Hosni Mubarak's government increased pay and pensions for public-sector workers by 15 percent in a desperate bid to return the country to normalcy.

Banks were re-opened, but the stock exchange will not resume trading until Feb 13. It has been closed since Jan 27.

Hindus all over the world are celebrating Saraswati Puja to pay obeisance to the goddess of wisdom and learning, and the deity for fine and performing arts — Saraswati.

Saraswati Puja, performed on the Vasant Panchami day every year, is celebrated across the country, mostly in educational institutions, where the Hindu students seek the blessings of Ma Saraswati.

Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna has informed his Bangladesh counterpart Dipu Moni that 300,000 metric tonnes of rice would soon be ready for export to Bangladesh.

Both ministers on Monday discussed the entire gamut of bilateral and regional issues on the sidelines of the SAARC Council of Ministers meeting held at Thimphu, according to a foreign ministry press release issued on Tuesday.

The British high commissioner says his government trained Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) personnel to help them understand and respect human rights.

"The UK training to RAB was aimed to improve compliance with human rights and is beneficial to Bangladesh," Stephen Evans said in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Protests by retail Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) investors stopped after the key index rose again after a dip.

The general index spiked by 159.79 points in the first hour of trade but started declining around noon. Within 15 minutes the index fell by 18.6 points. Around 1:10pm, however, the index rose again by 33.39 points.

Traffic movement came to a halt on the street in front of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) as angry investors went on demonstration following the downturn at DSE.

The country's two stock markets started the first day of the week with a downturn on Sunday.

The general index stood at 6948.12 falling by 177 points 20 minutes after the trading started at DSE, implying the index fall by 2.48 percent.

Nipah has become a nightmare in border district Lalmonirhat of northern Bangladesh as experts grapple to arrest its spread.

Death toll of the fatal virus claimed to 16 on Saturday from 14, although no new cases have been reported until evening.

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and fast bowlers Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif were banned for at least five years on Saturday after they were found guilty of corruption by an International Cricket Council (ICC) tribunal.

The 26-year-old Butt, who led the Pakistan team in last year's Test series against England, was banned for 10 years, with five of them suspended, for his part in the spot-fixing scandal.

As unrest sweeps the Middle East, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he would give up half his salary in a possible bid to head off simmering discontent, and called for a two-term limit to be placed on his office.

Iraqis have held sporadic protests against food, power and water shortages and their plight acquired particular attention this month as a wave of anti-government protests rocked the region.

Egypt's cultural glitterati have joined thousands of protesters from all walks of life calling for an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak 30-year-rule.

Khalid Abdalla, a British-Egyptian actor known for his lead role in the 2007 adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's "The Kite Runner," was among the crowd on Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) square on Saturday.

The virus that killed 14 people at Hatibandha Upazila in Lalmonirhat in the last four days has been identified as Nipah.

Director of the Institute of Epidemiology Diseases Control and Research (IEDCR) Mahmudur Rahman told reporters on Friday afternoon that they have been able to identify the virus through tests.

The outbreak of the virus was first marked a week back in the area. A team of IEDCR started working to identify the cause on Wednesday following a number of deaths.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said on Friday he could run in Egypt's presidential elections if the Egyptian people asked him to, denying a report in an Austrian newspaper that he would not run.

"This is not true," ElBaradei said in a phone interview with Al Jazeera. "If the Egyptian people want me to continue the change process, I will not disappoint the Egyptian people."

A special court on Saturday gave the verdict in a mutiny case releasing two soldiers and sentencing 21 others of Rangamati 18 Rifles Battalion to different prison terms.

Special court-15 in Rangamati headed by Border Guard Bangladesh Chittagong sector commander Col Jahedur Rahman passed the verdict.

Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak opened fire on protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Thursday, killing at least five, in a fresh spike in violence over an unprecedented challenge to his 30-year-old rule.

In the overnight fighting, machine-gun fire echoed for more than an hour across the central square where protesters -- unsatisfied by Mubarak's pledge to step down in September -- have vowed to stay until the 82-year-old president quits.

Surging food prices are on Thursday expected to push the United Nations' food price index to a record high in January for a second straight month, further above the levels which prompted food riots in 2007/2008.

The Food Price Index of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which measures monthly price changes for a food basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, hit a record in December, above a previous high set in June 2008 during the food crisis.

The roadshow with the World Cup Cricket trophy has reached Abahani ground at Dhanmondi.

The colourful display on wheels kicked off around 10:30am from Atlas Bangladesh Limited office at Tongi.

The cup arrived on a flight from India to Shahjalal International Airport at 8:30am, Touhid Ahmed of the event management firm Eyestoppers told bdnews24.com.

BNP has said it may call off its Monday's hartal if all of its demands, including cancellation of the airport project in Munshiganj, are met.

Party secretary general Khandker Delwar Hossain on Thursday also said the government would be responsible for any consequences if the daylong shutdown was obstructed.

The stock market probe committee will be impartial and free from the bias its chief had earlier expressed, suggests the committee head.

The committee chairman said he would 'forget' the comments he had made, suggesting that his investigation into the stock market volatility would not be clouded by the bias evident in his earlier comments.

At least 80 percent adults suffer from low back pain at some point in their lives, hampering their working abilities.

Experts at a seminar in Dhaka on Saturday said that injury, inappropriate sitting or standing posture, and weak muscles cause low back pain, which ultimately leads to work-related disability.

Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Centre for the Disabled organised the seminar held at the National Press Club.

Chief justice A B M Khairul Haque set a curious precedence visiting the parliament in session at a time when the legislature and judiciary are in a tussle over accountability.

Haque was seen at the audience corner, reserved for high government officials, during the inauguration of the eighth session of the current parliament on Tuesday. President Zillur Rahman was giving the customary speech at that time.