Nearly 12,000 Are Arrested In Roundup In Bangladesh.

The army-backed caretaker government in Bangladesh that has netted hundreds of politicians and businesspeople in a yearlong anticorruption drive has now rounded up nearly 12,000 people in what it calls a crusade against crime. Political parties have denounced the roundup, carried out in recent days, as a ploy to clamp down on political activity as Bangladesh prepares for national elections in December. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]