On her weekend visit, US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice indicated that the US is open to “warming” relations with New Zealand. This wee country has been left out of all the fun and games (the US won’t do military training exercises with Kiwis, despite the fact the two countries’ troops are active in Afghanistan, for example) because of a ban on nuclear ships entering its waters.

Media talk has edged around a free trade agreement. It’s a long way off, but it’s not a bad goal – depending on how far backwards New Zealand would have to bend to sign it. At the moment, a small-scale dairy exporter who wants to try its luck in the US market has to give a fifth of its takings to the US government in import tariffs. Cutting that back would be a good thing.
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Ayacucho es una región con una población de 612 mil habitantes. Es decir, alberga apenas el 2% de la población del país según el último censo. Las vigorosas cifras de reducción de la pobreza que alientan las políticas de apertura comercial no le alcanzan todavía a Ayacucho para salir de la estrechez económica, porque la sierra rural (aunque esta región cuenta dentro de su geografía con una porción de selva vinculada al valle de los ríos Apurímac y Ene) sigue excediendo el 60% de pobreza. Hace un par de meses, los pobladores de Huanta y Huamanga, se vieron sorprendidos con la presencia de personas uniformadas con trajes militares extranjeros desplazándose  por sus calles y conviviendo con ellos en un ambiente de relativa tranquilidad pero algo de suspicacia. Un destacamento militar estadounidense, con la aprobación del Congreso y la autorización del Ministerio de Defensa, ha llegado a esta región para cumplir, según lo expresado en las normas, labores de acción humanitaria entre las que se encuentran construir aulas escolares, pozas de agua y brindar atención médica a sus ciudadanos.
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También en español: Culpemos a EEUU primero

Ayacucho is a region with a population of 612,000 people. That means it is home to barely 2 per cent of the Peruvian population, according to the last census.
The strong poverty reduction figures, fed by market-opening policies, haven’t reached Ayacucho yet to take it out of its economic tightness – the rural sierra (although this region includes a section of jungle connected to the Apurímac and Ene rivers in its geography) continues to exceed 60 per cent poverty.
A couple of months ago, the communities of Huanta and Hamanga were surprised by the presence of people in uniform, with foreign military clothes, in their streets and living with them in a relatively calm – but somewhat suspicious – environment.
A US military deployment, with the approval of Congress and the authorisation of the Ministry of Defence, had arrived in the region to carry out, according to the rules, humanitarian work which includes building classrooms, wells, and giving medical attention to the citizens.

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Paris
Montparnasse Cemetery
Montparnasse Photo Gallery: Click to see more photosGrandeur

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The new immigration law related to illegal aliens in the European Union (EU) started on June 18. The new policy, called “Return Directive”, allows the different member states of EU to confine any illegal immigrant for up to 18 months before expelling them.

These new policies against “illegal immigrants” obey a new policy in EU to stop the massive immigration especially from East Europe, Africa and Latin America.

However, for a long time a lot of right wing and nationalist political parties from all Europe have been criticising the EU leaders’ “slack” policy about immigration.
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