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Topics - rakz

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1
Common Forum / :: . Happy Holidays . ::
« on: December 25, 2009, 07:08:17 PM »
We pray for a prosperous and happy 2010!! May Almighty give peace on earth, where there will be no sufferings, war, crimes, and poverty! Let everyone have a peaceful place to sleep at nights and have something to do during the days and raise their families in harmony!!! Help have-nots and share whatever you can. Let's work for a Better Tomorrow!!!

Have a wonderful Holidays and a Happy & Prosperous New Year!!!

2
First of all we would love to speak about our profile pictures. What they mean? They are what we are. They reflect us. What we put there are the reflections of our hearts. People are narcissus. We love our profile pictures. Therefore, when we put the flag on our profile picture then we mean we have got our country in our heart and it is sometime very important to show what we have got in our heart. We love our country and we are proud of this country. Our country has got a lot of problems but as long as we love it we have the options to change those problems into opportunity. The first step is here. We love our country and we are going to put the flag in our profile picture to show that we are also proud of our country

Secondly, when one person shows love for something that might not be important to others but when millions of people show love for something then it brings in energy. We do not exactly know how many users of Facebook are Bangladeshi but whatever the number, We believe, that is a large one. If all of us use our flag in our profile pictures then what will happen? More than 350 Millions of people are connected in Facebook around the world and I believe through this small step they will know our flag and they will know our country. This will someday brings in the result that no Bangladeshi has to introduce Bangladesh by saying that it is a country beside India. People will start knowing about us. Moreover, this trend will touch the other nationals to do the same. Hence, the world of Facebook will be colorful with the colors of national flags tinged with the love of people.

We believe, we the people of this country can do anything if we do it passionately even if it goes against all logics and our people have proved it during 1971. Putting the flag might be a single step which starts from Facebook, but we must admit, this is JUST A CLICK FOR THE USER BUT A GIANT CLICK FOR THE NATION.

To make the event successful, we can request at least 07 of our friends to do this along with requesting 07 of their own friends. This will exponentially increase the number of participant in this event within next 07 days and the world will find a PATRIOTIC NATION through its PATRIOTIC PEOPLE.

3
Common Forum / ::.Glorious Victory Day Today.::
« on: December 16, 2009, 12:22:01 PM »
"Ami Kimbodontir Kotha Bolchi; Ami Amar Purbo Purusher Kotha Bolchi"

With due respect and honor the nation observes its 38th anniversary of Victory Day today. Thirty nine years ago after a long 9 month war of independence, today, the Pakistani army with its 92,000 strong forces unconditionally surrendered to the Joint Command at the Dhaka Race Course.

Victory did not come at ease; it took 3 million innocent lives during this war. Without transferring the power to the democratically elected representatives Pakistani junta attacked unarmed civilians under the cover of night. Peace loving Bangalee did not sit idle; they took the arms to give a proper lesson to this
hyena junta and took oath for the ultimate independence of Bangladesh.

After a long war of 9 months the Mukti Joddahs were able to break the backbone of the most modern Pakistani army and made them dysfunctional and ultimately their rule collapsed and Banglaee got
their Independence.

The nation lost its 3 million courageous souls, who laid their lives for the safety net for all Bangalee - an Independent nation. Thousands of mothers, sisters lost everything but did not lose their pride. Let's salute these souls!

We salute our Mukti Joddahs and request you all to take a new oath to rebuild our nation. Let us forget and forgive our political differences and put our hands together for the nation building activities. This is the only way we can show proper respect for those departed souls.
For many years we are raising some legitimate questions but did not see any concrete action from the part of the Bangladesh government. On the eve on this historic day we are raising these demands again and they are,

1.     Bangladesh has passed a long way but till today, no meaningful action was taken for the benefit of disabled Freedom Fighters;
2.     Bangladesh government did not take any meaningful action to rehabilitate the destitute Freedom Fighters, who bed their lives for the country;
3.     Bangladesh government did not punish Al-Badars, Al-Shams, Razakers and their leaders, who killed millions of innocent Bangladeshis and raped our mothers and sisters.

Happy Victory Day!!!

4
Be Alert / Why Shout when angry?
« on: December 16, 2009, 10:40:53 AM »
A saint asked his disciples, 'Why do we shout in anger?
Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?'

Disciples thought for a while, one of them said, 'Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.'


'But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you?' asked the saint.
'Isn't it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice?
Why do you shout at a person when you're angry?'

Disciples gave some other answers but none satisfied the saint.

Finally he explained, 'When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot.
To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other.
The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.'
Then the saint asked, 'What happens when two people fall in love? They don't shout at each other but talk softly, why?
Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small...'
The saint continued, 'When they love each other even more, what happens?
They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.
Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that's all.
That is how close two people are when they love each other.'


MORAL: When you argue do not let your hearts get distant, do not say words that distance each other

5
English Language Lab / To be, or not to be
« on: December 16, 2009, 10:36:27 AM »

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep:



No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,--'t is a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

6
English / To be, or not to be
« on: December 16, 2009, 10:34:12 AM »
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep:



No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to,--'t is a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.

7
The distressed women and unemployed young girls have been successfully changing their fates by sewing readymade handloom garments everywhere in the northern region in recent years.

By sewing handloom garments and marketing those, over 20,000 distressed women, divorcees and young girls of different rural and urban areas in all 16 northern districts have been becoming self-reliant and making financial contributions to their families.

The women affairs department, social service department, youth development department, other government organisations, reputed NGOs like RDRS, ASA, BRAC and dozens of local NGOs are playing vital role in encouraging the women by providing trainings, sewing machines, credits and input supports.

Production of readymade garments made of handloom fabrics has been growing fast as more and more women and teenaged girls are becoming interested in adopting sewing as a profession.

The female sewers are producing mainly garments such as blouse, petticoat, semiz, kamiz, salwar, scurf, maxi, baby wears, shirts, pants, fotua, caps and other readymade wears for men, women, babies, girls and people of all ages.

Housewife Ful Banu, 28, of village Boalmari under Roumari upazila in Kurigram said, ‘I sew baby clothes and my husband sells them. Now we living better than we what we lived three to four years ago.’

Housewife Romesa Begum of village Echakuri, young girl Jasmine Akhter of village Khatiamari and housewife Chhoki Begum of village Notanpara in the upazila also narrated similar stories of their fightback. Business community leaders in the regions said there were potentials of setting up of composite textile and spinning mills at many areas of the region for industrialisation and creating job opportunities.

8
As a destination for eco-tourism, Bangladesh is truly hard to beat. A country in South Asia with an area of 144,470 square kilometers, Bangladesh definitely offers a lot to see, enjoy and do. Bangladesh means a ‘country where Bangli is spoken’ [ancient name is 'Banga']‘ Bangla is our language; Desh means ‘country’. Ancient name is ‘Bangla’. Students gave life in 1952 to establish the right to Bangla language. Indepence in 1971 cost a lot of blood. Sharing land boundary with and Myanmar, Bangladesh is one of the most beautiful country in South Asia with tremendous economic potentials. Its tropical beach resorts on the Bay of Bengal should be paradise for the sun vacationers. But the main attraction of Bangladesh should be its opportunities for eco-tourism with its a variety of animals, birds, forests, hills and hillocks and aquatic life. The splendour of its six seasons presents a diverse eco-system. The world’s longest natural beach at Cox’s Bazaar, the nearby jungles and forests with their rich variety of flora and fauna, the Chittagong Hill Tracts’ cloud forests so named because the moisture of the mists linger on the tree leaves and fascinate tourists. A cable car network to be set up at Bandarban would enable tourists observe the plant and animal life from the treetop level. For the more adventurous, there are places built for the tourists to get the experience of moving from tree to tree using a network of rope attachments. Dry forests in some parts of Chittagong, seasons’ variation every two months, an abundance of canals and rivers can be attraction for tourists. Besides many species of birds, there is a Bangladesh’s exotic wildlife that includes the majestic Bengal tigers, monkeys, jaguars, bats, deer and reptiles. For nature tours no place can match the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest as has rightly been identified by World Heritage Site.

Sea turtles and oysters come to certain beaches to nest, attracting, without fail, many nature lovers. The wildlife rich aquatic life of the Bay of Bengal and Bangladesh’s rivers remain added attractions. The Saint Martins offer excellent scuba diving opportunities, quite different from the Caribbean waters.

Tea and Mangoes are some of the main exports for Bangladesh. For tea lovers, this is the place to taste the best of liquoring teas in the world. A bit strong, the liquoring teas are of course known for their colour too. Tour across the valleys of Sylhet and its numerous tea plantations could be quite a thrilling experience. Tourists would think twice before leaving the miles of fascinating mangoplantations of Rajshahi in the north-west without tasting the delicious fruits, of course in the season of mellow fruit-fullness.

The historic capital city of Dhaka is known for its nice ancient architecture. It is also known as a city of mosques. A tourist can go for trips to the various hill stations, historic places and beaches using Dhaka as the base. Chittagong, the port city known for its low hills is full of gereeneries. It is closer to the resorts like Cox’s Bazar. The roads of Bangladesh are more or less good.

There is so much to see and do in Bangladesh that many visitors return to see what they missed before. The country is becoming popular as an eco-destination in South Asia.

9
English Language Lab / How To Learn English!
« on: December 16, 2009, 10:05:15 AM »
Here are some tips which may help you to learn the English Language!

Speak without Fear

The biggest problem most people face in learning a new language is their own fear.  They worry that they won’t say things correctly or that they will look stupid so they don’t talk at all.  Don’t do this.  The fastest way to learn anything is to do it – again and again until you get it right.  Like anything, learning English requires practice.  Don’t let a little fear stop you from getting what you want.

Use all of your Resources

Even if you study English at a language school it doesn’t mean you can’t learn outside of class.  Using as many different sources, methods and tools as possible, will allow you to learn faster.  There are many different ways you can improve your English, so don’t limit yourself to only one or two.  The internet is a fantastic resource for virtually anything, but for the language learner it's perfect.

Surround Yourself with English

The absolute best way to learn English is to surround yourself with it.  Take notes in English, put English books around your room, listen to English language radio broadcasts, watch English news, movies and television.  Speak English with your friends whenever you can. The more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will begin “thinking in English.” .

Listen to Native Speakers as Much as Possible

There are some good English teachers that have had to learn English as a second language before they could teach it.  However, there are several  reasons why many of the best schools prefer to hire native English speakers. One of the reasons is that native speakers have a natural flow to their speech that students of English should try to imitate.  The closer ESL / EFL students can get to this rhythm or flow, the more convincing and comfortable they will become.

Watch English Films and Television

This is not only a fun way to learn but it is also very effective.  By watching English films (especially those with English subtitles) you can expand your vocabulary and hear the flow of speech from the actors.  If you listen to the news you can also hear different accents.

Listen to English Music

Music can be a very effective method of learning English.  In fact, it is often used as a way of improving comprehension.  The best way to learn though, is to get the lyrics (words) to the songs you are listening to and try to read them as the artist sings.  There are several good internet sites where one can find the words for most songs. This way you can practice your listening and reading at the same time.  And if you like to sing, fine.

Study As Often As Possible!

Only by studying things like grammar and vocabulary and doing exercises, can you really improve your knowledge of any language.

Do Exercises and Take Tests

Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun.  However, by completing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. One of the best reasons for doing lots of exercises and tests is that they give you a benchmark to compare your future results with.  Often, it is by comparing your score on a test you took yesterday with one you took a month or six months ago that you realize just how much you have learned.  If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are progressing. Start now by doing some of the many exercises and tests on this site, and return in a few days to see what you've learned. Keep doing this and you really will make some progress with English.

Record Yourself

Nobody likes to hear their own voice on tape but like tests, it is good to compare your tapes from time to time.  You may be so impressed with the progress you are making that you may not mind the sound of your voice as much.

Listen to English

By this, we mean, speak on the phone or listen to radio broadcasts, audiobooks or CDs in English. This is different than watching the television or films because you can’t see the person that is speaking to you.  Many learners of English say that speaking on the phone is one of the most difficult things that they do and the only way to improve is to practice.

Finally

Have fun!

10
English / How To Learn English!
« on: December 16, 2009, 10:02:30 AM »
Here are some tips which may help you to learn the English Language!

Speak without Fear

The biggest problem most people face in learning a new language is their own fear.  They worry that they won’t say things correctly or that they will look stupid so they don’t talk at all.  Don’t do this.  The fastest way to learn anything is to do it – again and again until you get it right.  Like anything, learning English requires practice.  Don’t let a little fear stop you from getting what you want.

Use all of your Resources

Even if you study English at a language school it doesn’t mean you can’t learn outside of class.  Using as many different sources, methods and tools as possible, will allow you to learn faster.  There are many different ways you can improve your English, so don’t limit yourself to only one or two.  The internet is a fantastic resource for virtually anything, but for the language learner it's perfect.

Surround Yourself with English

The absolute best way to learn English is to surround yourself with it.  Take notes in English, put English books around your room, listen to English language radio broadcasts, watch English news, movies and television.  Speak English with your friends whenever you can. The more English material that you have around you, the faster you will learn and the more likely it is that you will begin “thinking in English.” .

Listen to Native Speakers as Much as Possible

There are some good English teachers that have had to learn English as a second language before they could teach it.  However, there are several  reasons why many of the best schools prefer to hire native English speakers. One of the reasons is that native speakers have a natural flow to their speech that students of English should try to imitate.  The closer ESL / EFL students can get to this rhythm or flow, the more convincing and comfortable they will become.

Watch English Films and Television

This is not only a fun way to learn but it is also very effective.  By watching English films (especially those with English subtitles) you can expand your vocabulary and hear the flow of speech from the actors.  If you listen to the news you can also hear different accents.

Listen to English Music

Music can be a very effective method of learning English.  In fact, it is often used as a way of improving comprehension.  The best way to learn though, is to get the lyrics (words) to the songs you are listening to and try to read them as the artist sings.  There are several good internet sites where one can find the words for most songs. This way you can practice your listening and reading at the same time.  And if you like to sing, fine.

Study As Often As Possible!

Only by studying things like grammar and vocabulary and doing exercises, can you really improve your knowledge of any language.

Do Exercises and Take Tests

Many people think that exercises and tests aren't much fun.  However, by completing exercises and taking tests you can really improve your English. One of the best reasons for doing lots of exercises and tests is that they give you a benchmark to compare your future results with.  Often, it is by comparing your score on a test you took yesterday with one you took a month or six months ago that you realize just how much you have learned.  If you never test yourself, you will never know how much you are progressing. Start now by doing some of the many exercises and tests on this site, and return in a few days to see what you've learned. Keep doing this and you really will make some progress with English.

Record Yourself

Nobody likes to hear their own voice on tape but like tests, it is good to compare your tapes from time to time.  You may be so impressed with the progress you are making that you may not mind the sound of your voice as much.

Listen to English

By this, we mean, speak on the phone or listen to radio broadcasts, audiobooks or CDs in English. This is different than watching the television or films because you can’t see the person that is speaking to you.  Many learners of English say that speaking on the phone is one of the most difficult things that they do and the only way to improve is to practice.

Finally

Have fun!

11
English / Learning English deserves a priority attention
« on: December 16, 2009, 09:49:02 AM »
The significance of learning English language in the context of Bangladesh should be very apparent to all those who have no knowledge or very poor knowledge of it. Bangladeshis in droves are going abroad nowadays. The hard toil from these folks earns precious foreign currency for the country that helps to underwrite the viability of its economy. English is not spoken extensively in some of the most important manpower export destinations of Bangladesh. Nonetheless, as the lingua franca or the globally recognised first language in the utilitarian sense, some powers of understanding or speaking it can be helpful for Bangladeshis in all kinds of alien situations. For example, Bangladeshi migrant workers may not know or speak Arabic, Spanish or Italian at their first exposures to foreign work locations. But even basic speaking and understanding abilities in English can help them to make contacts and take up their jobs on going there.

Over the years, English has become for the first time in human history the language accepted and used most widely in the world today for business, diplomacy and in various other communications between individuals of different countries whose mother tongues are different. This universality of the English Language has created the compulsion for learning the subject with greater eagerness by all the world's people than ever before. The Chinese, the Japanese and others who used to take pride in sticking to their own languages with passion, have also experienced a change in their outlook and are found in a race to disseminate English understanding and speaking powers to the greatest number of their people. The awareness of learning English is also equally found strong in Bangladesh these days. A recent agenda written in the Financial Times (FT) of UK focused on the overwhelming response from Bangladeshis to an offer for English language courses from the BBC over mobile phone services. This is no wonder in the backdrop of the current word realities in relation to learning English. But it should also draw the attention of the policy makers here to the imperative of also expanding opportunities for such language courses from the country's own institutions as well.

There was widespread realisation that Bangladesh went on the back foot in maintaining its edge in English as a Commonwealth country over many other countries in its post-independence period. This advantage met a setback in the early years of the country's existence that created an environment where English was relatively neglected as an alien language and the scramble was noted to replace English with Bengali mindlessly as a matter of national pride and identity. But the same also created some generations of young ones who are in their mid-lives today with poor knowledge of English unlike previous generations. The move to banish English was later corrected but not before a price was exacted for the thoughtless change of policy. Even now, the schools at primary and secondary levels are badly short of competent English teachers.

The government is now about to unfurl a new education policy. Teaching of English language with a new enthusiasm has been taken note of by the draft education policy. This should be operationalised sooner than later. Programmes should be taken up and completed at the fastest for creating a large number of English language teachers to take care of the dearth of such teachers at publicly-run and private schools and colleges. Privately-run such efforts should be also encouraged and materially supported by the government. The government should be essentially guided by the realistic view that popularising of English means creating a gateway to all kinds of opportunities at the global as well as local levels.

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=85366

12
Be a Business man/woman / 5 in power positions
« on: December 12, 2009, 11:48:06 AM »
Who's in the right place at the right time?
Mohamed Bin Ali Alabbar
Chairman, Emaar; Director General, Dubai Department of Economic Development


Fast growing and modern, Dubai may be the most open and confident place in the Middle East. Alabbar keeps the investment flowing in. He's also a real estate developer - and a confidant of the ruler, Sheikh Mohammed.

Haim Saban
Co-Owner, Univision


The billionaire co-owner of the largest Hispanic media company is poised to profit from that ethnic group's growing economic clout. (He's also pals with Hillary Clinton and Rupert Murdoch.)

Michael Funk
CEO , United Natural Foods


The distributor dominates the organic wholesale business, supplying Whole Foods, Kroger, and mom-and-pops around the country.

Lou Jiwei
Chairman, China Investment Corp.


As head of China's $200 billion state investment fund, Lou has already put $3 billion into private equity giant Blackstone. His shopping list includes mining, oil, and gas companies around the world.

Frances Beinecke
President, Natural Resources Defense Council


The 650,000- member NRDC is widely considered the most powerful and effective environmental group - at a time when its green agenda is gaining influence on both Main Street and Wall Street.

13
Be a Business man/woman / 25 most powerful Business Leaders
« on: December 12, 2009, 11:37:55 AM »
Some are empire builders. Others are hired guns. But if they truly have world-class oomph, they're on Fortune's subjective - yet really quite accurate - list of the most powerful businesspeople in the world.

1. Steve Jobs
Chairman and CEO, Apple


During the first two decades of his remarkable 30-year career, the Apple Inc. founder twice altered the direction of the computer industry. In 1977 the Apple II kicked off the PC era, and the graphical user interface launched by Macintosh in 1984 has been aped by every other computer since. Along the way Jobs conceived of "desktop publishing," gave the world the laser printer, and pioneered personal computer networks. As a side gig he bankrolled Pixar, which fostered the development of the technology and a brand-new business model for creating computer-animated feature films.

Since returning to Apple in 1997, he has changed the dynamics of consumer electronics with the iPod, and persuaded the music industry, the television networks, and Hollywood to distribute their wares with the iTunes Music Store. With his hugely successful Apple Stores, he gave the big-box boys a lesson in high-margin, high-touch retailing. And this year, at the height of his creative and promotional powers, Jobs orchestrated Apple's entry into the cellular telephone business with the iPhone.

That's five industries that Jobs has upended - computers, Hollywood, music, retailing, and wireless phones. At this moment, no one has more influence over a broader swath of business than Jobs.


2. Rupert Murdoch
Chairman and CEO, News Corp.


News Corp. is a global force across the board - film, television, print, and even online (it owns the social networking site MySpace).

Murdoch wanted more, and he got it with the $5 billion acquisition of Dow Jones. It was the crowning achievement of a career that started in 1953 when he inherited control of two Australian newspapers. Murdoch expanded to Britain in the 1960s, the U.S. in the '70s, and Asia in the 1990s. In Britain he owns the biggest tabloid, the Sun, and in the U.S. the New York Post and his Fox News Network are known for their take-no-prisoners attitude.

Derided by his critics as a tabloid hound all too willing to kowtow to China for the sake of commercial gain, the purchase of the Wall Street Journal was a particularly sweet victory.

At 76, Murdoch appears to be at the height of his powers. He views Dow Jones, along with the recent launch of the Fox Business Network, as steps in the creation of a globe-spanning financial news powerhouse. Can he do it? The breadth of his ambition could be his Achilles heel - the more dominant News Corp. becomes, the more opposition it tends to provoke. Still, Murdoch has proved time and again that counting him out is a high-risk strategy.


3. Lloyd Blankfein
Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs


Wall Street firms are taking multibillion-dollar write-offs. Titans of finance are losing their jobs. But through it all, Goldman Sachs keeps making money. The i-bank reported stellar third-quarter results: Earnings per share almost doubled from the prior year, and return on equity was 36.6%.

CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who took over last spring, gets credit for helping steer Goldman away from the most damaging investments. And Goldman, which says it has limited exposure to the subprime mess, stands confirmed - for now, anyway - as the smartest bank on the Street.


4. Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, and Sergei Brin
CEO; President, Products; President, Technology; Google


The ambitions of Brin and Page, Google's 34-year-old founders, are pretty much boundless. Sure, they've already revolutionized - okay, massively disrupted - the advertising industry. But the billionaires aren't stopping there. They've set their sights on altering how mobile telephones work, fixing climate change, utterly redefining the very nature of work, that sort of thing.

Preposterous? Actually, there's a method to their madness. Despite endless predictions that Google would run itself off the rails, the duo, along with CEO Eric Schmidt, have shown a good deal of management maturity. They've been willing to build (AdWords, their search-based advertising service) as well as buy (YouTube). And they've defied critics who said they couldn't operate their company for the long term.


5. Warren Buffett
Chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway


Of course it matters that Buffett has built Berkshire Hathaway into a massive holding company with interests ranging from underwear to private jets (2006 revenues: $98 billion). Of course it's impressive that since 1965, Berkshire has performed more than twice as well as the S&P 500. Of course it's amazing that Buffett has made millions from something as toxic as Enron bonds. And of course it is somehow unsurprising that he managed to help broker a deal between A-Rod and the New York Yankees.

But the source of Buffett's influence is found in his nickname: the "Sage of Omaha." CEOs - and athletes, obviously, including LeBron James - venture to Nebraska to consult him. And people everywhere listen to his pronouncements on things like managed earnings (against), stock option expensing (for), and the U.S. dollar (pessimistic).


6. Rex Tillerson
Chairman and CEO, Exxon Mobil


An oilman down to his boots, Tillerson makes no apologies for running the world's biggest non-state-run oil company. Exxon Mobil gets high marks for the quality of its operations, and its stock has out-distanced the S&P 500 on Tillerson's watch. He has even made something of a modest PR splash by acknowledging the possibility of global warming, something his prickly predecessor never did. Exxon under Tillerson has learned that it needn't pick a fight in order to throw around its weight.

7. Bill Gates
Founder, chairman of Microsoft; founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation


Bill Gates remains the iconic technologist, entrepreneur, and business leader of his generation. He invented the software industry, masterminded the rise of the PC, and has hung in there as a force on the Internet. Still intent upon transforming how people work and communicate, now Gates is pushing software to handle all aspects of office communications, from your phone to e-mail to instant messaging. His software powers smartphones and will show up soon in television set-top boxes. And he has hooked up with upstarts like Facebook to channel the energy and advertising potential of social networks.

Since 2000 he's had a new kind of power through the charitable activities of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Gates is expected to retire from Microsoft next year and devote most of his time to the foundation, which has an endowment of $33 billion - and the promise of tens of billions more from his close friend and occasional bridge partner Warren Buffett (No. 5). The foundation has global aspirations to improve health care and reduce poverty. His other goal: reinventing philanthropy itself, much as he did information technology.


8. Jeff Immelt
Chairman and CEO, GE


General Electric's chief executive is powerful for many reasons, but here's one that's often overlooked: the company's AAA credit rating. Only six U.S. industrial corporations hold that credential, and it gives GE a huge competitive advantage in the finance-related businesses that bring in most of its profit. It also helps the company sell its big-ticket products - jet engines, industrial turbines, CT scanners, locomotives, and so forth - by offering financing that competitors can't beat. Add a century of experience in developing the world's best managers and management practices, and GE becomes a very tough organization to catch up with or oppose.

As if running a company like that didn't make him powerful enough, Immelt is also chairman of the Business Council, the group of top-tier CEOs that influences government policy, and on the board of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.


9. Katsuaki Watanabe
President, Toyota


No question: When Katsuaki Watanabe became president of the world's most admired company in 2005, he took the wheel of a well-oiled machine. But he is making his own mark on it, urging the company, which earned $14.1 billion last year, to keep getting better. He launched a quality-improvement campaign that helped make the debut of the 2008 Highlander SUV just about trouble-free and has the company on track to overtake General Motors for good as the world's largest automaker. His ultimate goal: a car that can drive across the U.S. on a single tank of gas. At the speed he has Toyota moving, you can pencil that in for 2050.


10. A.G. Lafley
Chairman and CEO, Procter & Gamble


Since taking charge in 2000, when Procter & Gamble was sinking under the weight of too many new products and organizational changes, Lafley has refocused on consumers and rejuvenated core businesses. P&G now boasts 23 billion-dollar brands, including Tide, Crest, Pampers, Gillette, Olay, Pantene, and the latest addition, Gain laundry detergent.

By denouncing insularity and demanding innovation in everything that P&G does, this company lifer has pushed P&G toward higher-margin areas like health, beauty, and personal care. The payback: Profits have tripled on his watch, to more than $10 billion on $76.5 billion in revenues.

Of course, Lafley has bought some of that growth; the acquisition of Gillette for $54 billion in 2005 was the largest in company history. But it is the record of organic growth - an average of 6% a year - that has made P&G a stock market standout and Lafley a role model for other CEOs.


11. John Chambers
Chairman and CEO, Cisco


"What do you think?" Turning the tables on his questioners is a Chambers trademark, and therein lies a key to the power of Cisco's CEO. The soft-spoken West Virginian has turned listening into the art of making a sale - and few sell better. Everywhere he goes he makes converts to the Internet. Cisco's equipment, far more than any other company's, tells all those digital bits where to go. Without it the world would come to a standstill.

At less than $30, the stock is far below its split-adjusted peak of $80 in 2000. But financially Cisco is stronger than ever, and Chambers deserves a lot of the credit. Revenues for fiscal 2007 were $35 billion, up 22%. At $7.3 billion, profits rose 31% - and have climbed almost threefold since 2000.


12. Li Ka-shing
Chairman, Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa


In Hong Kong they call him "superman" - and his feats in business are indeed the stuff of legend. Born in China, Li, 79, came to Hong Kong as a refugee. Forced to drop out of high school, he founded his first company, a plastics manufacturing concern, in his early 20s. Through Cheung Kong (Holdings), his corporate flagship, and Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate, he wields enormous influence in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Europe, which last year accounted for 45% of Hutchison's $34.3 billion in revenues.

Li's empire includes the world's biggest ports company and the world's largest provider of 3G mobile-phone services, plus holdings in shipping, property, retailing, and energy. And he is not slowing down. Last year Hutchison's profits and EPS rose 40%, and Li, who may be Asia's richest man, remains keenly interested in a new business school he is financing in Beijing.


13. Lee Scott
CEO, Wal-Mart


Why is Lee Scott still on this list? Sales growth at Wal-Mart has stalled; it's embroiled in a class-action employee lawsuit; Scott has led botched forays into fashion and home décor; and, of course, the company name has become a byword for middlebrow values with a dash of naked capitalism. But he's here because Wal-Mart is still America's biggest company (2006 revenues: $351 billion), and Scott still runs the place. About one of every ten non-auto retail dollars in the U.S. is spent at a Wal- Mart. It is also the nation's biggest energy consumer, its biggest real estate developer, and its biggest non-government employer. More than that, the company may be turning a corner. Healthy profits in its most recent quarter bode well for the holiday, and Scott is pushing a slew of eco-friendly initiatives that are alleviating some of that bad PR.


14. Lakshmi Mittal
Chairman and CEO, ArcelorMittal


Had Lakshmi Mittal, 57, remained in his native India and joined the family steel company, odds are he'd merely be a prosperous local businessman. Instead he set out on his own and became the Andrew Carnegie of our era, with operations in more than 60 countries, 320,000 employees - and a personal fortune of more than $40 billion. He built his empire on a bet that steel had a great future for someone who could achieve sufficient scale. After purchasing former state-owned companies in Eastern Europe, Mittal bought into the U.S. in 2004 and last year won a bruising battle for Europe's Arcelor. Today his company is three times the size of its nearest competitor, and Mittal has become a symbol of globalization.


15. Jamie Dimon
Chairman and CEO, JP Morgan Chase


While Citigroup, Wachovia, and Bank of America struggle with multibillion-dollar losses, one big bank is emerging relatively unscathed from the market meltdown: J.P. Morgan Chase. That is a tribute to Jamie Dimon, its CEO since early 2006. "I think we're fine," he told a conference in mid-November. The market surely believes he is the man of the moment: Over the past three months, J.P. Morgan's stock has fallen, but it has still outperformed its major rivals.

Dimon has always shown a mastery of risk management. From 1975 to 1998 he was Sandy Weill's partner in creating the world's biggest financial services firm, Citigroup. It was Dimon who played hands-on operator to Weill's dealmaker by integrating a dazzling string of acquisitions. Fired in 1998, he rescued Chicago's Bank One, then merged with J.P. Morgan in 2004. With Citi in a swoon, Dimon is getting a sweet taste of revenge.


16. Mark Hurd
Chairman and CEO, Hewlett-Packard


When the steely Midwesterner signed on to run Hewlett-Packard in 2005, the company was in the dumps. The board had fired his predecessor, the high-profile Carly Fiorina; morale was low; and the numbers were not looking good.

All that has changed. HP is back at the top of its game. In its most recent results, net earnings rose 28% on revenue growth of 15% - and the company is so bullish that it ordered an $8 billion buyback. The Silicon Valley stalwart has overtaken Dell as the leader in the personal computer market and is turning out innovative products, such as the video-conferencing system Halo. Oh, and its stock price has tripled under Hurd, who emerged pretty much unscathed by the boardroom pretexting scandal in 2006.

What does the chief executive have to say about all this? Precious little. Hurd, 50, avoids the limelight, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind who is piloting the ship.


17. James McNerney
Chairman and CEO, Boeing


The global economy doesn't fly without aircraft, and Boeing has made about 75% of the world's commercial airplane fleet. The company is also a huge defense contractor, turning out a broad range of fighters, bombers, missiles, satellites, and a bunch of other stuff they could tell you about - but then they'd have to kill you. Adding to its global clout, Boeing sells to governments around the world. Think about it: McNerney runs the company that produces more airplanes than any other and that also knows the secrets behind some of the world's most fearsome military technology. That's power.


18. Marius Kloppers
CEO, BHP Billiton


Talk about being in a hurry: Kloppers took over as chief executive of the world's biggest mining company by market capitalization (some $200 billion) on Oct. 1. One month later he launched a $150 billion takeover bid for rival Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto; the combined entity would be a resources superpower with a larger market cap than Microsoft and higher revenues (some $70 billion combined in 2007) than Dell or Boeing.

Mining insiders weren't too surprised by the move. Kloppers, a 45-year-old vegetarian, has a reputation as an aggressive executive with superior intellectual bandwidth. BHP produces, in vast quantities, industrial staples like iron ore, copper, coal, nickel, uranium, oil, gas, and aluminum. That makes K loppers a crucial middleman in the global economy.


19. Steve Schwarzman
CEO, Blackstone



His firm has nearly $100 billion in assets under management - private equity, hedge funds, real estate. And thanks to a spate of mega-buyouts, including February's $39 billion purchase of EOP and October's $26 billion acquisition of Hilton Hotels, Schwarzman - the "New King of Wall Street," as we called him in February - embodies the private equity boom. He could also embody its slowdown: The firm missed its earnings in the third quarter, and its shares have been falling for months.


20. Carlos Slim
Chair, TelMex and Carso Foundation


Slim's companies help Latin America work. His América Móvil wireless service operates in 16 countries and provides phone service to more than 137 million customers. In his home country, Mexico, Slim's TelMex controls more than 90% of the phone connections. His companies build roads and erect oil platforms, his banks loan money to businesses and consumers alike, and he even sells knickknacks through his Sanborn's retail chain.

The son of a Lebanese immigrant, Slim, 67, has a personal fortune of about $59 billion, making him the world's richest man; Slim-controlled companies make up one-third of the $422 billion Mexican stock exchange - a position of unique dominance. It is all but impossible for the average Mexican to function without interacting with a Slim-controlled company in some way every day. Slim shrugs off accusations he is a monopolist or an oligarch. With family members installed at various Slim companies, the billionaire is spending more time giving away some of his fortune.


21. Steve Feinberg
CEO, Cerberus


Since co-founding Cerberus in 1992, Feinberg has homed in on companies so financially distressed - such as GMAC and ACE Aviation (Air Canada's parent) - that traditional leveraged-buyout investors shied away. He took that strategy to the hilt in May, when his firm bought 80% of Chrysler, the automaker that gave Daimler so much grief. The high-profile deal - and the high-wattage folks Feinberg has been recruiting to help run his acquisitions (e.g., Jim Press and Robert Nardelli at Chrysler) landed Cerberus near the top of the M&A heap.

Right now the portfolio includes more than 50 companies and about 250,000 employees. Combined, they ring up $120 billion in annual revenues, which would be enough to crack the Fortune 10 as a single conglomerate.


22. Indra Nooyi
Chairman and CEO, PepsiCo


Smart, irreverent and armed with a global perspective, Nooyi is the most powerful woman in business. She was the main architect of the dramatic reshaping of Pepsi that began in the mid-1990s. The company jettisoned restaurants, picked up Gatorade and Quaker, and created a portfolio that put Pepsi a decade ahead of the pack in anticipating consumers' desire for both healthier products and more sustainable business practices.

The numbers have been good too. Annual net income more than doubled to $5.6 billion in the five years that ended last year, and the stock price increased 68% over the same period. Nooyi, who became CEO in October 2006, calls this "performance with a purpose." Her goal: to make Pepsi a model 21st-century company - both responsible and successful.


23. Ratan Tata
Chairman, Tata Group


As head of one of India's most venerated family businesses, Tata, 69, has unique stature. The Tata Group, which is one of India's largest conglomerates, includes India's largest software house, one of its most prestigious hotel chains (the Taj), and sprawling steelmaking operations, as well as leading players in consulting, wireless, and cable services. Since taking over in 1991, Tata has made numerous big-ticket deals. But his heart is set on a project closer to home: creating a $2,500 car that middle-class Indians can buy.


24. Bob Iger
CEO, Walt Disney


In the post-mogul era of media management, Bob Iger might just be the archetype. When he was elevated to run Disney two years ago after the tempestuous reign of Michael Eisner drew to a close, Iger was derided, even by some of his own directors, as Eisner lite - that is, an acolyte of his old boss who lacked the former's glamour or sense of vision.

Iger shrugged off the carping and set about restoring Disney's luster through thoughtful risk-taking and the canny exercise of power. Among his quietly effective hits: mending frayed relations with Steve Jobs, thus allowing Disney to buy Pixar, and putting ABC television fare like episodes of "Lost" on video iPods, an example of the digital savvy that is a hallmark of Iger's Disney.

And the shows go on: The company's profit-spinning media brands, led by ESPN, include the likes of "Pirates of the Caribbean," Pixar's "Ratatouille," "Hannah Montana," and the cheerfully unavoidable "High School Musical." Although the shares have been flat lately, over the past two years, they are up 28%, outpacing the S&P and most other media-company stocks.


25. Bernard Arnault
Chairman and CEO, LVMH


Arnault is best known for turning LVMH, already a luxury-goods giant when he won control in 1989, into a global empire through acquisitions, savvy marketing, and bold design. The $19 billion company, in which he's also controlling shareholder, boasts more than 60 brands, including the eponymous Louis Vuitton, as well as Marc Jacobs, Dom Pérignon, and beauty chain Sephora.

But Arnault's influence reaches far beyond couture and champagne. He's a close friend of French President Nicolas Sarkozy; a newspaper baron who's currently selling one business daily, La Tribune, and acquiring its rival, Les Echos; and a powerful arts patron: Arnault got the go-ahead last fall to build a center for LVMH's art foundation in the Bois de Boulogne.

This spring Arnault, 58, who is France's richest man, turned activist shareholder when his holding company paired with private equity firm Colony Capital to buy a 9% stake in Carrefour, the world's second-largest retailer. Arnault made his mark felt fast: In August, Carrefour announced plans for a $6 billion stock buyback program.

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Every Bangladeshi is requested use our National Flag of Bangladesh as his/her profile picture(blog/forum/messenger/facebook/twitter/any social sites)  on Victory Day (16 December). You may take your own photograph, wearing a BD FLAG t-shirt or anything else you would like to. It will be very nice to see.

Regards
Rakib

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