The Los Angeles Times
NASA Readies for Launch -- and Holds Its Breath
Human spaceflight is on the line. Despite shuttle upgrades, there are no guarantees.
By John Johnson Jr., Times Staff Writer
As NASA prepares for the return of human spaceflight, there is little talk of giant leaps for mankind.
If there's one phrase to describe the sober mood at America's space agency, it's: No more mistakes.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-shuttle4jul04,0,5092419.story?coll=la-home-headlines
China May Fuel Global Risks if U.S. Fails to Push Conservation
Both countries might be better off if the United States encouraged China to invest in hydrogen fuel cells or solar energy rather than an American oil company.
Since CNOOC Ltd., an oil company owned mostly by the Chinese government, made its unsolicited $18.5-billion bid for California-based Unocal Corp. last month, the Washington debate has revolved mostly around the deal's economic and national security implications.
But the energy and environmental ramifications may justify far more concern. The acquisition attempt, which the Unocal board is studying, suggests that China is anticipating enormous increases in its consumption of fossil fuels. The direct result for the United States and other nations could be a threatening rise in the carbon dioxide emissions associated with global warming, as well as higher gas prices at the pump.
http://www.latimes.com/news/columnists/la-na-outlook4jul04,0,6494078.column?coll=la-home-headlines
Live 8's safety Net
AOL catches and conveys the action as MTV's coverage more than disappoints.
By Robert Hilburn, Times Staff Writer
Everyone knows MTV has long lost interest in pop music, so why doesn't the cable channel just admit it and leave the coverage of historic events, such as the humanitarian Live 8 concerts, to someone with respect for the music and its audience?
MTV's coverage of Saturday's event, designed to combat poverty in Africa, was beyond embarrassing. It was pitiful.
http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-et-notebook4jul04,0,7783746.story?coll=la-home-headlines&track=hppromobox
President Putin actually approves of this? I find that hard to believe. There is no honor in the Russian military? Their pay needs to be supplemented by plunder? There will be only resistance in Chechnya as long as the bitter battle for control victimizes citizens by both sides of the conflict. They see the Russian military not as their saviors but as bad if not worse as the terrorists. This is an eye opener I didn't expect. Knock it off !!! This is all human rights violations. There is no need for Russia to give up in Chechnya and leave at the demoralizing of their military but they need to provide the Chechens security and not exploitation. There is something grossly wrong in the 'Russian Military Culture' as realized in Chechnya.
An Unlikely Antiwar Hero for Russians
An ex-police officer is accused of war crimes in Chechnya. For some, his case illustrates Moscow's misguided policy on the republic.
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — In a war of horrors, it was one of the worst chapters. On the morning of Feb. 5, 2000, more than 100 Russian contract soldiers and riot police entered the village of Novye Aldi in Chechnya, sweeping from house to house in a futile search for separatist rebels.
What followed was what human rights investigators would later describe as "an orgy of killing, arson and rape."
. . . The incident in Novye Aldi, outside Grozny, is one of the most thoroughly investigated of the Chechen war, and Moscow has been under intense pressure from human rights advocates at home and elsewhere in Europe to bring the perpetrators to justice.
But here in St. Petersburg, Babin supporters say they believe the assertion of the former riot policeman and his superior officers that he was in a village about 60 miles from Novye Aldi on the day of the operation. They also support the former officer's decision to go into hiding, based on his fears that he would be slain if he were transferred to a Chechen prison.
"I was a police officer. And now I am a fugitive. Now I know what it's like on both sides," Babin said in an interview last month, arranged at a location that was not disclosed in advance.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-officer3jul03,0,5167390.story?coll=la-home-world
Jerusalem Post
Settlers to draw up pullout conduct code
By MATTHEW GUTMAN
Settler leaders and rabbis met in the Gush Katif settlement bloc Monday morning to hammer out a code of conduct meant to put the brakes on an anti-disengagement struggle that appears to be careening out of control.
The declaration follows a rash of violence both in Gush Katif and in road protests across Israel in the past week – a contagion that settlement leaders fear could critically weaken their campaign against the government's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank later this summer.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1120443547649
Israel, Egypt close to Philadelphi deal
By JPOST.COM STAFF
Israel and Egypt expect to reach an agreement on Egyptian troop deployment along the Philadelphi route within 10 days, officials said Monday.
The comment comes following meetings Sunday night in Egypt between Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's political bureau, and head of Egyptian intelligence Gen. Omar Suleiman.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1120443547415
Polish leader: Iran is gravest threat
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
WARSAW, Poland
An Iranian attempt to develop nuclear weapons would be the greatest threat to peace on earth, the speaker of the Polish parliament and leading presidential candidate said.
"There is no doubt that if the real intention of the Iranian authorities is to reach capability to attain nuclear weapons [then] it would be greatest threat to peace not only in this part of the world... but theoretically it can be the greatest threat to world peace," Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in his office in the Polish parliament.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1120468320021
Hamas bans 'immoral' festival in Kalkilya
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
The Hamas-controlled Kalkilya municipal council is under pressure to host outdoor music and dance performances as part of a Palestinian summertime festival.
Last week, however, the municipality announced a decision to ban the performances under the pretext that the crowds might trample the grass at the local stadium.
However, the organizers of the festival rejected the claim, accusing the municipality of seeking to impose strict Islamic rules in the city.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1120357179290
Jordan refuses entry to Kalkilya mayor
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Advertisement
Jordanian authorities on Sunday banned the deputy mayor of Kalkilya, Hashem al-Masri, from entering the kingdom.
Masri, who serves as acting mayor, arrived earlier in the day at the Jordanian side of the Allenby Bridge, where Jordanian security officials surprised him by ordering him to return home. The Jordanian authorities cited "security reasons" for banning Masri from entering the kingdom.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1120357178640
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Floods in India, Pakistan leave 131 dead
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW DELHI -- Monsoon floods in India's western Gujarat state have inundated more than 7,200 villages, left about 175,000 homeless and killed at least 131 people over the past week, officials and news reports said Sunday.
One of the world's 359 remaining Asiatic lions also was found drowned Friday near Gujarat's Droneshwar dam, down river from its home in the Gir wildlife sanctuary, according to the Hindustan Times newspaper.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Asia%20Monsoon%20Floods
Good intentions often go bad in Africa
By CHRIS TOMLINSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Former South African President Nelson Mandela, left, his wife Graca Machel, right, during the Live 8 concert in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, July 2, 2005. African musicians lent their voices Saturday to Live 8's global call for a fairer deal for the world's poorest continent. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Africa is filled with good intentions that ended badly. Half-completed hydroelectric dams covered with weeds, empty irrigation pipes decaying in the equatorial sun and roads that literally lead to nowhere dot the continent, testaments to corruption and bad judgment. Despite billions of dollars in aid, Africa has gone backward since the 1970s on every measurable level.
When the leaders of the Group of Eight wealthy nations meet this week in Scotland to discuss helping the poorest people on the planet, they will try to ensure any new pledges will not be good money following bad.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Africa%20Aid
U.S. confirms some Afghan civilian deaths
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KABUL, Afghanistan -- A U.S. airstrike last week killed 17 Afghan villagers, including women and children, a provincial governor said Monday. The U.S. military confirmed some civilians were killed in the attack on what it called a known terrorist compound.
The bombing occurred in Kunar province last Friday, three days after an elite U.S. military team disappeared in the mountainous area.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Afghan%20US%20Bombing
Getting There: Drivers not entitled to 'free rights'
By JANE HADLEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Question: We are so pleased to receive this query, because it is one that has occurred to us more than once. Verna Garton asks: When exactly is it OK to make a right turn on a red light?
Verna says that recently a number of vehicles have taken their "free right" from Cherry Street onto Sixth Avenue downtown during the evening rush hour when traffic is backed up.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/transportation/231164_get04.html
Ex-felons face roadblocks in regaining voting rights
By RACHEL LA CORTE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Voter registration card in hand, Jesse Miller stood in line for 20 minutes in November to cast her vote for governor. But fear turned her away before she got the chance.
Convicted on a drug charge more than a decade ago, Miller feared that the stigma of her felony would cause her problems, because even though she had served her time, and paid her court-ordered fines, she never received an official certificate of discharge restoring her rights.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231136_gfelon04.html
Dancing helped put man once paralyzed back on his feet
By ATHIMA CHANSANCHAI
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Daryl Schmidt doesn't look like a man who some doctors said would never walk again.
He's not only standing on both feet, he also was twirling his partner in practiced routines around a dance floor as they prepared yesterday to compete in the Northwest DanceSport Championships in SeaTac.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231191_dancer04.html
Cold Stone ice cream linked to salmonella
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
Five people in Washington have contracted food poisoning after eating cake batter-flavored ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery stores.
The victims -- a woman in King County, a man in Whatcom County, two girls in Snohomish County and a woman in Spokane -- were infected with a rare strain of the salmonella bacteria called salmonella typhimurium, according to the state Department of Health.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231034_icecream02.html
First West Nile virus case in state feared
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A woman from the Spokane area has tested positive for the West Nile virus, apparently becoming the first known case of the virus infecting a human in Washington, according to the state Health Department.
The woman, in her 20s, appears to have caught the virus in the state, the Health Department said last night. The case is listed as "probable" while more tests are done.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231096_westnile02.html
Plane crashes off Lopez Island; two dead
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER NEWS SERVICES
LOPEZ -- A light plane from Sisters, Ore., with five people aboard crashed and sank last evening off the southwest tip of Lopez Island in the San Juans, killing two people and injuring three, a San Juan County sheriff's officer said.
The five were members of a Sisters family, Undersheriff Jon Zerby said. Four people reached shore, where medics pronounced a 57-year-old man dead. Divers found the plane in about 25 feet of water, with one person dead inside.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231101_crash02.html
She'll circle the States by kayak, bike, skates
Adventure becomes memorial to fiancé
By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The first thing you notice about Renata Chlumska is that she's head-turningly beautiful.
And that, for a woman who's about to circumnavigate the United States by kayak, boat and inline skates, Chlumska is remarkably calm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231065_renata02.html
She'll circle the States by kayak, bike, skates
Adventure becomes memorial to fiancé
By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
The first thing you notice about Renata Chlumska is that she's head-turningly beautiful.
And that, for a woman who's about to circumnavigate the United States by kayak, boat and inline skates, Chlumska is remarkably calm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/231065_renata02.html
N.C. boy, 7, drowns in Fla. hotel pool
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- A 7-year-old boy vacationing with his family drowned in a hotel pool and remained unnoticed for a couple of hours as deputies and others searched for him, authorities said.
A tourist wearing goggles found the boy at the bottom of the 8-foot-deep pool at the Howard Johnson's Enchanted Land Resort at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Osceola County sheriff's spokeswoman Twis Lizasuain said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Boy%20Drowns
Schwarzenegger urges global warming action
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks to the media, during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., in this June 21, 2005 file photo. Schwarzenegger, the Republican governor of California, has urged governments - including that of President Bush - to face up the reality of global warming. "The debate is over," he wrote in Britain's Independent on Sunday, July 3, 2005, newspaper. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
LONDON -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is urging governments - including that of President Bush - to face up the reality of global warming.
"The debate is over," he wrote in Britain's Independent on Sunday newspaper. "We know the science. We see the threat posed by changes in our climate. And we know the time for action is now."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Schwarzenegger%20Climate
Poor writing costs Americans millions
By JUSTIN POPE
AP EDUCATION WRITER
States spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars a year on remedial writing instruction for their employees, according to a new report that says the indirect costs of sloppy writing probably hurt taxpayers even more.
The National Commission on Writing, in a report to be released Tuesday, says that good writing skills are at least as important in the public sector as in private industry. Poor writing not only befuddles citizens but also slows down the government as bureaucrats struggle with unclear instructions or have to redo poorly written work.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apus_story.asp?category=1110&slug=Government%20Bad%20Writing
Iran: U.S., Israel waging smear campaign
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A veiled Iranian woman walks past an anti U.S painting on the wall of the former U.S Embassy in Tehran, Saturday, July 2, 2005. A top former secret agent Saeed Hajjarian, said Saturday that the hostage-taker in a photograph that has recently come under intense scrutiny is not President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but a former militant who committed suicide in jail. Hajjarian, a top adviser to outgoing President Mohammad Khatami, identified the man in the photo dating to the 1979 U.S. Embassy siege as Taqi Mohammadi. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran accused the U.S. and Israel on Sunday of a smear campaign against its president-elect and warned Europe, which is in tricky nuclear negotiations with Tehran, not to join in the mudslinging.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Iran%20Fights%20Back
S.Korea hopeful N.Korea will come to talks
By JI-SOO KIM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEOUL, South Korea -- Senior South Korean officials said Monday they are optimistic North Korea will return this month to nuclear disarmament talks after Seoul's point man on the discussions made a visit to the United States last week.
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told his ministry it should focus on achieving a resumption of the talks this month. "We must make creative efforts for resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue, once the six-party framework is activated and opened," Chung said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apasia_story.asp?category=1104&slug=Koreas%20Nuclear
SYRIA is allowing Hezbollah to act as their agent in the area. Hezbollah has been attacking Israel in hopes of the United Nations taking measure against Israel when they should be taking action against Syria for turning their sovereign land over to terrorists.
Hezbollah guerrilla dies in Israel clashes
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The militant Hezbollah group acknowledged on Monday that one its guerrillas was killed in last week's clashes with Israeli troops in a disputed part of the south Lebanon border.
Last Wednesday, Hezbollah guerrillas attacked Israeli positions at the disputed Chebaa Farms with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, killing one soldier and wounding several others. It was Israel's first fatality on the Lebanese border in six months. The borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet at the Chebaa Farms area.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Lebanon%20Israel
Syrian forces arrest two militants
By ALBERT AJI
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
A Syrian famiy look at the view of Damascus from Qassioun Mountain about three kilometers (two miles) southwest of the capital, Monday, July 4, 2005. Syrian security forces clashed with militants, including former bodyguards of toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, on Qassioun Mountain early Monday, leaving one policeman dead and two militants in custody, the state-run SANA news agency said. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi).
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syrian security forces arrested two members of a militant group that allegedly included former bodyguards of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the state-run news agency reported Monday.
The two were detained after a fight on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus. One policeman was killed in the violence and two soldiers and two policemen were wounded, the news agency SANA reported.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=Syria%20Clash
Britain upholds Cambodian adoption ban
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LONDON -- A British court on Monday upheld the government's ban on adoptions of Cambodian children. Six couples had gone to court to challenge the ban, which was imposed in June of last year.
Justice James Munby said the evidence of abuses and corruption in the Cambodian adoption system "amply justify" the government's action.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Britain%20Cambodia%20Adoption
Anti-nuke campaigners protest in Scotland
By ED JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Police officers stand guard behind a lone buddhist drummer by the gates of Faslane submarine base in Scotland, where protestors gathered, on Monday July 4, 2005. Campaigners say they expect thousands of activists to join the planned blockade of Faslane naval base on the Clyde. (AP Photo/PA, Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FASLANE, Scotland -- In a protest aimed at this week's Group of Eight summit in Scotland, anti-nuclear campaigners demonstrated outside the major naval base for Britain's nuclear-armed Trident submarine fleet on Monday.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=G8%20Protest
IAEA to weigh strengthening nuclear laws
By DANICA KIRKA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
VIENNA, Austria -- Representatives of more than 100 countries gathered at the U.N. nuclear agency's Vienna headquarters Monday to consider strengthening international laws meant to safeguard nuclear materials from theft and prevent terrorist attacks on atomic power plants.
The push to shield nuclear materials has gained urgency since Sept. 11, which focused attention on other potential targets of catastrophic terrorist attacks.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=UN%20Nuclear%20Agency
HE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL. IT'S A WAR ZONE. YOU HAVE AN ARMY ACCOMPANYING YOU?
Kasparov: Russians interfering with trip
By MIKE ECKEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Garry Kasparov speaks during a news conference in Moscow Monday, July 4, 2005. Garry Kasparov, who quit chess to focus on political activities, on Monday accused Russian officials of actively interfering with his four-day trip to the troubled Caucasus region. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
MOSCOW -- Garry Kasparov, the former world chess champion who quit to focus on political activities, on Monday accused Russian officials of interfering in his four-day trip to the troubled Caucasus region.
Kasparov, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, told a news conference that officials conspired to prevent him from meeting with local residents and organized hooligans to throw eggs and tomatoes at him and his entourage. In one city, authorities denied permission for his chartered plane to land, he said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apeurope_story.asp?category=1103&slug=Russia%20Kasparov
Gadhafi urges Africans to stop 'begging'
By KHALED AL-DEEB
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SIRTE, Libya -- Amid global calls to combat poverty in Africa, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi called on African nations to stop "begging" during the opening Monday of an African summit attended by more than 50 leaders from this crisis-wracked continent.
Gadhafi also urged African countries to overcome past failures during a rambling speech that lasted more than 30 minutes, which received muted applause from leaders of African states.
"Pleading to the G-8 to lift debts won't make a future for Africa," said Gadhafi, wearing his traditional African dress while praising Africa's natural resources and treasures. "We need cooperation between the big and the small countries in the world."
"Begging won't make a future for Africa," he added.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apafrica_story.asp?category=1105&slug=Libya%20African%20Summit
Notorious Canadian prisoner to be freed
By BETH DUFF-BROWN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Correctional officers check the exit of motorists from a special checkpoint and barricades set up for the media near the Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines institution July 1, 2005. Karla Homolka is believed to be detained at the prison where media are awaiting her release. (AP PHOTO/Canadian Press,Jacques Boissinot)
MONTREAL -- The most reviled woman in Canada is set to walk out of prison Monday, facing death threats and rage from a public still bitter that she only served 12 years for the rapes and murders of teenage girls, including her younger sister.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apcanada_story.asp?category=1101&slug=Canada%20Devil%27s%20Deal
American 14-year-old girl killed in Tobago
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- A 14-year-old American girl was stabbed and killed in a quiet seaside village on the island of Tobago, police said Saturday.
Kitty Nichole Pepe was killed late Friday night in the apartment she had been sharing with her mother in Charlotteville, a village on the northeastern tip of Tobago, said police inspector Glen Sharpe.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/aplatin_story.asp?category=1102&slug=Tobago%20Girl%20Killed
The New Zealand Herald
Children demand action on poverty from G8
04.07.05 1.00pm
DUNBLANE, Scotland - Children from some of the world's poorest nations have made a plea to the leaders of the richest countries as they prepare for their Scottish summit: act now to end child prostitution, child labour and trafficking.
"Now is the moment to help poor children because we have suffered too much. I want the G8 leaders to make it stop. It is time to listen to the children," 17-year-old Assiatou Drame told reporters on Sunday.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334119
Corby case to be reopened
Schapelle Corby
04.07.05 7.00pm
PERTH - The drug trafficking case against Australian Schapelle Corby will be reopened after the High Court in Bali agreed to hear new evidence about the ownership of more than 4kg of marijuana.
The judges who presided at Corby's trial have given her lawyers the opportunity to present witnesses who can show the 27-year-old did not own the marijuana found in her luggage at Bali airport last October.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334160
Power line opponents say radiation standard too high
04.07.05 1.00pm
Miscarriage rates could nearly double if Transpower's electricity line through the Waikato goes ahead in its planned form, according to a scientific study.
A United States study showing an 80 per cent likelihood of increased miscarriages was presented by video link at a health forum organised by power line opponents at the University of Waikato at the weekend.
Excessive exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) has also been linked to childhood leukaemia, brain cancer, Lou Gehrigs motor neuron disease, and depression.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334102
China counting down to next men in space
04.07.05
BEIJING - China has begun training six pilots for spaceflight, two of whom will enter orbit on September's Shenzhou VI mission, domestic media said today, in the next step in the country's lofty space ambitions.
The astronaut candidates were training in teams and the pair that showed the best teamwork would be the next Chinese in space, Huang Chunping, the man who pushed the launch button for China's first manned spaceflight in 2003, was quoted as saying by the website Chinanews.com.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334237
Government blocks visit by Zimbabwe bankers
04.07.05 2.00pm
The Government is taking steps to refuse visas to a delegation from the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank.
Green Party co-leader Rod Donald today called on the Government to prevent the delegation coming here, saying they would encourage expatriates to send money home to boost the bank's foreign exchange.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334124
Zimbabwe immigrant policy a 'one-off'
Paul Swain
04.07.05 1.00pm
A Government policy allowing some Zimbabweans to apply for permanent residence without fulfilling the normal criteria is a one-off, Immigration Minister Paul Swain says.
Under a special policy, which starts today, Zimbabweans who entered New Zealand before September 23 last year can apply for permanent residence even if they do not meet the normal entry rules.
Mr Swain today told National Radio the policy had been devised last year when the political situation in Zimbabwe was "very rugged".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10334097
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