Copyright 1995 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
The Toronto Star
May 10, 1995, Wednesday, METRO EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A16
LENGTH: 673 words
HEADLINE: Reform MP links crime, immigrants at U.S. rally
BODY:
WASHINGTON (CP) - The Reform party's immigration critic yesterday joined a rally on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, where U.S. politicians urged tighter controls against immigrants, one congressman accusing them of "murdering our children."
Art Hanger (Calgary Northeast) also linked immigrants with violent crime, which he said is the top concern of Canadians and Americans. But he added he was not entirely comfortable with the content of some of the speeches.
He blamed "lawyers and elite politicians" for hijacking immigration policy.
But "to say that all our children, all the murders taking place in a country, are a result of illegals, I think that's taking it too far."
Homes destroyed as tornadoes hit Illinois
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Tornadoes touched down across a wide swath of central and northern Illinois yesterday, flipping over big-rig trucks and destroying homes. It wasn't immediately clear how many people were hurt.
As many as five tornadoes may have been on the ground at once, said Mark Metzger, a dispatcher with the Menard County sheriff's department.
Africans seek ouster of chief of health body
GENEVA (Reuter) - A group of African nations launched a bid yesterday to oust Dr. Hiroshi Nakajima from his job as head of the World Health Organization for remarks about the agency's African staff that have been seen as racist.
U.N. officials said Zambia and Namibia introduced a resolution at the World Health Assembly, the WHO's governing body, that could force the Japanese official out of his post as early as next year.
TV ban urged after Gandhi slur on show
NEW DELHI (Reuter) - Irate Indian lawmakers called for a broadcast ban on Rupert Murdoch's STAR TV yesterday as the furor mounted over a disparaging reference to Mohandas Gandhi on a television talk show.
Homosexual-rights activist Ashok Row-Kavi triggered the ruckus last week when he told the show's host, Nikki Bedi, host of the Hong Kong-based TV network's new chat show Nikki Tonight, that he once lost a job for calling the revered Indian leader a "bastard."
Israel to expropriate more Palestinian land
JERUSALEM (AP) - Despite an outcry from the Arab world, Israel plans to expropriate hundreds more hectares of Palestinian-owned land in Jerusalem, the Israeli housing minister said in remarks published yesterday.
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Israel would confiscate more land as part of the "battle for the future of Jerusalem." The Muslim militant group Hamas threatened new attacks on Israelis if more Arab land is taken.
13 boat people sent back to Cuba by U.S.
MIAMI (AP) - Over bitter protests from Cuban-Americans, the United States returned 13 Cuban boat people to their homeland yesterday, the first refugees to be sent back under a new policy announced last week that ended 35 years of open arms.
The Cuban men, aged 28 to 45, were picked up from two wooden boats by a passing cruise ship near the Cayman Islands last Thursday. The Coast Guard left them off at Bahia de Cabanas, a Cuban naval base about 65 kilometres from Havana.
Unabomber threatened Nobel winners: reports
BOSTON (Reuter) - The deadly Unabomber sent letters to two Nobel Prize-winning scientists in Massachusetts warning them to give up their work in genetics and computers, FBI officials and newspapers reported.
In a statement late Monday, the FBI said Richard Roberts, who is head of research for New England Biolabs in Beverly, Mass., had received one of four letters apparently sent by the Unabomber April 20. The Boston Herald yesterday quoted unnamed sources as saying one of four letters was sent to Phillip Sharp, 51, head of the biology department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Major gives go-ahead to talks with Sinn Fein
BELFAST (Reuter) - British Prime Minister John Major gave the go-ahead yesterday to historic ministerial talks with Sinn Fein after hopes dimmed they would take place following a violent Sinn Fein protest last week against his Northern Ireland peace plans.