Deportation policy may derail his reelection bid

Is Obama running scared? Arguably, the job of convincing Hispanic voters to again deliver for President Obama began with the president's June 2011 trip to Puerto Rico. It was the first such trip for an American president in a half-century. In 2008, President Obama captured two-thirds of Hispanic votes cast. Two years later in the 2010 midterm elections, research by the Pew Hispanic Center found just 31.2 percent of eligible Hispanics cast ballots, less than either Black voters (44.0 percent) or White voters. (48.6percent). Perhaps more disturbing for the president's team was that the study also found 51 percent of Hispanic voters said President Obama's policies had no effect on them. That deeply troubles many, including Chicago Congressman...

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Games fuel rise in travel to Britain - Amadeus

(Reuters) - Bookings for travel to Britain around the time of the summer Olympics have jumped, helping to dispel fears many tourists would stay away during the Games, a study showed on Thursday. Analysis by Spanish travel bookings group Amadeus (AMA.MC) found a 143 percent spike in arrivals on July 26 -- a Thursday and the day before the Games open -- compared with the same date in 2011, a Tuesday. Broadened to include the four days before the Olympics, scheduled arrivals showed an increase of 31 percent. The figures were compiled from global travel agencies' air reservations in and out of London. U.S. citizens have taken the lead in early bookings with an 82 percent year-on-year surge in reservations. Currently, the U.S. represents 17...

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Air travel may help explain clots in marathoners

(Reuters Health) - Marathon runners who travel by air to the race may end up with higher blood levels of molecules that have been linked to clots, a new study shows. That doesn't mean flying is actually likely to trigger a blood clot in endurance athletes, researchers say, or that air travel is a no-go. But it does suggest a possible explanation for the rare but mysterious reports of clots in otherwise healthy marathoners who flew to a race. "It seems that the two activities could have a compounding effect when they are carried out back-to-back," said Beth Parker at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, who led the research. Blood clots usually form in veins, and can be dangerous if they break off and block blood supply to the lungs or heart. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

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Egypt Travel Ban Lifted, US NGO Workers Leave

U.S. pro-democracy activists charged with encouraging unrest in Egypt have left Cairo after courts there lifted a travel ban against them. The standoff threatened more than $1 billion in U.S. financial support for Egypt. State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday that the the Americans were allowed to leave Egypt after their non-governmental organizations agreed to post their bail. "We are very pleased that the Egyptian courts have now lifted the travel ban on our NGO employees," said Nuland. "The U.S. government has provided a plane to facilitate their departure. And they have left the country. They are currently en route home.” Nuland said the Americans were joined on their flight by Norwegian, Serbian, Palestinian...

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Travel advice: cheap ferry crossings to France

Starting to plan your summer holiday to France? Here's how to find the best route across the water – and the lowest fares. It's all change on the Dover-Calais ferry route. Following the demise of Sea France in November, a new service was started by DFDS Seaways two weeks ago (February 17). It's a joint operation with LD Lines (which also runs the Portsmouth-Le Havre and Newhaven-Dieppe routes) and it supplements DFDS' Dover-Dunkirk service. Initially there is only one ship on the route, but launch fares have been pitched very competitively at £58 return for a car plus passengers. This very competitive opening offer is not the only good news for passengers. The new service ensures healthy competition on a route where fares have been suppressed...

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US professors travel to Iran to discuss Occupy Wall Street movement

The Occupy Wall Street movement may be losing its spotlight in the United States, but it's gaining attention in Iran, where a handful of American professors recently traveled to attend a conference focusing on the anti-capitalist protests. "The discourse (in Iran) seems to be veering from 'Down with America!' to 'Down with the 1 Percent!'" said Heather Gautney, a self-described "Occupy Wall Street activist" and a sociology professor at Fordham University in New York. "In my view, this is quite a welcome development, and speaks to Iranians' affection for Americans despite all the political conflict." Gautney was one of four U.S. professors last week to attend the two-day conference at Tehran University, in a country whose people -- despite...

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S.Sudanese travel home before deadline

KHARTOUM — With an April 8 deadline looming for ethnic South Sudanese to leave Sudan or acquire documents allowing them to stay in the north, Bol Wunj's family decided on Thursday that it was time to go. Without a reservation, they showed up at a rubbish-strewn patch of sand where 20 train carriages waited to take around 1,500 South Sudanese home to a country that some of them had not seen for decades. "My wife is worried about April 8. She is listening to a lot of rumours," Wunj said, hoping his family could get some of the seats still available. "My children want to leave," said Wunj, 58, who plans to join them once he receives his severance pay from the Khartoum government. His towering size seemed appropriate for the job he held as...

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A new immigration point system for Canada starts in 2012

A revised points-based selection grid will be introduced to favour young immigrants with strong language skills, says federal Immigration Minister Jason Kenney. Prospective immigrants in licensed professions will need to be pre-assessed to ensure they are likely to get certification in Canada before their applications are processed, Kenney said in Toronto at the annual gathering of Metropolis, an immigration research network that is about to lose its federal funding. Currently, immigration applicants can skirt the mandatory language requirement by entering through the Provincial Nominee Program, which allows provinces to select immigrants with job offers from local employers. Under the new grid, to be introduced by the end of the year, Kenney said provincial nominees will face a higher...

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Controversial immigration law moving through Miss. legislature

HERNANDO, MS- (WMC-TV) - The same day that Mississippi's governor made harsh, new comments about illegal immigrants, priests came out against a proposed immigration law in the state. Critics say Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is targeting Latinos with the new law, but he says that's not the case. However, he also says the state should be vigilant against the possibility of violence in Mexico and other Latin American countries spilling across the border. Kathryn Piazza's father immigrated with his family to Mississippi from Lebanon in 1911. They were never illegal immigrants. "I expect others to come into this country legally, or don't come," she said. Piazza said it is possible to gain U.S. citizenship; it just takes effort. She went...

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Nation's Toughest Immigration Law Stays Put For Now

Portions of Alabama's strict immigration law will remain in force until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on its predecessor, the Arizona statue that ignited a national firestorm in the debate over illegal immigration. A panel of three judges from an Atlanta federal appeals court decided Thursday to put off action on lawsuits against measures in Alabama and Georgia. Oral arguments are set for April 25 before the Supreme Court over the constitutionality of Arizona's enforcement policy. Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Utah and Indiana have passed legislation modeled on Arizona's. The Justice Department has sued to block all the laws, arguing that the role of enforcement belongs solely to the federal government. Human-rights and immigrant-advocacy...

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Did the Alleged LeT Op Get Pak Visa on Geelani Recco?

Pro-Pakistan hardliner Hurriyat Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani had given a recommendation letter to Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Athesham Malik, arrested by the Delhi Police, for getting a Pakistani Visa, according to official sources. Official sources said a copy of the recommendation letter given by Geelani was found in the papers seized from 24-year old Malik. The sources said recoveries made from Athesham, who had undergone a training in Pakistan in December, 2011, were material for fabrication of IED, including wires, flash powder used in crackers and sulphuric acid. A laboratory technician, Malik was earlier associated with Lashker in Sopore in Jammu and Kashmir and was arrested in 2007 along with two others. When contacted, spokesperson for Geelani, Ayaz Akbar, said "we don't know about...

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Samjhauta blast: Pak victims' kin seek visa to visit India

As many as 10 persons from Pakistan have sought the visa to visit India, claiming that they are the legal heirs of Pakistani nationals killed in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bomb blast and hence eligible for the compensation announced by the Indian government. Alleging that some people have fraudulently presented themselves as kin of the Pakistani victims and claimed the compensation, they have filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court seeking directions to the central government to consider their visa applications so that they can pursue their cases before the Railway Claims Tribunal. The 10 petitioners also seek to perform religious rites at the graves of the blast victims in Mehrana, Panipat, but are aggrieved since the Indian government is allegedly not willing to consider their...

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Visa tackling mobile accounts in developing markets with Orange

By Rachel King | March 1, 2012, 1:15am PST Summary: Orange Money customers in the Middle East and Africa will be able to use Visa prepaid accounts for retail and e-commerce purchases as well as for ATM withdrawals and other Visa-relatead payments. Visa continues to announce major partnerships and mobile commerce initiatives amid Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona this week. The latest partner is Orange. Visa has announced that Orange Money customers in Africa and the Middle East will soon have access to Visa prepaid account features inside their Orange Money accounts. These customers will be able to use the prepaid accounts for retail and e-commerce purchases as well as for ATM withdrawals and other Visa-relatead payments. More notably, this represents a significant step for Visa...

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Americans Booted in Visa Snafu

The head of the Russian Evangelical Church is calling for a reversal of the fines imposed on eight Americans doing charity work on tourist visas in Ivanovo. Konstantin Bendas made the request in a statement to The Moscow Times on Thursday. A spokeswoman for the Federal Migration Service in Ivanovo said the eight visitors were engaged in activities not allowed by the rules of the visas they used to come to Russia. "The preacher and seven members of the congregation of Harmony Baptist Church in Pennsylvania came to the region on tourist visas but undertook humanitarian and charity work in orphanages and state boarding schools, where they gave teaching seminars, quizzes and religious readings," Vitalia Zagummenikova said, Interfax reported. But Bendas insisted that the fined citizens could...

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Eurosceptics changing views on visa-free regime with Russia

Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin says that some of the European countries which were previously sсeptical about a visa-free regime between Russia and the EU, are now changing their views, adding that even traditional sceptics like some of the Baltic states and Poland are changing their position on the issue. EU sanctions against Belarus 'a form of coercive pressure' – Putin Russian Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin considers the sanctions imposed by the European Union against Belarus to be meaningless and irrelevant. The Prime Minister recalled the 'similar sad events in Iraq and Libya' which lead to unfortunate results. 'Whatever sanctions are imposed, they all lead to intervention....

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77 foreign NGOS under watch, face visa woes

The government has put 77 foreign NGOs on its global watchlist, making it difficult for their officials to get visas to India. The step comes within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh complaining that foreign NGOs were trying to influence Indian policies and projects. The home ministry put together the list based on information from intelligence agencies and the suspicious conduct of representatives of these NGOs in the past. Top government sources said the watchlist had been circulated to all Indian missions and posts with an advice to "monitor" visa requests from the NGOs - a euphemism for putting the applications through greater scrutiny that would lead to delays or rejection. Officials refused to name the NGOs, insisting this would have serious diplomatic repercussions. But one of...

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India’s tit for tat to UK on visa norms

NEW DELHI: Indians have often been at the receiving end of UK visa regulations in the recent past but New Delhi for once has managed to tame the British authorities. In yet another visa row between the two countries - this time around in a third country - India has forced the UK to roll back its decision to bar Indians to apply for UK visas from Belgium. In what is being described by officials as a strange decision, British authorities stopped issuing visas to Indians in Belgium and instead asked them to travel to Paris to apply for the same. With its new-found assertiveness, the foreign ministry retaliated by not just issuing a note verbale to British authorities to protest the decision but also immediately stopped issuing visas to UK nationals seeking Indian visa in Brussels. They were...

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Swiss visa application centres in ten more cities

Applying for visa for Switzerland will become easier as Swiss visa application centres ( VAC) will soon be opened in 10 more cities. The VACs would be opened at Chandigarh, Kolkata, Cochin, Jalandhar, Chennai, Pondicherry, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Pune and Hyderabad, in addition to the existing VACs in New Delhi and Mumbai. "Switzerland and VFS Global have partnered to open branches of Swiss Visa Application Centres (VACs) in 10 cities across India," a statement from Swiss Embassy said today. Switzerland-appointed VFS Global for outsourcing started its visa application processing services in Delhi in November 2007 and subsequently in Mumbai in August 2008. "The opening of these VACs will strengthen our endeavours and strong will to intensify people-to-people contact through travel. 76,700...

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Georgia to establish visa-free regime with Russia

During his annual report to Parliament on Tuesday, President Mikheil Saakashvili announced that Georgia is unilaterally abolishing visa requirements for citizens of the Russian Federation, “to give a greater chance to peace". Since October 2010, Georgia has granted 90-day visa-free entry to those Russian citizens registered as residents of Russia’s republics in the North Caucasus, while other Russian citizens must obtain a visa upon arrival in Georgia. “While deepening close ties with the West, we are simultaneously interested in improving relations with Russia. We know it is not easy, but Russia is and will always be our neighbour, which determines our desire to have peace... But it must be a peace with Russia that recognizes and complies...

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Judge blocks Arizona immigration law's day labor rules

Posted: Wednesday, 29 February 2012 08:55PM By Tim Gaynor PHOENIX (Reuters) - A federal judge blocked Arizona on Wednesday from enforcing a part of the state's immigration law that prohibits vehicle occupants from stopping traffic to pick up day laborers waiting for work. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton, in issuing a preliminary injunction, ruled that plaintiffs seeking to overturn the law were "likely to succeed on the merits of their claim" that the rules violate the First Amendment. Arizona's Republican Governor Jan Brewer passed the state's tough immigration law in April 2010, seeking to clamp down on illegal immigrants in the Mexico border state. The section of the controversial law Bolton blocked on Wednesday sought to target people...

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In Arizona, Republicans shy away from immigration debate

PHOENIX, Arizona — Immigration fuels fierce passions in Arizona, both for and against the waves of immigrants who cross its southern border with Mexico -- but you would hardly know it to listen to Republican candidates. Mitt Romney, who won the party's primary here handily this week, barely mentioned it in his campaign stops, as he focused on the economy and jobs, issues on which it is easier to find common ground in these tough times. Arizona Senator John McCain, who won the Republican candidacy in 2008 but lost the White House to Democrat Barack Obama, acknowledged as much here on Tuesday when he spoke on behalf of Romney, who he has endorsed since January. In a brief speech he trumpeted the former Massachusetts governor's economic credentials,...

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Court to rule later on Georgia, Alabama's anti-illegal immigration laws

A federal appeals court in Atlanta announced Thursday that it would wait until after the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Arizona’s anti-illegal immigration law before it acts on similar statutes in Georgia and Alabama, keeping parts of those measures on hold for months to come. Judge Charles Wilson of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals made the announcement at the start of a three-hour-long hearing on parts of Georgia and Alabama’s laws. As dozens of people loudly protested against those laws outside the downtown courtroom, Wilson said his three-judge panel agreed to wait until the higher court rules because some of the issues are similar in their cases. The Supreme Court is expected to take up Arizona’s law next month and rule by the end of...

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Court Hears Immigration Challenges

ATLANTA A federal appeals court in Atlanta heard arguments Thursday in the case against Georgia’s immigration law. But the judges say they won’t rule until after the U.S. Supreme Court settles a case against a similar law enacted in Arizona. The judges asked the state’s attorney what would happen if every state -- like Georgia -- passed its own immigration law. They said it could create new burdens for federal immigration officers. Attorneys suing Georgia argue that the law violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. That says federal law trumps state law. But Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens says the state and federal governments often work together on law enforcement. He cites two initiatives where the federal government...

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Video: Immigration was hot topic at white house hispanic action summit

Elyria – February 18 at Lorain County Community College (LCCC) in Elyria was by all accounts a special occasion in which White House officials came to Ohio on their multi – city White House Hispanic Action Summit tour. The discussion groups created by participants ranged from education to how to increase voter turnout, but by far the most pressing issue that day, as it has been around the country from Orlando to San Antonio, has been immigration. The immigration discussion was allocated the largest space at LCCC, it also hard the largest numbers and the most vocal participants. In the end, information was shared, opinions were changed, and a better understanding of the situation became clear. When the country discusses of immigration, most immediately turn to the Southwestern states such...

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Reforms fail to dent net immigration rate

Persistently low levels of emigration from the UK combined with an increasing number of immigrants from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean have contributed to the net migration rate remaining stable at a quarter of a million being added to the UK population each year, despite government efforts to bring net immigration down. The data, released on Thursday by the Office of National Statistics, showed that 593,000 people entered the UK and 343,000 departed in the year to June 2011, resulting in a net inflow of 250,000. This represents an increase of 15,000 during the coalition government’s first year in office. Home Office ministers are battling to reduce the net figure in order to meet the Conservatives’ election pledge of bringing net immigration down to the tens of thousands by the end of the...

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Net migration to the UK stuck at 250,000 despite Cameron's tough talk on slashing numbers

Net migration swells population by a quarter of a million in 12 monTotal number of migrants coming into the country now stands at 593,000 - one of the highest figures recorded Immigration has swelled the population by a quarter of a million people in just 12 months despite the government’s pledge to cut net migration, official figures showed today. The figure – the number of people added to the total population after immigration and emigration are both taken into account – has remained steady since it peaked at 255,000 in the year to September 2010. Net migration for the year to June 2011 was 250,000. The Government has pledged to cut net migration to 1990s levels of the tens of thousands by 2015. The latest figures mean that ministers...

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