London, September 12 : Bangladesh has launched a climate change action plan to help itself adapt to threats such as rising sea level, water-logged land and increased salinity.

According to a report in Nature News, the strategy, which is aimed at adapting to the local effects of climate change over the coming decade, was launched at a conference in London on September 10, with a 75 million pounds grant from the UK government.

Last year, Bangladesh lost 3,000 people to cyclone Sidr and 140,000 people to a cyclone in 1991. Scientists estimate that 40 per cent of the country could be affected by flooding by 2050 as a result of climate change.

Dhaka  - Former Bangladeshi prime minister Khaleda Zia announced Thursday her Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) would join the upcoming general election for the transition to democracy provided the military-backed interim regime could ensure a level playing field for all political parties.

"Certainly the BNP will contest the polls because we are a democratic organization," said Zia at a press briefing after she was released from a make-shift prison in the high security parliament complex in north Dhaka.

Dhaka  - Former Bangladeshi premier Khaleda Zia walked to freedom Thursday from a high security makeshift prison in the parliament complex in northern Dhaka, a senior prison official said.

Inspector General of Prisons Zakir Hasan said Zia was freed from her special cell after the courts delivered her release order.

Thousands of supporters of the ex-prime minister thronged the parliament building after news of her release spread.

Zia's release comes a year after she was arrested for graft and abuse of power during her second five-year term as prime minister leading a four-party alliance government which included her Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Dhaka , Sept 11 : Khaleda Zia, the former Bangladesh Prime Minister and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) was today released on bail after a year''s detention in prison.

Zia was released as a part of an apparent deal between her and the military-backed interim government.

The BNP chairperson walked free from a makeshift jail in Parliament premises at about 11.45 A. M.

All the necessary papers for her release had reached the jail authorities last night.

Dhaka  - The wife and daughter of executed Islamic militant chief Shaekh Abdur Rahman have been freed on bail from a provincial jail in north-eastern Bangladesh, local officials said Wednesday.

The two women were held in prison since the founder of the outlawed Jamiatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) was sent to the gallows last year along with two of his deputies.

Authorities in Sylhet province said Nurjahan Rupa and her daughter Arifa were released after bail bonds were posted for them.

London, September 10 : The UK is giving 133 million dollars to ‘climate-proof’ Bangladesh, i. e., it would help the country prepare for the impacts of climate change.

According to a report by BBC, the money will go on measures such as protecting houses, schools and farms against flooding, and introducing new crop strains.

Aid agencies have welcomed the move, but say poorer countries will need much more money to adapt to climate change.

UN resources for climate adaptation are badly under-funded, they say. The resources currently available for adaptation are grossly inadequate.