In yet another disturbing development raising concerns over the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) has dismissed seven employees, including three Hindu teachers and two other Hindu staff members, over alleged disciplinary violations and other irregularities, local media reported on Friday.

According to KUET Registrar Engineer Anichur Rahman Bhuiyan, the decision was taken at the university’s 115th syndicate meeting.

Those dismissed include Professor Pintu Chandra Shil of the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) department, Professor Subrata Talapatra of the Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) department, and Assistant Professor Nibir Mondal of the Energy Science and Engineering (ESE) department.

The other two employees dismissed are Deputy Registrar Nimai Chandra Mistry and office assistant Satyajit Kumar Dutta, leading Bangladeshi daily ‘Dhaka Tribune’ reported.

The development comes amid escalating atrocities on minority communities, particularly Hindus in Bangladesh, a trend that began during the former Muhammad Yunus-led interim government and has persisted under the current Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) administration.

Earlier this week, a Hindu man was allegedly stabbed to death, while three homes belonging to Hindu families were vandalised and looted in a separate incident in Bangladesh, local media reported.

The deceased Hindu man, identified as 43-year-old Rabendra Rishi, who owned a salon, was allegedly stabbed to death by a man after refusing to provide a haircut on credit in Bhaluka upazila of Mymensingh district on Tuesday evening.

Citing police information, Bangladeshi Bengali daily Prothom Alo reported that the accused, 26-year-old Saddam, stabbed Rabendra in the chest and neck with a sharp knife, killing him on the spot.

Following the arrest of Saddam, Mohammad Zahidul Islam, officer-in-charge (OC) of Bhaluka Model Police Station, said, “The accused is behaving crazy. A five-day remand has been sought for his interrogation. The body has been recovered and handed over to the family after the autopsy.”

In a separate incident, three homes belonging to Hindu families were vandalised and looted in Chak Karimpur village of Pirganj upazila in Rangpur district on Monday night, following a social media post that allegedly offended the religious sentiments of Muslims, local media reported, citing police.

The affected houses belonged to three brothers — Bishu Chandra Mohanta, 50, Jagadish Chandra Mohanta, 60, and Dinesh Chandra Mohanta, 46.

Speaking to ‘The Daily Star’, Bishu said the attackers damaged his television, furniture, walls and doors and stole two goats from his house.

His brothers Jagadish and Dinesh said that their houses were also vandalised, with doors, fences and furniture damaged and televisions and other valuables stolen.

Jagadish’s wife, Arati Rani, said she fled the house to protect herself during the attack. “When the attackers stormed our house, we pleaded with them to stop. But they threatened to kill me,” she said.

Condemning the attack on Hindu families in Rangpur, Bangladesh’s Awami League said that minority communities have faced persistent insecurity in the country since August 2024.

“Allegations of religious insult must never become a license for mob violence, looting, intimidation or collective punishment. Every accused person deserves due process; every victim deserves equal protection under the law,” the party stated.

Yemen’s Houthi group denied launching any attacks against Saudi Arabia on Friday, after the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a Houthi drone over the Mecca region.

In a statement posted on the social media platform X, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea rejected a Saudi claim that a drone had been intercepted over Mecca, calling it “false”, Xinhua news agency reported. Sarea said the group carried out “no operations toward Saudi territory” on Friday.

The response came after Saudi-led coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki wrote on X earlier in the day that a drone launched by the Houthi group was intercepted and destroyed in the Mecca region, home to Islam’s holiest city.

Recent weeks have seen escalating cross-border hostilities between the two sides, with Saudi strikes hitting Houthi-held areas in Yemen and the Houthis launching missiles and drones toward Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

In September, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi had rejected accusations that his group had attempted to attack the Islamic holy city of Mecca, calling the allegation “fabrication and misinformation” amid escalating hostilities with Saudi Arabia.

In a televised address carried by Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, al-Houthi said claims that Houthi forces had targeted Mecca were a “lie,” arguing that the accusation was being used to mobilize broader support for what he described as “military measures imposed on Yemen.”

Al-Houthi also accused Saudi Arabia of failing to advance a political settlement during the period of relative calm preceding the latest escalation.

Instead, he said, restrictions affecting Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen had been tightened, with limitations on airport operations and imports remaining among the key unresolved issues.

His remarks had come a day after Saudi Arabia publicly accused the Houthis of launching a drone toward Mecca. The Saudi-led coalition said that the Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted and destroyed the drone south of Mecca, before it entered the holy city’s restricted airspace.

Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki described the security of Islam’s two holiest sites and pilgrims as a “red line” and said necessary measures would be taken in response. He said the incident was the second alleged Houthi attempt to target Mecca, following what the coalition described as a ballistic missile attack on July 27, 2017.

Israel’s 2026 election results left no political bloc with a parliamentary majority in the 26th Knesset, as the Central Elections Committee (CEC) released the final results on Friday morning, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud-led bloc winning 53 seats, the opposition bloc led by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar party securing 48, and Arab factions accounting for the remaining 19 seats.

The outcome marked a significant decline in Netanyahu’s coalition, whose constituent parties held 68 seats in the outgoing Knesset, The Times of Israel reported.

The official results are scheduled to be submitted to Israeli President Isaac Herzog on November 4, following the CEC’s completion of final checks into any reported errors or complaints.

Herzog will subsequently hold consultations with each party leader, who will recommend their preferred candidate to form the next government.

Despite the uncertainty surrounding government formation, the newly elected Knesset is set to be sworn in on November 10.

Reports suggest that efforts to form the next government are expected to be challenging and could extend beyond two months, with neither political camp close to securing the 61 seats required for a parliamentary majority.

The final voter turnout was 77.9 per cent of eligible voters, the highest figure in decades

On Wednesday, Herzog called on political leaders to make every effort to prevent another election, urging those involved in government formation talks to approach the process with an open mind.

“We must do everything we can, certainly after yesterday, to avoid another round of elections. So I expect everyone who comes here to come with an open mind,” The Times of Israel quoted Herzog as saying.

Both Netanyahu and Eisenkot have maintained that they would be the ones to form the next government.

Earlier this week, addressing supporters at the Likud election headquarters in Jerusalem after the polls, Netanyahu asserted that the right wing commanded a “great majority” among Israel’s “Zionist public” and called for the formation of a “strong right-wing government”.

He also criticised parties willing to cooperate with Arab parties, calling such an arrangement a “shame”.

The Tuesday elections marked the first electoral contest since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, amid significant shifts in the political landscape and the issues shaping voter priorities since the 2022 elections.