What, the suffering because of the earthquakes, landslides, and floods not "news" anymore?
"Dozens missing in capsizing off Indonesia" by Associated Press | November 2, 2009
SYDNEY - A search-and-rescue mission was underway today for about two dozen people missing after their boat capsized in open seas off Indonesia.
About 40 people were believed to be aboard the boat when it capsized near the Cocos Islands, sparsely populated atolls about 1,500 miles northwest of Australia and some 800 miles south of Indonesia. A merchant ship that responded to a distress call managed to pluck 17 survivors from the Indian Ocean late last night and was searching for others, said Brendan O’Connor, Australia’s home affairs minister....
Aspects of the emergency - such as an unseaworthy boat carrying so many people in waters sometimes used by human traffickers - signaled that those on board were asylum seekers. Some 35 boats carrying about 1,770 asylum seekers have arrived in Australian waters this year, mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, and Sri Lanka. Many of them pay thousands of dollars to smugglers who put them to sea in leaky boats from Indonesia and sail south.
Yeah, those rings are rampant around the planet, but only occasionally are they brought up in an article -- and the root causes of such (globalization) even less.
Most end up caught by customs authorities and detained on Christmas Island, which is administered by Australia. An Australian military plane was on its way to the area.
--more--"
