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Police eye campuses for extremists

By Times Wires
Published January 23, 2008

LONDON

British police have offered to train university staff to spot extremists operating on campus despite complaints from Muslim students that they could be unfairly targeted, a government document said Tuesday. Bill Rammell, the higher education minister, published advice to universities Tuesday on tackling extremism, requesting institutions share information on suspected radical speakers. "There is a real and serious threat, and we must all take responsibility for protecting ourselves," Rammell said. Sally Hunt, general secretary of academic labor organization University and College Union, said university staff should not be expected to police their students. "No student should ever think they are being spied on, and no staff member should ever be pressurized into treating any group of students differently from another," she said.

HANOI, Vietnam

U.S. deal puts pressure on illegal immigrants

Thousands of Vietnamese living illegally in the United States now face deportation after the two countries completed an agreement Tuesday, a move that sparked worry among immigrant communities. Vietnamese who entered the United States illegally after the former foes normalized relations in 1995 could now be forced to return to their birth country, said Julie Myers, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during a visit to Vietnam. The deal has been under negotiation for 10 years. Vietnam had been reluctant to accept citizens back, and community leaders in the United States said many immigrants have been living with deportation orders for years, even decades. Myers did not say how many Vietnamese are believed to be in the United States illegally.

Elsewhere

Mexico City: Army soldiers took over police stations along Mexico's border with Texas on Tuesday, disarming police, checking for unregistered weapons and searching patrol cars and personal vehicles for links to drug cartels, according to an official and the Mexican media.

Islamabad, Pakistan: Islamic militants in Pakistan attacked a fort near the Afghan border Tuesday, one of two clashes with government forces that left seven troops and 37 fighters dead, the army said. In Europe, President Pervez Musharraf said border attacks were "pinpricks" that his government must manage.

Kuwait City: Kuwait's only female politician, Education Minister Nouria al-Subeih, survived an attempt to oust her Tuesday by conservative lawmakers who accused her of mismanagement and endangering traditional religious values. Parliament voted 27-19 in her favor.

Toronto: An independent panel recommended Tuesday that Canada extend its military mission in Afghanistan only if another NATO country puts 1,000 soldiers in the dangerous southern province of Kandahar.

Rome: Prime Minister Romano Prodi defiantly called Tuesday for a vote of confidence in both houses of Parliament, a move he hopes will keep his wounded coalition government alive.

Jakarta, Indonesia: A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island early Wednesday, killing one person and injuring five, officials said.

[Last modified January 23, 2008, 02:06:20]