeds from the divestiture to invest for growth in our core business and to repurchase stock,’ Barnes said in a Sara Lee statement.
   The US group also reiterated it intended to maintain its current quarterly dividend of 11 cents for the next four quarters regardless of the timing of disposals.
   Unilever Plc shares were flat at 17.36 pounds by 6:23 a.m. EDT in a slightly firmer UK stock market.
   Credit Suisse analyst Charlie Mills said the price Unilever is paying of 10 times core operating profit, or EBITDA, is not huge by industry standards which reflects the fairly disparate collection of assets which also include Brylcream hair gel.
    ‘We’re not convinced that this is the greatest collection of assets but another acquisition shows Unilever still moving from the back foot (cost cutting and disposals) to the front foot (volume growth and acquisitions),’ he said.
   Sara Lee put its household and personal care business up for sale earlier this year, and it was expected by analysts to break up the wide-ranging business to make a sell-off easier.
   The Sara Lee brands being acquired by Unilever generated annual sales in excess of 750 million euros with EBITDA of 128 million euros for the year ending June 2009. The overall Sara Lee business up for sale had annual sales of 1.5 billion euros.
   The deal is subject to regulatory approval and consultation with European employee works councils.

The Group of 20 will agree to phase out subsidies on oil and other fossil fuels in the 'medium term,' but will not set a firm timetable for the move aimed at combating global warming, a draft statement said.
   The G20 will also intensify efforts to reach a UN deal on climate change later this year, said the draft communique obtained by Reuters at a G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
   The leaders will ask their finance ministers to come up with a range of options for climate finance -- payments from rich countries to poor countries dealing with global warming -- at their next meeting.
   The final version of the communique will be issued by the leaders at the end of their two-day meeting on Friday.
   Governments in several G20 countries, including countries such as China, Russia and India, subsidize fuel such as coal and oil to keep prices artificially low for consumers, boosting demand for hydrocarbons and emissions from them.
   Eliminating such subsidies would reduce greenhouse gases blamed for global warming by 10 per cent in 2050, the draft said, citing data from the International Energy Agency and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
    'Inefficient fossil fuel subsidies encourage wasteful consumption, distort markets, impede investment in clean energy sources and undermine efforts to deal with climate change,' said the statement from the G20, which groups major rich and emerging economies.

Cash-strapped British Airways is to start charging passengers who want to choose their seats when they book their flights, the airline said Friday.
   The new charges will affect people who want to ensure they sit together on a flight, or anyone with a preference for seats next to a window or an emergency exit or in an aisle.
   BA currently makes no charge for passengers who want to reserve seats in the 24 hours prior to departure but from October 7 those willing to pay will be able to secure their preferred spot when they make a booking.
   The airline said the move would ‘give customers more control over their seating options.’
   For an economy class trip within Europe, passengers will pay an extra 10 pounds (11 euros, 16 dollars) per person to choose a seat.
   The fee rises to 20 pounds for long-haul economy or short flights in business class, and 60 pounds in business class on long-haul trips.

HSBC on Friday said that its chief executive Michael Geoghegan is to move to Hong Kong from London to be closer to the banking group’s ‘largest and most important region’ of operation.
   HSBC, founded in Hong Kong and Shanghai in 1865, said it would remain headquartered in London and regulated by Britain, while Geoghegan’s relocation would begin from February 1, 2010.
    ‘There is absolutely no question of HSBC pulling away from London. We will operate from two equally strategically important centres for the company,’ chairman Stephen Green said in a statement.
    ‘The additional management presence in Hong Kong and focus on our faster-growing markets is absolutely right for HSBC and entirely consistent with the strategy we set out in 2006,’ he added.
   HSBC, Europe’s biggest bank, added that Geoghegan would also become chairman of the group’s Asia business.
    ‘Operating from Hong Kong, the hub for HSBC’s Asia-Pacific business ... Geoghegan will be located in the group’s strategically most important region, with a focus on ensuring its growth potential is fully realised,’ HSBC said.
    ‘HSBC Holdings Plc, the group holding company, remains domiciled in the UK and has no plans to move. It will continue to be resident in the UK for tax purposes.’
   HSBC, reflecting its origins as the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, added that the move ‘further positions the group for the shift in the world’s centre of economic gravity from West to East.’

Battery-run electric autorickshaw is gaining popularity in Benapole township as the urban commuters are using this communication mode at a cheaper rate, instead of traditional rickshaws.
   The China made autorickshaw is running on every alleys of the townships of Jessore and Benapole. Only Taka five is enough for fare for any destination in the suburbs.
   General people are very happy with the services of this vehicle, as they are to pay a little fare for a specific distance while a rickshaw puller is paid at least four times more fare for the same distance.
   This modern vehicle has also reduced the traffic jam in the townships. Many stands, including Palbari Crossing, Old Bus Stand, New Market, Chasra Crossing and Cinema Crossing, are established in the town.
   Unemployed educated youths are also driving the vehicles in the town.

Global stock markets dropped Friday as leaders of the world's 20 largest economies assembled in the US to find ways to foster a healthy economic recovery.
   European shares were modestly lower after Asian markets closed down, while the dollar fell against major currencies and oil prices gained slightly after a two-day plunge.
   Asia's move lower followed a fall on Wall Street, where investors pulled out of stocks amid worries about the sustainability of this year's rally and news of an unexpected drop in sales of existing homes in August.
   Investors are also increasingly nervous that governments will prematurely unwind emergency measures that have gotten money flowing through financial markets since the crisis erupted last year. This week, the US Federal Reserve announced it would slow its purchases of mortgage-backed securities, while European Central Bank said it would curtail certain types of dollar-denominated loans.
   Amid the concern, G-20 leaders were gathered for a two-day meeting in the US dedicated to bringing about a strong and sustainable turnaround after the world's worst downturn in decades. Both President Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said nations should not move too quickly to end low-interest rates, stimulus spending and other props.
    'Much of the gains across asset classes so far this year - to levels not justified by fundamentals - have been a direct result of cheap and easily available funding,' Dariusz Kowalczyk, chief Investment strategist for SJS Markets in Hong Kong, wrote in a note. 'News that the amount and availability of liquidity will be imminently limited caused fears that asset bubbles will be diffused sooner.'
   As trade got under way in Europe, Britain's FTSE was up 0.1 per cent, Germany's DAX fell 0.4 per cent and France's CAC-40 was down 0.2 per cent.
   In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock index shed 278.24 points, or 2.6 per cent, to 10,265.98 after Nomura, the country's leading brokerage, announced its biggest shares sale ever, weighing on the broader market.
   Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.1 per cent to 21,024.40, and China's Shanghai index dropped 0.5 per cent.
   Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi shed 0.1 per cent, India's Sensex edged lower by 0.1 per cent and Indonesia's index lost 1.0 per cent. Taiwan and Australia's markets were up 0.3 per cent.
   Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow fell 41.11, or 0.4 per cent, to 9,707.44.
   The S&P 500 index fell 10.09, or 1.0 per cent, to 1,050.78, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 23.81, or 1.1 per cent, to 2,107.61.
   US futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street Friday. Dow futures were up 18 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 9,653.

Military-ruled Myanmar has unexpectedly announced that it will release a new 5,000 kyat note, state media said Friday, raising concerns for the country’s beleaguered economy.
   The new note, worth less than five dollars, will be the largest banknote that the country has and is set to begin circulating on October 1, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
    ‘The Central Bank of Myanmar will put into circulation a new denomination of five thousand kyats currency note with effect from October 1, 2009,’ the paper quoted a bank statement as saying.
    ‘All legal tender currency notes and coins will continue to be in circulation.’
   There was no explanation for the decision to bring in the new note, which is red with a white elephant on one side, according to a picture in the government mouthpiece daily.
   Currency is a sensitive topic in Myanmar. Mass student-led pro-democracy rallies in 1988 were triggered when the regime invalidated currency notes the previous year in a bid to clamp down on the black market.
   The move crippled the lives of ordinary people who depended on the illicit market because of soaring inflation. The military brutally suppressed the protests, leading to the deaths of more than 3,000 people.
   Myanmar’s gold and foreign exchange markets were unstable on Friday after the announcement, traders said, with many people wanting to exchange their current low-denomination notes amid fears that they could become worthless.
    ‘I’m worried about inflation. I do not want to keep money in hand’, a 45-year-old Yangon resident said.
    ‘I would like to buy gold or US dollars but I can’t buy them this morning as the dealers said they have nothing to sell. They have opened the market for sellers but not for buyers,’ the resident added.

Oil prices hovered near $66 a barrel Friday in Asia after investor concerns about PER CENT crude demand sparked a two-day plunge.
   Benchmark crude for November delivery was up 52 cents at $66.41 a barrel by late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Thursday, the contract fell $3.08 to settle at $65.89, the lowest since July 29.
   Oil fell $6.86 during Wednesday and Thursday after an unexpected increase in PER CENT crude and gasoline supplies triggered doubts about consumer spending and the strength of the economic recovery.
    ‘People have been too optimistic about the economy,’ said Clarence Chu, a trader at market maker Hudson Capital Energy in Singapore. ‘The PER CENT and Europe are still losing jobs every month.’
   Crude has traded between $65 and $75 for months, a period of stability after prices soared to $147 in July 2008 before crashing to $32 in December.
    ‘If next week’s inventory number shows another build, we could break below $65,’ Chu said. ‘Until that happens, I still think we’re range bound.’
   In other Nymex trading, gasoline for October delivery was steady at $1.64 a gallon, and heating oil held at $1.69 a gallon. Natural gas was up 2.5 cents to $3.98 per 1,000 cubic feet.
   In London, Brent crude rose 56 cents to $65.41 on the ICE Futures exchange.

The yen climbed against the dollar and the euro on Friday after Japan’s new finance minister said at Group of 20 talks that Tokyo did not intend to intervene to weaken the Japanese currency.
   The dollar fell to 90.56 yen in London morning trade from 91.26 in New York late Thursday.
   The euro rose meanwhile to 1.4691 dollars from 1.4654 dollars.
   ‘Investors are monitoring remarks made by key financial figures of the new government led by the Democratic Party of Japan,’ said Masaki Fukui, senior market economist at Mizuho Corporate Bank’s forex division.
   Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii told US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Pittsburgh that Japan would stay away from an ‘intentional’ currency policy that would lead to a weaker yen.
   Fujii, who took office last week after his centre-left party’s election win, has said that in principle he does not support market intervention to achieve a weaker yen, which is good for exporters but makes imports more expensive.
   Selling by Japanese exporters repatriating their overseas earnings also pushed down the dollar against the yen, dealers said.
   Geithner for his part reaffirmed Washington’s support for a strong currency, saying: ‘A strong dollar is very important to the United States.’
   The G20 leaders were set to say that economic stimulus measures to cope with the global financial crisis should be maintained ‘until a durable recovery is secured,’ according to a draft of their joint statement.
    ‘The G20 draft communique does not appear to hold many surprises to rattle the markets,’ said Calyon analyst Stuart Bennett.
    ‘In line with cautious comments that have flowed from policymakers prior to the meeting, the Group appear to have agreed to avoid a premature withdrawal of stimulus measures.
    ‘This approach underlines the fact that despite the pick-up in activity, the global recovery remains vulnerable.’
   Bennett added that the safe-haven dollar should win some support as many investors become less willing to take risks amid an unconvincing performance on global stock markets.
   In London on Friday, the euro was changing hands at 1.4691 dollars against 1.4654 dollars late on Thursday, at 133.03 yen (133.75), 0.9162 pounds (0.9127) and 1.5115 Swiss francs (1.5097).

Asian shares fell on Friday as dealers looked to weak data from the United States that suggests a recovery in the world’s biggest economy may not be as strong as previously thought.
   Tokyo led the way down, diving 2.64 per cent, after bucking the trend on Thursday as dealers returned from a three-day break.
   Hong Kong lost 0.13 per cent and Shanghai 0.52 per cent.
   Seoul lost 0.14 per cent but Sydney rose 0.26 per cent.
   Dealers were worried about the pace of recovery in the US after data Thursday showed existing home sales fell 2.7 per cent in August to 5.10 million units from the previous month.
   In the past four months, sales had risen a total of 15.2 per cent. The news knocked Wall Street 0.42 per cent lower.
   The Nikkei-225 index dropped 278.24 points to 10,265.98.
   The Hang Seng Index lost 26.33 points at 21,024.40.
   The 30-share Sensex index fell 88.43 points to 16,693.