REUTERS, KUWAIT- Inflation-hit Kuwait is considering raising the minimum wage to 40 dinars ($151) after Bangladesh workers staged a strike demanding better pay, state news agency KUNA reported.

Local Polls

Staff Correspondent

The home ministry announced Wednesday that no one will be permitted to move about carrying firearms, including licensed guns, to be enforced in election areas a day ahead of the city corporation and municipal polls until the day after.

Illegal immigrants

Staff Correspondent

The Saudi Arabian government has deported 118 illegal immigrants from Bangladesh back home, an immigration official said Wednesday.

Truth Commission

Staff Correspondent

Justice Habibur Rahman Khan has been appointed to the Truth and Accountability Commission as chairman, an official said Wednesday.

Staff Correspondent

The UK's Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears has said interests of Britain and Bangladeshi people depend on the restoration of democracy.

Foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury Wednesday stressed the need for close connectivity with Sri Lanka, reports bdnews24.com.

Our Correspondent

Four people died and six were injured in a head-on collision between two vehicles on the Jessore-Khulna highway on Wednesday, a police official said.

Bdnews24.com

Indices on the Dhaka Stock Exchange ended lower for a third day due to a decline in blue-chips.

A fall in share prices of insurers, banks and mutual funds also influenced Wednesday's trading.

Tariffs

The Guardian

Last-ditch talks to salvage a deal in the seven-year Doha round of global trade negotiations broke down dramatically in Geneva last night, after India, China and the US fell out over measures to protect poor farmers.

Bdnews24.com

Ismail Hossain Simon, son of the late shipping minister Akbar Hossain, was freed from jail on bail in the GATCO scam case Wednesday, an official with Dhaka Central Jail said.

Vandalism in Kuwait

Desk Report

Kuwait will deport some of the 500 Bangladeshis who were involved in damaging vehicles and attacking the police in the gulf kingdom, an official said Wednesday.

REUTERS, MINGORA, Pakistan- More than 25 Taliban militants and five Pakistani soldiers have been killed in a fierce clash in the troubled Swat valley in the northwest, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.

The National Board of Revenue Wednesday launched a service centre for taxpayers on Topkhana Road for Dhaka tax zone-7, NBR said in a statement, reports bdnews24.com.

AP, NEW YORK -- Oil prices are slightly higher, hovering near $123 a barrel, after the government reported that U.S. gasoline supplies fell unexpectedly last week while crude stockpiles fell less than expected.

AP, LONDON  -- The U.S. dollar was narrowly mixed Wednesday against other major currencies in European trading. Gold prices fell.

AP, HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe will knock 10 zeros off the country's hyper-inflated currency next month, making 10 billion dollars one dollar, the nation's central bank governor said Wednesday.

The High Court has recently struck down two ordinances signed by the President on the contention that the Emergency Government "has no authority to enact any law which is not related to election and emergency issues". Lawyers are saying that other ordinances, if challenged before the High Court may also be cancelled or annulled in the same way and for the same reasons.

Interest of local ones be given priority

Initial public offering

Staff Correspondent

Grameenphone, the country's largest mobile phone operator, submitted its prospectus for an initial public offering to the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday.

GP's chief financial officer Arif Al Islam handed the prospectus to SEC chairman Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi.

Forget cola, lemonade or beer – Japanese people sweltering in the summer heat now have a new canned drink to quench their thirst – made out of eels, reports AP.