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The Beetle
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Our Friends Ryanair
Ryanair has defended its policy on disabled passengers after it was criticised for ejecting nine blind and partially sighted passengers from one of its flights. The passengers, all from the UK were escorted from the aircraft minutes before take-off from London's Stansted Airport as the airline's safety rules limit the number of “disabled/mobility-impaired” passengers to…
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The Beetle
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Tibet Railway To Open
China has announced the completion of the first railway line from Golmud in China's north-western province of Qinghai to Lhasa, in Tibet. The line is expected to start taking passengers in 2006. This is one of the world's highest train routes, at 5,072m (16,640ft) above sea level. Trains travelling on the line will have to…
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The Beetle
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Pakistan Earthquake Appeal
On October 8th, an earthquake around 7.6 on the Richter scale hit close to Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Over 80,000 people have died, at least 80,000 injured and 3.3 million people are homeless and trying to survive in icy conditions. Why is it that the world has been so slow to respond with aid? The…
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The Beetle
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No Kissing at Indian Wedding
An Israeli couple were fined 500 Indian rupees ($11) each for embracing and kissing after getting married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in the northwestern Indian town Pushkar. The Israeli Embassy in New Delhi confirmed the incident and identified the couple as Alon Orpaz and Tehila Salev, who decided to get married while visiting India.…
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The Beetle
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Soccer Flight Scam
Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need to make an emergency landing in Peru so that passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match. The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA…
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The Beetle
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New Corruption Index
Transparency International recently published its new index on the world's most countries. At the top of the list, i.e. the least corrupt country is Iceland, followed by Finland and New Zealand in joint second place, Denmark in fourth place and Singapore in fifth place. In sixth to tenth position are Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, and…
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The Beetle
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Destination Guide to Bassano del Grappa by Karen Bryan
Bassano sits in a stunning location by the River Brenta with Monte Grappa in the background. It is about 35 kilometres north east of Vicenza. The town's symbols are said to be the Palladian bridge, white asparagus, ceramics and the Grappa liqueur. I visited the town for the day in February 2005. I really liked…
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The Beetle
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Know Your Riyals from Your Kwatcha
Need to convert currency? Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter – get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet – create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.
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The Beetle
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Journalism a Dangerous Job
An independent media watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, (CPJ), says press freedom was under siege in every corner of the globe last year. The CPJ says Iraq remained the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist in 2004. In its annual report, entitled “Attacks on the Press,” the CPJ…
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The Beetle
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Want to Fly Into Space?
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has collected $10m in deposits from people wanting a quick journey beyond Earth's atmosphere. More than 34,000 would-be astronauts have registered for rides aboard a commercial version of the experimental Ansari X Prize winner SpaceShipOne. If you are wondering about how much this may cost – BBC reports say that…
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