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 - Bangladesh's former prime minister Khaleda Zia Thursday night announced that her party and allies would join the December election if the poll was deferred by 10 days.

"We will definitely join the elections if they take place on December 28," Zia, who leads the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led four-party alliance, told a press conference.

She also asked the country's military-backed government to launch fresh round of talks to ensure participation of all the parties in the election to return the South Asian nation to democracy.

The interim administration on Tuesday reaffirmed that it would hold parliamentary and local government elections according to schedule on December 18 and 28 respectively.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's military-backed government announced Wednesday it would hold December elections according to the announced schedules, despite the demands of a leading party not being met.

The announcement came an hour before the expiry of a deadline set by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party of former prime minister Khaleda Zia, which had demanded the government delay the poll and allow her party to join.

The parliamentary and upazila (local council) elections would be held according to the previously announced schedule "as there had been no consensus between the political alliances ... (and the) government despite ... all our effort," said Hossain Zillur Rahman, a key adviser to the interim government.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh's military-backed government announced Wednesday that it would hold the country's December elections as per the previously announced schedules, despite the demands of a leading political party not having been met.

The announcement came an hour before the expiration of a deadline set by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by former prime minister Khaleda Zia, which had demanded that the government delay the poll and allow her party to join.

The deadline expired at 9 pm (1530 GMT) Wednesday.

Agartala, Nov. 19 : ‘Oneness through drama'' was the central message of a group of Bangladeshi theatre artistes, who were on a cultural trip to Agartala recently and left an indelible mark on various theatre lovers.

It was a delightful and emphatic performance of “Ebong Aswamedh Jagna", by a group of 19 artistes from Bangladesh, which performed the epic Ramayana at the central auditorium of Tripura University here recently.