Dhaka  - Former Bangladeshi prime ministers and arch political rivals Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia exchanged greetings Friday at a reception to honour the country's military. It was their first face-to-face meeting in 18 years.

Private television channels aired live footage of the two meeting at the Armed Forces Day reception in Senakunja in the Dhaka cantonment. They shook hands and exchanged small talk.

Dhaka - The European Union will send election observers to monitor Bangladesh's general election, after concluding that an atmosphere for "a free, fair and credible election" has been created in the country, an official statement said Tuesday.

"The decision was taken following the repeal of elements of the Emergency Power Rules in early November," the office of the European Commission delegation in Dhaka said.

Delegation chief Stefan Frowein, who earlier had said that the EU usually refrains from deploying an Election Observer Mission under a state of emergency, noted the decision constituted a recognition of the impressive progress made by officials to foster an atmosphere conducive for a fair election.

Dhaka - Bangladesh and Myanmar began talks Sunday on the demarcation of their maritime border, which caused tension earlier this month between the neighbours over off-shore hydrocarbon exploration.

Bangladesh's additional Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud and Myanmar deputy minister Maung Myit lead their respective delegations at the talks in progress in Bangladesh capital.

The dialogue will come against the backdrop of movement of warships in the Bay of Bengal by both the countries after Myanmar's alleged intrusion into Bangladesh's territorial waters for oil and gas exploration.

The two nations met earlier in April 2008 to discuss the maritime demarcation issues after a break of more than two decades.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's military-backed interim government said Saturday all preparations were ready for the December elections to restore the country to democracy.

"The entire nation is now ready for the democratic transition through the December 18 elections to be participated by all the parties," an adviser to the interim administration, Hossain Zillur Rahman, told a news briefing.

The government considers further relaxation of the state of emergency once the deadline for nomination paper submission expires on November 20, he said.

"The government will consider complete lifting the state of emergency if the election environment develops smoothly," Zillur said.

Dhaka- A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday granted bail to three former ministers of Bangladesh's predecessor government run by a Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led alliance, two days after their detention in a graft case, court officials said.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is expected to meet Myanmar junta chief General Thein Sein to discuss disputes over territorial waters on the sideline of the BIMSTEC summit to be held in New Delhi Thursday, officials in Dhaka said Wednesday.

The leaders are expected to discuss maritime boundary demarcations, the lack of which had caused tension between the two neighbours over oil and gas exploration in the disputed Bay of Bengal waters.