News Briefs (February 2008)
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Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Four Burmese Workers Killed in Southern Thailand
Four Burmese workers, including a pregnant woman, were killed and one was critically injured in Surat Thani in Southern Thailand, the The Bangkok Post reported on Wednesday. The female victim was five months pregnant. The bodies were found on Chiang Roon hill in Chaiya District on Tuesday. Their hands were tied behind their backs. The workers were employed on a rubber farm. Local residents said they heard gunshots from the hill around 3 am. Police investigators said they believed at least two assailants took the workers from the rubber plantation, and the murders were likely an act of revenge. There are an estimated 2 million migrant workers in Thailand.
Burmese Fishermen Rescued after 3 Months in Sea
Three Burmese fishermen who say they spent nearly three months adrift at sea in a raft after their boat was destroyed in a cyclone were rescued off the east Indian coast on Wednesday. Local fishermen spotted the trio drifting aimlessly near the resort town of Gopalpur in a bamboo raft, Siba Sankar Mohapatra, a senior police officer said. "They lived on turtles and fishes for food after they were separated from three other groups in the sea," Mohapatra said after questioning the trio. Cyclone Sidr smashed into the coast of southern Bangladesh on November 15 with 250 kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a five-meter (16-foot) tidal surge. At least 3,000 people died in Bangladesh under its impact. (Reuters)
Indonesian Rescuers Search Landslide Victims
Rescuers dug for survivors after a landslide on Indonesia's main island swept into a village on Wednesday, killing at least seven people and destroying homes and roads, officials said. Days of torrential rainfall sent tons of mud surging into the village of Brebes, around 245 kilometers (150 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta on Java island, said Rustam Pakaya of the Health Ministry's Disaster Crisis Center. Four bodies were recovered, including that of a 6-year old boy, he said. Police and villagers were using traditional farming tools to dig out other victims because heavy digging machinery was unable to pass blocked roads. Three houses were washed away, eight others were damaged and 200 people fled to temporary shelters, he said. Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a vast chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains. (AP)
New Thai Government Takes Office as Cabinet Takes Royal Oath
Thailand's first elected government since a 2006 military coup took office Wednesday, as Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's Cabinet members took an oath of service to the country's king. Their swearing in came shortly after King Bhumibol Adulyadej endorsed Samak's nominations to the Cabinet, with 36 appointees filling 41 positions. The endorsement and the swearing-in ceremonies were shown on television. Samak leads a six-party government coalition formed after his People's Power Party won the most parliamentary seats in a December general election. (AP)
Monday, February 04, 2008
Burmese Refugee Boat Sinks in Bangladesh River
At least one woman was drowned and two others were missing after a boat packed with refugees from Burma drowned in a river in Bangladesh on Sunday, a police officer said. "The boat sank due to overloading by refugees crossing into Bangladesh illegally," he told Reuters from Teknaf border town, 500 km (312 miles) from the capital Dhaka. Most of the refugees swam to safety or were rescued by fishing boats after their boat sank in the river Naf. Despite tightening of security along the border with Burma, Muslim refugees from its mainly Buddhist neighbour continue to sneak into Bangladesh. More 17,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have entered Bangladesh's southeastern Cox's Bazar district from military-ruled Burma over the past one year. (Reuters)
Crime Doesn't Pay, Neither Does Sleeping on the Job
There was no fairy tale ending for a Malaysian man who copied Goldilocks.
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