Rwanda wants Finland to extradite genocide suspect
A Finnish newspaper reports that Rwanda plans to ask Finland to extradite a man living in Finland who is suspected of involvement in the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
“We want those who were guilty of brutal crimes to answer for them before the eyes of the Rwandans as well”, said Jean Bosco Mutanga in an interview with the late-edition tabloid Ilta-Sanomat.
Italy fears violent newcomers
ROME (Reuters) – Who invented the mafia? Italy’s left-leaning government asked on Wednesday, reminding the opposition that not only foreigners commit crimes and seeking to quell growing pressure to get tough on immigration.
With a bus hijacked by three Albanians on Tuesday, a woman killed on the Rome metro by a Romanian woman using an umbrella, and headlines like “foreigners kidnap and rape housewife”, the focus has become very much the criminals’ nationality.
But the conservative opposition said on Wednesday it was time to get tough on immigration.
Migrants land on Canary Islands
Hundreds of African migrants landed on Spain’s Canary Islands on Monday, bringing to at least 800 the number who have landed there since Thursday.
The Spanish Interior Ministry says the immigrants, mostly young men from Gambia, Guinea and Senegal, arrived in five boats.
Last year, more than 30,000 illegal immigrants landed on the islands.
BNP Support at 14% of National Vote: Labour Party Deputy Leader Candidate Admits BNP Growth
The British National Party has experienced a dramatic increase in support, and nationally polled about 14% of the vote in last week’s elections, according to Labour Party MP Jon Cruddas, a deputy leadership candidate for that party.
Speaking at a rally in Trafalgar Square, Cruddas said that “the BNP achieved very significant levels of support in some parts of the country, polling in excess of 27% of the votes cast in the wards they contested in Stoke-on-Trent and close to a quarter of the votes in Rotherham, Burnley, Sandwell and Thurrock. An extra 2,500 votes in North Wales would have seen the BNP gain a seat in the Welsh Assembly.”
The BNP polled an average 14% to 15% of the result nationally after fielding 743 candidates in district and borough council wards and over 130 candidates in Welsh, Scottish and parish council elections.
The Labour Party MP said the results “are especially worrying given evidence that the BNP did not actively campaign in many areas.”
“The BNP stood more candidates in last week’s elections than they had members just a few years ago and despite the fact they actively campaigned in only a handful of wards, they have polled consistently around 15% of the vote.
“We have to accept that something palpable is happening here. The BNP is tapping into people’s latent fears and disillusionment with the mainstream parties. The fact that the BNP achieved these levels of support despite the fact that the vast majority were paper candidates who did not put out a single leaflet or knock on a single door is particularly worrying.”
“There must be no complacency. The BNP are on course to win seats on the Greater London Assembly and several Members of the European Parliament. If they achieve this then they have broken into the mainstream,” he said.
Gardai learn basic Polish in their bid to serve immigrants
“THE country’s growing Polish community will soon be able to speak to local gardai in their native tongue.
Members of the force around the country have undertaken “basic Polish” language classes, according to the Garda Press Office.
There are over 130,000 Polish people now living here and the efforts of the gardai will help to improve communication, particularly with Polish people who have little English. In one case, almost a dozen Donegal gardai are in the middle of a basic Polish language course at Letterkenny Vocational School.
Letterkenny Sergeant Christy Galligan, who is one of the students, said the course would last 10 weeks and participating gardai would then have the option of progressing to a higher standard of the language. “The course is very good. We are being taught by a Polish guy and he is learning some English from us. “There are more than 3,000 Polish nationals living in the county and the course will help us have a better understanding of each other. It is useful for greetings, asking for names and addresses and for giving directions. We also learn about their country and their customs.”
Spain: By 2015 1 in 3 will be foreigner
One commentator recently forecast that by 2015, one in every three Spaniards will be a foreigner.
This startling prediction gives an idea of the number of people moving to Spain.
It also helps to explain, perhaps, why this is such a political hot potato.
There are currently 3.69 million foreigners living in the country – or about 8.4 percent of the estimated 44 million population.
The National Statistics Institute said last month 650,000 had registered with the authorities since January 2004.
By contrast, in 1999, only 750,000 foreigners were registered with the authorities resided in Spain.
Police smash Immigrant gang importing new drug to Europe
Police arrested nine people and broke up a group involved in smuggling a form of crystal methamphetamine known as “shabu” that was until now practically unknown in Europe.
Those in custody, mostly of Philippine origin, are accused of distributing the drug to members of the Philippine community that live in Barcelona.
Shabu is a type of crystal meth usually smoked in pipes similar to those used for crack.
The narcotic affects the central nervous system and causes serious health problems, since in the short term it can cause insomnia, anorexia, irritability, aggressiveness and paranoia.
80% of major drug traffickers are Hispanic
[For those of you that are not aware of the Georgraphy of America you can see that the state is miles away from the Mexican border, and so it is logical to assume that the immigrants are not just happy to take over California, Texas etc as they will take over the whole country-ed]
Police officers from Conover, Hickory and Newton seized more than $200,000 worth of marijuana and cocaine in a 24 hour period. It’s the largest drug bust in recent memory.
But for some officers the drugs are only part of the problem. They also worry about the people transporting them.
Police said they seized 80 pounds of marijuana from the homes of two illegal immigrants.
“We figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 percent of our major drug traffickers are Hispanic,” said an undercover officer.
But it’s not a localized problem.
Last month, Iredell County Sheriff’s Deputies seized a large amount of methamphetamine also from illegal immigrants.
“It’s steadily increasing; that’s my experience,” the officer said.
What’s worse, officers said, is that many of these illegal immigrants are receiving government aid while they are trafficking drugs.
“When we enter these homes, we do find evidence that they are receiving government assistance to help deal with their children and wives,” said the undercover officer.
White Flight In Denver As ‘Immigrants Flocking’ In
One came to learn English, the other to earn better pay. Both have made Colorado their home.
Sara Long, who was born in Quito, Ecuador, and Araceli Horan, of Durango, Mexico, illustrate a significant trend in a U.S. Census Bureau report released today.
According to the agency, counties in the Denver metropolitan region gained the largest number of immigrants from 2000 to 2006, helping offset sizable departures from those same counties.Cause and effect? Larry Kallenberger, executive director of Colorado Counties Inc., doesn’t think so.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to jump to the conclusion that ‘white flight’ is happening where large numbers of immigrants are moving to,” Kallenberger said.
Bank of America’s New Credit Card Targets Illegal Immigrants
Bank of America Corp. has begun offering credit cards to customers without Social Security numbers, typically illegal immigrants, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
In recent years, banks across the country have been offering checking accounts and even mortgages to the nation’s fast-growing ranks of undocumented immigrants, most of whom are Hispanic, the paper said, adding these immigrants generally have not been able to get major credit cards.
The new Bank of America card is open to people who lack both a Social Security number and a credit history, as long as they have held a checking account with the bank for three months without an overdraft, the Journal said.
Bank of America tested the program last year at five branches in Los Angeles, and last week expanded it to 51 branches in Los Angeles County, home to the largest concentration of illegal immigrants in the U.S., the Journal said.