News

The committee investigating the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh have recommended that building owner Sohel Rana and the owners of the garment factories be sentenced to life in jail if they are found guilty of violating building codes.

Rana, three engineers and four factory owners have been arrested.

The building was shut down briefly after workers spotted cracks in its walls and pillars a day before the April 24 collapse. But the garment factory workers were called back to work, many of them forcefully.

• World
• Bangladesh

An 80-year-old Japanese mountaineer has become the oldest man to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Yuichiro Miura, who also conquered the 29,035-foot (8,850m) peak when he was 70 and 75, reached the summit at 9:05 a.m. local time Thursday, according to his support team. Miura and his son Gota called them from the summit to report the news.

"This is the world's best feeling," Miura said. "I'm also totally exhausted."

The previous oldest man to reach the summit was Nepal's Min Bahadur Sherchan, who accomplished the feat at age 76 in 2008, just a day before Miura reached the top at age 75.

Sherchan, now 81, is preparing for his own attempt on the summit next week, meaning Miura's record may not last long.

• World
• Japan
• Mount Everest

A government investigation has found that poor quality construction materials and building code violations were among the "series of irregularities" that caused the collapse of a building housing garment factories last month in Bangladesh.

"The owner used extremely poor quality of iron rods and cement," committee head Khandker Mainuddin Ahmed told The Associated Press a day after submitting its report to the government. "There were a series of irregularities."

Read more: British firms face ethical dilemmas in Bangladesh

• World
• Bangladesh

A passenger bill of rights which guarantees the "safety of comfort and care" of guests has been pledged by the cruise industry.

The bill promises full refunds for trips that are cancelled due to mechanical failure, and a back-up power source on every ship to keep emergency systems running if main power systems fail.

The announcement by the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents 25 major companies including Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Holland America and Cunard, comes in the aftermath of the Carnival Triumph debacle.

Earlier this year, the ship drifted for several days without power as passengers endured filthy conditions.

Read: Cruise ship stuck in Caribbean

• UK

Islamic charities and groups have condemned the attack in Woolwich saying that, "London and our nation will come together and will not be divided."

We totally condemn the killing of an innocent person in Woolwich.

And we also condemn all forms of extremism wherever they are.

The thoughts of the Muslim community are with the family of the man who lost his life, and we pray for him.

I wish to condemn the evil and barbaric crime carried out in Woolwich.

Our immediate thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims. From whatever angle you see the attack, it was at every level evil.

We must allow the police to gather all the facts before unnecessary speculation and wait for the facts before determining its impact on our country.

But what happens in the days to come, London and our nation will come together and will not be divided. The terrorists will never win and succeed in their evil plans.But tonight we think of the family of that soldier killed.

The cold-blooded killing of a serving British soldier is a crime that sickens every member of every community in the UK.

For the peace of our communities to be shattered like this is almost unthinkable. We must come together, isolate those who believe that extremism and violence are acceptable, and work to ensure that they meet the full force of the law.

We must send a clear message to anyone that an attack on a serving soldier going about their daily activities is something that must be utterly condemned.

• UK
• London

Thirty seven recommendations to increase safety in the America's Cup by sailing experts, following the death of British Olympic sailing champion Andrew Simpson.

The group, led by regatta director Iain Murray, unveiled proposals nearly two weeks after a training run turned deadly.

Suggestions included quipping crews with body armour, high-visibility helmets, and hands-free breathing apparatus.

Thirty-six-year-old Simpson, nicknamed Bart, died trapped underneath his Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran after the vessel overturned in San Francisco Bay on May 9.

• UK
• America's Cup
• Sailing

David Dixon, headteacher of Mulgrave Primary School and Early Years Centre, near the attack in Woolwich said the school had been in lock-down and described seeing a body lying in the road.

Speaking to BBC News he said:

We got word of an incident at the end of our road, so I went out to find out the nature of it and of course there were lots of police and saw a body lying in the road.

Went immediately back to school and got us to lock all the gates and in to lock-down and make sure all the children were inside, so they were as safe as possible.

All the traffic had stopped. There were gunshots after that so I am not sure about the situation after.

But all I needed to know was that there was an emergency and we needed to go into our emergency procedures to make sure that the children were as safe as possible.

That was my main priority.

We got all the staff to get the children in because some of them were outside doing activities, we locked all the gates.

I and some of my senior staff liaised with police to find out what we needed to do after that.

He also said that the air ambulance had landed in the playground of the school.

• UK
• London

Counter-terrorism expert Richard Barrett has raised the possibility that the Woolwich attackers may have been "copycats" of the Boston bombers.

He said:

I don't think we have seen much of this in terms of attacks on armed service personnel in the UK before.

It may be that this is a copycat after the Boston bombings. That two individuals could cause a lot of mayhem is maybe more of an inspiration than attacking soldiers.

The former United Nations co-ordinator for the al Qaida and Taliban monitoring team, who has served with MI5 and MI6, said it was clear the attackers wanted to "explain" their actions:

It looks like an attack which has certainly been done for effect. The way that they are hanging about and wanting to be arrested and explain what they were doing fits a pattern of people who want to send a message.

• Watch - Exclusive video: Man with bloodied hands speaks at Woolwich scene

• UK
• London

The Office for National Statistics will publish its quarterly migration statistics this morning.

The figures will include data on work permit applications, asylum claims, child detentions and student visas.

The information is based on the provisional migration data for the 12 months leading up to September 2012.

• UK