The investigation panel of the International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) has started quizzing war crimes suspect Jamaat-e-Islami chief Motiur Rahman Nizami at its 'safe home'.

The questioning began at 10am on Thursday and it will continue until 5pm with a one-hour pause at noon, Abdur Razzak Khan, a member of the investigation committee told bdnews24.com.

Dhaka has sent to New Delhi detailed proposals for 15 projects to be financed by the $1-billion Line of Credit that India offered to Bangladesh.

Jayant Prasad, a Special Secretary with India's Ministry of External Affairs, on Wednesday said that New Delhi was studying the 15 Detailed Project Reports or DPRs it received from Dhaka.

The Supreme Court has rejected the petition of Muhammad Yunus for reversing its earlier verdict on his removal from Grameen Bank.

The full court of the Appellate Division also snubbed another petition filed by nine Bank directors against the High Court order that backed Yunus sacking.

The full court ended simultaneous hearings on the petitions on Wednesday.

US officials reaffirmed on Wednesday that there was a firefight at the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed, despite growing questions about the Obama administration's version of events and revelations the al Qaeda leader was not armed.

"I know for a fact that shots were exchanged during this operation," said a Pentagon official.

After a briefing by senior intelligence and defense officials, members of the House Armed Services Committee declined to discuss details of what they had been told.

Angry mob has detained the deputy commissioner of Dinajpur and police officials in a stand-off in Kaharol and Birganj Upazilas over an overnight robbery.

According to locals, the incident occurred on Monday night after a heist in the house of Dr Rajon Debnath of Vasuria village.

The mob set ablaze a microbus carrying plainclothes police late on Monday night, and a pick-up van of Kaharol police and three motor bikes between 10am and 12pm.

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has filed an ad interim bail petition with the High Court in a fraud case.

The bench of justices Nozrul Islam Chowdhury and Mohammad Anwarul Haque is likely to hear the plea on Tuesday, a day after its filing.

"The petition is in Tuesday's cause list (No 326) of the HC bench and it may hear the plea today," deputy attorney general Mohammad Ullah Kislu told bdnews24.com.

The Supreme Court has begun hearing a petition of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus urging withdrawal of a previous order on his sacking from the Grameen Bank as managing director.

Senior lawyer Dr Kamal Hossain is arguing Yunus's case at the hearing that began at the full court of the Appellate Division on Monday morning.

Hearing on another petition filed by nine directors of the bank against the High Court order that backed th central bank's sacking is simultaneously being held at the full court.

The Supreme Court has confirmed the High Court ruling that backed the sacking of Muhammad Yunus from Grameen Bank as its managing director.

Tuesday's dismissal of the Nobel Peace laureate's appeal by the full bench of the Appellate Division puts to rest a bitter battle between Yunus and the government.

The government has decided not to give fresh piped gas connections to households in a bid to promote liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Energy secretary Mesbah Uddin told reporters about the government decision on Tuesday.

"We've decided in principle not to give piped gas connections to households in the future as we want to promote LPG instead," he added.

WAR CRIMES TRIAL

The International Crimes Tribunal has permitted its probe panel to question major war crimes suspects Jamaat leaders Matiur Rahman Nizami and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed.

The tribunal on Tuesday granted the appeal submitted by the investigation team and the prosecution panel.

The tribunal allowed the investigators to quiz them between 10am and 5pm at the Dhaka Central Jail on separate dates to be fixed later. But the tribunal did not allow the panel to take them on remand.

The Supreme Court chamber judge has stayed for six weeks the High Court order on demolition of the BGMEA Bhaban at Karwan Bazar.

Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the stay order on Tuesday.

The High Court on Sunday ordered the demolition of the BGME building as it was constructed in violation of the Wetlands Protection Act.

Associations of recruitment agencies in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to recruit four categories of workers for the Middle East country.

Under the MoU, Bangladeshi housemaids, drivers, security guards and gardeners will be sent to the kingdom country at reduced migration costs, president of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) Mohammad Abul Basher told newsmen after signing the agreement in the association office in the city.

The International Crimes Tribunal will hear on Sunday the investigation panel's appeal to remand Jamaat-e-Islami leader Matiur Rahman Nizami.

Tribunal's registrar Mohammad Shahinur Islam revealed this to reporters at his office on Thursday.

On the same day, it will also hear another appeal by the panel for the arrest of former BNP MP M A Alim.

Brushing aside the allegation of the opposition leader that the country was going through a constitutional crisis, Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta has said the 1972 constitution is in place.

"If there is no constitution in the country, how you are the leader of the opposition? How are you flying the national flag in your car? Could you do that had there been no constitution?" Suranjit questioned Khaleda Zia.

Six Bangladesh Chhatra League leaders, including Rangpur Medical College unit president and general secretary, have been arrested in connection with Tuesday's attack on a traffic police office.

Kotwali police chief Haider Ali Mollah told reporters that the BCL leaders were arrested on Tuesday night following a case filed after the attack.

Workers back form Libya have pressed the government for compensation.

A total of 465 workers from the Libya Expatriates Welfare Association made the demand at a press briefing at the National Press Club on Wednesday.

The workers said that on Jan 14, groups of Libyans attacked them and looted their valuables, including mobile cash, telephone sets, laptops, etc.

The full court will hear on Mar 15 the petition filed by Muhammad Yunus seeking a stay order on the High Court judgment upholding his removal from Grameen Bank as its managing director.

Hearing the stay petition on Wednesday, chamber judge Syed Mahmud Hossain put it forward to the full court of the Supreme Court.

Counsel for Yunus filed the petition with the Appellate Division earlier in the day.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has laid the foundation stone of the country's first-ever maritime university at Chittagong Marine Academy.

The foundation-laying ceremony was held on Saturday noon.

The university, 'Sheikh Mujib Maritime University', the second of its kind in South Asia, will be set up on a 35-acre of land on the other bank of the Karnaphuli River.

A truck has ploughed through a jubilant procession of cricket fans in the city's Banani area, killing a young man and injuring 10 others.

Three more fans were also injured in another accident at Shahbagh as they took out a procession after Bangladesh's victory in the crucial World Cup match against Ireland on Friday night.

Thousands of frenzied cricket fans burst into wild celebrations taking out jubilant processions at different places of the country after the exciting 27-run win by Tigers.

The law minister has urged the judges to work with more sincerity and honesty to ease the backlog of cases.

"If the process of trial is not expedited and the backlog of cases not eased it may result in people's non-confidence in the judiciary," Shafique Ahmed said on Saturday.

The lawyer-turned-minister was inaugurating the 102nd Judicial Administration Training Course at the Judicial Training Administration Institute in the city.