Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Bangladesh rescuers confirm they have freed survivor of building collapse after 17 days -MM

@CBSNews: BREAKING: Female Bangladeshi garment factory worker apparently pulled alive from rubble after 17 days trapped

BANGLADESH WORKERS SEE POSSIBLE SURVIVOR IN RUBBLE

By JULHAS ALAM

— May. 10 6:13 AM EDT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Rescue workers in Bangladesh said Friday they may have found a female survivor buried amid the wreckage of a garment factory building that collapsed 17 days ago.

Army officials ordered workers to stop clearing the site with bulldozers and cranes as they tried to free a woman they said might still be alive. A soldier at the scene said rescuers found a woman in the debris and she waved her hand in response to them.

Rescuers used a handsaw, welding and drilling equipment to try to cut through iron rod and debris to free her. They asked for a small oxygen cylinder to be brought to the site.

Workers at the site had been clearing the rubble since the collapse April 24. More than 2,500 people were rescued in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. However, no survivors have been found in the wreckage since the days after the collapse.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bangladesh-factory-collapse-death-toll-hits-1038

Source: Bloomberg

Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse Death Toll Reaches 1,000

By Arun Devnath

May 09, 2013 5:12 PM EDT

The death toll from the collapse of the Bangladesh garment factory building two weeks ago has risen to 1,000, Shahnewaz Mohammad Golam Zakaria, an army captain in control room supervising the rescue operation, said by phone.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/bangladesh-garment-factory-collapse-death-toll-reaches-1-000.html

Source: Bloomberg

Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Fall to Five-Year Low

By Alex Kowalski

May 09, 2013 8:30 AM EDT

The number of Americans filing claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to the lowest level in more than five years, a signal employers are confident enough in the economic outlook to hold onto workers.

Applications for unemployment insurance payments decreased by 4,000 to 323,000 in the week ended May 4, the least since January 2008, Labor Department figures showed today. Economists forecast 335,000 claims, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey. The average over the past month was the lowest since before the last recession began.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/jobless-claims-in-u-s-unexpectedly-decrease-to-five-year-low.html

Source: CBS News

Michelle Knight told cops Ariel Castro threatened to kill her if Amanada Berry's baby died
May 08, 2013

Michelle Knight, one of three women Ariel Castro is accused of holding captive for almost a decade in his Cleveland house, has told investigators Castro forced her to deliver a baby born to one of the other women, and he warned her if the baby were to die, he would kill her.

New details on the women's harrowing ordeal were confirmed in a police report obtained Wednesday by CBS News, which corroborated information received earlier from a law enforcement source.

Knight told police, according to the report, that Castro impregnated her "at least 5 times," but that each time he would starve her and then punch her in the stomach to induce a miscarriage.

Six years ago, however, when Knight's fellow captive Amanda Berry had her daughter in the home, Knight was forced to help with the delivery. Knight told police that after delivery the infant girl "stopped breathing at one point," so she gave the newborn mouth-to-mouth to keep her alive.

Berry was able to escape, according to the police report and the law enforcement source, because Castro forgot to lock the main front door in his haste to get something to eat. Instead, he locked only a screen door. He was arrested at a nearby McDonald's.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57583620/michelle-knight-told-cops-ariel-castro-threatened-to-kill-her-if-amanada-berrys-baby-died

Associated Press

Police Officer: We Found 'Em!

Published May 9, 2013

Newly released police dispatch calls from Cleveland reveal the moment that officers entered a house and found Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight alive after receiving Amanda Berry's 911 call. Officers said 'This might be for real,' 'We found 'em.' (May 9)

Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Death toll in Bangladesh factory building collapse passes 900 as recovery continues, officials say.

- snip -


DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh killed eight people, including a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group, as the death toll from the collapse of another garment building passed 900 on Thursday.

The fire Wednesday night raced through the lower floors of the 11-story building housing the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. Factory — which had closed for the day — as well as apartments, fire official Nazrul Islam said. Fire officials said the cause of the blaze was not yet known.

The fire burned parts of the first and second floors, which housed the factory, and parts of the third, which housed apartments.

By early Thursday, firefighters had confirmed the deaths of eight people, Islam said. All the dead had been found in a stairwell, apparently trying to flee the building.

The dead included the factory's managing director, Mahbubur Rahman, who was also a top official with the powerful Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association. A police official was also among the dead, according to fire officials.

It took more than three hours for firefighters to get control of the blaze, which began soon after the factory's roughly 300 workers had gone home for the day, officials said.

The country's powerful garment industry has been plagued by a series of disasters in recent months, including a November fire at the Tazreen factory that killed 112.

However, last month's collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza building, which housed five garment factories, stands out as the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment manufacturing industry.

More than two weeks after the collapse, workers with cranes and other heavy equipment were still pulling apart the rubble and finding more bodies. On Thursday, authorities said the death toll had risen to 912 and it was unclear how many more people remained missing. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive after the April 24 accident.

Maj. Ohiduzzaman, an army official who uses only one name, said 100 decomposing bodies have been kept at a makeshift morgue at a local school ground and were to be sent to hospitals in Dhaka for DNA testing to identify them.

A total of 648 bodies have so far been handed over to the families, he said. Some of those who authorities have been unable to identify have been buried by the government.


Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/bangladesh-factory-collapse-death-toll-912

Source: Associated Press

OFFICIALS: 8 DEAD IN BANGLADESH GARMENT FIRE

May. 8 11:00 PM EDT

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A fire has raced through an 11-story building housing a garment factory and residential complex in Bangladesh's capital, killing at least eight people.

Fire officials say the fire broke out late Wednesday. By early Thursday, firefighters had found eight people dead.

They say the factory was on the first and second floor of the building, while the uppers floors were used as residential complex. The factory was closed during the accident.

They say a police official and the owner of the factory are among the dead.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/officials-8-dead-bangladesh-garment-fire

Source: Associated Press

NY GROUP BUYS TESLA PROPERTY, PLANS SCIENCE CENTER

By FRANK ELTMAN
— May. 7 5:33 PM EDT

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A New York community group that raised $1.3 million in a six-week online fundraising effort has purchased a laboratory once used by visionary scientist Nikola Tesla.

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Tesla was a rival of Thomas Edison who imagined a world of free electricity. He conducted experiments in the early 20th century at his laboratory in Shoreham, about 65 miles east of New York City.

- snip -

Their effort got a jolt of support last summer from Seattle cartoonist Matthew Inman, a Tesla fan who started promoting the fundraising effort on his website, theoatmeal.com.

Within six weeks, more than $1.3 million had been raised from 33,000 donors in the U.S. and 108 countries.

Tesla abandoned the lab in 1917. For many years it was a photo chemical processing plant; in 1993, officials determined that the property's groundwater had been polluted with cadmium and silver. A remediation effort overseen by state environmental regulators was completed last year.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ny-group-buys-tesla-property-plans-science-center

Source: Associated Press

Delaware state Senate votes to become 11th state allowing same-sex marriage

Delaware to become 11th state with gay marriage

RANDALL CHASE | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 7 minutes ago

Delaware will become the 11th state to allow same-sex marriages.

A divided state Senate gave final legislative approval Tuesday to a bill authorizing same-sex marriage after hearing about three hours of debate. The vote sends the bill to Democratic Gov. Jack Markell, who has promised to sign it.

The bill doesn't give same-sex couples any more rights or benefits under Delaware law than they currently have with civil unions. But supporters say same-sex couples deserve the dignity and respect of married couples. They also hope the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a federal law barring married gay couples from receiving federal benefits.

Opponents, including many Delaware religious leaders, argue same-sex marriage redefines and destroys a centuries-old institution that is a building block of society.

Read more: http://www.newser.com/article/da64mshg0/delaware-state-senate-votes-to-become-11th-state-allowing-same-sex-marriage.html

Source: Reuters

Ammonium nitrate was cause of Texas explosion, state agency says

Tue May 7, 2013 8:45am EDT

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Investigators have determined that ammonium nitrate was the cause of the explosion at a West, Texas, fertilizer plant last month that left 14 people dead and some 200 injured, a spokeswoman for the Texas state fire marshal's office said on Tuesday.

"The investigators have been able to narrow down the origin to the fertilizer and seed building on site, and we also know that what caused the explosion was the ammonium nitrate," said Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal's Office. "What we don't know is exactly why."

The fire marshal's office has been leading the investigation of the April 17 blast, along with the federal Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency (ATF).

Ammonium nitrate is a dry fertilizer mixed with other fertilizers such as phosphate and applied to crops to promote growth. It can be combustible under certain conditions, and was used as an ingredient in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that left 168 people dead.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9460GP20130507