The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

Environmentalists have announced that the
Mediterranean’s largest nesting population of loggerhead turtles is
facing extinction due to tourism. Their reports states that one of only
two marine turtle species that reproduce in the Mediterranean, would
face extinction unless the authorities took more steps to control
tourism in the region.

The Greek island of Zakynthos is home to the National
Marine Park, where between 800 and 1,100 turtles nest every summer.
Officials have been accused of failing to implement sufficient
regulations to prevent tourists from disturbing the turtles that hatch
at the height of the tourism season in August. The Worldwide Fund for
Nature monitored the park this summer and found that thousands of
tourists placed their sunbeds and umbrellas beyond authorised limits on
the beaches. Illegal bars, tavernas and parking areas also lined the
shores, disturbing the turtle settlements, according to the report.
Three years ago the Greek government was found guilty under European
Union law of failing to protect the animals. But, despite the ruling,
tourism has continued to damage the population, according to this
week’s WWF report.

Visitors to Florida are being warned that they could be
at risk due to a new state law that allows gun owners to shoot anyone
they believe threatens their safety. A spokeswoman for The Brady
Campaign to Control Gun Violence, said “tourists should be wary of
getting into an “aggressive argument” during their
stay”. The law which is now in force says that people in
their house or vehicle do not have to become victims before shooting an
attacker. Previously, they could only use their weapons if they had
first attempted to withdraw and avoid a confrontation.

A spokeswoman for Visit Florida in the UK accused the
Brady Campaign of employing scare tactics and claimed the new law would
not have any impact on tourism to the state. “There are 28
other states that do not require people to retreat if they are being
attacked, so it is just bringing Florida into line,” she
said. “I don’t think many UK holidaymakers are going to
attack someone in their car or their house, so they have nothing to
worry about. It is not a real issue. According to the state’s annual
crime report, Florida’s crime rate is at a 34-year low.”
Florida is the most popular US destination for Britons, attracting 1.5
million people from the UK each year.

Tube and bus fares in London paid for with cash are set
to increase January 1st 2006. A single Tube journey in zone one will
cost £3 instead of £2 while a single bus journey
will rise from £1.20 to £1.50, said Mayor Ken
Livingstone. Fares will fall for holders of the Oyster pre-pay
smartcards. With Oyster, a zone one Tube ride will be cut from
£1.70 to £1.50 - half the cash fare. Mr Livingstone
said the aim was for fewer people to pay with cash. Mr Livingstone said
the increased fares to be introduced from January would raise about
£80m but conceded the new single Tube fare of £3
would probably be the most expensive in the world.

NEW FARES FOR 2006

• Tube zone 1: £3 cash (£2
  currently)
• Tube zone 1: £1.50 Oyster
  (£1.70)
• Tube zones 2-6: £3 cash (£2.10)
• Tube zones 2-6: £1 Oyster
  (£1.80)
• Bus (all zones): £1.50 cash
  (£1.20)
• Bus (all zones): 80p Oyster (£1)

The motto is – either don’t visit
London or buy an Oyster card to use London’s public
transport.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will
travel to the US next month on their first official overseas royal
tour. The tour will include engagements in New York, Washington DC, and
San Francisco. The couple will meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and
have a lunch and a dinner with President George W Bush and his wife at
the White House. The BBC royal correspondent Peter Hunt said the visit
to a country where Diana, Princess of Wales is still held in high
esteem - was a “bold move”, representing the latest
stage in the development of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall as a senior
royal.

A recent ruling by Iran’s football federation banning
players from sporting “unusual” and
“foreign” styles is sparking debate in Iran’s
football community. The Federation also said professional players
should refrain from curling their hair or wearing ponytails, and from
sporting necklaces, earrings, or rings and that players should not wear
tight clothes, grow strange-looking beards, or copy foreign styles.

The ruling has upset football players like Ali
Mansourian who shaves all his hair off, while some of his fellow
athletes on Iran’s Esteqlal team have grown their hair long.
“In my opinion, the appearance of a player is his own
business,” Mansourian says. “If you look at Islam,
for example, the Prophet Mohammad’s hair was long. He was very
handsome.”

A tagged great white shark (called Nicole, by
researchers – after shark loving actress Nicole Kidman)
crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again
in just nine months. The act of tagging a great white is something of
an achievement; several people need to hold the creature still while
the satellite tracker is attached.

The conservationists were investigating how far great
whites swim, to see what protection measures might be needed to save
them from extinction. Great whites were once thought to keep to coastal
regions, but this was a trek across a vast expanse of open ocean. The
journey was very direct, not some aimless wandering and the stay near
Australia was only brief.

The researchers say the fact that they saw a shark make
the journey at all - after observing only about 20 animals - suggests
it is common behaviour. Their concern is that such migrations make the
great whites vulnerable to long-line fishing. It is already known that
lesser sharks do get captured and killed this way.

Spotted by webmaster Paul: three robot fish, created by
robotics experts from Essex University can be found at London Aquarium.
They move around the tank like real fish, and have sensor-based
controls, so they can move around the tank, avoiding objects and other
fish, and reacting to their environment as a real fish would. Professor
Huosheng Hu, of the university’s computer science department, said the
aim of creating the fish and having them on display in a public place
was to increase awareness about robots’ capabilities. He said the
robotic fish, which took three years to create, could also be used in
the ocean such as including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil
pipelines, mine countermeasures, and improving the performance of
underwater vehicles.

American soldiers in Iraq claim they uncovered evidence
of a terrorist bomb plot targeting the US. People in New York City are
warned to remain on alert amid fears of a terrorist attack on the New
York subway system. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered
increased security on the subway system and warned that the threat -
which includes the use of explosives packed in baby strollers -
suggested New York’s underground train network and its 4.5 million
daily passengers could be attacked within days.

Travellers are advised to review any plans to visit
Zanzibar during late October and early November 2005. Tanzania will
hold a general election on October 30, 2005. Previous elections
generally have been peaceful on the Tanzanian mainland, but following
the 2000 elections, violent demonstrations occurred on Zanzibar (and
Unguja and Pemba) and many people were killed. The demonstrations were
not directed at tourists and no foreign visitors were hurt.

Tensions are already rising in Zanzibar during the run
up to the October 2005 elections. Opposition party leaders have
threatened to stage massive demonstrations if their conditions for a
free and fair election are not met. The opposition is calling for
peaceful demonstrations, but things can turn violent with little or no
warning. If demonstrations do occur, they are not expected to target
foreign tourists, however, they could disrupt transportation and
communication systems.

US scientists have found that all modern varieties of
potatoes can be traced back to a single source - a potato grown in Peru
over 7,000 years ago. The team, led by Dr David Spooner of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, who spends two months a year
collecting wild potatoes on treks in South America’s mountainous
regions analysed the DNA of about 360 potatoes, both wild and
cultivated. Dr Spooner said archaeological finds had shown potatoes
were being grown in Peru by farmers “more than 7,000 years
ago”. Potatoes were brought back to Spain by the
conquistadors around 1570, and spread throughout Europe. They were
later introduced in North America by British colonists.