86 mainly teenage migrants from Ecuador and Peru, have been found by Costa Rican officials adrift in their packed boat for three days. They sent a message in a bottle saying: ‘Please Help Us’. It is believed that the group were abandoned by people smugglers when the vessel got into trouble. The smugglers stripped the…

A completely new family of rodents, a kind of rat has been found in Laos. The animal has long whiskers, stubby legs and a tail covered in dense hair and was on sale in a hunters’ market. Dr Robert Timmins working with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Thailand saw that it was probably unknown to…

Pieces of a man’s body including the right leg, part of the spine and a hip, struck a garage roof of the home in South Floral Park, New York, before landing in the backyard are believed to have fallen from the wheel well of a South African Airways passenger plane bound for New York’s Kennedy…

Two former America West pilots Christopher Hughes and Thomas Cloyd were removed from an Airbus A319 in Miami on July 1, 2002, and charged with operating a plane under the influence of alcohol. They were in the cockpit as the aircraft was being towed to the runway for takeoff from Miami International Airport on a…

John from London wrote in to share some information about getting to London Stansted airport. He says: I share your frustrations about the cost and unreliability of the train service to Stansted, but do you know about the National Express bus service from Stratford BR/Underground station? It costs £7 single and £12 for a return,…

A Chinese boy died after falling from the landing gear of a passenger jet on take-off in north China. The stowaway, believed to be aged around 10, fell from a China Eastern Airbus A320 at the airport in Dunhuang, a popular tourist spot for Buddhist grottoes in Gansu province, Xinhua news agency said without elaborating.…

South Island Guides, www.southislandguides.com is a collective of professionally trained NZ guides, specializing in creating exceptional guided experiences. Based in Queenstown New Zealand, our guides have extensive experience and qualifications in all areas of the hospitality and adventure tourism industries. All our activities are tried and true, ensuring a high level of professionalism and client…

India Tourist! Is a CD guide to India – see www.india-tourist.com The cd covers over 150 destinations and over 500 sub-destinations of India. It includes a hotel directory with over 1200 hotels across India affiliated to Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India, a listing of major travel agents across the country, details of…

The British Foreign & Commonwealth Office advise against all but essential travel to Andizhan in eastern Uzbekistan until further notice. An armed gang attacked a prison and a military unit in Andizhan in eastern Uzbekistan on 13 May 2005, releasing inmates, amongst them political prisoners. Around 2,000 protesters reportedly gathered in Andizhan town square, some…

Lighters and matches are now banned in airline cabins, but passengers on British aircraft will be able to eat a meal with metal cutlery and to take knitting needles and scissors with blades less than 3 centimetres, or 1.2 inches, long in hand baggage. Longer blades, corkscrews, and penknives will still not be allowed, according…