BANGLADESH: A massive fire swept through a popular clothing market in the capital Dhaka today and spread to other small markets and buildings.

Firefighters struggled to control the blaze at Bangabazar Market, which started in the early morning.

No casualties have been reported so far and there was no word on the cause of the fire.

RUSSIA: Darya Trepova, who is accused of involvement in a bombing at a St Petersburg cafe that killed a military blogger, was set to face a court hearing in Moscow today that would set the terms of her pre-trial detention.

Vladlen Tatarsky, an ardent supporter of the war in Ukraine, was killed on Sunday while leading a discussion at the riverside cafe in St Petersburg. 

ISRAEL: Authorities are holding over 1,000 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial, the highest number since 2003, human rights group HaMoked said today.

Israel says that the widely criticised tactic, known as administrative detention, helps authorities thwart attacks and hold dangerous militants without divulging incriminating material for security reasons.

Palestinians and human rights groups insist that the system is widely abused and denies due process.

SWEDEN: Five men have been arrested “on suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorist offences,” the SAPO domestic security agency said today, adding that he case was related to the burning of a Koran in Stockholm in January and that an attack was not imminent.

In a statement, SAPO counterterror unit deputy head Susanna Trehorning said that the case had “international links to violent Islamist extremism.”