Dhaka - Russia on Wednesday offered to help Bangladesh set up hydroelectric units using river currents to ease the country's severe power crisis, an official said.

"By constructing low-height dams on rivers, it is possible to establish a number of small power plants with 10- to 20-megawatt generation in Bangladesh," Russian Ambassador Gennady P Trotsenko said after meeting with Bangladesh officials.

The envoy said a Russian delegation would visit Dhaka next month for a feasibility study of a pilot project using river currents.

Dhaka - Bangladesh's Awami League-led government Wednesday cancelled the lease of a residence in Dhaka awarded to former premier Khaleda Zia 27 years ago as widow of slain president Ziaur Rahman, officials said.

A weekly meeting of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed's cabinet decided to cancel the lease of one of the two homes awarded to Zia following the assassination of her husband Rahman, an army chief-turned-president of the country.

President Rahman was assassinated in a military coup on May 30, 1981.

Dhaka  - Bangladesh may request the International Criminal Court to put on trial Pakistani forces for alleged war crimes, a top official said Tuesday.

"We will take the matter to the International Criminal Court and seek the trial of the members of the Pakistani occupation forces who committed crimes against humanity during our liberation war," State Minister for Liberation War Affairs, AB Tajul Islam, told German Press Agency dpa.

Dhaka - Security forces arrested the chief of a British charity Monday for suspected terrorism financing under the guise of operating religious schools in southern Bangladesh, officials said.

A pre-dawn police raid arrested Faisal Mustafa, the head of Green Crescent charity, from central Gazipur district, senior officer Rezanur Rahman told a press conference.

Dhaka - A Bangladeshi rights group Saturday called for recognising environmental refugees with free economic migration rights under UN covenants as it estimated some 30 million people of the South Asian country are already exposed to climate change.

Making their demands public for recognition of the environmental refugees as "universal natural person" the Equity and Justice Working Group Bangladesh, said it was planning local and international campaigns in favour of the people under climate threat.

Dhaka  - The chief of Bangladesh's anti-graft authority resigned Thursday, saying that new leadership is needed to fight graft in the country's changed political landscape.

"You all know the present situation. There is no need to explain it again. I don't want to go into details. I would only say the circumstances demand a new leadership for the commission to gear up its activities," said Mashhud Chowdhury, confirming his resignation.