India: the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade lifted its travel advisory for India on July 23, 2002, but maintains that Canadians should still not travel to Jammu and Kashmir and those areas of Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Punjab close to the border, and areas of Ladakh close to the Line of Control.  Some…

Millionaire adventurer Steve Fossett has reached Australia and finally succeeded on his 6th attempt in becoming the first solo balloonist to circumnavigate the globe, completed after covering nearly 20,000 miles (32,000 kilometres) around the southern hemisphere.  It took 13 days in the air and his silvery balloon, often travelled along at speeds up to 200…

The British Museum, one of the greatest museums in the world, tops the visitor charts.  Founded in 1753, it is also the oldest museum in the world and its contents catalogue over two million years of world history and culture.  With over 94 galleries and thousands of artefacts, the British Museum will have something for…

A disease which has devastated one type of Caribbean coral, Elkhorn coral, has been traced back to bacteria found in human faeces. On some reefs, 95% of Elkhorn corals, which used to be the commonest coral in the Caribbean, have been wiped out by the condition, called white pox that shows itself as white spots…

Be careful dancing in Iran: an Iranian dancer who left Iran 22 years ago and has been living in Los Angeles has just been given a 10-year suspended prison sentence in Iran on charges of corrupting the nation's youth.  Mohammed Khordadian had been making a living giving lessons in Iranian traditional dance and performing for…

The FCO has just developed a web page of advice for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender traveller.  It starts by saying: “Attitudes towards gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender travellers around the world can be very different to those in the UK. However, despite potential extra hassles, it is possible to have a very positive and…

The US House voted last night to lift the ban on US citizens travelling to communist Cuba, stunning hard-liners and defying a plea by the Bush administration to retain harsh, 40-year-old sanctions against a nation it sees as a terrorist state.  In an unexpectedly lopsided and bipartisan 262-167 vote, the House approved an amendment by…

One of the oldest indigenous peoples, the Inuit, have turned to one of the most modern forms of communication to tell the world about their culture. The Inuit are a founding people of Canada. Inuit hunters and their families started crossing the 320-kilometres-wide (200 miles) Bering Land Bridge from Siberia perhaps 30,000 years ago, then…