Impoverished Bangladesh appealed on Tuesday for global action to tame soaring crude oil costs, a day after being forced to hike state-set fuel prices by up to 66 percent. The government late on Monday raised fuel prices by 34 to 66 percent, saying it could no longer afford to sell petrol, diesel, kerosene and gas at subsidised rates set when oil cost just 60 dollars a barrel, against over 140 dollars now.

"It's an international crisis," said M. Tamim, the deputy energy minister in the army-backed government, which took power in 2007 and is slated to restore multi-party rule by the end of the year.

"We think rich countries, oil-producing countries and the United Nations should deal with the issue urgently," he told AFP.

Even with the price hike, the government will have to spend 100 billion taka (1.45 billion dollars) on fuel subsidies, which will consume 40 percent of the South Asian nation's development budget.

"Imagine a situation where crude hits 200 dollars a barrel. All development in Bangladesh will stop," Tamim said, urging world players to halt the price spiral "for the sake of Third World countries."

The price rises are a major blow for the country, one of the world's poorest where nearly 40 percent of the 144 million population survive on less than a dollar a day.

Bangladesh is already reeling from surging food prices, with the price of rice -- a staple -- nearly doubling over the past year.

The government hiked diesel and kerosene prices by 37.5 percent to 55 taka (80 US cents) a litre (0.26 gallons) and petrol prices by 34 percent to 87 taka a litre.

Furnace oil, used in small factories, jumped by 50 percent, while a cylinder of gas used for cooking went up by 66 percent.

Tamim called the price rises "unavoidable."

The government last increased fuel prices in April 2007. World crude oil prices have since more than doubled, costing the country over one billion dollars in subsidies in the fiscal year that ends next Monday.

Economist Atiur Rahman, head of Bangladeshi think-tank Development Coordination, said the price hike could be disastrous for millions.

"It's very bad news for farmers, the rural poor and even middle-income people," he said.

"It will drive millions of people into poverty. Inflation will jump immediately. But the government had no choice, its hands were tied. It had to raise prices."

He called on the government to "increase subsidies in other areas" -- such as for staple foods and healthcare -- to lessen hardship for the poor.

A fisherman said the hike in fuel prices was a "catastrophe" for workers in his sector.

"I bought 500 litres of diesel which cost me an extra 7,500 taka (109 dollars)," Mostofa Chowhdury, 50, owner of a sea-going fishing trawler, told AFP by telephone from the southern island of Patharghata

"I don't know how I'm going to make up the extra cost. We can't hike fish prices all of a sudden... nobody's going to pay us."

"It's a catastrophe just like cyclone Sidr," said Chowdhury, whose trawler and home were damaged by last November's destructive cyclone that left at least 3,400 people dead and millions homeless.

Mir Nasir Hossain, a director of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the price increase was a big blow to industry.

"Many businesses will lose competitiveness and some will become loss-making... The government should have done the fuel price rise in phases for the sake of industry," he said.

Fakhruddin Ahmed would lead Bangladesh delegation to the 6th Summit of the leaders of the Developing Eight (D8) scheduled for July 8 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“This would be a significant gathering of government leaders of some of the largest Islamic countries - Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria and Egypt,” said Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury in an announcement on Tuesday.

The D-8 bloc was formed with the objective of promoting economic and trade cooperation among the eight largest Muslim economies.

It seeks to create new trade opportunities, promote linkages and enhance standards of living among the member states.

“The group which came into existence in 1997 has a volume of trade among themselves that stands today at $49 billion, up from $14.5 billion in 1999,” the foreign adviser said.

The summit is held every two years. Bangladesh hosted the second summit in 1999. Its secretariat is based in Istanbul.

A two-day meeting of foreign ministers will precede the summit, where the foreign adviser to the caretaker government will represent Bangladesh.

The chief adviser is expected to leave for Kuala Lumpur on July 7 and return the next day after attending the summit.

A woman along with her four daughters aged between six and 16 was chopped to death by criminals at Khalishpur Uttarpara in Barisal district early on Tuesday morning. The deceased have been identified as Tanjira Begum, 40, her daughters Anjuman, 16, Sathi, 11, Zannatul, 9, and Ferdousi, 6, reports our Barisal correspondent.

Barisal Superintendent of Police Towfiq Mahbub Chowdhury said that the criminals chopped Tanjira and her daughters inside their house at Khalishpur Uttarpara under Mehendiganj upazila. He said they might have been killed following an enmity over land.

Tanjira’s husband Jahangir Howladar, a security guard in Dhaka, was not at home during the incident. Police recovered the bodies at about 10:00 in the morning.

A Dhaka court on Tuesday postponed further witness testimony in the barge-mounted power plant case, against former prime minister Sheikh Hasina and others, to July 10.

Judge Feroz Alam presided over a short hearing, that began around 10.30am at the Special Judge's Court-1, before adjourning further proceedings following a request by defence counsels.

Hasina's lawyers submitted to the court that the case documents had not yet arrived back from the High Court, which had requested them for a hearing of a petition by the former prime minister to scrap the case against her.

Hasina petitioned the higher court on June 2 to cancel the case. She also sought a halt on the case proceedings and bail until the High Court gave a ruling on the petition.

The special judge's court had already previously suspended witness depositions in the case to July 1, as the High Court was on vacation from June 19. The trial court could not proceed without the case documents.

Advocate Sahara Khatun appeared in court Tuesday on behalf of Hasina, who is seeking medical treatment overseas. Former power secretary Toufique-e-Elahi Chowdhury, another accused in the case, was present at the hearing.

The Anticorruption Commission filed the case on Sept 2 last year against eight people, including Sheikh Hasina, accusing them of taking bribes of Tk 3 crore in exchange for awarding contracts to set up three barge-mounted power plants during the 1996-2001 Awami League term in office.

Charges were framed against all accused on May 18 and depositions began on May 21. Six witnesses have testified in the trial so far.