Sold for ransom: On the trail of Thailand's human traffickers
- 22 May 2015
- Asia
As the trade in human beings becomes more and more profitable, the BBC's Jonathan Head discovers that entire communities in Thailand are helping the traffickers.
Earlier this month, I accompanied a group of Thai volunteers through the steamy mangrove forest of an island on the Andaman coast. They were following up hazy reports of unmarked graves on the island; it was known to have been used by traffickers to hold large groups of migrants while they waited for transport south towards the Malaysian border.
They dug down deep into the waterlogged soil, before the first fragments of bone appeared. Then they pulled at a soggy wet cloth. It was a dress. Inside were the yellowing bones of a woman. Who she was, or how she died, we still do not know. But it is almost certain she was one of the migrants.
Colombian takes BP to court in UK over alleged complicity in kidnap and torture
BP says it will defend unprecedented claim by trade union leader Gilberto Torres in case that spotlights role of big carbon in one of Colombia’s darkest periods
A Colombian trade union leader is beginning an unprecedented claim for damages against BP in the high court in London, alleging the oil company’s complicity in his kidnap and torture 13 years ago.
Gilberto Torres, 52, was abducted in February 2002 while driving home from an oil-pumping station in Casanare, eastern Colombia, and was released after 42 days, only after workers threatened a national oil strike. The case, which begins on Friday, will throw a spotlight on one of the murkiest periods in Colombia’s history, and the role of big business in it.
His lawyers say that it is the first time a union leader has been able to lodge a claim for human rights abuses against a multinational oil company in the high court. They believe his claim could pave the way for scores more similar actions.
Finland writes to 900,000 military reservists amid heightened tensions with Russia
Court frees Korean 'nut rage' executive
May 22, 2015 - 3:28PMSeoul: A South Korean appeals court has freed the former Korean Air executive who was jailed for a year for disrupting a flight in a rage over macadamia nuts.
The High Court in Seoul has ruled the behaviour of Cho Hyun-Ah - the eldest daughter of Korean Air's chairman - did not result in a change of flight path, and instead handed down a reduced suspended sentence.
Cho, who was a KAL vice president in charge of in-flight service at the time of the December 5 incident, had become enraged after a flight attendant served her some nuts in a bag rather than on a plate.
She castigated the chief steward over the behaviour of his cabin crew, and then insisted the taxiing New York-Seoul KAL flight return to the airport gate so he could be removed from the plane.
Former North Korean operative reveals secret spy tactics
Updated 0047 GMT (0747 HKT) May 22, 2015
Looking at the poison pens and torch guns, you would be forgiven for thinking you were on a James Bond set. But these weapons are real and are still part of the arsenal of North Korean spies.
Agents from the most isolated country on Earth are not a thing of the past, said one man who claims his job once was to infiltrate South Korea on missions for the Kim regime.
Chosen for the job while still in high-school, Kim Dong-shik told CNN he was sent to a specialized university for four years where he learned skills including martial arts, scuba diving, how to shoot and rig explosives. Only years later when he was fully trained was he told why he had been chosen.Iran warns Israel of Hezbollah rockets if attacked
Tehran (AFP) - A senior Iranian military official warned on Thursday that any Israeli attack would unleash a firestorm of missiles on its cities fired by the Islamic republic's Hezbollah allies in Lebanon.
The Shiite militia has more than 80,000 rockets ready to fire at Tel Aviv and Haifa, said General Yahya Rahim Safavi, military adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Iran, with the help of Hezbollah and its friends, is capable of destroying Tel Aviv and Haifa in case of military aggression on the part of the Zionists," he said, quoted on state television.
"I don't think the Zionists would be so unintelligent as to create a military problem with Iran," the general said. "They know the strength of Iran and Hezbollah."
Last week, a senior Israeli military intelligence official warned of a heightened threat of conflict over the next two years as a result of "escalation" in the region.
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