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Availing the offer, inactive Airtel customers can enjoy 3GB data with 5 days validity by recharging only 54 taka.

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Customers purchasing a new Airtel connection or migrating from other network through Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service can only enjoy the data pack offer by recharging 54 taka.

Within the campaign period, customers can enjoy this offer as many times as they wish within three months.

The offer eligibility can be checked by dialing *999# or visiting Airtel website (https://www.bd.airtel.com) and My Airtel Apps.

Tokyo, Aug 20 (AP/UNB) — Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday after Wall Street rallied on the U.S. decision to give Chinese telecom giant Huawei another 90 days to buy equipment from American suppliers.

That decision appeared to inspire a buying mood among investors eager for any signs of progress in the trade war between the U.S. and China.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to finish at 20,677.22. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.2% to 6,545.00. South Korea's Kospi rose 1.1% to 1,961.96, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.2% to 26,249.25. The Shanghai Composite was down 0.2% at 2,877.53.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 34.97 points, or 1.2%, to 2,923.65. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 249.78 points, or 1%, to 26,135.79. The index briefly gained 336 points. The Nasdaq, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, rose 106.82 points, or 1.3%, to 8,002.81. Smaller company stocks also had a good day. The Russell 2000 index gained 15.21 points, or 1%, to 1,508.85.

Recently investors have been trying to determine whether a recession is on the horizon in the U.S. A key concern is that the escalating and costly trade conflict between the world's two biggest economies will hamper growth around the globe.

Earlier this month, Trump announced plans to extend tariffs across virtually all Chinese imports, many of them consumer products that were exempt from early rounds of tariffs. The tariffs have been delayed, but ultimately will raise costs for U.S. companies bringing goods in from China.

Huawei has become part of the trade war, with the White House showing a willingness to use sanctions against the company as a bargaining chip. The U.S. government blacklisted Huawei in May, deeming it a national security risk, meaning U.S. firms aren't allowed to sell the company technology without government approval.

"While it is not unexpected, the extension for the easing of Huawei sanctions had added to the relief for markets at the start of the week," said Jingyi Pan, market strategist for IG in Singapore.

ENERGY:

Benchmark crude oil rose 22 cents to $56.36 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 25 cents to $59.99 a barrel.

CURRENCIES:

The dollar rose to 106.51 yen from 106.36 yen Monday. The euro weakened to $1.1080 from $1.1104.

Dhaka, Aug 19 (UNB) –Tradeshi Limited and Alibaba.com’s channel partner has announced Bangladeshi SMEs are to be included for the first time in the Chinese e-commerce giant’s massive B2B sourcing event, #SuperSeptember.

Shadab Parvez, founder of Tradeshi Ltd, said the maturity of marketing alignment and budget spent by Alibaba makes buying or sourcing events more exciting nowadays. The financials are humongous, and capacity by which leads are generated for suppliers and deals brokered with buyers are limitless.

Alibaba Group will watch Bangladeshi SMEs' performance at #SuperSeptember very closely, which may determine further investment by the e-commerce giant in one-stop solutions for Bangladeshi exporters such as financing, logistics and inspection services, he added.

More than five million products from over 50,000 suppliers listed in the edition of #SuperSeptember-2017. 

Berkeley Heights, Aug 19 (AP/UNB) — President Donald Trump dismissed concerns of recession on Sunday and offered an optimistic outlook for the economy after last week's steep drop in the financial markets.

"I don't think we're having a recession," Trump told reporters as he returned to Washington from his New Jersey golf club. "We're doing tremendously well. Our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut and they're loaded up with money."

A strong economy is key to Trump's re-election prospects. Consumer confidence has dropped 6.4% since July. The president has spent most of the week at his golf club in New Jersey with much of his tweeting focused on talking up the economy.

Aides sought to reinforce that message during a series of appearances on the Sunday talk shows.

Larry Kudlow, Trump's top economic adviser, dismissed fears of a looming recession and predicted the economy will perform well in the second half of 2019. He said that consumers are seeing higher wages and are able to spend and save more.

"We're doing pretty darn well in my judgment. Let's not be afraid of optimism," Kudlow said.

Kudlow acknowledged a slowing energy sector, but said low interest rates will help housing, construction and auto sales.

Kudlow also defended the president's use of tariffs on goods coming from China. Before he joined the administration, Kudlow was known for opposing tariffs and promoting free trade during his career as an economic analyst. Kudlow said Trump has taught him and others that the "China story has to be changed and reformed."

"We cannot let China pursue these unfair and unreciprocal trading practices," Kudlow said.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke said the U.S. needed to work with allies to hold China accountable on trade. He said he fears Trump is driving the global economy into a recession.

"This current trade war that the president has entered our country into is not working," O'Rourke said. "It is hammering the hell out of farmers across this country."

Last month, the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark rate — which affects many loans for households and businesses — by a quarter-point to a range of 2% to 2.25%. It's the first rate cut since December 2008 during the depths of the Great Recession.  Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed that the Fed was worried about the consequences of Trump's trade war and sluggish economies overseas.

"Weak global growth and trade tensions are having an effect on the U.S. economy," he said.

Breaking with historical norms, Trump has been highly critical of Powell as he places blame for any economic weakness on the nation's central bank for raising interest rates too much over the past two years.

"I think I could be helped out by the Fed, but the Fed doesn't like helping me too much," Trump complained Sunday.

Peter Navarro, who advises Trump on trade policy, shared that sentiment.

"The Federal Reserve chairman should look in the mirror and say, 'I raised rates too far, too fast, and I cost this economy a full percentage point of growth,'" Navarro said.

Trump acknowledged at least a potential impact on consumers when he paused a planned 10% tariff hike for many items coming from China, such as cellphones, laptops, video game consoles, some toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing.

"We're doing (it) just for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs could have an impact," the president told reporters in New Jersey.

Navarro would not go even that far, saying Sunday "there's no evidence whatsoever that Americans consumers are bearing any of this."

Kudlow was interviewed on NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Fox News Sunday." O'Rourke spoke on NBC, and Navarro appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS' "Face the Nation."

Trump's trade war with China has been a target of criticism by Democrats vying to challenge him in 2020.

"There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers," said Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, a Democratic presidential candidate. He said on CNN that it was "a fool's errand" to think tariff increases will compel China to change its economic approach.

Trump maintained that China's economy is struggling because of the tariffs and would like to make a trade deal with the U.S. He said he could make a "bad deal" and the stock markets would go up, "but it wouldn't be the right thing to do."

"I'm just not ready to make a deal yet," Trump said. "China would like to make a deal. I'm not ready."

Washington , Aug 19(AP/UNB) — A number of U.S. business economists appear sufficiently concerned about the risks of some of President Donald Trump's economic policies that they expect a recession in the U.S. by the end of 2021.

Thirty-four percent of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report being released Monday, said they believe a slowing economy will tip into recession in 2021. That's up from 25% in a survey taken in February. Only 2% of those polled expect a recession to begin this year, while 38% predict that it will occur in 2020.

The economists have previously expressed concern that Trump's tariffs and higher budget deficits could eventually dampen the economy.

The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on goods from many key U.S. trading partners — from China and Europe to Mexico and Canada. Officials maintain that the tariffs, which are taxes on imports, will help the administration gain more favorable terms of trade. But U.S. trading partners have simply retaliated with tariffs of their own.

Trade between the U.S. and China, the two biggest global economies, has plunged. Trump decided last Wednesday to postpone until Dec. 15 tariffs on about 60% of an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports — granting a reprieve from a planned move that would have extended duties to nearly everything the U.S. buys from China.

The financial markets signaled the possibility of a U.S. recession last week, adding to concerns over the ongoing trade tensions and word from Britain and Germany that their economies are shrinking

The economists surveyed by the NABE were skeptical about prospects for success of the latest round of U.S.-China trade negotiations. Only 5% predicted that a comprehensive trade deal would result, 64% suggested a superficial agreement was possible, and nearly one quarter expected nothing to be agreed upon by the two countries.

The 226 respondents, who work mainly for corporations and trade associations, were surveyed between July 14 and Aug. 1. That was before the White House announced 10% tariffs on the additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, the Chinese currency dipped below the seven-yuan-to-$1 level for the first time in 11 years, and the Trump administration formally labeled China a currency manipulator.

As a whole, the business economists' recent responses have represented a rebuke of the Trump administration's overall approach to the economy.

Still, for now, most economic signs appear solid. Employers are adding jobs at a steady pace, the unemployment rate remains near a 50-year low, and consumers are optimistic. U.S. retail sales figures out last Thursday showed that they jumped in July by the most in four months.

The survey showed a steep decline in the percentage of economists who found the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade "too stimulative" and likely to produce higher budget deficits that should be reduced, to 51% currently from 71% in August 2018.