A parliamentary watchdog of Bangladesh said on Thursday it is hopeful of a deal with India on sharing the water of common river Teesta. "We have not discussed Teesta water sharing issue in details at today's meeting. But the committee hopes that Bangladesh and India will be able to reach an agreement on sharing the Teesta water," said Abudr Razzaq, chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on water resources ministry.

The clock will be set back by an hour to the GMT-based original position tomorrow (Thursday) night as the Bangladesh government decided to introduce variable timings for the summer and the rest of the year from 2010. An official announcement Wednesday said the clock will be pushed back to 10:59pm after it ticks 11:59pm to set the original timing position.

The Bangladesh cabinet tonight approved a proposal of bringing backward the clock by one hour from midnight of December 31. The approval was given at a cabinet meeting held at Prime Minister's Office here with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair. The clock will again be put forward by one hour from March 31 and it will remain so till October 31.

The Secretary-General of United Nations (UN) has appointed Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh as Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Timor-Leste and Head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT). Ms. Haq is the highest ranking UN staff from Bangladesh and the first woman from Bangladesh to reach this level.

Bangladesh sought Russian support in energy field to face the energy crisis. Bangladesh Ambassador to Russia Dr SM Saiful Haque sought the support while presenting his credentials to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at the Alexander Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace on Wednesday, according a message received on Thursday from the Bangladesh embassy in Moscow .