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Monday, February 22, 2010

Myanmar and Thailand agree on registering migrant workers

Yangon - Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand have been given until the end of the month to register with authorities or face possible deportation, the English-language Myanmar Times reported Sunday. Myanmar and Thai officials agreed on the Thai National Verification process at a meeting in Bagan, Myanmar last week, the Yangon-based weekly newspaper said.

Under the program, Myanmar workers must return to Myanmar to get temporary passports and Thai work permits. They must express their intention to register by February 28, Thai government officials said.

Once registered, they would be granted the same legal status as Thai workers under Thai law, the Myanmar Times reported. With the temporary passport migrants would then be eligible for a Thai visa, work permit and health insurance.

According to the newspaper, the director of Thailand's Employment Department, Jirisak Sukhonchaat, said the workers who fail to express their intention to register prior to the deadline would face deportation.

He said that more than 200,000 of the estimated 1 million Myanmar migrants working in Thailand had already expressed their intention to register. Nearly 27,000 had completed the process, according to the Myanmar Times.

Myanmar's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, U Maung Myint, told The Myanmar Times that the government planned to complete issuing temporary passports for about 1.2 million illegal Myanmar workers in Thailand by February 2012.

Last week the United Nations raised concerns over the possibility of mass deportations of migrants in Thailand back to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao People's Democratic Republic, which are also included in the process.

"A potentially large number of documented and undocumented migrant workers from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Lao People's Democratic Republic face the threat of deportation from Thailand after February 28, 2010," Jorge Bustamante, the UN human rights expert for migrants, said in Geneva.

In January, the Thai cabinet passed a resolution allowing for a two-year extension of work permits for some 1.3 million migrants provided that they were willing to submit biographical information to their home governments prior to February 28, 2010.

Human rights groups have noted that the lack of national identity documentation in countries such as Myanmar will mean many migrants working in Thailand will fail to meet the deadline.

They have also raised concerns that migrants who are fleeing their homelands for political reasons would be unwilling to seek verification documentation from their governments.

Andy Hall, the director of Thailand-based Human Rights and Development Foundation's Migrant Justice Program, told The Myanmar Times that migrant workers would continue to work in Thailand illegally after the deadline passed.

He said the Thai economy needs them and they will just come back, but they will be driven underground and subjected to even worse exploitation.

Workers rights groups have called for the deadline to be extended to avoid further exploitation of Myanmar workers in Thailand.

But Thailand's Labor Minister Paitoon Kaewthong told the Myanmar Times the registration process was an attempt to reduce, rather than exacerbate, exploitation of migrant workers.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310429,myanmar-and-thailand-agree-on-registering-migrant-workers.html.

Victims' families blame Moroccan authorities for minaret collapse

Rabat, Morocco (Earth Times) - Victims' families have criticized the Moroccan authorities over the collapse of a minaret which killed 41 people and injured at least 75 in the north of the country, press reports said Sunday. The 400-year-old minaret collapsed over a mosque where 300 people were holding Friday prayers in the northern city of Meknes.

Nearly 20 of the injured victims remained in hospital on Sunday, some of them in a critical condition.

Victims' family members attending funerals accused the authorities of having ignored warnings about the poor state of the minaret.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs is responsible for maintaining mosques in Morocco. King Mohammed VI ordered an investigation into the safety of older mosques in the north African country.

Authorities blamed the collapse on heavy rainfall and storms which had gone on for several days.

The monarch has pledged to pay personally for the funerals of the victims. The king also promised the quick reconstruction of the mosque, one of the oldest in Meknes.

Meknes has about half a million residents and along with Fes, Marakesh and Rabat is one of Morocco's four so-called royal cities. In the past it was the seat of one of the country's ruling dynasties. Meknes' medina or historical center is listed as a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO.

Israel claims two West Bank sites for heritage list - Summary

Jerusalem - Israel on Sunday announced the addition of two sites in the occupied West Bank to its national heritage list, sparking outrage amongst left-wing parties. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a special cabinet meeting in the northern town of Tel Hai that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem would be included on the list of around 150 sites that the government plans to promote.

Israel's existence, he said, depended not only on its defence force or its economic resilience, but also on its "ability to justify our connection to the land," Netanyahu said.

Israeli ministers endorsed the plan unanimously. Netanyahu was seen to bow to pressure from right-wing politicians and the country's settlers' lobby to include the two sites in the Palestinian- administered West Bank on the list at the last minute.

Leftist Israeli party Meretz slammed the decision by saying that "this is another attempt to blur the borders between the State of Israel and the occupied territories," chairman Chaim Oron said Sunday.

"This decision puts Netanyahu's Bar-Ilan declaration of two states for two peoples in an absurd light," Oron added while right-wing parties welcomed the announcement.

"Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs form the base for all the other sites," Uri Orbach member of the right-wing religious party Habayit Hayehudi said.

"It's a pity that the Cave of the Patriarchs and Rachel's Tomb need to lobby in order to get onto the list of heritage sites that require government support," Orbach added.

The leader of the Yesha Council representing Jewish settlers in the West Bank, Danny Dayan, said the decision "is a significant and historic achievement for the Jewish nation."

Rachel's Tomb is regarded as the Biblical grave of the wife of Jacob, who is buried at the Cave of the Patriarchs, along with Abraham, known to Muslims as Ibrahim, and regarded as a patriarch by Muslims, Jews and Christians.

According to media reports, the cost of preserving the 150 heritage sites would be in the region of 400 million shekels (106 million dollars).

Palestinians want to include the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as well as East Jerusalem in their future state. The presence of Israeli settlers in the West Bank is considered one of the primary obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/310450,israel-claims-two-west-bank-sites-for-heritage-list--summary.html.

Endeavor makes nighttime touchdown

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The space shuttle Endeavor made a rare nighttime return to Earth Sunday, landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:20 p.m. EST, NASA said.

The shuttle completed a two-week mission during which its crew delivered the final U.S. module and a "room with a view" to the International Space Station, the U.S. space agency said.

Shuttle Commander George Zamka, pilot Terry Virts and Mission Specialists Kathryn Hire, Stephen Robinson, Nicholas Patrick and Robert Behnken delivered more than 36,000 pounds of hardware to the space station, including the Tranquility Node 3 and a cupola that provides a 360-degree view through seven windows, NASA said.

Behnken and Patrick conducted three spacewalks during the mission.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/02/21/Endeavour-makes-nighttime-touchdown/UPI-56351266814365/.

Iran Jamaran destroyer completes first mission

Two days after its launch, Iran's domestically-manufactured Jamaran destroyer has completed its first mission in the waters of the Persian Gulf.

The indigenously-designed and developed guided missile destroyer fired against imaginary air and land targets on Sunday.

Earlier in the day, Jamaran began patrolling southern Persian Gulf waters before army commandos successfully landed on its deck.

Iran launched on Friday the 1,420 ton destroyer, equipped with a variety of anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles.

The Navy plans to add a second domestically manufactured destroyer to its fleet some time within the next two years.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119172§ionid=351020101.