The bodies of 10 victims of the Gazipur factory fire were handed over to their families on Monday after collecting DNA samples. Additional Deputy Commissioner Shahinur Islam, head of an investigation committee formed by the district administration, said the postmortem examinations were carried out at Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Medical College Hospital before they were handed over to their families. The victims were identified as – Tariqul Islam of Mymensingh; Limon Islam and Foysal Khan of Dinajpur; Uttam Chandra Das of Sadar upazila; Shamim and Rashed from Gazipur’s Sreepur; Faridul Islam of Rangpur; Sajal Mia of Narsingdi; Pervez of Naogaon; and Yusuf Mia of Brahmanbaria. They were killed in a fire that ripped through ‘Rouza High-tech Fan Luxury’ factory at Keshorita in Sadar upazila on Sunday evening. A five-member committee was formed to look into the fire. It has been asked to submit its report within seven working days. Source: UNB AH

10 people were burnt to death as a fan factory at Baria union under Gazipur sadar upazila caught fire. The fire originated in the evening of Sunday. Three fire and rescue response units from Joydevpur rushed to the spot to douse the fire. Deputy Assistant Director of Fire Service Md. Mamunur Rashid said, the fire broke out on the second floor of the fan factory at Keshorta area under Gazipur sadar upazila. The cause of fire is yet to be known. AH       

The Labor and Employment Ministry on Thursday formed a five-member committee to investigate the fire incident at Keraniganj plastic factory that claimed lives of 13 people. The committee headed by Additional Secretary to Labor and Employment Ministry Dr Jalal Uddin will dig out the cause of the incident and make recommendations to take legal action against those responsible for it, said a release of the Press Information Department (PID). The probe body was also asked to identify the risk factors in the plastic factories of Keraniganj and recommend remedies for those. Earlier, the death toll from the fire climbed to 13 after four more victims succumbed to their injures at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Eight of the injured died at the burn unit between Wednesday night and Thursday morning. A deadly fire, sparked by a gas cylinder explosion at a factory in Hijaltola, left a worker dead on the spot and injured 32 others. Firefighters recovered the charred body of Jakir Hossain, 25, from the factory. The injured were taken to the burn unit of DMCH. Source: UNB AH

A worker was killed and at least 25 others suffered burn injuries as a fire broke out at a plastic factory at Hijaltola in Dakkhin Keraniganj on Wednesday. Victims said the fire broke out at the factory, which produces onetime plastic glasses and cups, around 4:30pm after a gas cylinder went off with a big bang. On information, seven firefighting units rushed in and they were trying to douse the flame till filing of the report at 6pm, said Shah Jaman, officer-in-charge of Dakkhin Keraniganj Police Station. Firefighters recovered the charred body of the dead worker from the factory, said Saiful Islam of Keraniganj Fire Service Station. Babul, a worker of the factory, said at least four workers got trapped inside the factory. There was another fire incident at the factory in February last. Source: UNB AH

Myanmar's former pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday denied that her country's armed forces committed genocide against the Rohingya minority, telling the U.N.'s top court that the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Muslims was the unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents. In a measured tone, Suu Kyi calmly refuted allegations that the army had killed civilians, raped women and torched houses in 2017 in what Myanmar's accusers describe as a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide that saw more than 700,00 Rohingya flee to neighboring Bangladesh. She said the allegations stem from "an internal armed conflict started by coordinated and comprehensive armed attacks ... to which Myanmar's defense services responded. Tragically, this armed conflict led to the exodus of several hundred thousand Muslims." Her appearance at the International Court of Justice was striking in that Suu Kyi was defending the very armed forces that had kept her under house arrest for about 15 years. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize in absentia for championing democracy and rights under Myanmar's then-ruling junta. A small group of her supporters gathered Wednesday outside The Hague-based court. Suu Kyi told the court that the African nation of Gambia, which brought the legal action against Myanmar on behalf of the 57-country Organization of Islamic Cooperation, had provided "an incomplete and misleading factual picture" of what happened in Myanmar's northern Rakhine state in August 2017. Gambia alleges that genocide was committed and is still ongoing. It has asked the world court to take action to stop the violence, including "all measures within its power to prevent all acts that amount to or contribute to the crime of genocide" in Myanmar. But Suu Kyi said developments in one of Myanmar's poorest regions are "complex and not easy to fathom." She detailed how the army responded on Aug. 25, 2017, to attacks by insurgents trained by Afghan and Pakistan extremists. Addressing the court in her capacity as Myanmar's foreign minister, Suu Kyi insisted that the country's armed forces had tried "to reduce collateral damage" during fighting in 12 locations. While conceding that excessive force might have been used and that one helicopter may have killed "non-combatants," Suu Kyi said a Myanmar investigation is looking into what happened and should be allowed to finish its work. "Can there be genocidal intent on the part of a state that actively investigates, prosecutes and punishes soldiers and officers who are accused of wrongdoing?" she asked the court. Suu Kyi and Myanmar's legal team argued that the genocide convention does not apply to Myanmar. They invoked Croatia during the Balkans wars in the 1990s, saying that no genocide was deemed there when thousands of people were forced from their homes by fighting. On Tuesday, Justice Minister Aboubacarr Tambadou urged the International Court of Justice to "tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity that continue to shock our collective conscience, to stop this genocide of its own people." Also Tuesday, the U.S. slapped economic sanctions on four Myanmar military officers suspected of human rights violations. It sanctioned Min Aung Hlaing, commander of Myanmar's armed forces, over allegations of serious rights abuses. Deputy commander Soe Win and two other military leaders, Than Oo and Aung Aung, were also targeted. "There are credible claims of mass-scale rape and other forms of sexual violence committed by soldiers under Min Aung Hlaing's command," a U.S.  statement said. The court's hearings on Myanmar are scheduled to end Thursday. Source: AP/UNB AH