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Dual citizenship formalities to be completed soon: PM HAGUE, Nov 8: Asking the overseas Indian community to strengthen their links with their motherland, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured .....more India asks Pak to remove diesel from negative list of imports ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: Ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to New Delhi later this month, India has ....more No question of going back on economic reforms: PM HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, Nov 8: Assuring foreign investors of continuity in policies and that India will never become an "international liability," Prime.....more Arafat’s wife accuses deputies of wanting him dead PARIS, Nov 8: Yasser Arafat’s wife accused Palestinian leaders hoping to travel to France . .......more |
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Shepherds despair as wolves thrive in Croatia ZAGVOZD, CROATIA, Nov 8: The state has made them a protected species, but shepherds say Croatia’s wolves are living up to their storybook. .....more Nearly half European birds species at risk-report AMSTERDAM, Nov 8: Over 40 per cent of all bird species in europe face an uncertain future and some are so threatened that they may disappear soon .....more France
rejects Jewish PARIS, Nov 8: France has rejected a US-based Jewish group’s call for legal action against one of the country’s largest Muslim organisations that it said ...more Obesity as unhealthy as heart failure : US study NEW ORLEANS, Nov 8: Very obese people are as unhealthy, and probably as likely to die, as patients with heart failure,....more |
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Dual citizenship formalities to be completed soon: PM HAGUE, Nov 8: Asking the overseas Indian community to strengthen their links with their motherland, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured that the long overdue dual citizenship for Non Resident Indians (NRIs) and People of Indian Origin (PIO) would soon be a reality. "Whether you come for investing in India or you want to send your children for education or just travel, India welcomes you with open arms. My Government will do everything to facilitate your return to the country," Dr Singh said in his address to the Indian community here soon after his arrival in the Dutch capital. He regretted that there had been considerable delay in formalizing the dual citizenship proposal but gave a firm commitment that no further time would be lost in this regard. He also announced that Indians from the Netherlands would be eligible for dual citizenship. The dual citizenship proposal of the Union Government is now applicable only to select countries. The Prime Minister who is here to participate in the India-European Union summit during which a proposal for a "strategic partnership" will be finalized between the two entities, said the life of many overseas Indians was a saga of hardships, toil and sacrifice and many of them were unsung heroes. "Your Janmbhumi is India, but your Karambhumi is here," he said and added that india beckons them to contribute their bit to its prosperity. The Indian economy was in robust health and was likely to experience a seven per cent annual growth rate in the medium term, he said and invited businessmen to participate in the excitement that is India. Money was required for modernizing ports, roads, power plants, and airports and the NRI’s could make a valuable contribution towards this end, he said and added the India- EU summit was an indication of the winds of change that were blowing. Recounting how his previous visit to Holland had proved auspicious, Mr Singh said in 1991 he was in the Hague for three days and soon after he reached India, he was told that Prime Minister Narasimha Rao wanted him to become the Finance Minister in his cabinet. "For more than one reason India is a big civilization. There is continuity and change for the past 5,000 years. It has been able to withstand many storms and crisis and its spirit of forbearance is reflected clearly among the overseas Indians," he said. It was this ability to bear hardships that had resulted in the stupendous success of many overseas Indians, the Prime Minister said tracing the history of migration to the Netherlands and some other countries. He said the bulk of India’s investments came from domestic sources and this would continue to be the case in future as well. Foreign savings and investment would play a supportive role. The Government, however, was engaged in creating a conducive climate for investments to flow in, he said. Dr Singh is leading a high-level delegation comprising External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Industry and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath and National Security Adviser J N Dixit. He is expected to discuss with the host Prime Minister and current president of the European Union Jan Peter Balkenede a wide range of international and regional issues. During his stay in the Hague, Dr Singh will address an interactive session of prominenent CEO’s of EU business and industry and senior representatives of Indian industry to identify opportunities for greater trade and investment. (UNI) |
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India asks Pak to remove diesel from negative list of imports ISLAMABAD, Nov 8: Ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to New Delhi later this month, India has formally asked Pakistan to remove diesel from its negative list and permit its imports from Gujarat and Haryana through land and sea routes. Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has in two letters to his Pakistani counterpart Amanullah Khan Jadoon proposed talks on the import of diesel from India and the possibility of laying a trans-Pakistan multi-billion dollar gas pipeline. Following Aiyar’s letter, the Pakistan Government initiated an inter-ministerial consultation and a meeting between Aiyar and Jadoon was expected to take place before the end of this month, local daily Dawn quoted officials as saying. Both the ministers have invited each other for talks but the dates, and venue are yet to be finalised, it said. India says that supplies of diesel can be made to Karachi by sea and from Jamnagar and by tankers from Jalandhar to Lahore. However, at present diesel is included in Pakistan’s negative list of permissible imports from India. Indian officials argue that Pakistan could save money by importing diesel from India as transportation costs would be far cheaper than getting the same from west Asia. India has also offered to send a separate delegation of technical authorities to negotiate commercial terms if Pakistan agrees to delete diesel from the negative list. Jadoon would today preside over an inter-ministerial meeting comprising of officials from Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Petroleum and Interior, security agencies and other relevant Government departments to discuss the Iran gas pipeline to India and diesel pipeline from India to Pakistan through Wagah border. Aziz, who will undertake a two-day visit to India as SAARC Chairman from November 23, has described the pipelines as the instruments to create "mutual dependencies", which he said should be encouraged. Officials said in his letter Aiyar said he was willing to hold talks on diesel trade and gas pipeline project in India, Pakistan or elsewhere. He has also shown his availability for talks in the months of November and December except Tuesdays and Thursdays when he is required to answer questions in the Parliament during the winter session that begins from December one. (PTI) |
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No question of going back on economic reforms: PM HAGUE, NETHERLANDS, Nov 8: Assuring foreign investors of continuity in policies and that India will never become an "international liability," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there was no question of going back on the economic reforms initiated 13 years ago by the then Congress Government. "There have been three or four general elections but the broad direction of the Governemnts have been the same. There has been, there is and there will be considerable continuity in the economic policies," he told a gathering of Indian community at a reception hosted in his honour by the Indian Ambassador Shymala Cowsik late last night. Despite the competitive politics in India where political parties emphasise differences, there is a great deal of continuity in domestic and foreign policies. There have been change of Governments in the last 13 years but the direction of the reforms that the Congress Government initiated 13 years ago to open up the economy to enlist overseas investment has not not changed, he said. Singh said the target of 6 to 8 per cent annual economic growth was an ambition that could not "be called unattainable but eminently achievable". But, he said, for this the country need a lot more investment and India "will never become an international liability". "We will take hard decisions that will make India a great power. It will be taken domestically. I see a increasing role for the Indian community and for overseas community to tap the tremendous opportunities availbale in the country," he said outlining agro-processing, manufacturing, services and pharmaceuticals as the sectors having the potential. Recalling the strengths of India as an ancient civilisation and the fact that Indians had migrated to various parts of the globe centuries ago, Singh said the country was today one of the fastest growing economies of the world. "It is not the end of the world. It is a new beginning of the journey we began in 1994. We have covered many milestones. It will take sometime for us to soften the rough edges of poverty that large numbers of our people live in. We will overcome. We shall prevail," he said. The Prime Minister said the relationship between India and the people of Indian origin in other parts of the world was "just not not commercial or economic alone but emotional which we must preserve and develop." "We will create enough climate for you whether you come to India as traders, investors or simply as tourists," he said adding in recent years India has emerged as a major Centre for knowledge industry and it would help anyone who wanted to take benefit of the it institutions. "When I go to Silicon Valley I say whatever has happened there should be made possible in India. It is possible to reproduce it in India," he said. Noting that people from outside still felt disappointed about certain things in India, Singh said "we will make it very very investor friendly. There will be a new process in our counry for investment." (PTI) |
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Arafat’s wife accuses deputies of wanting him dead PARIS, Nov 8: Yasser Arafat’s wife accused Palestinian leaders hoping to travel to France today to visit her critically ill husband of plotting to "bury him alive". Israeli media had reported the 75-year-old President would be taken off life-support equipment after Palestine Liberation Organisation Secretary General Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie and Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath arrived in Paris. "I appeal to you to be aware of the scope of the conspiracy," a screaming Suha Arafat said on Arabic Al-Jazeera satellite television, monitored in the West Bank. "They are trying to bury Abu-Ammar (Arafat) alive," she said in comments that flew in the face of efforts by Arafat’s lieutenants to project an image of unity and business as usual at a time when many Palestinians fear chaos if he dies. "Abu Ammar is well and he is coming back to his homeland," she said without giving any details about Arafat’s illness and accusing the three leaders of being desperate to succeed him. It was not immediately clear whether Abbas, Qurie and Shaath would press ahead with their planned trip to Paris. Palestinian officials have privately accused Mrs Arafat, who prior to her husband being flown to a Paris military hospital on Oct 29 had not seen him in three years, of limiting access to and information about the veteran leader. Arafat, symbol for decades of the Palestinian struggle for a state and against Israeli occupation, was suffering from liver failure and his health was not improving, one official said. An Israeli newspaper’s web site said the "working assumption" among Israeli security officials preparing for Arafat’s death was that any life support equipment would be shut down on Tuesday. "Suha does not want the Palestinian leaders to come to visit Arafat," one Palestinian official said before her Al-Jazeera interview was broadcast. "Talks are going on and it’s not clear when the leaders will come to Paris." Arafat’s close circle has been concerned fears about his health may increase chaos at home. Others fear a power struggle among Palestinians locked in a 4-year-old uprising against Israel Mrs Arafat has lived abroad for much of the uprising. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier described Arafat’s condition as "very complex, very serious and stable at the time we are speaking". Abbas and Qurie, overseeing the Palestinian authority in Arafat’s absence, wanted to go to Paris today to learn the facts about his condition, a Palestinian official said. Looking ahead to life without Arafat, his subordinates in the West Bank decided to carry out a plan to restore law and order to the Palestinian territories. It was the first major decision they had announced since Arafat left. Officials in Ramallah said the plan, drafted in March, was concerned more with ending local lawlessness than reining in militants — a long-standing Israeli and international demand. Calling for more security forces to be deployed, the plan also bans militants from carrying arms except when confronting Israel and from intervening in local disturbances. Israel has said Palestinian failure to curb anti-Israeli violence was one of the main reasons for its decision to carry out a unilateral withdrawal of settlers and soldiers from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank. The evacuation, scheduled for 2005, is seen by Palestinians as a ruse aimed at cementing Israel’s hold on larger settlement blocs in the West Bank. Addressing the delicate issue of where Arafat should be buried if he dies, Israel said it had completed preparations for his eventual burial in the Gaza Strip. Arafat wants to be buried in Jerusalem’s old city, which is holy both to Muslims and Jews. But Israel refuses to let Arafat lie in annexed land it calls part of its indivisible capital. (AGENCIES) |
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Shepherds despair as wolves thrive in Croatia ZAGVOZD, CROATIA, Nov 8: The state has made them a protected species, but shepherds say Croatia’s wolves are living up to their storybook reputation as the bad guys. Wolves roaming rural Croatia are preying on sheep and goats while enjoying more rights than livestock owners. A simple example sums up the problem: If a shepherd kills a wolf, he faces a 40,000 kuna (6,800 dollar) fine. But if the wolf kills a sheep from your flock, the state pays only 500 kuna, with some delay and only if a state-appointed expert confirms it was a case of lupine wrongdoing. Shepherds in this remote village in the southern Dalmatia region, separated from the touristy adriatic coast by Mount Biokovo, say they have had their fill of wolf attacks. The situation is the same in much of rural Croatia. Hardly a day goes by without a newspaper report of wolves killing sheep, goats or dogs, almost literally before their owners’ eyes, prompting demands for a reduction of their number. Ivica brnas owns 45 sheep and goats, four cows and a horse, guarded by two well-trained sheep dogs. He recently had a close encounter with wolves that swooped on his flock from nearby slopes. "I yelled and threw rocks to chase them away. I have become frightened of going into the woods with the livestock. We only go when more of us get together," the 55-year-old said. "In the old days, wolves came down only in the winter. They were afraid of cowbells and humans. Now they come all the time and are not afraid at all," he said. Josip Kolak of the Zagreb veterinarian faculty, who oversees the National Wolf Management Programme, said grey wolves (Canis Lupus) had been exterminated in most of western Europe. "Their only chance is if we preserve them". But he said there were many conflicting interests at stake. "The state and environmentalists are on one side, hunters and shepherds on the other. It is difficult to find a solution that would please everyone". Kolak said the former Yugoslav republic — where the wolf became a protected species in 1995 — was home to up to 170 wolves, considerably more than before its 1991-95 war of independence. "For some reason, the number of wolves always rises after a war, perhaps because people are too busy killing each other to pay attention to wolves," he said. In addition, some wolves may have come from neighbouring Bosnia, where they are still a prized target for hunters. Croatia is actively engaged in several European wildlife projects aiming to protect big carnivores — the wolf, brown bear and lynx —all still found here. Most wolves inhabit the rugged mountains and forests in central Croatia, reaching almost to the adriatic coast. As part of the project, Kolak tries to tag them and monitor their behaviour in the wild. Ivica Buljubasic, a veteran hunter from Zagvozd, does the same in his own free time. He says he knows all wolf trails in the area, says he can think like a wolf and even howl like one. He said the last wolf killed by hunters in the area was in 1975, when there were only one or two wolves on the prowl. Now there are three or four packs operating in the relatively small area of Mount Biokovo and around Zagvozd. "This is way too much, but the fact that there are so many of them here means they know they are not in danger and there is enough food. However, they’ve become a threat and a nuisance". A passionate student of nature and wildlife, Buljubasic said the wolves were more intelligent than humans might believe. "They are perfect predators, always scouring their territory and knowing exactly where to find food. These wolves are also behaving differently, they are getting used to civilisation and eat everything, dogs, cats, carcasses". State veterinary expert Boris Sabic said part of the problem was in the traditional loose shepherding that still survives on the slopes of Mount Biokovo. "A lot of livestock roam free, without supervision and out in the open and that is ideal easy prey for wolves. But a lot of farmers protect their cattle and have dogs, and yet they are attacked," Sabic said. Despite all that, Kolak said the wolf never attacks humans and should be regarded as an asset, not a marauder. "However, you cannot sell that line to shepherds," he said. "We must create a situation in which shepherds can also benefit from the wolf’s presence, because of tourists coming to see the wolf in the wild." (AGENCIES) |
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Nearly half European birds species at risk-report AMSTERDAM, Nov 8: Over 40 per cent of all bird species in europe face an uncertain future and some are so threatened that they may disappear soon due to intensive agriculture and climate change, scientists said today. Many bird species, including the house sparrow, starling, wood warbler and corn bunting, have been declining alarmingly, birdlife international said in a report. "The number of bird species in trouble across europe is rising," said birdlife, a British-based conservation group. The report identifies 226 species, or 43 per cent of all European bird types, as being threatened. Many of them are declining, while other populations have failed to recover from large declines seen in the 1970s and 1980s. A number of bird species could disappear in the very near future if immediate action is not taken, warned the report "birds in Europe", due to be presented at a European conference on biodiversity in the Netherlands later today. The birds which face extinction include the sociable lapwing, a wader which breeds only in south-west Russia and Kazakhstan, the mediterranean shearwater, a seabird from the Balearic islands, and the Azores Bullfinch that lives only on one small island in the Atlantic, birdlife says. "The fact that more birds in Europe face an uncertain future compared with a decade ago in deeply worrying," said Clairie Papazoglou, head of birdlife’s European community office. "Birds are excellent environmental indicators and the continued decline of many species sends a clear signal about the health of Europe’s wildlife and the poor state of our environment," Papazoglou said. More intensive agriculture, construction projects and climate warming pose the biggest threats to birds, according to the report which assesses population sizes and trends for all of Europe’s wild birds from 52 countries or territories. However, it is not all bad news. Some of the most endangered European species, such as the Audouin’s gull, the Eurasian Griffon and the white-tailed eagle, have shown a marked recovery as a result of better protection. The report attributed the improvement partly to European Union conservation initiatives under the bird directive, whose 25th anniversary is to be marked at Monday’s conference in the southern Dutch town of Bergen Op Zoom. The EU has pledged to stop the decline of wildlife in Europe by 2010, but birdlife said a huge amount of work has still to be done to achieve that. (AGENCIES) |
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France rejects Jewish call to probe Muslim group PARIS, Nov 8: France has rejected a US-based Jewish group’s call for legal action against one of the country’s largest Muslim organisations that it said was anti-semitic and linked to the militant Islamist group Hamas. Interior Minister Dominique De Villepin said Paris had proved it was tough on Islamic radicals by questioning about 100 so far this year and expelling 17 of them. But he declined to follow up a call by the Simon Wiesenthal center to probe links between the Union of French Islamic Organisations (UOIF) and pro-Palestinian groups it says collect money for Hamas and to replace the UOIF leadership. "We must avoid stigmatising anyone or jumping to conclusions," he told Europe 1 radio. "It’s clear the state is being tough, but it’s not its role to jump to conclusions." The UOIF denied it was anti-Jewish. The Wiesenthal centre’s Paris office urged the Government two weeks ago to launch a probe "leading to the dismantling and possible condemnation of this organisation’s current leadership and its replacement by more moderate voices of French Islam". Its Director Shimon Samuels said the UOIF was "a radical political organisation" linked to the Muslim brotherhood spiritual guide Sheikh Youssef-al-Qaradawi, who has issued Fatwas (religious decrees) supporting suicide bombers. The Centre also linked the UOIF to a pro-Hamas group banned in the United States. Samuels also provided texts from a forum on the UOIF web site which he said documented anti-semitic views it condoned. UOIF secretary general Fouad Alaoui accused the Centre of wanting to block the integration of Muslims into French society. "I defy anyone to prove the UOIF has anti-semitic positions," said Alaoui, whose group — popular with disaffected Muslim youths in France — is said to be close to the fundamentalist Muslim brotherhood. He said he would welcome a probe because it would show "that there are people here in France who don’t want islam to be established legally or Muslims to be seen as full citizens." (AGENCIES) |
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Obesity as unhealthy as heart failure : US study NEW ORLEANS, Nov 8: Very obese people are as unhealthy, and probably as likely to die, as patients with heart failure, US researchers have reported. A second study presented at a meeting of the American heart association in New Orleans found that overweight men spend more on drugs than those of healthy weight. Both studies illustrate the burden that obesity places on health. Dr Peter Mccullough of William Beaumont hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan and colleagues compared 43 patients who were morbidly obese to 235 heart failure patients and 222 people who were obese but not extremely so. The morbidly obese patients were more than 100 pounds (45 kg) overweight. "These are people who weigh 300 to 400 pounds," Mccullough told a news conference yesterday. "On average they die 15 years earlier than individuals of normal body weight." Heart failure is a chronic condition in which the heart gradually loses its ability to pump blood properly. Half of all heart failure patients die within five years. Mccullough’s team measured the ability of all three groups to breathe and use oxygen. "The average middle-aged man should achieve 30 milliliters per kilogram a minute," Mccullough said. A regular exerciser can breathe 55 milliliters per kilogram of body weight. Morbidly obese men averaged a peak oxygen consumption of 18.8, similar to the 16.5 achieved by heart failure patients. The healthy but overweight volunteers scored 21.3. "Individuals who are morbidly obese have a cardiorespiratory fitness ... That is similar to patients with terminal heart failure," Mccullough said. They are less likely to survive a bad infection or heart attack. But a little light exercise is likely to go a long way to helping the morbidly obese get healthier, Mccullough added. Tnhoma Allison and colleagues at the Mayo clinic in Rochester, Minnesota found overweight men spend more on drugs. In their study of 328 male executives with an average age of 47, the healthy-weight men spent an average of 22.84 dollar a month at the pharmacy, overweight men averaged 39.27 dikkar a month and obese men spent 80.31 dollar. "These are what we call ‘real and immediate costs’," Allison said in a statement. (AGENCIES) Another strong quake jolts northern Japan TOKYO, Nov 8: A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 jolted northern Japan today, public broadcaster NHK said, in the latest aftershock to hit a region that was struck by a deadly tremor last month. The earthquake struck at 1116 a.m. (0746 ist) and its focus was near those of the other quakes that have hit the Niigata area, NHK said. There were no immediate reports of injury or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. NHK said some high-speed bullet trains in the area had been halted. The Niigata region, some 250 km north of Tokyo, was hit by a 6.8 magnitude earthquake on Oct 23 that killed at least 39 people. That made it Japan’s deadliest quake since one with a magnitude of 7.2 killed more than 6,400 in the city of kobe in 1995. (AGENCIES) Iran says agreement reached with Europeans on nuclear issue TEHRAN, Nov 8: Hoping to avoid a UN showdown, Iran and the European Union’s three big powers reached a preliminary agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program, Iran’s chief negotiator said. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Iran’s conservative-dominated Parliament pushed for a bill banning the production of nuclear weapons in a gesture aimed at building more international trust. The preliminary agreement worked out in Paris with Britain, France and Germany could be finalized in the next few days, chief Iranian negotiator Hossein Mousavian told state-run Iranian television Sunday from the French capital, where talks wrapped up Saturday. If approved, the deal would be a major breakthrough after months of threats and negotiations and could spare Iran from being taken before the Un Security Council, where the United States has warned it would seek to impose economic sanctions unless tehran gives up all uranium enrichment activities, a technology that can produce nuclear fuel or atomic weapons. The head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed Elbaradei, called the agreement "a step in the right direction." (AP) Iraq declares martial law, US bombs Falluja FALLUJA, IRAQ, Nov 8: US warplanes pounded Falluja today as ground forces battled guerrillas on the outskirts of the rebel-held city that American and Iraqi forces were poised to storm. Iraq’s Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, declaring a 60-day state of martial law yesterday to rein in an insurgency that threatens planned nationwide elections in January, said a move to retake Falluja could not be delayed much longer. An AC-130 gunship struck Falluja with cannon fire and Machineguns as US forces massed on two sides of the city where the US military says 1,000 to 6,000 fighters — Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign Islamic militants led by Jordanian Al-Qaeda ally Abu Musab-al-Zarqawi — are holed up. The Iraqi 36th command battalion seized the main hospital in Falluja, blindfolding a number of people and kicking down doors but not firing a shot. Later, fighting erupted in Falluja and artillery shelling and exchanges of gunfire were heard from US positions near the Sunni Muslim city, some 50 km west of Baghdad, said a witness. A US marine tank company and infantry unit moved to a staging area near Falluja as US forces said they only awaited word from Allawi, who heads a US-backed Iraqi interim Government, to begin an assault. "He still hopes that it may be possible to avoid a major military confrontation in Falluja ... He is, however, not optimistic," said Allawi spokesman Thair-al-Naqib. Earlier, witnesses said there was heavy fighting on the eastern and western fringes of the city, including around a bridge over the Euphrates. "These insurgents are going to get a lot more than they bargained for," said US gunnery sergeant Christopher Garzagarza, 30, from Houston, Texas. (AGENCIES) Asia takes aim at growing child sex trafficking CHIANG MAI, THAILAND, Nov 8: In a small brothel in northern Thailand, six girls, their bodies covered in bruises and cigarette burns inflicted by drunken customers, cower inside dark, grimy rooms. It is one of the more horrific memories of Ben Svasti’s time on the front line of the fight against child trafficking. "One girl even had duct tape stuck across her mouth to stop her from screaming," said Svasti of anti-trafficking group Trafcord, which helped rescue the teenagers, most of whom had been smuggled across the border from impoverished Myanmar. Despite much-vaunted efforts to stamp out child trafficking in the region, officials from the United Nations and 20 Asia-Pacific countries meeting in Bangkok today admit that far from going away, the problem is getting worse. "The forces driving the trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are stronger and more vigorous than in the past, despite changes in laws and Government policy," said Gopalan Balagopal of UN children’s body UNICEF. "Children continue to be sexually exploited, particularly through the use of the internet, promotion of sex tourism and a lack of education about HIV/AIDS which make some people believe sex with children can cure the disease," he said. It is impossible to estimate the number of children trafficked each year across the world, although all estimates run into the hundreds of thousands. In Thailand, welfare groups say the total could be rising by as much as 20 per cent each year, earning the country the dubious reputation of being southeast Asia’s human trafficking hub. Identified as a preferred transit point and destination for regional child smuggling rings, Thailand now sits on a US human trafficking ‘watch list’. (AGENCIES) |
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