Dhaka fire factory managers arrested

Three factory managers have been arrested in Bangladesh over a blaze that killed 110 workers. Source: AAP

BANGLADESH police have arrested three managers of a factory where a blaze killed 110 people, following claims they stopped workers from leaving the plant saying an alarm was just a routine fire drill.

Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman told AFP on Wednesday the managers were arrested overnight after charges that they told panicked workers of Tazreen Fashion they had nothing to worry about when the fire started on Saturday night.

"All three are mid-level managers of Tazreen. Survivors told us that they did not allow the workers to escape the fire, saying that it was a routine fire drill. There are also allegations that they even padlocked doors," he said.

Survivors and witnesses told AFP how workers, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which supplied clothes to international brands including Walmart, European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

Two government inquiries have already been set up to try to establish the cause of the fire, the worst factory blaze to hit Bangladesh's garment industry, which employs three million and is the mainstay of the economy.

The shell-shocked nation observed a day of national mourning on Tuesday. Green and red Bangladeshi flags flew at half mast alongside black flags on top of government offices and the nation's 4500 garment factories.

Rahman said police also quizzed Tazreen's owner, Delwar Hossain, about alleged violations of building rules after inspectors found the nine-storey factory only had permission for three floors.

Around 700 garment workers have been killed in dozens of fires since 2006, according to the Clean Clothes Campaign, an Amsterdam-based textile rights group. But none of the owners have been prosecuted over previous blazes.

Campaigners say Western firms whose clothes are made in Bangladesh hide behind flimsy safety audits to help drive down costs.

After European chain C&A and Hong Kong-based Li & Fung confirmed they had orders at Tazreen, the US retail giant Walmart also acknowledged some of its products were made there and said it had terminated ties with the supplier.

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Call for crane checks after UTS fire

Investigations are underway into a fire that caused a crane to fall onto a Sydney construction site. Source: AAP

A CRANE that caught fire and toppled onto a Sydney university building has prompted union calls for city-wide engineering checks, the promise of a "safety roundtable" and an investigation by emergency services.

Construction company Lend Lease, which manages the inner-city building site at the centre of Tuesday's emergency, has promised to "work closely" with authorities investigating the accident at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

The construction workers' union has alleged Lend Lease was warned fuel was leaking from the crane but did nothing.

A safety roundtable of the parties involved will be held next week, WorkCover general manager for work health and safety John Watson announced on Wednesday.

"I would urge all contractors across NSW to check the state of tower cranes and related machinery and ensure they are compliant with work health and safety legislation in the wake of Tuesday's serious workplace incident," Mr Watson said in a statement.

Wattle Street in Ultimo remains cordoned off between Broadway and Thomas Street as engineers continue to assess the site.

Hundreds were evacuated from the construction site and adjacent UTS buildings, with the emergency closing the busy Broadway thoroughfare and causing major traffic disruption.

WorkCover, emergency services and Lend Lease have launched investigations into the fire and the collapse of the 65-metre crane's boom.

Construction Forestry Mining and Engineering Union (CFMEU) NSW secretary Brian Parker said the crane was "an accident waiting to happen" and Lend Lease had been warned of the fuel leak.

"We have evidence of the fact that workers were complaining about getting soiled clothes, soiled helmets from drops dripping on them consistently from this particular crane," he told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.

"With the heat that generates up there in the crane box on a motor, with leaking fluid, there's no doubt in my mind that could have been a contributing factor to the fire breaking out and the collapse of the boom."

Lend Lease CEO Steve McCann said safety was the company's highest priority.

"We ... have a history of working closely with construction industry unions and have always co-operated with the authorities and will continue to do so ... in a transparent and collaborative manner," Mr McCann said in a statement.

The crane is owned by a Sefton company, Marr Contracting, and leased to Lend Lease.

A Marr Contracting worker told AAP the company had no comment, except to say that "we support WorkCover in all their investigations".

WorkCover inspectors were at the site on Wednesday and have discussed plans to remove the damaged machinery with Lend Lease, union officials and emergency services personnel.

"WorkCover is satisfied that there is no further risk of debris or the crane falling from the building," the agency said in a statement.

The National Tertiary Education Union on Wednesday called for a public inquiry into the crane collapse.

The union's UTS branch president Simon Wade said he was concerned that safety at the site had been sacrificed, endangering building workers, firefighters, university staff, students and the public.

Mr Wade said workers at the Lend Lease construction site had said that as the crane burned, they were instructed by their supervisor not to stop work.

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Bishop defends meeting with Blewitt

Deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop defended meeting with self-confessed fraudster Ralph Blewitt. Source: AAP

DEPUTY opposition leader Julie Bishop has defended her decision to meet with one of the key figures in the Australian Workers' Union slush fund scandal.

Ms Bishop met for 10 minutes with former AWU official Ralph Blewitt in Melbourne on Friday seeking access to documents to inform her questioning of Prime Minister Julia Gillard in parliament this week.

Mr Blewitt, who lives in Malaysia, has publicly admitted to participating in a fraud in the 1990s involving the AWU Workplace Reform Association but is seeking legal immunity from prosecution.

Ms Bishop on Tuesday said it was a "chance meeting" that only came about following a telephone call from former Sydney radio host Michael Smith.

She said Mr Smith, who had gone with Mr Blewitt to a police station when he made statements about three AWU related matters, had asked her whether she wanted to meet him.

"I spoke to Mr Blewitt for about less than 10 minutes and I left," she told reporters in Canberra.

Ms Bishop said her meeting did not compare with Ms Gillard's "four-year personal friendship" with Mr Blewitt who worked with her then partner, AWU official Bruce Wilson.

"Surely the prime minister is not suggesting that I shouldn't spend 10 minutes with a man that she considered one of her closest friends over four years and for whom she did free legal work," Ms Bishop said.

She said part of her conversation with Mr Blewitt was about a call Mr Blewitt received from members of his former army regiment, the 2RAR, who are serving in Afghanistan.

"The only interest I had in meeting with him is he'd met with police and I wanted to know whether he produced any further documents," she said.

"I understand that he waived legal professional privilege over any advice that current or former partners of Slater & Gordon gave to him when he was Ms Gillard's client and I wanted to know if he had any documents.

"And he said anything he said to police he wouldn't repeat to me, so that was the end of it."

Ms Gillard, when a lawyer with Slater & Gordon, provided legal advice on the incorporation of the AWU association but has denied any wrongdoing or involvement with the entity beyond that advice.

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Man shot dead in Punchbowl

Police are conducting and operation in Sydney's southwest after a man was shot multiple times. Source: AAP

A MAN has been found dead in a house in southwestern Sydney and another man is in hospital after being found with gunshot wounds in the same street.

Police say they found the dead man's body at the back of a house in Lumeah Avenue in Punchbowl after receiving reports of shots around 4.10 pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Another man was found at the front of the home with gunshot wounds and has been taken to hospital.

The injured man, who suffered at least five gunshot wounds, was taken to St George Hospital in a serious condition.

Both men were shot inside the premises and it is believed the owners were not present at the time of the incident.

Police did not know the ages of the victims or if they were armed at the time of the incident.

A manhunt for possibly two suspects began shortly after the shooting.

"We will be seeking further persons who are believed to have left the premises shortly after the shooting," Superintendent Michael McLean told reporters at the crime scene.

Police have roped off three separate crime scenes, where the shooting took place in Lumeah Avenue, in Christian Road where the incident may have spilled into and nearby Werona Ave where at least two spent shell casings were found on a nature strip.

Police have not ruled the offenders may have dropped the spent shell casings in an attempt to discard evidence.

Police are beginning to allow residents back into their homes.

According to a neighbour who spoke to an eyewitness to the incident and who would only give his name as Lionel, two men arrived at a home being renovated in Lumeah Avenue where at least three workers were on the scene.

"As I understand it there were two shooters with balaclavas," Lionel told AAP.

"They approached the building site where there were three workers, one of whom was shot five times."

Police believe that victim was the man who survived the attack.

"Two men ran off up the street screaming 'call the police, call the police'," Lionel said.

"And they ran into a house around the corner.

"And a girl heard them screaming and she phoned the police."

Dozens of neighbours remained just outside the crime scene.

"I didn't see nothing, I don't say nothing," one man who would not give his name told AAP.

"That's the way it goes around here."

Another young man said the neighbourhood has recently had its troubles.

"Someone got their knees capped over there," he told AAP as he pointed to a house in adjacent Christian Road.

"You can see no one's worried around here. We're used to it."

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Bangladesh factory fire under control

A fire in a nine-storey garment factory in Bangladesh has left at least 110 people dead. Source: AAP

BANGLADESH firefighters quelled a new blaze at a garment factory on Monday as the country mourned the death of 110 workers in a weekend blaze at an apparel plant, the export industry's worst-ever accident.

The latest fire caused widespread damage at the plant on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, but no casualties were reported after rescue teams searched the building for workers feared to have suffocated in toxic black fumes.

"Most workers broke grilles in the upper floor and escaped to a safe location at an adjacent building," Dhaka district deputy commissioner of police Nisharul Arif told AFP.

"We don't have any casualties and have now controlled the fire, which started on the first floor where there was inflammable acrylic clothing."

Thousands of workers staged protests during the day, demanding better protection after the earlier fire Saturday night trapped more than 1,000 staff and forced many to jump from upper floors at the Tazreen Fashion factory outside Dhaka.

Survivors told how workers, most of them women, tried to escape the burning factory, which made clothes for international brands including the European chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

"Workers from several factories have left their work and joined the protest. They want exemplary punishment to Tazreen owners," said Dhaka police chief Habibur Rahman.

In Ashulia, the industrial zone where the Tazreen factory is located, hundreds of plants stayed closed on Monday as workers mourned. An official national day of mourning will be held on Tuesday.

Local police chief Badrul Alam said they had opened a case of murder due to criminal negligence. Two government inquiries and the police investigation are trying to establish if the owners were to blame for the fire.

"We won't spare anyone," police chief Alam promised.

Preparations have been made for the mass burial on Monday of the bodies of 59 workers who cannot be identified.

Their remains, often burnt beyond recognition, will be laid to rest at a state graveyard in a southern suburb of Dhaka.

"We are keeping the DNA samples of the dead workers so that we can identify their relatives for compensation," said Dhaka district police commissioner Yusuf Harunhe.

Bangladesh has emerged as the world's second-largest clothes exporter with overseas garment sales topping $19 billion last year, or 80 percent of national exports.

The sector is the mainstay of the poverty-stricken country's economy, employing 40 percent of its industrial workforce, but work conditions are often basic and safety standards low.

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Sea of pink honours slain Vic woman

Murdered Victorian woman Sarah Cafferkey has been farewelled during a ceremony in her home town. Source: AAP

FAMILY and friends of slain Victorian woman Sarah Cafferkey have shunned the traditional black funeral garb for pink in honour of the bubbly, fun-loving 22-year-old.

Her casket was carried into the Bacchus Marsh Uniting Church to a pop song and her friends released bundles of pink balloons as it was driven away in a hearse.

Even those mourners who did opt for the black adorned their outfits with flowers or pink shoes while shops and restaurants along the main street, 50km west of Melbourne, were decorated with balloons and streamers.

It was a town's way of remembering the local girl whose death created headlines across the state.

More than 1000 people packed the Uniting Church, among them Sarah's mother Noelle Dickson, father Adrian Cafferkey and beloved dog Sprocket, led by a pink leash.

Delivering the eulogy, Mr Cafferkey described Sarah as "her mother's world" and a girl who left a positive impact on countless friends.

"One measure of a person is the way they positively impact on others, and today you need only look around at this gathering to see the number of people she reached in her short life," he said.

"Sarah could raise your spirits with just a glance.

"When Sarah walked into your life it lit up. She radiated an energy that lifted your whole being."

Mr Cafferkey told mourners he and Ms Dickson were enduring every parent's nightmare.

"In all our minds there is a preordained order in which these matters of life and death are meant to occur. This is all wrong," he said.

A court has heard Ms Cafferkey was stabbed multiple times at a flat in Bacchus Marsh on November 10 before her body was moved to Point Cook in Melbourne's outer southwest.

Police say her body was found in a wheelie bin at the home on November 18.

Steven James Hunter, 47, of Bacchus Marsh, has been charged with the murder while two other men were questioned and released without charge.

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Bangladesh garment factory blaze kills 104

At least nine people have died after a blaze tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh. Source: AAP

MORE than 100 workers have been killed in a fierce blaze which tore through a garment factory in Bangladesh, forcing people to leap from high windows to escape choking smoke and flames.

Firefighters battled for several hours to control the fire, which broke out in the ground-floor warehouse of the nine-storey factory, 30 kilometres north of the capital Dhaka on Saturday evening.

Survivors told how panicked staff, mostly women, desperately tried to escape the blazing building, which made clothes for international brands including Dutch chain C&A and the Hong Kong-based Li & Fung company.

"There were more than 1000 workers trapped in the factory," one worker who gave her name only as Romesa, 42, told local media from her hospital bed.

"I jumped from a window on the fourth floor and found myself on the third-story roof of another building. Several people fell out of the window and died."

The operations director of the fire brigade, Major Mahbub, who uses one name, told AFP that the death toll had been lowered on Sunday morning to 104 from 121.

"There was some double counting as different fire teams were working on different floors," he said.

"But now we have a total of 104 dead bodies including several who jumped to their deaths. Most bodies were found on the second floor. Most died of suffocation."

The owner of the Tazreen factory, Delwar Hossain, told AFP that the cause of the fire was not yet known but he denied his premises were unsafe.

"It is a huge loss for my staff and my factory. This is the first time we have ever had a fire at one of my seven factories," he said, confirming that the premises made clothes for Li and Fung of Hong Kong and C&A.

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

Such tragedies are not confined to Bangladesh. A blaze in a Pakistan garment factory fire in September killed 289 workers and injured 110 more.

Of the workers who were injured, dozens suffered disabling injuries and about 2,000 other workers have lost their livelihoods.

Two of the three Pakistan factory's owners are facing murder charges and have been sent to jail on remand.

Also in Bangladesh, at least 13 people were killed after a flyover under construction collapsed in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.

Witnesses said more than 50 construction workers and vegetable hawkers had gathered near a pond under the bridge when three concrete girders crashed to the ground on Saturday evening.

Armed with sticks and stones, angry crowds attacked the site offices of the construction company, forcing police to fire tear gas and use batons to disperse them, police said.

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Afghan bomb attacks kill 8, wound 35

The Pakistan Taliban has claimed a bomb blast that killed eight people near a Shi'ite procession. Source: AAP

A BOMB attack on a Shi'ite Muslim procession has wounded more than 35 people in Pakistan's northwest as Shi'ites mark their holiest day Ashura.

The bomb on Sunday exploded in the city of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where a blast on Saturday had killed eight people near a Shi'ite Muslim procession.

"We have received more than 35 injured, the condition of some of them was critical," Khalid Aziz, a doctor in the city's main hospital, told Pakistan's private ARY TV channel.

Nazir Khan, a police official in the city, told AFP by telephone the bomb was planted inside a shop. "It was a remote-controlled bomb and exploded as a procession reached here," he said.

Four boys were among the dead and 30 other people were injured when the remote-controlled bomb packed with ball bearings exploded on the outskirts of Dera Ismail Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, police said.

The attack on Shi'ites, a minority in Sunni-dominated Pakistan, came as they marched to mourn Prophet Mohammed's grandson Imam Hussain during the holy month of Muharram which culminates Sunday in Ashura, the group's holiest day of the year.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility.

"We carried out the attack against the Shi'ite community," spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

"The government can make whatever security arrangements it wants but it cannot stop our attacks."

The Taliban had dispatched more than 20 suicide bombers across the country for attacks on the minority community, he said.

The blast followed another suicide attack - also claimed by the Pakistani Taliban - that killed 23 people at a Shi'ite procession in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Thursday, the country's deadliest bombing for five months.

Authorities subsequently ordered heightened security, with services for mobile phones - which are often used to trigger bombs - suspended in major cities.

But that did not prevent Saturday's attack. Police said a 10 kilogram bomb was hidden in a dustbin on the procession route and its powerful blast could be heard several kilometres away.

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Renault recalls over 6000 electric cars

French automaker Renault is recalling three quarters of its Twizy electric cars sold in Europe. Source: AAP

FRENCH automaker Renault is recalling three quarters of its Twizy electric cars sold in Europe to rectify potential problems with brake fluid leaks.

A Renault spokesman said earlier this week 6247 Twizy vehicles, made between January 27 and May 1 of this year, were affected by the recall. Most of the vehicles were sold in France and Germany, as well as in Switzerland.

"This is a pre-emptive recall," the spokesman said, adding that a single case of a brake fluid leak had been detected, without incident.

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Dallas star Larry Hagman dies at 81

American actor Larry Hagman, known for his role on the TV show Dallas, has died at the age of 81. Source: AAP

US actor Larry Hagman, who for more than a decade played villainous patriarch JR Ewing in the TV soap Dallas, has died at the age of 81, his family says.

Hagman, who had suffered from cancer and liver disease, died in hospital in Dallas, Texas, the Dallas Morning News reported.

Linda Gray, a long-time friend who starred alongside him in the TV show, called him her "best friend for 35 years", her agent told the BBC.

Gray, who played Hagman's on-screen wife, Sue Ellen Ewing, was by his bedside when he died.

In a statement from her agent she said: "Larry Hagman was my best friend for 35 years.

"He was the Pied Piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew. He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented and I will miss him enormously.

"He was an original and lived life to the full."

Hagman was born in Fort Worth, Texas on September 21, 1931, the son of actress Mary Martin and lawyer Ben Hagman, a biography on his official website said.

While in England with the US Air Force he met and married his wife of almost 60 years, Swedish designer Maj Axelsson. The couple later had two children.

He became a star in 1965 in the TV comedy series I Dream of Jeannie, in which he played an astronaut haunted by the beautiful blonde genie, played by Barbara Eden.

But it was in 1977 when he landed the role of merciless oil magnate JR Ewing, the character at the centre of the show Dallas, that his worldwide fame was cemented.

The series ran for 13 seasons and on November 21, 1980 more than 350 million people tuned in to find out "who shot JR".

Hagman refused to be defined by his most enduring role, acting in films such as Nixon and Primary Colors.

But he also had health problems. In 1992 he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and three years later he had a liver transplant.

In October last year, he discovered a tumour on his tongue and was diagnosed with cancer, and underwent six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation before it went into remission in March.

Earlier this year, he appeared in a new 10-episode series of Dallas, with a second series in production and due to run next year.

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