THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
ASIA
Jobs still desired despite factory fire
ASSOCIATED PRESS
In this photo taken on Thursday, relatives console Shirin, mother of Amena who died in a garment factory fire, outside the factory, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Major retailers have disavowed the Bangladesh garment factory where 112 workers died.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DHAKA, Bangladesh — As 112 of her co-workers died in a garment-factory fire, Dipa Aker got out by jumping from the third floor through a hole made by breaking apart an exhaust fan. Her left leg is wrapped in bandages and she has trouble walking.
Now she wants back in
"If the factory owner reopens the factory sometime soon, we will work again here," the 19-year-old said. "If it's closed for long, we have to think of alternatives."
Major retailers whose products were found in the fire have disavowed the Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory, but workers who survived have not. They can't afford to.
Factories like the one gutted Nov. 24 are a rare lifeline in this desperately poor country, and now
many of the more than 1.200 surviving employees have no work and few prospects.
Akter spent 25 minutes trying to get down the smoke-filled stairs before jumping, which she said was "the only option other than being burned."
Despite her injuries and trauma, she needs the job. Without it, she said, she would either be a housemaid or jobless in her home village.
Almost one-third of Bangladesh's 150 million people live in extreme poverty. There are few formal jobs in villages, where about 70 percent of the population lives. Garment work is one of the few paths to secure a stable income, collect some savings and send money to family — especially for young, uneducated rural women, who are already trained to make clothes at
home.
The industry has given women in this Muslim-majority, conservative nation an accepted opportunity to leave their homes and join the main workforce.
"I have a life here." Akter said.
"I have a timetable to wake up in the morning and I know when I should go to bed."
Akter made about 4,550 takas ($57) a month sewing pants, shirts and nightgowns.
MIDDLE EAST
Turkey and Russia call for restraint in Syria
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ISTANBUL — The leaders of Russia and Turkey on Monday downplayed differences over the Syrian civil war, saying they shared the common goal of trying to end the humanitarian crisis there and hailing their countries' booming trade ties.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, one of Syria's few remaining allies, said he understood Turkish concerns about its border security
after Syrian shells hit Turkish territory in recent months.
But he warned that Turkey's request that NATO deploy Patriot missiles on its border with Syria could escalate fears of a wider conflict. Turkey and its Western and Arab allies are calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"We share Turkey's concern about the developments on the border," said Putin. "But we are calling for restraint because increasing (military) potential will not settle
the situation but create the opposite effect."
After meeting Putin in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers will work together more intensively on the Syrian problem.
Russia has blocked tough action against Syria with its Security Council vote at the United Nations, while Turkey has urged the establishment of an internationally protected buffer zone for civilians in
Syria.
Putin and Erdogan emphasized the blossoming economic ties between their two countries, saying they should aim for bilateral trade to triple to $100 billion a year. Russian and Turkish officials signed 10 agreements on trade, energy, finance, banking and other issues.
Putin was making his first trip after a two-month hiatus that raised concerns about his health.
SOUTH AMERICA
ASSOCIATED PRESS
John McAfee speaks at a ceremony for the official presentation of equipment at the San Pedro Police Station.
McAfee wanted for questioning in killing
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY — Software company founder John McAfee said Monday he has left Belizade and is still on the run, adding "we are not in Belize, but not quite out of the woods yet."
McAfee claimed in a blog posting he had evaded authorities by staging an elaborate distraction in neighboring Mexico. It was a turn typical of the bizarre saga of the eccentric anti-virus company founder wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of a fellow American ex-pat.
In an email to The Associated Press, McAfee confirmed a posting to his website in which he described, in what appeared to be joking tones, how he mounted the ruse.
"My 'double', carrying on (sic) a North Korean passport under my name, was detained in Mexico for pre-planned misbehavior" McAfee wrote in the posting, "but due to indifference
on the part of authorities (he) was evicted from the jail and was unable to serve his intended purpose in our exit plan."
McAfee did not describe the entire plan, nor did he say where exactly he was now. In a previous interview with the AP, McAfee had said he had no plans to leave Belize.
"I'm not going to leave this country," he had told the AP. "I love this country, this is my home. I intend to fight the injustice that's here from here, I can't do much from outside, can I?"
Police in Belize have called him a "person of interest" in the slaying of fellow American Gregory Viant Faull and asked him to turn himself in for questioning.
Faull was shot to death in early November. McAfee acknowledges that Faull had complained about his dogs, which were poisoned shortly before Faull's killing, but says he didn't kill Faull.
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