Illinois mayor prepares residents to evacuate due to flood threat

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 29, 2011 8:20 p.m. EDT

A boy in Cairo, Illinois, looks over a levee wall holding back floodwaters from the Ohio River.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: 100 residents evacuated in Missouri floodway area
• An Illinois mayor asks some residents to be ready to evacuate in town of Cairo
• A federal judge ruled the Army Corps of Engineers may burst a Mississippi River levee
• The plan would flood more than 130,000 evacuated acres in southeastern Missouri

(CNN) -- An Illinois mayor urged some residents on Friday to make plans to evacuate the town as the flood-engorged Mississippi River reached record levels.
Cairo Mayor Judson Childs asked "senior citizens, people with medical conditions or special needs along with families with children that live in single-story homes" to be ready leave the flood-threatened town, according to a written statement.
Earlier on Friday, a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may intentionally burst a Mississippi River levee in an effort to prevent the flooding of the town.
Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, ruled that a 1928 law permitted the breach of the levee to ease pressure on the Mississippi River.
The Corps' plan would flood more than 130,000 evacuated acres -- much of it farmland -- in southeastern Missouri, said Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster.

 

Koster argues the corps is trying to protect the town of Cairo, located downstream.
James Pogue, chief spokesman in the Corps' Memphis office, said the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway is a "safety valve" in the current crisis.
The floodway would help direct the flow of the excess waters.
"This allows us to do what nature will do anyway, (but) in a controlled system," he said.
Limbaugh said the Corps may implement the plan "only as absolutely essential to provide the authorized protection to all citizens."
He added that the Corps' plan does not suggest "arbitrary or capricious decision-making."
Birds Point is about 140 miles south of St. Louis. The floodway is about 35 miles from north to south and is four to 12 miles wide.
Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh ordered barges to be moved north on the river to prepare for the levee breach, Pogue said. "The decision was to move forward with the plan."
About 100 people were ordered from their homes in Birds Point-New Madrid due to utilities being cut off in the area, Pogue said.
The Corps, which has authority over flood control, will make a final decision before the barges and teams get to work at Birds Point, he said.

About 100 families live in the floodway, which has not seen such use since 1937.

2011: An immigration enforcement era dawns

View full sizeCagle Cartoons


By JOE GUZZARDI
CAGLE CARTOONS
When the 112th Congress convenes next month, the national debate over federal immigration policy will enter its third of three phases that began in 1965 with the Immigration and Nationality Act. Phase one, “More Immigration,” lasted from 1965 to 2000.
Phase two, “Restricting Immigration,” opens after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. From 2001 through 2010, those who favored less immigration and fewer entitlements for immigrants thwarted efforts made open borders lobbyists, the Hispanic Caucus and other liberal Democrats to increase immigration.
The third phase, “Enforcement,” will begin in 2011.
The period from 1965 to 2000 saw huge changes that made more immigration easier and introduced an unlimited number of family-based visas that created chain migration, a practice that’s boosted America’s population to unsustainable levels. Immigration doubled between 1965 and 1970, then doubled again from 1970 to 1990.
During those 35 years, the government ignored illegal immigration. By 1986, the illegal immigrant population had risen steadily to 3 million. By 1986, in a misguided effort to stabilize immigration, Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act that eventually granted legal status to 2.7 million aliens.
Instead of reducing illegal immigration, it actually stimulated more. During the 1990s, about 500,000 illegal aliens settled annually in the United States.
During the “More Immigration” period, the Congress created non-immigrant work visas like the H-1B. This allowed many visa holders to eventually change their status from non-immigrant to permanent resident.
Furthermore, some states made concessions to illegal immigrants by granting them driver’s licenses, in-state college tuition and recognizing the matricula consular card as valid identification. Perceiving that their path would be easier once they arrived in the United States, many more aliens were encouraged to come.
But then, after 9/11, resistance to immigration intensified. During the decade I call “Restricting Immigration,” Congress attempted several times to pass broad comprehensive immigration reform, a phrase that meant “amnesty”.
After repeated comprehensive immigration reform failures, Congress tried to pass individual amnesty bills, namely the DREAM Act and AgJOBS. This month, the Senate voted down the DREAM Act; AgJOBS never got to the floor.
On the state level, Arizona’s S.B. 1070 may have established a template for local government to have the authority, under certain circumstances, to check the immigration status of its residents.
Now, effective in January, the United States will begin its immigration “Enforcement” period. With a Republican majority in the House, Judiciary Committee Chairman-elect Lamar Smith announced that his primary goal is to focus on border security to reduce illegal immigration and thereby open up job opportunities for unemployed Americans. Internal enforcement, once a valuable pre-1965 method to punish employers and discourage illegal workers, may again become a useful tool.
Smith’s House colleague, Iowa’s representative Steve King who will head the Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, is also focused on jobs.
King hopes to pass a bill he introduced last year that would require the Internal Revenue Service to share information with the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration about workers’ immigration status.
According to King, if employers couldn’t claim tax deductions for illegal immigrant workers’ wages and benefits, aliens who earned $10 an hour would cost the employer the equivalent of $16 an hour. By extension, King expects his bill would result in aliens being fired and replaced by Americans.
Peter King (R-NY), who will assume the House Homeland Security chair, echoed the promises of his fellow Republican leaders: tighter enforcement, more border security and more deportations.
A new and better day in immigration politics has finally dawned.

Man opens fire on Americans in Kabul; 9 dead

By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

April 27, 2011 6:25 p.m. EDT

Man opens fire on Americans in Kabul

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: U.S. military official: A report says the shooting occurred in a meeting room
• NEW: Two additional NATO troops are killed in separate attacks
• The nine slain at the air force compound were Americans, the Pentagon says
• The Taliban claims responsibility for the shooting

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Eight U.S. service members and an American civilian contractor were killed Wednesday in a shooting at an Afghan air force compound in Kabul, officials said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said an Afghan military pilot opened fire on international troops, sparking a "gunfight." The Taliban, however, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it had been working with the shooter for some time -- an assertion that NATO denied.
Also denying the Taliban claim was the brother of the pilot.
"My brother had no connections with the Taliban, and I deny any claims of his connection by the Taliban," Dr. Mohammad Hosain Sahebi told a local Afghan TV station in a telephone interview.
He said his brother, Ahmad Gull, 48, was in the Afghan Air Force for several years and was injured many times in plane crashes. The Afghan military, however, listed the pilot as being 50 years old.
"My brother had mental sickness as the result of the plane crashes in '80s and also he had economic problems, too," Sahebi told local television.
One witness, Jon Mohammad, a military pilot at Kabul Airport, told CNN that he jumped from a second floor window to the ground during the incident. He saw foreigners laying on the ground inside the first floor, he said.
"He was religious person, but I'm not sure if he had mental illness," Mohammad said of Gull, the pilot.
The shooting started at the Afghan national air force compound at North Kabul International Airport after an argument between the Afghan pilot and an international colleague, officials said. The NATO-led force said the Afghan military pilot opened fire on international trainers and a "gunfight" ensued.
"A 50-year-old man opened fire at armed U.S. military soldiers inside the airport after an argument between them turned serious," said Col. Baha Dur, chief of public relations for the Afghan National Army at Kabul military airport.
NATO said the confrontation took place at 10:25 a.m. at the airport, where a quick-reaction force responded to a "small arms fire incident." The airport is home to NATO Air Training Command Afghanistan.
An initial report indicates the attack occurred in a meeting room at the Afghan Air Force headquarters, a location operated and secured by Afghans, a U.S. military official told CNN. The NATO-led force is investigating, the official said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killings "by an Afghan military pilot."
Zaher Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, said the killings upset Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and that "he shares the pain with the families of the victims."
Despite the account by international troops, a Taliban spokesman said a man named Azizullah was responsible.
"One suicide attacker ... managed to attack an Afghan military unit and has managed to kill many Afghan and international soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said.
The Taliban said the man killed nine foreigners and five Afghans before being killed by the Afghan army.
"We had worked hard on this plan for a long time," Mujahid told CNN. "He was cooperating with us since long time and he was providing us information about military air operations for a long time."
NATO disputed the Taliban claim.
"We do not know why it started but there is no indication that a suicide bomber was involved and there are no reports that someone managed to get into the base to do this," the NATO-led force said in a statement.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for previous conflicts between NATO service members and members of the Afghan military. CNN could not independently verify the group's claims.
The Taliban said the man was once a pilot in an Afghan regime in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
"Since the current Afghan air forces have no planes, he was just going to Kabul airport to show up and earn his salary for a long time," Mujahid told CNN.
The man "was holding the rank of colonel at the time and he had an AK-47 with him. After his bullets were finished, then he was shot to death by armed forces," Mujahid told CNN.
There was confusion about the death toll. The NATO-led force initially said six service members were killed. It raised that toll to nine but backed away temporarily before saying again that the shooting killed nine people -- eight international service members and a civilian contractor. The Pentagon confirmed that all were Americans.
Later Wednesday NATO announced that two additional service members were killed in attacks elsewhere in the country, bringing the day's total number of NATO casualties to at least 11.
Violence between Afghan forces and NATO troops is a matter of extreme concern for NATO officials, and it is growing in frequency.
There have been 36 NATO deaths in the past two years attributed to attacks by people perceived to be Afghan soldiers or police. Officials fear that the increasing frequency of the attacks could undermine trust between NATO troops and the Afghans they are working hard to prepare so they can eventually take over security in the country.
The Taliban's claim that the Afghan gunman was their recruit follows a now-familiar pattern of the insurgency stating that attacks are theirs, even though NATO later suggests the gunman was acting out of personal motivation.

Out of 16 incidents of Afghan forces shooting NATO personnel that NATO has investigated, eight have been determined to be motivated by combat stress on the part of the Afghan attacker. The other eight investigations are undetermined.

Syrian ambassador rejects call for independent investigation

United Nations (CNN) -- Syria's ambassador to the United Nations rejected Tuesday a call for an independent investigation into the killings of hundreds of demonstrators by government forces.
"Syria has a government, has a state," Bashar Jaafari told reporters at the world body. "We can undertake any investigation by our own selves, with full transparency. We have nothing to hide. We regret what is going on, but you should also acknowledge that this unrest and riots, in some of their aspects, have hidden agendas."
Jaafari called President Bashar al-Assad a reformer who has been working to effect change by issuing decrees that, among other things, lifted the decades-old emergency law and allowed peaceful demonstrations.
"If you demonstrate peacefully, you are protected by the government," he said. "If you resort to violence, then any government in the world -- in order to maintain peace and order -- would utilize its forces to stop violence and vandalism and aggression against buildings as well as against innocent civilians."

 

Syria's own National Investigation Commission has already undertaken an investigation into the violence against civilians and the military, and will issue its findings at a later date, he said. "So we are doing our homework; we don't need help from anybody."

He urged the Security Council to rely on official reports, not on media reports.
Jaafari's remarks came on the same day that the Syrian Human Rights Information Link reported that more than 400 people have died since March 18 in incidents linked to the government crackdown on protesters seeking reform.
While the vast majority are apparently civilians, the group's list describes a few of the dead as members of the army or police.
The United Nations has said it has information that 76 people were killed last week on Friday alone, apparently during peaceful marches, and that the death toll from that day could be much higher.
CNN cannot independently confirm death tolls and witness accounts of the bloody crackdown. The Syrian government has not granted CNN access to the country.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice called the violence wielded by the government of Syria "abhorrent and deplorable," adding, "The outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end, and now."
The Syrian government's repeal of its emergency law and allowance for peaceful demonstrations "were clearly not serious, given the continued violent repression against protesters," she said.
The United States is pursuing "a range of possible policy options," Rice said, including the imposition of additional sanctions. "The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the ability to choose their leaders freely must be heard," she said.
Rice accused al-Assad of "disingenuously blaming outsiders while, at the same time, seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by the Iranian regime."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who called for the investigation, briefed the Security Council on the situation Tuesday. "I condemn utterly the continuing violence against the peaceful demonstrators," Ban told reporters. "Most particularly, the use of tanks and live fire."
Ban said the Security Council would be briefed more fully on the matter on Wednesday, when it meets in private session.
He added that he had discussed the matter "at least" twice with al-Assad. "It goes without saying that Syrian authorities have an obligation to protect civilians and respect international human rights," Ban told reporters. "That includes the right to free expression and peaceful assembly."
Human Rights Watch's U.N. director, Philippe Bolopion, called on the Security Council to "condemn abuses by the Syrian government, support an international investigation and sanction those ordering the shooting and torture of protesters."
He called Syria's campaign for a seat on the Human Rights Council "a slap in the face to the victims of the current crackdown, and an embarrassment to those who have supported its candidacy."
In state-run media, al-Assad's regime has described the protesters as "armed criminal groups" and said its soldiers and police were working to stop them. The government has discussed the burials of "martyrs" killed by those groups.
Anti-government protests or marches occurred Tuesday in Banyas, al-Tal, Amuoda and Zabwani.
After witnesses told CNN Monday about thousands of troops and police entering the city of Daraa and firing indiscriminately, killing people in the streets, the Syrian government insisted that the citizens of Daraa had asked for the troops to stop "terrorist" groups.
At least 35 tanks were in or around the city, said two witnesses who did not want to divulge their names for security reasons in an interview carried out by satellite phone. Water, electricity, telephone and Internet service were not working, they said.
Sniper fire has sent a wave of fear through the community and led many to stay inside, leading to a shortage of footstuffs in households, they said.
They cited that same fear as the reason that a number of the bodies of sniper victims remained uncollected from the streets where they fell.
A doctor who told CNN that 21 people died Monday in the city said army forces had surrounded the hospital, where there was a shortage of medicine. Patients were being treated instead at undisclosed locations. He said he was using his car battery to charge his satellite phone.
The doctor said tanks fired Monday into residential areas. Army and security personnel were looting stores in a commercial district, he said.
On Tuesday, a witness in the western Syrian city of Jableh said security forces had set up checkpoints and were inspecting identification papers and arresting people. Businesses and schools in Jableh were closed Tuesday, the witness said.
The witness said the bodies of 13 people who died Sunday were discreetly taken to their resting places because people were afraid to walk in the town. Another human rights group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, has said at least 13 civilians were shot dead Sunday in Jableh by security forces.
In the Damascus suburb of Douma, one witness compared the city to a "prison." Witnesses said security forces were arresting people, including three hospital doctors.
A witness in Douma said Tuesday that security forces had set up sandbag barricades around and inside the city. Checkpoints around the city were being manned with heavy machine guns, while those inside the city are manned by lighter weapons, the witness said. He said shops were closed and parents were afraid to send their children to school.
A Douma resident who asked to be referred to as Rawwad said that, over the past four days, security personnel had been arresting people they recognized as members of the protest movement.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday "the situation in Syria is unacceptable." He added that -- as has been the case for the Ivory Coast and Libya -- "nothing will happen without a resolution from the Security Council."
British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned "any violence and killings perpetuated by Syrian security forces."
"This violent repression must stop," Hague said in a statement. "President Assad should order his authorities to show restraint and to respond to the legitimate demands of his people with immediate and genuine reform, not with brutal repression."
Fawaz Gerges, an analyst on the region with the London School of Economics, said Tuesday the response of the international community "is very important in terms of the legitimacy, in terms of the isolation of the Syrian regime. But the reality is events in Syria will determine what will happen and the end results. Syrians will determine whether the regime stays or goes.
"Obviously the regime has decided to crush the protesters, to silence the opposition," Gerges added. Al-Assad is "using now massive force in order to break the will of the protesters. But even if he wins the first round, the situation is far from over ... The reality is President Assad will emerge as a much weakened president after his particular confrontation because he has lost much legitimacy and authority inside Syria."
The Syrian protests -- part of a wave of uprisings in the Arab world -- began in Daraa last month following a crackdown by security forces on peaceful demonstrators protesting the arrests of youths who scribbled anti-government graffiti. Protesters have asked for freedom and regime reform, and public discontent with al-Assad's government has mounted.
Activists also want the easing of the ruling Baath Party's power and a law that would permit the establishment of independent political parties.
A new Treasury Department executive order targeting senior officials accused of human rights abuses would involve an asset freeze and travel ban, as well as prohibiting them from doing business in the United States.
"The Syrian people's call for freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and the ability to freely choose their leaders must be heard," Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, said in a statement Monday.
The U.S. State Department also issued a statement Monday urging U.S. citizens to defer any travel to Syria.

"U.S. citizens in Syria are advised to depart while commercial transportation is readily available," the statement said. The department also ordered all eligible family members of U.S. government employees as well as certain nonemergency personnel to leave Syria.

CNN investigation: Obama 'birther' claims have no merit

(CNN) -- Was Barack Obama really born in America?
A new CNN investigation reveals what most analysts have been saying since the so-called "birther" controversy erupted during the 2008 presidential campaign: Obama was born in the state of Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Period.
Obama passes CNN birther investigation
While the president has made light of the controversy, the question remains political red meat for some of his critics. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll showed that nearly 75% of Americans believe Obama was definitely or probably born in the United States. More than four in 10 Republicans, however, believe he probably or definitely was not born in America.
The U.S. Constitution says only "natural born" citizens can become president -- a vague clause that some members of the birther movement contend disqualifies Obama because, they insist, he was born outside the United States.
Skeptics contend, among other things, that Obama was born in his father's home country of Kenya. Potential GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump recently seized on the issue, saying he had doubts about Obama's background.

Gates: U.S. to use Predator drones in Libya

By Laurie Ure, CNN

April 21, 2011 7:16 p.m. EDT

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Predator drones offer a "modest contribution" to NATO efforts in Libya.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: "I think that today may in fact have been their first mission," Robert Gates says
• NEW: Vice Joint Chiefs chair says drones help distinguish "friend from foe"
• NEW: Gadhafi loyalists "nestle up in crowded areas," Gen. James Cartwright says
• NEW: Air defense, missile and radar sites, as well as troops, are authorized targets

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama has approved the use of armed Predator drones in Libya, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
Gates suggested that the unmanned Predator missions may have already begun. He said he believed that the first flights were launched Thursday but were called back due to poor weather.
"The president has said that where we have some unique capabilities, he is willing to use those," Gates said. "And I think that today may in fact have been their first mission."
Gates said the Predator drones offer a "modest contribution" to NATO efforts to support rebels fighting embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's forces there, though Gadhafi is not a specific target.

 

 

Unmanned aerial vehicles offer more precise targeting, because their low-flying capability allows for better visibility, "particularly on targets now that have started to dig themselves into defensive positions," Gates said.

He said the drones are needed for humanitarian reasons, and they have capabilities that larger aircraft such as A-10s and C-130s cannot provide.
Vice Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. James Cartwright said the added precision is necessary because forces loyal to Gadhafi "nestle up in crowded areas" to maximize civilian casualties.
"It's very difficult to identify friend from foe," Cartwright said, noting that the drones facilitate identification of individuals on the ground.
Remote Predator operators are now permitted to strike Gadhafi's defense missions, including air defense, missile and radar sites. Predator strikes are also authorized for civilian protection and can hit Gadhafi's troops, military installations and equipment in the field.

The U.S. employed the use of unmanned drones early in the NATO campaign, but they were intended for surveillance only and not authorized to fire.

Documenting the undocumented in L.A.

By Jim Roope, CNN Radio

April 21, 2011 3:00 p.m. EDT

Sister Vickey Haran's center for the poor serves L.A.'s illegal immigrant population but doesn't get government funding.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Census: Latinos living in U.S. increased by 43 percent, from 35 million to 50 million
• An outreach program in L.A. urged illegal immigrants to fill out census
• L.A. mayor said the increase in responses saved a congressional seat for California

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Elvira Sosa left Mexico for the United States more than 30 years ago, but last year was the first time she'd been counted as part of the U.S. Census.
Sosa was among thousands of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles who filled out a census form last year, and city officials said the response, especially among Latinos, might have saved the area money and congressional representation.
The increased count was purposeful: A Census Bureau outreach program urged undocumented workers to fill out the census and assured them that nothing on the form could be used against them.
The program included Spanish call centers that would field questions about the census, plus billboards, bus advertisements and fliers with information. Celebrities publicized the census, too.
The response: The 2010 census showed that the numbers of Latinos living in this country increased by 43%, from 35 million to more than 50 million, during the past 10 years.

Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, testified before a Senate subcommittee this month that Latino participation in the census was "unprecedented." But in some areas, poor communication, hostility toward Latinos and immigrants and a cultural fear of the government prevented a complete count, he said.
In Sosa's case, her daughter encouraged her to fill out the form.
"It's important to count me," Sosa said in broken English, "because I'm important. I live in this country."
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was thrilled by Los Angeles' mail participation rate. At more than 70%, he said, it was among the highest for large cities and close to the national mail participation rate of 74%.

More important, it might have secured money and political clout for the area. The Census Bureau uses population counts to apportion seats in the House of Representatives, and the federal government uses decennial census data to distribute more than $400 billion a year.
"The last time around, 10 years ago, we were the second-worst among big cities in the country in terms of the undercount," Villaraigosa said.
The 2000 undercount cost Los Angeles more than $200 million in federal funds. Villaraigosa believes the outreach to the Latino and immigrant communities and the homeless population account for Los Angeles' 2010 response success.
The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials said each person in the United States, legal or not, is worth about $1,400 in federal funds to a community per year.
Cities use these federal dollars to help pay for police and fire protection, along with vital infrastructure and other services.
It is illegal, however, to use federal dollars to aid illegal immigrants directly, and they cannot receive government assistance. Instead, religious and other organizations fill the void. At the Margaret Aylward Center for the Poor in the Hispanic-heavy L.A. suburb of Pico Rivera, the size of the Latino population was clear well before it was counted by the census.
Sister Vickey Haran said the center relies solely on donations; if she accepted government funding, she'd be required to ask those seeking help from the center to prove their residency status.
"It's a ministry to the poor," said Haran, who runs the center along with the Holy Faith Sisters. "We serve anyone who comes and asks for food. We do not ask for papers. We do not ask any proof."
Share your story through iReport's Cultural Census
The count is about more than money and resources, though.
Villaraigosa said California would have lost a congressional seat if this census count remained at or near the same as in 2000. That seat was saved, he said, because more people were counted.
"What this does is, at a minimum, it allows California and other states with large immigrant populations to get the representation they deserve," Villaraigosa said.
But knowing that illegal immigrants might help to maintain the political power for a city or district raises the ire of some anti-immigration groups.

"You have an imbalance," said Glenn Spencer, founder of American Patrol. "You might have a congressional district in Los Angeles of 600,000 people but only 100,000 citizens. So those citizens have five times the voting power of someone in Iowa. You'll have politicians who say 'I want these people counted. I get more power, but I can manipulate the situation because they can't vote.' "

Migrant train delay causes European diplomatic rift

April 18, 2011 3:54 p.m. EDT

Tunisian migrants at Vintimiglia on Monday waiting to cross the border into France. Trains from Italy were blocked Sunday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• France refused entry to a train carrying North African migrants from Italy
• Tunisians had been issued permits by Italy, allowing them to enter France
• Italian foreign minister estimates 300,000 Libyans could leave country
• Schengen agreement allows people to travel freely between 25 European

(CNN) -- The Italian and French governments were both trying to defuse an escalating diplomatic row Monday after France refused entry to a train carrying North African migrants from Italy.
Italy complained to France on Sunday after authorities blocked a train with Tunisian migrants from the border city of Ventimiglia entering Menton on the Cote d'Azur. The Tunisians had been issued resident permits by Italy, allowing them to travel freely in many European countries.
French Interior Minister Claude Gueant said Monday in Bucharest that France did not want any continuing tensions with Rome regarding the train incident.
Gueant said Rome's decision to give temporary resident permits to more than 25,000 Tunisian migrants arriving in Italy since January had been "heavily contested by many countries in the European Union."

 

 

Some 300 French and Italian protestors from a group named "Train for dignity," were also aboard

the train in a show of support for the 60 Tunisians who were hoping to enter France. Gueant said that although France accepted this decision, there were conditions - namely that the migrants had to prove they could support themselves financially.
Since the mass political unrest started in North Africa and other Arab states in January, a large number people have fled Tunisia and Libya to Europe, where governments have been trying to prevent a refugee crisis.
Italy's coast guard said at least 1,623 migrants landed on the island of Lampedusa over a 24-hour period in mid-March alone.
Italy's foreign minister has estimated that as many as 300,000 Libyans could try to leave and could potentially end up in his country.
Medecins Sans Frontieres said Saturday that it had evacuated nearly 100 people by boat from Misrata in Libya and on Monday the UK Department for International Development (DFID) said that it would help 5,000 migrants trapped by fighting in western Libya.
The DFID said £1.5 million ($2.43 million) would be made available to charter ships to get people out of the rebel-held town of Misrata and transfer them to Benghazi.
Andrew Mitchell, the UK International Development Secretary, said his department would help fund their evacuation in ships chartered by the International Organization for Migration, which says the majority of unauthorized immigrants arriving in Lampedusa are Tunisian.
Italy for its part has issued temporary resident permits to thousands of Tunisian migrants and the country on Sunday said it was angered after trains were stopped at the border for around six hours until traffic resumed later that evening.
However, at a briefing with journalists Monday, a spokesman for the Italian Foreign Minister Maurizio Massari, tried to play down the issue: "The situation was clarified and the incident resolved yesterday (Sunday). On the immigration issue, there is a continuous dialogue taking place between the Interior Ministers of the two countries to deal with the problem. We are working together. There is no tension. We are working together to find steps to take to solve the immigration problem.'
According to a spokesman for the French Interior Ministry the border was never closed but circulation was "temporarily halted in order to avoid any risk of an accident," because of an unauthorized protest in support of the Tunisian migrants.
Claude Gueant insisted that France had respected the Schengen agreements to the letter and a first analysis by the European commission on Monday showed that France's decision to stop the trains was in line with the Schengen rules.

The Schengen agreement allows people to travel between 25 European countries without the need of a passport.

Some 300 French and Italian protestors from a group named "Train for dignity," were also aboard

Gay Caveman Found By Archeologist

So I was surfing around and my brother showed me this article on a potentially gay caveman. This guy was buried like a woman, nearby women, and didn't have any weapons. What makes it even more interesting is that this is one of a few cases. Cavemen back in the day took burials extremely seriously. So this being some kind of mistake is very unlikely. If you'd like to read the full article here's the link


 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/gay-caveman-found-prague_n_846246.html?ncid=dynaldushuff00000001

Abortion, immigration and 'birthers': Do politicians, or voters, have answers?

Planned Parenthood supporters rally last week on Capitol Hill.

April 15th, 2011

12:40 PM ET

 

With the first 2012 presidential primaries and caucuses less than nine months away, three issues are stoking political fires this week: immigration, abortion and presidential birthplaces.

Immigration and abortion have long been front and center in political debate, but the "birther" issue emerged in the 2008 election, as opponents of President Barack Obama questioned whether he was born in Hawaii. The Constitution stipulates that a president must be a U.S. citizen by birth.
Stoking that debate, Arizona's Legislature on Thursday night passed a bill requiring presidential candidates to prove they meet the birth requirement before their names can be placed on the state's ballot. Thursday's vote was 40-16 in the state House. The bill goes to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer for her signature.
The "birther" allegations against Obama have been repeatedly discredited in investigations by CNN and other organizations.
The bill's author, GOP state Rep. Carl Seel, says it's not about Obama. "It's about future elections and maintaining the integrity of the Constitution," he says.

 

Across the country in Georgia this week, state lawmakers did what their brethren in Arizona did earlier – passed a tough immigration law.

The bill passed by the Republican-dominated Georgia House and Senate authorizes law enforcement to question suspects in certain criminal investigations about their immigration status. It also authorizes long prison terms for those who use fake documents to get a job and punishes people who transport illegal immigrants during the commission of a crime.
Earlier this week, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling that blocked certain provisions of the Arizona immigration law.
In a statement, Brewer said the appeals court action "does harm to the safety and well-being of Arizonans who suffer the negative effects of illegal immigration."
It's a little more than a year to the first GOP presidential debate of 2012, and CNN.com contributor Ruben Navarette Jr. says Republican presidential candidates will need to figure out a way to address the immigration issue without alienating Hispanics, who make up 16% of the population.
Along with being at the center of the immigration debate, Arizona is also one of six states that have made changes to abortion laws in 2011, according to the Guttmacher Institute. An unprecedented number of bills aimed at restricting abortions are going before state legislatures across the country this year.
"It's pretty much an all-out, anti-abortion free-for-all out there," said Elizabeth Nash, public policy associate at the Guttmacher Institute.
A spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice America says that 374 anti-abortion bills have been introduced in state legislatures this year, 200 more than last year.
The rise in anti-abortion measures shows the Christian Right is back, writes CNN.com religion editor Dan Gilgoff.
"At a moment when the Republican Party has reclaimed power in the House, has taken control of most state legislatures, and is set to begin the process of choosing its next presidential nominee, the Christian Right is playing an increasingly influential role in the party," Gilgoff writes.
So as the debates rage, CNN contributor LZ Granderson is asking us to know what we're talking about before we go to the polls in 2012 to vote for the folks who are writing these laws on immigration, abortion and other issues. He is suggesting we might find a tool in immigration regulations to make sure none of us is too "ignorant" to vote. Use the U.S. Naturalization Test given to applicants for U.S. citizenship as part of the voter registration process, he says.
"There simply needs to be more required of us as responsible voters than being born 18 years ago," Granderson says.

Kentucky police say suspect abducted, killed pregnant woman

By Katie Silver, CNN

April 15, 2011 1:55 a.m. EDT

Police say Kathy Coy, 33, killed a pregnant woman and may have taken the victim's child.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Kathy Michelle Coy, 33, arrived at a hospital with a baby boy, claiming he was hers
• Police investigated, and found remains of Jamie Stice, 21, in Oakland, Kentucky
• Tests are being conducted to determine whether the baby is Stice's
• Baby, who was due on May 24, is "healthy," the father says

(CNN) -- A Kentucky woman was arrested Thursday on charges of kidnapping and murdering a pregnant woman, police said, and tests were being conducted to determine whether she took the victim's child.
Authorities at Bowling Green Medical Center called police Wednesday about a "suspicious birth" after a woman identified as Kathy Michelle Coy, 33, arrived at the hospital with a newborn boy claiming it was hers, said Bowling Green Police spokesman Jonathan Biven.
In an ensuing investigation, detectives located the remains of 21-year-old Jamie Stice in a wooded area off a highway in Oakland, Kentucky.
Investigators are currently performing forensic testing to determine whether the baby is a genetic match to Stice, Biven added.
The baby remains at the medical center, where he will be for the next few weeks, he said.
"He's healthy, and that's a miracle, especially under the circumstances," James Reynolds, who CNN affiliate WBKO reported is the baby's father.
The baby was due to be born on May 24, Reynolds added, fueling speculation that the child was extracted early.
"She was robbed of her motherhood," Stice's cousin Carolyn Miracle said.
Miracle told CNN that the couple knew Coy, having met originally on Facebook and numerous times face to face.
According to Miracle, Coy had told the couple she was associated with a "Bibs" program that would help provide diapers and clothes for her newborn.
She said Coy had told people she was expecting a baby.
"From what I've gathered she'd told everybody she was pregnant -- her family, husband friends," Miracle said.

Coy is expected to be formally arraigned Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether Coy had acquired legal counsel.

Gbagbo could face international charges, Ouattara says

By Moni Basu and Alanne Orjoux, CNN

April 14, 2011 7:14 a.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Sexual assaults by armed men increase, international agency says
• The International Criminal Court is poised to investigate Laurent Gbagbo
• Human rights monitors accuse pro-Ouattara forces of atrocities, as well
• Ensuring justice in Ivory Coast will be critical to its future, experts say

(CNN) -- The former leader of Ivory Coast may have to face international charges for alleged crimes committed during his time in office, President Alassane Ouattara announced Wednesday, as he outlined his plans to bring peace and security to his nation.
Ouattara told reporters that he was setting up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, similar to those created after civil wars or conflicts in other countries, in order to bring to justice anyone who committed atrocities during the most recent strife or even before that.
"Reconciliation can't be done without justice," Ouattara said in a news conference at the Golf Hotel, where he was holed up for months in the violent aftermath of the disputed presidential election.
"All Ivorians are equal in the eyes of the law, no matter their politics, their origin, their religion or their race," he said.
Former President Laurent Gbagbo has been moved out of the Golf Hotel, where he was held after his arrest Monday, and is now under guard in a villa elsewhere in the country, Ouattara said.
"He is safe, and we will treat him with consideration," the president said. "He is under house arrest in a villa.

 

 The president of the U.N. Security Council, Colombian Ambassador Nestor Osorio, said Wednesday that Gbagbo was taken to a presidential residence in the northern part of the country.
"We must respect his rights as a former leader, and make sure that the consideration he deserves due to his former title is truly respected, and of course that his physical safety and health is also preserved," Ouattara said.
As for charges against Gbagbo, that will be up to the Ivorian justice minister, Ouattara said, adding that international counts would be determined by an international prosecutor.
The president also vowed that even members of the Republican Forces -- the troops loyal to him -- who were found to have committed crimes would be brought to justice.
"All the soldiers -- even those in the Republican Forces -- identified as being pillagers will be dealt with," the president said, in response to a journalist's question about reports of Republican Forces troops participating in raids and pillaging in Abidjan.
Human Rights Watch published a scathing report Saturday about abuses perpetrated by pro-Ouattara forces on their offensive to Abidjan.
People interviewed by the monitoring agency "described how, in village after village, pro-Ouattara forces summarily executed and raped perceived Gbagbo supporters in their homes, as they worked in the fields, as they fled or as they tried to hide in the bush."
"Ouattara should fulfill his public pledge to investigate and prosecute abuses by both sides if Côte d'Ivoire is to emerge from this horrific period," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Also under investigation is the massacre in the western Ivorian town of Duekoue, where the International Committee of the Red Cross said 800 people were slaughtered. The United Nations blamed many of the deaths on Ouattara's forces.
Ouattara said the minister of justice has already begun a probe into those killings, the Human Rights Commission would be sending representatives in the next few days to look into the matter as well, and he has scheduled a meeting with the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court.
"I condemn this massacre," Ouattara said Wednesday. "The people responsible for these killings, whoever they are, will be judged."
"I am revolted, indignant at the number of dead," he added.
As many as 27,500 people took refuge after the massacre in a Catholic mission in Duekoue, according to Amnesty International, and humanitarian conditions there are deteriorating rapidly.
"They are trapped in overcrowded and appalling conditions, having fled their homes after atrocious abuses were carried out by both parties to the conflict," said Véronique Aubert, Amnesty International's deputy director for Africa.
The human rights group also warned that supporters of Gbagbo in Abidjan and elsewhere were at risk of violent reprisals following the former president's capture.
One eyewitness reported to the group that a policeman belonging to Gbagbo's ethnic group was taken from his home and shot dead at point blank range, an Amnesty International statement said.
"Dozens of young people are going into hiding in Abidjan out of fear for their lives," Aubert said. "In the western part of the country, people suspected of being pro-Gbagbo are also terrified. Many are hiding in the bush after their villages were burned down. They need to be protected."
On Wednesday, the International Rescue Committee said in a statement that rapes, sexual assaults, beatings and harassment of Ivorian women and girls by armed men had increased by "alarming numbers."
"Women and girls are being brutally raped by armed men, often in front of their family members," said Liz Pender, an IRC women's protection expert, who has been meeting with groups of Ivorian women and girls who fled to Liberia in recent weeks to escape the violence in their homeland. "One woman told me she was forced to watch as several men took turns raping her sister, sometimes with a stick, and that she didn't survive the attack."
The refugee women who took part in Pender's group discussions said fear of rape or sexual slavery were the primary reasons they fled to Liberia, according to the IRC statement. It provided no details on the identities or political ties of the armed men carrying out the assaults.
Ouattara has blamed much of the bloodshed in the aftermath of the election on forces loyal to Gbagbo, and said his government has begun a two-month program to root out weapons across the country.
He's also demanded that the militia members and mercenaries who worked for the former leader surrender their arms immediately.
But he faces a daunting task in forging a peaceful and stable path forward.
Chief among his challenges, said longtime observers, will be to unite the severely divided nation and ensure justice for those who committed grave human rights violations in the nation's political vacuum -- including those in his own camp who stand accused of heinous acts.
Most of the blame for the bloodshed rests squarely on the shoulders of Gbagbo, whose refusal to cede power plunged Ivory Coast into crisis, said Jendayi Frazer of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African Affairs under former President George W. Bush.
The International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, is now poised to investigate alleged war crimes instigated by Gbagbo.
Ouattara will have to delicately balance such a probe with reconciliation. After all, said expert Alex Vines, Ouattara did not win in a landslide.
Gbagbo won 45.9 percent of the vote and as such, Ouattara will have to reach out to his rival's supporters, perhaps even welcome them into his government without jeopardizing justice, said Vines, head of the Africa program at the British think tank Chatham House.
But even more significant may be the way Ouattara handles his own dirt.
Though he emerged in the Western media as the good versus Gbagbo's evil, Ouattara, too, has been accused of having blood on his hands.
In the United States, Ouattara's critics questioned his right to rule.
"It is now clear, based on U.N. reports coming from Cote d'Ivoire, that mass killings have occurred at the hands of Alassane Ouattara," Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, said earlier this month.
"This calls into question his legitimacy to lead that country," said Inhofe, who has visited Ivory Coast nine times and made no secret of his support for Gbagbo. "Ouattara is on a rampage, killing innocent civilians, and he must be stopped before this becomes another Rwanda."
Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson said Ouattara's moment in the spotlight could quickly dim without adequate investigations into the abuse allegations against forces loyal to him.
"Mr. Ouattara should also be investigated because of the evidence that his troops did commit rapes and abuse en route to Abidjan," said Robertson, a former president of the U.N. special court for Sierra Leone.
Such a probe could answer questions about what amount of control Ouattara exerted over the forces fighting under his name and whether he deliberately failed to stop them, Robertson said.
In his favor, Ouattara has been viewed for some time as a hardworking man, an honest politician who favors transparency.
He hailed from northern lands dominated by Muslim immigrants who came to work in Ivory Coast and eventually grew into influential businessmen and traders.
The U.S.-educated Ouattara quit his International Monetary Fund job to run for president in 2000 and might have met Gbagbo on the ballot then, except that he was marked as an outsider -- his mother was from Burkina Faso -- and barred from participating in the election.
The pro-Gbagbo newspaper Notre Voie accused Ouattara of backing a failed 2002 coup against Gbagbo's government, which triggered the 2002 civil war.
Ouattara's critics blame him for the deep split that Ivory Coast has yet to mend.
Vines said the rebels who fought in the 2002 civil war, the Force Nouvelles, formed a large part of the pro-Ouattara forces fighting Gbagbo's troops in the latest crisis.
The United Nations has repeatedly cited the armed group for breaking the arms embargo imposed on Ivory Coast, and human rights groups have sounded alarms about its abuses.
The moral high ground in Ivory Coast, said Vines, is that the election result is clear and in favor of Ouattara.
"After that it gets gray and in the last few weeks, it's gotten very opaque indeed," he said about the recent spate of killings, especially the massacre in Duekoue.
Ouattara, said Robertson, must conduct a swift inquiry into the allegations and punish the perpetrators.

Otherwise, Robertson said, Ouattara will "himself be vulnerable to prosecution in The Hague."

Should basic citizenship test be part of voter registration?

(PHOTO CREDIT: SAUL LOEB/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
One of the requirements for becoming a citizen of the United States is passing a written civics test. Questions include: What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress? Who is Commander in Chief of the military? What is the highest court in the United States?
Pretty easy, right?
Well last month, Newsweek gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. citizenship test to see if they could pass it if they had to. 38% failed. Questions like why we fought the Cold War stumped 73%. Defining the Bill of Rights tripped up 44%. 29% couldn't name our current vice president. And 6% weren't sure when we celebrate Independence Day.
But it's not just civics and American history many Americans aren't "getting." There is a general disconnect between what many voters think and what actually goes on in Washington. According to a CNN poll, most Americans think that the government spends a lot more money on programs like foreign aid and public broadcasting than it actually does. Many Americans support cuts to those programs even though they amount to very little of the overall budget. When it comes to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid - the ones that really cost our government the big bucks - most Americans want to avoid cuts.
In a column for CNN.com, contributor LZ Granderson says that too many ignorant voters in this country may be to blame for too many incompetent men and women in Congress. Granderson suggests weeding out "some of the ignorant by making people who want to vote first pass a test." He suggests the same citizenship test immigrants must pass.

U.S. appeals court OKs decision blocking Arizona immigration law

By the CNN Wire Staff

April 11, 2011 9:03 p.m. EDT

Undocumented immigrants walk in Arizona's Sonoran Desert after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on January 19.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: An immigrant activist says, "This decisions says ... Gov. Brewer is wrong"
• Brewer says the ruling harms "the safety and well-being of Arizonans"
• U.S. appeals court judges on Monday affirm an earlier ruling on Arizona's SB 1070
• That ruling had blocked key provisions of the law, just before they became law

(CNN) -- A federal appeals court on Monday affirmed a previous injunction of Arizona's controversial immigration law, another setback for legislation that has drawn sharp opposition from President Barack Obama's administration.
In its ruling, a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with the U.S. Justice Department and against Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, who signed the measure known as SB 1070 into law last year.
Among other things, this legislation would have required local law enforcement in Arizona to apprehend and help deport illegal immigrants. The Obama administration sued, arguing that only the federal government has that authority.
That lawsuit led to U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's decision last July, which temporarily blocked the law's most contested parts just a day before they were scheduled to go into effect. That included the requirement that local police officers should check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.
Monday's decision came more than five months after both sides presented their cases in San Francisco to the federal appeals court judges. The ruling was written by federal Judge Richard Anthony Paez and supported in full by Judge John Noonan. Judge Carlos Bea partially concurred and partially dissented from the ruling opinion.
"We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion," the ruling states. "Therefore, we affirm the district court's preliminary injunction order enjoining these certain provisions of SB 1070."
Arizona's governor and attorney general will now consider "their legal options," according to a statement, including possibly an immediate petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Brewer claimed Monday in this statement that the latest decision "does harm to the safety and well-being of Arizonans who suffer the negative effects of illegal immigration."
"For decades, the federal government has neglected its constitutional duty to American citizens by failing to secure the border," she said. "States like Arizona have borne the brunt of that failure."
Those on the other side of the issue, including key figures in Arizona's immigrant community, applauded the ruling.
'What this decision says is that Governor Brewer is wrong," Lydia Guzman of Somos America, an activist group focused on promoting social justice and equal rights for immigrant communities in Arizona, told reporters Monday. "This decision shows a victory on the side of justice and it shows that civil rights prevails."
The ruling is the biproduct of a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department that challenged six of the Arizona law's provisions, meaning other parts of the law went into effect in July. That includes a ban on "sanctuary cities": municipalities with laws or policies that render them relatively safe for undocumented immigrants. Bolton's ruling also allowed a provision making it illegal to hire day laborers if doing so impedes traffic. In addition, the ruling allowed parts of the law dealing with sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Republican lawmakers, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and other state governments were among those filing briefs with the appeals court supporting Arizona's argument. The Mexican government, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the city of Tucson, Arizona, were among those filing briefs supporting the Justice Department's side.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department challenged only six of the Arizona law's provisions, meaning others went into effect in July. That includes a ban on "sanctuary cities": municipalities with laws or policies that render them relatively safe for undocumented immigrants. Bolton's ruling also allowed a provision making it illegal to hire day laborers if doing so impedes traffic. In addition, the ruling allowed parts of the law dealing with sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants.
The decision Monday sides with the U.S. Justice Department, largely on the argument that federal immigration policy would be greatly undermined -- as might America's standing in the world -- if individual states adopted their own separate immigration laws. Doing so, the ruling contends, equates to a given state adopting its own foreign policy, one that may be in opposition to national policy.
"That 50 individual states or one individual state should have a foreign policy is absurdity too gross to be entertained. In matters affecting the intercourse of the federal nation with other nations, the federal nation must speak with one voice," the ruling says.
Brewer, along with Attorney General Tom Horne, on Monday said the appeals court relied too much on testimony from "foreign governments," calling it wrong to give such nations "the de facto right to veto the duly-enacted laws of a sovereign state of the United States."
In his partial dissent -- which represents his opinion, but does not equate to law -- Bea contended that local and state officers do have a role in addressing federal immigration laws.
"Congress intended that state officers be free to inquire of the federal officers into the immigration status of any person, without any direction or supervision of such federal officers -- and the federal officers 'shall respond' to any such inquiry," he writes.
In February, Brewer announced that Arizona had filed a countersuit against the federal government, seeking the authority to implement its own border security efforts.

At that time, Homeland Security Department spokesman Matt Chandler called Arizona's court claim a "meritless" one that "does nothing to secure the border."

H-1B visas should be easier to obtain say business leaders

From 1 April 2011 you can again apply for an H-1B visa. However, the earliest employment start date is 1 October 2011.
Recently Business leaders asked a congressional subcommittee to reduce the amount of red tape required to obtain an H-1B visa. However an academic claimed that the H-1B visa program makes it easier for employers to hire cheaper foreign labor.
IEEE-USA which is usually in favour of tough immigration controls together with the Semiconductor Industry Association has made a statement supporting changes to the foreign worker program. The open letter to the Judiciary Committee said the following:
"As you may know, SIA and IEEE-USA have for some time been at odds over portions of the H-1B program and its administration," …. "Currently 50 percent of master's and 70 percent of Ph.D. graduates in electrical and electronic engineering from U.S. universities are foreign nationals. These highly talented individuals should be able to get permanent resident status (green cards) in an expedited manner, rather than having to wait from 5-10 years as many do under the current system. ... SIA and IEEE-USA support immediate action by the Congress to retain these graduates as legal permanent residents."
It is hoped that in future the expense and paperwork required to obtain an H-1B visa will be greatly reduced. It is unusual that both business groups and "pro-labor" groups have come together in support of reform of the H-1B visa system. With both sides working together it may turn out to be easier to reform the system.

The USA remains one of the most popular countries in the world as an immigration destination. Let us help you on the road to getting your USA visa.
The US has over 60 types of non-immigrant (meaning non-permanent) US visas. workpermit.com offers you full US immigration services if you need help, as well as many USA visa guides to get you started if you want to handle your US immigration on your own. The US immigration process can be confusing and bureaucratic, but our experts are here to help.

Search continues for survivors of boat wreck

From Hada Messia, CNN

April 7, 2011 5:44 a.m. EDT

Immigrants in a boat are helped as they arrive in Lampedusa harbor off the southern Italian island on March 30, 2011.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Survivors say the boat was carrying about 300 people
• It capsizes off Lampedusa in Maltese waters
• 53 people have been rescued
• Many of them came from African countries, newspaper reports

Milan, Italy (CNN) -- Rescue crews continued their search Thursday for more than 200 people after the boat they were in capsized in the Mediterranean Sea.
The boat was carrying about 300 people, survivors told rescue officials, according to Italian Coast Guard spokesman Cosimo Nicastro.
It sank Tuesday about 62 kilometers (39 miles) west off Lampedusa in Maltese waters, the Italian Coast Guard said.
By Thursday, officials had rescued 53 people, and recovered 15 to 20 bodies, he said.
"We are following with sorrow and concern what is happening in Lampedusa," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said.
Many of the survivors came from African countries, such as Eritrea, Somalia and Niger, the Italian daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera said. Many others were fleeing the war in Libya, the newspaper said.
The incident is the latest in a number of tragic ends in what has become a steady flow of people who set sail from Africa -- especially Tunisia -- to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
According to Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, more than 22,000 migrants have landed on Lampedusa in the past few weeks. Though owned by Italy, Lampedusa's closest shore is Tunisia.
"Of course, it's a crisis, but the Europeans do not want to call it a migration crisis," he said.
According to International Organization for Migration, the majority of unauthorized immigrants arriving in Lampedusa are Tunisian.
Some 2,000 other African migrants have arrived on the island after sailing from the Libyan coast, the agency said.
A popular uprising in Tunisia led to the ouster of its president, Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, in January. While protesters succeeded in spurring a regime change there, many Tunisians are not seeing the kind of transformation they were imagining.

Italy's foreign minister has estimated as many as 300,000 Libyans could try to leave and could potentially end up in his country

White children in the minority in 10 states

April 6th, 2011

07:24 PM ET

 

White children are now in the minority among people under 18 in 10 U.S. states and 35 large metro areas, according to a Brookings analysis of 2010 Census data.

The number of white children in metro areas including Atlanta, Georgia; Dallas, Texas; Orlando, Florida; and Phoenix, Arizona, fell below that of other children in the last decade as the population of white children nationwide declined by 4.3 million, the report said.
The decline occurred as the number of children identified as "new minorities" – Hispanics, Asians and other racial groups apart from whites, blacks and American Indians – grew by 5.5 million, the report said.
Hispanics registered an increase of 4.8 million, which kept the nation's overall child population from declining, the report said. The findings reflect changes in the racial makeup of the overall U.S. population with Hispanics becoming the nation's largest and fastest growing minority group.
Hispanics now comprise 23% of children, up from 12% in 1990, while whites now comprise just 53% of youth, down from nearly 70%  in 1990.
The findings also underscore projections that the country will become "white minority" by 2042 as the race's median age keeps increasing. The child population stands to hit that mark in 2023.
"Slower growth among whites owes in part to their lower fertility rate – about 1.9 births per white woman, compared with 3.0 births per Hispanic woman – as well as a relatively low contribution to population growth from immigration" the report stated.
From 2000 to 2009, only 15% of growth in the immigrant population was attributable to whites, compared with 78% for Hispanics, Asians and other new minorities.
The report also said the aging white population contributes to a lower growth rate because proportionately, fewer white women are in their child-bearing years.
"The median age of whites is 41, compared to 27 for Hispanics, 35 for Asians, and a staggering 20 for the population of more than one race. As a further reflection of these age differences by race and ethnicity, just one-fifth of U.S. whites are under age 18, compared with one-third of all Hispanics."
The study also found that the decline in white children reduced the growth rate of the overall child population, from 13.7% in the 1990s to 2.6% in the 2000s. Though variation from state to state in child growth was considerable, on the whole, 46 states registered declines in their white child populations.
Not surprisingly, most of the states that experienced growth in populations of minority children are the ones where white children are in the minority: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland.

Three more sets of human remains found in possible serial killer case

By Katie Silver, CNN

April 4, 2011 9:18 p.m. EDT

Police search for human remains on Long Island on Monday morning.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Total of 8 bodies found during monthslong search for New Jersey woman
• Several remains turned up so close together police believe same person "dumped" them
• Search continues for original person

New York (CNN) -- The remains of three additional people were discovered Monday morning near Gilgo Beach on Long Island, according to Richard Dormer, Suffolk County Police commissioner.
A total of eight human remains have been found in the area since a missing New Jersey woman prompted the searches beginning in 2010.
Shannan Gilbert, 24, of Jersey City, New Jersey, has been missing since May 1 and was last seen alive in the Gilgo Beach area. As authorities searched for clues about her disappearance last year, they uncovered the bodies of four prostitutes in various stages of decomposition.
Police say the hunt for a potential serial killer continues, as does the search for Gilbert, who, like the women whose bodies have been found, advertised for prostitution services on such sites as Craigslist.

An additional body was found March 29 off Ocean Parkway, west of Cedar Beach. When medical examination determined they were not Gilbert's remains, the police continued to search, leading to Monday's discovery.

Gilbert's family is being asked to identify whether the remains found Monday are those of their missing daughter, Dormer said.
"We should move forward to find out quickly if it's her or not her. We put a priority on identification," Dormer said.
"We haven't given up on the search for Shannan Gilbert," Dormer said, "just in case the remains we discovered today are not hers."
Gilbert's sister, Sheree Gilbert, told HLN's Nancy Grace Monday night that her family was notified about the discovery of the latest bodies Monday afternoon. Authorities told them that DNA testing to determine identities will be done "as soon as possible," she said.
"We're just hoping and praying that it's not her," she added.
The initial four bodies were discovered stuffed into bushes on a quarter-mile stretch of waterfront property on Oak Beach, indicating "they were dumped there by the same person or persons," Dormer said in December. "It's too coincidental that there were four bodies in the same location."
The remains of the fifth body were found about a mile from where the other corpses were discovered, he said, refusing to disclose exactly where the three additional remains were found on Monday.
Of the first remains found, all four women had advertised for prostitution services on the Craigslist website, with one body having been there for as long as two years, police said.
The highway is closed Monday night with officers on guard from the Causeway to Nassau County Line so the search can resume Tuesday, Dormer said.

"The investigation is going to move forward over the next hours, and into tomorrow," days and weeks ahead, Dormer said.