Dhaka- A Dhaka court on Thursday ordered Bangladeshi former prime minister Khaleda Zia to face a special court to expedite a hearing on graft charges.

A senior judge's court issued the order as Khaleda - the chief of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, which led the last elected government - and 15 cabinet ministers and officials from her government are charged with corruption in the awarding of a contract for the Barapukuria coal-mine operation to a Chinese company, a counsel of the former premier said.

Dhaka - The number of Bangladesh's poor, who make up nearly half its 153 million population, are rising because of high food prices, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday.

Although Bangladesh's macroeconomic growth has been "remarkably resilient" amid last year's repeated natural disasters and global increases in food and fuel prices, life has become more difficult for a large segment of its population, the international lending agency said in a report published Wednesday from its headquarters in Washington and Thursday in Dhaka.

Dhaka- A British minister on Wednesday arrived in Dhaka to weigh Bangladesh's political situation as it prepares to return to democracy with parliamentary elections slated for December
18.

On his arrival, Lord Mark Malloch Brown - minister of state for Asia, Africa and the United Nations - met with Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a Foreign Affairs Ministry official said.

Brown was expected to call on the chief adviser to the military-backed interim administration responsible for holding a fair election.

Dhaka - A British minister on Wednesday arrived in Dhaka to weigh Bangladesh's political situation as it prepares to return to democracy with parliamentary elections slated for December 18.

On his arrival, Lord Mark Malloch Brown - minister of state for Asia, Africa and the United Nations - met with Bangladesh's foreign affairs adviser, Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, a Foreign Affairs Ministry official said.

Brown was expected to call on the chief adviser to the military-backed interim administration responsible for holding a fair election.

Chowdhury said after his meeting with Brown that they discussed political developments toward holding a peaceful election.

Dhaka - Bangladesh on Wednesday slapped a ban on fishing Hilsha on the Bay of Bengal to help increase the population of the widely consumed fish.

The ban will remain effective for 10 days until October 24, the main breeding period of the fish, over 7,000-square kilometres on the coast and estuaries to ensure safe spawning of Hilsha, an official at the fisheries and livestock ministry said.

Dhaka - The electoral talks between Bangladesh's military-backed government and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party ended inconclusive Tuesday with both sides stressing for further talks to settle their disagreements.

Both sides underscored the need to holding the December 18 election in a free, fair and credible manner, but failed to make any consensus on condition that the party proposed for a competitive election, including lifting of the state of emergency.