Taliban attack

REUTERS, KABUL - Taliban insurgents have attacked an Indian construction project in the western Afghan province of Herat killing 11 Afghan policemen and wounding several others, a provincial official said on Sunday.

REUTERS, SYDNEY - Australia captain Ricky Ponting has vowed there will no repeat of the bitter feuding that marred his team's last series against India when the sides lock horns again next month.

AP, JERUSALEM - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wasted no time Sunday working to put together a new government, meeting with potential coalition partners even as outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally resigned.

Her ability to move fast in her first task could have far-reaching effects on Mideast peace talks.

AP, ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Two local intelligence officials say troops and tribesmen opened fire when two U.S. helicopters crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan.

REUTERS, WASHINGTON - The White House on Saturday condemned a suicide car-bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that has killed at least 40 people, calling it a "reminder of the threat we all face."

REUTERS

Miners in Lesotho have found one of the world's largest diamonds, a near-flawless white gem close to 500 carats, mining group Gem Diamonds said yesterday.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday petitioned the High Court for bail in the Niko and barge-mounted power plants graft cases, a lawyer said, reports bdnews24.com.

The vacation bench of justices AKM Fazlur Rahman and Sheikh Abdul Awal may hear the two bail petitions on Wednesday.

The deals for offshore oil and gas exploration with two international firms await approval of chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed, CA's special assistant M Tamim said on Monday, reports bdnews24.com.

AP, BEIJING - The number of children in China sickened by dairy products tainted with the banned industrial chemical melamine has jumped to nearly 53,000, the government said Sunday as it vowed to crack down on those responsible for one of China's worst food safety scandals in years.More than 80 percent of the 12,892 children hospitalized in recent weeks were 2 years old or younger.

Demand to pay unpaid salaries, arrears

Staff Reporter

Workers of Amin Jute Mills in Chittagong on Monday staged demonstrations and rallies at the mills premises to demand, among other things, unpaid salaries.

River erosion affects at least three million people in Bangladesh annually, and a staggering five million have already lost their homesteads only this year, a Dhaka seminar was told Monday, reports bdnews24.com.

Banned but still sold

Staff Reporter

Mobile courts on Monday found tins of Chinese milk powder still on sale in Chittagong city, despite a ban on the seized brands and firms facing legal action for marketing the banned products.

Staff Correspondent

The Election Commission will ease party registration rules, in response to demands by parties in the last round of electoral talks, the CEC said on Monday.

Serial bombings in 2005

Staff Reporter

A Chittagong court Monday sentenced Jamaatul Mujahedin Bangladesh leader Jabed Iqbal Mohammad to 10 years in prison for involvement in the countrywide serial bombings in 2005.

BNP, allies ask EC

Staff Correspondent

The BNP and its allies have asked the Election Commission to hold Upazila polls after the parliament convenes.

Delimitation of constituencies

Staff Correspondent

Agencies

Former Awami League health minister Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim was released on bail on Monday at BSMMU Hospital.

Bdnews24.com

Election to Dhaka city will not be held this year, an election commissioner said Sunday.

The Election Commission has been taken by surprise at the flip-flop of Jamaat-e-Islami which agreed to get registered in their first two rounds of talks but reversed its stance in the final round, reports bdnews24.com.

Bdnews24.com

Awami League acting chief Zillur Rahman says his party will take part in the parliamentary polls but insists the upazila polls be deferred.