Garment Factory Fire Kills 22 in Bangladesh
NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh -- A fire raced through a garment factory in Bangladesh, killing 22 people who were trapped because most of the exits were locked, officials said Friday.
Rescuers recovered the victims' charred bodies after the fire destroyed the Sun Knit garment factory late Thursday in Siddhirganj, an industrial town near Dhaka, the capital, fire brigade official Nurul Islam said.
Nearly 500 workers -- many of them women -- were in the four-story building when the fire started, Islam said, adding that the cause was being investigated.
EUROPE
• BOLOGNINA DI CREVALCORE, Italy -- A passenger train and a freight train collided in thick fog in northern Italy, killing 14 people and injuring dozens, rescue officials said.
The crash, on a line between Bologna and Verona, left several train cars in a wreck of buckled metal. At least one carriage was lifted high into the air by the force of the collision.
• MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first public comment on the dramatic Ukrainian presidential election that the Kremlin-favored candidate lost, said he hoped the country would move from rhetoric to pragmatism, news agencies reported.
• STRASBOURG, France -- A French court sentenced an art-loving waiter to 26 months in prison for stealing valuable paintings and other artworks from galleries and museums across Europe. Stephane Breitwieser had confessed to stealing almost 240 artworks but was on trial for just 23 items stolen in France, Denmark and Austria between 1999 and 2001.
AFRICA
• KINSHASA, Congo -- Renegade soldiers in eastern Congo massacred at least 30 civilians, including women and children, to avenge the deaths of three of their comrades, the United Nations said.
Troops slaughtered the civilians Dec. 17 in the village of Buramba because they suspected them of supporting Mayi Mayi militiamen in the area, the U.N. mission in Congo said in a statement.
• LILONGWE, Malawi -- President Bingu wa Mutharika dissolved the country's intelligence network, following claims that some agents were involved in an alleged plot to assassinate him.
THE MIDDLE EAST
• NABLUS, West Bank -- Palestinian gunmen opened fire on a group of Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, killing one and wounding three, a day after militant leaders in the area told Palestinian presidential candidate Mahmoud Abbas they were ready to abide by a cease-fire.
Also Friday, Israeli forces shot and killed a 23-year-old Palestinian walking near the Gaza settlement of Netzarim, Palestinian security officials said. The Israeli army said the man was armed with an antitank missile and was suspected of planning an attack.
ASIA
• SRINAGAR, India -- Militants stormed a government building in Indian Kashmir and set it on fire, killing a security guard and a worker, a security official said.
-- From News Services
