World

Tags:

Cluster Munitions: Strong National Laws Needed

International Conference on Cluster Treaty to Open in Santiago, Chile

(Washington, DC) - Governments that join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions should adopt strong national legislation to implement the ban agreement, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Tags:

US DHS Secretary Napolitano Announces Major Aviation Security Milestone

Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation.

Tags:

Project Deliverance” Results in More Than 2,200 Arrests During 22-Month Operation, Seizures of Approximately 74 Tons of Drugs and $154 Million in U.S. Currency

Yesterday, 429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make yesterday’s arrests. During yesterday’s enforcement action, $5.8 million in U.S. currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons, and 85 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents.

Tags:

Project Deliverance” Results in More Than 2,200 Arrests During 22-Month Operation, Seizures of Approximately 74 Tons of Drugs and $154 Million in U.S. Currency

WASHINGTON—Attorney General Eric Holder today announced the arrest of more than 2,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges in the United States and the seizure of more than 74.1 tons of illegal drugs as part of a 22-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Project Deliverance.” The Attorney General was joined in announcing the current results of Project Deliverance by Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Assistant Director Kevin L. Perkins of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division; and Assistant Secretary John Morton of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Tags:

India: Bhopal Gas Tragedy Verdict - too little too late?

On the night of December 2-3, 1984, India woke up to its worst industrial disaster when tonnes of the deadly methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins leaked from a Union Carbide (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, resulting in large-scale exposure, thousands of deaths and maiming many more thousands for life.

Tags:

Hurricane Season Begins Today

FEMA urges people to prepare for hurricane and possible disasters

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Tuesday June 1, marks the official start of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season that runs through the end of November. Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) spent the day urging American families, businesses and communities to take every possible precaution to prepare for hurricanes and other disasters.

Tags:

7.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Vanuatu

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on the early morning of May 28. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a tsunami warning for the surrounding island countries. There are no reports of injury or property damage at this moment.

Tags:

A train in India derailed after the tracks were sabotaged, killing over 65 people

A passenger train traveling from Calcutta to Mumbai derailed after an explosion; Maoist rebels are suspected of removing the fasteners securing the tracks. On the early morning of May 28, when the overnight train reached the West Bengal state, 13 of its boxcars suddenly derailed, throwing five of its coaches on the path of an oncoming goods train. The death toll was estimated to be over 65 and at least 200 people were injured, police said.

Tags:

Red Shirts' protest is about to end in Thailand

Veera Musikapong, a leader of Thailand’s Red Shirts, declared in the protest zone that the protesters were waiting for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to announce the exact date of the dissolution of Parliament, and that as soon as the timetable is set, the protest in the downtown of Bangkok would end.

Tags:

The clashes in Thailand escalates, leaving 17 dead

The clashes between the Thai Army and the so-called Red Shirts, supporters of former Prime Minister of Thailand Thaksin Shinawatra, spread to Bangkok’s Silom Road and Rama IV Road on April 15. The Thai government reported that, in three days of clashes, 17 people were killed and 171 people were injured. Bangkok was engulfed in fires and rioting.