The New Nation - Internet Edition

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh will receive around 1.2 lakh metric tons of rice worth US$ 50 million for flood victims under an order given by Saudi King Abdullah while the country was awash.

A Saudi delegation led by Mohammad Bin Abdur Rahman Al-Muqalib, Director General of Public Expenditure under their Finance Ministry, today (Monday) held a meeting with Foreign Secretary Touhid Hossain discussing the procurement and distribution of the rice.

The Saudi government has already provided 60,000 metric tons of rice, which will be distributed in 41 flood-affected districts during November and December.

The distribution starts tomorrow (Tuesday) and is expected to supplement government efforts for activating various food-distribution schemes in the wake of price hike.

Touhid told reporters that 60,000 metric tons of rice would be distributed among 21 lakh families in the flood-hit districts.

"The Saudi King pledged US$ 50 million, the highest donation from any single country for this year's flood victims. Bangladesh decided to receive rice worth the amount," he said.

Discussions are on regarding supply of another 60,000 metric tons of rice from the Saudi government.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia had dispatched five cargo planes carrying 7000 cartoons of foodstuff, 10,000 pieces of blankets, 10,000 pieces of general bed sheets, 9,852 pieces of carpet-type bed sheets, 15,456 pieces of tents, 2036 cartoons of medicine and 5,700 tons of powdered milk.

GrameenPhone Ltd. recently signed an agreement with the Shams Group to provide complete communication facilities under its Business Solutions package.

GP Business Solutions is an integrated telecommunications service specially designed for the business entities of Bangladesh, providing customized telecommunications solutions through a consultative approach, tailored to the needs of individual businesses.

Shams Group is a diversified Group of Companies established in 1979 in Dhaka by a group of highly qualified, experienced and motivated entrepreneurs and professionals. Shams Group has an annual turnover of Tk.1500 million and employees about 5,000 people. The Group is one of the largest and fast expanding business houses in the country. To keep pace with the technological advancements in the field of industrial development of the world, the Group is upgrading all its units with modern process equipments, scientific management techniques and modern communication systems.

GP Business Solutions, comprising of modern mobile telecommunications services for any business needs, provides voice, text messaging and mobile data and internet services. Also on offer is a complete Mobile-Office solution, including mobile email, mobile high-speed data access, internet access, mobile fax and more, providing the freedom to work from anywhere within Grameenphone's wide network coverage,

According to the agreement, Shams Group is being provided complete communications solutions tailored to its needs, including voice, data and other services. Shams Group will use the services to further improve communication amongst its different businesses, at an affordable cost.

The agreement was signed by Md. Muhammad Shams-ul Haque Chairman of Shams Group and Khandaker Omar Farhan, Deputy General Manager, Commercial Division of Grameenphone, on behalf of their respective organizations.

Muhammad Shams-uz Zoha, Director, Faizur Rahman Chaudhury, Executive Director, Muhammad Shams-ul Kadir, Director, A.K.M. Shajahan, Managing Directior, Omar Sharif, Consultant, Abdullah Wazed, Manager, Public Relations, of Shams Group, and Md. Imtiaz Hossain, Account Manager, Business Sales, Md. Rajib Khan, Account Manager, Business Sales and Bahauddin Arafat, Relationship Manager of Grameenphone, were present at the signing ceremony.

Xinhua, Hanoi

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has pledged to loan Vietnam nearly 1.1 billion U.S. dollars for the construction of the first phase of the Noi Bai-Lao Cai expressway, local newspaper Vietnam News reported today.

ADB's Ordinary Capital Resources will provide 896 million dollars, while the other 200 million dollars will come from the bank's concessional Asian Development Fund. The total amount needed for the first phase of the project is estimated to be over 1.2 billion dollars, and the remaining 120 million dollars will be met by a bond issuance.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung recently asked the State Bank of Vietnam to complete all related documents to prompt negotiation and signing a credit agreement with ADB.

The expressway will link Hanoi with the northern Lao Cai province bordering with China's Yunnan province, joining China's Kunming-Hekou Highway at Quang Kim commune, Bat Xat district in Lao Cai.

Md. Yeasin Ali, Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited opened the bank's 42nd branch at 128, Jubilee Road (Kader Tower), Chittagong on November 4 with Truly On-line Banking facilities. Additional Managing Director of the bank. AHM Nazmul Quadir was present at that time. The ATM Booth will facilitate round-the-clock banking services to the customers-like cash withdrawal, balance enquiry, mini-statement and payments of utility bills, etc.

The opening ceremony started with a doa-mahfil seeking blessings of the Almighty Allah for successful operation of the branch, prosperity of the business community. The distinguished guests attending the inaugural ceremony opined that Dutch-Bangia Bank is not only rendering present-day customer needs banking services but also the bank spends a significant portion of its profit to discharge corporate social responsibility.

Md. Yeasin Ali, Managing Director of the said that DBBL is the first and only bank in Bangladesh which invested Tk. 100.00 crore (one hundred crore) in banking automation services. He called upon the local people and business community to avail the opportunities of this big investment by maintaining a bank account with DBBL.

Business personalities, industrialists, journalists and valued guests were present at the inaugural ceremony. The respected guests, residents of the locality and owners of business houses/shops showed their spontaneous enthusiasm by opening accounts with the bank.

Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology (AUST) organised a Fresher's Reception on Monday on its new campus at Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka.

Professor Nazrul. Islam, Chairman, University Grants Commission was the chief guest awhile Professor Dr. A.M.M Safiullah, Vice-Chancellor, BUET was present as special guest. Professor Dr. M Anwar Hossain, Vice Chancellor of AUST presided over the reception ceremony.

Dr. M. Shahabuddin, Director, Student Welfare delivered the address of welcome while Professor Dr. M.A. Muktadir, Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Professor Dr. S.M. Kabir, Dean of Business and Social Science, Professor Dr. A.M. Shadullah, Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Professor Dr. Kazi Shariful Alam, Treasurer of AUST spoke on the occasion. A cultural function was arranged in this connection.

A team of ENT surgeons at Apollo Hospitals Dhaka led by Dr. Bharat Bhushan Gupta and Dr. Sanjeev Gupta performed ENT surgeries with a newly acquired C02 LASER.

A C02 Laser is for all common ENT procedures and surgeries of the ear, nose, throat and larynx. It is used to remove tumor of face, head, neck and vascular lesions with definite advantages over other conventional instrumentation. With Laser surgery it is possible to reach areas which are inaccessible without major surgical exposure by conventional method. The recovery time in C02 LASER surgery is shorter and morbidity is minimal.

The use of a C02 LASER has made vascular tumour surgeries possible with minimal blood loss. It is ideal for benign and malignant lesions on vocal cord as it causes minimal damage and scarring. Hence, the chance of normal voice preservation is maximised.

C02 LASER is also more effective for cancer treatment as collateral chasing makes tumor clearance more complete. For recurrent radio-resistant tumors this is the only treatment available.

From now onwards, patients may avail of this facility here in Dhaka instead of going abroad to reduce total treatment cost.

Reuters, London

A Qatari fund has dropped plans for a 10.6 billion pound ($22.1 billion) bid for Britain's J Sainsbury, blaming worsening credit markets and the cost of winning support from the firm's pension trustees.

The fund, Delta Two, owns a 25 percent stake in Britain's third-biggest supermarket group and said today it remained supportive of Sainsbury's operational strategy.

Delta Two's withdrawal marks the second failed bid for Sainsbury in less than seven months. Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners abandoned a takeover attempt in April, following opposition from the company's board and the Sainsbury family, which owns about 18 percent of the supermarket group. The Sainsbury board opened its books to Delta Two after it proposed a 600 pence-a-share cash offer, which was above CVC's proposal of 582 pence. However, the Sainsbury family remained lukewarm about selling out at that price.

"Since Delta Two's original proposal was submitted to the board of Sainsbury, the required funding and cost of capital has increased significantly, which has adversely affected the investment case," the Qatari fund said in a statement.

"This reflected a combination of factors including the deterioration of credit marketstand the arrangements for the future funding of the Sainsbury pension schemes necessary to gain the backing of the Sainsbury pension trustees."

Sainsbury said in a separate statement it had a strong future as an independent company and repeated that first-half results, due on Nov. 14, would show sales in line with analysts' expectations for the full year.

AFP, Singapore

Oil eased in Asian trade on Monday from closing record highs ahead of a crucial US-Turkey meeting aimed at resolving a crisis over Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, dealers said. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December delivery, was off 95 cents at 94.98 dollars a barrel from its closing record high of 95.93 in US trade Friday. Brent North Sea crude for December delivery dropped 59 cents to 91.49 dollars. "Today we will continue to see a decline when New York opens later," said Steve Rowles, an analyst with CFC Seymour in Hong Kong. "The fact that we have the Kurdish talks today is a major eventt it's a good time to take profit," he said, referring to the meeting between the US and Turkish leaders later Monday.

Tensions between Turkey and Kurdish rebels were a major driver behind the spike in oil prices as traders were concerned supplies from the oil-rich Middle East will be disrupted if the crisis spills over into the region. Turkey has massed an estimated 100,000 troops along the border and threatened a large-scale incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, site of several Iraqi oil fields.

Analysts say oil prices remain under pressure to rise further.

"The emerging political crisis in Pakistan, where President (Pervez) Musharraf has declared emergency rule, may add to oil market concerns about instability in the Middle East," the Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note.

"As well, some weather forecasters were expecting colder weather in the US North-East in the coming week, which might add to the demand for heating oil," it said.

Khondker Fazle Rashid has been appointed. Managing Director of the Premier Bank Limited. He was the Additional Managing Director at the same bank before taking over charge of Managing Director. Prior to joining the Premier Bank, he, served Dhaka Bank Limited as Deputy Managing Director during the period from June 2003- September, 2007.

Mr. Rashid, an MBA from IBA, Dhaka University started his banking career in Sonali Bank as Probationary Officer (NG -V) in 1978. He joined Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd. and worked during the period 1982-1999 and lastly as Senior Vice President and Manager at its Mumbai Branch. He also worked as Senior Executive Vice President and Head of Credit Division of Southeast Bank Limited Bank during the period 2000-2003.