Bangladesh Dhaka building collapse leaves 70 dead!

At least 70 people have been killed and many more are feared trapped after an eight-storey building collapsed in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, government officials say.

Frantic efforts are under way to rescue those beneath the debris. At least 200 were injured by the collapse.

The army is helping with the rescue operation on the outskirts of Dhaka.

Building collapses are common in Bangladesh where many multi-storey blocks are built in violation of rules.

The eight-storey building contained a clothing factory, a bank and several other shops. It collapsed during the morning rush hour.

Many people have gathered near the scene looking for friends and relatives.

The BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan, in Dhaka, says that it is not yet clear what caused the collapse but local media reports said a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Local police chief Mohammad Asaduzzaman told the Reuters news agency that factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after the crack was detected.

Police told local media that the rear of the building suddenly started to collapse on Wednesday morning and within a short time the whole structure - except the main pillar and parts of the front wall - had caved-in, triggering panic.

Only the ground floor of the Rana Plaza in Sava remained intact after the collapse, officials said, as army and fire service rescuers equipped with concrete cutters and cranes dug through rubble to pull out trapped people. Many onlookers also joined the effort using their bare hands.

Survivors have described their terror as the collapse began.

"I was in the cutting section of the garment factory and suddenly we heard a huge noise and the building collapsed within a few minutes," a garment worker told private TV.

"I removed the rubble and came out with two other workers. But at least 30 other workers in my cutting section were still unaccounted for," he said.

In November, a fire at a garment factory in a Dhaka suburb killed at least 110 people and triggered a public outcry about safety standards in the industry.

The last major building collapse was in 2010, when a four-storey building collapsed in Dhaka killing at least 25 people and injuring several others.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, providing competitively priced clothes for major Western retailers which benefit from its widespread low-cost labour.

Two arrested in Canada over alleged passenger train terrorist plot!

Canadian police have arrested two men and charged them with plotting to derail a Toronto-area passenger train in an operation that they say was backed by al Qaeda elements in Iran.
"Had this plot been carried out, it would have resulted in innocent people being killed or seriously injured," Royal Canadian Mounted Police official James Malizia told reporters on Monday.
U.S. officials said the attack would have targeted a rail line between New York and Toronto, a route that travels along the Hudson Valley and enters Canada near Niagara Falls.
The RCMP said it had arrested Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, of Montreal, and Raed Jaser, 35, of Toronto in connection with the plot. Authorities said it was not linked to last week's Boston Marathon bombings, which killed three people and injured more than 200.
Neither suspect is a Canadian citizen, and police did not reveal their nationalities. Two sources following the investigation said one was Tunisian.
Canada's intelligence agency has long expressed concern about the possibility that disgruntled and radicalized Canadians could attack targets at home and abroad.
Police gave little detail about the alleged plotters, but said a tip from the Muslim community had helped their year-long investigation.
Esseghaier has been a doctoral student at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique near Montreal since 2010 and was about midway through his degree, the school said.
"He is doing a PhD in the field of energy and materials sciences," said Julie Martineau, the school's director of communications.
A bail hearing for the two men was due to take place in Toronto on Tuesday morning.
"AL QAEDA ELEMENTS"
Malizia said they had received "support from al Qaeda elements located in Iran", but added that there was no sign that the conspiracy, which police described as the first known al Qaeda-backed plot on Canadian soil, had been sponsored by the Iranian state.
Nevertheless, Iran reacted angrily. Canada last year severed diplomatic ties over what it said was Iran's support for terrorist groups, as well as its nuclear program and its hostility towards Israel.
"No shred of evidence regarding those who've been arrested and stand accused has been provided," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday, according to the Mehr news agency.
He said al Qaeda's beliefs were in no way consistent with the Islamic Republic, and that Iran opposed "any kind of violent action that endangers lives".
"In recent years, Canada's radical government has put in practice a project to harass Iran and it is clear that it has pursued these hostile actions," he added.
Al Qaeda is strongly Sunni Muslim-oriented. Shi'ite Iran did host some senior al Qaeda figures under a form of house arrest in the years following the September 11 attacks, but there has been little to no evidence of joint attempts to stage attacks against the West.
However, a U.S. government source said Iran was home to a little-known network of al Qaeda fixers and "facilitators" based in the Iranian city of Zahedan, very close to Iran's borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan.
GO-BETWEENS FOR AL QAEDA
The source said they serve as go-betweens, travel agents and financial intermediaries for al Qaeda operatives and cells operating in Pakistan and moving through the area.
They do not operate under the protection of the Iranian government, which periodically launches crackdowns on al Qaeda elements, though at other times it appears to turn a blind eye to them, according to the source.
The region is one where Iranian authorities have battled a Sunni insurgency of their own in recent years from Sunni Muslims complaining of discrimination. The Jundollah group, believed to be based across the border in Pakistan, has claimed several attacks including a bombing that killed 42 people in 2009, and attacks on mosques in Zahedan and elsewhere in the region.
Michael Stephens of the Royal United Services Institute, based in Qatar, said it was very unlikely that Iran could have given any direct support to the Canadian plot.
"It is difficult to make the connection of Iran trying to hit North America using al Qaeda as the vector," he said. "The idea of Salafist jihadis (such as al Qaeda) sitting and talking to Iranians is very far fetched."
Canadian police said the plot had involved a train route in the Toronto area, but declined to be more specific.
Malizia said the RCMP believed the two suspects had had the capacity and intent to carry out the attack, but there had been no imminent threat to the public, passengers or infrastructure.
The plot is one of a handful of terrorism-related investigations involving Canadians or Canadian residents.
Police said this year that Canadians had taken part in an attack by militants on a gas plant in Algeria in January, while Canadian and Somalia authorities are investigating whether a former University of Toronto student participated in a bomb attack in Mogadishu last week.
And in 2006, police arrested and charged nearly 20 Toronto-area men accused of planning to plant bombs at various Canadian targets. Eleven were eventually convicted.

Menance caused by Mass Buses on Mile 2- Oshodi express way!

This is to notify relevant authorities and the general public of the  threat that the long "mass commuter buses" (with the TaTa sign) which ply the Mile 2 - Oshodi axis of Lagos metropolis. 

A reliable complainant has it that the drivers of these buses turn  to something else at night, as if they deliberately get drunk in order to allow them perpetrate these acts. At nights, it is noticed that these drivers drive very rough, some even engage in what seems like a race among them selves, with fully loaded buses; recklessly overtaking not just themselves, but heavy duty trailers that ply the road at night, thereby endangering commuters lives.

 

The driver of this bus wearing a red and white stripe shirt, leaving the steering to fight a passenger, as confusion ensued among passengers: this pix was taken by a passenger in this bus.

Worse is that when passengers complain or start shouting at these excess speed,  the drivers either turn from the steering, or even roughly pack their buses and invite the passengers to a brawl.this development was notice about a month ago."you need to see it for your self, the driver was driving as if he was being chased. and when some passengers accosted him to take it easy, he roughly stopped the bus and started fighting the passenger. when other passengers intervened, he equally challenged every body, cursing us all; some of his colleagues then tried to pacify him. When we get to bus-stops, he hardly stops for passengers to alight. i alighted before we got to oshodi out of fear. my balance was with them, I didn't mind. my life is more precious abeg. this has been going on for well over a month now, that is my route most evenings. i have plates numbers of two buses in-which i experienced this reckless driving. there are: XZ996 AGL (experienced on 17th /04/13 at night), and XK679 EPE (experienced on 18th/04/13 at night) they should be called to order before lives get lost through avoidable accidents" said a commuters.

Kate Middleton shows off baby bump!

In one of her first appearances looking noticeably pregnant, the Duchess Of Cambridge showed off her growing bump at the National Review of the Queen's Scouts at Windsor Castle, on Sunday, April 21. 




Middleton, who is due in July, wore Mulberry's Frayed Coat in mint cotton tweed, which retails for $3,000 and is already sold out online. She paired it with a matching mint broderie anglaise dress, Kiki McDonough diamond and green amethyst earrings, nude pumps and a matching clutch, both by L.K. Bennett. To top off her look, she recycled a brown Whiteley fascinator from her pre-pregnancy days.

Boston Bomb Plot Hatched Without Foreign Help, Authorities Believe!

In the hours before Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was charged with the crime that could lead to the death penalty, authorities tell ABC News the 19-year-old accused terrorist has started to provide his version of the events that led to the deadly 

For all the power of the two explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line, and for all the dramatic gun fights on the streets of Watertown, and for all the suppositions about the role of disciplined, well-trained terrorists, the college student reportedly told investigators the whole attack was devised from the Internet. The two brothers, he said, had no direction or financing from governments or rogue groups overseas.

 

Authorities tell ABC News they now believe the two foreign-born brothers were inspired to violence by the Internet preachings of al Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki, the charismatic American-born radical jihadist, who has been dead now for more than a year. They used instructions from an al Qaeda Internet magazine to make their pressure cooker bombs. And Dzhokhar, the younger of the brothers, may not have even known about the plot until a week or so before the attack, sources told ABC News.

Seth Jones, a counter-terror expert at the RAND Corporation, said the attack's simplicity and home grown origins may wind up being some of the most chilling aspects the Boston bombing.
"This is kind of the al Qaeda modus operandi now, not relying only on operatives, but trying to get people do it yourself radicalization to build their own bombs without coming to a training camp in Pakistan or Yemen or other locations," Jones said.
"They ad-libbed part of it and made some decisions on a few elements of the bomb making but what's different about this is they took a very simple recipe and then targeted the Boston Marathon," Jones said. "And why the marathon? Because it was there, essentially, and easy. Not long in the planning."


Authorities also told ABC News it is increasingly likely that the older of the brothers, Tamerlan, devised the plot and did most of the work in pulling it together.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died during a firefight with police early Friday morning.
"The older brother appeared to be the more radicalized of the two and was the one that drove the need to conduct the attack as well as the preparation for the attack that is building the bombs," Jones said.
As to what drove Tamerlan to violence, his younger brother has apparently told investigators it was his hatred of America, and its policies in Afghanistan and Iraq, law enforcement sources said.
Officials say they do not plan to take what the younger accused bomber has told them at face value, and that the probe will continue to examine whether there were overseas terror connections of any kind. "It would be in his interest to minimize his own role," one official said.
But the younger brother is reportedly telling investigators is consistent with what many of those who knew Tamerlan were observing -- his disgust with things American and Christian.


Authorities are continuing to uncover details of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's life in the hope their search will help provide more clarity about the motive for the deadly bombing. Federal agents spent much of Monday searching for evidence behind a Cambridge rug store, in a cluttered alley area where the Tsarnaev brothers' father used to repair cars.

The FBI sought to question Tamerlan's American wife, Katherine Russell, who was seen over the weekend leaving Tsarnaev's Cambridge apartment with her three year old daughter. A Rhode Island native, she converted to Islam and changed her name from Katharine to Karima. 

 
 
Her lawyer, Amato DeLuca told ABC News that Russell was shocked by recent events.
"She couldn't believe it," DeLuca said. "Imagine, just think of yourself. You got a brother or a father or somebody and you see their picture and it's like wow, what's going on. She was in complete shock."
DeLuca also said Russell works long hours as a health care aide and suspected nothing. She was at work when she heard about his involvement four days after the bombing. DeLuca wouldn't talk about the investigation or if his client has been questioned by the FBI.
Her family issued a statement saying: "In the aftermath of the Patriots' Day horror we know that we never really knew Tamerlane Tsarnaev. Our hearts are sickened by the knowledge of the horror he has inflicted."

Evidence of troubled moments in Tsarnaev's past turned up in police records, which showed that his then-girlfriend called 911 in tears to report that he was beating her up.
And local prosecutors told ABC News that they are now exploring whether Tamerlan Tsarnaev had any connection to the brutal 2011 murder of three young men, one of whom was a friend and sparring partner.
The three were found with their throats slashed, covered in marijuana and cash.
Authorites are also looking closely at the six month trip Tsarnaev took last year to Russia and Chechnya, at a time that rebel groups there carried out a number of violent attacks. Just last year alone Dagestan lost 115 police officers in almost 300 terror attacks. A couple of years ago this street was obliterated by a car bomb. Investigators want to know whether he met with any of the notoriously fierce extremists there.

Neighbors in Cambridge told ABC News that Tsarnaev was a changed man, swearing off tobacco and alcohol, linking to extremist jihadist videos, and saying I don't have any American friends. I don't understand them. One neighbor said he expressed anger about America and Christianity.
"So with the Bible he believed that it was a cheap copy off the Koran and that it was used as an excuse for many wars fought by America to invade countries and take land away," said Elbrecht Ammon. "He mentioned how America is a colonial power and wants to take as much land as possible and most casualties are innocent people shot down by American soldiers."

On Monday, the mother of the two brothers, Zubeidat Tsarnaev, told ABC News today from Russia that Tamerlan was always the leader of her two boys, and that after the bombing he called her to say, "Everything is okay, thanks to Allah." 

China's worst earthquake in three years!

China's worst earthquake in three years on Saturday killed at least 157 people and injured more than 5,700, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

The magnitude 6.6 quake hit a remote mountainous area of southwestern China's Sichuan province at 8:02 a.m. (0002 GMT), close to where an earthquake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008.

The quake struck in Lushan county, near the city of Ya'an, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was felt in the provincial capital, Chengdu, and in neighboring provinces, causing many people to rush out of buildings, according to social network posts.

Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan. 

Pictures on Chinese news sites showed toppled buildings and people in bloodied bandages being treated in tents outside the hospital. Water and electricity in the area were cut off by the quake.

Premier Li Keqiang flew into the disaster zone by helicopter to voice support for the rescue operation.

"The first 72 hours is the golden period for rescue," Li told officials, the Xinhua news agency reported. "We cannot delay by a minute."

"Under the strong leadership of the party and the government, as long as we unite as one, and conduct the rescue in a scientific way, then there will be the conditions and the ability to minimize the losses to the greatest degree and to overcome the disaster," Li said.

Chen Yong, the vice director of the Ya'an city government earthquake response office, told reporters: "We believe the number (of deaths) could rise somewhat, but it won't rise by much."

Xinhua said 6,000 troops were in the area to help with rescue efforts. State television CCTV said only emergency vehicles were being allowed into Ya'an, although Chengdu airport had reopened.

Rescuers in Lushan had pulled 91 survivors out of rubble, Xinhua said. In villages closest to the epicenter, almost all low-rise buildings had collapsed, footage on state television showed.

"We are very busy right now, there are about eight or nine injured people, the doctors are handling the cases," said a doctor at a Ya'an hospital who gave her family name as Liu.

The hospital was treating head and leg injuries, she said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it was in discussions with the Red Cross Society of China on whether international support was needed.

LANDSLIDE WARNING

The China Meteorological Association warned of the possibility of landslides in Lushan county on Saturday and Sunday.

Lushan recorded 789 aftershocks after the earthquake, the China Earthquake Administration said.

A resident in Chengdu, 140 km (85 miles) from Ya'an city, told Xinhua he was on the 13th floor of a building when he felt the quake. The building shook for about 20 seconds and he saw tiles fall from nearby buildings.

Ya'an is a city of 1.5 million people and is considered one of the birthplaces of Chinese tea culture. It is also the home to one of China's main centers for protecting the giant panda.

"There are still shakes and tremors and our area is safe. The pandas are safe," said a spokesman for Ya'an's Bifengxia nature park which houses more than 100 pandas.

Shouts and screams were heard in the background while Reuters was on the telephone with the spokesman.

"There was just an aftershock, an aftershock, our office is safe," he said.

Sichuan is one of the four major natural gas-producing provinces in China, and its output accounts for about 14 percent of the nation's total.

Sinopec Group, Asia's largest oil refiner, said its huge Puguang gas field was unaffected.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the magnitude at 7, but later revised it down. The devastating May 2008 quake was magnitude 7.9.

In 2010, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake killed 2,700 people in Yushu, a largely Tibetan region in northwest China.

60 People Still Missing According To Report!

Officials are still searching for 60 people who remain unaccounted for following an explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in Texas Wednesday night, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) announced at a press conference on Friday, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The death toll rose to 14 on Friday afternoon, according to the New York Times. More than 200 people were injured in the explosion.