Mexico group brings help, discouragement to migrants to US

NOGALES, Mexico—A letter written by a migrant before he died in the desert is one tool used by a Mexican group which tries to persuade its compatriots to think twice about crossing the border into Arizona.

"My name is Arturo Gomez. The people trafficker tricked us. He said he knew a lot but it wasn't true. There were 14 of us, we can't all endure this. Goodbye," read the crumpled letter found eight years ago near 14 bodies in the scorching desert between Arizona, in the United States, and the Mexican state of Sonora.

The Beta Group also informs migrants of their rights and rescues wounded and lost people on the vast 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) US-Mexico border. Read more

For President Obama, earthquake charity begins at home

When will President Obama show some real courage on Haiti? When will he end the glaring double-standard in our government's treatment of that devastated nation?

The President should be commended for quickly dispatching a rescue operation for hundreds of thousands of Haitian victims of this week's earthquake and for pledging $100 million in relief aid.

But Obama has balked at issuing a simple order that could provide thousands of Haitian immigrants in this country the chance to help rebuild their homeland.

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300 migrants missing off Andamans

About 300 illegal migrants are feared to have drowned in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of India's Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The migrants went missing after they jumped from a drifting boat and tried to swim ashore. More than 100 people have been rescued so far.

A survivor told police that more than 400 people had been on the boat, trying to reach Malaysia.

The migrants are thought to be from Bangladesh and Burma.

"One body has been recovered so far and search operations are still going on in nearby islands for survivors," Ranjith Narayan, Director General of Police in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, told the BBC. Read more