Bangladesh Makes EU Plea Over Factory Collapse

Bangladesh has urged the EU not to take tough measures against its economically crucial textile industry after the collapse of a factory which killed 550 people.

Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble of the clothing plant on Saturday as tearful families stood waiting for news of victims.

The EU, which gives preferential access to Bangladeshi clothing, had threatened punitive measures to press Dhaka to improve worker safety standards after the collapse of the illegally-built factory on April 24.

The disaster, thought to have been triggered when the building's electricity generators were started up during a blackout, put the spotlight on Western retailers who use Bangladesh as a source of cheap goods.

A security guard sits in front of missing persons posters in a hospital

Four million people work in the country's textile industry - making it the second largest clothing exporter after China. Some earn as little as $38 (£24) a month.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has blamed the factory owners for the disaster, saying they ignored warnings about cracks in the walls of the building.

Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19bn-a-year (£12.2bn) industry with 60% of clothes going to Europe.

Mahbub Ahmed, top civil servant in Bangladesh's Commerce Ministry, said: "If the EU or any other buyers impose any harsh trade conditions on Bangladesh it will hurt the country's economy ... millions of workers will lose their jobs."

He added the government had not received any formal notification of punitive action from the EU.

Authorities have arrested nine people in connection with the building collapse, including an engineer who had raised safety concerns about the eight-storey complex the day before the disaster.

Mr Hasina told a news conference on Friday: "The Industrial Police had asked the owners of the factories to suspend operations after cracks were noticed in the building.

"But they decided to operate their factories. After a power blackout when they started their generators the building caved in."

The owners of the factories have not commented publicly on the accusation that they were to blame. Four factory owners have been arrested, as has the owner of the building.

The collapse was the third deadly incident in six months that raised questions about worker safety and labour conditions in Bangladesh.

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Kenya: 'Criminal' President Invited To UK

Britian has invited a world leader who is indicted by the International Criminal Court to a conference in London next week.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has been asked to attend a conference on Somalia on Tuesday - co-hosted by both Britain and Somalia.

Mr Kenyatta, who won elections for the Kenyan presidency on March 4, is due to go on trial in July at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

He stands accused of orchestrating violence in Kenya after the last presidential elections in 2007 and 2008 during which up to 1,500 died.

Britain has said it has a policy of only "essential contact" with anyone charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

A Whitehall source said that having Mr Kenyatta at the conference "is seen as essential".

A spokesman for Kenya's High Commission in Nairobi said the High Commissioner had delivered a letter to Mr Kenyatta.

The commission said in a statement: "Kenya plays a vital role on Somalia, having nearly 5,000 troops in Somalia, and hosting more Somali refugees than any other nation."

January 2008: Violence broke out in the wake of the election

The statement said Mr Kenyatta and High Commissioner Christian Turner also "discussed how the two countries would work together not only on the shared agendas of regional security and stability, but also prosperity and development".

It added that London wanted to support Nairobi in its aims to double UK-Kenya trade.

Mr Kenyatta's election was predicted to pose problems for European countries and America, which are nervous about dealing with alleged criminals against humanity.

Until recently, Kenya had been considered the West's ally in the war against Islamic extremism centred in Somalia.

Recent gains have been made in pushing back the al Shabaab militant group, which had come to control parts of Somalia after the US withdrawal in the late 1990s led to a power vacuum.

Military victories against al Shabaab have in-part been spearheaded from Kenya, where the US has a base.  Ethiopia has also played a major role.

Britain is also believed to be keen to keep Kenya on side in the fight against international terrorism.

In 2012, The British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK) built a new base just outside the town of Nanyuki, about 80 miles north of Nairobi.

The London conference will be the first trip outside Africa for Mr Kenyatta since his election, which was held to be fraudulent by the losing candidate Raila Odinga.

Uhuru, meaning freedom, is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, who was put on trial by the ruling British colonial powers for inciting rebellion and kept in jail for seven years.

After independence and Kenya being declared a republic, Jomo was promoted from interim prime minister to president.

Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, who also faces trial at the ICC, have both said they will co-operate fully with the ICC. They deny the charges against them.

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Italy: Baggage Handlers In Airport Bust

Italian police have arrested 29 baggage handlers from Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport after an investigation into the theft of valuable objects from passengers' luggage.

Those arrested are accused of stealing items, including cameras and mobile phones, from passengers' bags.

The arrests took place after hidden cameras were installed in plane cargo holds to capture footage of the alleged thefts.

Images from the cameras released by Italian authorities show baggage handlers rifling through people's possessions and stealing a number of items, including cash.

Police captured footage of the alleged thefts on hidden cameras

Italian national carrier Alitalia said it cooperated with police at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport and in Lamezia Terme, where the investigation began in 2011 and spread to a half-dozen airports across the country.

Lamezia Terme airport deputy police chief Ferruccio Martucci said investigators were stumped as to where the loot was being stolen and theorised that the only place where handlers could be assured of secrecy was in the cargo holds.

He said police installed temperature and pressure-resistant cameras in the holds and identified the thieves.

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Pepsi Drops Rapper Lil Wayne Over Song Lyric

Pepsi Co has said it is cutting ties with Lil Wayne after he made an "offensive" reference to civil rights martyr Emmett Till in a song.

The New Orleans rapper has been embroiled in a months-long controversy over a lyric in a remix of Karate Chop, originally written and performed by hip-hop artist Future, that likens the lynching of 14-year-old African-American Emmett Till to a sexual act.

The song was leaked on the internet in February and prompted an apology from Future's record company, Epic Records, after Till's family had complained.

But the controversy did not stop there. In a letter to Till's family, Wayne called the reference "inappropriate" but stopped short of an apology.

Till, from Chicago, was beaten and murdered in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman in the village of Money, Mississippi, where he was visiting family.

An all-white jury acquitted two white men of Till's murder, sparking national outrage.

The trial is credited with mobilising the civil rights movement and drawing attention to racial injustice and violence in America's South.

Wayne's publicist says split was over 'creative differences'

Wayne, 30, had a deal to promote the company's Mountain Dew soda.

In a statement, the company said the "offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand".

A publicist for Wayne, Sarah Cunningham, said that the split was due to "creative differences" and that it was an amicable parting.

"That's about all I can tell you at this time," she added.

On Wednesday, Pepsi Co pulled a series of online ads for Mountain Dew by rapper Tyler, The Creator, which was criticised for embracing racial stereotypes and trivialising violence towards women.

Earlier this month, rapper Rick Ross also lost his deal with Reebok after he rapped about raping a woman who had been drugged.

Epic Records is owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a division of Sony Corp.

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Israeli Warplanes Launch Airstrike In Syria

Israeli officials have confirmed its air force carried out an airstrike allegedly targeting a shipment of advanced missiles in Syria.

The officials said the target was not chemical weapons, but of "game changing" arms bound for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

The strike took place overnight on Thursday into Friday, just as Israel was flying many warplanes over Lebanon.

The US earlier said it did not believe Israeli warplanes entered Syrian airspace to conduct the strikes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly warned in recent weeks that his country would be prepared to take military action if chemical weapons or other arms were to reach Hezbollah.

Earlier this month, Israel admitted carrying out a January airstrike on a weapons convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft equipment in Syria thought to be en route to Hezbollah.

The confirmation of the strike came hours after Barack Obama refused to rule out options in dealing with the crisis in Syria but said he did not foresee sending in US ground troops.

Mr Obama, on a trip to Costa Rica, rules out US 'boots' on Syrian ground

Speaking during a visit to Costa Rica, the US President said: "As a general rule, I don't rule things out as commander-in-chief because circumstances change and you want to make sure that I always have the full power of the United States at our disposal to meet American national security interests.

"Having said that, I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria, American boots on the ground in Syria, would not only be good for America but also would be good for Syria."

Mr Obama said there was evidence that chemical weapons had been used in Syria, but that "we don't know when, where or how they were used".

But if "strong evidence" is found of such weapons being used by the regime of President Bashar al Assad, then "that is a game changer for us" because "there is a possibility that it lands in the hands of organisations like Hezbollah", Mr Obama said.

Mr Obama said if use of chemical weapons in Syria is confirmed, the US will present that evidence to the international community, because it concerns the entire world.

But he called for caution to avoid unintended consequences, saying: It's important for us to do it right."

Meanwhile, warnings of a new "large-scale massacre" in Syria have emerged following reports Mr Assad's troops bombarded Sunni areas near the city of Bania.

There have been reports of a 'large-scale massacre' in Baida

The opposition National Coalition accused the regime of "war crimes and genocide", citing witness reports of civilians being stabbed to death.

"The Coalition calls on the Arab League and the United Nations to act rapidly to save the civilians of Baida, Banias and other villages across Syria," it said in a statement.

"Several sources in the village say at least 50 people were killed in summary executions and shelling in Baida village,"Rami Abdel Rahman, of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP news agency.

Syria's official Sana news agency said troops killed "terrorists" and seized arms in an operation targeting rebels.

Regular forces were supported by pro-regime "shabiha" militiamen, said the Observatory, which relies on a network of sources on the ground for its information.

The Banias region is predominantly Alawite, an offshoot of Shia Islam and the sect of Mr Assad, while the insurgents battling to topple his regime are mainly Sunni Muslims.

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Sarah Palin Praises NRA For 'Not Giving Up'

Sarah Palin has urged America's National Rifle Association not to back down in the face of pressure.

Thousands of gun fans have been listening to speakers addressing the NRA's annual convention in Houston, Texas, at which the former vice presidential candidate praised members for 'not giving up'.

Mrs Palin said: "The Washington establishment sneers at you, and you don't give up.

"The lamestream media just plain doesn't get you, and you don't give up, you don't retreat."

The convention was the first since the start of a national debate over gun control following December's mass shooting of teachers and school children in Newtown, Connecticut.

Mrs Palin said recent mass shootings had prompted leaders in Washington DC to exploit tragedy in order to limit the freedoms of law-abiding people.

While she and others were saddened and angered by the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, she added, the emotions that resulted from it would not make anybody safer and would not "protect the good guys' rights".

The former Governor of Alaska asked those at the convention to "keep the faith" and "stand up and fight for our freedoms".

Last month a US Senate bill aimed at forcing restrictions on who could own guns was thrown out.

More than 70,000 NRA members were expected to attend the three-day convention.

The Sandy Hook shooting has prompted further debate on gun control

Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre said his organisation would not stop defending the rights of gun owners.

He told the convention: "We will never back away from our resolve to defend our rights and the rights of all law-abiding American gun owners."

US President Barack Obama, who has pushed for gun control measures, was a prime target for criticism.

Gary DuBois, a member of the NRA, claimed gun control pushes crime up.

He told a film crew: "I hate to sound like I'm paranoid or something, but the deal is, any thinking person, you can look at Britain, Australia, any place where they put gun control in effect, crime goes up.

"They can say that they are doing it for public safety, but it's just not right, they are doing it for another reason. I think it's for control."

Across the street from the conference hall, America's campaign against gun violence - called No More Names - was protesting by reading out the names of all those shot dead since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre.

The campaign was trying to remind NRA members that 30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence.

Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, was killed in the elementary school shooting, said: "The most recent polling that I've seen was that 74 per cent of NRA members do support the universal background check.

"It seems like it's their leadership that's kind of way more right than that and is really giving a lot of push back against it."

Recent national polls have indicated that a majority of US citizens are in favour of expanding background checks.

But many convention attendees said on Friday that they were not in favour of such efforts.

Politicians have said they intend to continue pressing for restrictions to be brought in at the federal level.

Senator Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he will re-introduce the bill to require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers.

Some states have taken matters into their own hands and introduced gun controls without the need for national legislation.

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Boeing Aircraft Sets Hypersonic Flight Record

An aircraft designed by Boeing has made history by achieving the longest ever hypersonic flight by a jet-fuel powered aircraft.

The X-51A WaveRider flew for three-and-a-half minutes at five times the speed of sound, the US Air Force has confirmed.

The last of four unmanned experimental military aircraft built by Boeing flew at a top speed of Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean on May 1, the Air Force said.

The total flight covered 230 nautical miles in just over six minutes before the hypersonic cruiser plunged into the ocean.

The Air Force says it was the longest of the four X-51A test flights and the longest air-breathing hypersonic flight ever.

The technology demonstration opens the door to future practical use of hypersonic jet-fuelled aircraft.

Previous aircraft developed by NASA used hydrogen as a fuel, but it would take a giant tank to fly for longer periods.

The Boeing aircraft mounted on a US Air Force B-52

A video released by Boeing and the US Air Force showed the WaveRider dropping down from under the left wing of a B-52 bomber at an altitude of about 50,000 feet and then accelerating away, leaving behind a long vapour trail.

It accelerated to Mach 4.8 in about 26 seconds, powered by a solid rocket booster built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

After separating from the booster, the cruiser's scramjet engine lit and accelerated it to Mach 5.1 at 60,000 feet.

The vehicle continued to send back data to the control station at Edwards Air Force Base in California until it made a controlled dive into the Pacific Ocean.

The Air Force said the four X-51As were built to demonstrate the new technology, not as a prototype for a new weapon system.

The programme is aimed at paving the way to future hypersonic weapons, hypersonic intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and future access to space, it said.

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Protests Over Boston Bomb Suspect's Burial

A funeral home director is struggling to find a cemetery to bury Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev following protests.

Dozens of protesters have gathered outside the funeral home since the 26-year-old's body was released by the state medical examiner on Thursday.

"My problem here is trying to find a gravesite. A lot of people don't want to do it. They don't want to be involved with this.

"I keep bringing up the point of Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh or Ted Bundy. Somebody had to do those, too," said Peter Stefan, of Graham Putnam and Mahoney Funeral Parlours in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, according to his death certificate revealed by Mr Stefan.

He died after a gunfight with authorities on April 19, four days after the bombing which killed three people.

Azamat Tazhayakov (L) and Dias Kadyrbayev have been charged

Police have said that Tsarnaev, an ethnic Chechen from Russia who came to the US about a decade ago, ran out of ammunition during the gunfight before his younger brother Dzhokhar dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing.

Tsarnaev's family was making arrangements for his funeral as investigators searched woods near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, which 19-year-old Dzhokhar attended.

Robel Phillipos has also been charged with making false statements

US officials said Dzhokhar had told interrogators he and his brother initially considered detonating their bombs on July 4.

Boston police say they plan to review security procedures for the Independence Day Boston Pops concert and fireworks display, which draws a crowd of more than 500,000 and is broadcast to a national TV audience.

Authorities will also look at security for large events held in other cities, including the New Year's Eve celebration in New York City's Times Square.

Dzhokhar, who was found hiding in a tarpaulin-covered boat in Watertown, faces a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction to kill.

Three of his college classmates were arrested on Wednesday, accused of helping after the bombing to remove a laptop and backpack from his dormitory room before the FBI searched it.

Three people were killed after bombs were set off at the Boston Marathon

The April 15 bombing, which used pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards, killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon's finishing line.

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To Kill A Mockingbird Author In Copyright Feud

The author of To Kill A Mockingbird is suing her literary agent's son-in-law for allegedly taking advantage of her declining hearing and eyesight to secure the book's copyright.

Harper Lee has launched legal action in a federal court in Manhattan to re-secure the copyright and seek unspecified damages from Samuel Pinkus and the companies he apparently created.

She alleges Mr Pinkus failed to properly protect the copyright of the book after his father-in-law Eugene Winick became ill a decade ago.

Mr Winick had represented Ms Lee as a literary agent since the book was published in 1960 through the firm McIntosh and Otis.

The 87-year-old author claims Mr Pinkus took advantage of her declining health seven years ago to get her to assign the book's copyright to him and a company he controlled.

She has no memory of agreeing to relinquish her rights or signing any transfer agreement, according to court papers.

Ms Lee, who lives in Monroeville, Alabama, has asked the court to reassign any rights owned by Mr Pinkus and pay any royalties he has received since 2007 to her.

"The transfer of ownership of an author's copyright to her agent is incompatible with her agent's duty of loyalty; it is a gross example of self-dealing," the lawsuit says.

Mr Pinkus did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

To Kill A Mockingbird, the only novel MS Lee ever published, tells the story of two children growing up in a small southern US town.

It addresses racial injustice, as the children's lawyer father is selected to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman. The man is convicted despite his innocence.

The book won the Pulitzer for fiction and is widely studied in schools. The film version won three Academy Awards.

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Bodies Found After Kyrgyzstan Plane Crash

Two bodies have been found in the wreckage of an American military aircraft that crashed not far from its base in Kyrgyzstan.

The KC-135 refuelling aircraft came down on Friday afternoon near the village of Chaldovar, about 100miles (160km) west of the Manas air base, outside the capital Bishkek.

The authorities said they were still looking for a third person who was on board.

On Friday, it was reported that local people had seen an airman parachute from the plane before it came down.

The plane came down in the Chaldovar region, in Kyrgyzstan

The refuelling plane was said to have exploded in mid air when its cargo of fuel ignited on its way to Afghanistan on Friday, accident investigators said.

Experts were still trying to work out what led up to the crash.

Kuvan Mamakeev, the Kyrgyz state prosecutor responsible for investigating transport crimes and accidents, said: "It could be because of the fuel, because of the engine, the weather conditions or the human factor."

Remains of the two bodies were found on Saturday. They have yet to be identified.

The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker took off from the US military's transit centre at Kyrgyzstan's Manas airport, which American forces maintain for operations in Afghanistan.

A KC-135 Stratotanker, like the one that crashed in Kyrgyzstan (File Pic)

It had around 70 tonnes of fuel on board, a local ministry official said.

The wreckage of the plane was scattered over a three and a half mile (5km) area in a mountainous part of the Central Asian republic.

The plane reportedly broke into three pieces when it crashed into an uninhabited region.

The deputy district chief Anatoly Ivannikov told local radio on Friday: "The preliminary information is that the pilot jumped out with a parachute. They have gone to look for him."

A spokeswoman at the US base said they were still confirming the report.

Wreckage of the Kc_135 was scattered over a wide area

The US base, outside the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, was established in late 2001 to support the international military campaign in Afghanistan. Around 1,200 US military personnel are located there.

It has been the subject of a contentious dispute between the United States and its host nation. In 2009, the US reached an agreement with the Kyrgyz government to use the base in return for $60m (£38.5m) a year.

But the lease runs out in June 2014 and the United States wants to keep the base beyond that point to aid in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The KC-135 is an aerial refuelling aircraft, used to give fighter jets and bombers greater range.

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