Ryan Giggs: it hasn't sunk in yet that Sir Alex Ferguson is leaving Manchester United

Ryan Giggs tucked away the 34th winner’s medal of his Manchester United career last Sunday, watched on as Sir Alex Ferguson bade farewell to Old Trafford and began to contemplate life under David Moyes.

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Champagne moments: Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Feguson have won everthing in the game over two decades at Manchester United Photo: GETTY IMAGES

At 39, Giggs will walk into the unknown when he returns for pre-season training in July, no longer able to rely on the old familiarity of Ferguson welcoming him and the squad back to Carrington for another assault on success.

That has been the tale of the last 22 summers for Giggs, yet when Moyes takes charge of his first training session as United manager, a new era will truly begin.

The last time United changed their manager, the biggest challenge facing the new man was to restore order to a dysfunctional dressing room and gain control of a club that had become a byword for underachievement.

Moyes can thank Ferguson for handing him an altogether different undertaking, but there is an argument to suggest that encountering a dressing room of serial winners for the first time, and convincing them that you are the man to take them forward, is just as daunting as the task that faced Ferguson 27 years ago.

“Maybe it is,” Giggs said. “But we have a really good bunch of lads in the dressing room and, whenever the manager needs help, the more experienced players will help. That has been the norm, ever since I have been in the club.

“When I was an apprentice, I used to go upstairs at The Cliff [training ground] for my breakfast and see the likes of Brucey, Gary Pallister and Bryan Robson all in the coaches’ room, having a cup of tea and sharing jokes before training.

“That is how it has always been here. The experienced players have always had a good relationship with the staff and helped each other along.

“What David Moyes is coming into is a good atmosphere, a really good bunch of lads, very good players and a really strong squad, so it is a strong position to be in. But the downside is that you have to follow the most successful manager that has ever lived.

“Managers usually go into clubs when things aren't going great, but this team isn’t on a downward spiral, so I don’t know if that makes it harder or easier for David.”

Tapping into the winning mentality fostered by Ferguson, which has enabled the Scot to hand over a championship-winning team to his successor, should at least give Moyes the opportunity to sustain the success of the Ferguson era.

Bangladesh building collapse kills at least 123, injures more than 1,000

By Farid Ahmed, 

April 25, 2013 -- Updated 0013 GMT (0813 HKT)

People rescue garment workers trapped at an eight-story building outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, after it collapsed and killed at least 80 people on Wednesday, April 24. Authorities fear many others remain trapped in the ruins of the building, which housed garment factories and shops, the national news agency reported.

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Eight-story building collapses in Bangladesh

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Dhaka, Bangladesh (CNN) -- An eight-story building collapsed Wednesday on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital, killing at least 123 people and injuring more than 1,000, officials said.

Broken concrete and twisted metal stuck out from the massive pile of rubble, where rescuers dug by hand to reach trapped workers. Dhaka District Police Chief Habibur Rahman said search efforts were continuing Wednesday night. It was unclear how many people were trapped in the ruins, he said, and the death toll could increase.

Video from the scene showed injured victims being whisked away on stretchers and crews carrying limp bodies from the rubble. Some onlookers wept while others frantically searched for missing loved ones.

Rush to aid building collapse survivors

Dozens killed in building collapse

Abdul Alim said he heard people screaming inside the building and tried to help them.

"But ... we couldn't make our way to get in," said Alim, a day laborer who was one of the thousands of onlookers who tried to reach trapped victims before military, fire and civil defense rescuers arrived at the scene.

Authorities said they had not yet determined what caused the collapse of the building, where five garment manufacturers employing about 2,500 workers were based, according to the Bangladesh Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

Several garment workers near the wreckage said a crack appeared Tuesday on the building's seventh floor.

At first, the workers said, managers ordered workers not to report to work on Wednesday.

Later, the factory owners reversed the order, telling workers that the building was safe, said Marjina Begum, who worked on the sixth floor. Many workers were hesitant to show up Wednesday but reported to work because they were afraid of losing their jobs, she said. More than a dozen other workers corroborated her story.

Managers for the garment manufacturers housed inside the building could not be immediately reached for comment.

M. Atiqul Islam, president of the garment manufacturers association, told reporters Wednesday evening that owners kept the factories open after the building's owner assured them that there would be no problems with the cracks that appeared on Tuesday.

Employees of the Savar branch of BRAC Bank were evacuated Tuesday after the crack was detected and were ordered not to show up on Wednesday, according to the national news agency, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha, citing a news statement from the bank.

None of the bank's workers was among the injured or dead, it said.

In addition, a general strike had shut a shopping mall on the two lowest floors.

The third floor of the building was offices, garment manufacturers were on the fourth through seventh floors, and the top floor was a canteen.

Bangladesh Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir said military troops, fire service personnel and police had been mobilized to the site, about 25 kilometers (15 1/2 miles) from Dhaka.

"The fact is, we don't know yet how many people were killed actually ... but I can tell you the building was not built in compliance with the (safety) rules and regulations," Alamgir said.

"Stern legal actions will be taken against the people who built the structure defying the codes or laws."

Local police said the building's owner had gone into hiding.

A neighboring three-story building also collapsed as part of the eight-story building fell on it, police said.

Rescue work was proceeding slowly to avoid causing a further collapse, said Maj. Gen. Abul Hassan Sarwardy, commander of the army's Savar-based 9th Division.

Hospitals in Savar and Dhaka treated more than 1,000 people who were rescued from the collapsed buildings, officials said.

Video showed two female garment workers pleading to be rescued. "Please retrieve us. ... Save my life," said a woman who identified herself as Sakhina.

A doctor at Enam Hospital said some victims had lost their hands, arms or legs.

A national day of mourning was set for Thursday.

The building housed several garment makers -- including New Wave Style, Ether Tex, Canton Tech Apparel and New Wave Bottoms. The contractors appeal to cost-conscious merchants because of the low wages they can pay Bangladeshi workers.

It was not immediately clear which retailers were doing business with the factories.

A supplier to British retailer Primark was located on the second floor of the building.

"The company is shocked and deeply saddened by this appalling incident at Savar, near Dhaka, and expresses its condolences to all of those involved," Primark said in a statement.

"Primark has been engaged for several years with NGOs and other retailers to review the Bangladeshi industry's approach to factory standards," it said. "Primark will push for this review to also include building integrity."

The last major building collapse in the country occurred in 2005, when more than 70 people were killed in a garment factory collapse in the same area, the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news service reported.

A fire at a clothing factory in a suburb of Dhaka in November killed at least 112 people.

Garments account for 80% of Bangladesh's $24 billion of exports.

The country has about 4,500 garment factories where workers make clothes for brands including Tesco, Walmart, JC Penney, Kohl's and Carrefour.

Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, said the disasters keep happening because companies put pressure on factories to lower prices, which results in substandard safety conditions.

"The worse the dangers get, the more business comes in, so the government has no incentive to fix anything," Nova said. "We ask ourselves every day what it's going to take to fix this."

Parents of Boston bomb suspects to fly from Russia to U.S.

Report: Parents of Boston bomb suspects to fly from Russia to U.S.

By Greg Botelho. Holly Yan and Josh Levs,

April 25, 2013

(CNN) -- Hours after talking at length with U.S. and Russian authorities, the parents of the two suspects in last week's deadly Boston Marathon attack are set to fly to the United States -- and cooperate with authorities -- Russian state news reported.

Anzor Tsarnaev told state-run RIA Novosti that he and his wife, Zubeidat, will leave the semi-autonomous southern Russian republic of Dagestan on Thursday. Authorities from various U.S. government agencies did not immediately confirm the Tsarnaevs' travel plans.

According to the official Russian news report, a police source said Wednesday that the suspects' parents consented to their U.S. trip and "will be involved in the U.S. investigation."

The news of their impending travel comes nine days after three people died and scores were wounded when two bombs exploded at the marathon's finish line.

NYPD: Brothers may have planned trip here

Bombing suspect: No foreign involvement

Boston suspect was on FBI's radar

Re-examining murders after bombings

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died days later following an early morning shootout with police. His body remained unclaimed Wednesday, according to Terrel Harris, a spokesman for Massachusetts' chief medical examiner's office. The exact cause of his death has not been determined.

His brother Dzhokhar was captured the next night after being found hidden inside a boat in the backyard of a Watertown, Massachusetts, home. Characterized in fair condition at a Boston hospital, the 19-year-old suspect has been communicating with authorities.

So, too, have his parents.

On Wednesday, FBI agents were in Makhachkala,Dagestan -- a city that Tamerlan called home for several months in 2012 -- to talk with the suspects' parents. The "conversation" -- which included members of Russia's Federal Security Service -- ended Wednesday evening, the men's mother told human rights activist Kheda Saratova.

Both Anzor Tsarnaev and his wife have publicly insisted they believe their children are innocent.

Zubeidat Tsarnaev has said she's convinced her boys were framed "just because they were Muslim."

When asked whether she thinks her younger son will get a fair trial, she replied, "Only Allah will know."

Suspects' mother describes her last conversation with her sons

Russia asked U.S. twice to probe

A month of outrage later, Senate to vote on Sandy relief

updated 12:55 AM EST, Mon January 28, 2013

Sandy victims suffer through cold snap

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Senate is expected to vote on $50 billion relief package for Superstorm Sandy victims
• House's failure to vote on relief in December outraged politicians from both parties
• New House passed a bill on January 15 over cost objections from some Republicans

(CNN) -- The Senate is scheduled to vote Monday on more than $50 billion in aid to Northeastern states battered by October's Superstorm Sandy, four weeks after a delay that sparked bipartisan fury.

Sandy killed at least 113 people in the United States, flooded much of Lower Manhattan and Long Island and smashed New Jersey's seaside towns when it struck October 29. Officials in New York and New Jersey, the hardest-hit states, say tens of thousands of families are still displaced or lack adequate heat to deal with the Arctic blast that swept through the region last week.

Nicola Chati, a resident of New York's Staten Island, said living in temporary housing has been "really hard on the kids."

"They don't know when they're going home," said Chati, whose family awaits a decision on whether their home will be repaired or condemned. "That's all they want."

Christie: Boehner wouldn't take my calls

The Senate approved a $60 billion aid package for the hard-hit region in late December. But House Speaker John Boehner scrapped a vote on the bill before the clock ran out on the last Congress on January 1, leading to howls of outrage from residents and officials in New York and New Jersey.

"We have never had a natural disaster before where Congress walked away," thundered Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Long Island. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat whose district includes parts of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, called it "a total collapse of leadership on the part of Speaker Boehner." And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the keynote speaker at last year's GOP convention, said the move explained "why the American people hate Congress."

Chastened House leaders quickly scheduled new votes, passing $9 billion to bolster the federal flood insurance program in the first week of January and voting 241-180 to approve another $50 billion on January 15. Most Republicans voted against the second bill, complaining that the spending should have been offset by cuts elsewhere.

The Senate, which already has passed the flood insurance bill, is slated to vote on the rest of the funding late Monday afternoon. They'll also vote on a proposal by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to cut other spending before approving new disaster-relief funds.

28 January 2013 

Brazil mourns Santa Maria nightclub fire victims

The BBC's Garry Duffy says there is a sense of national shock in Brazil

Brazil has declared three days of national mourning for 231 people killed in a nightclub fire in the southern city of Santa Maria.

The fire reportedly started after a member of a band playing at the Kiss nightclub lit a flare on stage.
Authorities say most of the victims were students who died of smoke inhalation. The first funerals are expected on Monday morning.
It is the deadliest fire in Brazil in five decades.
The BBC's Gary Duffy reports from Sao Paulo that the national sense of loss is profound.

Eyewitness - Fernanda Bona

"I am the official photographer at the club and I was taking photos of people. I was watching a band on stage and the fireworks.
I was in the VIP area and I could see the whole club. The area was close to the exit. I saw the fire going through the club.
People were screaming 'fire, fire' and to run. People were scared and were running everywhere.
I ran as quickly as I could to the door of the street. But it was hard to get out because there were so many people.
It took a few minutes for me to get out of the club. I know people who are in hospital or who are missing. A lot of people died from not so much the fire but the toxic smoke.

Brazil postponed a ceremony due on Monday in the capital, Brasilia, to mark 500 days to the 2014 football World Cup. In Santa Maria, 30 days of mourning were declared.

President Dilma Rousseff, who cut short a visit to Chile, has been visiting survivors at the city's Caridade hospital along with government ministers.
"It is a tragedy for all of us," she said.
Authorities have released the names of the victims, after revising down the death toll from 245.
More than 100 people were being treated in hospital, mostly for smoke inhalation.
Officials will now investigate reports that a flare was lit on stage, igniting foam insulation material on the ceiling and releasing toxic smoke.
They will also look at claims that many of those who died were unable to escape as only one emergency exit was available.
'Dark, heavy smoke' The fire broke out as students from the city's federal university (UFSM) were holding a freshers' ball, the Diario de Santa Maria, a local newspaper, reported.
A local journalist, Marcelo Gonzatto, told the BBC that the flare had "started a huge and fast fire that grew quickly and made a very dark and heavy smoke."

"Lots of people couldn't get out and died mainly because of the smoke not the fire," he said.

Witnesses spoke of scenes of panic after the fire started, and a stampede as people tried to escape.
One, Mattheus Bortolotto, told local television: "It was sheer horror. The emergency exits did not work, and then I lost my friend in the confusion. Then a girl died in my arms. I felt her heart stop beating."
A large number of victims were trapped in the club's toilets, they said, possibly after mistaking them for an exit.
Survivors and police inspector Marcelo Arigony said security guards briefly tried to block people from leaving the club, the Associated Press news agency reported. Bars in Brazil commonly make customers pay their whole tab at the end of an evening before they are allowed to leave.
One of the owners of the club is reported to have confirmed that they were in the process of renewing its license to operate, and that its fire safety certificate had expired last year.
He is said to have received threats on the internet - in addition to surviving members of the band that was performing on stage when the blaze started.
Its guitarist, Rodrigo Martins, told local radio: "It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks.
"It's harmless; we never had any trouble with it. When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher. The singer tried to use it but it wasn't working."
He said the band's accordion player had died in the fire.
Brazilian broadcaster Globo said most of the victims were aged between 16 and 20.
A temporary morgue was set up in a local gym as the city's main morgue was unable to cope.
Family members came to identify the dead, led in one by one to see the bodies, Diario de Santa Maria reported.

A teenage boy in New Mexico has been arrested in connection with the fatal shootings of five people. Two adults and three children were found dead with apparent multiple gunshot wounds at a house near Albuquerque on Saturday evening. Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said it was not yet clear what the suspect's motive was, or his connection to the victims. He faces two counts of murder and three of child abuse resulting in death. Mr Williamson said they were trying to identify if the victims were related. The authorities have not released the name or age of the suspect, although local media reported that he was aged 15. Investigators are also trying to determine who owns a number of guns that were found at the home, including a semi-automatic military-style rifle, the Associated Press news agency reports. The shooting came hours after pro-gun activists staged rallies across the United States to demonstrate against stricter gun control laws. President Barack Obama has pledged a raft of measures to tighten gun laws following the mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in mid-December that killed 20 children and six adults.

A teenage boy in New Mexico has been arrested in connection with the fatal shootings of five people. Two adults and three children were found dead with apparent multiple gunshot wounds at a house near Albuquerque on Saturday evening. Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said it was not yet clear what the suspect's motive was, or his connection to the victims. He faces two counts of murder and three of child abuse resulting in death. Mr Williamson said they were trying to identify if the victims were related. The authorities have not released the name or age of the suspect, although local media reported that he was aged 15. Investigators are also trying to determine who owns a number of guns that were found at the home, including a semi-automatic military-style rifle, the Associated Press news agency reports. The shooting came hours after pro-gun activists staged rallies across the United States to demonstrate against stricter gun control laws. President Barack Obama has pledged a raft of measures to tighten gun laws following the mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in mid-December that killed 20 children and six adults.

A teenage boy in New Mexico has been arrested in connection with the fatal shootings of five people. Two adults and three children were found dead with apparent multiple gunshot wounds at a house near Albuquerque on Saturday evening. Bernalillo County sheriff's spokesman Aaron Williamson said it was not yet clear what the suspect's motive was, or his connection to the victims. He faces two counts of murder and three of child abuse resulting in death. Mr Williamson said they were trying to identify if the victims were related. The authorities have not released the name or age of the suspect, although local media reported that he was aged 15. Investigators are also trying to determine who owns a number of guns that were found at the home, including a semi-automatic military-style rifle, the Associated Press news agency reports. The shooting came hours after pro-gun activists staged rallies across the United States to demonstrate against stricter gun control laws. President Barack Obama has pledged a raft of measures to tighten gun laws following the mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut, in mid-December that killed 20 children and six adults.