Dhaka  - Three Chinese crew of a Panama flag-carrier vessel were killed in Bangladesh's main Chittagong port when they fell into an oil tank of the vessel, port official said Saturday.

The officials said that the Chinese national sailors identified as Tan Weifang, 37, the chief officer, Ju Liang Shang, 41, the third officer, and sailor Xu Jiang, 26 died of toxic gas of the tank.

The crew of the edible oil-laden vessel MT Zhong Ye-6, which reached the Chittagong Port at about on Saturday, fell into the oil tank of the vessel while working on the tank.

Dhaka - A senior US State Department official Saturday assured that Washington would support Bangladesh's proposal for a regional anti-terrorism taskforce in South Asia.

"It is a good idea. We will see how other countries in the region react. We will look forward to supporting it, if needed," the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard A Boucher, said after a meeting with Bangladesh Home Minister Sahara Khatun.

Dhaka- Bangladesh has recorded a rise in remittance inflow, from its over 6 million expatriate workers, despite a global recession that forces massive job cuts around the world, central bank officials said Saturday.

The South Asian country received over 860 million dollars in remittances in January, the highest in the last seven months and almost 22 per cent more than the same month in 2008, according to a provisional estimate released by Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladeshi expatriates, most of whom are employed in oil-rich Middle East countries, sent home over 710 million dollars in January 2008.

Dhaka - African countries, comprising the second largest region in global cotton trade, aim to grab larger share of Bangladesh's 1-billion-dollar cotton market, a media report said Friday.

Accounting for roughly 20 per cent of the global cotton trade worth 12 billion dollars, the African cotton growers with a 10 per cent market share in Bangladesh, now want to export directly to the South Asian country instead relying on mostly Swiss and French cotton merchants.

Dhaka - Bangladesh leaders on Thursday discussed two politically sensitive deals it will be negotiating with the United States and India on trade and investment, triggering strong reactions from domestic political and civic groups.

"The possible deals with United States and India will be tabled for discussion in parliament before their finalisation and the opposition parties should join the debates to reap maximum benefit for the country," Faruk Khan, the Bangladesh commerce minister, said Thursday in Dhaka.

Dhaka- Bangladesh's cabinet on Thursday approved a deal to allow the transit of goods through its territory by India, using water, road and rail routes, an official said.

"The government has decided to renew the previously signed deal styled Bangladesh-India Trade Agreement," Abul Kalam Azad, the press secretary to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, told reporters after a special meeting of the cabinet that approved the draft agreement.