Eight people were injured in the fiery blast that occurred late on Saturday evening, and 30 people were evacuated from the restaurant and surrounding buildingsSix killed in explosion at Czech restaurantFirefighters work at the site of a propane-butane cylinder explosion in a restaurant in the city of Most, Czech Republic, January 12, 2025. Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic via X/Handout via REUTERSFirefighters work at the site of a propane-butane cylinder explosion in a restaurant in the city of Most, Czech Republic, January 12, 2025. Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic via X/Handout via REUTERSSix people died when a propane-butane cylinder exploded at a restaurant in the northwest Czech city of Most, setting the building on fire, emergency services said on Sunday. The fire brigade said it had rescued one seriously injured restaurant guest who had been trapped in a bathroom. Around 20 guests were in the restaurant at the time of the explosion, Czech Radio said.

What recommendations are likely to overhaul electoral system in Bangladesh? The Electoral Reform Commission was formed on Oct 3, 2024, with Badiul Alam Majumdar, the general secretary of Sushashoner Jonno Nagorik, or SUJAN, at the helm. POTENTIAL RECOMMENDATIONSAbdul Alim, a member of the Electoral Reform Commission, said the commission has held over 50 meetings. In addition, a public opinion survey on electoral reform was conducted. The Electoral Reform Commission aims to set a threshold for voter turnout to curb the trend of uncontested elections.

The university's Vice-Chancellor Prof Md Rezaul Karim joined the hunger strike in "solidarity" with the protesting students at 7pm. Meanwhile, the proctor, the general secretary of the teachers association, and the director of the Students Welfare office alongside a number of teachers joined the strike. At about 7:45pm on Sunday, the students refused to break the hunger strike after being requested by the vice-chancellor following his stay on the strike at the university’s Shaheed Minar premises for about half an hour. Three students launched the hunger strike at the university's Shaheed Minar premises at 8:30am on Sunday. Later, nine more protesters joined them by 10pm, and later, responding to their call, some more students came and joined the hunger strike.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, or BFIU, froze the bank accounts of Salman, Shayan, and daughter-in-law Shahzreh Rahman in August 2024. The property in Golders Green, where Tulip’s mother Sheikh Rehana resides rent-free, is owned by an offshore company controlled by Shayan Rahman. So I am delighted that our new programme in Bangladesh will be overseen and supported by Shayan Rahman, the chair of our Bangladesh advisory council,” he said. The MoS said Shayan continues to hold his position at the trust despite the corruption allegations. Shayan was once the vice-chairman of International Finance Investment and Commerce Bank, or IFIC, Bank.

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Bangladesh government decides to skip Indian Meteorological Department's 150th anniversary celebration eventBangladesh's interim government has rejected India's invitation to attend the 150th-anniversary celebrations of the India Meteorological Department citing current restrictions on non-essential foreign travel at state expense. Mominul Islam, the acting director of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, or BMD, earlier, confirmed receiving invitation from IMD. Denying rift, Mominul told bdnews24.com: “The India Meteorological Department invited us to their 150th anniversary celebrations. The Narendra Modi government has sent invitations to Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Besides the subcontinent, invitations have been sent to officials from the Middle East, central and Southwest Asia too.

India was looking to construct barbed wire fences inside the 150-yard no man’s land at Lalmonirhat’s Tin Bigha Corridor, Naogaon’s Patnitala and three other places, Jahangir Alam said on Sunday. India stopped work after the BGB took a firm stand.”Referring to the 1972 India-Bangladesh Treaty of Friendship, Jahangir Alam said: “None of us [Bangladesh or India] can establish anything with defence capability or potentiality inside this 150 yards. The second point is if any of us wants to carry out development work inside the 150 yard Zero Line, we have to take each other’s consent. Our government gave them so many opportunities.”In this period, India placed barbed wire fencing at 160 locations while issues remained at 78 other places. He said: “We interfere if they want to fence the border but legally we can’t do that.

Election Commissioner Sanaullah says the focus is to hold the general electionsThe Election Commission is focused on holding the general election ahead of local polls and is focused on working towards that, Election Commissioner Abul Fazal Md Sanaullah has said. The 14th Election Commission discussed the next general election and local elections in its second meeting on Sunday. Earlier, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus said the government was preparing for the local polls along with the general election. Meanwhile, BNP leaders said they would not accept local elections before the general election. Speaking after the meeting, Election Commissioner Sanaullah said: "Our overall focus is to hold the general elections, and the commission is working towards it.

Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus has urged Tulip Siddiq, the UK’s economic secretary to the Treasury and the City minister and niece of deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to apologise for properties her family allegedly received as “gifts” during her aunt’s term. Yunus said Tulip should return the properties if investigations prove that she benefitted from alleged "plain robbery", according to The Sunday Times. He also noted the need to investigate properties linked to Tulip in the UK as part of corruption and embezzlement probes. Following Yunus’s comments, Kemi Badenoch, leader of the UK’s opposition Conservative Party, called on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to dismiss Tulip from her ministerial role. A spokesperson for Tulip dismissed the allegations, saying: "The suggestion that these properties are linked to her support for the Awami League is entirely false."

The Congress leader says Hasina has done ‘a lot of good’ for IndiaSheikh Hasina should be allowed to stay in India as long as she wants: Mani Shankar AiyarFormer Indian career diplomat and Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar has said that deposed Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina should be allowed to stay in India as long as she wants. About demands by Bangladesh to extradite Hasina, he said, "I hope we will never disagree that Sheikh Hasina has done a lot of good for us. I think we should be her host as long as she wants, even if it is for all her life." Hasina, 77, fled to India after stepping down in the face of a nationwide mass movement. The Congress leader said it is true that minority Hindus in Bangladesh are being attacked, but mostly it is because they are supporters of Hasina.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department has forecast that a slight rise in temperature may ease the mild cold wave currently sweeping across the northern districts of Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com. The 72-hour forecast, issued at 9am on Saturday, indicates that the mild cold wave sweeping through Panchagarh, Kurigram, Kushtia, and Jashore may gradually subside. Over the past 24 hours, the lowest temperature was recorded at 8.2 degrees Celsius in Panchagarh's Tentulia, while Teknaf registered the highest temperature at 29.2 degrees Celsius. The mild cold wave in southern districts like Gopalganj and eastern districts like Moulvibazar is also expected to ease. Typically, a mild cold wave is classified when temperatures range between 8.1 and 10 degrees Celsius.

Noel Francisco, representing TikTok and ByteDance, argued that Supreme Court endorsement of this law could enable statutes targeting other companies on similar grounds. TikTok is a platform used by about 170 million people in the United States, roughly half the country's population. Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer representing TikTok content creators who also have challenged the law, noted during the Supreme Court arguments that Congress with this measure was focusing on TikTok and not major Chinese online retailers including Temu. If the ban takes affect on Jan 19, Apple and Alphabet's Google would no longer be able to offer TikTok for downloads for new users but existing users could still access the app. The Supreme Court also debated whether the possibility of TikTok being used for covert influence campaigns or propaganda purposes by China justified the banning it.

REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerIranian flag flies in front of the UN office building, housing IAEA headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria, May 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lisi NiesnerIran was holding air defence exercises on Saturday, state media reported, as the country braces for more friction with arch-enemy Israel and the United States under incoming U.S. president Donald Trump. The war games take place as Iranian leaders face the risk that Trump could empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Iran's nuclear sites, while further tightening U.S. sanctions on its oil industry through his "maximum pressure" policy. "In these exercises,...defence systems will practice the fight against air, missile and electronic warfare threats in real battlefield conditions... to protect the country's skies and sensitive and vital areas," Iranian state television said. Iran has recently suffered setbacks in Lebanon after Israeli attacks against Iranian-backed Hezbollah and the toppling of Tehran's ally President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria last month.

He also said there will be another round of dialogue with political parties after receiving the report from the reform commission. If political parties do not demand substantial reforms, the government is expected to hold elections by the end of the year. The following day, Advisor Mahfuj Alam said the government would consult political parties to determine the path forward. He added that after receiving the reform commission's reports, the date for the elections would be determined after consulting all political parties. On that day, the chief election commissioner said: "We have started working for the national election from the very first day.

Senior allies of UK PM Sir Keir Starmer are considering candidates to replace Tulip Siddiq, niece of deposed Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, in case she is forced to quit over links to her aunt’s regime, reports UK publication The Times. Candidates are said to have been identified to succeed the Treasury minister over the weekend, before Monday’s public announcement that Tulip had referred herself to the prime minister’s ethics watchdog. Starmer said he had full confidence in Tulip, and a No 10 spokesman said it was “completely untrue” to suggest the party had drawn up a shortlist. However, The Times reported that some of the close aides to the prime minister were at least informally considering who could succeed her. A spokesman for Tulip said it was “categorically wrong” to suggest the properties were linked to her support for the Awami League.