Factory owner accused of murder
DHAKA • Relatives of workers killed in a fire at a packaging factory in Bangladesh have filed a murder case against the owner, police said yesterday as the death toll rose to 31.
Another 12 people are missing after the disaster last Saturday, the worst since the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment complex in 2013 that killed more than 1,100 people.
The government has launched an investigation into what caused the fire, but police in the industrial town of Tongi, where the Tampaco Foils factory was located, said bereaved relatives had already filed a private lawsuit.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Protest against investment firm
SHANGHAI • Hundreds of protesters gathered in Shanghai yesterday, demanding that the government investigate an investment company that has failed to pay them since last year.
Police tried to clear the crowd from in front of the Shanghai city hall, where around a dozen people handed out pamphlets accusing the Dada Group of making off with their money.
Police froze the group's accounts in December, when respected business magazine Caixin said 29,300 people had invested a total of 190 million yuan (S$39 billion) in its online products. It also had several offline offerings.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Thai factory blast kills 3 workers
BANGKOK • Three workers were killed in an explosion at an ethanol plant in Thailand's north-eastern province of Khon Kaen, police said yesterday.
The workers were repairing the lid of a wastewater tank at an ethanol plant which belongs to Thai Ethanol Power in the province of Khon Kaen, 390km from the capital Bangkok, said Police Lieutenant-Colonel Sarawut Dansuk.
REUTERS
Nepal gets tough on bank fraud
KATHMANDU • Nepal's Parliament has passed a Bill on the amendment to the Banking Offence and Punishment Act which will increase substantially the penalty against those involved in banking frauds.
With the existing Act fixing maximum jail term at five years, the Bill endorsed by the Nepalese Parliament last Friday has raised the jail term to maximum 12 years.
XINHUA
