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The government Wednesday condemned bomb blasts that killed at least 60 people in Joypur in India, reports bdnews24.com.

"It was a mindless and shameful act that deserves condemnation in the strongest term," foreign affairs adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury told reporters in his office.

The government has approved Tk 1,000 crore for the fund-crunched Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to help finance oil imports, a top energy official said Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com

Chief adviser Fakhruddin Ahmed is due to inaugurate paddy harvesting and address a farmers' rally in Dinajpur Thursday, said the deputy commissioner for the district, reports bdnews24.com.

The chief adviser will be accompanied by United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's country representative Adrianus Spijkers and Asian Development Bank resident representative Hua Du.

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Former table tennis star Jobera Raham Linu has been elected member of the executive committee of the Bangladesh Olympic Association Wednesday.

Linu, also a joint secretary of the Bangladesh Table Tennis Federation, put two other contenders-- Jobayedur Rahman Rana and Ahmedur Rahman-- to bag the highest votes of 29.

AFP, JAIPUR - Indian police have arrested two men after eight near-simultaneous bombings killed 63 people and wounded 216 in the Rajasthan tourist city of Jaipur, the state's chief minister said Wednesday.

"We have arrested two people and have detained several (more) people for questioning," Vasundhara Raje told a press conference.

REUTERS, YANGON- The 1.5 million people left destitute by Myanmar's cyclone are in increasing danger of disease and starvation, experts said on Wednesday, but its ruling junta said no to a Thai request to admit more aid workers.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej met his Myanmar counterpart Thein Sein in Yangon for 2 ½ hours trying to convince him the former Burma should open up for international relief operations and ease visa rules for aid workers.

REUTERS, BANGKOK - A tropical depression swirling southwest of Myanmar's main city of Yangon could develop into a cyclone within the next 24 hours, a U.S. advisory said on Wednesday.

REUTERS, BANGKOK - Myanmar will need $243 million for rice seed, fertiliser and the rehabilitation of paddy fields in the five cyclone-damaged areas that produce 65 percent of its rice, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday.

Washington, May 14 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - Hillary Clinton won a landslide victory over front-runner Barack Obama in West Virginia and vowed to keep her beleaguered White House bid alive until voting ends in the Democratic race.

Clinton hoped her crushing defeat of Obama on Tuesday would slow his march to the Democratic nomination and bolster her case that she is the Democrat with the best chance to beat Republican John McCain in November's election.

AFP, JERUSALEM  - US President George W. Bush praised Israel on Wednesday at the start of a three-day visit aimed at celebrating the Jewish state's 60th birthday and advancing the peace process with the Palestinians.

Reuters, Tehran - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that Israel was "dying" and that people in the Middle East would destroy it if given the chance.

His remarks coincided with the arrival of U.S. President George W. Bush in the Middle East to celebrate Israel's 60th birthday and try to energize peace efforts complicated by a corruption scandal that could topple Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

AFP, CANNES - Kicking kung-fu pandas and a chilling Brazilian vision of the apocalypse: the Cannes film festival kicks off Wednesday blending fun with philosophy, and Hollywood blockbusters with arthouse fare.

The world release of the latest long-awaited episode of whip-cracking "Indiana Jones" is set to be the star act of the 12-day film bonanza, featuring now-well-over-60 Harrison Ford doing his own stunts.

REUTERS, MUMBAI - As prices in India shoot over the roof, the value of a politically sensitive, perishable commodity has tumbled, troubling farmers whose pleas for aid have gone unheard as the government battles runaway inflation.

Onion prices have nosedived 82 percent in the last seven months, as farmers boosted acreage due to higher prices last year, resulting in a bumper crop, but inflation shot up at an alarming pace during the period, aided by higher food prices.