The Rapid Action Battalion have arrested nine garment workers on charges of causing violence in Mohakhali, Gulshan and Tejgaon areas on July 30 during protest against the new pay scale.

They were arrested on Thursday night from Mohakhali, Gulshan and Tejgaon areas, RAB-1 commanding officer Lt Col Rashidul Alam told a press briefing on Friday at the RRF Bhaban in Uttara.

Districts in Pakistan's Sindh province were on high alert on Saturday for floods which have devastated other parts of the country and cast fresh doubts over President Asif Ali Zardari's leadership.

At least 1,600 people have been killed by the flooding. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said 12 million people had been affected in two provinces, s figure that does not include, for the moment, southern Sindh.

Fourteen more complaints over Jamaat-e-Islami leader Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher's threat to the ruling Awami League-led government were filed with police in Dhaka, Bogra and Gopalganj on Friday.

On Thursday, a similar complaint was filed with Shahbagh police in the city.

A fire at a gold mine in eastern China has killed 14 miners, while more than 300 have been lifted to safety, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.

Rescue operations were proceeding with eight miners still trapped underground and believed to be alive, it said. The fire broke out on Friday afternoon at the mine near Yantai city in Shandong province, Xinhua said.

At least six people were killed with another 20 injured in a road accident in Narsinghdi on Saturday.

The accident took place at around 9am on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway near the Shibpur area of Kumarpara Upazila.

An Awami League leader of Lakhsmichhari Upazila in Khagrachhari has been kidnapped by some unknown abductors, his family have claimed.

Kalindra Chandra Chakma, 40, organising secretary of the Lakhsmichhari Upazila unit, has been missing since he went to Fatikchhari on Friday evening to see a doctor, Lakhsmichhari police chief Md Kamrul Hasan said quoting Kalindra's daughter Sumita Chakma.

Indian finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will arrive in the city on Saturday afternoon for a four-hour trip to witness the signing of a loan agreement with Bangladesh worth US $1 billion.

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina will meet him at her office in the evening before his departure at around 8.00 pm, officials say.

If you're trying to bring your blood pressure to a healthy level, a US study suggests that how much you weigh is more important than how fit you are.

As expected, the study of about 35,000 people by the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found overweight or obese people were more likely to have a high systolic blood pressure - the top number in a blood pressure reading.

The new commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan issued a directive on Wednesday that could facilitate use of air strikes but also called on troops to do everything possible to avoid putting civilians at risk.

General David Petraeus, who took command of the nine-year-old war in Afghanistan in July, did not rewrite the rules guiding the use of force in his new "tactical directive."

Financial experts at a discussion on Wednesday slammed the central bank's monetary policy, saying it would fail to tackle inflation.

"Achieving the desired inflation rate of 6.5 percent [by Bangladesh Bank] is no way possible," said former finance adviser to the immediate past caretaker government AB Mirza Azizul Islam.

The rate of poverty reduction does not match the expansion of micro-credit in the country, said the finance minister.

"Poverty alleviation is not reducing at the desired pace in spite of increase in disbursement of micro-credit," said finance minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday, while speaking at the award giving ceremony of the 'Citi Micro-enterprenuership Awards 2009.'

The main opposition BNP is set to demonstrate at the capital's Muktangan on Thursday afternoon to protest against the prime minister's comment earlier in the week stating that the BNP chief Khaleda Zia should "admit her past crimes."

At the rally, scheduled to start at 4 pm, the opposition will also protest about the 'false cases' filed against the party's secretary general Khandker Delwar Hossain, standing committee member Rafiqul Islam Miah and vice president Shah Moazzem Hossain. It will also demand the release of detained BNP leader Mirza Abbas and other leaders

With 200 days to go before the first ball is bowled in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, the event mascot's name was unveiled in a simple but impressive ceremony at P Saravanamuttu Stadium in Colombo on Monday ahead of the third Test between Sri Lanka and India.

The mascot, an elephant, has been named 'Stumpy' after an online selection process that drew proposals from thousands of cricket fans around the world, according to media reports.

Rapid Action Battalion has arrested three Islami Chhatra Shibir leaders and one of their cadres from different parts of the capital.

They were detained in a drive conducted from Tuesday night to Wednesday dawn, a RAB official told bdnews24.com, requesting anonymity.

The International Crimes Tribunal, on Wednesday morning, asked prison authorities to produce Jamaat-e-Islami executive committee member Delwar Hossain Sayedee on Aug 10, in a case for alleged crimes against humanity during 1971.

The order was given in a case filed with the tribunal on July 21 against Sayedee for committing genocide, rape, arson, and loot at Pirojpur on May 8 and Jun 2, 1971.

In its second ruling on Monday, the International Crimes Tribunal ordered four top leaders of the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to be held in custody until further orders. UPDATES

Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami, secretary general Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, assistant secretary general Muhammad Kamaruzzaman and Abdul Quader Molla were sent back to Dhaka Central Jail after a brief hearing that lasted barely 15 minutes.

The Election Commission has said it has nothing to do with Satkhira-4 MP HM Golam Reza for his alleged concealment of information before the national elections.

In a letter to the complainant's lawyer on Monday, the EC secretariat said the commission would not take any actions against the Jatiya Party MP since the complaint was not lodged during or immediately after the scrutiny of his nomination paper.

India opener Virender Sehwag lost his numero uno status after being toppled by Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara in the latest ICC player rankings for Test batsmen released on Sunday.

Sehwag has dropped to second after making 99 runs in the first innings but not batting in the second after the match ended a tame draw in Colombo last Friday, reports PTI.

The police have clubbed and tear-gassed thousands of apparel workers off the Dhaka-Narayanganj link road, who had come out on the streets from Kathherpool, Kutubail, Ramarbagh, Shibu Market and Fatulla Post Office Road areas in Narayanganj to protest the minimum pay scales.

At least 20, including police officials, were injured in the sporadic clashes that occurred at Kathherpool and surrounding areas on Monday morning.

China's air force begins a five-day exercise starting on Tuesday with fighter jets, spy planes and helicopters, state media said, against a backdrop of increased diplomatic and military tensions with Washington.

Chinese media has announced several military drills over the past few weeks, including of naval forces. Such events are normally shrouded in secrecy and little reported on, but the military has recently said it is trying to be more open.