The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday confirmed that it has found E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in a sample of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough. The contaminated sample was collected at Nestle's facility in Danville, Va. on Thursday, the FDA said in a statement.

Bizarre in life, Michael Jackson's complex personal affairs are taking even stranger twists in death, with reports on Tuesday questioning the parentage of his children and what caused his untimely demise.

After five days of television replays of Jackson's most famous hits and glowing emotional tributes to his musical genius, attention has turned to the murkier side of the "Thriller" singer.

The Bangladesh cricket team reached Barbados on Tuesday to play two Tests, three one-day internationals as well as a Twenty20 international against the West Indies.

The Tigers landed around 1:45pm local time (00:45am Bangladesh Standard Time on Tuesday), said a BCB press release on Wednesday.

Foreign minister Dipu Moni said Wednesday that the Indian high commissioner may have breached diplomatic norms when he spoke about the controversial Tipaimukh dam issue and Bangladesh's internal affairs last month.

She also rejected high commissioner Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty's view and said Dhaka could resolve the contention over construction of the Tipaimukh dam through dialogue with New Delhi in line with international laws on common rivers and Bangladesh-India relations.

State minister for power and energy Shamsul Haque Tuku said Wednesday that increased power demands were masking the positive impact of the daylight saving programme.

Between 205 and 207 megawatts of electricity are being saved every day as a result of the programme, Tuku told reporters following talks with representatives of the textile industry on gas supply shortfalls.

General Motors Corp is heading to bankruptcy court on Tuesday to seek approval to sell its assets to a "New GM" in a plan to reinvigorate the automaker under US government ownership.

GM is seeking approval for the sale from US bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber just 30 days after filing for Chapter 11.

At least 15 people were killed and 50 injured overnight in Italy when a freight train hauling liquefied petroleum gas derailed and exploded as it passed their homes, officials said on Tuesday.

About 1,000 people were evacuated following the blast just before midnight on Monday, which shook people from their beds in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio, about 350 km (220 miles) north of Rome.

The parliament on Tuesday passed the Tk 1,13,819 crore budget for 2009-10 fiscal year in the absence of main opposition BNP. After discussing the cut motions on allocation demands by different ministries, MPs passed it by voice vote.

The parliament allowed the government to allocate Tk 189,995 crore from the supplementary fund to finance all activities from July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has asked the power, energy and mineral resources ministry to send the proposal on oil and gas exploration deals in the Bay to the economic affairs committee for further scrutiny, an official said on Tuesday.

The energy ministry official told bdnews24.com that a summary on the deals was sent to the prime minister on June 21. She gave her direction for further examination this week.

England's most successful test captain Michael Vaughan said on Tuesday he was retiring from the game, after failing to regain his place in the team for next month's Ashes series against Australia. "It has been a hard decision," Vaughan, 34, told a news conference at Edgbaston.

"The decision came to me two weeks ago. I thought about it in December but I wanted to give myself one last chance of playing against Australia but I haven't been playing well enough and my body is not reacting how I would like it to be."

The finance minister AMA Muhith will clearly spell out a recession-support package for the export-focused readymade garment sector in his concluding speech on 2009-10 budget, a business leader said on Saturday.

"We informed the minister that nothing was said clearly about how much allocation was set aside for the garment sector, although Tk 5,000 crore has been announced in allocation to fight the downturn in the proposed budget," BKMEA president Fazlul Hoque said.

Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo completed his 80 million pound ($130 million) world record transfer to Real Madrid on Friday, signing a six-year deal with the Primera Liga club.

"Real Madrid and Manchester United have signed the final agreement for the transfer of the rights of the player Cristiano Ronaldo effective July 1," Real said on their website (www.realmadrid.com).

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina was fed poisoned food while she was in prison during the 2007-08 military-installed caretaker government, a private TV station quoted a senior Awami League leader as saying on Saturday.

"The leader (Hasina) fell sick having taken the poisoned food and her mouth was swollen. But she never gave in to (pressure)" deputy leader of the parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury said at a programme in the capital.

President Barack Obama on Friday praised the bravery of Iranians who protested against a disputed election in the face of "outrageous" violence, while a hardline Iranian cleric called for the execution of leading "rioters."

Iran's top legislative body, which had said it found no major violations in the presidential election which set off the worst unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, said 10 percent of ballot boxes would be recounted.

There was no sign of foul play in the death of Michael Jackson, coroners who completed a post-mortem on the singer's body have said.

But toxicology and other tests have been ordered, and the cause of the 50-year-old's death could take several weeks to determine.

US health officials estimate that at least one million Americans have been infected with swine flu since the H1N1 virus emerged nearly three months ago.

The number is far higher than cases actually reported to the authorities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said many cases were mild, although 127 people had died.

Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50. Paramedics were called to the singer's Beverly Hills home at about midday on Thursday after he stopped breathing.

He was pronounced dead two hours

Consultants have suggested a 6.15 km-long bridge over the river Padma rather than a 5.58 km one proposed earlier in a feasibility report.

Engineering group Maunsell AECOM in its primary design for the Padma bridge proposed a two-level 'superstructure' with traffic communication in the upper level and railway in the lower.

A 49-year-old Filipina with heart and liver ailments has died after contracting the new flu virus, the first such death in Asia, health officials in Manila said on Monday.

The woman died at her home on June 19, two days after she first showed symptoms of the new influenza A (H1N1) virus, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters.

Toyota Motor Corp's new president, the grandson of the group's founder, warned on Thursday the auto industry faces another two tough years as he outlined his strategy to return the world's No.1 car company to profit.

Toyota aims to build more autonomous operations in North America and shift its focus to marketing a region-specific vehicle line-up, rather than offering a full line-up in every region, Akio Toyoda told his first media conference in the job.