Bangladesh

Former Bangladesh premier Zia seeks withdrawal of graft charges

Turkish jets bomb Kurdish rebel hideouts in IraqDhaka - Bangladeshi former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her two sons on Thursday sought the withdrawal of graft charges brought against them.

"We have filed applications seeking withdrawal of the 21 cases," Sanaullah Mia, one of Zia's attorneys, told reporters after filing the appeal. "... These cases have no merit."

Bangladeshi government plans to cut 10 per cent of its jobs

Bangladeshi government plans to cut 10 per cent of its jobsDhaka - Bangladesh plans to slash public sector jobs by 10 per cent in response to the global recession, newspaper reports said Thursday.

The move is part of a package of austerity measures drawn up by the Awami League-led alliance government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed against the backdrop of an international downturn that has begun affecting the local economy, the Bengali-language Samakal newspaper reported, quoting a government order.

Bangladesh to bring home the fugitive killers of its founder

Bangladesh to bring home the fugitive killers of its founderDhaka - Bangladesh's Awami League-lead alliance government will bring back home from abroad the fugitive killers of the country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to face a court verdict, a junior minister said Wednesday. "To bring the killers back home, the government will also sign extradition deals with countries which do not have such agreements with Bangladesh," State Minister for Home Affairs Tanjim Ahmed Sohel Taj told reporters.

Workers urge Bangladesh's leading NGO boss to quit

Bangladesh Dhaka  - Several hundred workers of Bangladesh's leading voluntary organisation, Proshika, formed a human chain in front of its Dhaka headquarters Wednesday asking its chief to quit over corruption charges. "We want Kazi Faruk Ahmed [founding chairman of the organisation] to quit now. He brought a bad name for the organisation by using us (for) political purposes," said a director of Proshika, Sirajul Islam, who led the demonstration in the capital.

The employees gave the chairman a four-day ultimatum to resign, saying that otherwise they would form an alternative committee to run the organisation.

Bangladesh charges British charity chief with financing terrorism

Bangladesh charges British charity chief with financing terrorism Dhaka - Investigators Tuesday formally charged the head of a British charity and 10 Bangladeshi agents with financing terrorism in the guise of operating a religious school in Bangladesh. A court in southern Bhola district accepted the report on last month's cache of arms recovered from a madrassa (religious school) and orphanage run by the Green Crescent charity, accusing its voluntary organisation head Faisal Mostafa and his 10 Bangladeshi associates.

Heat stroke kills eight in Bangladesh

Heat stroke kills eight in Bangladesh Dhaka - At least eight people have died of heat stroke this week during a nearly weeklong heat wave in Bangladesh, reports from the countryside said Tuesday. Five people died of heat stroke and heat-related ailments in the northern districts of Rangpur, Kurigram, Lalmonirhat and Bogra while three others died in the southern districts of Bhola, Jessore and Gopalganj, the bangladeshnews24. com news agency reported, quoting officials.

Many others across the country fell sick because of the heat.

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