Partial results from last week's election put Afghan President Hamid Karzai ahead of main rival Abdullah Abdullah, but not by enough to avoid a second round run-off in October, figures released on Wednesday showed.

With 17 percent of votes tallied, Karzai held a lead of 43 percent to 34 percent over former foreign minister Abdullah. The results have been trickling in over the past week, leaving the country in political limbo. To avoid a run-off, a candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the vote.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday opened Nazrul Complex beside the central mosque on the Dhaka University campus on the 33rd death anniversary of national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam.

She inaugurated the complex at around 7am and had a look around. She later placed wreath on the poet's grave at the mosque premises.

The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of the president's reference for a directive on BDR mutiny trial law until Tuesday.

It heard the reference for a third day on Thursday, with amicus curiae Amir-ul-Islam continuing with the observation he had begun delivering on Wednesday.

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman has said the current surplus liquidity would not affect inflation as the central bank is ready to shift its course any time, if needed.

Bangladesh's foreign reserves increased by a staggering 31 percent during FY2008-09 on the back of remittance, Atiur told a roundtable on monetary policy in the city on Sunday.

The government will withstand any foreign pressure against the planned trial for the crimes during the war of indepence from Pakistan, Deputy House leader Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury said Monday.

She asserted that the trial formalities will be finalised as an election pledge of the party. She urged the opposition to join parliament since they were elected by the people to speak on public issues.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has urged traders and businessmen not to make people suffer during the Ramadan, an aide said on Monday.

The prime minister launched the appeal from a regular cabinet meeting, her press secretary Abul Kalam Azad told reporters at a news briefing organised at the information directorate.

Bangladesh's exports to India will reach at least $1 billion by the end of 2011 as customers in that India now find several of its neighbour's products attractive, a business leader said on Sunday.

"Our main focus will be the consumers of north-eastern states of India who preferred Bangladesh products including food items, textiles, melamine products and toiletries" said Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President of India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

England completed an emotional victory over Australia in the fifth and final Test on Sunday to regain the Ashes they surrendered so abjectly in 2006-7.

Australia, set a record 546 to win, fought a spirited battle on a sun-drenched day at the Oval before four wickets fell for 16 runs when Michael Hussey looked like extending the match into the final day.

Calls to poison control centers for US teenagers who have overdosed on attention deficit drugs rose 76 percent over eight years, researchers reported on Monday.

This is nearly the same as the 80 percent rise in prescriptions for such drugs, Dr. Jennifer Setlik and colleagues at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center reported.

A Malaysian state will cane a Muslim woman who drank alcohol once the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is over, a state governmemt official said on Monday.

"The punishment has not been cancelled, it was postponed because of Ramadan," Pahang state Executive Councillor for Religion, Missionary Work and Unity, Mohamad Sahfri Abdul Aziz, told Reuters.

The High Court has extended the bail for one year to BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia in GATCO corruption case.

The bench of justices Mohammed Abdul Wahab Miah and Abdur Razzak on Monday granted the extension on an appeal by the former prime minister's lawyer barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon.

The Supreme Court has upheld the High Court orders that allowed senior Jamaat-e-Islami leader Delwar Hossain Sayeedee to travel abroad.

The five-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by chief justice M M Ruhul Amin on Monday rejected the government appeal against the High Court ruling.

Bangabandhu Murder Trial
   
The Supreme Court will hear on Oct 5 the long-pending appeals in the Bangabandhu murder trial.

The chamber judge of the Appellate Division, Mohammed Mozammel Hossain, set the date on Monday after state counsel Anisul Huq sought a date earlier in the day.

Indian mobile telephone operators added 14.38 million users in July, the fastest pace in four months in the world's quickest-growing wireless market, data showed on Thursday.

India had 441.7 million cell phone users at the end of July, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said in a statement. It is the second-largest mobile market in the world after China.

US life expectancy is the highest it has ever been at 77.9 years, according to government statistics released on Wednesday.

Both men and women gained, but women still live on average more than five years longer than men, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Death rates also fell, with the age-adjusted death rate dropping to 760.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

The Bangladesh cricket team returned home Thursday night after a highly successful tour of the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Ahad Ali Sarkar received the team at Zia International Airport. Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) president Lt. Gen Sina Ibn Jamali and board directors were also present, said a BCB press release.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is among the world's 100 most powerful women, according to the new Forbes list topped by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the fourth consecutive year.

Hasina came in at No 78, according to the business magazine's rankings released on Wednesday. Among other South Asian women in power, Sonia Gandhi, president of India's National Congress Party, stands in 13th place.

The International Monetary Fund has offered Bangladesh a $700 million soft facility to assist with the impact of the global economic downturn, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman said.

"We received an e-mail from the IMF on Tuesday saying it had decided to give the loan assistance to help Bangladesh face the adverse affects of the global economic downturn, and boost the economy," Atiur Rahman, governor of the central bank, told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

GrameenPhone's record IPO received the final regulatory nod on Thursday to raise almost Tk 500 crore from the capital market, and subscription may open in the last week of September, a top official said.

Securities and Exchange Commission executive director Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan told reporters after an SEC board meeting gave final approval for Bangladesh's biggest ever public offering by its largest mobile phone operator.

GrameenPhone's record IPO received the final regulatory nod on Thursday to raise almost Tk 500 crore from the capital market, and subscription may open in the last week of September, a top official said.

Securities and Exchange Commission executive director Anwarul Kabir Bhuiyan told reporters after an SEC board meeting gave final approval for Bangladesh's biggest ever public offering by its largest mobile phone operator.