The EU's climate fund commitment is not enough, Bangladesh's state minister for environment said Saturday in Copenhagen.

The European Union on Friday made a commitment of 10 billion euro over three years to the climate adaptation fund being negotiated in Copenhagen, through which rich nations are expected to assist poor and vulnerable countries.

The government will revise its Tk 30,500 crore Annual Development Plan after the first half of the fiscal year. Planning secretary Habibullah Majumder said Wednesday that the ADP would be revised and amended between Jan 15-20, five months ahead of the usual June revision.

Majumder also said the rate of ADP implementation in the first four months (July to October) of the fiscal year was "satisfactory".

More than 94 percent of the world's people are not protected by laws against smoking, leaving them exposed to the biggest cause of preventable death, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

In a Global Tobacco Epidemic report the WHO said smoke-free policies were crucial to reducing the harm caused by second-hand smoke, which it said kills around 600,000 people prematurely each year and causes crippling, disfiguring illness and economic losses reaching tens of billions of dollars.

President Barack Obama received the gold Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma in a lavish ceremony in the Norwegian capital on Thursday.

He said the use of force was sometimes justified, especially on humanitarian grounds, and in the case of al Qaeda, negotiations would not cause them to lay down their arms.

The new BNP committee will be announced by next week, a senior BNP leader said on Thursday.

"The party chairperson will nominate the right person as secretary general," BNP vice-president Tariqul Islam told reporters at the party headquarters at Naya Paltan in Dhaka.

Deputy leader of parliament Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury has criticised BNP's national conference as a "mother-son council". Sajeda said Thursday that compared to Awami League's council the nation got nothing remarkable from the opposition's.

Speaking as chief guest at the launch of a Victory Month Fair on Thursday in Chittagong, she declared that trials of 1971 war criminals and of the 1975 Jail Killings of four national leaders would begin soon.

Bangladesh on Thursday pushed for a stronger climate deal to be built on the existing legally-binding Kyoto Protocol that expires 2012.

A Bangladesh official, speaking at a session of the Conference of Parties, said Dhaka would like to see the Kyoto arrangements continued but, if necessary, amended.

The High Court on Monday adjourned hearing until Jan 4 on the petition for quashing the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and her son Tarique Rahman.

The bench of Justice Syed Muhammad Dastagir Husain and Justice Md Rais Uddin passed the order on a time prayer moved by attorney general Mahbubey Alam.

The trial of suspected BDR mutineers in Satkhira region began Monday in a special court at the border force's district headquarters.

The court adjourn for the day after the charges were read out against 61 members of 7 Rifles Battalion. Proceedings will resume on Tuesday in presence of the accused BDR mutineers in the dock.

Bangladesh on Monday vented its anger and "deep concern" at the lack of climate commitment by developed countries, calling their proposals "not adequate" and unacceptable.

In a statement released at the end of the opening day's deliberations, the Bangladesh delegation to the crucial global climate talks here also denounced "the slow progress" of negotiations.

South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn could miss the fifth and final one-dayer against England on Friday due to a hamstring injury.

Steyn was hurt in the third match and sat out the fourth game which England won by seven wickets to take a 2-1 series lead. The opening game was washed out by rain.

Mongla Port Authority has signed a memorandum of understanding with a Singaporean company looking to invest Tk 21,000 crore ($3 billion) to develop the second largest seaport of the country.

Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan, who was present at the MoU signing on Wednesday, said: "This is one of the biggest foreign direct investments in Bangladesh."

Khaleda Zia is set to retain the post of chairperson of her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) as none other sought to contest Wednesday, the last day for filing nomination paper.

No one collected nomination papers other than Khaleda Zia for BNP's 'Chairperson Election – 2009' , said RA Gani, BNP election commission returning officer, at the party's Naya Paltan office.

The government has finalised the second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for the next one and a half years. The implementation of the second PRSP during the period between Jan 01, 2010 and June, 2011 will cost Tk 2814.81 billion.

Finance minister AMA Muhith disclosed this on Wednesday after a meeting on the second PRSP at the planning ministry in the capital.

The second storey of this nondescript building in Fuyang city in China's central province of Anhui houses HIV-positive orphans, but unlike many other similar establishments, there are no signboards outside.

Heavy stigma still surrounds the disease in China, and children -- probably the most vulnerable group among AIDS patients -- are almost invariably barred from schools and even abandoned by their parents and relatives.

The guns are gradually falling silent in Iraq as a fragile stability takes hold, turning the spotlight on a stealthier killer likely to stalk Iraqis for years to come.

Incidences of cancer, deformed babies and other health problems have risen sharply, Iraqi officials say, and many suspect contamination from weapons used in years of war and accompanying unchecked pollution as a cause.

Visiting British parliamentarian George Galloway on Wednesday demanded international enquiry into the proposed Tipaimukh dam by India. Galloway made the remark at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters Unity auditorium.

The MP said an international investigation was required on whether the dam has any negative effect on a section of both Bangladesh and Indian population.

Shipping minister Shahjahan Khan has said that Tarique Rahman, Giasuddin Al Mamun and Arafat Rahman Coco will be charged for the deaths in the launch disaster at Bhola.

He said Khaleda Zia's two sons are on the board of the launch company Rahman Shippers Bangladesh Ltd that owns the MV Coco-4.

Amid signs of growing tacit cooperation against terrorists, insurgents and criminals, Bangladesh and India have finalised the drafts of three major agreements to enhance formal bilateral collaboration against law-breakers of either country.

Home secretary Abdus Sobhan Sikder and his Indian counterpart G K Pillai finalised the drafts of Agreements on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters, Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Combating International Terrorism, Organized Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking.

Mongla Port Authority on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding worth around Tk 21,000 crore ($ 3 billion) with a Singaporean company to develop the second largest seaport of the country.

Mongla Port Authority chairman M Faruque and David Wignall Associates Pte Ltd's chief executive David Wignall signed the MoU at the shipping ministry.