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Geopolitics

New Industrial Accident: Shoe Factory Collapses In Cambodia

KAMPONG SPEU – Part of a shoe factory collapsed on Thursday in Cambodia, killing at least three workers, and adding to concerns about industrial safety after last month's disaster in Bangladesh.

The concrete roof of the Wing Star Shoes factory collapsed on Thursday morning, in the Kampong Speu province, west of the capital Phnom Penh. The accident happened at around 7 a.m. local time while 100 employees were working, union member Sum Sokny told AFP.

Three people have been confirmed dead and seven others seriously injured, the Phnom Penh Post reports. A member of the trade union at the factory however told India Today that six people had died.

Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Confederation of Unions, said this incident would raise the country's workers concerns about industrial safety.

"Garment factories in Cambodia do not meet international safety standard because the quality of the buildings are not ensured and people have been working with a high risk of danger," he told AFP.

At a press conference on Thursday morning, Ith Sam Heng, Minister of Social Affairs, pledged that the government would compensate the victims and that the incident was the first of its kind in Cambodia, the Phnom Penh Post reports.

The garment industry is Cambodia's biggest employer and export earner, the BBC notes.

The accident comes three weeks after a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh, killing 1,127 people in what is now the worst ever industrial accident to hit that country. These safety concerns are also bringing attention to the ethics of Western brands having their products made in these factories.

A Reuters reporter saw shoes bearing the name "Asics" scattered around the damaged warehouse, where a bulldozer was clearing away rubble. The Japanese sportswear brand has not commented yet.

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FOCUS: Israel-Palestine War

What Are Iran's Real Intentions? Watch What The Houthis Do Next

Three commercial ships traveling through the Red Sea were attacked by missiles launched by Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels, while the U.S. Navy shot down three drones. Tensions that are linked to the ongoing war in Gaza conflict and that may serve as an indication as to Iran's wider intentions.

photo of Raisi of iran speaking in parliament

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at the Iranian parliament in Tehran.

Icana News Agency via ZUMA
Pierre Haski

-Analysis

PARIS — It’s a parallel war that has so far claimed fewer victims and attracted less public attention than the one in Gaza. Yet it increasingly poses a serious threat of escalating at any time.

This conflict playing out in the international waters of the Red Sea, a strategic maritime route, features the U.S. Navy pitted against Yemen's Houthi rebels. But the stakes go beyond the Yemeni militants — with the latter being supported by Iran, which has a hand in virtually every hotspot in the region.

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Since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the Houthis have been making headlines, despite Yemen’s distance from the Gaza front. Starting with missiles launched directed toward southern Israel, which were intercepted by U.S. forces. Then came attacks on ships belonging, or suspected of belonging, to Israeli interests.

On Sunday, no fewer than three commercial ships were targeted by ballistic missiles in the Red Sea. The missiles caused minor damage and no casualties. Meanwhile, three drones were intercepted and destroyed by the U.S. Navy, currently deployed in full force in the region.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for these attacks, stating their intention to block Israeli ships' passage for as long as there was war in Gaza. The ships targeted on Sunday were registered in Panama, but at least one of them was Israeli. In the days before, several other ships were attacked and an Israeli cargo ship carrying cars was seized, and is still being held in the Yemeni port of Hodeida.

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