Delay Nepal travel, State Department urges

A State Department warning issued May 1 asks U.S. citizens to defer non-essential travel to Nepal as the country continues to try to recover from the magnitude 7.8 quake on April 25.

The warning cautions visitors about aftershocks and damage to infrastructure and notes that communications systems are “intermittent.” The warning also refers visitors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website at www.lat.ms/1OUrXFm, which recommends delaying travel plans to Nepal. Many climbing companies have canceled Mt. Everest treks for the rest of the year, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Warning on Mexico

The updated state-by-state listing in the State Department’s April 13 reissued travel warning on Mexico notes that from January to October 2014, “Tijuana and Rosarito experienced increasing homicide rates compared to the same period in the previous year. While most of these homicides appeared to be targeted criminal organization assassinations, turf battles between criminal groups have resulted in violent crime in areas frequented by U.S. citizens.”

In Baja California Sur, the warnings say, caution should be exercised in La Paz: “In 2013 Baja California Sur registered its highest homicide rate since 1997. Many of these homicides occurred in La Paz, where there has been an increase in organized crime-related violence.”

Uber appeals ruling

An Uber driver’s car was confiscated in Brussels after a court said the ride-sharing company flouts regulations.

The service is banned in the Belgian capital. The concern over Uber has rippled across the Continent since the company started showing up in various cities in the last two years.

Uber is appealing the Belgian court’s ruling.

Helping migrants

Shelters in Sicily and on mainland Italy are working to accommodate nearly 7,000 migrants recently rescued at sea.

Tranquil waters and mild temperatures created a surge in efforts to reach Italy, where asylum seekers are supposed to remain until their applications can be processed. The Associated Press reported last week that the process could take months.

Some politicians in the northern part of Italy have said they will not open their doors to the migrants, insisting that the money spent on the migrants should be spent on Italians.

In April, about 800 migrants drowned when their boat foundered off Libya.

Bodies discovered

Twenty-six bodies were found in a jungle camp in southern Thailand, further evidence, detractors say, that Thailand has serious issues with international human trafficking.

Three local government officials are among the suspects in the deaths.

The U.S. last year ranked Thailand in its lowest category of how well a country deals with human trafficking issues.

One survivor from that camp said smugglers had escaped with about 100 Rohingya Muslims, a group that has been persecuted in Myanmar, which is predominantly Buddhist, and whose members often seek a better life but end up enslaved. Thai officials reportedly are searching its mountainous jungles for more such camps.

Sources: U.S. State Department, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Associated Press, Los Angeles Times