Passports

BERLIN -- Under fierce attack by political conservatives, the German government backed away yesterday from a bold plan to invite millions of foreigners to become German citizens.Instead, the government of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder approved a watered-down version of its plan to rewrite Germany's 1913 citizenship law, which defines Germans by bloodlines rather than by residence.Under the proposal -- which is expected to be approved in parliament by May -- foreigners may apply for citizenship after living in Germany for eight years instead of the 15 required by law. Most children born in Germany will for the first time become German citizens automatically, regardless of their heritage.

In Baltimore CityLoyola pupils to get passports today for trip to CubaU.S. passport officials cleared the way yesterday for pupils from St. Ignatius Loyola Academy to travel to Cuba to watch the Orioles play a Cuban all-star team Sunday.U.S. Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski pressed the passport office to expedite printing of the pupils' passports so they could take advantage of an offer by Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos to join him and the team in Havana. Mikulski, a Democrat from Baltimore, said the pupils would receive the passports today.

LIKE THE SWALLOWS returning to Capistrano, the ospreys came back to Annapolis right on schedule.We saw the first ones over the mouth of the Severn River on St. Patrick's Day, as usual, looking a bit slim from their flight up the coast from Central America. Then I saw three more over the South River near historic London Town.Another St. Patrick's Day tradition was delayed, however. Green Derby Day was postponed because of pending nasty weather, and has been rescheduled for April 18 in Eastport.

INTERNATIONAL DAY at Phelps Luck Elementary School was a colorful, boisterous celebration of the cultures that make up America.On Thursday, volunteer speakers visited classrooms to share stories, pictures and artifacts from Scotland, Guyana, Micronesia, the Ivory Coast and many other countries."

World affairs have changed since Donna Walker launched her business 10 years ago.But fictitious passports, she says, never go out of style.International Documents Service, Walker's one-woman Houston firm, creates passports from extinct countries. Covered in institutional burgundy, flecked with stamps and seals, the phony documents cost about $215 and look real.She claims she sells 400 of her "camouflage" passports every year. The idea, she says, is to protect travelers in hostile situations.

Visitors must pay to tour Hampton historic mansionTOWSON -- Starting Saturday, visitors to Hampton National Historic Site will be charged an entrance fee to tour the 18th-century Georgian mansion, for the first time in the park's history. But the public still will have free access to the 63-acre grounds.Admission fees to the mansion will be $5 for adults and $2 for senior citizens with Golden Age Passports. Children under 17 and holders of Golden Access Passports will continue to be admitted free.

LOS ANGELES -- The turnover of the British crown colony Hong Kong to China, from which it was forcibly taken 150 years ago, is a story of the century -- but it began in the 19th century, and we will not know the ending until a few years into the 21st century.The cheers and cheery words we are hearing now are from the new owners of the fabulous city the British built and ruled, and from the corporations and industries praying that the money merry-go-round won't stop right away. People have hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars on the line.

We reached out and touched Thomas Jefferson ... at least my wife and I felt we did when we entered his world on a recent driving tour of Virginia's Jefferson country. We discovered that the state where this extraordinary American was born, raised and passed his last years is so rich in structures and landscapes associated with him that he is a presence here still. Seeing his world in three dimensions made him seem even more real to us than did the commendable Ken Burns' television treatment of his life.

WASHINGTON -- A half-dozen Americans missed a papal audience at the Vatican. Tearful newlyweds had to pass up their honeymoons in Europe. And Brazilian soccer players weren't able to play a game in Pensacola, Fla.They were some of the hundreds of thousands of travelers who have been unable to obtain passports or visas because of the U.S. government's shutdown for lack of a new budget.The offices that issue passports here and provide visas abroad have been closed, or are barred by law from performing their duties, since the money for their operation has not been appropriated.

Flying from Munich to Paris? Or Madrid to Amsterdam? Then, in theory, you no longer need to go through immigration controls. Technically, you don't even need your passport for most of the journey.Since March 26, seven of the 15 European Union countries have been participating in an exercise in integration, allowing travelers between any of those countries to cross borders on land without stopping to show passports and to use lines at airports without showing identification, as if they were on domestic flights.

Don't take a hammer to your new U.S. passport. And don't drill a hole in that credit card or zap it in the microwave. Experts say these measures - recommended on some extreme Web sites as ways to safeguard privacy and security - are unecessary for people concerned about the growing prevelance of Radio Frequency Identification tags. The tiny silicon chips are embedded in credit cards, passports and other everyday items and can transmit data on where you go, what you buy and even who you are. The devices include "smart" car keys, the no-swipe credit card on your key ring, the E-ZPass transponder on your windshield, the prescription bottle in your medicine cabinet, the blouse you buy at the mall and even the soles of your shoes.

BERLIN -- Europe edged a step closer to full integration today with the removal of many of the region's last internal border posts, a move that will entrust the European Union's nine newest members with policing its eastern frontiers. With a series of ceremonies across the continent, the nine countries on the EU's eastern edge, which joined in 2004, will take primary responsibility for screening many arrivals. European residents will be able to traverse most of the continent by road or sea without showing a passport or national ID card.

MOSCOW -- Former chess champion Garry Kasparov is finding out what it means to take on the Kremlin. Last month he was arrested by Moscow riot police at a pro-democracy march he helped organize and then grilled by Russian security agents on suspicion of seeding extremism. Yesterday, as he checked in at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport for a morning flight to the Volga River city of Samara to take part in a protest march coinciding with a Russia-European Union summit, a Russian police officer approached.

Immigration fraud in city to be targeted Federal officials yesterday named Baltimore as one of six major U.S. cities to host a new task force targeting immigration document fraud. Officials from the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Labor, State, and other federal and local agencies, will join forces in Baltimore as well as in Chicago, Miami, Phoenix, Ariz.., San Francisco and Tampa, Fla. Document fraud refers to the manufacture, sale or use of counterfeit identity documents -- such as fake driver's licenses, birth certificates, Social Security cards or passports -- for immigration fraud.

VISITORS TO THE VATICAN ARE getting a heads-up that nothing is eternal -- at least when it comes to the Holy See's museums. Admission prices just went up by a euro to 13 euros, or about $17.05, and opening hours have been cut back for visitors not affiliated with organized tour groups. JAZZ GUIDE: NYC Little Bookroom / $15.95 Hard to believe it's been several years since this wonderful guide to New York City jazz was published. During the intervening years, though, much has changed, and author Steve Dollar picks up where he left off. He discusses the new club scene in Brooklyn and the slick new Jazz at Lincoln Center, which has not only greatly increased its programming but also houses a recording studio, a broadcast center, a classroom and a jazz hall of fame.

We'll be visiting Acapulco, Mexico, but I'm guessing there's not much to do except read on the beach and watch the divers. Is a side trip to Mexico City worth it? And what about tap water? Is it true you can't use it to brush your teeth? There's a lot more to Acapulco than watching cliff divers. While there, visit the cultural center, Casa de la Cultura, which has a small archaeological museum and handicraft exhibit, and explore the Zocalo (town center), where you'll find crafts and food markets.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed a comprehensive homeland security bill implementing most of the remaining recommendations of the 9/11 commission. The proposed legislation includes an amendment that would allow for the limited expansion of the visa waiver program in return for all participants' taking steps to enhance their travel security. The visa waiver program currently permits the citizens of 27 countries, mostly in Europe and Asia, to enter the U.S. for tourism or business (but not employment or formal study)

WASHINGTON -- The top U.S. commander in Iraq has ordered sweeping changes for privatized military support operations after confirming violations of laws against human-trafficking and other abuses by contractors involving possibly thousands of foreign workers on American bases, according to records obtained by the Chicago Tribune. Gen. George W. Casey Jr. ordered that contractors be required by May 1 to return passports that have been illegally confiscated from laborers on U.S. bases after determining that such practices violated U.S. laws against trafficking for forced or coerced labor.

Listen to people talking on trains. Scan the headlines. Watch some TV. With the news stacked up with Iraq, with fear of pandemic, these are our concerns: Is America protected? Is it dangerous to travel? Just how safe do we feel? Listen to the talk, catch the top of the news. According to a state of Hawaii study, "security and safety" are now the most important factors when we pick a place to vacation. Not adventure. Not exotic landscapes. Not the sights or tastes of taking on the world.

When Kevin Mitchell sends his son overseas this summer on a school trip, he plans to send him off with a ball cap from a Canadian sports team he's never watched play - a thin disguise he believes will offer protection from thieves and terrorists who target Americans. But Mitchell, head of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group, said that may not be enough on the next trip. Travel groups like his, among others, oppose a State Department plan to embed small computer chips in passports.