Bangladesh's Yunus forced out of his bank

Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus and founder of Grameen Bank has been forced from his position. -- PHOTO: AP

DHAKA - NOBEL laureate Muhammad Yunus has been forced from his position as head of the microfinance lender he founded, Grameen Bank, television stations reported on Wednesday.

Bangladesh's central bank ordered his removal after accusations he violated the country's retirement laws, according to Private Desh TV and Bangla Vision Television. The government owns a 25 per cent stake in Grameen, which lends small amounts of money to the poor and spurred similar lending practices worldwide. The innovation won Mr Yunus the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with the bank itself.

The central bank has claimed that Mr Yunus - a longtime critic of the government - violated the country's retirement laws by staying on as Grameen's head well past the mandatory retirement age of 60. Yunus is 70.

Grameen Bank says the normal retirement rule does not apply to it as the bank is run under a special 1983 law. Mr Yunus was appointed managing director of the bank for an indefinite period in 2000 when he reached 60, the bank says.

Mr Yunus could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday.

Mr Yunus has been mired in controversy after revelations of an unauthorised bank transfer and as the microfinance industry comes under attack for placing onerous conditions on borrowers that led to suicides in India's Andhra Pradesh state last year. -- AP

Nipah virus kills at least 15 in Bangladesh

DHAKA - THE government says an outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus has killed at least 15 people in northern Bangladesh in the past week.

The government's Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research asked farmers on Saturday to avoid harvesting dates or drinking date juice, a popular winter treat. The virus is usually spread by pigs and fruit bats, which feed on dates and can contaminate the fruit with the virus.

The virus causes encephalitis, which leads to inflammation of the brain. No drugs have proven effective against it, and it is fatal in about 50 per cent of human cases. -- AP

Up to 19 dead in Bangladesh train collision

Rescuers work at the site of a train accident in Narsingdi district, about 40km east of Dhaka, Bangladesh. -- PHOTO: AP

DHAKA (Bangladesh) - A SPEEDING train slammed into another moving slowly through a station in eastern Bangladesh, killing as many as 19 people and injuring scores, according to officials and news reports.

The force of the impact threw the cars of one train on top of the other, and other cars veered off the track in the head-on collision.

One express train was traveling from the capital, Dhaka, to the southern port city of Chittagong, while the other was making the reverse journey when they collided Wednesday in Narsingdi district, about 40km east of Dhaka.

Local news reports said signal error may have been the cause. 'The engines and front cars of the trains turned into heaps of twisted metal,' said Abdus Samad, a charity worker living near the station. 'I saw people screaming and shouting for help.'

Railway officials fled the area after the crash as angry crowds descended on the station, according to Benazir Ahmed, another witness.

Soldiers joined police and firefighters in searching for people trapped in the wreckage, Bangladesh Railway spokeswomen Shirina Dilhur said. 'We don't have as yet a clear picture of casualties,' she said. 

The United News of Bangladesh agency said at least 19 people died, while ATN Bangla television reported 10 dead and another 100 injured. -- AP