Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has signed a £14m agreement which will allow passengers to travel into space.  Branson has commissioned five “spaceliners” built in the US by the team behind the SpaceShipOne vehicle.  The rocket plane will became the first privately developed carrier to go above 100km in June 2005.  It will cost around…

Work on a tunnel and rail system under the Bosporus Strait connecting Europe and Asia in has just started in Istanbul.  The tunnel will be 13.7 kilometres long, (8.5 mile) tunnel and 1,400 meters of the tunnel will be underwater.  The Bosporus Strait, a 32 km waterway connects the Black Sea and the Sea of…

Paperless and ticketless bookings made more attractive by incentives, discounts and offers of air miles are fast becoming the way to travel.  Airlines are planning to stop issuing paper tickets in the next three years, a move that could save the industry up to $3 billion a year in running costs, according to the International…

France has been ranked as the place where British holidaymakers are most likely to become victims of credit card fraud.  Barclaycard’s annual world fraud index shows that France is the top credit card fraud hotspot, accounting for 43% of spending on stolen cards.  Second is the USA, 3rd Spain, 4th Ireland and 5th Germany. Discuss…

Iran is to build a 1.7 billion euro ($2.0 billion) luxury tourism project on the Gulf island of Kish designed to rival nearby tourism hotspot Dubai.  Kish is a small island with relaxed rules on women's dress and mingling of the sexes although women are still required to wear headscarves and cover their bodies when…

Spain, which attracts 50 million tourists a year, is building its first private airport 200 km (125 miles) south of Madrid in a bid to lure budget airlines away from the capital and develop a deprived mining area.  The airport is expected to be operational from the second half of 2006, is being built on…

Budding British travel operator Don Lucey is proposing to offer tours to Iraq.  Never mind the troops, killings and kidnappings, Don Lucey, a former soldier and policeman who worked in Iraq in 2003 has set up Bann Tours in Swindon, western England. “It has a lot to offer, a lot of history. It's not just…

If you want to keep abreast of events in India, catch the latest news on hotels, airlines and events, then take a look at this free India Newsletter. India Newsletter The US government is dropping a plan to collect personal data on airline passengers to assess security risks because of privacy concerns.  Homeland Security Secretary…

Want to check out how good the seat is on your next flight?  Take a look at this: http://www.seatguru.com/ which warns you of poor seats in the general seating arrangement of different types of aircraft operated by a wide range of airlines. Discuss this article and give feedback in our online forum

According to the UK Foreign Office, there is a high threat to Western, including British, interests from terrorism in Somalia, as there is in a number of countries in East Africa and the Horn.  You should be aware that a number of British nationals and Westerners have been killed and injured in attacks in Somaliland.…