Category: Travel

US ban forces Iranians home after days at Vienna airport

Three Iranians have been forced to return home after being stuck in transit at Vienna airport for three days due to the United States travel ban on people from seven mainly-Muslim countries, an Austrian Airlines official said Monday. An elderly couple and an unrelated middle-aged woman arrived from Isfahan, south of Tehran, on Saturday morning, expecting to catch connecting flights to the US to visit family members, AUA spokesman Peter Thier said.

Sabah boat mishap: China satisfied with rescue efforts

Chen with Pang speak to the media after a press conference on Sunday over the boat mishap. – Bernama pic KOTA KINABALU: China’s Consul-General in Sabah Chen Peijie has expressed satisfaction with search and rescue efforts following the capsize of a boat carrying Chinese tourists off Sabah on Saturday.

Charmian Hughes- Soixante Mirth at Dunedin Fringe

What would happen if you met your younger self? Have you turned out to be the person the old you wanted you to be? From the London comedy circuit, 60 year old British comedian Charmian Hughes has come all the way to New Zealand to help you find the answers in a hilarious and touching comedy trip where stand-up meets time travel, as she encounters earlier versions of herself and faces those awkward questions- ‘What happened to my dreams?’ and ‘What the heck are you wearing? Do you ever wonder what would happen if you could meet your younger selves? How you’d give them advice, warn them, encourage them, comfort them, put them on the right path, but more than anything, impress them with how you’ve turned out… so cool.

6 Chinese tourists missing after boat sinks off Malaysia

Three people died, six are missing and nearly two dozen were rescued after a catamaran carrying Chinese tourists sank in Malaysian waters, officials said Sunday. The boat carried 31 people, including 28 tourists from China, and was sailing Saturday from Kota Kinabalu to Pulau Mengalum, a popular tourist island, some 37 miles west to Kota Kinabalu, according to the Chinese consulate in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital.

Rick Steves’ Europe

RICK STEVES’ EUROPE offers a fresh perspective on the best travel advice, including where to stay, what to see and how to get around in Europe. Rick Steves shares his extensive knowledge of European history, art and culture.

Project to help schools

GIVING BACK: Robert Lee, of Glengarry, will be teaching at Burnie High School as part of the Teach For Australia program. Picture: Neil Richardson A controversial program that puts “career changers” and high-achieving university graduates in front of classrooms at disadvantaged schools without teaching degrees has arrived in Tasmania.

Marry a foreigner: One way to avoid Spring Festival dilemma

BEIJING: The annual argument over whose family to spend the Lunar New Year with has become a modern tradition for married couples in China. But it’s one that Qiu Feilan will be spared because her husband is a foreigner whose family does not celebrate the most important holiday for Chinese people around the world.

May-Trump meeting to test UK-US ‘special relationship’

Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, leaves Downing Street in London Tuesday Jan. 24, 2017. Britain’s government must get parliamentary approval before starting the process of leaving the European Union, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, potentially delaying Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans to trigger exit negotiations by the end of March.

See David Bowiea s trek to Mexico in Glendale photo exhibit

David Bowie tries to blend in with the Diego Rivera´s wall painting, “The Man, Ruler of the World,” at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City. This image, “Diego Rivera’s Mural, Mexico,” will be on exhibit in “David Bowie: Among the Mexican Masters” at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale starting today.

Seven fascinating facts about Robert Burns

Over the course of over a couple of centuries the commemoration of his birthday has developed into a formal occasion full of arcane and deeply traditional whimsy . It’s laced with the sort of humour which worked well in the early 19th century, and is intensely “blokeish” some would say outright sexist and much fuss is made about the haggis, and of course whisky.

Recent Clemson Ph.D banned from returning to US amid President Trump’s executive order

President Donald Trump’s executive order banning citizens of seven countries to travel to the U.S. for 90 days is affecting a recent Clemson University grad, who has been barred from traveling back to the U.S. Nazanin Zinouri, a recent Clemson grad with a Ph.D. in industrial engineering, was shocked to find out that she cannot return after her vacation to see her family in Tehran, Iran. The data scientist, who works for an Upstate technology firm called Modjoul, has all the paper work and documents necessary to work and live in the United States.

Emboldened by Trump, Israel Rapidly Expands Illegal Settlements

“The Trump administration is giving Israel the green light to entrench a separate and unequal one-state reality with more illegal settlements.” Emboldened by the new right-wing Trump administration, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a large settlement expansion-2,500 housing units-in the West Bank on Tuesday.

Emboldened by Trump, Israel Rapidly Expands Illegal Settlements

“The Trump administration is giving Israel the green light to entrench a separate and unequal one-state reality with more illegal settlements.” Emboldened by the new right-wing Trump administration, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a large settlement expansion-2,500 housing units-in the West Bank on Tuesday.

Australia pushes for TPP without US after Trump exits deal

Australia is leading a push to salvage a Pacific trade deal after President Donald Trump formally withdrew as a signatory to the 12-nation accord. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he discussed the deal on Monday night with Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, and held talks with the leaders of New Zealand and Singapore.

China, Philippines to roll out $3.7B in cooperation projects

State media cite a senior Chinese official as saying China and the Philippines have agreed on $3.7 billion worth of projects to boost cooperation. The official Xinhua News Agency cited Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng as saying after a Monday meeting with a Cabinet delegation from the Philippines that the projects are aimed at “improving people’s living standards.”

Ontario Tourism’s new boss looks ahead with lessons learned

Lisa LaVecchia, the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation’s chief marketing officer, is taking over leadership of the government agency as its president and CEO on Jan. 30. She brings a considerable amount of marketing experience to the role, joining OTMPC in 2013 after serving as director of retail marketing for Indigo. Prior to that, she was director of new media and marketing for the Office of the Premier in Ontario.

Ontario Tourism’s new boss looks ahead with lessons learned

Lisa LaVecchia, the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation’s chief marketing officer, is taking over leadership of the government agency as its president and CEO on Jan. 30. She brings a considerable amount of marketing experience to the role, joining OTMPC in 2013 after serving as director of retail marketing for Indigo. Prior to that, she was director of new media and marketing for the Office of the Premier in Ontario.

Wa State Suffers as Fewer Chinese Come to Party

In a remote casino in northeastern Burma, China’s pervasive campaign against graft has taken its toll. Hundreds of local traders and farmers place petty bets as low as 10 cents, outnumbering a few Chinese who were once the VIPs of a gambling hall decorated with chandeliers and Renaissance-style paintings.

Read Now

Burma is expected to see economic growth of 6.9 percent in 2017, down 1.5 points from a previous estimate, according to the World Bank’s Global Economic Prospects report released earlier this month. The report said that real-term growth in 2016 was estimated to be 6.5 percent, down 1.3 percentage points from an earlier estimate in June last year, the Nikkei Asia Review reported.

A Hyperloop-esque plan is taking shape in South Korea

As the likes of Hyperloop One move toward implementing their technology, competitors around the world are showing an interest in similar high-speed transportation systems. Having apparently taken note of Elon Musk’s plan for a super-fast ” Hyperloop ” transportation system, engineers in South Korea are now working on their own remarkably similar technology.

Japanese body’s ID confirmed

The parents and girlfriend arrive at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok on Monday to confirm the identity of the body of Sonam Tsuboi, found in the Chao Phraya River on Dec 30. Relatives have confirmed the body found in the Chao Phraya River in late December was the missing Japanese tourist Sonam Tsuboi, 22, and said he would be cremated in Thailand. The parents, aged 57 and 47, as well as the 24-year-old girlfriend of the Japanese man, arrived at the riverside Siriraj hospital in Bangkok to identify the body found at the nearby Wang Lang pier on Dec 30. Accompanying them was Pisit Maiprasert, a consular assistant at the Japanese embassy, who said they were confident that the body was of Tsuboi.

Crossing red lines: What’s annoying Asian nations most?

In this Nov. 10, 2016, file photo, a TV screen shows images of then U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, right, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea takes offense first, and most regularly, with Japan, largely over disputes stemming from Tokyo’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century.

At 2017 CES, LG expands IOT ecosystem with robot solutions

At the just concluded Computer Electronic, CES, show held in Las Vegas the United States of America, LG Electronics showcased lineup of intelligent robots, as part of the company’s innovations in artificial intelligence and developments in the internet of a thing, IoT, ecosystem. The lineup included a home robot that doubles as a smart home gateway and intelligent home notification center, enhancing convenience in users’ day-to-day lives.

In Israel, marchers criticize talk of moving U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem

Standing in a chilly sea breeze, hundreds of American expatriate demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to protest what they described as President Trump’s slights against women and minorities. Demonstrators were careful to keep the focus local, though, singing Hebrew prayers for peace, protesting Trump’s promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and holding up signs critical of the new president’s emerging bromance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Austin Peay State University students perform service work in Caribbean over winter break

A group of Austin Peay State University students recently spent a week during winter break in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, volunteering their time during an annual intensive service trip. This year’s group of 18 students traveled with Dr. Matthew Kenney, director of Austin Peay’s President’s Emerging Leaders Program , to the small town of La Romain, where they worked with Habitat for Humanity on a local housing project.

The Latest: Barrow, still in Senegal, prays for Gambia peace

The Latest on Gambia’s political crisis, sparked by defeated leader Yahya Jammeh’s refusal to leave office : Red carpets have been laid out at the airport in Gambia’s capital in what appears to be preparations for a speech and a departure. West African leaders have been meeting with defeated leader Yahya Jammeh in an effort to persuade him to cede power to newly inaugurated leader Adama Barrow.

.com | Senegal: Troops enter Gambia in effort to get Jammeh to go

Senegalese troops charged into neighboring Gambia late on Thursday in a show of force to oust longtime ruler Yahya Jammeh after he failed to step aside when his mandate ended at midnight after losing the presidential election last month. The troops moved in shortly after Adama Barrow was inaugurated as Gambia’s first new leader in more than 22 years at the country’s embassy in neighbouring Senegal after a final effort at diplomatic talks with Jammeh failed to secure his departure.

Gambia president-elect set for inauguration in Senegal

The streets of Banjul are deserted Wednesday Jan. 18, 2017. Special flights were being organized Wednesday to evacuate British and other tourists from Gambia, where the threat of a regional military intervention loomed as President Yahya Jammeh’s mandate expires on Thursday after he lost elections in December.