Bangladesh Factory Fire Death Toll Soars to 121 - Fire Chief

Source : http://www.turkishweekly

The death toll from a fire at a Bangladeshi factory soared to at least 121 as rescue workers recovered 112 bodies Sunday, the national fire chief said.

"We've found 112 dead bodies this morning," said fire brigade director general Brigadier General Abu Nayeem Mohammad Shahidullah. "We resumed our search this morning and found the bodies lying on different floors of the factory building," he said.

The fire broke out in the ground-floor warehouse of the multi-storey Tazreen Fashion factory 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Dhaka on Saturday evening, trapping hundreds of workers on the upper floors, police said.

Police inspector Mostofa Kamal had previously told that nine workers died and about 100 workers were injured. Kamal said many workers jumped from the factory's upper floors to escape the flames before firefighters arrived to put the blaze out.

The cause was not immediately known but fires as a result of short circuits and shoddy electrical wiring are common in Bangladeshi garment plants, which use cheap labour to produce clothes shipped to Western countries.

Dhaka factory fire kills

At least nine workers died when a fire ripped through a clothing factory at Ashulia, on the outskirts of Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Saturday night, officials said.

Officials said the fire started on the first floor of the nine-story building and immediately spread to other floors, leaving hundreds of workers, mostly women, trapped.

Police said at least 200 people were injured as they rushed to get out of the building. "Many were injured in stampede and as they jumped off the building," said a rescuer.

Sixteen engines of fire service and civil defense had not put out the fire completely after more than eight hours.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the blaze.

Voice of Russia, CNN, AFP

The Tug-of-war over the South China Sea

The tug-of-war over the South China Sea is seen mainly as a struggle among rival claimants -China, Taiwan and several South-East Asian states -for control of valuable fisheries as well as sea bed oil, natural gas and mineral resources. China's claim to about 80 per cent of the 3.5 million square kilometre sea and its hundreds of atolls, rocks and reefs, has also alarmed outside seafaring and trading nations, including the United States, Australia and Japan. They regard the South China Sea as an international maritime highway with free navigation for seaborne trade, unimpeded movement of naval vessels, and unfettered over-flight for military aircraft. But recent developments in China's nuclear weapons program suggest there is another important dimension to China's increasing assertiveness in enforcing its claimed jurisdiction in the semi-enclosed sea: protecting a new generation of nuclear-powered submarines armed with atomic warheads and based at Sanya on China's Hainan Island. Okazaki Institute in Tokyo special research fellow Tetsuo Kotani says, ''Without understanding the nuclear dimension of the South China Sea disputes, China's maritime expansion makes little sense.'' One of the new generation subs was first spotted by a commercial satellite at Sanya in 2008. It was tied up to a pier that analysts said was China's first and so far only demagnetising facility for submarines. Demagnetisation is conducted before deployment to remove residual magnetic fields in the metal of a sub to make it harder to detect by hostile submarines, surface ships and anti-submarine aircraft. Initially, these new generation Chinese subs and the nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles they could launch while submerged would be able to target potential adversaries in the Asia-Pacific and US bases in the region. Eventually, with longer-range intercontinental missiles, they could cover the whole of the US from launch points in the deep waters of the South China Sea without having to venture too far from their rock shelter tunnels bored into a mountain that forms part of the Sanya naval base for China's South Sea Fleet. . This would give China a more effective deterrent against nuclear attack, one that operated from under the sea in addition to land-based nuclear missiles. In recent years, China has built up a relatively small but increasingly impressive arsenal of approximately 140 nuclear ballistic missiles either concealed in silos or mounted on special launch vehicles and moved around to different hiding places on land. Each carries a single nuclear warhead. But earlier this month, a newspaper controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party reported that China was developing the capability to do what Russia and the US have the technology to do -put multiple warheads on its intercontinental ballistic missiles, each capable of hitting different targets. This could greatly increase the number of China's operational nuclear weapons and overwhelm any missile defence system. At the same time, China is building a fleet of new JIN-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs), known as Type-094. Two are in operation, a third is under construction and may already have been launched, and at least two more are expected to be built. Meanwhile, China is hoping to complete testing of the JL-2 nuclear-tipped missile for the Type-094 sub, which can carry 12 of the missiles. The US Defence Department's annual report to Congress in May on China's armed forces and military strategy noted that the while the JL-2 program had faced repeated delays, it ''may reach initial operating capability'' within the next two years, giving the Chinese Navy "caredible sea-based nuclear'' deterrent. In addition to adding a nuclear dimension to China's interests in the South China Sea, having a sea-based nuclear deterrent may pose serious control problems for the Central Military Commission which supervises the country's nuclear arsenal. The commission and the Chinese Navy have no experience in operating SSBNs in either peacetime or during a crisis. Yet remaining submerged and out of communication for lengthy periods is essential if SSBNs are to remain undetected. So for the foreseeable future, China's land-based nuclear missile force is expected to be the mainstay of the country's deterrent and retaliatory strike capability against the continental US or other faraway targets. But that will be cold comfort for any regional adversary of China that might soon be targeted by a new SSBN fleet armed with nuclear ballistic missiles. The writer is a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of

Moscow to react to Asian missile defense

Via RT.com Published: 07 September, 2012, 15:04 X-Band Radar (SBX) (AFP Photo) Russia has expressed its concern over American plans to deploy a new missile defense shield in Southeast Asia. "The continuing growth of the US potential in what we call the Far East –the Asia-Pacific region –does not go unnoticed in Russia," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said at a nonproliferation conference in Moscow. “We are closely following what is happening between the USA and its allies in Asia.” According to the diplomat, “important events” are unfolding in the region and “a lot has already been achieved,” cites Interfax. Moscow’s concerns about the situation arise from the technology involved, as well as the “geography and the US capability to deploy these assets in different locations.” It is important that Washington eases these concerns. Otherwise, “there is a set of measures worked out by the Russian leadership,” Ryabkov noted. Earlier, it was reported that Washington was planning to expand its missile defense in Asia in response to threats from North Korea and to counter China’s growing missile capabilities. Ryabkov noted. Earlier, it was reported that Washington was planning to expand its missile defense in Asia in response to threats from North Korea and to counter China’s growing missile capabilities. The buildup could include an early-warning radar system on a southern Japanese island and possibly another one in Southeast Asia. These two new radars would supplement the one already installed in Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan in 2006. The US global missile defense shield –in particular its European sector –has long been a stumbling block in the relations between Moscow and Washington. Russia worries that the planned system may pose a threat to its national security. The US has so far refused to provide legally-binding guarantees that the European missile defense assets would not be targeted against Russia. “The US missile defense system –is surely one of the key issues on today’s agenda because it involves Russia’s vital interests,” President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with RT. The differences on the issue can only be solved if both sides accept as an axiom that they are “reliable partners and allies for each other.” That would mean the parties “jointly do missile threat assessments and control this defense system together,” Putin said. The president stressed that Russia had done what it could and offered to work on the system together. However, the American partners are “refusing to go along.” Moscow is set to continue the dialogue on the matter, he stressed. “But naturally, as our American partners proceed with developing their own missile defense we shall have to think of how we can defend ourselves and preserve the strategic balance,” Putin added. In November last year, then-President Dmitry Medvedev said d Russia could place offensive weaponry on its borders with Europe as one possible measure against the deployment of American elements of missile defense shield in the region.

Earthquake in Eastern Azerbaijan

50 villages of Varzagan city demaged between 70 to 100 percent on Saturday afternoon. Via IRNA - The city is less and nobody was killed but in the villages outthere 50 people where killed and more than 500 wounded, followed by 36 aftershocks. The strongest shock was 6.0 on Richter scale in Varzagan city. The first shock came on 16:53 hours local time.