Dhaka - Denmark assured Bangladesh Wednesday that it will help the impoverished Asian nation in its efforts to fight the challenges of global climate change.

Danish Minister for Climate and Energy Connie Hedegaard pledged his country's support during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, after a trip to vulnerable coastal communities.

Hasina informed the Danish minister about her government's development programmes, which include dredging rivers battle floods and increase agricultural productivity.

Dhaka - Priyanka Gandhi, daughter of Indian National Congress president Sonia Gandhi, arrived in Dhaka Tuesday on a two-day personal visit to observe Bangladesh's rural development, officials said.

Senior officials from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka received Priyanka at Zia International Airport.

During her stay in Dhaka she will visit micro-credit and non-formal education programmes run by the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), one of the largest non-governmental organisations in the world.

Dhaka - A Dhaka court Monday acquitted Bangladesh's former military dictator Hussein Muhammad Ershad of graft charges brought more than 16 years ago involving a shady deal in setting up digital telephone networks in rural areas.

Divisional Court Special Judge Md Golam Mortuza announced the verdict clearing the former president and three of his co-accused of corruption charges, court officials said.

"Finally, I got justice after so many years," an apparently happy Ersahd, who had earlier served a prison term in other corruption cases, told newsmen after the verdict was pronounced.

Dhaka  - The Danish minister for Climate and Energy will take a tour to Bangladesh costal districts Tuesday to see climate vulnerability of the South Asian country, officials said Sunday.

The Danish minister, Connie Hedegaard, is scheduled to be in Dhaka on a two-day official visit beginning on Monday.

She will discuss with her Bangladesh counterpart Mustafizur Rahman about Dhaka's preparedness for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, where world leaders will meet to agree on a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol in December.

Dhaka  - A three-day annual Islamic congregation concluded Sunday in Bangladesh with more than 3 million people praying for global peace and prosperity, officials said.

An Islamic scholar from India led the concluding prayer at Biswa Ijtema, the second-largest Muslim gathering after the hajj, in Tongi, some 35 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka.

On the final day, the crowd exceeded the boundaries of the 5-square kilometre venue as tens of thousands of people travelled overnight on overcrowded buses and trains from across the country to join the concluding prayer.

Dhaka - The US government Saturday welcomed a Bangladesh proposal to prosecute war crimes committed during its 1971 liberation war.

"The trials of war criminals are being held in different countries and Bangladesh has to decide on the matter after taking experiences from those countries," US Ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty said, two days after the Bangladesh parliament adopted a resolution seeking trial of the war criminals.

Moriarty said it was an internal matter for the government and the people of Bangladesh to decide.