A 5.5 magnitude earthquake in central Bangladesh kills at least 8 people

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A strong, 5.5 magnitude earthquake shook central Bangladesh on Friday, killing at least eight people and leaving more than 300 injured, authorities and local media said. Buildings in the country's capital, Dhaka, swayed in the temblor, sending panicked residents into the streets.

The quake hit at 10:38 a.m., with the epicenter in the Ghorashal area in Narsingdi district, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from Dhaka. The U.S. Geological Survey said that it had a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

Dhaka-based DBC Television said two children were among the dead. The fatalities occurred mostly from collapsed roofs and walls. A building's railings fell and killed three people on a Dhaka street.

The three were shopping at a butcher's shop in Armanitola, an area of Dhaka's old city, and were taken to a hospital where they were pronounced dead, Prothom Alo newspaper said.

Local resident Mohammed Arif said he came out when he heard a loud noise and "saw that some bricks had fallen, and I saw some people injured also."

The Fire Service and Civil Defense department deployed firefighters to locations where people reported tilting buildings, as well as to a fire in Dhaka's Baridhara neighborhood.

The country's leading Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily said 252 people, mostly garment workers, were hospitalized in the Gazipur district, just outside Dhaka. The area has hundreds of garment factories and other industrial facilities.

The workers tried to rush out of their factories when the quake hit, setting off stampedes that left many hurt, the daily said.

Television stations broadcast footage of worried and crying relatives as the victims were brought to medical facilities, including at the state-run Dhaka Medical College Hospital. Dhaka University students jumped from the upper floors of their dorms during the quake.

According to the USGS, though northern and southeastern Bangladesh are seismically active regions because of interactions between the India and Eurasia plates, the central region of the country is less active.

The USGS says that since 1950, only 14 earthquakes — with a magnitude of 5.5 and including two magnitude 6 quakes — have occurred within a 250 kilometers (156 miles) radius of Friday’s earthquake.

Experts warn that Bangladesh, a country of 170 million people, is less prepared for higher-magnitude quakes which could cause a lot of destruction. The capital city, which has about 2.1 million buildings, is particularly at higher risk.

A doctor inspects an X-ray of a patient injured in an earthquake at a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)

A general aerial view of an old city where roofs and walls collapsed after an earthquake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)

People gather outside a narrow lane in old city area where a roof and wall collapsed, after an earthquake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)

A rescue official clears the debris from roof and wall collapse after an earthquake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)

Rescue and fire officials cut building railings falling on the street to make way after an earthquake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, Nov. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdul Goni)

LONDON (AP) — Pressure was mounting Sunday on the American rapper Kanye West to be pulled from his headline role at a London music festival this summer, after criticism from U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Pepsi already has withdrawn its lead sponsorship role of the Wireless Festival at Finsbury Park in north London between July 10-12. Other sponsors of the event, including Budweiser and PayPal, are being urged to follow suit.

Pepsi didn't provide an explicit reason for its decision to pull out of the event, even though publicity for the festival promoted the event under the branding “Pepsi presents Wireless.”

“Pepsi has decided to withdraw its sponsorship of Wireless Festival," the company said in a statement Sunday.

Kanye West was booked perform in front of around 150,000 revellers over the course of the festival’s three nights.

He changed his name to Ye in 2021, and he has drawn widespread controversy in recent years for a series of antisemitic remarks, and has voiced admiration for Adolf Hitler. Last year, he released a song called “Heil Hitler” — a few months after advertising a swastika T-shirt for sale on his website.

The 48-year-old musician apologized in January for his antisemitic remarks in a letter published as a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal. He said his bipolar disorder led him to fall into “a four-month long, manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behavior that destroyed my life.”

Fans of his at a sold-out concert Friday at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, his first major U.S. performance in nearly five years, appeared to separate his personal beliefs and public statements from his music — and were ready to forgive after his January apology letter.

However, Starmer said it was “deeply concerning” that the rapper was booked to perform at the long-established festival,

“Antisemitism in any form is abhorrent and must be confronted clearly and firmly wherever it appears," he said in remarks published by The Sun on Sunday newspaper. "Everyone has a responsibility to ensure Britain is a place where Jewish people feel safe and secure.”

Kanye West's scheduled appearance follows signs of growing antisemitism in the U.K.

Two men and a 17-year-old boy were ordered to remain in custody on Saturday on charges of torching four ambulances run by a Jewish community-service in northwest London. And last October, two men died in an attack on a Manchester synagogue.

Phil Rosenberg, president of the board of deputies of British Jews, said it was “absolutely the wrong decision” to allow Kanye West to play.

Wireless Festival didn't immediately comment when contacted.

FILE - Kanye West, known as Ye, watches the first half of an NBA basketball game between the Washington Wizards and the Los Angeles Lakers, on March 11, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)