REUTERS, NEW DELHI - Unseasonally heavy rains in northwestern India have damaged the cotton crop in some areas and exposed paddy to plant diseases, farmers and scientists said.

Bdnews24.com

The Asian Development Bank has estimated GDP growth at 6.2 percent for FY 2008, the lending agency said in its Quarterly Economic Update of Bangladesh released Thursday.

AFP, MOSCOW - Russian shares soared Friday, regaining much of the value they lost earlier this week, after the government injected tens of billions of dollars into the markets to stave off a financial massive crisis.

AP, SEOUL, South Korea -- British bank HSBC Holdings PLC said Friday it has canceled an agreement to purchase a controlling stake in a South Korean bank from U.S. private equity group Lone Star Funds amid world financial turmoil.

AP, CHICAGO -- Agriculture futures traded higher Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

AP, TOULOUSE, France -- Airbus will meet its target of delivering 12 A380 super jumbo aircraft this year, the company's chief executive pledged Friday, brushing aside reports that manufacturing and engineering difficulties had again put the project behind schedule.

AP, TOKYO -- Toshiba Corp. lowered its profit forecast lower Friday, blaming the plunge in semiconductor prices and weaker-than-expected demand, slipping into the red for the fiscal first half for the first time in five years.

AFP, NEW DELHI - Indian police shot dead two alleged Islamic militants during a fierce gun battle in a Muslim area of New Delhi Friday, including a leader of a shadowy group behind a spate of deadly bombings.

AFP, BEIJING - Starbucks stopped serving milk in many of its Chinese outlets on Friday as a crisis over poisoned dairy products that have left four babies dead and thousands of others sick spiralled.

AP, FRANKFURT, Germany -- Global stock markets roared higher on Friday after news of a possible U.S. government plan to rescue banks from toxic mortgage debt raised a collective sense of hope amid the world's worst financial crisis in decades.

REUTERS, COLOMBO -- Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors killed 63 Tamil Tiger rebels on a second day of fierce combat in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation, the military said on Friday.

REUTERS, BANGKOK - Myanmar's junta has given two years' hard labour to an activist who helped people, including child soldiers, file complaints about forced labour, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Friday.

AFP, WASHINGTON - North Korea has not restarted its nuclear plant at Yongbyon but is moving "closer and closer" to doing so, the US State Department said Friday.

AFP, LONDON  - NATO ministers grappled Friday with how to respond to what it said was Russia's aggression in Georgia, as Moscow accused the alliance of triggering last month's conflict.

AFP, WASHINGTON - More than half of Americans believe they are protected by a guardian angel and two in three are certain that heaven exists, according to a study of US religious beliefs released Thursday.

The first case in the country

Agency

A baby was born on Friday from a frozen embryo implanted in the mother's womb, a first in Bangladesh.

Dr Rashida Begum said at a news conference Salma Begum, 36, and Afzal Hossain, who have been married for five years, decided to take a baby through test tube last year. But the first attempt failed.

The central bank governor and a top economic researcher have different views on whether inflation will come down amid the price fall on international market as July saw another jump in the official rate to nearly 11, reports bdnews24.com

Dialogue bid

Barrister Huq hopes

Staff Correspondent

Barrister Rafique-ul-Huq Friday said he was optimistic about a dialogue between the two former prime ministers once the Awami League chief returned home after the Eid.

"The public opinion about the two leaders sitting together across the table is very strong. Can they ignore it if the public opinion is strong?" barrister Huq said to bdnews24.com on Friday evening after returning from a seven-day private trip to Singapore.

Staff Correspondent

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed leaves for New York on Saturday night to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), an adviser said on Friday.

Foreign adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said he would also will fly with Fakhruddin.