Dhaka  - Rahul Gandhi, Indian parliament member and son of ruling Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi, arrived in Dhaka Friday to a rousing welcome to begin a five-day private visit to Bangladesh, officials said.

Gandhi was greeted at the airport by Nobel Peace prize winner Prof Mohammad Yunus and high government officials amidst tightened security, airport sources said.

Dhaka - Political parties in Bangladesh began last-minute campaigning Friday in limited local polls scheduled for next week after a High Court bench quashed a ruling by the Election Commission curbing their participation in mayoral polls, officials said.

The High Court, however, upheld the August 4 scheduled holding of local polls in four cities and nine small municipalities set earlier by the Election Commission.

Dhaka - The military-backed interim government in Bangladesh appointed a three-member Truth and Accountability Commission Thursday as a landmark step to check corruption in high places in one of th

Dhaka - Thousands of Bangladeshi workers in Kuwait began reporting back to their jobs Wednesday after their employers in the oil-rich state agreed to meet their demands for higher wages, the Bangladesh Foreign Ministry said.

Acting Foreign Secretary MAK Mahmud said the Bangladeshi mission in Kuwait confirmed that 12,000 workers who had walked off their jobs over simmering discontent on wages were returning to work.

The Kuwaiti companies hiring the Bangladeshis had agreed to give a raise to the expatriate workers who were mostly doing unskilled odd jobs, Mahmud added.

Dhaka - Tropical squalls sank a fishing trawler off the Bangladesh coast, drowning at least five fishermen in the turbulent waves of the Bay of Bengal, local officials said on Wednesday.

Rescuers picked up bodies of five fishermen from the water after gale winds and heavy showers battered the nearby beach resort city of Cox Bazar, 340 kilometres south of capital Dhaka, late Tuesday.

Dhaka - At least two people were killed and 18 others injured as two inter-city trains collided head-on near the frontier town of Laksham in eastern Bangladesh, media reports said Saturday.

One of the dead passengers was identified as Mohammad Mohiuddin, a 43-year old local farmer, who was traveling on one of the trains, the daily Bangladesh Observer said.