market Disclosures

Salvo Chemical Industry

The company will be placed in 'B' category from existing 'N' category with effect from today as the company reported disbursement of 5 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010.

BOC

Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date today for entitlement of interim dividend.

Navana CNG

Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from August 2 to 4. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on August 7.

Social Islami Bank

Ahmed Akbar Sobhan, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 1,45,000 shares out of his total holdings of 1,49,750 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Union Capital

MA Rashid, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 3,00,000 shares out of his total holdings of 37,03,999 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

RN Spinning Mills

Kim Jung Suk, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 20,00,000 shares (bonus shares) out of his total holdings of 3,51,23,173 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Stylecraft

The board of directors has recommended 50 per cent cash dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2011. The AGM will be held on September 22 at 3:30pm at auditorium of the Bangladesh Institute of Administration and Management at New Eskaton in Dhaka. Record date will be on August 17.

MJL Bangladesh

The board of directors has recommended 15 per cent cash dividend and 15 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on December 31, 2010. The AGM will be held on September 21 at 10:30am at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka. Record date will be on August 14.

    Source: DSE

Source : New Age

S Korea inflation surges

South Korea's consumer prices surged in July and the trade surplus hit a record high, official figures showed Monday, putting pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates to curb inflation.

The consumer price index rose by 4.7 per cent in July from a year earlier, Statistics Korea said, compared to a 4.4 per cent rise in June.

July's rise was the fastest since March, and marked the seventh straight month that inflation remained above the bank's target range of 2-4 per cent.

The price index rose by 0.7 per cent in July from the previous month compared with a 0.2 per cent monthly rise in June.

Core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, rose 3.8 per cent in July from a year earlier, the highest figure since a 3.9 per cent rise in May 2009.

The government has shifted its economic priority from growth to price stability, but has been hampered by continuing high energy costs and the effects of recent heavy rainfall.

'Judging from the pace of price hikes in recent months, the BOK's inflation forecast of 4.0 per cent for this year no longer stands,' SK Securities economist Yum Sang-Hoon told Dow Jones Newswires.

Source : New Age

Beximco to raise $350m from foreign investors by issuing bonds

The local business group Beximco has decided to raise $350 million from foreign investors by issuing foreign currency convertible bonds to expand its textile business.

The company in a posting on the Dhaka Stock Exchange web site on Monday said that that the board of directors of Beximco approved issuance of the $350 million bonds and the coupon rate and conversion price would be fixed at the time of issue, subject to the approval of shareholders in an emergency general meeting, Board of Investment, Bangladesh Bank and SEC.

It said that the bonds would be converted into a maximum of 100 million ordinary shares. The company has appointed Jones Day and Ernst and Young to raise the funds.

'The funds so raised shall be utilised for meeting capital expenditure for expansion programmes, working capital and repayment of debts.'

Beximco Group vice-chairman Salman F Rahman told New Age on Monday that they would raise the funds from the foreign investors. 'We will use most of the funds for expansion of textiles and garments businesses,' he said.

Source : New Age

Minor boy electrocuted

A minor boy was electrocuted in Naljani area in Gazipur Sadar upazila on Monday.

The deceased was identified as Tulu, 09, son of Abdul Malek of village Mushtapi in Sadar upazila.

The victim's father Abdul Malek said that Tulu was electrocuted when he was going to switch off the electric pump.

Tulu was taken to Gazipur Sadar Hospital where on-duty doctor declared him dead.

Source : New Age

Robbers stab businessman

A businessman in the Sylhet city on Sunday afternoon filed a robbery case with the police after he was stabbed during a robbery incident on Saturday night.

The businessman, Ayub Ali, of Bharthakhola Sarani area, was robbed while he was returning home by a rickshaw at about 9:30pm on Railway Station Bypass Road at Dakkhin Surman after closing his automobile parts shop at Humayun Rashid Square in the city, confirmed the police.

The Kotwali police also said that the robbers snatched about Tk 16,000, a gold chain and a mobile in his possession and stabbed him.

He was admitted to a local private hospital at night with critical injuries, the police confirmed.

Kotwali police officer-in-charge Khairul Fazal said they were investigating the allegations of robbery.

Source : New Age

Schoolboy arrested over acid throwing

The police arrested a schoolboy on Sunday in Rajshahi city on charge of throwing acid at his female classmate on Saturday. The arrestee was identified as Sabbir Hossain, a class VIII student of a city school, son of Piar Ali at Masterpara in the city.

The police said that a schoolgirl suffered burn on her face after stalkers threw acid at her in Rajshahi city on Saturday morning.

The schoolgirl is now under going treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Father of the victim lodged a case with Boalia police station on Saturday morning in this connection. The father of the victim alleged that one month ago, Sabbir Hossain harassed her on her way to the school.

The police said that they had raided the house of Sabbir Hossain and arrested him as an accused of the case.

Boalia police station officer-in-charge, Shahadat Hossain, said that they were interrogating Sabbir to know who were involving with the incident of acid throwing.

He will be produced before the court after primary interrogation, OC added.

Victim's family said that at around 11:30am, two unidentified stalkers stopped the girl, a student of class VIII, on the third floor of the school, and threw acid at her when she was going to take exam.

The school's headmaster told New Age that they were looking into the matter. 'If the boy is found involved in the incident, he must be punished,' he added.

Source : New Age

Teesta erosion renders 300 families homeless in 2 days

At least 300 families at village Gobordhon of Mohishkhocha union at Aditmari upazila in Lalmonirhat have been rendered homeless during the last two days due to the devastating erosion by the River Teesta, according to the local and administration sources.

Many other families are leaving the village fearing further erosion of the Teesta swelling due to rainfall and gushing water from upstream.

 Hafizur Rahman, a resident of village Gobordhon, said that the erosion by the Teesta had taken a serious turn and eroded his house on Sunday.  He along with his four family members had taken shelter in relative's house in a neighbouring village, he said.

Some 300 families in this village had been rendered homeless in the last two days, he added.

'A vast portion of land with standing crops and homestead has been eroded forcing many to live under the open sky, said villager Azizul Islam.

The Mohishkhocha union parishad chairman, Mosaddek Hossain Chowdhury, said that more than 300 homesteads had been devoured by the River Teesta erosion at village Gobordhan Spar Colony in the last two days.

Some of the affected had taken shelter in houses of their relatives but most of them remained under the open sky, he added.

'I have already informed the situation to Aditmari upazila nirbahi officer, deputy commissioner of the district and the Bangladesh Water Development Board seeking their assistance,' Chowdhury said.

The Aditmari upazila nirbahi officer, Parvez Hasan, said that the higher authority had been informed the situation for taking necessary steps including relief.

The Lalmonirhat WDB executive engineer, Enayet Ullah, said that he had visited the area and sent a letter to higher authority seeking necessary fund for checking the Teesta's erosion at village Gobordhan Spar Colony.

Meanwhile, the flood situation in Lalmonirhat started improving with the Teesta receding below its flood level on Monday morning, the Lalmonirhat WDB sources said.

The flood hits people who took shelter on government roads, schools and college were returning to their respective homes, but people of some areas of village Gobordhan at Aditmari upazila, villages Goddimari and Sindurna of Hatibandha upazila and village Kalmati of Sadar upazila were still suffering, locals said.

Mohishkhocha UP chairman Mosaddek Hossain Chowdhury said that over a thousand families in shoals and low lying areas were living with the floods due to spill over of the Teesta.

Source : New Age

Third Pry Edn Dev Programme likely to get nod today

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in its first meeting of the current fiscal sits today to consider four development projects, including one for developing primary education.

The ECNEC chairperson and prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, will preside over the meeting to be held at the NEC conference room in city's Sher-e-Bangla Nagar area.

It is estimated that the third primary education development programme will cost Tk 2,2197 crore, to be implemented under the primary and mass education ministry, said sources at the planning ministry.

Of the total amount, Tk 18,809 crore has been earmarked from the government exchequer while Tk 3,388 crore will come in the form of project assistance.

Talking to the news agency, a planning ministry official said out of the project assistance part of Tk 3,388 crore, Tk 1,867 crore will come in the form of a loan from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

Besides, Tk 1,521 crore will come as grant from the EU, DFID, Swedish CIDA, Canadian CIDA, JICA, UNICEF and USAID.

The official said negotiations regarding the loan with the World Bank were completed on May 26, and with the Asian Development Bank on May 30.

Finalisation of the loan agreements is under process, added the official.

The proposed project is scheduled for July 2011 to June 2016 to be implemented across the country.

The third primary education development programme  is a follow up of the Second Primary Education Development Programme, which was completed in June 2011, also under the primary and mass education ministry.

The major objective of the project is to ensure enrolment of all eligible children in primary schools, their completion of five years' education, improving the qualitative standard of teaching at primary schools, ensuring supply of all education-related materials to primary school students as well as to impart training to the teachers, officials and employees to enhance their capacity.

The other projects to be considered in today's ECNEC meeting are Strengthening Governance Management Project (NBR Part, Component A: Online Filing and Digitization of Tax Returns, Component C: Establishment of Taxpayers Information and Service Centres to be implemented under the International Resources Division) at a cost of Tk 79 crore, city zones development project under the Local Government and Rural Division (Tk 1,305 crore) and solar power system irrigation pump and solar home system project (Tk 27 crore).

The ECNEC meeting will review the implementation progress of the ECNEC projects approved on May 4, 2010.

The meeting will also be apprised of the establishment of Habiganj Diabetic Hospital, construction of Bangladesh Mahila Samity Complex Building for underprivileged women in the society, survey project for developing small irrigation (3rd phase) and extension of rural electrification in Gopalganj.

Source : New Age

Nabiul Hasan passes away

Nabiul Hasan, member of the Bangladesh Photojour-nalists' Association and senior photojournalist of the Daily Sangram, died on Sunday. He was 46.

He had long been suffering from cancer and brain tumour.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

The association president, Shafi Uddin Bitu, and general secretary Mir Ahammad Miru in a message condoled the death of Nabiul Hasan. 

Source : New Age

Exemplary punishment of Nuha’s killers demanded

Lawyers, politicians and relatives on Monday demanded exemplary punishment of the killers of Nuha, a three-year-old girl who was shot dead by robbers on a highway near Cox's Bazar on July 2.

Nuha, a preschool student of an institution at Dhanmondi, was killed while she was traveling with her parents from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar.

During the trip, a gang of robbers stopped their car near Khutkhali in Cox's Bazar at night.

As the car tried to speed away, the robbers fired shots from behind, leaving Nuha dead in her father's lap.

Sammilita Nagarik Samaj formed the human chain in front of the National Press Club in the capital.

Nuha's father Zahirul Haq, mother Shamima Yasmin, Supreme Court advocates Sheikh Mohammad Rasel, Bulbul Abu Sayed, Shafique Mahmud, Swechchhasebak League member Maruf Hossain, National Public School and College principal Abu Jafar Mohammad Saleh were present at the human chain.

A murder case was filed in this connection with the Chakaria police.

Four accused were arrested after surrender on July 4.

More than 15 robbers were involved in the incident.

Source : New Age

President is in ‘good condition’

The president, Zillur Rahman, who was admitted to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital on Sunday, is in good spirit.

'The present health condition of the president is good. The physicians are carrying out the necessary medical tests,' a Bangabhaban official told the news agency on Monday afternoon.

Source : New Age

Land reforms essential for poor people’s food sovereignty

Economists and rights activists on Monday suggested land reforms for ensuring the food security of the poor farmers and marginal people of the country.

They made the suggestion at a roundtable on 'Food sovereignty of poor farmers and marginalized and their lack of access to land and natural resources', organized by the Association for Land Reform and Development at the YWCA's conference hall in Mohammadpur.

PKSF chairman Quazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, said that 'human dignity' should be ensured for all human beings and the right to resources should be ensured for all the people to bring about food sovereignty.

He observed that the 'opportunities' in the country had gone only to the people who have more resources and power.

Kholiquzzaman urged the implementation of the CHT accord to establish the indigenous people's rights to their traditional lands and resources.

The executive director of the Centre for Policy Dialogue, Mustafizur Rahman, urged the government to provide farmers with the necessary services and opportunities to grow, harvest and store their products, and also to ensure reasonable profits.

The senior research fellow of the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, Bimal Kumar Saha, urged the government to enact laws on land reform and land use to ensure the poor and marginal people's rights to land and food, and suggested that no individual should be permitted to own more than 7.5 acres of land, and the land belonging to absentee owners should be confiscated and distributed to the landless.

The executive director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, said the government should enact a law on the rights to forest in the light of Awami League's election manifesto to ensure the rights of the indigenous people to lands and forests.

Alleging that the government has failed to stop land-grabbing, she urged it to provide social safety net and legal protection for the marginal farmers.

Sanjib Drong of the Bangladesh Adivasi Forum urged the government to recognize the right of the indigenous people to their traditional lands.

The executive director of the INCIDIN, AKM Masud Ali, who presented a paper on 'Interpretation of the discourse on food sovereignty and people's access to productive resources', said that availability, proper distribution and purchasing power could ensure food for the poor, not availability alone.

Kirti Nasha Chakma of the ALRD, in her paper on 'Commercialization of land and land-grabbing: a study of state policy in Bangladesh', said that only 20 per cent of the country's population own 80 per cent of the total land, and pointed out that the land distribution pattern was extremely inequitable.

She suggested enforcement of the existing laws, especially the land use policy, reviewing the existing laws and policies in this connection, recognition of the customary land rights of the indigenous people, taking appropriate measures to ensure the women's land rights and ownership and expansion of the safety net programmes.

The roundtable, chaired by ALRD's executive director Shamsul Huda, was also addressed by Jatiya Krishok Samity's leader Nur Ahmed Bokul and Hunger-Free World's country director Ataur Rahman Miton, along with others.

Source : New Age

EC invites BNP to dialogue over phone

The Election Commission has communicated with the opposition BNP over telephone, inviting it to sit in the EC's ongoing dialogue, the election commissioner, M Sakhawat Hossain, said Monday.

Talking to reporters at the EC secretariat, he informed that he had talked to the BNP acting secretary general, Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, over telephone last week. 'There was a cordial conversation with the BNP leader.'

The Election Commissioner also said the BNP had shown positive attitude about joining the EC's dialogue.

As the EC fixed August 7 to sit in dialogue with the ruling Awami League, so the BNP can sit with the commission at any time before or after the date, Sakhawat said.

About submission of the audit report of the registered political parties, he said the Election Commission would serve show-cause notices to the political parties that defaulted on submitting annual audit reports Sunday, the deadline for submitting the report.

The EC in its next meeting will review the reports of the parties submitted

to the commission, he added.

Of the 38 registered political parties, the ruling Awami League, the Jatiya Party (Ershad) and 19 other parties have submitted their annual audit report to the Election Commission within the deadline that expired Sunday.

The BNP and 9 other parties have sought extensions for submission of their audit reports while 7 parties have neither submitted statements nor applied for time.

Source : New Age