Bangladesh and India trade land in historic deal

Bangladesh and India prepared on Friday to swap tiny enclaves of land, ending one of the world's most intractable border disputes that has kept thousands of people in stateless limbo for nearly 70 years.

Officials of the two nations were due to raise their respective national flags in 162 enclaves - 111 in Bangladesh and 51 in India - at one minute past midnight local time (2 am on Saturday, Beijing time) to assume sovereignty over the territories following a historic border pact in June.

After the flag hoisting, the enclaves - pockets of one country's territory surrounded by the other country - will cease to exist, and more than 50,000 people who have been living there can now access citizenship benefits such as schools, power and healthcare, which they have lacked since 1947.