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ECONOMY & BUSINESS BANGLADESHTODAY 10 THE SUnDAy, OCTOBER 14, 2018 China's foreign trade maintains steady growth in first 9 months: Economic Watch Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sarah Resort, operated by Fortis Group. All Standard Chartered Bank credit and debit cardholders will now enjoy up to 25% discount on published room rates at the resort. Mahiul Islam, Head Retail Products & Segments, Standard Chartered Bank, Razimul Haque Razim, Director Rewards & Alliances, Standard Chartered Bank, Emdadul Haque, General Manager, Sarah Resort along with other senior officials from both organizations were present at the signing ceremony held at Standard Chartered Bank head office recently. Photo: Courtesy Samsung Galaxy A7 in the country: Pre-order starts Samsung Mobile Bangladesh announced the pre-order of its latest device Galaxy A7 exclusively through Pickaboo.com, a press release said Galaxy A7 is continuation of the premium build quality of Galaxy A series, which is synonymous with sleek design, superior camera and high performance. The phone has triple rear camera capable of shooting ultra-wide-angle photos with live focus, scene optimizer, and pro lighting options. The 24 megapixels camera has 1.7 aperture with pixel merging sensor which can detect varying lights and takes stunning shots in any lighting condition. Galaxy A7 squeezes a 6.0-inch FHD+ and Super AMOLED display into a sleek body made of metal frame with glass back. It is powered by an Octa-core processor coupled with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB internal storage which is expandable up to 512 GB through a microSD card. Customers can pre-order the device from China's foreign trade remained stable in the first nine months with improved trade structure, customs data showed on Friday, reports BSS. Foreign trade rose 9.9 percent year on year to 22.28 trillion yuan (about 3.23 trillion U.S. dollars) during January- September, according to the General Administration of Customs (GAC). Exports increased 6.5 percent in the period to 11.86 trillion yuan while imports grew 14.1 percent to 10.42 trillion yuan, resulting in a trade surplus of 1.44 trillion yuan, which narrowed by 28.3 percent. By and large, China's foreign trade growth in 2018 remained steady with progress witnessed, and the country has been advancing the high-quality Belarus receives 200m USD loan from EFSD Belarus received 200 million U.S. dollars as the sixth tranche of the loan from the Eurasian Fund for Stabilization and Development (EFSD), Belarusian Foreign Ministry said on Friday, reports BSS. The Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) that manages the funds of the EFSD transferred the 200 million dollars loan to Belarus, the ministry said. Taking into account the previous tranches, Belarus received 1.8 billion out of the 2 billion dollars loan to support domestic reforms. Belarus signed an agreement for 2 billion dollars loan from the EFSD in March 2016. The loan must be granted in seven tranches during the 2016-2018 period. The EFSD, instituted by the governments of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia, is tasked with providing assistance for the member states in overcoming consequences of the global financial crisis, ensuring their economic and financial stability, and supporting the integration process in the region. The EDB is an international financial institution established in 2006. It now has six member states, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. development of its foreign trade, Li Kuiwen, spokesperson for the GAC,told a press conference. In the first nine months, exports and imports of products under the general trade category, which are differentiated from processing trade, gained 13.5 percent from a year ago to 13.02 trillion yuan, accounting for 58.4 percent of the total foreign trade, 1.9 percentage points higher than the same period in 2017. The country's trade with major trading partners saw an increase during the January-September period. Trade with the European Union, its largest trading partner, climbed 7.3 percent, and trade volume with the U.S. and ASEAN countries increased by 6.5 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively. Export of electric-mechanical products increased by 7.8 percent to 6.91 trillion yuan, taking up 58.3 percent of China's total export value. China has taken measures to readjust its export structure, with exports of automobiles and machine tools expanding 16.3 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively. In the January-September period, China imported 336 million tonnes of crude oil, 64.78 million tonnes of natural gas and 24.59 million tonnes of refined oil. Imports of iron ore and soybean dropped by 1.6 percent and 2 percent to 803 million tonnes and 70.01 million tonnes, respectively, during the same period. Despite in downward trend, Italy's shadow economy still 12.4 pct of GDP: ISTAT Underground economic activities in Italy were worth some 210 billion euros (242.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported on Friday, reports BSS. The figure marked a limited increase in terms of absolute numbers, compared to 207.3 billion euros estimated in 2015. Yet, it showed a decrease in terms of incidence of underground economy on the country's gross domestic product (GDP), which was estimated at 12.4 percent in 2016 against 12.6 percent in the previous year. According to the agency, the main reason was that "non-observed economy grew at a slower pace (1.2 percent) than the productive system as a whole (2.3 percent)." "The estimates for 2016 confirm a downward trend in the incidence of non-observed component of the economy on GDP, after the 2014 peak," ISTAT highlighted in its report. In fact, the drop of 0.2 percentage point (in incidence on GDP) in 2016 followed a decrease of 0.5 points recorded in 2015. The country started benefitting from such positive, although moderate, trend after three years of steady growth of underground activities registered from 2012 to 2014. In 2014, the estimated incidence of such activities on GDP was 13.4 percent. Overall, the shadow economy is considered as the sum of unreported income, off-the-books employment, and other business activities (for example, undeclared rents), plus illegal activities such as drug trafficking, prostitution, and tobacco smuggling, ISTAT explained. The first three kind of underground activities generated a value added worth some 192 billion euros in 2016, while illegal activities produced almost 18 billion euros. Undeclared income made up 45.5 percent of the whole (some 95.3 billion on total 210 billion), according to ISTAT. Chinese investors laud Bangladesh's stable environment They want to invest more in Bangladesh in coming years Quarterly Business Conference of Dhaka & Rajshahi Zone of First Security Islami Bank Limited held on October recently at Amari Dhaka Hotel. The Conference was presided over by Syed Waseque Md. Ali, Managing Director, First Security Islami Bank Limited. Among others, Mr. Abdul Aziz, Additional Managing Director, Md. Mustafa Khair, Deputy Managing Director, Divisional Heads, Branch Managers of Dhaka & Rajshahi Zones attended the Conference. The conference reviewed the operational performance of individual branches for the period of July-September 2018 and set various targets for next periods of the year 2018. Photo: Courtesy Russian PM backs switching to national currencies in settlements between SCO countries Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has spoken in favor of switching to national currencies in settlements between the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), reports BSS. "In particular you mentioned the need to switch to mutual settlements in national currencies. We support this idea," he said at a meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the SCO countries. But he noted that "it is necessary to act carefully," by reducing external markets. "The external conditions we are working are still difficult and can hardly be called comfortable. The system of strategic stability faces serious challenges. To maintain their dominant positions, some states use unfair competition, introducing protectionist measures, illegal unilateral sanctions," the Russian Prime Minister said. Medvedev also noted that such attacks are mainly directed against Russia, China as key members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, as well as Iran, which is a partner of the SCO. The Declaration on the Establishment of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization was inked in China's Shanghai in June 2001 by six founding states - Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. On June 9, 2017 India and Pakistan became full-fledged members of the SCO. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia currently enjoy observer status while Sri Lanka, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Cambodia and Nepal are dialogue partners. GE pushes back Q3 earnings release to October 30 General Electric, the once-mighty conglomerate which weeks ago announced a new chief executive in a move meant to stem a two-year decline, has said it will move the date of its third-quarter earnings release to October 30, reports BSS. The company postponed the release by a week "to allow GE Chairman and CEO Larry Culp to complete initial business reviews and site visits following his appointment on October 1," it said in a statement. "The company will discuss the results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2018. Culp will share his initial observations, with more detail expected in early 2019." H. Lawrence "Larry" Culp, 55, is GE's third CEO in 14 months following the ouster of John Flannery. In announcing Culp's rise, the company, which was bumped from the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average in June, cited his history as chief executive of the industrial and healthcare conglomerate Danaher, where GE said he presided over a quintupling of market capitalization. Culp was named to the GE board earlier this year. GE's other bombshell was that it planned to write down effectively up to $23 billion in value from its troubled power business, the prime catalyst of its nosedive in stock market valuation. Chinese investors at a seminar in Beijing greatly acclaimed the stable environment of Bangladesh which, they said, has made the country a very attractive destination for investment, reports UNB. While speaking high of the supportive measures of the government of Bangladesh, the Chinese businessmen assured of increased investment in Bangladesh in the coming years. The Chinese entrepreneurs made the comments at a seminar arranged by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Beijing recently in celebration of the 4th Development Fair 2018, said the Embassy on Saturday. Representing the country's indomitable progress and resolute spirit of its people, the event started with a 'development rally.' Embassy officials along with expatiate Bangladeshis, students, local Chinese, local media and press personnel whole-heartedly joined the rally in the morning. Paying rich tribute to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the freedom fighters, Bangladesh Ambassador to China M Fazlul Karim projected the remarkable journey of Bangladesh. He explained how from a warravaged devastated country, Bangladesh emerged as a global role model of development. The Ambassador mentioned that this was only possible because of the practical, effective and timely initiatives taken by the government. He presented an elaborate account of the ground-breaking achievements of Bangladesh in different socio-economic sectors from women empowerment, female education, healthcare to infrastructure development in the past few years. He thanked the Chinese government for partnering with Bangladesh in its development endeavours. The envoy also highlighted the positive investment environment prevailing in Bangladesh and encouraged Chinese investors to invest more in the country. A good number of Chinese business leaders and entrepreneurs participated at the fair and some of them spoke at the seminar describing their experience in Bangladesh. The Chinese entrepreneurs highly lauded Bangladesh's recent achievements and said they witnessed Bangladesh's progress with admiration. Some investors, who have already made their marks in Bangladesh, enthusiastically shared their experiences with the audience. The seminar was followed by a culinary event, Pitha and Mishtanno Utshob, which was another point of attraction of the fair. It was an effort to showcase Bangladeshi culture and food which is gradually gaining popularity in China. An important feature of the fair was a display corner of Bangladesh's exportables, like jute bag, handicrafts, ceramics, brass products, Sharis etc. A two-day international education fair titled 'Premier Bank International Education Expo - 2018' begins on Saturday at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, organized by Association of Foreign Admission and Career Development Consultants (FACD-CAB). Md. Tazul Islam (M.P), Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee of Power Energy & Mineral Resources Ministry graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Managing Director & CEO of the Premier Bank Limited M. Reazul Karim, (FCMA) was present at the inaugural ceremony as special guest along with the presence of Mohammad Shamim Murshed, Head of Retail Banking, the Premier Bank Limited; Md. Tareq Uddin, Head of Brand Marketing & PR, the Premier Bank Limited; Md. Mustafizur Rahman, President, (FACD-CAB); Monirul Haque, Member Secretary, (FACD-CAB). Photo: Courtesy
MISCELLANEOUS SUnDAY, OcTOber 14, 201811 Turkish court convicts US pastor of terror yet frees him A Turkish court on Friday convicted an American pastor of terror links but released him from house arrest and allowed him to leave the country, a move that's likely to ease tensions between Turkey and the United States. The court near the western city of Izmir sentenced North Carolina native Andrew Brunson to three years, one month and 15 days in prison for allegedly helping terror groups. But since the 50-year-old evangelical pastor had already spent nearly two years in detention, Turkish law allowed him to remain free with time served. An earlier charge of espionage against him was dropped. Brunson, a native of North Carolina whose detention had sparked a diplomatic dispute between the two NATO allies, had rejected the espionage and terror-related charges and strongly maintained his innocence. The 50-year-old had faced up to 35 years in jail if convicted of all the charges. With tears in his eyes, he hugged his wife Norine Lyn as he awaited the decision Friday. After the verdict, President Donald J. Trump tweeted he was praying for Brunson, saying he "WILL BE HOME SOON!" Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt said Brunson was expected to leave Turkey for the U.S., but it was not clear when. His lawyer said the electronic ankle bracelet monitoring his house arrest was removed. Brunson went back to his home in Izmir after the court proceeding. Washington had repeatedly called for Brunson's release and in August had slapped sanctions on Turkey. But a top Turkish official criticized Trump's tweets claiming that he was "working hard" to get the pastor's release. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's communications director, Fahrettin Altun, repeated the president's stance that Turkey would not bow to threats of sanctions and said the court's ruling Friday proved the judiciary's independence. Brunson, who has lived in Turkey for more than two decades, was one of thousands caught up in a widespread Turkish government crackdown that followed a failed coup against the government in July 2016. He was accused of committing crimes on behalf of terror groups and of alleged links to outlawed Kurdish militants and to a network led by a U.S.-based Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey claims orchestrated the coup attempt. Gulen denies the claims. "I am an innocent man. I love Jesus. I love Turkey," Brunson told the court Friday, speaking in Turkish. Earlier, the court called two witnesses following tips from witness Levent Kalkan, who at a previous hearing had accused Brunson of aiding terror groups. The new witnesses did not confirm Kalkan's accusations. Another witness for the prosecution said she did not know Brunson. The pastor, who is originally from Black Mountain, North Carolina, led a small congregation in the Izmir Resurrection Church. He was imprisoned for nearly two years - detained in October 2016 and formally arrested in December that year - before being placed under house arrest on July 25 for health reasons. Tony Perkins, the commissioner for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said he welcomed the court's decision Friday along with "the millions of Americans who have been praying for Pastor Brunson's release." Members of the Christ Community Church in Montreat, North Carolina, were overjoyed at Brunson's release. Spokeswoman Debi Forester said the church's Rev. Richard White has been with the Brunson family in Turkey for a day or two and the U.S. Consulate is handling Brunson's travel arrangements to return to the United States. She quotes White as saying the group is "all just shouting 'Hallelujah!' and doing the happy dance." She says the church will have a welcome home party for Brunson sometime. Washington had imposed sanctions on two Turkish officials and doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports in August to push its demands for the pastor's release. Erdogan had resisted that U.S. demands, insisting that Turkish courts are independent. But he had previously undermined that stance, suggesting a possible swap of Brunson for Gulen. Turkey has demanded Gulen's extradition but so far U.S. officials say Turkey has not provided sufficient reason for U.S. officials to extradite the cleric. Brunson's trial came as another major diplomatic case is developing in Turkey involving Saudi writer and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi, who disappeared at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last week. Turkish officials claim the writer may have been killed inside the Saudi diplomatic mission and Turkish newspapers have released pictures of alleged Saudi agents flown in to allegedly handle the killing. Saudi officials reject the claim as "baseless." Voting opens in Malaysia by-election for PM-in-waiting Anwar Voting opened Saturday in a byelection that is expected to see charismatic Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim win a parliamentary seat and return to active politics as he prepare for his eventual takeover from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Anwar was designated the successor to Mahathir, his former foe turned ally, after they set aside a bitter political feud and joined hands to win a stunning victory in May's general elections. Anwar couldn't participate in the polls due to a 2015 conviction for sodomy - a charge he alleged was politically motivated - but he was freed after receiving a royal pardon days after the polls. Thousands of voters flocked to polling stations in the southern coastal town of Port Dickson, where Anwar is vying for a seat along with six other candidates. He is expected to easily win. Two weeks of campaigning has seen bigwigs rallying for Anwar, including Mahathir and several ministers. The Election Commission said it expects a 70 percent turnout from more than 75,000 voters in Port Dickson, a popular holiday retreat, and will announce results Saturday night. Anwar was once a high-flying member of the former ruling coalition but was convicted of homosexual sodomy and corruption after a power struggle in 1998 with Mahathir, who was prime minister for 22 years until 2003. Anwar was freed in 2004 and in 2015 was convicted again of sodomy - charges he said were concocted to destroy his political career. Angered by a monumental graft scandal at a state investment fund, Mahathir made a political comeback and the two forged a new opposition alliance in a gamble that paid off. Mahathir, who is the world's oldest leader at 93, has said he expects to be in office for at least two years and will keep his promise to hand over power to Anwar. Mahathir rooted for his successor at a rally Monday night in Port Dickson, urging voters to support their alliance to fix Malaysia's fiscal woes due to corruption by the previous government. It was the first time that the two men shared the same political stage together in 20 years. Anwar, in speeches ending his campaign Friday, promised he won't interfere in Mahathir's governance and will focus on parliamentary reforms. "There will be lots of attention to (his margin of victory) but that is making a story about something that is not really important. The bottom line is that he will win and attention should focus on what he will do in parliament and his relationship with those in government," said Bridget Welsh, political science lecturer at the John Cabot University in Rome. Washington Post: Turkey has proof Saudi writer was killed Turkey's government has told U.S. officials it has audio and video proof that missing Saudi Arabian writer Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the Washington Post reported Friday. The newspaper, for which Khashoggi is a columnist, cited anonymous officials as saying the recordings show a Saudi security team detained the writer when he went to the consulate on Oct. 2 to pick up a document for his upcoming wedding. The Associated Press was not immediately able to confirm the report and Turkish officials would not comment. Meanwhile, a delegation from Saudi Arabia arrived in Turkey on Friday as part of an investigation into the writer's disappearance, a Foreign Ministry official said. Saudi Arabia has called the allegation it abducted or harmed Khashoggi "baseless." However, it has offered no evidence to support its claim he left the consulate and vanished, despite his fiancee waiting outside. Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency said the delegation would hold talks with Turkish officials over the weekend. It did not provide further details. On Thursday, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Turkey and Saudi Arabia would form a "joint working group" to look into Khashoggi's disappearance. In a statement posted on Twitter, Saudi Arabia welcomed Turkey's approval of the joint working group. The Saudi statement said the kingdom is keen "to sustain the security and safety of its citizenry, wherever they might happen to be." Amid growing concern over Khashoggi's fate, French President Emmanuel Macron said country wanted to know "the whole truth" about the writer's disappearance, calling the early details about the case "very worrying." Macron said "I'm waiting for the truth and complete clarity to be made" since the matter is "very serious." He spoke Friday in Yerevan, Armenia, to French broadcasters RFI and France 24. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Berlin was also "very concerned" about the writer's disappearance and called on Saudi Arabia to "participate fully" in clearing up reports that he may have been killed. The fiancee of the missing Saudi journalist on Friday urged U.S. President Donald Trump to use his clout to find out what happened to her partner. Following a Turkish court's decision to free American evangelical pastor, Trump tweeted: "Working very hard on Pastor (Andrew) Brunson!" That prompted Hatice Cengiz to ask about her missing fiancee. "What about Jamal Khashoggi?" she tweeted. Trump on Thursday said U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia were "excellent" and that he doesn't want to scuttle highly lucrative arms deals with Riyadh. Global business leaders, however, began reassessing their ties with Saudi Arabia, stoking pressure on the Gulf kingdom to explain what happened to Khashoggi. British billionaire Richard Branson on Friday suspended business links with Saudi Arabia, and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said he might not attend a major investment conference in the country this month. Khashoggi, a 59-year-old journalist who was considered close to the Saudi royal family, had become a critic of the current government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the 33-year-old heir apparent who has introduced reforms but has shown little tolerance for criticism. Khashoggi had been living in self-imposed exile in the United States since last year. As a contributor to the Washington Post, he has written extensively about Saudi Arabia, including criticism of its war in Yemen, its recent diplomatic spat with Canada and its arrest of women's rights activists after the lifting of a ban on women driving. Those policies are all seen as initiatives of the crown prince, who has also presided over a roundup of activists and businessmen. Activists criticize Hong Kong's ban of legislative candidate Activists are protesting Hong Kong's disqualification of a legislative candidate on the grounds that she advocated self-determination for the Chinese territory. Lau Siu-lai, who was stripped of her seat in the Hong Kong legislature last year, was barred by the government on Friday from running in a Nov. 25 election. Hong Kong authorities are trying to quash proindependence voices ahead of the election. Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials have warned separatist activity will not be tolerated. The pro-independence Hong Kong National Party was banned in September by authorities who invoked a 1997 national security law for the first time. Pro-democracy activists complain Beijing interferes in Hong Kong's affairs in violation of its promise of a "high degree of autonomy" when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Some have called for more autonomy or outright independence for this prosperous business center of 7.5 million people. Authorities said Lau's statements in 2016 in support of selfdetermination were illegal. Lau dropped that call from her election platform, but the Election Affairs Commission said her views hadn't really changed. The decision "amounts to the political screening of candidates Beijing does not like,". GD-1263/18 (5 x 4) CCC/PRD-299/18 GD-1264/18 (8 x 4) GD-1265/18 (6 x 4)
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Page 9: SPORTS 9 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2018 S

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