Iraq Expels Foreign Journalists

Thursday the Iraqi government said it was expelling foreign journalists and will enact tough new visa restrictions on foreign news people in the future. CNN's Baghdad bureau chief, Jane Arraf, the only Western correspondent permanently based in Baghdad, along with others, was told to leave the country by Monday. CNN has maintained a bureau in Baghdad for 12 years.

The move follows coverage of last week's unprecedented anti-government demonstration outside the Iraqi Information Ministry in Baghdad. The government had recently invited newsmakers to cover an October 15 referendum which showed unanimous support for President Hussein remaining in power.

Iraqi officials say they will admit a small number of foreign journalists, one per news organization, and each visitor will be permitted to remain in Iraq for a maximum of 10 days at a time.

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5,000 March In Paris For Immigrant Permits

In the forth demonstration of its kind since September, more than 5,000 people marched through Paris Saturday to demand residency permits for illegal immigrants. Similar marches were held in Marseille, Lille, Le Havre and Clermont-Ferrand. Demonstrators were joined by Communist and Green party leaders.

The immigrants are known as "sans-papiers," or, "those without documents." They have lived illegally in France for many years, depending on the charity of others for survival, or working for little pay.

The French Interior Ministry has offered to examine their cases on an individual bases, but not as a group, as the demonstrators demand. Monday, President Chirac presented a plan to provide them job training and French language courses.

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Senior Hong Kong Immigration Official Jumps To His Death

A senior immigration director in Hong Kong killed himself Monday by jumping from his 10th-floor apartment. His duties were said to include dealing with illegal migrants from China. Lai Chun-ting, 46, left no note to family members. Reports have suggested Lai had been struggling with work-related stress related to the immigration department's struggle to repatriate thousands of migrants from mainland China who were denied residency, and that may have been a factor that prompted Lai to take his life.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997, but the former British colony retains separate government and strict border controls. Authorities have deported hundreds of migrants in recent months, though nearly two thousand others are believed to remain in Hong Kong illegally.

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Philippine Government Passes Dual Citizenship Bill

Wednesday, the Philippine Senate passed a bill granting dual citizenship to Filipinos who have lost their citizenship. The bill is expected to benefit nearly two million naturalized Filipinos in the United States alone. The new law provides that natural-born Filipinos who have become foreign citizens shall retain their Philippine citizenship unless they freely renounce under oath.