Massive wildfires in eastern Arizona that have scorched 250,000 acres were probably started by Mexican drug traffickers or human smugglers, an Arizona sheriff told Fox News

Massive wildfires in eastern Arizona that have scorched 250,000 acres were probably started by Mexican drug traffickers or human smugglers, an Arizona sheriff told Fox News on Wednesday.

During a televised interview on Fox News, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said the most recent blaze -- the so-called Monument Fire -- was "man-caused" and began about a week ago near Coronado National Forest, where the border fence ends. Dever said the 4,700-acre park had been closed for days prior to the start of the fire.

"The bottom line is, there was nobody in the park [who] would've been there legally," Dever said. "There were no vehicles, no nothing.  It's a high-intensity drug trafficking and human smuggling area. We have scouts that hang out there all the time. They light signal fires, they light warming fires because it gets cold at night … There is nothing to indicate that there was any other cause. And the highest probability -- not possibility -- is that this is how this fire started."

Federal authorities have said humans started the three major wildfires currently raging in Arizona, but it remains unclear whether illegal immigrants were involved. The second major blaze, the Wallow fire, is now 58 percent contained as of Wednesday after destroying at least 32 homes and burning nearly 828 square miles in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico since late May. The Horseshoe Two, meanwhile, is now 95 percent contained after scorching 348 square miles and 23 structures since May 8.

"It's a man-caused fire," Dever continued. "Whether it was a random campfire, a signal fire, a cigarette flung by a smuggling group, or arson, there's no way to know at this point."

An aerial photograph purportedly taken on June 12 of the area by American Border Patrol, an independent organization that monitors the border, claims the blaze actually started in Mexico and traveled upwind into the United States. Dever said that was an "accurate picture" of what occurred.

"There's really only one likely source of this fire and that's someone who was moving through the area illegally," Dever told FoxNews.com during a brief interview. "It's evidence of illegal trafficking. It's the result of illegal activity any way you look at it. It wasn't naturally caused."

Dever continued: "And this isn't the first time. This has been going on for years. I'd ask anyone to present me another logical explanation."

Jeff Olson, a spokesman for the National Park Service, told FoxNews.com that the cause of the Monument Fire remains under investigation by National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service personnel.

Dever's statements came just days after Sen. John McCain ignited a firestorm of his own by saying there is "substantial evidence" that illegal immigrants were to blame for the blazes. During a weekend news conference, McCain said undocumented aliens "have set fires because they wanted to signal others … and they have set fires because they wanted to divert law enforcement agencies."

On Tuesday, following a barrage of criticism regarding those statements, McCain told NBC's "Today" show he was "puzzled" by the barrage of criticism after his remarks.

"We know that people who come across our border illegally … that these fires are sometimes, some of them, caused by this," he said. "I'm puzzled … that there should be any controversy."

McCain said he was repeating information given to him during a recent briefing with federal officials.

McCain's statements angered Roberto Reveles, the founding president of the Phoenix-based Hispanic civil rights group Somos America.

"It's his constant refrain for everything that ails mankind," he told the Associated Press. "It just seems like we have an epidemic of, 'Blame it all on the illegal aliens, blame it all on the Mexicans.' It's amazing that the public doesn't rebel against this type of scapegoating."

The two largest wildfires burning in Southern Arizona originated in rugged, mountainous corridors frequently used by cross-border people and drug smugglers.

The two largest wildfires burning in Southern Arizona originated in rugged, mountainous corridors frequently used by cross-border people and drug smugglers.
And the U.S. Forest Service has determined that both fires were human-caused.
So even though the investigations remain open, speculation is ablaze that illegal immigrants or smugglers are responsible for the Horseshoe 2 Fire northeast of Douglas and the Murphy Complex Fire northwest of Nogales.
"It's definitely not caused by somebody on a picnic whose wiener overcooked," resident Brad Titcomb said about the Murphy Fire, which came within a mile of his house in the Aliso Springs neighborhood west of Tubac. "This is illegal traffic one way or another."
At a press conference last week, Coronado National Forest supervisor Jim Upchurch said causes of fires include ricocheting bullets, campfires, welding equipment and possibly ignition by smugglers or illegal immigrants. But when asked specifically about the Horseshoe 2 and Murphy Complex fires, Forest Service officials say only that they are human-caused and under investigation.
The Horseshoe 2 Fire has burned 128,652 acres in the Chiricahua Mountains - including three homes and six buildings. The Murphy Complex Fire has burned 68,033 acres in the Tumacácori and Atascosa mountains - including the historic Atascosa Lookout.
Both rank among the top 10 largest wildfires in Arizona since 1990, shows information from the Southwest Coordination Center, which manages firefighting activities in the Southwest.
Don't expect definitive answers on who set the blazes - many human-caused fire cases are never solved.
Finding the culprit is daunting for fire investigators, said Pat Schneider, an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona for the past 20 years who has experience on cases stemming from wildfires including the well-known Rodeo-Chediski Fire of 2002.
More than 70 percent of Arizona is federal land and the number of law enforcement officers is limited, he said. And wildfires believed to be caused by people are frequent - 142 fires of more than 100 acres in Arizona from 2003 to 2010, show data from the Southwest Coordination Center.
"Many times, the cases we are able to make and prosecute are when the suspect is caught in the act or soon thereafter, or because someone from the public helps as our eyes and ears," Schneider said. "The problem with fire, depending on how it burns, is that many times fire destroys a lot of evidence that was there."
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona has handled just a few wildfire cases each of the past two years, he said. He didn't recall any prosecution of illegal immigrants in connection with wildfires.
Pinpointing a cause
Annual fire reports from government agencies focus solely on how many fires were caused by people versus lightning, said Carrie Templin, spokeswoman with the Bureau of Land Management.
The Horseshoe Fire, which started on May 31, 2010, and burned 3,400 acres in the Chiricahua Mountains northeast of Douglas, remains under investigation, said Coronado Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel.
Like the Horseshoe 2 Fire, there was no lightning in the area, so both are classified as human-caused.
With fires presumed to be started by people, the focus is on finding a specific cause - not on determining where the people were from, said Mary Zabinski, fire information officer at the Southwest Coordination Center.
Cause of fires in Southeastern Arizona include sparks from electrical equipment and tailpipes, matches and cigarettes and sometimes strange occurrences, such as a bear getting electrocuted on a power pole and falling to the ground on fire, Zabinski said.
But the most common cause of fires, in Arizona and nationwide, is abandoned campfires, Zabinski said. Officials often see a rash of them on holiday weekends.
The Murphy Complex Fire was started on May 30 - Memorial Day. That was not lost on Jim Cumming, who lives in a house west of Rio Rico built by his family in 1946.
"If you are betting odds, it was probably caused by illegal immigrants," Cumming said about the Murphy Complex Fire. "But being that it was caused on Memorial Day, it could have been caused by a camper. It's anybody's guess who started it."
Hot spot for crossers
The Murphy Complex Fire is burning west of Nogales, stretching from south of the international border to about 18 miles northwest of Tubac. It is the combination of two blazes that met up: the Pajarita and Murphy fires.
The flames are raging right in the heart of a smuggling corridor commonly used by drug runners and rip crews.
Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was fatally shot in the same area during a shootout between agents and suspected border bandits on Dec. 14, 2010. The corridor has been a hot spot for confrontations between smugglers and criminals dating back to 2007.
Hikers, hunters and outdoor enthusiasts sometime go up there, but the area is primarily used by drug smugglers and illegal immigrants, said Lt. Raoul Rodriguez of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. That's why he believes it's fair to speculate they started this most recent fire.
Cumming doesn't believe the fire was started intentionally, whether by illegal immigrants or U.S. citizens.
"It was definitely human-caused," Cumming said, "but by human error."
Smugglers don't generally set fires purposely as diversions, said Border Patrol Tucson Sector spokesman Mario Escalante.
But they regularly make fires to cook, or to keep warm during the colder months, said Brandon Judd, president of Local 2544 of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing agents in Arizona. In the areas where the Murphy Complex Fire and Horseshoe 2 Fire started, the only people agents encounter are illegal immigrants or drug smugglers, he said.
"We definitely believe that the majority of these fires are started by illegal aliens," Judd said.
At the height of the Murphy Complex Fire, firefighters laid a fire retardant 100 yards from area resident Titcomb's ranch-style house he's owned for 15 years in Aliso Springs.
"This really hit home, I thought we were going to lose the house," said Titcomb, a native of Nogales, Ariz. "For what, so some guy can smuggle pot or meth?"
Titcomb is frustrated that officials only report such fires as human-caused and ignore the reality that some are likely started by smugglers and illegal immigrants. The political sensitivity of border issues scares politicians from talking about the truth, he said.
One theory percolating in the Tubac/Rio Rico area is that the Murphy Fire was started by two illegal immigrants in distress.
But Titcomb finds that theory hard to believe because all somebody would have to do to get help is walk down from the mountains to the numerous houses nearby. And since it was set in late May, it also seems unlikely it was to keep a group warm.
He believes it's more likely that drug smugglers set a fire in the area to burn Border Patrol sensors, a theory he heard from several firefighters. Most of the Border Patrol agents he sees in the area say they are responding to sensors, he said.
Border Patrol officials declined to discuss the cause of the Murphy Fire, citing the ongoing Forest Service investigation. Judd, of the union, said he hasn't heard of smugglers burning sensors, but said it might be a new tactic.
"It could be effective, sure," Judd said.
Focus on loss, not culprit
The Horseshoe 2 Fire started May 8, about 35 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border in the Chiricahua Mountains of Southeastern Arizona.
The mountain range and the valleys surrounding it are commonly used by those smuggling drugs and people. Cochise County rancher Robert Krentz was killed in March 2010 on his property south of the fire. The case is still unsolved but authorities believe he was shot by a cross-border smuggler.
The Burro Springs area where the fire started is a popular staging area for smugglers, brimming with backpacks and trash left behind, said Ed Ashurst, who manages the 10X Ranch in the valley east of the Chiricahuas. There are propane tanks used to cook up there, he said. It's rugged, mountainous terrain only accessible by foot or horseback.
"It's frequented by nobody except illegal aliens," Ashurst said. "Virtually everyone down here believes an illegal alien started it (the fire). Who else started it?"
He said he believes the first Horseshoe Fire in 2010 was also started by illegal immigrants but he doesn't expect Forest Service officials to admit that. The Obama administration doesn't want to say it was an illegal immigrant because that would bring into question its claims that the border is more secure than ever, Ashurst said.

rip crew is a rival drug smuggling gang that steals drugs and cash from other smugglers

The Sonoran Desert National Monument, about 60 miles southwest of Phoenix, contains more than 487,000 acres of the most beautiful and biologically diverse desert in North America. This national monument includes a saguaro cactus forest, three distinct mountain ranges and wide, lovely valleys. It is home to many archaeological sites and historic trails and landmarks.

Because of its vast beauty, the Sonoran Desert monument beckons thousands of visitors every year. People come to sightsee, horseback ride and hike its many trails. Backpacking and primitive camping were until recently quite popular.

No longer. Nearly 80 miles from the Mexican border, the rampant crime taking place today within the monument is so out of control that the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management website warns: "Visitors should be aware that narcotic smuggling activities occur within this national monument. If you see any activity that looks illegal, suspicious, or out of place, please do not intervene."

The website warns people not to travel off well-marked roads or pick up hitchhikers — and to avoid all contact with distressed people asking for water or assistance. For those hardy souls still willing to visit, signs have been placed throughout the area warning starkly of the dangers from active drug- and human-smuggling activities.

In a June 1 guest editorial in the Sonoran News, Sheriff Paul Babeu of Pinal County, Ariz., noted that last year 219,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended in one section of Arizona alone — and the U.S. Border Patrol estimates another 400,000 made the journey successfully. The sheriff discussed the dangers our porous borders pose, and he noted that many of those apprehended have had "troubling ties to terrorism."

He should know. Recently in his jurisdiction, a man was found dead and another wounded after a group of drug smugglers was attacked by a rival gang. The injured man told deputies that he was traveling through the desert with 14 other illegal immigrants when they were attacked by a rip crew that opened fire on them. (A rip crew is a rival drug smuggling gang that steals drugs and cash from other smugglers.)

And it's not just in Arizona. According to the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Steven McCraw, in Texas alone there have been 22 murders, 24 assaults, 15 shootings and five kidnappings linked to Mexican drug cartels since 2010.

 
From California to Texas, county and small-town law enforcement officials have sounded the warning that the drug wars and bloodshed that have plagued Mexico have begun to spill over into the United States. And the cartels responsible for drug smuggling have expanded their activities into the grim business of human smuggling.

Trafficking humans has become a $20 billion-a-year business for Mexican drug cartels. That has made immigrating illegally into the U.S. a very dangerous activity for desperate migrants. Having commandeered the human-smuggling business from independent coyotes, drug cartels often charge outrageous sums of money for transportation across the border.

Immigrants are often forced into prostitution or held captive until family members can raise the required ransom. Countless numbers of immigrants have been raped, abandoned along the way or murdered.

In March, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano spoke in El Paso, Texas. She stated that security on the southern U.S. border "is better now than it ever has been," and she denied that serious violence from neighboring Mexico had spilled over into the U.S. Napolitano stressed that border towns are safe for travel, trade and commerce.

Last month — again in El Paso — President Obama delivered a policy speech on immigration. Full of praise for his administration's efforts, Obama's speech was notable mainly for his snide comments about Republicans. In a speech that did absolutely nothing to help foster a bipartisan attempt at border security, he told the crowd:

"So, we have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement. But even though we've answered these concerns, I suspect there will be those who will try to move the goal posts one more time. They'll say we need to triple the border patrol. Or quadruple the border patrol. They'll say we need a higher fence to support reform. Maybe they'll say we need a moat. Or alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied. And I understand that. That's politics."

Who is correct? Napolitano and Obama or the local sheriffs and residents living in border towns?

Is Amy Pope, a U.S. attorney general deputy chief of staff, correct in saying there hasn't been a crime spike of any significance on the U.S. border, or do we believe the Burns family of Brooks County, Texas, who packed up and left their 38,000-acre ranch because the drug cartels are just too much of a threat?

Do we ignore the pleas of the family of murdered rancher Richard Krentz for military troops to be stationed on the border? Or do we believe the president when he says the border has never been safer?


Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl have introduced a 10-point plan to tighten the border. Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, has introduced legislation seeking to designate six Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Such a designation would limit their financial interests and travel abilities and inflict harsher punishments on those who seek to provide them financial support.

There is no easy answer to border security. Mexicans and Americans living along the border towns share histories and bloodlines that go way back. Families who have crisscrossed the border for years, visiting back and forth, should not have to be cut off from one another. On the other hand, Americans should not be forced to sacrifice their safety on our roads and in our cities and national parks.

Sheriff Babeu may have summed it up best in his editorial: "Mexico is not our enemy. The cartels are the enemy of Mexico and America. They have brought their violence here to America. Local sheriffs can't fight them alone. We can address this growing threat, or we can make jokes, laugh and believe the border is more secure than ever."

Serbian and Macedonian citizens 'risk' losing the freedom to enter the European border-free Schengen area without a visa because their governments are failing to curb an exodus of bogus asylum seekers,

Serbian and Macedonian citizens 'risk' losing the freedom to enter the European border-free Schengen area without a visa because their governments are failing to curb an exodus of bogus asylum seekers, Belgium warned Thursday.
Since visas were dropped in December 2009, Belgium and Sweden have repeatedly complained of being swamped with asylum requests from Serbians and Macedonians who they claim try to abuse the system.
'Yes, we still have a lot,' Belgian Migration Minister Melchior Wathelet told the German Press Agency dpa on the margins of a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg.
One diplomat told dpa that Wathelet received backing from a number of countries, including Sweden, Germany and France, during the closed-door meeting.
Wathelet said Macedonia posed a greater problem. 'Less than one per cent' of asylum requests from the two Balkan countries were found to be admissible, he said.
Swedish Migration Minister Tobias Billstrom recognized there was 'an increased number of manifestly unfounded asylum applications' and said 'that problem has not yet been solved.'
'The countries of the Western Balkans need to take responsibility for their citizens,' Billstrom told dpa, stressing that countries hoping to join the EU cannot have people claiming to be escaping from persecution.
In Luxembourg, the European Commission presented a report on how Serbia and Macedonia have made use of their Schengen visa freedom.
Wathelet said it was 'not very positive' for Serbia, and 'very, very negative' for Macedonia, as figures for bogus asylum seekers from that country 'remain very bad.'
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom only told journalists that there was 'a problem,' which was being raised with Belgrade and Skopje.
She said most failed asylum applicants were Roma, and suggested both countries should do more to improve the community's living conditions.
EU countries can reintroduce visa controls as a way to pressure Serbia and Macedonia - but the procedure is cumbersome.
'The risk (to reintroduce visas) is there ... we asked for a monitoring, there were a certain number of conditions which seemed to have been fulfilled in 2009 and which are no longer today, especially for Macedonia,' Wathelet said.
Malmstrom said, 'There was no suggestion today that there would be a suspension (of the visa-free regime), but (there was) expression from certain countries of their concerns.'
The commission recently proposed fast-tracking the procedure for reintroducing visas for non EU-countries that abuse the Schengen system.
EU interior ministers backed the draft reform, which still needs to be discussed with the European Parliament. But, even under the new set up, visas would be reintroduced only as a 'very last resort,' Malmstrom said.

Finland is introducing new measures to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking from India.

Finland is introducing new measures to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking from India. In July, the Finnish embassy in New Delhi will get a new staff member who will verify the authenticity of documents submitted by visa and residence permit applicants.
Illegal immigration from India to Finland is on the rise, and sometimes Finland is used as an entry point to Europe as a whole. The Foreign Ministry, the Finnish Border Guard and the Finnish Immigration Service are planning to address the problem by sending a border guard to the Finnish mission in New Delhi.
According to the Finnish embassy in India, the border guard will have plenty of work. The mission in New Delhi handles residence permit applications in numbers only exceeded by the consulate in St. Petersburg.
The embassy also processes visa and residence permit applications from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives.
It is seen as a great advantage that the new staff member specializes in investigating document forgeries, since that will be among the border guard’s tasks.
Finnish embassy attaché Anne Myllymäki says that the mission currently spends a lot of time trying to verify the authenticity of documents.
The Finnish authorities already have an employee carrying out similar tasks in the embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The authorities are considering establishing a similar post at the mission in Nigeria.

Corruption on the U.S. side of the Mexican border rose sharply in recent years as drug cartels targeted border agents as part of illicit drug and human trafficking

Corruption on the U.S. side of the Mexican border rose sharply in recent years as drug cartels targeted border agents as part of illicit drug and human trafficking, senior Obama administration officials told a Senate hearing on Thursday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commission Alan Bersin said the overwhelming majority of border patrol officers and agents are honest, “but the reality is that CBP employees have been and will continue to be targeted by criminal organizations or may otherwise seek to exploit their position of public trust for illicit gain. …”

Charles Edwards, Department of Homeland Security acting inspector general who appeared with Mr. Bersin, said corruption has come in the form of monetary bribes, sexual favors and other gratuities to border agents to ignore trafficking, provide information or assist traffickers.

“Gangs such as Los Zetas are becoming involved increasingly in systematic corruption to further alien and drug smuggling, including smuggling of aliens from designated special-interest countries likely to export terrorism,” Mr. Edwards said.

The two appeared at a hearing Thursday of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on disaster recovery and intergovernmental affairs.

Over the past six years, 127 CBP agents were arrested or indicted for corruption, the officials testified. Investigations of additional complaints rose to more than 4,500 cases last year.

Thursday’s hearing focused on the increase in these cases and the need for greater cooperation between the DHS inspector general and CPB, which in the past have not closely cooperated.

“As we continue to see successes in our efforts to secure our nation’s borders, our adversaries continue to grow more desperate in their attempts to smuggle humans and illegal contraband into this country,” Mr. Bersin said. “Our most valuable — as well as in some rare cases our most vulnerable — resources are our employees.”

The issue of corruption has slowly come to light in recent years as a result of several high-profile cases of U.S. officers who were caught helping cartels smuggle illegal contraband and humans across the border.

Last year one CPB officer, Martha Garnica, was sentenced to 20 years in prison after a sting operation showed her involvement with a Mexican crime syndicate called La Linea. And her story was not an isolated case.

Also in 2010, the inspector general opened 870 investigations related to CPB employees, a 48 percent increase from the previous year’s 595 cases. The cases included investigations into CBP employee corruption, civil rights abuses, and suspicious activity, Mr. Edwards said.

As a result, Congress passed the Anti-Corruption Border Act last year to put measures in place that would check new employees’ integrity. Under the act, the CBP must run background checks and polygraph tests on every new employee. So far, the organization has a backlog of 15,197 cases that need to be completed. Mr. Bersin said the CBP was on track to catch up with all cases by 2013.

Initial results were a cause for concern, Mr. Edwards said, noting that recent polygraph tests showed that up to 60 percent of CBP employees showed deception when asked questions about having a criminal record.

The Department of Homeland Security has struggled with targeting corruption because of confusion within its organizational structure. The 1978 Inspector General Act gave the inspector general authority for holding the agency accountable.

Mr. Bersin said the confusion often led to “outright confrontation” between CPB and the IG office.

Official records in Britain have revealed that immigration rose to unprecedented levels last year.

The net migration figure till September 2010, stood at 242,000, the third highest on record.

Immigration Minister Damian Green admitted migration rates were 'out of control' and blamed the previous Labour government for it.

"That is why we have already introduced radical changes to drive the numbers down and, we will shortly be consulting on a range of new measures," The Daily Mail quoted him, as saying.

Immigration levels have soared following Britain's policy of allowing Eastern Europeans to work in the country without restriction.

According to statistics, immigration from Eastern Europe rose by 50 per cent to 72,000 while the number of Eastern Europeans going back home dropped by nearly half to 29,000.

Though the government did succeed in cutting the numbers of student visas to non-Europeans by two percent, it was offset by a rise in work visas.

Andrew Green of Migration Watch has warned about the adverse consequences of immigration.

"Firm measures are now absolutely essential. The impact on British-born workers is a particular concern that has been brushed under the carpet for too long," he said.

hundreds of people are feared to have drowned off Libya, after a boat carrying some 600 refugees trying to reach Europe broke up at sea on Friday.

 

The UN's refugee agency said 16 bodies, including two babies, had been found.

UNCHR has said all ships using the Mediterranean should be ready to assist such vessels, as thousands continue to flee North Africa in inadequate boats.

Nato has denied claims that its naval units left dozens of migrants to die aboard another boat in distress.

It said it was unaware of the plight of the boat, which reportedly was adrift for more than two weeks.

The Guardian newspaper said 61 of the 72 people on board the boat died of hunger or thirst, despite being spotted by a military helicopter and Nato ship.

'Extra vigilant' journey
UNHCR's said migrants arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa had reported seeing the boat carrying some 600 people foundering shortly after leaving the port at Tripoli on Friday.


Sybella Wilkes
UNHCR
If confirmed, this would be one of the largest accidents so far involving the thousands of often unseaworthy boats trying to reach Europe following unrest in North Africa.

Many of the witnesses were relatives of people on board, spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes told the BBC, adding: "There were a lot of distressed people on the quayside."

Ms Wilkes said it appeared that hundreds of people were missing - bodies were seen floating in the sea and those of 16 people, including two babies, have been washed ashore.

She said it was unclear whether anyone was looking for the missing people, but that Nato was not involved in the operation.

The nationalities of the passengers was also not known, but many of those waiting in Lampedusa were Somali, she said.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said it had spoken to one Somali woman who had been on board the ship with her four-month-old baby. The baby died and the mother swam to shore, where she boarded another boat heading to Europe.

Ms Wilkes said "hundreds if not more than a thousand people" have now died making the "treacherous journey".

The agency has said all ships should be prepared to offer immediate help to such boats.

"We are calling on all ships in the Mediterranean - whether commercial, military or otherwise - to be extra vigilant and consider on sight that these boats are in distress and needing rescue," said the spokeswoman.

'Water dropped'
The Guardian reported on Monday that a small boat had left Tripoli on 25 March, hoping to make it to Italy but ran out of fuel and started drifting.


Italy has asked for international help to deal with the huge influx of refugees
Eventually food and water ran out, too.

"Every morning we would wake up and find more bodies, which we would leave for 24 hours and then throw overboard," one passengers, Abu Kurke, told the paper.

On 26 March, the passengers made contact with a priest in Italy, Father Mussie Zerai, who often plays a key role assisting migrants who hit trouble.

He confirmed to the BBC that he had alerted Italian coastguards, who said they would take action. But he lost contact with the boat when its phone battery went dead.


Any claims that a Nato aircraft carrier spotted and then ignored the vessel in distress are wrong”

Nato statement
Abu Kurke said that shortly afterwards a helicopter appeared and dropped bottles of water and packets of biscuits onto the boat - but that after that, no further help arrived.

At one point - on 29 or 30 March, the Guardian says - the boat drifted close to an aircraft carrier. Survivors contacted by the paper said two jets took off and flew low overhead, while the migrants held two starving babies aloft. But no effort was made to assist them.

The Guardian said its inquiries suggested the ship must have been the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.

Italy rescues 500 Libya refugees in 'miracle' operation

Italian coast guards and local fisherman saved all 528 refugees on a boat from Libya early Sunday after their vessel hit rocks off the island of Lampedusa, an operation one rescuer described as a "miracle".
Refugees threw themselves into the water in the night, with some clinging to ropes strung between the rusty fishing boat and the shoreline by rescuers, as officers and local residents dived in to help along the rocky coast.
"There were about 500 people on board. It was a difficult situation. Our patrol boats couldn't come close because of the shallow water and the undertow was very strong," said Antonio Morana, a coast guard spokesman.
Coast guards later said 528 had been on board, including 24 pregnant women.
Many refugees were later seen wrapped in thermal blankets on the rocks and in temporary housing in the port in footage released by coast guards.
"The sea was rough and it was pushing the boat towards the coast," said one coast guard, Davide Miserendino.
"When the first immigrants jumped into the water, we immediately dived in to try and rescue as many as possible," he added.
"When we finished, to be honest, we burst out crying and embracing. We all thought about those children in the sea. It was incredible. It was a real miracle that we managed to rescue everyone," he said.
Local residents brought food and clothes for the survivors and a Ghanaian woman with a baby called Wisdom was given diapers and toys.
A few of the refugees suffered slight injuries and have been hospitalised.
President Giorgio Napolitano later expressed "since admiration" for the rescuers and said: "Italy is showing solidarity and a spirit of hospitality."
Most of those on board were migrant workers from sub-Saharan Africa and Asia who have been living in Libya. Thousands of refugees fleeing Libya have been arriving in Lampedusa in recent weeks as the conflict there has escalated.
"The bombs forced us to flee. Right now the situation in Libya doesn't leave us any choice," a Pakistani refugee was quoted by ANSA news agency as saying.
Lampedusa, which measures 20 square kilometres (eight square miles), is Italy's southernmost point and is closer to North Africa than to the mainland.
Morana said an investigation was underway into what had gone wrong but he believed there had been "a malfunctioning of the rudder" on the vessel.
Also Sunday, another boat carrying 800 refugees from Libya arrived in Lampedusa, a day after two boats with 842 refugees including 101 women and 22 children also fleeing the North African state landed there.
Lampedusa, which has a population of only around 5,000 has been overrun by more than 30,000 migrant and refugee arrivals since the start of the year. Almost all have since been transferred to the mainland or sent back.
Almost all have been Tunisians in search of a better life in Europe amid continued upheaval in their homeland in the wake of a revolt in January.
Some 150 refugees fleeing Libya are believed to have died on April 6 after their boat capsized in stormy weather in the middle of the Mediterranean. Italian coast guards managed to pluck 53 survivors from the sea.
A week later, two women died and another person was reported missing after their overcrowded boat hit rocks on the Italian island of Pantelleria.

Conman who bluffed his way to job as head of Border Agency investigation unit is jailed

CONMAN with a few poor GCSEs who got a top job at the Home Office has been jailed for a £500million fraud.
Andrew Waldron, 38, was jailed for four and a half years – his third conviction in nine years.
No one checked his record and he became head of an investigation unit at the UK Border Agency.
He admitted lying about qualifications to get a job with Gloucestershire Police in 2002 and was jailed last December for lying to the Home Office, where he worked from 2005 until his arrest in August 2009.
Waldron, from Rugby, Warwickshire, was put in charge of scores of contracts to house asylum seekers worth £20million each and committed the frauds while on bail last year.
He took £69,000 from property firms by claiming he could give them £480million in contracts to house diplomats as director of a fictitious agency called the Cross Border Intelligence Service.
He pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud at Birmingham Crown Court. Judge Robert Orme said on Friday: “It does beggar belief some of the lies and falsehoods you put forward.”

 

Malaysia agrees to take Australian asylum seekers

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced Saturday that Malaysia has agreed to take hundreds of asylum seekers who land in Australia illegally, in a move described as a "big blow" to people smugglers.
Under the bilateral agreement, up to 800 boat people who try to reach Australia will be taken immediately to Malaysia instead, with their claims processed there by the United Nations.
In return, Australia has agreed to accept and resettle, over four years, 4,000 registered refugees currently living in Malaysia, Gillard and her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak said in a joint statement.
"This landmark agreement will help take away the product people smugglers are trying to sell -- a ticket to Australia," said Gillard.
"The key message this will deliver to people smugglers and those seeking to make the dangerous sea voyage to Australia is: do not get on that boat.
"Under this arrangement, if you arrive in Australian waters and are taken to Malaysia you will go to the back of the queue."
The agreement, which has been negotiated with the Malaysian government over the last seven months, is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks with Australia covering all the funding arrangements.
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said it would cost around Aus$300 million (US$320 million) over four years.
The figure of 800 is a one-off total with no time limit attached.
Thousands of asylum seekers head to Australia each year, usually on rickety boats from Indonesia, swamping already overcrowded immigration centres and prompting recent violent unrest in the often remote units.
Gillard had previously suggested that a regional processing centre be established in East Timor, but the idea was coldly received in Dili.
On Friday, media reports said her administration was considering reopening Papua New Guinea's mothballed Manus Island detention centre to asylum seekers.

 

Thailand, Cambodia Agree to Indonesian Observers at Border

Ahead of a regional summit, Indonesia's foreign minister has said Thailand and Cambodia agreed to allow Indonesian monitors to go to the border between the two countries to help prevent further military clashes.

In his role as the chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa on Friday said there has been a breakthrough in ASEAN's efforts to mediate an end to the Thai-Cambodia border conflict.

"I can report to all of you that the two sides have agreed to the terms of reference for the observer team, the Indonesian observer team that we have been discussing for several weeks now," said Natalegawa.  "That is a done thing in the sense that the negotiations have been concluded.  Cambodia has formally acceded or formally agreed to the terms of reference.  Thailand has also agreed to it but they are yet to fully conclude the formal exchange of documents."

The terms of reference include how many Indonesian observers will be dispatched and the specific areas along the border where they will operate.

Since February, more than 20 people have died in repeated clashes between the two ASEAN members along their disputed border. Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes on both sides of the border.

The heart of the disagreement is a 900-year-old Hindu Khmer temple known as Preah Vihear in Cambodia and Prah Viharn in Thailand.  The temple sits in Cambodia, but Thailand claims adjacent land that includes a key access route to the complex.  The countries have fought sporadically over the border since 2008.

Natalegawa met with foreign ministers of the other ASEAN nations Friday. On Saturday, ASEAN national leaders begin a two-day summit in Jakarta.

The Indonesian foreign minister says talks Friday included the question of Burma's request to take over the chairmanship of ASEAN in 2014.  Human Rights Watch objects to the idea of Burma (also called Myanmar) leading the association, given it says, the country's long record of human rights abuses and its lack of democratic development.

While the ASEAN heads of states will decide if Burma's bid is accepted, Natalegawa said some concerns were expressed at the ministerial level.

"The state of readiness of Myanmar to chair ASEAN in 2014, which is quite a critical year for ASEAN, on the eve of its community in 2015, the state of readiness extends beyond practical arrangements readiness but also other dimensions that we need to ascertain ourselves," added Natalegawa.

Burma passed up its chance to take the rotating chairmanship in 2005, after the United States and European Union threatened to boycott ASEAN events if Burma's government was at the helm.

Natalegawa says the foreign ministers also addressed the issue of the South China Sea where China and some ASEAN countries have competing claims to small islands and areas believed to be rich in oil. He says ASEAN and China are continuing to work together to develop a declaration of conduct to help resolve disputes.

Al-Qa'ida confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden yesterday, serving notice it will take revenge on the United States and its allies and carry forward its campaign of terror.

A text, posted on the internet and dated 3 May, from the "general leadership" of the group, said the "blood of the holy warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims and will not go in vain". It added: "We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries."

As much a warning to Washington, the statement was meant also to galvanise followers to rise up, including in Pakistan where Bin Laden was found and killed.

Ironically, however, this may actually be helpful to the US as it obviates the need to publish the pictures of the dead terrorist leader to quell conspiracy theorists claiming he is still alive.

As the killing of the perpetrator of 9/11 and other atrocities continued to reverberate around the globe, US officials said a first analysis of intelligence data seized from his house showed that far from being just a figurehead for al-Qa'ida, Bin Laden had been personally involved in hatching new plots against the US, including one to target trains possibly on the 10th anniversary of the Twin Towers attack in September.

Also coming into focus yesterday were new details of the surveillance the Abbottabad compound had been under since it was first identified as a possible al-Qa'ida hideout last August.

US officials revealed that CIA agents and informants had scrutinised the three-storey structure and its grounds for months from a nearby safe-house using telephoto lenses and long-range hearing devices. At the same time it was under satellite surveillance.

Even as President Barack Obama gave the order a week ago to send in the Seals, US intelligence officials were not completely sure that Osama bBin Laden would be found inside. Over the months, the CIA had seen saw a tall man spending twenty 20 minutes or longer each day walking back and forth in the compound garden.

Teams of experts will be raking through the data taken from the compound for months, translating from Arabic to English and trying, first of all, to discern any evidence of pending attacks against the US. Officials said the possibility of a train attack was one of the first to be spotted, though they do not think it was ever approved by Bin Laden or even finalised.

The indication that Bin Laden stayed involved in potential plots over the last several years from inside the compound contradicts those who argued he had faded into the background as al-Qa'ida's leader.

"He wasn't just a figurehead," one US official who had already been briefed on the first findings from the data told The New York Times. "He continued to plot and plan, to come up with ideas about targets and to communicate those ideas to other senior al-Qa'ida leaders."

As to why Bin Laden chose Abbottabad, a Pakistani army garrison town two hours north of Islamabad, to base himself, US officials supposed it had been to escape the danger of strikes by US drones flying over border tribal areas. Even yesterday, a drone killed 17 people in north-west Pakistan.

In its statement, al-Qa'ida indicated it is preparing to release an audio tape made by Bin Laden in the days before his death. On the revenge that it vows will be taken against Americans, the statement said: "Their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears."

The risk of attacks

*Pipe bombs, a targeted car crash, a lone gunman: Western intelligence officials said yesterday that they are seeing increased internet and phone chatter about cheap, small-scale terror attacks to avenge the death of the 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. More than 100 protesters, meanwhile, gathered yesterday outside the US Embassy in London shouting, "USA, you will pay!" and warning of such revenge attacks. European security officials say there is no specific plot that would justify raising the threat level. But one of their biggest fears is the possibility of a Mumbai-style attack like the 2008 shooting spree that killed 166 people and paralysed India's business capital for days.

The cleric Anjem Choudary, who helped organise the demonstration outside the US Embassy, said revenge attacks in Britain and abroad were likely because of Bin Laden's importance to al-Qa'ida and its affiliates. "I think Britain is more likely to face a 7/7 today than ever," he said in reference to the London bombings. "Osama bin Laden was a high-profile leader. If the Americans talk of justice, they shouldn't have killed him."

Feds arrest Delta baggage handlers in drug smuggling probe at Metro Airport

Federal agents toppled two drug-smuggling rings Thursday run by baggage handlers who allegedly imported marijuana and cocaine from Jamaica and Houston while working at Detroit Metro Airport.
Twelve people — including 10 Delta baggage handlers — were arrested early Thursday in an investigation dubbed "Operation Excess Baggage" and accused of exploiting weaknesses at several airports to run drug-smuggling pipelines since at least 2009.Complaints filed in federal court in Detroit describe intricate drug-smuggling rings that used crude tactics, an exotic locale and employee access to bypass security and transport hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs to Detroit's streets.
Nine people were arrested in Metro Detroit and made initial appearances in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They were ordered held until at least today. Two other suspects live in Texas and one in California.
The arrests follow an investigation that lasted more than a year led by investigators from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
"For those on the inside thinking about abusing their access to planes for money, think again," ICE director John Morton said. "We are watching. We are looking."
The defendants are accused of drug trafficking and facing charges that include conspiracy, possession with intent to distribute and illegal importation of narcotics.
Possible penalties vary by drug amounts. If convicted, the defendants face from five years to life in prison and up to a $10 million fine.
Delta suspended the baggage handlers without pay while the case is pending, said Susan Elliott, an airline spokeswoman.
"Delta does not tolerate employees found using their position for illegal activity," she said.
One drug-smuggling pipeline ran from Jamaica to Detroit; the second from Houston to Detroit. Both operated simultaneously, but were unrelated and involved different people, according to federal investigators.
The two pipelines used similar methods and exploited airport vulnerabilities, they added.
The Jamaica case dates to January 2010 when a federal agent there contacted another agent in Detroit about the seizure of about 53 pounds of marijuana stashed inside a suitcase bound for Detroit.
Federal agents let the plane depart for Detroit. When it landed, investigators searched all the luggage immediately and found approximately 35 pounds of cocaine and almost 284 pounds of marijuana, according to court records.The Jamaica case relied on several handlers in Detroit who were born in Jamaica.
The handlers used crude methods to identify drug-filled suitcases, according to court records. The luggage was marked with a red X, had white and black bags wrapped around the handles or zip ties.
Glenford Stephens, a Jamaican-born naturalized U.S. citizen working at Detroit Metro Airport, is accused of coordinating shipments into Detroit, according to court records. He reportedly paid fellow baggage handlers to remove luggage from the belly of jets landing in Detroit.
The bags, according to the records, were placed on domestic conveyer belts instead of international baggage belts to avoid detection.
Stephens, who lives in Lathrup Village, or others would then remove the bags and place them in vehicles, according to the court records.
Around the same time, investigators found that a different group of baggage handlers were transporting drugs from Houston.

Death toll soars for Americans in Mexico

111 U.S. citizens were killed in Mexico last year, nearly half of them on or near the Texas border, as the country's gang-fueled violence worsened, according to the U.S. State Department.
The recently released reports don't specify how or why the Americans were murdered, nor does it name victims. But 80 percent of them were killed in border states where narcotics violence is worst - 39 alone in Ciudad Juarez, which shares the Rio Grande with El Paso, and other nearby towns.
The impact on U.S. citizens visiting or living in parts of Mexico has steadily worsened since President Felipe Calderon deployed the army and federal police in late 2006 in an as yet unsuccessful attempt to crush the rising reach of the gangs.
The number of U.S. victims last year was more than triple the toll in 2007. Over a four-year period, 283 Americans were reported murdered, according to State Department figures.
In the same lapse, more than 35,000 Mexicans have been killed, including about 15,000 last year. The Mexican government says most were gangsters. But hundreds of innocent civilians also have been killed.
"Bystanders, including U.S. citizens, have been injured or killed in violent incidents in various parts of the country, especially, but not exclusively in the northern border region, demonstrating the heightened risk of violence throughout Mexico," the latest State Department travel warning observes.
The warning notes that most of the country, including major beach resorts, remains safe.
"There is no evidence that U.S. tourists have been targeted by criminal elements due to their citizenship," advises the travel warning, which was issued last week. "Nonetheless, while in Mexico you should be aware of your surroundings at all times and exercise particular caution in unfamiliar areas."
Victims of underworld
Many residents along the border have dual U.S.-Mexico citizenship. Some of the murdered Americans may have spent most of their lives in Mexico. Other American border residents frequently cross south of the line to visit friends and family in troubled Mexican towns and cities.
Better than half of the 2010 U.S. victims were killed in Juarez and in Tijuana, which borders San Diego. Both cities are tumultuous binational communities that have become primary underworld battlegrounds.
Among the Americans slain in Juarez last year were Lesley Enriquez, a civilian employee at the U.S. Consulate there, and her husband Arthur Redelfs, an employee of the El Paso County jail. U.S. investigators have arrested members of the Aztecas, a transborder gang that works with the Mexican criminal organizations, in the killings.
In early November, U.S.-born Eder Andres Diaz, 23, and naturalized American Manuel Acosta, 25, both students at the University of Texas at El Paso, were gunned down in Ciudad Juarez. Both were living in Juarez while attending the university.
Not counted in the tally is David Hartley, a 29-year-old oil company employee who disappeared in September after reportedly being attacked by gunmen as he and his wife jet-skied in Mexican waters of Lake Falcon.
His wife said she saw him fatally shot in the head, but Hartley's body has never been recovered. Then again, neither have the bodies of perhaps several thousand Mexicans who have simply disappeared in the violence.
While counseling caution on those traveling in much of Mexico, the U.S. government's warning strongly urges against non-essential travel to Tamaulipas, the state that borders Texas from Laredo to the Gulf Coast.
The warning also emphasizes that Monterrey, Mexico's third largest city, has become risky as well for "local and expatriate communities."
"Local law enforcement has provided little to no response," the warning notes of Monterrey's violence. "In addition, police have been implicated in some of these incidents."
The American toll so far this year includes Brownsville native Jaime Zapata, an agent with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who was killed in a February ambush on the busy highway connecting Mexico City to the south Texas border.
Body count rises
A dozen alleged members of the Zetas have been arrested in Zapata's killing.
Zapata was slain little more than two weeks after South Texas-based Christian missionary Nancy Davis, 59, was fatally shot by suspected gangsters near San Fernando, a Tamaulipas farm town 80 miles south of the border at Brownsville.
The town of San Fernando has been a well-identified center of terror since August, when 72 mostly Central American migrants were slaughtered at a rural warehouse outside the town.
Despite government vows to pacify the region following that massacre, the gangsters retained control of it. In recent months, the thugs reportedly have kidnapped and murdered highway travelers and others, burying their remains in a farm village.
So far, 183 bodies have been pulled from clandestine graves near San Fernando this month as officials investigate a long running gangster operation that included pulling travelers from buses.

 

France and Italy have thrown down the gauntlet over Europe's system of passport-free travel

France and Italy have thrown down the gauntlet over Europe's system of passport-free travel, saying a crisis of immigration sparked by the Arab spring was calling into question the borderless regime enjoyed by more than 400 million people in 25 countries.

Challenging one of the biggest achievements of European integration of recent decades, Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi also launched a joint effort to stem immigration and demanded European deportation pacts with the countries of revolutionary north Africa to send new arrivals packing.

The French president and the Italian prime minister, at a summit in Rome, opted to pile the pressure on Brussels and the governments of the other 25 EU states, demanding an "in-depth revision" of European law regulating the passport-free travel that takes in almost all of the EU with the exception of Britain and Ireland.

Prompted by the influx to Italy of almost 30,000 immigrants, mainly from Tunisia, in recent months, the two leaders warned that the upheavals in north Africa "could swiftly become an out-and-out crisis capable of undermining the trust our fellow citizens place in the free circulation within the Schengen area".

The passport-free travel system known as the Schengen regime was agreed by a handful of countries in 1985 and put into practice in 1995. Since then it has been embraced by 22 EU countries as well as Norway, Switzerland and Iceland, but spurned by Britain and Ireland. It is widely seen, along with the euro single currency, as Europe's signature unification project of recent decades.

But like the euro, fighting its biggest crisis over the past year, the Schengen regime is being tested amid mounting populism and the renationalisation of politics across the EU.

In other setbacks to borderless Europe, Germany, France and other countries have been blocking the admission of Bulgaria and Romania to Schengen in recent months, while the arrival of thousands of Middle Eastern migrants in Greece has fed exasperation with Athens's inability to control the EU's southern border.

The Franco-Italian move, following weeks of bad-tempered exchanges between Paris and Rome over how to deal with the Tunisian influx, is the biggest threat yet to the Schengen regime.

"For the treaty to stay alive, it must be reformed," Sarkozy said. Berlusconi added: "We both believe that in exceptional circumstances there should be variations to the Schengen treaty."

They sent a joint letter to the European commission and European council chiefs, José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, urging proposals from Brussels and agreement on a new system at an EU summit of government heads in June.

The commission said it was drawing up new proposals, tinkering with the current system, to be unveiled next week. But it has resisted, with the support of most EU governments, intense Italian pressure to label the arrivals from north Africa an emergency.

Under European law the border-free regime can be suspended only for reasons of national security, routinely invoked in recent years by member states hosting major international sporting events such as the World Cup or the European football championships, where individual countries contend with a huge, one-off influx of foreigners.

Sarkozy and Berlusconi insisted the rules be changed to allow more restrictions on freedom of travel. A new deal was "indispensable", they said. The June summit should "examine the possibility of temporarily re-establishing internal frontier controls in case of exceptional difficulty in the management of the [EU's] common external frontiers".

This, however, would clearly not be in the interests of Italy, which fears an end to the hostilities in Libya could spark an even bigger exodus. In that event, the letter said, the EU should provide "mechanisms of specific solidarity" including the distribution of immigrants among member states.

This will prove extremely divisive and will be rejected by countries such as Germany and Sweden, which have much higher numbers of asylum seekers than Italy, less restrictive immigration policies, and little sympathy for Italy's plight.

The concerted Franco-Italian initiative also called for accords between the EU and north African countries on repatriating immigrants, a policy certain to spark outrage among human rights groups, the refugee lobby, and more liberal EU governments.

Promising strong support for the democratic revolutions sweeping the Maghreb and the Middle East, Sarkozy and Berlusconi added: "In exchange we have the right to expect from our partner countries a commitment to a rapid and efficacious co-operation with the European Union and its member states in fighting illegal immigration."

Tuesday's move followed weeks of feuding between Rome and Paris over the Tunisian exodus. Furious at the failure of other EU countries to "share the burden", the Italians granted visas to the immigrants enabling them to move elsewhere in the EU. The Germans and the Austrians complained. The Belgians accused Rome of "cheating" on the Schengen rulebook. The French government promptly closed a part of the border with Italy briefly, re-erecting passport controls to halt trains.

But Berlusconi and Sarkozy, seeking to curry favour with the strong far-right constituencies in both countries, sought to bury their differences by urging the rest of Europe to buy into their anti-immigration agenda.

French president and Italian prime minister want to curb passport-free EU travel after row over north African immigrants

Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi are expected to call on Tuesday for a partial reintroduction of national border controls across Europe, a move that would put the brakes on European integration and curb passport-free travel for more than 400 million people in 25 countries.

The French president and the Italian prime minister are meeting in Rome after weeks of tension between their two countries over how to cope with an influx of more than 25,000 immigrants fleeing revolutions in north Africa. The migrants, mostly Tunisian, reached the EU by way of Italian islands such as Lampedusa, but many hoped to get work in France where they have relatives and friends.

Earlier this month, Berlusconi's government outraged several EU governments, including France, by offering the migrants temporary residence permits which, in principle, allowed them to travel to other member states under the Schengen agreement. An Italian junior minister said on Sunday that Rome had so far issued some 8,000 permits and expected the number would rise to 11,000.

Launched in 1995, Schengen allows passport-free travel in most of the EU, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. But the documents issued by the Italian authorities are only valid if the holders can show they have the means to support themselves, and French police have rounded up or turned back an unknown number of migrants in recent days.

On 17 April, Paris blocked trains crossing the frontier at Ventimiglia in protest at the Italian initiative. "Rarely have the two countries seemed so far apart," said Le Monde in an editorial on Monday.

Yet, with both leaders under pressure from the far right, French and Italian officials appear to have agreed a common position on amending Schengen so that national border checks can be reintroduced in "special circumstances". According to a report from Paris in the Italian daily La Repubblica, the two countries would also press for an increase in EU assistance to those countries that have to cope with immigrant influxes – a key Italian demand.

On Saturday, Berlusconi's spokesman said: "Agreement has been reached." Indications of a deal have prompted outrage from the French opposition. Harlem Désir of the Socialist party said: "Sarkozy and Berlusconi are disgracing Europe."

A joint initiative would certainly be an historic departure for two countries that have long been regarded as among the most fervently "European".

Schengen is seen as the EU's most significant integration project after the euro. Now both are under pressure, a sign of the tensions eating away at the union.

Sarkozy, low in the polls and hoping for re-election next year, is threatened by the Front National and its leader, Marine Le Pen, who calls for the total scrapping of Schengen. Berlusconi, whose poll ratings have also been sliding, is dependent for his majority in parliament on the xenophobic Northern League, one of whose leaders, Roberto Maroni, is Italy's interior minister.

Even before the exodus from Tunisia, gains by far-right, anti-immigrant parties in north Europe had put Schengen under strain. Centrist parties in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands have all tried to appease the far right by threatening to re-erect national border controls.

EU interior ministers are to meet on 12 May to try to resolve the issue. A joint Franco-Italian demand would need to be endorsed at the EU level.

It has been framed against a background of mutual exasperation with Greece over its difficulties in policing its frontier with Turkey, an EU external border thought to be the main crossing point into the union for clandestine migrants. Seaborne migration to islands such as Lampedusa, though highly visible, accounts for only a fraction of the total number of illegal entries.

Italy, however, is concerned that an end to the hostilities in Libya could prompt a renewed surge in attempted crossings by people who would not necessarily want to move to other EU states. Alfredo Mantovano, the junior interior minister responsible for immigration, said "the number of people involved could be 50,000".

 

Thai-Cambodia fighting disrupts border ties

Rocket-propelled grenades and fierce shelling marked the start of a new round of conflict at a normally peaceful stretch of the disputed border and sent them fleeing from their villages on Friday, killing at least 11 soldiers on both sides in two days of clashes.

They will never know who is to blame for breaching a fragile ceasefire agreed two months ago after fighting 150 km (90 miles) away. Those caught up in the worst border fighting in two decades fear ties with their neighbors, many of whom are blood relatives, may never be the same.

"They are like our brothers and sisters, we have no reason to fight. We don't know what happened, we don't know why it happened but we're all scared," said Wanchai Chaensit, 48, a rubber farmer who fled his village 3 km from the clashes.

Wanchai sits with his wife and three children at a village school 30 km away from the conflict zone, cross-legged on a sheet of cardboard under a plastic sheet tied to the side of his small tractor. This makeshift camp has become his home for the past two days and he fears the fighting will not be over soon.

"Even here, we don't feel safe. We left the village as soon as we heard the loud explosions. I hope the two governments can have dialogue and end this. We all live in peace with our neighbors and never expected this to happen."



But the chances of meaningful talks appear slim as both sides with huge pride at stake continue to blame the other for triggering the clashes.

Cambodia ramped up the rhetoric on Saturday, accusing Thailand of using cluster munitions and "poisonous gas" and seeking to take control two 12th Century Hindu temples claimed by both countries.

Thailand said the accusations were "groundless." It says the Ta Moan and Ta Krabey temples are in its Surin province, according to a 1947 map but Cambodia says the ancient, stone-walled temples are in its Oddar Meanchey province.

Calls by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which both countries are members, to find a lasting solution after four days of clashes in February have not been met as both countries disagree over how to settle the dispute.

At the village school in Prasat in Surin, scruffy-looking, bare-footed children played as scores of people queued for food at the makeshift camp. Some elderly people were treated for dehydration, family pets roamed and women dozed on straw mats.

Others fanned themselves with cardboard sheets in classrooms. Many of those evacuated were ethnic-Khmer, proficient in Thai and Cambodian dialects.

A cursory visit late on Saturday by the regional army commander, Lieutenant-General Thawatchai Samutsakorn, and dozens of troops helped ease the boredom in a camp with little to do but wait for a ceasefire.

But the five minutes the charismatic general spent dishing out food and smiling for the television cameras and his promise to protect Thailand's sovereignty did little to boost morale and failed to answer the key question on everyone's' minds.

"We've lived in peace for decades with Cambodians, we see them every day. Why are the soldiers fighting?" said Suthep Pringpom, 49.

"Who is causing this problem? I'm surprised it happened and I'm scared that this is the start of something bad."

 

Al-Qaeda envoy' Moganned killed in Chechnya

Russia has said that its forces have killed a senior Saudi-born al-Qaeda figure in the North Caucasus region.

Haled Yusef Muhammad al Emirat, described as al-Qaeda's chief envoy in the region, died with another rebel in a clash with troops in Chechnya.

Chechnya's president said the rebel, nicknamed Moganned, trained and funded insurgents, and planned acts of terror.

Russia is fighting against a low-level Islamist insurgency in several republics in the North Caucasus.

Russia's National Anti-Terrorist Committee said in a statement that Moganned was killed along with another militant in a raid on Thursday near the village of Serzhen-Yurt, in Chechnya's southern mountains.

It said that the militant has been operating in the North Caucasus since 1999 and that by 2005 he had emerged as the top liaison official with al-Qaeda, helping raise foreign funds, particularly from the Arabian Peninsula.

"Almost all acts of terror using suicide bombers in the last years were prepared with his involvement," a spokesman for the National Anti-Terror Committee said in a televised statement, according to AFP news agency.

The pro-rebel website kavkazcenter.com confirmed Moganned was killed on Thursday in a clash with security forces in Chechnya.

It said that at least two other militants had died in the attack.

Five Spanish agents escorted the 33-year-old Batista from Madrid to the Dominican capital over the weekend.

Dominican court has jailed the ex-wife of a reputed Caribbean drug kingpin for at least three months.
Leavy Nin Batista has been detained on suspicion of laundering money for her former husband's alleged trafficking network. No charges have been filed, but the Dominican legal system allows for preventive detention.

Five Spanish agents escorted the 33-year-old Batista from Madrid to the Dominican capital over the weekend. She was jailed Monday.

Batista's ex-husband is Jose Figueroa Agosto, captured last year in Puerto Rico on suspicion of shipping Colombian cocaine to the U.S. mainland.

Batista allegedly fled to Europe in 2009 with a fraudulent passport.

French police stopped a train carrying Tunisian immigrants from Italy at the border.

 flood of North African immigrants is widening divisions among some of Europe's most powerful nations and adding to strains on the long-held dream of a united Europe.
Since January an estimated 26,000 Tunisians have fled unrest in their country for the shores of Italy, where officials say the burden of caring for these immigrants should be shared by the 27-nation European Union.
The Italians have taken the unusual step of issuing many of the Tunisians temporary residence permits and say that those papers allow the immigrants to go anywhere in a 25-nation zone that permits legal European residents to cross borders without a visa.
The Italian stance has infuriated Germany and France, the former colonial power where many of the Tunisians want to reunite with relatives, friends and co-workers.
Neither side is backing down, tensions are rising, and on Sunday French police stopped a train carrying Tunisian immigrants from Italy at the border. It was an unprecedented affront to Europe's cherished vision of visa-free travel in a united continent where in many places there is nothing to indicate a national border beyond a roadside welcome sign.
There was a large French border police presence on the Italian frontier Monday and officers were checking the passports of all Tunisians passing through, and their ability to support themselves.
In Germany, separated from Italy by Austria and Switzerland, Interior Ministry spokesman Jens Teschke said there would be "more intensive observation" of people entering the country, though he would not give specifics. He said there were still no formal controls on borders that have been visa-free.
The state interior ministry in Bavaria, which contains all of Germany's border with Austria, said that a system of spot checks near the borders that has been in place since the visa-free zone started has been stepped up somewhat, leading to more checks on roads, train stations within some 20 miles of the border.
"It's a bit easy for Italy to be generous with other people's territory," said Christian Estrosi, the mayor of the French city of Nice, near the Italian border, and a prominent member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party. "What are the consequences of this? Italy, in the name of the EU, has made an incredible offer of hope" to North African immigrants. "This is not acceptable."
A host of other disputes are simultaneously threatening the grand project of European unity: On the same day the French stopped the train at the Italian border of Ventimiglia, a party that opposes the EU and financial bailouts for struggling countries made significant electoral gains in Finnish elections.
The True Finns may well play a role in a new Finnish government, jeopardizing the effort to stabilize the common euro currency by bailing out Portugal and other nations — perhaps the single most visible symbol of European unity.
In any event, political wrangling in Portugal may endanger its ability to negotiate the bailout that it says it needs. And in Greece, calls are growing louder for the country to ignore the financial strictures imposed on it by the EU and default on its debts instead.
While no single issue will sever the strong, deep ties between the nations of the EU, many observers see significant long-term damage to the idea of uniting vastly dissimilar cultures and economies in a single confederation.
France said it was justified in halting the train from Italy because there were pro-immigration activists on the train who threatened public order. In any event, French officials said, it would honor the Italian residence permits only if the immigrants could show they had enough money to support themselves.
The town of Ventimiglia said Sunday that it would find temporary shelter for the Tunisians who were aboard the train. It was not immediately clear Monday if all were still in the town, returning to other places in Italy or trying to get to France by other means.
Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said the immigrants should be allowed to travel throughout the Schengen area.
"We have given the migrants travel documents, and we gave everything that is needed," Maroni said in an interview on Italy's Sky TG24 TV.
But Michele Cercone, a European Union spokesman, said the French appeared to be within their rights under the Schengen agreement to refuse entry to the immigrants. A temporary residence permit, Cercone said, is neither an EU passport nor and EU visa and does not grant people the right to move freely in the borderless Schengen area — the group of 25 European countries to which both Italy and France belong.
Cercone also said the Schengen agreement allows police checks along borders, so long as they are not systematic and do not amount to border controls. And people can be prevented from crossing a border for reasons of public security, he said.

Security agencies detained a Denmark flagged ship following information that two crew members onboard were planning to offload arms and ammunition at Raigad near Mumbai on Sunday night.

Security agencies detained a Denmark flagged ship following information that two crew members onboard were planning to offload arms and ammunition at Raigad near Mumbai on Sunday night.

Sources said Indian intelligence agencies were tipped off about the plans and the two crew members' names. Gangster Dawood Ibrahim's aides had offloaded explosives used in the March 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts at Raigad.

A coast guard vessel on patrol in area was sent to carry out a search operation on the ship following the tip-off.

A security official said, "A message was relayed through the radio frequency to all ships asking them about the presence of the two people whose names intelligence agencies had provided. MV Danica Sunrise, Denmark flagged vessel, that arrived in Mumbai on April 17, confirmed the presence of these two members in their team.''

The team boarded the Danish vessel anchored 2km off the Gateway of India. It carried a search of the vessel around 10.30 pm on Sunday apart from the interrogation of the crew members. In the next few hours, Anti-Terrorism Squad, immigration department, intelligence bureau and customs officials joined the coast guard team for inspection and interrogation that went on beyond midnight.

A source said, "No arms or ammunition were found. The vessel has been detained and further search and interrogation is being carried out." The two crew members were former British army soldiers.

U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested Tuesday on narcotics smuggling charges,

U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested Tuesday on narcotics smuggling charges, but the federal agency declined to release his name, a spokesman told CNN.
The agent, who was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, was being held in the Yuma, Arizona, County jail, said Kenneth Quillin, supervisory border patrol agent.
The agent, who has three years' experience with the border patrol, was arrested after two other Border Patrol agents on Monday were patrolling along the U.S.-Mexico border and saw the suspect agent with "numerous bundles of marijuana inside a marked Border Patrol truck," Quillin said in a statement.
The agents reported the incident to a supervisor, and the suspect agent, along with the marijuana, was placed in the custody of the DEA, Quillin said.
Rodolfo Karisch, acting chief patrol agent for the Yuma Sector, said he was "proud of the swift and appropriate actions taken by the arresting agents."
"They knew the right thing to do and did it, as expected. They put honor first and are to be commended. This can not be said of the suspect," he said in a statement.
"I will not refer to the subject of this arrest as 'one of us.' By his alleged actions, he has tarnished our image," Karisch said in a statement. "We will pursue the prosecution of this individual to the fullest extent allowed by law."

Dominican police arrest 12 soldiers in alleged scheme to ship drugs to Canada in suitcase

Twelve soldiers assigned to combat drug trafficking in the Dominican Republic have been arrested in an alleged scheme to smuggle cocaine to Canada in a child's suitcase, a prosecutor said Monday.
Eight of the soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel and captain, were detailed to the national anti-drug agency at the airport in Puerto Plata while four were assigned to security duties at the airport terminal, said prosecutor Elvis Garcia. Two civilians who work there were also arrested.
A judge ordered all the suspects held pending an investigation into charges of drug smuggling, Garcia said.
The arrests stem from the discovery on March 23 of more than 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of cocaine in a child's suitcase. The girl was travelling with her parents and sister from Puerto Plata, about 240 kilometres (150 miles) north of Santo Domingo, to Toronto.
The parents were not detained. Garcia said investigators believe they may have been working with the smugglers but it hadn't been decided yet whether Dominican authorities would pursue charges against them.

Workers at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant are using dye to try to trace the route of highly radioactive water flowing from a reactor into the sea.

Workers at Japan's quake-hit nuclear plant are using dye to try to trace the route of highly radioactive water flowing from a reactor into the sea.

The source of the leak was identified at the weekend as a 20cm (8in) crack in a concrete pit at reactor 2.

Earlier efforts to plug the hole using a highly absorbent polymer failed.

The plant's operator has been been struggling for more than three weeks to regain control after a huge quake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems.

The BBC's Roland Buerk in Tokyo says the emergency workers still face a dilemma of pumping water in to the reactors, to try to stop them overheating.

If they do, he says, the risk is that there is more contaminated water around the plant that could escape into the environment.

Japan's top government spokesman said the leak must be stopped "as soon as possible".

The cumulative effects of a possible long-term leak "will have a huge impact on the ocean", Yukio Edano told a news conference on Monday.

The authorities have said the radioactive material will rapidly dissipate in the sea and is not thought likely to endanger human health.

Countries Begin Radiation Checks on Ships That Have Visited Japan

Shipping companies and airlines around the world, already nervous about rising fuel prices and the potential effect of an economic slowdown in Japan, now have another worry: intensified monitoring of ships and aircraft that have made recent stops in Japan.

As the concerns mount over radiation leaking from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, several governments have announced various steps to monitor or screen ships and aircraft arriving from the quake-stricken country.

So far, very few ships or planes appear to have registered unusual radiation levels or suffered holdups because of contamination fears.

At the moment, most shipping companies and airlines are less concerned about potential disruption caused by radiation screening at ports and airports around the world than they are about a range of other international problems, like the health of the Japanese economy, increasing fuel bills and — in the case of sea traffic — piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Still, the prospect of tighter checks and possible delays to port calls has made many operators nervous.

One particular, and so far apparently unique, case has fanned the shipping industry’s fears. A Japanese cargo vessel was turned away last week by the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau in the Chinese city of Xiamen, in the southeastern province of Fujian, after the bureau said it had detected a “radioactive anomaly” on the vessel. A representative of the ship’s operator, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, later told Reuters that the radiation level in question was 3.5 microsieverts per hour — considered by experts to be far from harmful.

Adding to the confusion is the difficulty of getting a clear picture of exactly what approach the customs, security, health or port authorities in various countries and cities are taking, what radiation levels they consider abnormal and what steps officials might take if unusual levels are detected.

“We know some places are screening for radioactivity,” said Arthur Bowring, managing director of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, one of the largest associations of its kind. “But often, we don’t know what exactly they are screening, and what levels of radioactivity would be considered abnormal by the various officials.”

Many vessels travel long routes spanning several countries and ports, he added. “How do you know that somewhere along a route, someone with a Geiger counter won’t seriously delay or deviate a ship or cargo?”

Measures announced so far vary widely, and they often lack detail about what is considered safe or abnormal, industry experts say.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, for example, said last week that “out of an abundance of caution,” it had directed field personnel to specifically monitor maritime and air traffic from Japan.

Southern California coast smugglers launch more immigrant and drug-filled vessels than ever before toward the state

Southern California coast smugglers launch more immigrant and drug-filled vessels than ever before toward the state — about one every three days on average. Vessels still land at San Diego-area beaches but are also traveling as far north as Huntington Beach and Newport Beach. Drug smugglers venturing even farther have been caught on Catalina Island and Santa Rosa Island, off the Santa Barbara coast.

Last year, 867 illegal immigrants and smugglers were arrested at sea or along the California coast, more than double the number in 2009. Border authorities have had to redeploy agents from the land border to the coast, where they scan the ocean with night-vision goggles and give chase across dunes instead of fields.

"I used to think that the [border] was the fence....All of a sudden this has become the front line in our efforts," said U.S. Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Steve McPartland at the San Clemente station, speaking to boaters and residents at Dana Point Harbor.

Immigrants have stumbled ashore in the shadow of the San Onofre nuclear power plant. In Del Mar, two smugglers ran their marijuana-laden boat onto a dog beach across from multimillion-dollar homes. At least eight immigrants ran up the bluffs to East Coast Highway after their boat beached at Crystal Cove near Newport Beach. Sixteen people aboard a broken-down boat were rescued about 70 miles offshore in October after being spotted by the amphibious assault ship Boxer.

An immigrant boat with 47 young male passengers on board, including two who claim to be underage, was towed into port in Arrecife, Lanzarote

An immigrant boat with 47 young male passengers on board, including two who claim to be underage, was towed into port in Arrecife, Lanzarote, on Wednesday after the boat was spotted some 50 miles to the east of island after three days adrift.

The migrants said they were Sahrawi, and some were seen holding up Western Sahara flags and shouting out ‘Viva el Sahara!’ and ‘Viva el Polisario!’ as they came into port.

The Coastguard were mobilised for their rescue after a fishing boat reported hearing over the radio a call from a merchant ship that it had spotted the migrants’ boat.

A spokesman for the local Sahrawi community on Lanzarote told the EFE news agency that they had been alerted from Laayoune that young members of the Sahrawi movement could be travelling on the boat. Bachir Mansur said the boat’s arrival in the Canaries could be a tactic by the Moroccan government to remove rebellious Sahrawis from their territory by providing them with boats to leave Western Sahara.

181,000 migrants who should have left the UK since December 2008 could still be here

Up to 181,000 migrants who should have left the UK since December 2008 could still be here, according to UK Border Agency estimates.

The agency "does not do enough" to check people have left once their visas expire, the National Audit Office said.

The NAO said the agency should set national targets on tackling those who overstay their visas.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said radical reforms were being brought in and abuses would be clamped down upon.

The UK Border Agency is responsible for running the points-based immigration system for non-EU workers.

Since it was introduced in 2008, 182,000 migrants from outside the European Economic Area have been allowed to enter the UK for work - and a further 179,000 already in the UK have been given leave to remain.

Whitehall's spending watchdog, The National Audit Office, said while the system was largely well designed and helped meet immigration aims, it was not yet providing full value for money due to inefficient systems and customer service.

Ezedden Khalid Ahmed al-Khaledi, who is also charged with immigration and benefits fraud, is accused of providing money to the bomber between June 2009 and his attack on Christmas shoppers last December.

Ezedden Khalid Ahmed al-Khaledi, who is also charged with immigration and benefits fraud, is accused of providing money to the bomber between June 2009 and his attack on Christmas shoppers last December.
He was also alleged to have “entered into an arrangement” to provide money for terrorism activities as far back as January 2003.
The 30-year-old, who was arrested at his council flat in a tower block in Whiteinch, Glasgow, was charged with opening bank accounts with Lloyds TSB, the Post Office, Halifax Bank of Scotland and Santander for terrorism purposes.
He is the only person to have been charged in relation to the attack launched by Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly on December 11.
The bomber, an Iraqi sports therapist who lived in Luton, blew himself up in a busy shopping street in the Swedish capital.
Al-Khaledi appeared behind closed doors at Glasgow Sheriff Court to face a total of eight charges – three under the Terrorism Act, two for fraud and three for immigration offences.
He allegedly provided false information to immigration authorities, claiming to be from Kuwait, which allowed him to stay in the UK and claim benefits illegally.
The fraud charges related to opening bank accounts with Lloyds TSB and the Post Office on St Vincent Street, Glasgow, using a fake travel document.
The student, who was studying at North Glasgow College, was arrested in a dawn raid last Tuesday as part of a joint operation involving Strathclyde Police and the Swedish security service.
Al-Khaledi was escorted to the court by a large police convoy from a high security cell at Govan Police Office.