A civil society group in Bangladesh on Saturday called a six-hour general strike for next month to protest a deal between the government and a US company for oil and gas exploration in the Bay of Bengal, according to dpa. ConocoPhillips has been awarded a contract for exploration in two offshore blocks of the bay, some 280 kilometres from the main seaport in Chittagong. The deal was signed on Thursday. "We will enforce the countrywide stoppage on July 3 from 6 am to 12 noon," Anu Muhammad, secretary general of National Committee to Protect Oil Gas and Mineral Resources, announced at a press conference.