Finland school gunman kills 8, self
HELSINKI, Finland, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- An 18-year-old gunman killed eight people in a school in southern Finland Wednesday before fatally wounding himself with a shot to the head, police said.
One of those killed was the school's head mistress and the others were students -- five boys and two girls -- The Telegraph reported. The gunman, identified as Pekka-Eric Auvinen, shot himself and died later after being taken to a hospital, the British newspaper said.
A doctor at Toolo Hospital said 10 other people sustained non-life-threatening injuries, Newsroom Finland reported.
Student Miro Lukinmaa said once the rampage started "suddenly people began running and shots began raining down."
"I saw injured people lying in the corridor. We started to run and followed (the crowd) in panic," Lukinmaa said.
Police said they did not return fire when Auvinen fired one shot at them after they surrounded Jokela School Center, the Finnish news agency said.
Kim Kiuru, a teacher at the school, said the gunman was a "militant radical" interested in both extreme-left and extreme-right movements.
Student Tuomas Hulkkonen told the Helsingen Sanomat newspaper the gunman had recently started drawing pictures of shootings.
A video clip called Jokela High School Massacre was posted by Auvinen -- who reportedly called himself Sturmgeist89 -- Tuesday on the Internet YouTube site, showing a still image of the school jumping to an unidentified man pointing a pistol at the camera.
Dozens die trying to reach Canary Islands
MADRID, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- At least 47 African migrants died of hunger and the elements while adrift in a disabled boat trying to reach the Canary Islands, it was reported Wednesday.
Another 96 people were rescued from the boat, which had been adrift for 19 days and eventually capsized off the coast of Morocco, El Pais reported.
Meanwhile officials said another 55 illegal migrants were found on a second vessel towed into Tenerife port and a third boat with 61 illegal migrants aboard arrived at El Hierro, El Pais reported.
The first boat departed Oct. 16 from Senegal and at some point the engine began to malfunction, and eventually the food and water supplies ran out, the survivors said.
Four of the migrants were hospitalized, while the rest were taken to a detention center until they can be returned to their native countries.
Italy argues against EU migration limits
ROME, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The prime minister of Italy suggested bolstering European Union rules against criminal behavior by migrant workers rather than limiting labor movement.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the recent rise in crimes committed by migrant workers illustrates that EU member states are not fully prepared for the enlargement of the union and ensuing immigration, the EU Observer reported Wednesday.
However, he said the EU should address rules against criminal acts committed by migrants rather then restrict the free movement of labor that has long been a cornerstone of the bloc.
He said the EU needs "more cooperation in the case of immigration by all European countries."
"What I am asking of the European Union is to have common rules in order to have repatriation more effective and to be more cooperative in all the side effects of these movements," Prodi said. "I prefer to have a Europe which is open to free circulation of all the Union citizens and regulate together all the criminal aspects of it."
U.N.: Iraqi refugee crisis in Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- About 50,000 Iraqi refugees face an uncertain future in Lebanon, which has no right of asylum, a U.N. relief agency said Wednesday.
The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said only 8,476 Iraqis are registered in Lebanon. Another 500 have been imprisoned for illegal entry, while the remainder live in the shadows, the U.N. Integrated Regional Information Network said.
"This is a question of human rights," said UNHCR regional representative Stephane Jaquemet.
Although 400,000 Palestinian refugees are in Lebanon, the country never signed the United Nations convention on refugees. Lebanon has agreed not to deport Iraqis immediately, Jaquemet said.
About 1,800 of the Iraqis in Lebanon are children. Most do not go to school because their parents try to get them jobs, believing that children without papers are less likely to be questioned than adults, Jaquemet said.
