'Standing man' leads Turkish protest

18 June 2013 Last updated at 04:49 ET

A Turkish protester dubbed the "standing man" has led a vigil on Istanbul's Taksim Square days after the authorities evicted demonstrators.

Performance artist Erdem Gunduz stood silently for eight hours, facing a portrait of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern, secular Turkey.

Hundreds of others joined him in the square, which was reopened on Monday, before being dispersed by police.

Mr Gunduz later told the BBC he had wanted to take a symbolic stand.

Two leading trade unions held rallies and a one-day strike in defiance of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.

Mr Gunduz appeared in the square at around 18:00 (15:00 GMT) on Monday and remained there until 02:00 when police moved in.

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Ten people who refused to be moved on were detained.

"There are many, many young people on the streets," Mr Gunduz told the BBC.

"I'm nothing... The idea is important: why people resist the government. The government doesn't want to understand, didn't try to understand why people are on the streets. This is really silent resistance. I hope people stop and think 'what happened there?'"

His protest quickly captured the imagination of the protest movement. The hash tag "duranadam" ("standing man") dominated Turkish-language Twitter on Tuesday morning.

Mr Gunduz's protest contrasts sharply with the violent clashes of recent weeks, in which some 5,000 people have been injured and at least four have died.

The protests began on 28 May against a plan to redevelop Istanbul's Gezi Park, on the city's central Taksim Square, but it snowballed into nationwide anti-government protests after the perceived high-handed response of the authorities under their three-term prime minister, Mr Erdogan.

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Hungary charges Nazi suspect, 98

18 June 2013 Last updated at 05:53 ET

Hungarian prosecutors have charged a 98-year-old man, Laszlo Csatary, with participation in Nazi war crimes.

He is under arrest in Hungary, accused of assisting in the murder of 15,700 Jews during World War II. He denies the allegations.

In 1944 he was serving in the Nazi police in Kosice, now in Slovakia.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center says Mr Csatary oversaw deportations of Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.

The indictment accuses Mr Csatary of torturing and murdering Jews - partly as a culprit, partly as an accomplice.

It says he was the chief of an internment camp for Jews in Kosice, and that he beat them with his bare hands and a dog whip.

"With his actions, Laszlo Csatary... deliberately provided help to the unlawful executions and torture committed against Jews deported to concentration camps... from Kosice," the prosecutors' statement said.

His trial is expected to start within three months.

Most wanted

Mr Csatary insists that he was merely an intermediary between Hungarian and German officials in Kosice and that he was not involved in war crimes.

Kosice - called Kassa at the time - was the site of the first Jewish ghetto established on Hungarian territory, following the German occupation of the country in 1944.

In 1948, a Czechoslovakian court condemned Mr Csatary to death, in absentia, for torturing Jews.

Mr Csatary fled to Canada after the war, where he worked as an art dealer in Montreal and Toronto. He disappeared in 1997 after being stripped of his Canadian citizenship.

He was in 2012 named by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as its most wanted suspect.

He was tracked down in Budapest by reporters from the UK's Sun newspaper in July 2012, with help from the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

He was put under house arrest.

He has also been charged in Slovakia.

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US reveals 'indefinite detainees'

18 June 2013 Last updated at 06:06 ET

The US has listed 46 inmates held at its military prison in Guantanamo Bay who it says it does not have the evidence to try but are too dangerous to release.

It revealed the men's names in response to a freedom of information request by the Miami Herald.

Most are from Yemen and Afghanistan.

President Barack Obama vowed last month to renew efforts to shut the prison. Lawyer Clifford Sloan has been appointed to oversee the closure.

Mr Sloan, whose appointment was officially announced on Monday, will be tasked with releasing detainees cleared for transfer.

Of the 166 detainees at Guantanamo in Cuba, 86 have been cleared for transfer if conditions can be met, including 56 from Yemen.

Hunger strike

The list of prisoners designated for indefinite detention was drawn up in 2010 but not made public.

It includes 26 Yemenis, 12 Afghans, three Saudis, two Kuwaitis, two Libyans, a Kenyan, a Moroccan and a Somali.

Two Afghans who were on the list have died, one of a heart attack and one who committed suicide.

The US says it either does not have sufficient evidence to try the men, or that the evidence it has is tainted by coercion or abuse.

After taking office in 2009, Mr Obama promised to close the prison within a year, but his plans to transfer detainees to maximum security prisons in the US and to try some detainees in the civilian justice system met fierce resistance from both parties in Congress.

More than 100 detainees have joined a hunger strike which began in early February to protest against the failure to end their detention without charge. Many have been held for more than a decade.

Officials say 44 of those are being force-fed through nasal tubes.

On Monday, five prisoners accused of helping orchestrate the 11 September 2001 attacks against the US returned to a military court in the Guantanamo camp for the first time since February, for a week of pre-trial hearings.

They include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks.

The government has requested that a trial to be scheduled in late 2014.

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Nato hands over security to Afghans

18 June 2013 Last updated at 06:48 ET

Nato has handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan for the first time since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

At a ceremony in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said that from Wednesday "our own security and military forces will lead all the security activities".

Observers say the best soldiers in the Afghan army are up to the task but there are lingering doubts about some.

International troops will remain in Afghanistan until the end of 2014, providing military back-up when needed.

The ceremony came shortly after a suicide bomb attack in western Kabul killed three employees of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and wounded more than 20.

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President Hamid Karzai: "For the people of Afghanistan this is a great day"

The attacker was believed to be targeting the convoy of prominent politician and Hazara leader Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, who escaped with light injuries.

Meanwhile, sources close to Taliban representatives have confirmed to the BBC that they are opening an office in the Qatari capital Doha, possibly as early as Tuesday. It is seen as an important stage in establishing a political face for the movement.

The Taliban has in the past refused talks with Mr Karzai's government, calling it a puppet of the US. But the Afghan president said on Tuesday he is sending representatives to Qatar to discuss peace talks with the movement.

President Karzai has been outspoken about his upset at previous US and Qatari efforts to kick-start the peace process without properly consulting his government, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary reports from Kabul.

There is also concern within the presidential palace that the Taliban will use the political office in Qatar to raise funds, our correspondent adds.

'Remarkable resolve'

Tuesday's ceremony saw the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) hand over control of the last 95 districts in a transition process that began in 2011.

The last remaining districts included 13 in Kandahar province - the birthplace of the Taliban - and 12 each in Nangarhar, Khost and Paktika, all bastions of insurgent activity along the border with Pakistan.

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There are still 97,000 international troops in Afghanistan as part of the Nato-led mission but those numbers are reducing as the day for the end of combat operations comes closer.

The forces are increasingly engaged in the complex business of closing bases and packing kit; very few now go out on patrol.

The practical effect of today's event is not great - a handful of districts, mainly along the eastern frontier, and in Kandahar, move formally to full Afghan combat lead.

But the symbolic impact is profound. For the first time since the departure of Soviet forces in 1989 and the years of civil war that followed, security across the whole of Afghanistan is now the responsibility of forces led by the Afghan government.

Between now and the final exit of international combat troops at the end of next year, they will support combat operations only when requested. Alongside training the only other assistance is helicopters to take out casualties. The Afghan forces remain inconsistent, but those who train them say the best are as good as any army in a developing country.

President Karzai called it an historic day and a moment of personal pride.

"This has been one of my greatest desires and pursuits," he said, "and I am glad that I, as an Afghan citizen and an Afghan president, have reached this objective today."

He reiterated a shift in military strategy, ruling out the future use of air strikes on what he called Afghan homes and villages; the issue of Nato air strikes and civilian casualties has long been a sensitive one.

Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Afghan forces were taking up the role with "remarkable resolve" but said there was still 18 months of hard work ahead for Isaf troops.

"We will continue to help Afghan troops in operations if needed, but we will no longer plan, execute or lead those operations, and by the end of 2014 our combat mission will be completed," he said.

'Good enough'

The number of Afghan security forces has been gradually increasing from fewer than 40,000 six years ago to nearly 350,000 today.

However, as it has taken over more responsibility for security, the Afghan army has suffered a sharp rise in casualties.

By comparison, international coalition casualties have been steadily falling since 2010.

A high desertion rate among Afghan forces has also meant that thousands of new recruits are needed each month to fill its ranks.

Despite the challenges, Isaf commander General Joseph Dunford recently told the BBC that the Afghan force is "getting good enough" to fulfil its role.

In recent Taliban attacks on the capital Kabul, Afghan rapid reaction police tackled the insurgents without having to call in Isaf forces.

The number of Isaf forces in Afghanistan peaked in 2011 at about 140,000, which included about 101,000 US troops.

Isaf currently has about 97,000 troops in the country from 50 contributing nations, the bulk of whom - some 68,000 - are from the US.

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Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the transition had been "tough"

By the end of 2014 all combat troops should have left to be replaced - if approved by the Afghan government - by a smaller force that will only train and advise.

The pressure on contributing nations to withdraw their troops has been exacerbated by a series of "green-on-blue" attacks in which members of the Afghan security forces have killed coalition troops.

At least 60 Nato personnel died in such attacks in 2012. Many more Afghan security force members have died at the hands of their colleagues, in so-called "green-on-green" attacks.

US President Barack Obama has not yet said how many troops he will leave in Afghanistan along with other Nato forces at the end of 2014.

Washington has said that the Afghan government will get the weapons it needs to fight the insurgency including a fleet of MI-17 transport helicopters, cargo planes and ground support airplanes.

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Protests spread throughout Brazil

18 June 2013 Last updated at 07:14 ET Continue reading the main story

As many as 200,000 people have marched through the streets of Brazil's biggest cities, as protests over rising public transport costs and the expense of staging the 2014 World Cup have spread.

The biggest demonstration was in Rio de Janeiro, where 100,000 people joined a mainly peaceful march.

In the capital, Brasilia, people breached security at the National Congress building and scaled its roof.

The protests are the largest seen in Brazil for more than 20 years.

'Not satisfied'

In Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, about 65,000 people took to the streets.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

Many of the headlines in recent years about Brazilians have been about millions lifted out of poverty... But for many Brazilians the raised expectations do not seem to have been matched by results"

End Quote

The wave of protests kicked off earlier this month when Sao Paulo residents marched against an increase in the price of a single bus fare, from 3 reals ($1.40, £0.90) to 3.20.

Authorities said the rise was well below inflation, which since the last price increase in January 2011 has been 15.5%, according to official figures.

The way these initial marches were policed - with officers accused of firing rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters - further incensed Sao Paulo residents and shifted the focus from rising transport costs to wider issues.

"For many years, the government has been feeding corruption, people are demonstrating against the system," Graciela Cacador told Reuters news agency.

Others complained about vast sums of money spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics instead of being invested in health and education.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Julia Carneiro BBC Brasil, Sao Paulo

---

The mass of people gathered at Sao Paulo's Largo da Batata was impressive - but more impressive was that after the demonstration began, thousands more kept arriving, streaming peacefully towards the city's main avenues in a constant flow.

Their bright banners bore diverse demands - but all reflected a fatigue with what people here get from the state. I repeatedly heard the word "tired": protesters told me they were tired of corruption, of nepotism, of high taxes paid for poor public services.

People chanted that others should join the movement and that "the people have awakened". They warned foreigners not to come to the World Cup - because of the billions of dollars being spent on stadiums.

Soon Sao Paulo's main avenues were blocked and part of the demonstration headed towards the state's Government Palace. There were clashes with police, but nothing like the crackdown seen last week.

This protest was mirrored on the streets of Rio, Brasilia, Belo Horizonte and other cities. Brazilians are asking for change - in a scale the country hasn't seen for decades.

"This is a communal cry saying: 'We're not satisfied!'," Maria Claudia Cardoso told the Associated Press news agency.

"We don't have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact we're not taking it anymore," she said.

"We need better education, hospitals and security, not billions spent on the World Cup," said one mother who attended the Sao Paulo march with her daughter.

"We're a rich country with a lot of potential but the money doesn't go to those who need it most," 26-year-old photographer Manoela Chiabai told the Associated Press.

Demonstrators chanted slogans, including "The people have awakened", BBC Brasil's Julia Carneiro reports from Sao Paulo.

Police took a hands-off approach at Monday's demonstration following an earlier meeting between protest organisers and security chiefs at which they had agreed that regular police would not carry rubber bullet guns.

'Legitimate'

Protests were reported in as many as 11 cities on Monday.

In Rio 100,000 people took part in a mainly peaceful march, although a small group threw rocks at police, wounding five officers. They also set fire to a car and vandalised the state assembly building.

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There were violent clashes overnight in Brasilia and Rio

Police there reportedly used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to disperse them.

There were also clashes with police in Belo Horizonte, which was hosting the latest game in the Confederations Cup, the warm-up tournament for the World Cup.

An 18-year-old is reportedly in a stable condition in hospital after falling from an overpass in the city.

And in Brasilia, more than 200 protesters managed to get onto the roof of the National Congress building. After negotiations with police, the crowd agreed to leave. Later, youths formed a human chain around the building, the AFP news agency said.

"Peaceful demonstrations are legitimate," President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement. "It is natural for the young to demonstrate."

However, Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo warned protesters that the authorities would not allow them to disrupt the Confederations Cup or next year's World Cup.

"The government assumed the responsibility and the honour to stage these two international events, and will do so, ensuring the security and integrity of the fans and tourists," he said.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, called on both sides to remain calm.

"We urge the Brazilian authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with spreading social protests in the country, and also call on demonstrators not to resort to acts of violence in pursuit of their demands," said a spokesman for the High Commissioner.

"With further protests planned, we are however concerned that the reported excessive use of police force in recent days should not be repeated."

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Deadly bomb attacks hit Baghdad

18 June 2013 Last updated at 07:37 ET

At least 31 people have been killed in a double suicide bomb attack at a Shia mosque in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Two bombers blew themselves up inside the mosque in the eastern al-Qahira district.

Close to 60 people were also wounded in the attack, officials say.

The attack comes a day after bombings near Baghdad killed at least 10. There has been a surge in sectarian attacks in recent months on targets like mosques, restaurants and local markets.

The two suicide bombers shot the guards at the entrance to the mosque shortly after midday prayers, and then blew themselves up inside the mosque, eyewitnesses said.

The violence has rekindled fears the country is being dragged towards a wider conflict between the Shia majority and the Sunni minority.

"The suicide bomber detonated himself among the worshippers, who were gathering after the call to prayer," policeman Furat Faleh, who was near the site of the blast, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

Tuesday's attack comes a day after bombings near Baghdad killed at least 10 people in the cities of Taji and Fallujah, and included a blast in a roadside restaurant.

Last month was the bloodiest in Iraq since June 2008, with 1,045 civilians and security officials killed.

Tensions between the Shia Muslim majority, which leads the government, and minority Sunnis has been growing since last year.

Sunnis have accused the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of discriminating against them - a claim the government denies.

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Auditors criticise EU aid for Egypt

18 June 2013 Last updated at 07:40 ET

European auditors have sharply criticised EU aid allocated to Egypt, saying it has had little impact on corruption and human rights abuses.

In 2007-2013 the EU sent about 1bn euros (£854m) in aid to Egypt - one of the biggest recipients of EU aid.

But the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said the EU aid had "done little" to tackle Egypt's "serious problems in the area of corruption".

They said EU aid to tackle human rights abuses "was largely unsuccessful".

The audit covered the final period of former President Hosni Mubarak's rule and the 2011 Arab Spring uprising which toppled him from power.

"The 'softly softly' approach has not worked, and the time has come for a more focused approach which will produce meaningful results and guarantee better value for the European taxpayers' money," said the ECA's Karel Pinxten, in charge of the auditors' report.

The report said the European Commission and European External Action Service (EEAS), which manage the EU aid allocations, had "not been able to manage EU support to improve governance in Egypt effectively".

"This was partly due to the difficult conditions they have faced in Egypt but also to shortcomings in the way the EEAS and Commission have managed their co-operation with Egypt," it said.

EU aid for promoting human rights in Egypt was "beset by problems", including a lack of commitment from the Egyptian authorities, the auditors said, adding that "the rights of minorities are increasingly under threat".

Backsliding on rights

The Commission and EEAS largely accepted the findings, but said Egypt's continuing political turmoil had delayed progress.

In their comments on the report, they pointed out that since the January 2011 unrest in Egypt, "there has been a slow-down, if not a paralysis, of the decision-making process" at government level and "an increased aversion towards civil society and human rights more broadly".

They said a "completely new situation" had arisen in Egypt, "different from that when the projects examined were designed and launched".

The still "unpredictable environment" in Egypt means that "time is needed to see results" for EU aid programmes, they added.

The leader of the liberal group in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, called for fundamental change in the EU's aid programme for Egypt.

He criticised the EU for not suspending aid after President Mohammed Morsi increased his powers in November 2012, nor when 43 NGO (non-governmental organisation) workers were jailed. "This inaction by the EU makes a joke of its human rights policy," he lamented.

He warned that the EU must do "much more than repackaging the same neighbourhood [aid] programmes which were in place before the Arab Spring".

"If we do not, then we should not be surprised that the Arab youth become deeply disillusioned by Europe and turn their backs on the EU," he said.

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G8 leaders seek agreement on Syria

18 June 2013 Last updated at 08:05 ET

Leaders at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland are working to try to bridge their differences over Syria.

Despite Russia and the US backing opposite sides in the conflict, officials say a joint statement could soon be agreed.

This could include the proposed peace conference in Geneva, and more access for deliveries of humanitarian aid.

The summit, which is now in its final day, is also discussing tax evasion and efforts to boost trade.

A top Russian official has told the BBC that Moscow will sign a G8 Syria statement but that both sides in the civil war must be free to choose their own delegations to proposed peace talks.

Possible progress

To try to get as much consensus as possible on Syria, UK Prime Minister David Cameron - who is hosting the summit - held a working dinner on Monday night.

The leaders were alone, with no officials present, allowing them to express their views frankly.

After the meeting, British officials appeared more optimistic that an agreement could be reached on a joint statement on Syria.

Continue reading the main story

Russia's president fidgeted, looked awkward and moved his neck oddly, his body language screaming that he would be rather be anywhere else than at this summit.

However, they said it would take more work to agree the precise language.

Earlier on Monday, the British had raised the possibility of the other G8 nations issuing an end-of-conference statement without the participation of Russia.

But it now seems that Mr Putin is willing to consider some kind of joint stance, according to officials.

The communique is likely to back the launch of Syrian peace negotiations in Geneva, and insist that humanitarian aid agencies like the Red Cross are given access to all parts of the country.

According to the BBC's UK political editor, Nick Robinson, the issue which is causing most difficulties for the G8 members is what they should say about the transition to a new Syrian government after any new round of peace negotiations.

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G8 facts

• Informal, exclusive body aimed at tackling global challenges
• Established in 1975 in Rambouillet, France
• Original members: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, US
• Later members: Canada (joined at 1976 summit, San Juan, Puerto Rico), Russia (joined at 1998 summit, Birmingham, UK)

Any statement which emerges may not be all that ambitious, correspondents warn - and even then, it is far from certain that any agreement will change the appalling reality in Syria itself.

US and Russian talks

The White House announced last week that it would provide military aid to the Syrian rebels. Russia meanwhile supplies weapons to the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met for an hour of bilateral talks on Monday, and at a sombre press conference afterwards it was clear they had had a difficult exchange.

Both men acknowledged their differences but said they shared a common desire to stop the bloodshed.

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The meeting between Presidents Obama and Putin appeared tense at times

"Of course, our opinions don't coincide. But all of us want to stop the violence and we have agreed to push the parties to the negotiating table," Mr Putin told reporters.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

As the summit enters its final day, can the leaders find a common form of words on Syria ? How bland will their final statement be in order to get agreement ? And frankly does it matter what they say here on the shores of Loch Erne in Northern Ireland; the fighting and brutality in Syria seems a world away.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin stands alone in his support for the embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. But how much does this isolated position really worry Moscow ?

A hard won compromise here may have little real substance beyond the world of diplo-speak and political spin.

Nonetheless there is a growing horror at the scale of the humanitarian suffering and a real and growing fear about the Syrian conflict spreading.

Diplomatic consensus among the G8 remains a necessary but insufficient condition to get the political track moving.

Mr Obama said they had instructed their teams to continue working towards hosting an international conference in Geneva that would aim to find a political solution to end the violence, which the UN says has left more than 93,000 people dead since March 2011.

In a separate interview with US broadcaster PBS, Mr Obama emphasised that "we're not taking sides in a religious war between Shia and Sunni" but aiming instead for a "stable, non-sectarian, representative government".

His interview coincided with a White House announcement that the US would provide a further $300m (£190m) of humanitarian aid for Syrians - split between Syria itself, where more than 4.25 million people have been displaced, and neighbouring countries dealing with the 1.6 million refugees.

The summit is not just focussing on Syria though. The British government has tried to made tax, trade and transparency - the so-called "Three Ts" - a key focus of the two-day summit.

British Chancellor George Osborne has announced plans to stop multinationals hiding their profits from the taxman in offshore "shell" companies - and hopes other G8 nations will sign up to the idea.

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Nun guilty of nuclear site break-in

8 May 2013 Last updated at 20:42 ET

An elderly Catholic nun and two peace activists have been convicted for damage they caused while breaking into a US nuclear defence site.

Sister Megan Rice, 83, Michael Walli, 64, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 56, admitted cutting fences and entering the Y-12 site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which processes and stores uranium.

The incident last July prompted security changes.

Sister Megan said she only regretted having waited 70 years to take action.

A jury deliberated for two and a half hours before reaching its verdict. The three face up to 20 years in prison after their conviction for sabotaging the plant, which was first constructed during the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear bomb.

The three, who belong to the group Transform Now Plowshares, were also found guilty of causing more than $1,000 (£643) of damage to government property, for which they could face up to 10 years in prison.

Walli and Boertje-Obed, a house painter, testified in their own defence, telling jurors they had no remorse for their actions.

Sister Megan stood and smiled as the verdict was read out at a court in Knoxville, Tennessee. Supporters in the courtroom gasped and wept and sang a hymn as the judge left.

The break-in disrupted operations at Oak Ridge and reportedly caused more than $8,500 of damage.

Continue reading the main story

Our actions were providing real security and exposing false security"

End Quote Greg Boertje-Obed

"We are a nation of laws," prosecutor Jeffrey Theodore said during closing arguments. "You can't take the law into your own hands and force your views on other people."

But defence lawyers said the break-in was symbolic and was not intended to hurt the facility, and officials have acknowledged the protesters never got near nuclear material.

"The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," said lawyer Francis Lloyd.

"You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."

'Ineptitude'

Sister Megan said her only regret was waiting so long to stage her protest. "It is manufacturing that which can only cause death," she said.

In a statement to the court, Boertje-Obed said: "Nuclear weapons do not provide security. Our actions were providing real security and exposing false security."

The three activists admitted cutting the fence to get into the site, walking around, spray-painting words, stringing out crime scene tape and chipping a wall with hammers. They spent two hours inside.

They also sprayed the exterior of the complex with baby bottles containing human blood.

When a guard approached, they offered him food and started singing.

After the activists' action, Congress and the energy department investigated the facility and found "troubling displays of ineptitude" there.

Top officials were reassigned, including at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

WSI, the company providing security at the site, was dismissed and other officers were sacked, demoted or suspended.

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Dhaka's collapse death toll tops 900

9 May 2013 Last updated at 04:45 ET

At least 912 people are now known to have died in last month's collapse of a building near the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, officials say.

They say rescuers pulled 94 bodies early on Thursday from the eight-storey Rana Plaza in Savar. Most of the victims were garment factory workers.

The death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial accident on 24 April has been steadily rising in recent days.

Overnight, a fire at a clothing factory in Dhaka killed at least eight people.

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Halima Akhtar, 14, was trapped with her sister when the building collapsed

'Like skeletons'

The collapse of the Rana Plaza has sparked mass protests, as many garment workers allege they were forced to work by the owners despite huge cracks appearing in the building.

The authorities say about 2,500 people were injured in the accident and 2,437 people were rescued.

Rescuers say they are planning to wrap up their work on Friday, and the rubble will then be shifted by bulldozers.

"We've only still got to search the basement," Brg Gen Siddiqul Alam Sikder, who is heading the recovery efforts, told the AFP news agency.

"We've only still got to search the basement. Most of the bodies are now like skeletons as they are so badly decomposed," he added.

The building housed a number of garment factories. A number of officials - including the Rana Plaza's owner - have since been arrested and charged with causing deaths by negligence.

In a separate development, the overnight fire at the 11-storey garment factory in Dhaka's Mirpur district killed at least eight people.

Reports suggest that a police officer and the owner of the factory were amongst the victims.

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The BBC's Richard Galpin: "The victims included the managing director"

They are believed to be holding a meeting in the building, which belongs to garment exporter Tung Hai Group, when the blaze started.

Earlier on Wednesday, Bangladesh announced a shut down of 18 garment factories for safety reasons, amid growing concerns over the issue of industrial safety across the country.

Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world, and some of the clothes produced in the Rana Plaza building were made for Western retailers.

The industry employs about four million people and makes up almost 80% of the country's annual exports. However, it has faced criticism over low pay and for the often dangerous working conditions in factories.

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