Sunday,  May 5, 2013 • Vol. 14--No. 289 • 25 of 31 •  Other Editions

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• The disaster is likely the worst garment-factory accident ever, and there have been few industrial accidents of any kind with a higher death toll. It surpassed long-ago garment-industry disasters such as New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which killed 146 workers in 1911, and more recent tragedies such as a 2012 fire that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and one in Bangladesh that same year that killed 112.
• Bangladesh's $20 billion garment industry supplies retailers around the world and accounts for about 80 percent of the impoverished country's exports. The collapse has raised strong doubts about retailers' claims that they could ensure worker safety through self-regulation.
• Government officials say substandard building materials, combined with the vibration of the heavy machines used by the five factories, led to the collapse.
• ___

Damp ocean air aid fight against huge Southern California wildfire

• CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) -- A flow of damp air from the Pacific Ocean helped firefighters in their battle against a huge wildfire burning through coastal mountains in Southern California.
• Fire crews on Saturday worked to create miles of containment lines as the high winds and hot, dry air of recent days were replaced by the normal Pacific air, significantly reducing fire activity.
• The 43-square-mile blaze at the western end of the Santa Monica Mountains was 56 percent surrounded. The progress made led authorities to lift evacuation orders for residences in several areas.
• "The fire isn't really running and gunning," said Tom Kruschke, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman.
• The humidity level rose so much that an overnight effort to burn away fuel at one section of the fire did not work well, Kruschke said.
• ___

Soccer referee dies in Utah after player's punch sends him into a coma

• MURRAY, Utah (AP) -- A 46-year-old soccer referee who was punched by a teenage player during a game and later slipped into a coma has died, police said.
• Ricardo Portillo of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following the assault last weekend, Unified police spokesman Justin

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