Headlines for Friday, September 3, 2010

Indictment in largest human trafficking case in US history
A federal grand jury in Hawaii has charged 6 people in what’s being called the largest human trafficking case in US history.  According to the Justice Department, the six defendants allegedly lured 400 Thai nationals to the US between 2004 and 2005.  The DOJ says they intended to coerce the labor and services of the workers on farms in Hawaii, Washington and several other states.  The workers were forced to pay nearly $4000 to the firm that brought them over to keep their jobs in the US.  If they refused, they were sent back to Thailand with unpaid debts.

One of the men charged, Mordechai Orian, has given tens of thousands of dollars over the past decade to the Republican Party according to the Raw Story.  Orian is the CEO of LA-based Global Horizons Manpower, the company at the center of the allegations.

Appeals court overturns conviction of man who left water on migration routes
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a federal magistrate's decision against a No More Deaths volunteer charged with littering.  Dan Millis placed sealed gallon jugs of water intended for migrants in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in February 2008.  From Arizona, FSRN’s Amanda Shauger reports.

Millis and other volunteers had routinely placed water along heavily traversed border-crossing trails in an effort to reduce migrant deaths.  Federal officials maintained that the water constituted garbage in a sensitive wildlife corridor.

In the past year, the remains of at least 186 suspected immigrants have been recovered along the Arizona Border.  In July alone, 59 human remains were found - the highest monthly total since July of 2005.

Human rights workers are celebrating the decision as a victory, but are still dismayed by the death total.  The Circuit Court decision focuses on the narrow issue of the legal definition of the word “garbage.”  But it does not preclude federal officials for charging humanitarian volunteers with abandonment of property or failure to obtain a special use permit.  Amanda Shauger, FSRN, Tucson.

Unemployment up ahead of holiday weekend
On the eve of Labor Day Weekend, more sobering news from the Labor Department. The US unemployment rate ticked up one tenth of a point in August to 9.6%, but the private sector gained 67,000 jobs.  Speaking this morning at the White House, President Obama used the opportunity to push his small business jobs bill, expressing frustration with Republicans for blocking the legislation.

“The economy is moving in a positive direction, jobs are being created, they’re just not being created as fast as they need to given the big hole we experienced.  And we're going to have to continue to work with both Republicans and Democrats to come up with ideas that can further accelerate that job growth.  I’m confident that we can do that.”

The so-called real unemployment rate, which gives a broader picture of joblessness in the US, inched up to 16.7%.

Hamas vows to disrupt peace talks
Gaza-based political factions, including the ruling Hamas, have stated their opposition to yesterday’s Palestinian-Israeli peace talks in Washington.  Today, 13 factions formed a unified front against the talks, and threatened further violence.  FSRN's Rami Almeghari reports.

Hamas says President Mamhmoud Abbas does not represent the entire Palestinian people and predicts that negotiations with Israel will fail.  The Islamist party vows it will continue on the path of armed resistance.

Hamas was elected democratically in 2006.  Since then, the international community, including the US, has demanded that Hamas recognize Israel, accept past-signed agreements and renounce violence.  Mokhaimar Abu Se'da is a professor of political science in Gaza.

"Unless Hamas accept these conditions, I don’t think that the US will invite Hamas or will allow Hamas to participate in the peace process or any future negotiations."

Hamas has claimed responsibility for two separate attacks on Israelis in the past week.  But despite the violence some analysts still say Hamas should be invited to participate.  Phyllis Bennis of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies spoke to FSRN yesterday.  She said there were high hopes when US Envoy George Mitchell entered the picture, because he seemed to understand the importance of inclusion.

“Just because you don’t agree, or just because you’re massively critical of a set of things that one or another party has done, you can’t leave them out.  Because if you do, it’s not going to work.  If you get everyone else to agree to a settlement on some set of terms, but that group hasn’t been part of it, they don’t have any ownership, they don’t have any accountability to it, it’s simply not going to work.”

The direct peace talks between Netanyahu and Abbas will continue in two weeks in the Middle East.  Rami Almeghari.  FSRN, Gaza.

Number of confirmed rapes in DRC attack on rise
An NGO in the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed more than 240 instances of rape in just a few days in a small village in the eastern part of the country.  The number of confirmed rapes continues to rise as details of the incidents emerge.  The attacks, which happened at the beginning of August, are being pinned on Hutu rebels connected to Rwanda.