In the case where 54 Myanmarese migrant workers were found dead inside a truck, six people who were allegedly involved have been surrendered to the Thai police. A female suspect was the latest to surrender in the human smuggling operation where 121 workers were illegally transported across the border from Myanmar on April 10. The workers had suffocated, and 54 died. There is a seventh suspect who is still at large. Police suspect that he is the broker who recruited the illegal workers into the country. Last week another suspect admitted that he drove the car and got paid $2,500 to it. A man an da woman loaded the people into the back of his 10-wheel truck and told him to go to an address in Phuket. When he found out that several of the workers died he abandoned the truck on the roadside. Survivors of the trip will be testifying against the suspects.
Last Sunday, the Pakistani government requested President Pervez Musharraf to abolish the death penalty and commute all death penalties to life terms instead. President Musharraf has yet to respond to their request. Recently, Musharraf suspended the execution of the Indian national Sarbjit Singh for his involvement in the 1999 bombing that killed 14 civilians in the Pakistani province of Punjab. Masharraf commuted the execution to review the clemency appeal offered by the Indian government. Interior affairs advisor Rehman Malik said that the government forwarded the official request to the President on Saturday.
The food shortage in Haiti is becoming a more serious problem as pressure mounts on international aid groups already struggling to feed the country’s poor. According to Bill Canny, director of the Catholic Relief Services in the capital city Port-au-Prince, his group gets funds from the United State government to provide food for Haitians who can’t afford the rising food prices. Last week, thousands of Haitians riotedo n the streets to protest against increasing food prices and called for the resignation of the prime minister and President Rene Preval.
Silvio Berlusconi is back in power and won a third term as the Italian Prime Minister, according to Monday’s election results. He defeated his center-left opponent Walter Veltroni by a wider margin than expected. Projections showed that Berlusconi’s camp won the House by 45.9% to Veltroni’s 39.1%. Berlusconi succeeded Romano Prodi, who turned in his resignation after he lost a vote of confidence in the Senate in January. According to Berlusconi, he knew that he would win based on the opinion polls but that the victory comes with a great responsibility. Voting turnout was over 80%, compared to 2006’s 83.5%.
Prostitutes say that young girls who want to sell their virginity in India’s sex trade can expect to earn 200 times more than the average rate of USD 2.50. A virgin can get more than $500 but she will not see the money. The local tradition of buying a girl’s virginity includes a lavish party celebrating what is her equivalent of a wedding night. Whatever she gets for selling her virginity goes to the party, because she will never be able to marry. Once she has sold her virginity, she has no choice but to live in shelters along side roads where she can handle a dozen clients per day. The money they earn goes to their families and the dowry of their brothers so they can marry.
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) troops reported killing three Palestinians during a military operation near Khan Yunis, a Gaza town, on Thursday. IDF soldiers have been stationed at the central Gaza Strip since Wednesday evening to conduct sweeps for weapons. According to the soldiers, the three Palestinians were gunmen who opened fire on them first. The encounter happened less than 24 hours after the soldiers were warned about terrorists by defense officials. The terrorists were said to have crossed through Rafah when Egyptian authorities allowed 350 Egyptians stuck in Gaza to come home through the Rafah terminal on the Egypt-Gaza border. IDF troops also arrested six Palestinian terrorist suspects during Wednesday evening.
