Deadliest Uprising in Syria !!!!!!!!!

Witnesses and a The human rights group  of Syria said,Syrian security forces fired bullets and tear gas Friday on pro-democracy demonstrations across the country, killing at least 49 people — including a young boy — in the bloodiest day of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime.The protests, held every Friday, have become weekly bloodbaths as security forces try to crush the demonstrations.More than 250 people have been killed over five weeks."Bullets started flying over our heads like heavy rain," said one witness in Izraa.

Ammar Qurabi, head of Syria's National Organization for Human Rights, said the death toll had reached 49 and at least 20 people were missing.The protest movement has been the gravest challenge against the autocratic regime led by Assad, who inherited power from his father 11 years ago in one of the most rigidly controlled countries in the Middle East.he uprising in Syria takes its inspiration from the popular revolts sweeping the Arab world. But there are significant differences in Syria that make the protest movement there all the more unpredictable.

The country's military structure is a key difference — unlike the armies of Tunisia and Egypt, Syria's military and security apparatus will almost certainly stand by Assad, at least for the time being.

That means there could be darker days ahead as the uprising gains momentum, something that has implications far beyond Syria's borders. Damascus stands in the middle of the most combustible conflicts in region because of its web of allegiances, from Lebanon's Hezbollah and Shiite powerhouse Iran.On Friday, tens of thousands of people were protesting in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the central cities of Hama and Homs, Latakia and Banias on the coast, the northern cities of Raqqa and Idlib, the northeastern Kurdish region, and the southern province of Daraa.

Friday's witness accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has expelled journalists and restricted access to trouble spots. Witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Assad has been trying to defuse the protests by launching a bloody crackdown along with a series of concessions, most recently lifting emergency laws that gave authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest.

He also has fulfilled a decades-old demand by granting citizenship to thousands among Syria's long-ostracized Kurdish minority, fired local officials, released detainees and formed a new government.

But many protesters said the concessions have come too late — and that Assad does not deserve the credit.

Obama said, violence to quell protests must come to an end now.

The brutal crackdown on protesters continued on Saturday with at least 14 more deaths when security forces fired live ammunition to disperse thousands of mourners attending the funerals of those who died on Friday.

The killings were reported from Daraa and the nearby Houran region.Two Syrian MPs from the protest hub city of Daraa and its top cleric on Saturday told Al Jazeera television they resigned in protest at the bloodshed.

"I announce my resignation from parliament," Khalil Al Rifai, a deputy from the southern city said. The satellite channel said he became the second MP from Daraa to quit after Nasser Al Hariri, who earlier announced his resignation, saying he was frustrated because he could not protect his constituents.

"The authorities must respond to all the demands of the people," the Mufti of Daraa, Shaikh Rizik Abdul Rahim Aba Zeid, said. He said while he was taking part in the funeral of 10 martyrs in the nearby village of Izraa, security forces fired at them without provocation.
Another human rights source stated that 112 people were killed in the Good Friday massacre including 28 from Homs Governorate, 23 from Damascus and the surrounding provinces. Syria's National Organisation for Human Rights said that the death toll from two days of violence in Syria reached 120.
Russia, Germany, Greece and Italy joined the chorus of criticism which includes US President Barack Obama and UN chief Ban Ki-moon, while France increased its pressure.

Russia, the first of Syria's allies to speak out, urged Damascus to accelerate its political reforms, saying Moscow was "concerned by the heightening of tensions and signs of a confrontation that is leading to the suffering of innocent people."
The United States condemned "in the strongest possible terms the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,
A Foreign Ministry statement said Russia viewed Syria as its ‘friend' but added, "We are firmly convinced that only constructive dialogue and accelerated broad-scale political, social and economic reforms outlined by the Syrian leadership can achieve stable and democratic development."

Bangladesh P.M.Sheikh Hasina and the leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia exchanged Bangla New Year’s greetings

The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina and the leader of the opposition Khaleda Zia exchanged Bangla New Year’s greetings on Monday.

Bangladesh celebrates Pahela Baisakh, Nabarsha or Bangla New Year’s Day on Thursday, April 14.

The prime minister’s protocol officer Pralay Kumar Joarder hand delivered a Pahela Baisakh greetings card to the leader of the opposition’s private secretary ASM Saleh Ahmed at her parliament office in the morning.

He said that the private secretary of the leader of the opposition received the prime minister’s greetings card.

Later, the private secretary to the leader of the opposition ASM Saleh Ahmed hand delivered Kahaleda Zia’s Pahela Baiskah greetings card to Sheikh Hasina to her private secretary Nazrul Islam Khan at the PMO.

Saleh told that he hand delivered the greetings card from the leader of the opposition to the prime minister to the latter’s private secretary.

He said that the prime minster was in a cabinet meeting at the secretariat when he hand delivered the card to her private secretary.

Gaddafi Accepts roadmap for peace

Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a roadmap for ending the civil war in Libya including an immediate ceasefire, the African Union said on Monday, adding that the issue of his stepping down had also been discussed.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who led a delegation of African leaders at talks in Tripoli, earlier called on Nato to stop air strikes on Libyan government targets to "give ceasefire a chance". Nato officials were not immediately available for comment.

Rebels have said they will accept nothing less than an end to Gaddafi's four decades in power, but Libyan officials say he will not quit.

Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security said the issue had come up in the talks but declined to give details. "There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential." It's up to the Libyan people to chose their leaders democratically," Lamara told a news conference in Tripoli.

Zuma met Gaddafi for several hours at the Libyan leader's Bab Al Aziziyah compound with four other African heads of state. "The brother leader delegation has accepted the roadmap as presented by us. We have to give ceasefire a chance," Zuma said, adding that the African delegation would now travel to the eastern city of Benghazi for talks with anti-Gaddafi rebels.

Nato stepped up attacks on Gaddafi's armour on Sunday to weaken the bitter siege of Misrata in the west and disrupt a dangerous advance by Gaddafi's troops in the east.

The alliance said it destroyed 11 tanks on the outskirts of the eastern rebel town of Ajdabiyah, which looked in danger of being overrun on Sunday, and 14 near Misrata, a lone insurgent bastion in the west that has been under siege for six weeks.

There was no sign of any let-up in the fighting and despite the African leaders' peace roadmap hopes of a negotiated settlement looked slim. A rebel spokesman rejected a deal with Gaddafi to end the conflict, bloodiest in a series of pro-democracy revolts across the Arab world that have ousted the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.

"There is no other solution than the military solution, because this dictator's language is annihilation, and people who speak this language only understand this language," spokesman Ahmad Bani told al Jazeera television.

Nato said it had increased the tempo of its air operations over the weekend, after rebels accused it of responding too slowly to government attacks. The insurgents hailed the more muscular approach.

The Nato strikes outside Ajdabiyah on Sunday helped break the biggest assault by Gaddafi's forces on the eastern front for at least a week. The town is the gateway to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi 150 km north up the Mediterranean coast.

A Reuters reporter saw six burning hulks surrounded by 15 charred and dismembered bodies in two sites 300 metres apart on Ajdabiyah's western approaches which rebels said were hit by air strikes.

"Nato has to do this to help us every single day. That is the only way we are going to win this war," said 25-year-old rebel Tarek Obeidy, standing over the bodies.

The government attack, which began on Saturday, included a fierce artillery and rocket bombardment, while some of Gaddafi's forces, including snipers, penetrated Ajdabiyah. Rebels cowered in alleys for several hours under the bombardment.

The corpses of four rebels were found dumped on a roadside. "Their throats were slit. They were all shot a few times in the chest as well. I just could not stop crying when I saw them," said rebel Mohammad Saad. "This is becoming tougher and tougher."

But by afternoon rebels looked back in control of Ajdabiyah, commanding key intersections, and the artillery and small arms fire had died down.

Ajdabiyah had been the launch point for insurgents during a week-long fight for the oil port of Brega 70 km further west, and its fall would be a serious loss.

Gaddafi, making his first appearance in front of the foreign media in weeks, joined the visiting African leaders at his Bab Al Aziziyah compound. He then climbed into a sports utility vehicle and was driven about 50 metres where he waved through the sunroof and made the "V" for victory sign to a crowd of cheering supporters.

It was Gaddafi's second appearance in two days after he received an ecstatic welcome at a Tripoli school on Saturday. The appearances, and Gaddafi's upbeat demeanour, confirmed the impression among analysts that his circle has emerged from a period of paralysis and is hunkering down for a long campaign, another sign that mediation will be difficult.

Analysts predict a drawn-out, low-level conflict possibly leading to partition between east and west in the sprawling North African Arab state, a major oil and natural gas producer.

Nato's commander of Libyan operations said the alliance, which took over air strikes against Gaddafi from three Western powers on March 31, had destroyed "a significant percentage" of Gaddafi's armour and ammunition stockpiles east of Tripoli.

No work permit restrictions on Foreigner's !!!!!

A senior Kuwaiti official has said the gulf state has no plans to restrict the issuance of work permits to foreigners, whether Arab or non-Arab, after reports surfaced last week about a ban on Iranian nationals taking up jobs in Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Kuwait's Al Watan daily quoted Mansour Al Mansour, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, as saying: "We have not received any directives from the Council of Ministers or the Ministry of Interior, which are concerned with the security of expatriates, to ban anyone."

Several reports about a ban on Iranian nationals taking up jobs in Kuwait and other GCC countries came up last week.

The ban, according to the reports, was allegedly linked to the busting in Kuwait of a spy cell reportedly commanded by Iranian forces. Two Iranians were condemned to death by a Kuwaiti court for their role in the espionage ring.

Al Mansour said the social affairs and labour ministry was working on assisting foreigners in the private sector who have overstayed their residency to regularise their status after they get new jobs.

Dr.Yunus files plea for SC order recall

Dr.Muhammad Yunus has filed a petition with the Supreme Court urging withdrawal of its order that confirmed the High Court ruling backing his sacking from Grameen Bank. 

One of his counsels, Mustafizur Rahman Khan, About Dr.Muhammad Yunus filing a fresh petition on Tuesday , the day full bench of the Appellate Division dismissed the Nobel Peace laureate's appeal. 

"Hearing on the petition will be held on Wednesday, along with the appeal filed by the nine directors of Grameen Bank," Khan said. 

Another Yunus counsel Rokan Uddin Mahmud said, "The appeal to withdraw the order (yet to be signed) could be made following a complaint by Kamal Hossain (a Yunus counsel). 

"Kamal Hossain protested the judges' decision saying 'quashing the leave-to-appeal before letting us finish our argument is contrary to the law'. So, please withdraw the order and allow us to complete our submission." 

Following the request, the chief justice allowed them to file the recall petition, Mahmud added. 

Tuesday's dismissal of the microfinance Guru's appeal by the apex court virtually puts to rest a bitter battle between Yunus and the government. 

Yunus had convened a news conference at Grameen Bank headquarters at 5:30pm to brief the media on his reaction to the latest court ruling, but later postponed it, the bank's information and media co-ordinator Rafiqul Islam said. 

At the hearing, senior Supreme Court lawyer Kamal Hossain appeared for Yunus, attorney general Mahbubey Alam argued for the government, and Tawfiq Newaz and Ajmalul Hossain for the Bangladesh Bank. 

"Yunus is not the Grameen Bank managing director from now," Ajmalul told that, after the dismissal of the Nobel laureate's appeal on Tuesday. 

Yunus' lawyer Kamal Hossain, however, said, "Whether Dr Yunus will be able to continue as Grameen Bank MD cannot be ascertained right now. 

"Another appeal, by nine directors of Grameen Bank is still under trial. Before its verdict, we cannot say anything conclusive." 

In the hearing, Kamal Hossain said, "If an action is taken against someone, he must be given a notice. Attorney general did not present his statement through an affidavit." 

"A rule must be issued if explanation of law is required. It was not done in this case," he added. 

He argued that the retirement age of 60 was applicable for bank employees, not the MD, "since he is employed by the bank's governing council". 

Attorney general Mahbubey Alam said Yunus' appointment letter had mentioned that he would be treated as a regular officer of this bank. 

"Since he was a regular officer of the bank, the retirement age would apply to him as well." 

On Mar 29, a regular bench of the Appellate Division, led by chief justice A B M Khairul Haque, ordered Yunus to seek permission for admissibility of the appeal for a freeze on the High Court order and fixed Monday the hearing, which was later moved to Tuesday. 

On Mar 8, the High Court rejected Yunus's claim that his sudden sacking on Mar 2 by the central bank and financial sector regulator was arbitrary and illegal. 

In its decision, the High Court had found that Yunus, 70, had no legal authority to act as the micro-lender's managing director, since its board had not obtained the Bangladesh Bank's sanction to re-appoint him beyond the bank's official retirement age of 60. 

Yunus argued that Grameen Bank had been given special status and it was exempt from the rule. 

He filed a petition against the order which the High Court had rejected. Later, on Mar 9, Yunus filed a petition seeking a stay on the High Court order. 

Hearing the appeal on Mar 29, the Appellate Division asked the 2006 Noble laureate to file a leave-to-appeal and he did it on Sunday following the publication of the full verdict. 

The removal of Yunus drew flaks from home and abroad with the US criticizing Bangladesh's handling of the affair.

Main opposition BNP also spoke highly against the decision, while his supporters said the firing was the culmination of a political vendetta against him. 

Prime Minister Skeikh Hasina has accused Yunus, who briefly set up his own political party in 2007 during the military-run caretaker government, of using 'tricks' to avoid taxes and 'sucking blood of the poor' with his bank's loans. 

The United States warned last month that ties with Bangladesh could be affected if a solution was not found to the clash between the government and Yunus. 

PUSH FOR SETTLEMENT 

Shortly after he was asked to leave the bank, Yunus tried to bargain the post of the chairman of the board of directors for himself, so that he could continue to oversee the bank after retiring. 

But the government refused. 

Yunus issued an appeal on Mar 7 for a smooth transition of leadership at Grameen, in first public indication that he was willing to relinquish control of the institution. 

His supporters released a letter Yunus wrote last year to finance minister A M A Muhith, proposing that he step down as managing director, and suggesting the government , which selects a quarter of the Grameen board's voting members and the chairman , appoint him as chairman. 

"This will ensure the continuity in the bank remains. The staff and borrowers of Grameen Bank will not get scared by the suddenness of my departure," Yunus wrote. 

The bank now has 20,000 employees and 83.5 lakh customers. It has distributed Tk 60,400 crore in loans as of January 2011. 

Grameen Bank recently came under media gaze after a Norwegian television documentary "Caught in Micro Debt" by Danish filmmaker Tom Heinemann on Dec 1 last year. 

He claimed Yunus and his associates wrongly diverted nearly $100m of grant money in 1996 to another company - Grameen Kalyan - which was not involved in micro-credit operations, without respecting procedures laid down by the donors. 

Heinemann's report alleged that after the Norwegian authorities raised objections to the alleged transfer of funds, Grameen bank returned about $30m. The aid money was from Norway, Sweden and Germany was the first among Bangladeshi news media outlet to cover it. 

The secret documents, which have never been published before and some of which are available on the http://swpnil.blogspot.com reveal that Prof Yunus breached the agreement on housing loans. 

And when the Norway embassy, Norwegian aid agency Norad and the Economic Relations Division in Bangladesh demanded that he return the money to Grameen Bank, Yunus gave back less than some Tk 2 billion ($30 million) of the Tk 100 million. The remainder remained with Grameen Kalyan. 

The issue had been buried following a personal appeal from Yunus who had written to the Norad director general to save him from embarrassment. 

In the personal letter on April 1, 1998, he said: "If the people, within and outside government, who are not supportive of Grameen, get hold of this letter we'll face real problems in Bangladesh," pleaded the man synonymous with small loans to village women. 

"And Norad, the Norwegian Embassy and the Bangladeshi authorities kept their mouths shut," the documentary says. The money was from foreign grants from countries such as Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, and the transaction took place at the end of 1996. 

Later, in December last year, Yunus said he had received no undeclared benefits from Grameen, and that there was no question of corruption in the organisation. 

The Norwegian government opened an inquiry. "The Government of Norway finds it totally unacceptable that aid is used for other purposes than intended, no matter how praiseworthy the causes might be," Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim said in a statement. 

Following the investigation, it only said the matter had been resolved and they found no evidence of a breach of its rules.

DPRK ship sinks at Chittagong port .

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) flagged ship sank in the Bay of Bengal Thursday afternoon at outer anchorage of Bangladesh's Chittagong port, 242 km southeast of capital Dhaka, after it collided with another ship.

Syed Farhad Uddin Ahmad, secretary of the Chittagong port, told Xinhua by phone Thursday that the ship collided with another ship late Wednesday night and sank on Thursday afternoon at the outer anchorage of the port.

Ahmad said three of five compartments of the ship MV Hang Robong were flooded after a crack developed following the collision.

He said that most part of the ship went down under water.

According to Chittagong Port Radio Control, the DPRK ship carrying 31 crew and 13,492 tons of rice entered the outer anchorage at about 11:30 p.m. local time Wednesday and tilted after dashing with another ship. The 31 crew members of the ship were safe and were transferred to another ship.

The secretary of the port said the ship might be brought to the bank with the help of another ship.

UN wants to take more police from Bangladesh for peacekeeping !!!

The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operation (UNDPKO) has assured Bangladesh of increasing the number of Bangladeshi Police personnel in the UN peacekeeping missions, an official said here in the Dhaka Thursday.
UNDPKO Police Adviser Ann Marie Orler said this when she called Bangladeshi State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku at his office, said a official press release.
The UNDPKO Adviser also assured that her organization would offer more training for Bangladeshi peacekeepers and recruitment of women police personnel for peacekeeping.
She also said that UNDPKO would consider a Bangladesh proposal for setting up a regional UN Peacekeeping Training School in Bangladesh.
"The school will provide necessary training to the members of United Nations Police (UNPOL) and Formed Police Unit (FPU) from home and abroad.

Nobel winner Yunus loses battle to stay on as Grameen Bank chief

Dr.Muhammad Yunus, the Nobel prize-winning development economist, appears to have lost his bitter battle with the Bangladeshi government for control of the pioneering microlender Grameen Bank, which he founded nearly three decades ago.

Bangladesh's chief justice, A.B.M. Khairul Haque, ruled out an appeal by Yunus against a decision last month by the central bank to ban him from continuing as a managing director, a post he has held since 2000.

"The appeal is dismissed," Haque told a crowded courtroom of the country's supreme court on Tuesday.

Dr.Yunus(70) did not appear in court but his legal team said they were surprised by the decision.

"The hearing was going well till the Tea break. We were hoping the order would be in our favour. But God knows what happened, after the Tea break the whole scenario changed," said barrister Rokonuddin Mahmud.

Despite the apparently final nature of the ruling against Dr.Muhammad Yunus, his team told they still hoped to find a legal avenue to continue the fight.

The decision was the climax of a long battle between the Grameen Bank's founder and the Bangladeshi government which has triggered statements of concern from diplomats and a range of international personalities including Mary Robinson, the former Irish president, and the American senator John Kerry.

Supporters claim the respected economist, who founded the Grameen Bank in 1983 after witnessing the suffering of rural people in a series of famines, is the victim of a political vendetta.

An outspoken government critic, Dr.Yunus has long had frosty relations with the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina. Reportedly angered by Yunus's attempt in 2007 to form his own political party, Hasina has accused Grameen Bank and other microfinance institutions of charging high interest rates and "sucking blood from the poor borrowers".

The microlending bank currently has nearly 9m borrowers in Bangladesh, 97% of whom are women. Without needing collateral to borrow, many use their small loans to make ends meet or to start small businesses.

Control of the bank would be a considerable political asset and a significant help in the cut-throat battle for power in the south Asian nation.

Bangladeshi economist Wahiduddin Mahmud said the court case was not just about a point of law. "At stake is an orderly changeover of the Grameen's leadership that can preserve the integrity of the institution and the confidence of its millions of poor members.

European supporters of Dr.Yunus have repeatedly said that the poor will suffer if its founder, who won the Nobel prize in 2006, is removed.

One factor helping the Bangladeshi government has been a more general loss of faith in microcredit. The attacks on Dr.Muhammad Yunus come at a time when microlending – once hailed as a model that would change the lives of hundreds of millions in the developing world – faces increasing hostility from politicians across the region.

In India, politicians have accused bankers of profiting from the poor and, in some places, have banned further lending or recovery of debts.

In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, aggressive selling and recovery of outstanding interest payments by scores of unregulated microfinance firms have pushed huge numbers of already desperately poor farmers deeply into debt.

Some have no assets and owe many thousands of pounds, a lifetime's earnings.

Yunus has said he wants to step down from his position but at a time of his choosing to ensure a smooth transition for what he calls an institution "of the people".

The bank's poor borrowers comprise 75% of its shareholders. The government holds the other 25%.

Bangladesh accuses BSF of killing 136 citizens

Bangladesh has alleged that 136 of its citizens were killed by Indian border guards since January 2009, a charge earlier dismissed by the Border Security Force.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun told parliament 77 Bangladeshis were killed and 80 injured in 2009 by the BSF.

In 2010, 60 of its nationals were killed and 87 others injured by the BSF, she said. Nine Bangladeshis have been killed and three others injured by the BSF as of March 14 this year.

"The Indian side has assured us that they will take necessary measures to stop the killing of innocent people in the border areas," 

She said the Indian government has supplied non-lethal weapons (rubber bullets) to BSF personnel on experimental basis.

Paramilitary forces from the two countries often exchange gunfire along their troubled 4,000-kilometre border, much of which has been fenced by India

The cross-border firing between Indian and Bangladeshi forces has been a key part of the agenda during talks between the heads of the two countries' border guards amid pledges to scale back confrontations.India has dismissed such allegations in the past, saying most of those caught in the cross-border firing in the 'dark of night' are terrorists, smugglers and criminals who are seeking to move across the international frontier.In January, the home secretaries of the two countries had met in Dhaka to end cross-border problems. India had asked Bangladesh to 'sensitise' its people to follow legal routes for crossing their porous frontier.

Nobel winner Yunus says bank sacking 'political

Nobel laureate and pioneering micro-financier Muhammad Yunus on Monday claimed his ousting from Grameen Bank was part of a Bangladeshi government power grab.

The 70-year-old, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneering concept of small cash loans, was last week removed from the bank he founded and directed, sparking protests in Bangladesh and global diplomatic scorn.

"They want to put their own person at the chair of the bank, a political person," Yunus told an audience in Washington via video conference.

Until his sacking, Yunus claimed relations between the bank and the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had been limited: "We had no real connections," despite the authorities owning a 25 percent stake in the firm.

"Suddenly that has changed. The government got interested in our activities, trying to get involved in the bank."

"The government today wants to take control of the board of the bank so that it becomes fully at their disposal."

Grameen and Yunus shot to fame in the 1980s when they led the development of micro-credit, a system in which small amounts of money are lent to poor entrepreneurs outside the mainstream banking system.

Since then the Grameen brand has sprawled into other sectors from solar panels and popular mobile phones to ethically-produced yogurt.

Observers say money, prestige and an envious prime minister lie at the heart of the scandal.

"His removal is a culmination of a year-long campaign against him by this government," Asif Nazrul, a professor of law at Dhaka University recently told AFP.

"He is strongly disliked by Sheikh Hasina and some others in government because of his huge international acceptability and his nationwide Grameen network. He is perceived as a political threat to this government."

Yunus denied any political aspirations and said he still hoped to keep the character and the independence of the bank.

"I'm not a politician, I'm not into politics, I don't think people would take me seriously as a politician."

He is appealing his sacking at the Bangladeshi High Court.

Yunus apologized for not appearing at the Washington micro-credit conference in person as planned: "Things are going in the wrong direction here in Bangladesh, so I had to stay here."

"This is a totally absurd situation."

Court adjourns Yunus appeal

Bangladesh's Supreme Court adjourned a hearing on Tuesday on whether Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, who has fallen out with the government, was illegally removed from his pioneering "microfinance" bank.

Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize in 2006 for his concept of small cash loans to help tackle poverty, did not attend the hearing, at which he is appealing against a central bank order which sacked him from Grameen Bank.

"Our legal team sought more time to prepare our case and to allow discussions to continue," his lawyer Tamin Husain Shawan told AFP.

"The hearing has been adjourned until April 4. We were seeking a four-week deferment but the Supreme Court turned this down."

The United States warned last week that ties with Bangladesh could be affected if a solution was not found to the clash between the government and Yunus, who is celebrated worldwide for his work helping the poor.

Yunus, 70, was dismissed as managing director of Dhaka-based Grameen Bank last month in what his supporters said was the culmination of a political vendetta against him.

He has defied the central bank order, returning to work at Grameen's headquarters and lodging the appeal contesting his dismissal.

Supporters of Yunus claim the economist was ousted from the helm of his own bank after falling out with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina when he set up a short-lived political party in 2007