HOUSTON: A Jamaican truck driver convicted for the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants in a truck he was driving in south Texas faced the possible death penalty. Tyrone Williams, 35, was convicted by a US jury on December 4 on charges of harbouring and transporting illegal immigrants. The charges allow for the death penalty or life in prison in cases where an illegal immigrant dies during a smuggling operation.
On May 13, 2003, Williams was driving a truck for more than three hours between the Mexico border and the Texas city of Victoria with 85 immigrants in his trailer amid high temperatures outside. The trip left 19 of the immigrants dead, including a five year old boy, of asphyxiation and dehydration. Washington defended his client as a father swept into a smuggling operation run by well-organised and unsavoury smugglers.
BUENOS AIRES: Argentina reaffirmed its claim of sovereignty over Britain's Falkland Islands and urged London to agree to discuss the issue, which led to a brief war in 1982. The foreign ministry, in a statement issued on the eve of the 174th anniversary of Britain's control of the Atlantic islands, reiterated that gaining authority over the islands was a "permanent and inalienable objective". The ministry said it was "incomprehensible" Britain refused to discuss Argentina's claim over the Falklands since the United Nations and Organisation of American States have urged both countries to "renew bilateral negotiations".
The Atlantic islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas, have been a British territory since 1833. MEXICO CITY: Mexico plans to deploy some 3,300 soldiers and police to the northwest to combat drug trafficking and illegal migration on the border with the United States. Interior Minister Francisco Ramirez said "Operation Tijuana" was designed to end the impunity of criminals "who put Mexican families at risk" in an area where crime has increased "exponentially".
The border city of Tijuana, in the northwestern state of Baja California, and its surroundings serve as a main transit point for Colombian cocaine and Mexican and Central American illegal migrants headed for the US. US government officials have often criticised Mexico, accusing the government of failing to exert control over the traffic in drugs and migrants. "Operation Tijuana" comes a month after some 7,000 soldiers and federal police were sent to the eastern state of Michoacan, the scene of lethal violence between rival drug cartels.
SAO PAULO: At least one police agent died and five more were wounded in Brazil, following three successive explosions that destroyed a Sao Paulo Militarised Police powder magazine. The police are investigating the cause of the explosions, which could be heard within one kilometre of the magazine. Commander Colonel Joviano Lima ruled out a criminal attack, and said the blasts were the result of an accident.
The man who died was a 36-year-old sergeant who had been inside the powder magazine to examine explosives that had been confiscated by police over the past few weeks, Lima said. Four police agents and one civilian were wounded. Police authorities said the blasts totally destroyed the powder magazine of the Third Battalion and damaged 16 police vehicles that were parked nearby.
CALIFORNIA: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is planning to celebrate his re-election with a two-day Hollywood-style party that will cost over US$1 million, drawing criticism from advocates for consumer and taxpayer rights. The centrepiece of the extravaganza will be the former action movie star's swearing-in Friday in front of about 3,000 guests at Sacramento's historic Memorial Auditorium, where guitarist and singer Jose Feliciano will perform the national anthem. The official event will be preceded by a swanky private dinner for big political donors the night before.
It will be followed by a spate of luncheons and a gala ball featuring singers Donna Summer and Paul Anka entertaining guests who will pay at least US$500 each to attend. NEW YORK: Former New York mayor and 2008 presidential hopeful Rudolph Giuliani left detailed plans of his proposed bid for the White House in a hotel room, according to the New York Daily News. The 140 pages of printed and handwritten text reveal how the Republican frontrunner intends to mount his campaign, complete with detailed plans to build a US$100 million war chest this year, the tabloid reported.
The Daily News said it was handed the dossier, complete with details of fund-raising, budgets and schedules, by a supporter of one of Giuliani's rivals. It said the file was left in a hotel room in an undisclosed location in the run-up to November's congressional elections. CAIRO: Egyptian police arrested 20 members of the Muslim Brotherhood for membership of a banned organisation, a security source said, in the latest crackdown on the leading opposition group.
The activists were detained in dawn raids on their homes in three provinces in the Nile Delta for "membership of the banned Brotherhood and possession of books and publications containing its ideology hostile to the regime", the source said. The authorities have cracked down heavily on the Brotherhood since student followers staged a military-style show of force on a Cairo university campus last month. The group is officially outlawed in Egypt but enjoys broad support.
NEW YORK: An independent commission recommended that the US state of New Jersey abolish the death penalty, judging the punishment indecent and too susceptible to irreversible mistakes. "There is increasing evidence that the death penalty is inconsistent with evolving standards of decency," the 13-member commission of police officers, judges, attorneys and religious leaders said in its report. "The commission recommends that the death penalty in New Jersey be abolished and replaced with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, to be served in a maximum security facility," it added.
It further said there was no evidence that the death penalty served a legitimate penal purpose and said the argument for executions was not sufficiently compelling.
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