Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, the third and
fourth-largest US air carriers, both declared bankruptcy in
September citing rising oil prices and low-cost competition among
their reasons.
Spotted on the Globetrotter's forum:
is a website that allows you to take virtual tours of a whole
host of places - check it out, it's pretty interesting!
Ministers from 23 countries in Africa and south-east Asia have
appealed for international help to save the world's great
apes from extinction.
Urgent action was needed to protect the great apes and provide
sustainable ways of living for local communities, the UN-backed
meeting in Kinshasa agreed.
Poaching and damage to forest habitats have led gorilla,
chimpanzee, bonobo and orang-utan numbers to fall sharply.
Indian Railways has announced that it plans to introduce
electronic tickets. Electronic tickets can be purchased for
trains between New Delhi and Kalka, in northern India.
Passengers have to show an identity card and the printout of the
electronic reservation.
In the past two weeks, there have been two major armed robberies
at separate hotels in Zanzibar. The first robbery took
place at the Coral Reef Hotel about 28 miles north of Stone
Town. Eight men disguised as police officers, armed with
submachine-guns tied up security staff and made off with nearly
£15,000 in various currencies, watches and mobile phones.
Less than a week later, six people armed with a gun and machetes
arrived after dark at the Nungwi Village Hotel, an eco-resort in
northern Zanzibar (where the Beetle passed a happy 10 days a
couple of years ago.) After threatening to kill staff and
guests, the gang robbed them of their laptops, mobile phones and
cash before stealing nearly £9,000 from the safe.
Four people have been arrested in relation to the first incident
but no arrests have been made re the second robbery.
The Beijing Municipal Traffic Administration has launched a
campaign to standardise road signs to make it easier for visitors
to navigate the city. Bilingual Chinese-English signs are
to be displayed on streets as well as around the city's key
tourist attractions. Many would agree that getting around Beijing
can be difficult when you see signs saying “export”
instead of “exit” for the word chukou and
“scatter” instead of “evacuate” for the word
shusan.
Campaigners organising Malaria Awareness Week say that British
tourists are too complacent about contracting malaria as they
travel to more and more far flung locations. In particular,
last minute bargain hunters are at risk because they don't
leave time to arrange medication. Last year around 5m
travelled to risk areas, but 60% did not take the right health
advice before they set out. Around 2,000 Britons get malaria each
year, and deaths are low but rising.
Singapore is following London's lead and plans to build a
giant Ferris wheel. Designers estimate that it will be 142
feet taller than the London Eye and say that visitors will be
able to enjoy views of neighbouring Malaysia and Indonesia from
the 587ft-high wheel when it is completed in early 2008.
A restaurant in north east China was closed down for listing stir
fried tiger meat with peppers for US $98 or a kilo of tiger meat
for US $ 863. Maybe it was the fact that the sale of tiger
meat is outlawed in China or that the restaurant was less than a
mile away from a Siberian Tiger Park that attracted the attention
of local authorities. Police raided the restaurant to find
that actually the tiger meat was donkey marinated in tiger urine
- to give it “a special flavour”. Hhhmm, nice.
Ever worried about being able to access your cash whilst
overseas? These two websites allow you to locate
Visa and
ATMs.
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