54 bodies from Bangladesh ferry found
MUNSHIGANJ, Bangladesh -- Rescuers have recovered 54 bodies from a ferry that sank in a river during a storm in central Bangladesh, resuming their search Saturday after protests by relatives of people missing in the disaster.
Officials said that 12 people were still unaccounted for, although there has been confusion over how many were aboard the ferry M.V. Miraz-4 when it sank Thursday in the River Meghna.
Earlier Saturday, authorities called the search off after retrieving 40 bodies, but hundreds of relatives and local residents protested at the scene of the accident in Munshiganj district, forcing authorities to announce that they would continue looking for bodies.
By late Saturday afternoon, a total of 54 bodies had been recovered, said Shamsuddoha Khandaker, chief of Bangladesh's water transport authority.
Ferry operators in Bangladesh usually do not maintain a list of passengers, and none was available in Thursday's disaster, said local administrator Saiful Hasan.
Before several bodies were recovered after the search resumed Saturday, police had estimated that at least 100 people were still missing.
Hezbollah forces told to get out of Syria
BEIRUT -- Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman on Saturday urged Hezbollah to withdraw its forces from Syria to avoid future repercussions on the tiny Arab state that suffered through 15 years of its own civil war.
Suleiman made his comments in the mountain village of Brih during a ceremony on reconciliation between the Druse and Christian community in the area that witnessed deadly sectarian violence during Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war.
"I appeal for the return to Lebanon and to withdraw from neighboring arenas to avoid future repercussions on Lebanon," said Suleiman, a critic of Hezbollah backing Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces.
Hezbollah, which openly joined the battles in Syria last year, is not likely to abide by Suleiman's call. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has vowed to keep his fighters in Syria as long as needed to shore up Assad's struggle against Syria's rebels.
Burma activists want to alter constitution
RANGOON, Burma -- Democracy activists in Burma joined opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday in calling for constitutional amendments ahead of next year's general elections.
Thousands of party supporters and leaders of prominent student activist groups, including the 88 Generation Peace and Open Society, turned out at the rally in Rangoon.
Suu Kyi said the constitution needs to be amended to meet democratic norms and for elections to be free and fair.
Currently, the law says that the charter cannot be changed without more than 75 percent approval from the parliament. With the military holding 25 seats, it can veto any such move and prevent Suu Kyi from becoming president because her sons are British nationals.
An article in the constitution says anyone whose spouse or children owes allegiance to a foreign power cannot become president or vice president.
Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other regime opponents have refused to adopt the name change, as have the U.S. and Britain.
Vietnam cracks down on anti-China fury
HANOI, Vietnam -- Vietnamese officials signaled Saturday that further violence over a dispute with China would not be tolerated, declaring that more than 300 people involved in last week's attacks on foreign-owned businesses would be prosecuted.
"They have seriously undermined the country's image, and such action has to be punished," said Gen. Hoang Cong Tu, head of investigations at the ministry of public security.
In the first official accounting of the damage, he told reporters in the capital that two Chinese workers had died and 140 were injured.
The outburst of looting and arson that left scores of factories flattened was inspired by China's deployment of a deep-sea oil rig in disputed waters about 140 miles off Vietnam's coast.
The action by Vietnam's far bigger northern neighbor and historical foe infuriated the Vietnamese government, which allowed protests to go ahead as a way of showing its displeasure.
But the government was caught by surprise when the protests spread to industrial areas in Ha Tinh province and around Ho Chi Minh City and quickly devolved into violence by Vietnamese workers.
Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 05/18/2014