Dhaka  - The United States will provide Bangladesh with 4.3 million dollars to construct 24 multi-purpose cyclone shelters in disaster-prone coastal areas, the US embassy in Dhaka said Sunday.

The US Pacific Command will provide the financial support for the reconstruction program, which includes building four bridges damaged by the cyclone Sidr in November
2007.

The embassy said Bangladesh and the US signed a deal for the shelters to be built in in southern Barisal and Khulna divisions, worst hit by the cyclone Sidr, which killed nearly 4,000 people last year and rendered homeless numerous people.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh on Sunday called for India and Pakistan to calm their tensions that have risen since last month's terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Dhaka, Dec. 14 : With terrorism having already established its roots in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, there is a view that Muslim-dominated Bangladesh could emerge as the next hub of terror, terror attacks and Islamic fundamentalism.

Major General Muniruzzaman, one of south Asia's most respected counter terrorism analysts, told the Sunday Express that Bangladesh is already a "safe haven for terrorists and gun smugglers" and was riddled with Al Qaeda operatives, and warned that if the arc casts more of its shadow over the country's 160 million Muslims, global security could be destabilized for decades to come.

Dhaka - Former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia unveiled on Saturday her party's platform for the upcoming national elections, to be held on December 29, vowing to turn parliament into an effective centre of politics and to bring to an end to the culture of boycotting parliament by opposition lawmakers.

"We will turn parliament into a centre of all political activities if we are given the chance again to serve the nation. We will take every step needed to make it effective and meaningful," Zia, head of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, told a crowded press conference.

London, Dec 12 : A diplomatic fracas between India and Bangladesh has erupted over the exact duplication of the Taj Mahal by a Bangladeshi film director, raising the niggling issue of whether or not it is possible to claim copyright on a historical monument.

The row began after Ahsanullah Moni, a wealthy Bangladeshi film director, gave the first glimpse of his copy of the Taj Mahal this week, The Times reported.

The project has cost about 40 million pounds and is being built about 20 miles northeast of Dhaka, the Bangladeshi capital.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, head of the Awami League party, Friday unveiled a "charter for change" to return the South Asian nation to democracy, ending two years of emergency rule.

"The country is now passing through a deep crisis. Our commitment is to build Bangladesh as a modern democracy, free from hunger, poverty and illiteracy," the party chief said, announcing the party's platform for the December 29 general elections.