WORLD BRIEFING / NORTHERN IRELAND

More than 100 Romanian Gypsies who suffered racist attacks and intimidation in Belfast are being flown back home at taxpayer expense, the Northern Ireland government said.

Northern Ireland Housing Minister Margaret Ritchie said 25 of the 117 Romanians targeted by stone-throwing extremists have already been flown back to Romania, and that most of the rest were expected to leave soon.

All were having their temporary housing and flights paid by the government’s Housing Executive.

She said only 14 planned to stay in Belfast, the provincial capital, where Eastern European immigrants housed in the poorest Protestant districts frequently suffer abuse.