Bangladesh’s garment jobs sustain losses
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Some 220 garment factories have shut down in Bangladesh with the loss of up to 150,000 jobs after the collapse of Rana Plaza shone a light on unsafe working conditions in the ready-to-wear industry, triggering a wave of inspections, according to a report Saturday.
More than 1,100 workers were killed when the building collapsed in 2013, creating urgent demands for global retailers to do more to ensure the safety of their workers in Bangladesh, the world's second biggest garment exporter after China.
VW chairman to quit
FRANKFURT, Germany — Ferdinand Piech, the Porsche family scion who has dominated Volkswagen for more than two decades, will resign as chairman of the automaker’s supervisory board, the company said Saturday, in what appeared to be a stunning defeat for a manager used to getting his way.
Mr. Piech, a 78-year-old Austrian, recently sought to force out Martin Winterkorn, a onetime protege, as Volkswagen’s chief executive. But the move backfired after Mr. Winterkorn refused to go and other members of the supervisory board rallied behind him.
Kerry heads Arctic Council
IQUALUIT, Nunavut — Secretary of State John Kerry took the helm of the Arctic Council on Friday on behalf of the United States, vowing to protect the delicate northern environment newly exposed by melting polar ice to the developed world’s quest for energy and a swifter trade route from Europe to Asia.
Mr. Kerry promised the gathering on Baffin Island that he would make the battle against climate change the first priority of the twoyear U.S. stewardship of the council, which unites eight countries whose shores rim the Arctic Circle and who lay claim to shares of its oil, gas and shipping lanes.
Women’s activist slain
KARACHI, Pakistan — Gunmen on a motorcycle killed a prominent women’s rights activist in Pakistan just hours after she held a forum on the country’s restive Baluchistan region, home to a long-running insurgency, police said Saturday.
While investigators declined to speculate on a motive for the killing of Sabeen Mahmud, friends and colleagues immediately described her death as a targeted assassination in Pakistan, a country with a nascent democracy where the military and intelligence services still hold tremendous sway.
Corruption targeted
MEXICO CITY — After months of scandals and public outcry, the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto has endorsed new anti-corruption measures that many hope will begin to rebuild Mexicans’ lack of trust in their government.
The new anti-corruption system passed last week by Mexico’s Congress, which must be approved by the majority of the states, is designed to give more authority and independence to investigative bodies.
Also in the world …
Yasuo Yamamoto, 40, turned himself in to Japanese authorities late Friday in Fukui in western Japan and admitted to landing a drone with low-level radioactive sand on the roof of the prime minister’s office to protest the government’s nuclear energy policy, officials said Saturday. … Insurgents seized more parts of the northern Syrian province of Idlib on Saturday in a significant advance toward the government-held coast.