NCC offers ‘Saving Plus’

KATHMANDU: Nepal Credit and Commerce Bank (NCC Bank) has introduced a special saving scheme ‘NCC Saving Plus’ for general customers, says a press statement issued by the bank. The scheme provides interest on the basis of daily deposit and requires no specific amount of money for deposits. The scheme provides free medical insurance coverage of up to Rs 10,000 and accident coverage of up to Rs 500,000. Account-holders are also entitled to get free locker facility, remittance service and account statement beside privileges like tele-banking, additional time banking including Sundays along with ‘any branch banking’ facility in the Kathmandu valley.— HNS

Inflation rises in US

WASHINGTON: A jump in raw materials and oil prices has raised the specter of inflation, but analysts at the US central bank are not expecting a revisit of the 1970s and 1980s just yet. Raw materials prices have more than doubled since October 2001, as petroleum prices have risen to their highest levels in a year. Those rises tend to be the ones customers notice, especially record-breaking gasoline prices at the pump. — AFP

SKorean trade surplus up

SEOUL: South Korea’s current account surplus, the broadest measure of trade, hit a five-year high in February on robust exports of semiconductors and automobiles, the Bank of Korea said on Tuesday. The current account, which measures trade in goods, services, tourism and investment, showed a surplus of $3.06 billion. — AP

Google opts for new look

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc has fine-tuned its popular online search engine with a new look designed to boost its Froogle shopping service and alert users to previously unheralded tools for getting sharper results. The changes unveiled Monday are the latest in a series of moves Google has made since Yahoo! Inc broke off their longtime partnership six weeks ago to spotlight its own search engine. — AP

NTT, Hutchison JV plans

TOKYO: Japan’s top mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo said on Tuesday it is considering “strategic plans” with Hutchison Whampoa after a report it wants to pull out of the Hong Kong company’s 3G venture in Britain. “NTT DoCoMo has been considering strategic plans with both Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and Hutchison 3G UK Holdings Ltd and will continue to maintain good relations with both companies,” the company said in a statement. — AFP

Swiss Life back to profit

ZURICH: The insurer Swiss Life has switched out of record losses, reporting on Tuesday a 2003 net profit of 233 million Swiss francs (155 million euros, $181 million) in 2003. The Swiss-based group, formerly Swiss Life/Rentenanstalt said in a statement that it would try to keep the private banking arm, Banca del Gottardo, which it had wanted to sell. — AFP

Virgin Express in loss

BRUSSELS: Virgin Express airline, which has announced its intent to merge with Sabena-successor SN Brussels, reported a loss on Tuesday of 19.6 million ($23.7 million) for last year, compared with a slim 400,000 profit in 2002. Passenger numbers were up 5 per cent to 2.5 million for the Brussels-based budget carrier, part of British entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin empire. But revenues decreased by 9 per cent to 207.1 million ($251 million). — AP

Bayer shortlists bidders

FRANKFURT: The German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer has shortlisted a number of bidders hoping to buy its plasma business, put up for sale last year, chairman Werner Wenning said on Tuesday. At its annual earnings news conference earlier this month, Bayer, best-known for its Aspirin painkiller, had said that sale of its plasma operations might not be completed until next year. — AFP