Bangladesh
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New Fire as Bangladesh Mourns Dead Garment Workers

Bangladesh firefighters battled a new blaze at a garment factory Monday as the country prepared for a day of mourning after the death of 110 workers over the weekend in the export industry's worst accident.

The second fire broke out at a 12-storey facility on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka, with some workers trapped on the roof in a further reminder of the dangerous conditions faced by thousands of poorly paid garment stitchers.

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Garment Factory Blaze Kills 104 in Bangladesh

More than 100 workers were killed when a fierce blaze tore through a busy garment factory in Bangladesh, forcing people to leap from high windows to escape the 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 Tazreen Fashion factory, 30 kilometers (18 miles) north of the capital Dhaka on Saturday evening.

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13 Killed as Bangladesh Flyover Collapses

At least 13 people were killed and dozens are feared missing after a flyover under construction collapsed in Bangladesh's southeastern port city of Chittagong, police said Sunday.

"So far 13 dead bodies have been recovered," sub-inspector Mohammad Alauddin told Agence France Presse, adding that military rescue teams had been called in to help with the search for victims.

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Bangladesh Arrests 2,500 over Clashes with Police

Bangladesh police have arrested some 2,500 activists from the country's largest Islamic party following clashes with police earlier this month, officials said.

The arrests came after nearly 200 policemen were injured in attacks by members of the Jamaat-e-Islami party and its student wing during nationwide protests against the trial of party leaders for war crimes.

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Bangladesh Detains Myanmar Rohingya Refugees

Police in southeastern Bangladesh have detained five Rohingya Muslims who fled deadly communal clashes in neighboring Myanmar, an officer said on Sunday.

Mohammad Ismail, a police chief of Satkania in the district of Chittagong, said that the male detainees, aged between 25 and 45, were charged with illegal entry.

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Scores Missing as Bangladesh Refugee Boat Sinks

Nearly 90 people are missing after an overloaded boat carrying Rohingya refugees towards Malaysia sank off Bangladesh early on Wednesday, the second such tragedy in less than a fortnight, officials said.

Bangladesh Border Guard commander Lieutenant Colonel Zahid Hasan said the wooden vessel was carrying around 110 passengers when it went down around 15 kilometers (nine miles) off the southern Cox's Bazaar coastal district.

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Bangladesh Charity Puts Women in the Driving Seat

Mosammat Shahanara, 22, is a rare breed in Bangladesh: a qualified professional female driver, and she is ready to hit the road in a new career that should bring her independence and an income.

Shahanara, who comes from a poor village in the southwest of the country, is one of 21 women to be the first graduates from a training scheme designed to promote women drivers and challenge deep gender prejudices.

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130 Missing in Rohingya Refugee Boat Sinking

About 130 people are missing after a boat carrying Rohingya refugees who were headed for Malaysia sank off Bangladesh, according to Bangladesh police and a Rohingya advocacy group on Wednesday.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohingya have fled Myanmar in past decades to escape persecution, often heading to neighboring Bangladesh, and recent unrest has triggered another exodus.

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Shell-Shocked Buddhists Scrap Bangladesh Festivities

Buddhists in southeastern Bangladesh cancelled celebrations for their most colorful annual festival in protest at mob attacks against their community last month, religious leaders said on Tuesday.

Buddhist leaders said a boating jamboree known as the Jahajbhasa Utsab and a paper lantern extravaganza had been scrapped Monday in the Cox's Bazaar district where at least 19 temples were torched or ransacked by Muslims in late September.

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U.N. Says over 26,000 Displaced by Myanmar Unrest

Homeless people fled to packed camps or clustered close to their charred houses in western Myanmar Sunday, after deadly unrest that the U.N. said displaced 26,500 from mainly Muslim communities.

Whole neighborhoods were razed in last week's clashes between Buddhists and Muslims in Rakhine state, which has cast a shadow over the country's reforms and put further strain on relief efforts in the region.

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