The European Union says it has been following the judicial proceedings of the Bangabandhu murder case, BDR mutiny cases and preparations for trying 1971 war crimes, but it opposes death penalties in any of these cases of "politically motivated murders".

The statement issued Saturday by Catherine Ashton, high representative of the EU for foreign affairs and security policy, comes against the backdrop of preparations for hanging the convicted killers of the country's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

The Supreme Court on Sunday will hear petitions, of the five former army officers sentenced to death for the 1975 murder of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, for review of the verdict last November that rejected their appeals and upheld their death sentences.

Convicted killers Syed Faruk Rahman, Mohiuddin Ahmed, Bazlul Huda, AKM Mohiuddin Ahmed and Sultan Shahriar Rashid Khan face death by hanging in the case, possibly days away.

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman said the country would carry on with its own policies, rejecting the World Bank's recent projection about Bangladesh's downward economic growth.

"We must determine what to do, where and when to do it," he told a discussion on inclusive banking and widening formal financial services on Saturday.

Former foreign minister Anisul Islam Mahmood has said it was Bangladesh that proposed the controversial Tipaimukh dam in 1988 to control flooding.

Speaking at a discussion meeting on prime minister Sheikh Hasina's India visit, the Jatiya Party MP said the hydro-electric dam may not reduce Bangladesh's water availability in the downstream.

LDCs need genuine access to the market of both developed and advanced developing countries to foster economic growth, a senior UN official said in Dhaka Wednesday.

Assistance for augmenting trade infrastructure and production capacities is also needed for LDCs, said UN undersecretary general Noeleen Heyzer.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina urged imams and religious leaders on Wednesday to come forward and prevent bids to spreading communalism and militancy in the country.

Speaking as chief guest at an imam training convention, she told the religious leaders to unmask the culprits using the true interpretation of Islam as a peaceful religion.

BNP secretary general Khandaker Delwar Hossain has said the government's policy of pressing charges to silence the opposition will not succeed.

His sounded the warning at a meeting organised by Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal marking the 74th birth anniversary of late president Ziaur Rahman at the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh auditorium on Wednesday.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said the government is looking at a significant expansion of the Dhaka City Corporation area, and more satellite towns in the suburbs, as part of the capital's 20 year mega-city plan.

The expanded DCC coverage area would take in municipalities of Narayanganj, Tongi, Gazipur, Savar, Kadam Rosul, Siddirganj and Tarabo.

The H1N1 flu pandemic appears to be easing, but a third wave of infections could yet strike, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Monday.

"Pandemic infections are occurring in many countries but overall the pattern is decreasing," Keiji Fukuda, the WHO's top flu expert, said at the start of a week-long meeting of the organisation's Executive Board.

Shahbagh police on Tuesday filed a case against eight top Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal leaders and 200-300 unnamed people in connection with the pro-BNP student front's factional clashes on Dhaka University campus the previous day that left 20 people injured, including the Shahbagh police chief and DU proctor.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner Shahidul Islam told reporters that Shahbagh police sub-inspector Nasiruddin had filed the case.

A parliamentary panel has recommended introduction of 'direct to home' television service which may break the monopoly of the cable TV operators in Bangladesh.

The information ministry-related standing committee on Tuesday observed that the DTH service will give the viewers better picture quality and more options on satellite channels.

Ruling Awami League on Monday condemned the statement of BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on the prime minister's visit to India, terming it "absolute propaganda" and "information terrorism".

Khaleda, in a televised press conference on Sunday, said Sheikh Hasina "brought nothing back" from her recently-concluded tour of India. She said the visit has been successful for India, not for Bangladesh. The opposition leader said far from benefiting Bangladesh, the prime minister's visit had harmed national interests.

Jyoti Basu's death has left a political vacuum in the region, prime minister Sheikh Hasina said as she paid her last respects to the former chief minister of West Bengal in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The lion of Indian communism, who died on Sunday at the age of 95, was given state honours and a gun salute on his last journey before his body was handed over to a hospital in Kolkata for medical research.

Senior BNP leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury on Friday vowed to prevent India from using Chittagong port. He said prime minister Sheikh Hasina had put Bangladesh's security at risk by allowing India to use Bangladesh's ports in a deal sealed in her recent trip to that country.

The BNP policymaker said this move would gradually isolate Chittagong port from the rest of the country and observed that it was 'successful' only for India.

Students activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League and Islami Chhatra Shibir clashed at Khulna and Meherpur on Friday, with BCL adherents setting ablaze the office in Meherpur of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami that backs Shibir.

At least 50 students were injured when the two student organisations fought each other at Khulna Government BL College.

Opposition chief Khaleda Zia's news conference scheduled for Saturday has been postponed by one day.

A release from the BNP chairperson's press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan on Friday evening said, the press briefing was delayed because another press conference was scheduled on the same day by the prime minister.

Industries minister Dilip Barua on Thursday told parliament that an industrial park would be set up at Mirersharai upazila in Chittagong. The minister informed the House about the government decision while answering a question from Nurul Islam MP.

Answering to a query of MA Jabbar MP from Satkhira-2, Barua said some new projects had been launched alongside the reinforced programmes of BSCIC for giving the small and cottage industry a shot in the arm.

More than three percent of sudden deaths in Europe are related to cocaine use and many of them are brought on by a "lethal cocktail" of the drug, alcohol and cigarettes, scientists said on Wednesday.

Results of a study on sudden death show there is no such thing as safe recreational cocaine use, the researchers said, and suggest the 12 million Europeans who use cocaine are putting their lives on the line.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has said her India trip has been '100 percent successful' and it consolidated efforts for regional development and elimination of poverty.

Speaking at a news conference at Zia International Airport on her return on Wednesday, Hasina said the four-day visit was aimed at establishing peace in South Asia and strengthening relationship between neighbours.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has dedicated the Indira Gandhi prize she received on Tuesday to the people of Bangladesh.

She made the announcement at a briefing at Zia International Airport on Wednesday on her return from India tour. She received the prestigious Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development in New Delhi, which carries 25 lakh rupees.