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The Beetle
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Singapore Screens for SARS
Changi Airport in Singapore is using high technology to screen the foreheads of inbound passengers as they step off the plane. The infrared fever screening system has a thermal imaging thermometer that works like a camera. It takes a picture of each passenger and transfers the data to a computer screen. Blue dots indicate normal…
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The Beetle
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Wroclaw, Poland
Andrev, a student in the beautiful city of Wroclaw wrote in to tell us about his hometown. He says he would like to tell us about a few interesting things about his city and (hopefully) encourage someone to come here!! Let's begin with a Town Hall – one of the most beautiful late Gothic and…
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The Beetle
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Another UK TV Show Needs Volunteers
Would you like to take part in a documentary we are currently making for Channel 4? It is provisionally titled Travellers Tales, and is about travellers who have experienced tropical illnesses. Perhaps… you unwittingly transported a bot-fly home from a remote destination? Someone on your expedition was cured by a medicine man? You left the…
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The Beetle
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Fave Website: Japanese Etiquette
If you're going to visit Japan on business, or even if you are going for pleasure, this website shows you how to you bow appropriately and how to behave when you have been invited to someone’s home. There are lots of hints and tips on appropriate presents to take, how to use the washroom, and…
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The Beetle
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Heat wave in Southern India
If you have plans to visit India this summer – never a good time to go – take note that around 200 people have died during the heat wave that is currently sweeping through Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Pakistan where temperatures have soared as high as 47.2C. The high temperatures have led to a shortage…
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The Beetle
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Biometric Passports for UK
The UK Passport Service plans to put biometric chips into passports by 2005. The agency is to run a six-month trial to “evaluate issues around biometric capture using iris, facial recognition and fingerprints to support the passport card development programme.” An 'Omnibase' global database of all passports issued will be created, along with a global…
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The Beetle
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Being Careful: Terrorist Alerts
Terror alerts are in force around the world; Australia and New Zealand have just warned their nationals to be on their guard in South East Asia: Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, East Timor and Brunei. The US has issued warnings of possible terrorist attacks throughout East Africa and parts of South East Asia in the…
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The Beetle
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Currency Conversion
The Globetrotters Club has just teamed up with Oanda.com to provide people with information about currency conversions and cheat sheets. To translate currency or make a cheat sheet, visit: The Globetrotters Currency Converter — get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet — create and print a currency converter table for…
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The Beetle
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Why Yoga is Like Travelling
Some thoughts by Padmassana, likening travel to yoga – or the other way round! He says: “When you travel you are thinking about what you are seeing, where you are going to stay, how you are going to get there, the people you are with. You are absorbed in where you are at that moment…
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The Beetle
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Mediterranean Bookings Down
The tourism industry has been heavily hit by the current conflict in Iraq. Holidaymakers are avoiding Turkey and Cyprus and indeed, the most of the Mediterranean. Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Turkey, or those that have suffered recent terrorist attacks, such as Kenya, are the worst affected. Destinations as far away from the war…

