Dhaka- The Dutch government will provide Bangladesh with 30 million euros (42.1 million dollars) to promote public education in the South Asian country where illiteracy is still high, the Netherlands embassy in Dhaka said Wednesday.

The money will be spent for non-formal education under a project called Janashilon (Popular Education) in partnership with Friends in Villages Development in Bangladesh (FIVDB), a non-governmental organisation working in the education sector, under a five-year agreement.

Dhaka, Dec. 17: Bangladesh on Wednesday ended two years of emergency rule by restoring the fundamental rights of its people through an ordinance promulgated by President Iajuddin Ahmed on Monday.

A Daily Star newspaper report said that the government had also repealed the Emergency Powers Ordinance 2007 and Emergency Powers Rules 2007.

These laws were proclaimed to enforce emergency declared on January 11, 2007 amid political turmoil over the ninth parliamentary polls that were scheduled to be held on January 22, 2007.

The revocation of the ordinance carries some saving clauses meant to be helpful to the anti-graft measures taken under the emergency rules.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's military-backed government Tuesday lifted the state of emergency restoring civil and political rights ahead of December 29 elections, according to an official gazette notification.

The withdrawal of the state of emergency came in the face of demands by major political parties, civil society actors, rights groups and international donors to allow full electioneering by the parties and candidates, and to allow the population to exercise their democratic rights ahead of the poll, the statement said.

Dhaka - Tens of thousands of people thronged to the National Mausoleum to pay tribute to Bangladesh's liberation war heroes on Tuesday, while activists called for the country's war criminals of 1971 to be brought to justice.

Celebrating the nation's 38th Victory Day, the activists also urged voters to refrain from voting for war criminals, some of whom have become politicians and are running for national elections on December 29.

The Bangladesh Sector Commander Forum - a group of war veterans lobbying the government to prosecute those who committed crimes against humanity during the war

Washington  - Siemens Bangladesh, a subsidiary of German corporate giant Siemens AG, has agreed to pay a 500,000-dollar criminal fine to the United States to help settle a global bribery case, US officials said Monday.

The fine is a small part of the 1.3 billion dollars that the Siemens parent firm has agreed to pay to the US and German governments. That sum includes 800 million dollars to be paid in the United States, according to documents filed in US District Court in Washington.

US officials said that Siemens had violated the rules of the New York Stock Exchange, where the German company has been listed since 2001, and its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. In addition, some of the illegal payments were made from US banks.

London/Dhaka, Dec. 15 : A doctor working with Britain's National Health Service (NHS), who was held captive by her parents in Bangladesh in an attempt to force her into marriage to a stranger, has been freed and is to return to Britain.

Parents of Dr. Humayra Abedin, a 33-year-old trainee GP, were ordered by a judge in Bangladesh to return her passport, driver''s license and credit card after they finally answered a summons to present her to the court.

According to The Independent, Dr. Abedin's lawyers said the case has set a precedent in Bangladesh and it is also one of the first cases where legal action was taken in the UK since the Forced Marriages Act became law last month.