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At least 10 Hindu pilgrims have been killed in a stampede during a bathing ritual at a holy site in Narayanganj, Bangladesh.

Police inspector Nasir Ahmed told AFP news agency the crush had involved « huge numbers of people ».

The 16 quays used for the ritual bathing were unable to cope with so many devotees, police told bdnews 24.

The incident happened during the Astami Snan, one of the largest annual Hindu ceremonies in Bangladesh.

Around a million pilgrims from Bangladesh and surrounding countries travel to the area each year to wash in the Brahmaputra river at Langalband, 20km (12 miles) south of the capital, Dhaka.

Mr Ahmed said police were investigating what had gone wrong.

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Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition are bombing Yemen for a third night, targeting Shia Houthi rebels as they advance in and around the port of Aden.

The rebel advance has sparked street battles with forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, who fled Aden and is now at an Arab League summit.

Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh – whose supporters are fighting alongside the rebels – has called for a truce.

But Saudi Arabia has vowed to defend Mr Hadi’s government from the rebels.

The Sunni kingdom has accused its regional rival, Shia-led Iran, of backing the Houthis.

It has mobilised a coalition, including Gulf Arab states and Egypt, to roll back the rebels’ advance in a mission codenamed Operation Decisive Storm.

US President Barack Obama spoke to Saudi King Salman on Friday and reaffirmed his support for the military action, the White House said in a statement.

Mr Obama and King Salman agreed their goal is to achieve lasting stability in Yemen through a negotiated political solution, the statement said.

The US military rescued two Saudi pilots who ejected from their F-15 fighter jet over the Gulf of Aden, a US defence official said on Friday.

He said the two were rescued in international waters at 21:20 GMT by a helicopter from Djibouti after Saudi Arabia requested assistance.

A statement on the Saudi SPA news agency said the plane had been hit by a technical fault.

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A brother of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has died in hospital after being attacked with an axe on Thursday, police have said.

Priyantha Sirisena suffered severe head injuries in his hometown of Polonnaruwa, north-east of the capital Colombo, AFP news agency reports.

Colombo Gazette reports there was a « private dispute » and a man has been arrested.

The president is out of the country on a state visit to China.

His youngest brother, a businessman and father of three, was attacked on Thursday evening « during an altercation with a friend » said a government statement.

He was flown to Colombo to be treated for head injuries but despite surgery he died on Saturday, said doctors.

Official sources have said Priyantha Sirisena, 42, was the youngest in a family of 12 children.

President Sirisena came to power following bitterly fought January presidential elections.

Unlike most former Sri Lankan leaders, he has not extended personal security for his siblings and is known to have drastically scaled down his own protection unit.

Drivers in England will get 10 minutes’ grace before being fined if they stay too long in council-owned car parking spaces, the government has announced.

It is one of several changes, expected to take effect later this month, which include new restrictions on the use of CCTV cars issuing automatic fines.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said he wanted to end the « war on drivers ».

But councils said many already allowed 10 minutes’ leeway and raised concerns about the safety of other changes.

The changes include:

• guidance for councils reminding them they are banned from « using parking to generate profit »
• a right for residents and businesses to demand – by a petition – that a council « reviews parking in their area »
• new powers for parking adjudicators so they can « hold councils to account »
• protection to stop drivers being fined after parking at out-of-order meters
• a ban on the use of CCTV « spy cars » except in no-parking areas such as bus lanes and near schools

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Several EU politicians and Russia’s opposition leader have been barred from attending the funeral of murdered Russian politician Boris Nemtsov.

A Polish politician was denied a visa under existing Russian sanctions while a Latvian MEP was turned back after arriving at a Moscow airport.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was denied permission to leave jail, where he is serving a 15-day sentence.

Mourners are filing past Nemtsov’s coffin at Moscow’s Sakharov centre.

His funeral will be held in the afternoon (local time) at a Moscow cemetery, Troyekurovskoye, where murdered journalist Anna Politkovskayta was buried in 2006.

Nemtsov, a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin, was killed on a bridge near the Kremlin wall on Friday night.

No arrests have been made and no clear motive has been established for the crime.

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